Pita Chips and Hummus

I love pita and hummus but the store bought stuff is so expensive and full of sodium. This is an easy way to make healthier and cheaper. I made these for my classmates who ate them all up!
Adapted from recipes in Jillian Michaels' The Master Your Metabolism Cookbook

Servings: 10
Total time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:
For pita chips - makes 48-60 chips
Cooking spray
4-5 whole-wheat pita breads (however many come in a package)
3 T extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced then crushed with a mortar and pestle
sea salt for sprinkling

For hummus - makes about 3 cups
2 cans (30 oz total) of no sodium chickpeas
1/2 c lemon juice
6 T tahini (sesame seed paste, found in the Mediterranean section)
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tsp sea salt
4 tsp extra virgin olive oil, for garnish
1/4 tsp paprika, for garnish

Directions:
For pita chips
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray 2 baking sheets with the cooking spray.

Use kitchen scissors to cut each pita round along the edge so you have two circles. If you run into resistance, put your hand inside the pita to separate the two halves and resume cutting. Stack the 8-10 pita circles and cut them into 6 wedges each by first cutting them in half and each half into 3 pieces. Place the triangles on the baking sheets with the inside of the pita facing upward. You may need to do more than one batch. It helps to use an alternating W pattern to fit more on.

Combine the olive oil and the garlic in a small bowl. Brush on the top of the pitas or just use your fingers to spread it out a bit. Lightly sprinkle the salt on top.

Put the sheets into the oven and bake until the pitas are slightly brown around the edges, about 5 minutes. You may need to turn the pans around to avoid hot spots. Let cool before serving.

For hummus
While the chips are baking, start the hummus by first reserving 1/2 cup of the liquid from the chickpea cans. You can either drain it straight into a measuring cup or put a bowl under the strainer to capture all of the liquid.

Put the lemon juice, tahini, garlic, and salt into a 5+ cup food processor. Process until combined. Add the chickpeas and reserved liquid and blend until smooth.

To garnish, put the hummus in a shallow bowl. Make a well in the middle and add the olive oil then sprinkle with paprika. Serve with the previously made chips.

You can use the same technique without cutting all the way around to make pita sandwiches!

Before baking

Hummus with paprika garnish