As a food blogger, keeping on trend has become a regular search for me on Google…whats trending in food today?… Gotta keep current! Plus, it get me to expand my horizons…..and apparently my waistline.….lol
Healthy grains are on trend these days. I must confess that I have never really eaten many of the avant-garde grains. No particular reason, just never have. Recently we were at a restaurant and I had a steak that was served on a bed of grains with spinach, tomatoes, and mushrooms. I was not impressed with the meal per say, but the grains were wonderful, chewy and creamy, and al dente……I wondered what they would be like in a really good dish.
Chickpea, oh chickpea, how do I love thee……..let me count the ways……..
I eat chickpeas everyday, and no, I am not exaggerating. At the High School in my School District, we have a very large ala carte line with lots of great food items. We also have a rocking salad bar, on which we have chickpeas….a.k.a. garbanzo beans. I have a salad daily and I load on the chickpeas.
Chickpeas are a great source of protein (good for vegetarians), loaded with fiber, contains vitamins and minerals and significantly boosts your intake of manganese and folate. So kinda the Superman of Beans !!
Making a salad with them seemed like the natural thing to do. I made a kinda tuna salad from them. Mashed up the chickpeas, added shallots, celery, dill, and for extra crunch and yummy flavor, some crisp apples, and toasted pecans. Just add lemon juice and a touch of relish and you have a chickpeas salad that will rival a tuna salad any day of the week!
I wrapped mine in lettuce leaves, but it would be awesome on toasted whole grain bread, or stuffed inside a pita.
So, next time you want a light, refreshing, and crunchy salad……try making Chickpeas Salad with Apple and Pecans. Perfect for you vegetarians or if you want to try a meatless Monday!!
How many snacky, trail mixy, dried fruit and nut mixes are there?………hundreds, thousands……perhaps, I exaggerate, but there are plenty of them. The one thing they all seem to have in common……….raisins. I really do not like raisins. I am not sure why, but I just don’t.
Sorry California Raisins……..but I’m sure, you heard it through the grapevine that you are not my favorite thing. I dumped you for other dries fruits. I love, love, love dried cranberries. I will eat them on anything. I have the same feeling about dried pineapple, those sweet, chewy, nuggets……..hmmm.
Tim and I look at all those mixes at the store, but have a hard time choosing because of my raisin aversion. So, we usually don’t buy them, or if we do, I end up picking out the raisins….what a pain!
