I think it’s time for Chickpea and Feta Salad

Gosh, I was looking back at my last few posts, and I realized…that’s a lot of sweets!  Someone may get the wrong idea about what we’ve been eating.  We have, in fact, been eating very well, thanks to the current issue of Vegetarian Times.  My favorite magazine for easy, healthy and delicious recipes!

So…a couple of Saturday’s ago, my husband and I had a smoked meat-apalooza.   I know, I know…what were we thinking?  I’ll tell you what we were thinking.  MEAT!  Simple enough.  We have an amazing authentic barbeque place here in the city, and they were calling our name.  It’s true, they were!  We had…pulled pork, brisket, chicken, ribs, cornbread and sides.   The whole meaty deal.  It. Was. Awesome!  Aaaand then reality hit, and I was up most of that night with a stomach ache.  Ugh.

When Monday rolled around, I needed to make my grocery list and meal plan for the week.  Sometimes, I love doing that.  Other times?  I hate it!  I just want to hit the store and buy whatever I feel like.  But I find that when I do that, I come home with things we don’t need, or shouldn’t have--you know the deal.  I have to plan meals.  Have to. 

Do you guys have a system for that?  I always wonder if I’m just silly and a bit too uptight about it.  We need a plan.  Especially since we eat so many fresh veggies and fruit!  I need to keep track of what I bought the fresh stuff for, so we can be sure to use it before all it’s going to feed are the two compost bins out back!  I decide what we’re having for the week, add my ingredients to the list (which is a notebook), and then list out the individual dishes in the back of the book so I remember them.  What do you guys do?

So!  I needed a meal plan last Monday, and I needed it fast.  Hello, Vegetarian Times!  The current issue has this great article called “By special request…”  Basically, a reader wanted a way to shorten her time at the grocery store.  Their response was five recipes that all had the same five essential ingredients in common.   The five ingredients?

1. Diced tomatoes
2. Leeks
3. Chickpeas (dried or canned)
4. Baby spinach
5. Red bell peppers

With these ingredients, plus other basic things that are easy to find or that you may already have, you can make five different recipes.  As a bonus, each one can be made in 30 minutes or fewer!

   

You may be asking, “With all the same ingredients, won’t that be boring?”  My honest answer?  No!  We’ve had three so far, and each one has been very different than the last.   We’ve loved each of these, and I‘m pretty sure we’ll be happy with the last two.  They have ingredients that we love, so how can we go wrong?  I’ll start with this one, and then follow up with the other four.

About the salad.  I didn’t think that the lemon juice, olive oil, and balsamic drizzle would be enough to flavor this salad.  Amazingly, it was!  It was actually addicting.  I wanted more, like an endlessly filling bowl of salad from Hogwarts!  It’s everything you want in a main dish salad.  Great flavor, cold, crunchy…just so good.  I didn’t have sunflower seeds to top it with but we use Aurora Salad Fixin’s, which are even better!  Also, an optional ingredient is diced canned tomatoes.  I just can’t bring myself to add those to a salad, so I used grape tomatoes.

Chickpea and Feta Salad
Serves 8

2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup minced leek (white part only) or red onion
2 cups baby spinach
2 cups cooked chickpeas (or 15 oz can, rinsed and drained)
2 medium carrots, julienned (about 1 cup)
1/2 red bell pepper, diced (1/2 cup)
1/4 cup toasted sunflower seeds or other crunchy salad topping
2 heads romaine lettuce, cut into 1/2" ribbons
3/4 cup grape tomatoes
1/2 cup crumbled feta
Balsamic vinegar to drizzle over the top

In a small bowl, whisk lemon juice and oil.
Stir in the leek, add salt and pepper if you'd like, and set aside.
Take a small pile of spinach leaves, stack them up, roll them up,  and then slice across to make strips.  Continue until you've done all the spinach leaves.
In a large bowl, combine spinach, chickpeas, carrots, bell pepper and sunflower seeds or other crunchy topping.
Stir in the leek mixture and toss well to combine. 
Divide romaine among serving plates and top with chickpea mixture.
Add tomatoes.
Garnish each salad with feta and Balsamic.

