The Best and Easiest Hummus Recipe

I love hummus and always wanted to make it myself, my friend Melissa gave me this easy and delicious recipe that her brother in law makes.  Thank you so much, I will probably never buy it again!!!  It is very easy and you can easily add different things to it to make it different.  I am going to try it with roasted garlic next time, you can also make it spicy by adding red pepper flakes, and mix in a little olive tapenade and you have olive hummus :)

Hummus

15 oz can of chickpeas (they come anywhere from 15oz to 16 oz, use either)
1/4 Cup of the liquid from the can of chickpeas
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 Tbsp tahini
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp Olive oil
paprika for garnish

Combine all ingredients except liquid from can in food processor and blend.  Add liquid from chickpeas and blend 3 minutes until very smooth.  Serve with a sprinkling of paprika and a drizzle of olive oil.  Enjoy!

Baked Clam Dip

So I made this for Christmas, and it was such a hit! I used a recipe given to me by someone and improvised a little bit. I forgot to get a picture, so I stole one from the internet. This is pretty much what it looks like. Enjoy! Oh and its pretty garlicky, so don't kiss anyone the day after ;)

Baked Clam Dip

2 (6.5oz) cans minced or chopped clams, with juice
1 and 1/2 C breadcrumbs
1 stick of butter (you read that right)
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 sweet onion, minced
juice and zest of one lemon
2 tsp italian seasoning (or you can use Italian Bread Crumbs)
tsp of sea salt

Melt butter and saute onion til soft, add garlic the last two minutes of cooking. Mix all other indredients together into saute mixture. Put into pyrex pie plate and bake at 350 for 30 min. You can broil for a minute or so at the end to really brown the top. Serve with crackers or toasted bread

Veggies with Garlic Feta Dip

This is another recipe from the baby shower. I wanted to have something for the guests to eat while I finished the rest of the food for the shower, so I served some fresh veggies with a garlic feta dip, that I could just eat by itself with no veggies! It was great!

Garlic Feta Dip

1 C crumbled feta
1/2 C low fat sour cream
1/2 C low fat greek yogurt
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
assorted raw veggies of your choice
hollowed out bell pepper to serve the dip in

Combine feta, sour cream, yogurt, garlic, season with salt and pepper. Spoon the dip into the hollowed out bell pepper and serve with veggies on a platter.

Easy Blue Cheese Dip

OK, you will laugh, but it is this easy:

Blue cheese crumbled (however much you want)
16 oz Low Fat Sour Cream
salt and pepper to taste

mix all ingredients and enjoy with veggies or on a burger. I say however much you want because some people like it really cheesy (like me)

My take on Pumpkin Pie Dip

ok, so I made the pumpkin dip (link to original recipe below) and I made some changes...the dip is FABULOUS! Even hubby liked it, he does not even like pumpkin stuff. Serve it with Gingersnaps and you will not be disappointed! Here is the original recipe with my changes in orange:

Pumpkin Pie Dip (Original recipe from Allrecipes.com)

1 8 oz pkg of Cream Cheese, softened (I used low fat cream cheese--cannot notice the difference)

2 C Confectioners sugar (I used 1 3/4 C Confectioners sugar and 1/2 C light brown sugar)

1 15 oz can solid pack pumpkin--not pumpkin pie filling

1 T pumpkin pie spice (heaping Tablespoon, use more if needed)

1 T ground cinnamon (I liked more, I used approx 1 1/2 T--use the 1 T and taste)

1 tsp frozen orange juice concentrate (I omitted this, it seemed like a waste)

Combine Cream Cheese with sugars (I used KA mixer) until smooth. If you are afraid it will be too sweet, add 1 1/2 C confectioners sugar and 1/2 C brown sugar and taste, that is what I did. Scrape down bowl and add spices (add 1 T of each, blend and then taste, add more if needed--I like it spicy). What you have right now would make a great spiced cream cheese if you do not care for pumpkin. Slowly add pumpkin and stir until well blended. I omitted the OJ concentrate because I thought it sounded gross and was a waste to just use a tsp. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving. Serve with Gingersnaps and/or graham crackers.

Pumpkin Pie Dip

OK, so I went to a sex toy party the other night and there was this yummy Pumpkin Dip (which was like the filling to a pumpkin pie and it was served with gingersnaps. It was out of this world!!!! So here is a recipe I found on http://www.allrecipes.com/, I have not tried it yet, but plan to this week and then I will post pictures and any changes I make: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pumpkin-Dip/Detail.aspx

the picture with the dip in the pumpkin is from the recipe on allrecipes***

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip

I went to a sex toy party last night and figured, a bunch of girls would love a recipe like this (and they did---the host hid the dip, so she could have it to herself)

***I forgot to do this last night, so I am giving credit to where I got the recipe ( : Thanks Chelley***I got it from Melissa's Magic in the Kitchen Blog ( who I believe got it from Chelley's blog) http://foodiemelissa.blogspot.com/2007/09/chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-dip_20.html

1/2 C (1 stick) butter
1/3 C light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 8 oz package low fat cream cheese
1/2 C confectioners sugar
3/4 C mini chocolate chips (I used reg. size milk choc chips, but I think heath chips would be good too)

In small saucepan, melt the butter with the brown sugar over med heat. Stirl continuously until the brown sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract and set aside to cool. Beat Cream Cheese and confectioners sugar for 1 minute. Slowly beat in cooled butter mixture and beat another minute. stir in choc chips and Pour into pie plate and refridgerate. Garnish with more chips. Serve with Nilla Wafers. Let stand at least 3o minutes before serving.