Buffalo Hummus

This recipe comes from a cook book called No Meat Athlete by Matt Frazier, but I found it on OhSheGlows.com.  I made some pretty substantial changes when I made it in order to make it both low-fat and mild enough Simran could enjoy it too.  I swapped out the standard chickpeas and tahini for white beans, since white beans create a rather comparable level of creaminess and I generally avoid tahini on account of its fat content.  Aside from the salt, the recipe below is so low-fat and healthy that it meets even Caldwell Esselstyn's 'prevent and reverse heart disease' standards. 

Everyone in the house liked it, and we ate all of it immediately.  It is good as a dip for celery sticks, pita chips, and crispy breaded tofu strips, and I'm pretty sure it would be good as a sandwich spread too.  It's very simple and only takes a few minutes to throw together.  If you like spicy wings with Buffalo sauce, I suggest you try the spicing from the original recipe linked above, which calls for much more hot sauce and cayenne pepper as well -- mine is much milder.

Ingredients

• 1 15-oz. can white beans, drained and rinsed, but set the bean water aside in case you need to add it back in (Cannellini, Great Northern, or Navy beans will work)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 dashes Frank's Red Hot sauce (add more if you aren't serving it to a baby)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/2 cup jarred roasted red pepper

Directions

1. Combine all the ingredients in a food processor. Pulse a few times to combine and then scrape down the sides.  With motor running, add bean water slowly until you reach desired consistency.

2. Add more salt, lemon juice, or hot sauce, to taste.