Notes:

• Would I make this again?  Yes!  Going to have it again this week, in fact.
• It’s everything I like in a main dish salad--crunchy, packed with stuff, hearty and filling.
• I use canned chickpeas in this dish.
• It’s wonderful as is, but it’s salad--they’re versatile!  Something you don’t like? Replace it with something you do like.
• After eating these dishes all week, I can almost hear our bodies saying “Meat? What meat?”

Greek Sandwich with Feta Vinaigrette

You’re in a hurry! Running late, maybe even stuck in traffic. What’s for dinner? With one quick stop to the grocery store, or better yet—the farmer’s market, you can have everything in one bag to make this tempting sandwich.

We love this one. Seriously. L. O. V. E. It’s cool and refreshing with zero cooking involved, so that makes it great for hot summer evenings when you can’t even think of turning on the oven. What’s so great about it? Well, aside from being delicious and loaded with vegetables, it’s also crunchy, cool, and satisfying. I think it would be great with some grilled chicken tucked in there, too. And now that we can actually see the grill out there in the yard, it’s a perfect time to try that option out. We’ve been enjoying this all winter long. Yes, really! With bagged spinach, Campari Tomatoes or vine ripened, and an English Cucumber—you know the ones, all wrapped up in plastic—this still tastes like a fresh summer sandwich.

Have you guys tried the Campari tomatoes? They’re the closest I've found to garden fresh. They’re sweet and so good. I think I’ll have to do a side by side when we start getting garden tomatoes this summer. Anyway, they’re a bit pricier than the pink, bland “other” tomatoes, but they’re well worth it.

I found this recipe a while back at MyRecipes.com. If you haven’t checked this site out yet, you should. It’s packed with great recipes and tips! Whether you want quick recipes, diet friendly, budget, or party recipes and more, you can find them there. The MyRecipes.com network has recipes from some of your favorite magazines:

• Cooking Light
• Coastal Living
• Cottage Living
• Health
• MyHomeIdeas
• Real Simple
• Southern Accents
• Southern Living
• Sunset

Just look at all of those resources, right at your fingertips! So check them out!

You can find the recipe for the sandwich here: Greek Sandwich with Feta Vinaigrette. The only thing I do differently is to use fresh spinach instead of arugula. And do make the dressing to taste—a reviewer said she thought it was a bit lemony, so she added extra oil. It’s all to taste, right?

One side note—we like to really pack the salad into the sandwiches. I know, oink, right? But it’s salad! Can’t fault me for that, hehe. So it can get a little messy. Serve with a fork for picking up the salad that is going to fall out in your plate. And if you’re serving it to guests, make sure they’re people you’re not trying to impress with your graceful eating habits. This sandwich is good. Really good. And worth getting a little messy over.

If any of you decide to try it, please let me know how you liked it, and also let me know if you try it with chicken! One more thing! The dressing and salad make a wonderful side salad on their own, or even with some chicken added for a main dish meal.

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Beat the Heat with Fresh Summer Salad and Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

My friend Grace at A Southern Grace is having a blog event called Beat the Heat. She wants recipes that won't heat up the kitchen during the hot months of summer. (And even though it's only 61° here today--that's fall weather!) And her rules say we can submit new stuff, or things we've already blogged about. I did have a recipe all picked out to make, but we have some guys working at the house, fixing insulation until Friday. So I'm stuck here and can't get to the store. And it's raining. And I have four kids. And it's supposed to rain tomorrow, too. Help. Me.

So I chose two recipes that I originally posted back in March. Did it matter that it wasn't hot out then? No way, because they're good all year 'round. But if tomatoes aren't in season in your area, do yourself a favor and spring for the pretty vine ripened ones. The recipes compliment each other so well, and if you add a couple more things to your plate, you've got a delicious and healthy feast. These are a favorite when you don't feel like heating up the kitchen, or even if you don't feel like cooking. The prep for these is easy--a bit chopping for the salad, and the hummus is all made in the food processor. Add some feta, pita wedges, and good olives if you've got them, and you have a heavenly snack or meal.

You can find the post for the Fresh Summer Salad here.

