chickpeas

{Recipe} Smashed Chipotle Chickpea Tacos with Tahini Sauce

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Smashed Chipotle Chickpea Tacos with Tahini Sauce

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1-15oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed, mashed
  • 1 red onion, diced
  • 1 Anaheim chile, diced
  • 8oz button mushrooms, sliced
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
  • Spice Mix:
    • 1 teaspoon chili powder
    • 1 teaspoon chipotle powder
    • 1 teaspoons smoked paprika
    • 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
    • 1 teaspoon cumin
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Heath the oil in a medium saute pan.  Add the peppers and onions to the pan; cook for 5-7 minutes until they begin to soften. Add the mushrooms and garlic; cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the spice mix to combine. Stir in the chickpeas and vinegar, cover and turn to low; cook 5 minutes. Serve on tortillas or atop a salad with the tahini sauce (recipe below).

Tahini Sauce:

  • 3 tablespoons lime juice
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 teaspoons cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons tahini
  • 1/4 cup chopped parsley
  • 1/2 cup canola oil
  • pinch of cayenne

Place everything in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth.

Recipe: Summer Vegetable Ragout

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This recipe takes advantage of summers bounty and is an easy and nutritious one pot meal. I actually made this the night I went into labor with our little girl and it was perfectly filling to help sustain me through labor. Serve up with a green salad and some crusty bread.
Serves 4

1 lb whole small new potatoes or large new potatoes quartered, rinsed
1 medium red onion, diced
1 medium zucchini, sliced into quarter inch half moons
1 medium summer squash, sliced into quarter inch half moons
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups cooked or canned chickpeas, rinsed
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

Heat a large saute pan with a lid over medium-high heat. Add 1/4 cup of water the potatoes and onions. Cover and cook for 15 minutes.
Add the zucchini, summer squash, garlic, olive oil and salt and pepper, toss together. Return cover, cook 5 minutes.
Add the chickpeas and tomatoes, toss everything together.
Cover and  cook 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Recipe of The Week: Arugula Pesto Chickpea Spread

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This past weekend we celebrated Mother’s Day at Shelburne Museum. Since the food choices are limited at the cafe there I made us a picnic lunch which included delicious veggie sandwiches with arugula pesto chickpea spread. I love how it turned out so I am sharing it with you!

  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 1/2 cup raw walnuts
  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
  • 2 cups lightly packed baby arugula
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 15-oz cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 2 heaping tablespoons vegenaise (or you could use more olive oil if you would like)
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Place the garlic, walnut and nutritional yeast in the base of a food processor and process until crumbly, about 20-30 seconds.  Add the arugula and process for 30 seconds and then slowly pour the olive oil through the feed tube and process until smooth. Add the chickpeas, vegenaise, salt and pepper to the processor and process just until combined.  If you would like it smoother feel free to process longer, I preferred to make mine a little chunky. 

Serve: spread onto your favorite veggie sandwich (I made ours with roasted mushrooms, zucchini, fresh arugula and slices of tomato), stuff this spread into tomatoes <– amazing, enjoy with veggies, on top of a salad or in a wrap.

Recipe of the Week: My Favorite Open Faced Chickpea Salad Sandwich

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There is no denying it bread does not last long in this house, especially if it is in bagel form. Both the husband and I are addicted to toast, bagels with tofu cream cheese and sandwiches. To keep our addiction in check we don’t often buy bread but rather eat it out (which isn’t often) or Neil will bake us up a small loaf (much more manageable). One other way that we have been able to keep our addiction in check are wonderful sprouted breads that are from the freezer section; it seems that if the bread isn’t on the counter we won’t eat a loaf in two days (or less).

 

 

Our current bread love is French Meadow Bakery which makes bagels, wraps and bread both gluten free and not. We seem to always have something in our freezer nowadays and I love it. My favorite products are the bagels especially the hemp bagels with tofu cream cheese, thinly sliced onions and tomatoes, capers and a little salt and pepper- YUM! Also did I mention that one hemp bagel has 19 grams of protein and 13 grams of dietary fiber! This is a huge plus especially since being pregnant I need to make sure I am getting a good amount of both.

When my sweet tooth hits I turn to the sprouted cinnamon raisin bagels which honestly don’t require any topping but are wonderful with almond butter and banana. These t0o are filled with protein and dietary fiber- Win!

 

 

Now I would eat most everything on a bagel but sometimes you just want toast or a sandwich and that’s when I turn to the 16 Grain & Seed Bread.  This bread makes a fabulous sandwich or toast, I especially like to use it for open faced sandwiches.  Recently I made up a bowl of my favorite sandwich filling, chickpea salad, and topped a few slices of 16 Grain & Seed Bread along with tomato, red onion and a sprinkle of nutritional yeast.  I stuck the slices under the broiler for 4-5 minutes and voila I had the best open faced sandwich- double yum!

