Antipasto Platter

When all of our graduation guests arrived on Wednesday, I figured I'd need a little something to keep them happy and their bellies full until the spaghetti (nothing more than a large pot to feed the masses) was ready. Ok, maybe they didn't really need anything, so much as I love having guests because it is an excuse for me to make food I don't usually make.
Since we were eating Italian food, I went for an antipasto platter sans the meat- I don't know if that really makes it an antipasto platter, but give me a break. I went to the olive bar at Whole Foods, got extraordinarily giddy over olives and onions and set them on a platter with some veggies and homemade roasted garlic hummus.

Here are the baby mozzarella, roasted garlic pickles, onions and olives (some stuffed with garlic- yum!)

Serve that hummus with fresh cut veggies- especially for those who want to opt for a lower calorie pre-meal snack.

I cheated slightly; buying the roasted garlic from WF, but you can certainly roast your own or just use raw garlic. I do not have an exact recipe for the hummus, but as long as you use all these ingredients and start with a small amount of each and taste until you reach your palette's desired satisfaction, you'll be fine.

Roasted Garlic Hummus
Makes about 1.5 cups
1 can garbanzo beans- drained
2 tablespoons sesame tahini (look for this next to the all natural peanut butter)
6-8 cloves roasted garlic (use less if it's raw garlic)
1/2 squeezed lemon
1/4-1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (this is the ingredient you're really going to have to experiment with quantity wise)
salt and pepper to taste

Dump all ingredients through lemon into your Vitamix, food processor, blender, etc. Pulse until it because chunky- not completely smooth. Then, with the machine running, drizzle a steady stream of olive oil- start with about 1/4 cup. You'll need as much olive oil as it takes to give the mix that creamy, smooth texture. Add the salt and pepper, run for a few seconds and then taste to make sure it has your desired flavor and texture.

Nota bena: You do not have to add garlic to this. Make red pepper, sun dried tomato, olive, or anything else you desire. I would still add a couple cloves of raw garlic to any hummus you make.