And the Roasted Red Pepper Hummus post is here.

Put them together and you get something like this:

It's a nice light, but filling combination. And that salad is so good! It's like a bowl of summer, hehe.

So that's my entry to Beat the Heat. And even though it's cool out today, I'm adding this stuff to my grocery list. If I can ever get out to the store...

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It's Wednesday! Do you know what that means?

Great island Common on the seacoast in New Castle, NH. Isn't it gorgeous there? The day I took this was just like today's weather--sunny and in the 70's. I'd love to be under that tree right now with a good book.

Neither do I. I was hoping some of you might. At least it's cooler today! We're currently at 74°, which is fine by me. We'll still be getting some warmer than usual weather later in the week, but for now, I'm totally enjoying this. It was so hot last night that I didn't even cook anything. We had roasted red pepper hummus and summer salad with whole wheat pitas and feta. So good, and no heating up the kitchen!

I've got a couple of recipes to share today. One is for a most delicious salad, created by Jerry at Cooking by the Seat of my Pants. You should check out his blog--he has great food to drool over. Jerry came up with this recipe for the Royal Foodie Joust sponsored by Jenn, The Leftover Queen, at the Foodie Blogroll. Please check her blog out, too, and if you haven't joined the blogroll yet, have a look around!

Since I won the previous joust, I got to pick the three required ingredients for this one, and those were...surprise! raspberry, lime and almonds. The jousters came up with such great recipes to feed my addiction, hehe. (It's almost like I had minions catering to my raspberry and lime whims!) I had to try the salad, not only because it looked delicious and had my favorite things in it, but because it's got my name on it! I think if something's named after you, it's a given--you've got to make it. It's so good! And will be a regular around here this summer. The dressing is tangy and not too sweet, the chicken is tender and nicely flavored, and all the extras in it come together to make one great meal. I couldn't find any sliced almonds at the store, so I used pecans--also delicious. The vinaigrette is like any dressing, to taste--I ended up adding a bit more raspberry jam (Trader Joe's low sugar jam) and lime juice. Actually, I just about doubled it so we'd be sure to have enough. I also added some fresh raspberries to the salad.

This one's definitely going to be on the menu again soon, and I hope you'll all check it out!
Almost forgot to link to the salad! D'oh! La Salade d'Elle (Chicken Salad with Almonds, Queso Fresco, and Raspberry Lime Vinaigrette.)

Next recipe! I must warn you, these pictures you're about to see aren't pretty. But! It won't matter because the food is so freaking good! It's typical baseball park, tailgating, or street food. So funny, because it's such a simple thing to make, but for me, it's such a treat. I'm like a little kid when we have these. So is my husband! He's happy when we have this. It's easy to feed a crowd with these, too, or cut back and make a smaller batch if you like. You can do these in the house, as I've done here, or on the grill, with a pan so you don't lose stuff to the coals. Either way, it's goooood eating!

Sausage, Peppers and Onions

For this batch, I used Sweet Italian Sausage, ten of them. They were on sale, what can I say? Normally I don't make ten at a time, but they're still so, so good the next day. I used three red bell peppers--use whatever color peppers you want, and two longish light green peppers. No idea what they were, but they were sweet, not spicy. I also used two large sweet onions, and about seven or eight cloves of garlic.

10 Sweet (or hot, if you like) Italian Sausage; you could also use chicken or turkey sausages
5 sweet bell peppers, any color, sliced into long strips
2 large sweet onions, sliced
7 cloves garlic, minced
vinegar (I usually use white wine vinegar, but use whatever kind you have)
fresh cracked black pepper and salt if you taste and think it needs some
sandwich rolls
yellow mustard (you can use spicy mustard if you want, but the best way to enjoy these is with good old yellow mustard)

In a large pan on medium heat, brown the sausages, about 3 minutes on each side, for a total of about 12 minutes.
Remove from pan and set aside to cool a bit, drain most of the oil from the pan.
Add the peppers, onions, and garlic, and saute until they get soft, but don't brown them too much. Stir them around occasionally for even cooking. You can add a little olive oil if you need to.

Before!

After!

