I’ll admit, when it comes to making hummus, the recipes I like to make could be considered pretty plain Jane. The most exotic ingredient I usually like to add is lemon juice. To me, plain hummus has more than enough flavor without needing the addition of any exotic items like roasted red peppers or jalapenos.

With that being said, I recently came across a recipe for raw zucchini hummus. And for some reason, that exotic-sounding recipe peaked my interest. While I wasn’t sure I wanted to have a "zucchini only" hummus, I was intrigued with the idea of adding some zucchini to my regular hummus recipe and seeing what happened.

One evening while I was feeling a bit adventurous, I added the zucchini to my usual hummus recipe and the experiment turned out fabulous! Not only does the zucchini add some fun texture, color and zippiness to the hummus, but it adds some extra nutrition as well, in the form of extra fiber, vitamins A and C, magnesium and potassium.

With this in mind, I think when summer rolls around, I will experiment with some more summer squash varieties to add to my hummus. Since most varieties of squash have such a light flavor, just like the zucchini, it seems that any variety would make a great match with a basic chickpea hummus recipe.

Ingredients:

1 16 ounce can of chickpeas
¼ cup liquid from the can of chickpeas
½ medium zucchini, diced
2 tablespoons tahini
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons olive oil
¼ cup lemon juice

Instructions:

Wash the outside of the can of chickpeas and then open it. Pour ¼ cup of liquid from can into a measuring cup and set aside. Drain rest of liquid from can and rinse the beans in cold water. Put chickpeas, along with all of the other ingredients--including the 1/4 cup of liquid--into a food processor. Blend until smooth and creamy. Once blended, place in large serving bowl and drizzle some more olive oil on top and maybe a sprinkle of paprika.

Pair this delicious dip with all kinds of crackers, tortilla chips, and veggies like carrot and celery sticks.

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