Save your marriage hummus.

At least, that's what it was called on a web board that I was on recently.

This is yet another "find" from another source. I made it once, improved upon it for my tastes, and made it "mine." This brings me to an important cooking point.

Aside from baking, where the yeast-sugar-salt proportions must be just so, cooking is not an exact science. You cannot create a "one size fits all" recipe. Cooking is about being one with your food, tasting, loving, thriving. It's about knowing that something "isn't right" to your tastes - and the one spice, flavor, additive that will make it so.

I am not an exact cook - which is why I will never write a cook book. I don't like feeling confined by measurements and exacts. A truly wonderful cook only uses a recipe as a guide - the rest is up to the imagination.

Hummus:

1 lb dried garbanzo beans
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 small onion, diced
approximately 4 garlic cloves, diced
two cans of plain green olives
4 tablespoons tahini
4 tablespoons lemon juice
olive oil

Start by soaking the beans all night or day. Wash and toss the ickies.

When ready to cook, place beans in a dutch oven, with around a gallon of water.

Bring to a boil, cook for 1.5-2.5 hours. You want a bean that can be mashed with a little effort, blended creamy easily, but isn't falling apart. When done, pour into a colander and drain.

In same dutch oven, put 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Heat over medium heat. Add onions and garlic. Cook for a few minutes. Depending on your affinity for garlic (I love to eat them whole and roasted) - you can increase/decrease the amount.

Add paprika, chili powder, and cumin. Cook up for a few more minutes.

Add drained beans. Cook for another two minutes or so. Adjust heat if it gets too hot.

Remove from heat, split between two bowls.

In large food processor, add one bowl of beans and one can of olives. Then add 2 heaping tablespoons of tahini, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, and blend completely.

Once blended very well, add olive oil to desired consistency. Some like it thicker, some like it thinner.

Place in bowls.

Repeat the blending process with the remainder of the ingredients.

Place in bowls. Hummus can be frozen for later consumption.

And no, this didn't save my marriage (there was nothing to be saved) - but it got your attention, didn't it? It was how it was posted elsewhere on the web, and I stole it.