Almond "Hummus"

Recipe adapted from the Raw Food Coach

Preparation Time: 20 minutes excluding soaking almonds (the grinding takes the most time)

Ingredients:
- 1 Cup soaked almonds
- 1/4 cup tahini
- 1 small clove garlic
- 1 lemon
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 TBS fresh parsley
- 1 tsp fresh basil

Directions:
1. Break almonds, garlic and lemon juice in a blender until you achieve a smooth consistency. Add a little water if necessary.

2. Add all the other ingredients and blend.

3. When you are done, taste-test and add more salt, herbs or garlic as desired.

Tips:
Spread on green vegetables such as the leafs of baby spinach, lettuce or on crackers and pita bread.

Storage:
This recipe will keep in the fridge for a week.

Nutritional Value:
Almonds are a very good source of vitamin E and manganese. Almonds are a good source of magnesium, copper, riboflavin (vitamin B2), zinc and phosphorus. Fortunately, although one-quarter cup of almonds contains about 18 grams of fat, most of it (11 grams) is heart-healthy monounsaturated fat.

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Additional Comments:
I love this popular Middle Eastern dip, hummus. It is a very delicious as a snack or appetizer with cracker or bread. Hummus is the Arabic word for "chickpeas," thus this recipe is not traditional hummus per se. Compared to traditional hummus recipe made of chick peas, this recipe is a lot easier, but it taste extremely similar to hummus made of chick peas. Thus, if you like hummus, you most likely will like this. Almonds are very nutritious too.

I tried this out for the first time today and Daddy and J really like it. I use 1 large clove garlic, but think it is too much, so I should reduce it next time.

The portion on the picture is not the full portion that I made from this recipe, but a small portion I took out for the appetizer this evening.

References:
http://karenknowler.typepad.com/living_in_the_raw/2006/05/recipe_almond_h.html

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=20