Meatless Monday - Chickpea Cherry Salad

Welcome to the 38th installment of Meatless Monday with Mindy!

I've been on hiatus for awhile, visiting with friends and family out of state, and doing some sewing at a lodge in the middle of nowhere Wisconsin. All fun and enjoyable, but it doesn't allow for much computer time. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or bad. I can tell you that it's nice to not have to come up with something to eat every day, and let others cook for you. On the other hand, wow do I feel heavy!  I was so appreciative of every ones good cooking and it was all good stuff, but I'm glad I don't eat like that all the time.

It's still winter here in NE Ohio. We have about a foot of snow on the ground and currently we are beginning to get what is supposed to be another good snow storm. This snow will last throughout the night adding another 3-6 inches to what we have already. (sigh)

We've been eating cold-weather comfort food all winter, and I LOVE that. All that "stick-to-your-ribs" type food, Mmmmm, what's not to love?  I've noticed though, just recently, that each day, the sun stays in the sky a few minutes longer. OK, technically the sun is above the horizon longer, but here in the Cleveland area we have to imagine REAL hard that it's shining on us most days during winter. But I digress.

I think my body is gearing up for longer, warmer days because I had an odd craving this evening. I wanted a salad. I know what you're thinking...weirdo.....right?  Who wants salad in the winter time?  Well, I had just bought some Napa Cabbage at the store this weekend, but was low on the traditional salad fixings we typically use during warmer weather. However, I had an email recently that had a recipe with an unusual list of ingredients, and I thought.... why not throw some of those together, mix it with my cabbage and see what we get.

I'm so glad I did.

Chickpea Cherry Salad

2 15.5 oz cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 11oz can mandarin oranges, drained 

4-5 green onion, sliced going into the green

1 clove garlic, minced

2/3 cup dried tart cherries

2/3 cup pecans, chopped

4-6 leaves of Napa cabbage, chiffinade 

(or bok choy would work too, or kale, or....)

1 TB candied or fresh ginger, minced (I used candied tonight)

1 jalapeño pepper, minced (optional, but recommended, yum!)

*******

3 TB apple-cider vinegar

3 TB olive oil

1 TB dried parsley

salt and pepper

Add the ingredients together from the top of the list (from the chickpeas to the jalapeño). Give it a good toss to mix it all together.  Then mix the oil, vinegar, parsley, salt and pepper to taste and drizzle over the salad and toss again.

You'll want to eat all this up in one sitting. It should feed 3-4, but with just the two of us, we had very little left over.  If you need to store any left-overs, make sure to drain off the excess juices before refrigerating it.

This meatless main dish salad is packed with nutrient dense carbs, plenty of fiber and protein, and the ginger can help reduce inflammation while calming your stomach. All that aside, it just plain tastes good!  I hope you enjoy it. I know we did.

Thanks to my honey for capturing these great shots of the salad. See more of what he does over at his blog.

Meatless Monday with Mindy #20 Creamy Chickpea Soup

Welcome to Meatless Monday with Mindy!

This weekend was cooler than usual, but still very humid. We've had a LOT of rain this summer with spells of very hot temperatures which is unusual for Northeast Ohio.  I wanted something light to eat, but the cooler weather had me thinking soup.  I found a really good recipe for a smoothie that I adapted from a book I recently bought at Bed, Bath & Beyond called " The Smoothie Bible, The Second Addition" by Pat Crocker.   It hit the spot for light and soup at the same time.

What started out as a vegetable smoothie recipe ended up as an awesome light creamy soup perfect with croutons and/or chopped cashews for garnish accompanied by a side salad.  I hope you enjoy this quick and easy, yet very satisfying soup for a lunch or light dinner. 

Creamy Chickpea Soup

Serves 4

4 cups of vegetable broth

2 cups chopped potato

1 can ( 1 1/3 cup) cooked chickpeas

1/4 cup chopped onions

1 whole garlic clove, minced

1 spring of fresh parsley

1 cup non-dairy milk

Salt to taste ( or 1/4 tsp salt)

Directions: 

In a saucepan over high heat, bring broth and parsley sprig to a boil.     

Add potato, chickpeas, onion and garlic to broth and cook until potatoes are tender. Once the potatoes are tender and all those yummy flavors have fused together, remove the parsley sprig. 

With an immersion blender, blend the ingredients until smooth. (If not using an immersion blender, cool veggies and broth slightly and add to a food processor or blender in small batches until all is smooth).

Use your favorite milk or half and half. My choice in this recipe was a non-dairy milk, Silk brand unsweetened almond milk. 

With the blender or processor still running, add milk and blend just until milk is incorporated. You see this smooth liquid become slightly lighter in color.

Season with salt, garnish with croutons or chopped cashews and to make it look as special as you should feel, add a sprig of parsley on top for a little color. 

Serve hot (or cold) in a shallow bowl or an awesome teacup with a simple salad on the side.   Bon appetit! 

All photos taken by my sweetie. Staging by me. :)

 You can see more of what he loves to do at Photography Musings by Dave

I would love those of you who share meatless recipes to link up with me for Meatless Monday. Just click on the blue frog and add your link.

What did you eat for Meatless Monday???