A couple of years ago when hummus showed up in my neighborhood Billa (I was living in Sofia, Bulgaria), I could not have been happier. The hummus was good (but not great) however its real selling point was the price--2.50 leva (that's about 1.25 Euro or what about $1.75).
<a title="Homemade hummus by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/12483802394/"><img alt="Homemade hummus" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3776/12483802394_81d9e0d610_z.jpg" width="100%" /></a>
Sure I could have made my own hummus but I don't think it would have been much cheaper than the store bought stuff. I also wasn't that interested in buying my own food processor while living abroad so I settled for store bought.
<a title="Homemade hummus by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/12483775854/"><img alt="Homemade hummus" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3796/12483775854_2b6078b49e_z.jpg" width="100%" /></a>
The good news is, in September I found a food processor-blender combo at a yardsale. It was basically new and I paid next to nothing for it. Now I can make hummus whenever I want. Yipee!!<!--more-->
<a title="Cooking Chickpeas by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/12483904484/"><img alt="Cooking Chickpeas" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7449/12483904484_50d9190d7a_z.jpg" width="100%" /></a>
I started out this fall using canned chickpeas but in January, I figured that I should move on to dried chickpeas. Sure it takes a little more time but you get way more control over the texture of the hummus.
<a title="Cooking Chickpeas by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/12483876024/"><img alt="Cooking Chickpeas" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7453/12483876024_2304bc24b1_z.jpg" width="100%" /></a>
<a title="Cooking Chickpeas by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/12483410515/"><img alt="Cooking Chickpeas" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7371/12483410515_0d895cc1b8_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" /></a>
I <a title="How to cook chickpeas" href="http://www.wikihow.com/Cook-Chickpeas" target="_blank">cook my chickpeas using these instructions</a> but I've never used the baking soda. Then I freeze 2/3 of the cooked chickpeas on a cookie sheet and after they are frozen I put them in a ziplok bag for future use. The other third? That's what I make my hummus with.

My current favorite recipe is easy as can be: put 4 diced cloves of garlic, 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 tablespoons of tahini and a 1/4 of a cup of lemon juice into the food processor and blend until combined and relatively smooth. Add the chickpeas and a pinch of salt into the food processor and blend, blend, blend.
<a title="Homemade hummus in my food procesor by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/12483338555/"><img alt="Homemade hummus in my food procesor" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3749/12483338555_ef37261624_z.jpg" width="100%" /></a>
<a title="Homemade hummus by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/12483786714/"><img alt="Homemade hummus" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7399/12483786714_4892f99b59_z.jpg" width="100%" /></a>
That's it.

Yeah, hummus!