My son and I needed a snack after a long, sweaty walk, itself necessitated by a long, cranky day cooped up inside. We were out of fruit, we’d had cheese and crackers earlier in the day, and I was in the mood for something savory. I remembered there was a can of garbanzo beans in the pantry (purchased for something like 89 cents). I rinsed them and threw them in the blender. (I do not own a food processor, although I’m jealous of people who do.) In the door of the fridge was one of those gigantor packages of basil that Trader Joe’s sells. (Why so big? Why? You use five leaves and the rest of it turns black!) I salvaged the five or so leaves that weren’t yet black, then went out to the deck and picked about five more–a total of ten large basil leaves.  I removed the stems and tore the leaves before adding them to the blender. Next, about a heaping tablespoon of minced garlic. (We cheat and buy the pre-diced kind in the jar.) Then some salt to taste. Lastly, a few glugs of olive oil. I turned the blender on and off about four times, using the “Chop” setting. Each time I switched it off I stirred the mixture. When I was done most of it had the consistency of a rough hummus, along with some whole garbanzo beans throughout. Also, it was insanely delicious. The boy and I devoured it with crackers and wine. Well, okay. He had a few mouthfuls and then wandered off. I devoured the rest of it with some Two-Buck Chuck. A rather fine snack indeed, and I couldn’t help but think that if someone served it to me and said it was homemade, I’d be mightily impressed, even though it had taken me all of ten minutes to prepare. Also? It took the cranky right out of me. (That, or the wine did. Whatevs.)