Hummus Hedgehogs!

The kids ate these for their lunch today, with homegrown carrots and cucumbers.  Hummus is a firm favourite in the Foti house, and I probably end up making it about once a week.  Obviously you can easily buy it if you want to (at least in the UK you can), but when you can make a big bowl full in less than 5 minutes why bother?!.  And you know exactly what good stuff has gone into it.  Jacques and Francesca just love a big dollop with lots of ‘dippy sticks’, even better if it’s shaped like a hedgehog.

To make a big bowl of hummus:
a 400g/14oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
a clove of garlic, finely chopped
juice of 1 lemon
a heaped tbsp of Tahini
3 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

All you do is is either throw all the ingredients in a food processor and blend for a few brief moments, or as I do put them in a high sided bowl and whiz up with a stick blender (the sort you normally use for soups) again for a few moments.  Once whizzed check the flavour, and add further lemon juice, salt or pepper if necessary.  Et voila, lots of quick and easy healthy hummus.

To make the hedgehogs:
On to a rounded dollop of hummus, add a few of the following as spines, depending on what your kids like most:
breadsticks
carrot sticks
cucumber sticks
pepper sticks
courgette sticks
absolutely anything else that’s healthy and stick like!

Add something for a head, I used an end of a sausage because we had some in the fridge, but you could use a grape, olive, cherry tomato, or even another dollop of hummus……and even add eyes!

And make sure the grown ups get to enjoy the leftovers!

The remains of the hummus!