Garbanzo Olive Dip

We have a new dip that we are making at home, and Grandma says we have to make it again.  So I'm sharing the recipe with you, so I can remember what I put in it too.  We used it for dipping some new chips made out of just popcorn and sea salt, but of course they would be good for other chips too, and as a nice spread for some rice cakes, corn thins, or of course a sandwich with homemade bread.

Garbanzo Olive Dip
By Barbara at wildflowermorningrecipes@blogspot.com

2 cans of garbonzos, drained (14 oz. cans)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped or pressed
1/8 of an onion, more or less
1/4 cup tahini
1 medium tomato, or a large handful of cherry tomatoes
juice of one lemon
1/2 - 1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
salt, if desired
1 can of olives, drained (ripes green ones are especially delicious)

Dump everything into the food processor, except the olives, and process with the sharp S-Blade until everything is ground down and moving easy.  Dump in the olives, and process until they are chopped up in little pieces you can still see, but avoid grinding them down to nothing, unless you prefer that texture.  Serve.

If you don't have a food processor, here is an idea to do it in a basic blender.

First, pre-mash your garbanzos a bit with a fork.  Put them in the blender with the tomato cut in chunks, and the lemon juice.  Blend, and scrape, until you have it at a more dip like consistency.  Scrape it out into a bowl, and then add ingredients.  Instead of using raw onion and garlic, mix in more onion and garlic powder.  Use chopped olives instead of pitted olives.  Mix everything together and then start dipping, spread in your sandwich, or on your Corn Thins.

Garbonzo Mayonnaise

It seems that we are adding cashews, almonds, and soy to our list of foods to avoid. It is sad, but with a little more food creativity we will make it. The encouraging news is that my friend just put cashews and almonds back into her diet, so I have hope this is not a forever thing.

We used to make a mayo type spread out of cashews, and I knew how to make it out of almonds and soy. But now what? I mentioned my need to another understanding friend and she told me about Garbonzo mayo. We made some this week, and spread it on gluten free bread with allergy free veggie patties. The results were so good, that there was sadness in the home when the dish was scraped clean. We will be making this recipe often. I have adjusted the original recipe to make it lower fat and less sweet.

Garbonzo Mayonnaise

1 cup water
1/4 c. garbonzo flour (heaping)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp. honey
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used grapeseed oil)

Cook water and flour in microwave for 6 minutes until thick. Or if you don't have a microwave, like me, cook it on the stove, or whiz it in the Vitamix until cooked. Add lemon juice, salt and honey. Whiz all ingredients in a blender or the Vitamix while very slowly dribbling in oil. If your impatient like me, spread some on some bread right away, or put it in the refrigerator and it will set up. It will look more solid then regular mayo, because I removed so much oil from the recipe, but it spreads nicely and makes a nice flavor on your bread. Tweek the honey and lemon juice levels if you want more sweetness or less sour in your mayo.