 

My Favorite Open Faced Chickpea Salad Sandwich

  • 1 15-oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 2 carrots, minced
  • 2 celery stalks, minced
  • 2T onion, minced
  • 1/2T Triple Blend Flakes (or kelp flakes) (optional)
  • 1/4 Cup vegenaise or your other favorite vegan mayo
  • Tomato and Onion, thinly sliced
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • Nutritional yeast

Place your chickpeas in a bowl and smash them with a potato masher.  Add the carrots, celery, onion, kelp flakes and vegenaise and mix to combine.  Top slices of bread with the mixture and then layer with onion and tomato.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper and nutritional yeast.  Place on a sheet pan and broil on high for 4-5 minutes.

Unfortunately Open Faced Sandwiches Aren't Very Photogenic

Recipe of The Week: Chickpea-Quinoa Salad

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I know that the recipe above is hard to read and there is a typo so here is a better version below.

Chickpea-Quinoa Salad

  • 1 cup organic quinoa, rinsed +2 cups water
  • 1/4 cup organic scallions, thinly sliced
  • 1 small red onion, diced small
  • 1/2 bunch organic fresh parsley, chopped
  • 2 cups cooked or canned organic chickpeas
  • Juice of one lemon
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt and Pepper, to taste
Bring quinoa and water to a boil, reduce and cover for 15-20 minutes.  Let stand for 5 minutes. Uncover and allow to come to room temperature.
Prepare and combine remaining ingredients in a bowl.  Add the quinoa and stir to combine.  Season with salt and pepper to taste

This month over on my health coaching blog  we will be discussing how to live healthy on a budget.  Above is one of my favorite healthy, inexpensive spring/summer dinner recipes for you to enjoy.  For more recipes and to learn different tips on how to live healthy without breaking the bank keep checking back on the coaching blog.

Speaking of health coaching…I have a brand AFFORDABLE new program that just started this week! Check out the details here. 

That’s One Spicy Chickpea

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This weekend the Hubz and I took a whirlwind trip to Massachusetts to do a little Ikea, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and Target shopping. We picked up a few things for the nursery and found out that 70% of the items I had put on our nursery vision board just didn’t live up to our expectations. I am glad we found this out now and not in March when we head to Boston.

On the ride home we stopped in to Whole Foods and I started craving hot sauce really bad, one of my weird pregnancy cravings, and I got to thinking what about a buffalo chickpea dip? I first thought of using Sour Supreme to make it creamy but I really wanted to avoid the soy and then I spotted the So Delicious Coconut Greek Yogurt and I decided to pick up a plain and try it in my dip.

The verdict? I loved the coconut Greek yogurt in this! I would recommend this recipe for your upcoming Super Bowl or Oscar Party it is sure to be a hit!

2-15oz cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup hot sauce (I use Franks)*
1 container SoDelicious Plain Greek Yogurt**
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried onion flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.

2. Place 1 cup of the chickpeas in the base of a food processor with the hot sauce and process until smooth and pour into a medium bowl.

3. Add all of the remaining chickpeas and remaining ingredients to the bowl and mix to combine.

4. Pour the chickpea mixture into individual ramekins or into an oven safe dish.  Place in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes until hot and bubbly.

5. Serve with veggies (I suggest celery) and pita, crackers or tortilla chips.

*If you desire less heat reduce the amount of hot sauce and substitute non-dairy milk or water.

**Can’t find coconut Greek yogurt? No Problem! Substitute non-dairy sour cream! 

Update: Hubz ate the leftovers today and said they were even better than the first day, that being said if you have the time mix the dip the day before, refrigerate overnight and bake off right before eating.

Recipe: Tex Mex Avocado Pasta

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I came across Angela of Oh She Glows recipe for 15 Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta and I thought it sounded really great. Since I had a bunch of avocados to use up this week I decided to create this recipe with a twist; I really wanted to add more veggies and protein to the dish and spice it up a little.

The first thing I did was weigh out four portions of pasta, two for this dish and two for a dish I made for our lunches. I love using a kitchen scale for things like pasta and snacks because it gives a much more accurate portion than just counting how many crackers are in a serving or approximate measurement.

Tex Mex Avocado Pasta

Inspired by Oh She Glows

Serves 2


Ingredients:

  • 1 cup chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 12 oz grape tomatoes
  • 1 large avocado, pitted and diced
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 1 tbsp basil infused olive oil
  • 1 tsp hot smoked paprika
  • 2 cups baby spinach leaves
  • 2 servings of pasta (I used Jovial Whole Grain Fusilli)

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 400F.  Place the chickpeas and tomatoes in a medium oven safe bowl and roast for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and set to the side.
  2. Cook your pasta according to the directions on the package.
  3. In a mini chopper or food processor add the avocado, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper, basil olive oil, and smoked paprika and blend until smooth.
  4. To a large bowl add the baby spinach, tomatoes & chickpeas and sauce and top with the cooked pasta; mix to combine.  Serve immediately.