While the peppers and onions are cooking, slice the sausages almost all the way through lengthwise, but leave one end intact so you can open them up, like this:

See? I told you these weren't pretty.

Add about 1/4 cup or so of vinegar to the onions and peppers and stir to coat evenly.
Open up the sausages and place them over their bed of peppery-oniony-vinegary goodness.


Cover the pan and lower the heat to medium low for about 10 minutes.
Serve in buns with yellow mustard, and lots of napkins. Street food is messy food.

Servings depend on the size of the sausages. Yes, size matters. We had stubby ones and needed two per bun. God, I can't believe I just typed that, hehe!

Doesn't have to be pretty to be freaking delicious!

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Tuna Orzo Salad, and My Continuing Love Affair with Chickpeas

Just look at those gorgeous colors and those delicious chickpeas!

I love chickpeas. I really do. They make the most delicious hummus, they're wonderful roasted in the oven for a great snack, and they go well in so many things, like stews, salads, and chili. And over at Vicarious Foodie, they're starring in Spaghetti alla Ceci! That looks amazing, doesn't it? If you haven't tried them yet, you should grab a can the next time you're out shopping. Try them--they're not mushy, like beans--they have a nice texture and an earthy, slightly nutty flavor.

Here are a few facts on chickpeas, as seen on FoodReference.com.

__________________________________________________________________________

CHICKPEA

Chick pea and garbanzo bean are 2 names for the same thing (Cicer arietinum) a member of the Pea family (Fabaceae). They are also called ceci (Italy), Egyptian pea, gram, Kichererbse (Germany), and revithia (Greece).

Garbanzo is the name used in Spanish speaking countries. The English name chickpea comes from the French chiche, which comes from the Latin cicer.

Garbanzo Beans or chickpeas are the most widely consumed legume in the world. Originating in the Middle East, they have a firm texture with a flavor somewhere between chestnuts and walnuts. Garbanzo beans are usually pale yellow in color. In India there are red, black, and brown chickpeas.

Chickpeas or garbanzo beans have 361 calories per 100g, and are rich in carbohydrates, proteins, phosphorus, calcium and iron.

___________________________________________________________________

This brings me to today's recipe. It's Tuna Orzo Salad, which happens to be a Rachael Ray recipe. Now, I'm not a huge fan of her recipes or her shows, but I do love her magazine. It's full of great ideas and articles, and guest authors that also have wonderful ideas and recipes. This one is from her magazine, and we love it. It's makes a wonderful lunch or light dinner.

It's such a pretty salad, too, with all of the jewel tones from the ingredients. There's the purple shade of the red onions, the juicy orange (or red or yellow) peppers, the green basil, the cherry red grape tomatoes, and of course, the silky chickpeas.

I've actually had this recipe photographed and ready to go for a while, but you guys know how it it is--you photograph so much stuff, then you have all these things ready to post, and not enough time to post them all. And besides, it's in the stars today, with Vicarious Foodie showcasing chickpeas, and with Deborah at Taste and Tell in day 5 of her 7 Days with Rachael Ray series. Whether you like RR or not, she does have a lot of good, basic ideas that can be tweaked and added to. For this particular recipe, I don't change a thing, except for drizzling some white balsamic vinegar over our salad.

Tuna Orzo Salad

3 c chicken broth
1 cup orzo
1/4 c red wine vinegar
salt and pepper
2 (6 oz) cans olive oil packed tuna, drained and oil reserved
1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, drained
1 cup grape tomatoes, sliced in half
1 yellow or red bell pepper, diced
half a red onion, finely diced
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
1/2 c crumbled feta cheese
white balsamic vinegar, for drizzling over

Bring the broth to a boil in a saucepan and add the orzo. Cook until al dente, then drain and cool slightly.
In a large bowl, season the vinegar with salt and pepper and mix until the salt dissolves.
Whisk in the reserved oil from the tuna, then add the orzo and toss to mix.
Add the chickpeas, tomatoes, peppers, onion, onion and basil to the orzo mixture.
Break up the tuna and add that and the feta to the salad, then serve.
Top with a light drizzle of balsamic vinegar.

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