L is (also) for Lemon Garlic Hummus (Jessica)

Hello there!

This week, I actually made TWO recipes that start with L. Something about vacation, a big kitchen, and so many kitchen helpers all combined to bring you this second recipe! How exciting and delicious.

On a more serious note, both the recipes for L are totally gluten free. Why, you ask? Well, one of my family members was recently diagnosed with celiac disease. I had heard of celiac disease (also called celiac sprue) before, but didn't know much about it until about a month ago. After doing some research, I found out that celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder, not a gluten allergy (as is commonly thought). The small intestine is damaged when gluten is present in the body. This damage prevents the body from absorbing the nutrients it needs to stay healthy (for example: proteins, vitamins, and minerals). There is no medication to repair the damage done to the intestine, the only way to treat this condition is to completely remove gluten from your diet.

As you can imagine, this radically changes how a person eats. Especially a person who loves pasta and bread. Gluten is in wheat, malt, rye and a number of other grains. Eating out becomes a challenge, special provisions must be made to ensure a meal has not been contaminated with gluten in the kitchen. Oh, and baking your typical cake/muffin/cupcake requires some serious alterations.
In light of all of this, we'll be tagging our gluten-free recipes and making more of them!

If you'd like to know more, here are some good links to read about celiac disease:
http://www.celiaccentral.org/
http://www.celiac.org/

And now, on to the recipe...

Lemon Garlic Hummus
from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
1/3 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 cups garbanzo beans (chickpeas), rinsed and drained
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:
1. In a food processor, combine the oil, lemon juice, beans, garlic, and salt. Cover and process until smooth.
2. Transfer to a bowl, top with a little olive oil and paprika to taste, and eat.

We topped ours with parsley as well, just for looks!

Review:
This hummus is delicious! Garlic fans will love it. If you're not such a big garlic fan, halve the minced garlic amount. The amount of lemon is just right. We ate this immediately with vegetables; it could also be served with pita wedges (not gluten-free), or various kinds of crackers. The recipe is so easy and it tasted so much more authentic than store-bought hummus. Yum! Definitely will be making this again.

Lemon lovin'

-Jessica