My husband Daniel is a hummus fiend. I regularly buy him lots of different flavors, particularly from Trader Joe’s. A lot of times, he’s content to eat pita and hummus as a complete meal. He really can’t seem to get enough of it!

Despite his passion for hummus, I haven’t put forth much effort in the area of making it for him from scratch. But this weekend, I tried my hand again with much success. My personal favorite hummus flavor is roasted red pepper, so I was happy to find this recipe from Cooking Light. I made a few changes to the formula, namely adding tahini and half and half. I learned in my recent Mediterranean cooking class that traditionally hummus has dairy in it, so I decided to add it here.

The recipe was a hit and I’ll definitely be making it again soon!

Mediterranean Hummus
Inspired by a recipe from Cooking Light
Yields 2 cups

1/2 cup chopped bottled roasted red bell peppers
1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (or juice from one lemon)
2 teaspoons extravirgin olive oil
2 T tahini
2 T half and half
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
2-3 garlic cloves (4 is too much! Trust me!)
1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans) — (15-oz) rinsed and drained (or 2 cups cooked if you make them from scratch like I did)

Place all ingredients in a food procesor; process until smooth, scraping sides of processor bowl once. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator.