Balsamic Quinoa Salad

Gluten-free, Vegetarian, Light

I am inundated with chickpeas! Since I keep forgetting to buy lemon juice so I can make hummus, I decided to add some to another salad. So today for lunch I made myself a balsamic quinoa salad.

I started by making a 1/2 C batch of crispy spicy chickpeas (see previous post). Then in a bowl I combined...

2 C Cooked quinoa
2 T Newman's Own Light Balsamic Dressing
1/3 Cucumber, chopped
1/2 Tomato, chopped (I used to hate raw tomato, but it's a staple for me now)
1/3 C Mozzarella, cut in to small cubes

I scooped 1 C of this salad, with the chickpeas, on to a bed of lettuce. When making this salad, don't forget to chill the quinoa first. I thought it was cool enough and ended up with mostly melted bits of cheese. It was still good, though. The combination of textures was delicious. I have been working on this recipe since this summer, and I think I finally have it where I want it. This salad is refreshing and flavorful.

Quinoa is a crunchy little powerhouse. In a 1 C serving it packs a punch of 8 g of protein, 40 g of carbs, 31 mg of calcium, and over 5 g of fiber. This is the perfect lunch before a long workout. Which reminds me...

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Crispy Chickpea Salad

Gluten-free, Vegan, Light

When I made curry fried rice the other night, I made the chickpeas from scratch...and I made a whole bag. TONS of left over beans. When I was making myself lunch the other day I wanted an Asian salad, but I remembered that I had those chickpeas. One of my goals is to be less wasteful with our food, so I challenged myself to make it work.

Here's what I ended up with-- a green leaf lettuce salad with an Asian dressing, mandarin oranges, and crispy spicy chickpeas. The combination of textures and flavors was irresistible.

To make the chickpeas:

Heat 1/2 T Olive oil in a pot
Add 1/2 C Cooked chickpeas
1/4 t Cayenne pepper
1/2 t Cumin
1/4 t Ginger
2-3 Dashes of red pepper flakes
A dash of curry
Black pepper, to taste

Stir occasionally until chickpeas are crispy. If you do it right, they should still be soft inside.

To make an Asian dressing:

1/2 T Liquid aminos (or low-sodium soy sauce)
1 t Toasted sesame oil
A splash of orange juice
3 dashes Ground ginger
A splash of rice wine vinegar
1 drizzle of honey
A sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds
3 chopped cilantro leaves
1/2 T Chopped green onion

Blend in bowl, and toss with greens. (I know, I use extremely precise measuring...)

To put it all together, you toss the greens in dressing in a bowl, add one serving of mandarin orange slices. Top with crispy chickpeas.

Chickpeas contain about 135 calories (per 1/2 c) when you cook them yourself, but in that same serving they have about 1/8 of the protein you need in a day, about 5 g of fiber, and a fair amount of iron and potassium.

I still have some leftover beans, I think that calls for a batch of hummus. Stay tuned...

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Curry Fried Rice

I LOVE Indian food, it makes me very happy. One thing that I really appreciate about it is that it has wonderful vegetarian options. The other night I made one of my favorite Indian-inspired cupboard-cleaner meals: curry fried rice.

Gluten-free, Vegan, Light



Here's how you make it happen:

1 C Cooked brown rice
1/2 C Cooked garbanzo beans
1 T Oil
2 t Fresh grated ginger
1/2 t ground coriander seeds
1 T Curry powder
1/2 t Ground cumin
Chopped cilantro, to taste
Bragg's Liquid Aminos (or soy sauce)
2-3 Dashes of red pepper flakes
Add as many steamed carrots, broccoli, frozen peas, and green beans as you want

Start by "blooming" the seasonings: heat the oil and add ginger, ground coriander, and cumin. Stir for about a minute. Add rice, garbanzo beans, broccoli, and green beans. Stir until broccoli is almost done. Add peas, steamed carrots, curry, liquid aminos (or soy sauce), cilantro and red pepper flakes. Stir until peas are heated through. If the stir-fry seems too dry (curry dries things out sometimes) add some vegetable stock or water.

I like liquid aminos because they have the flavor of soy sauce, but has less sodium and is gluten-free (and we always end up using less because the flavor is stronger). If you haven't tried it, I HIGHLY recommend it.

This also makes a great lunch the next day.

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