8-Layered Greek Dip

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This dip is so nice that I made it twice...

within 24 hours of each other...

and ate more than my fair share of it both times...

resulting in a major garlic hangover on both occasions.

And it was soooo worth it.

I am a big fan, big fan, of the 7-layer Tex-Mex dip that everyone knows and loves.  I would guesstimate that I have eaten that dip roughly one million times in my life.  So when I saw the recipe for a 7-layer Greek dip on Pinterest recently, I had to try it.  I traced the recipe on Pinterest back to its original source, Better Homes and Gardens, changed a couple of things around, and added one extra layer for good measure (you're welcome orange and/or yellow bell peppers), for a total of 8 delicious layers of dip.  If you are one of my two regular readers (Hi mom and dad!), you may have noticed that I have been on a bit of a Greek kick lately.

The first night that I made this was as an appetizer for a get-together at our super awesome neighbours' house.  I have to credit my brother for the superb vegetable cutting skills that you see here:

Pretty nice eh?

I doubled the recipe this first night, and the whole thing disappeared (at least half of it in my stomach), with many requests for the recipe.  The next night I brought it as an appetizer to my parents' house for dinner, and again it was a hit.  Both nights I served with pita chips, which I think was the right choice as a scoop.

Let me break this thing down for you:

Classic Creamy Hummus

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Hummus!

Homemade hummus is one of those things that just tastes so much better to me than the store-bought version.  I think it's because the manufacturers of store-bought hummus just don't understand the minimum acceptable garlic requirement.  I want to notice the garlic in my hummus.  I want to feel awkward about my garlic breath after I have eaten my hummus.  I want to know the next day that I ate garlic the day before due to a full-on garlic hangover.  I love garlic.

This hummus recipe is a culmination of about eight different hummus recipes that I have used over the years.  And, I know that I should use dried beans and reconstitute rather than using canned beans, but canned have always tasted great to me (and they are way easier and less time-consuming to use).

I have toiled over how to get creamy and smooth hummus, and have determined that the secret is to puree half of the chickpeas before adding the rest of the ingredients with the second half of the chickpeas.

You can whip this batch of hummus together in less than five minutes, and be dunking carrot sticks and pita bread into it in no time.