I have a problem with lunch time when we travel. The quick and easy way to do lunch is to do sandwiches and take them along, or bring the ingredients and assemble at our destination. The problem with sandwiches is that I don’t eat lunch meat, and actually, neither does Zander. PB&J is an obvious solution, but I really have to be in the mood for it. So this past weekend, when I looked at the meal plans for the weekend and saw that a lunch was a “bring your own cold cuts” lunch, I needed to put my thinking cap on. I thought about picking up cold cuts for Andy and Abigail and then bringing pb&j for Z and myself. Somewhere along the line though, I remembered a salad that I used to make for Andy, and I decided that this salad would be just the thing.
One of the problems with PB&J is that it really doesn’t stick with me for long. A few hours later and I am hungry again, so I wanted something more substantial. Abigail actually requested tuna salad, and while that would have been fine for everyone, once I had my Marinated Chickpea Salad in my head, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. The salad comes together very quickly and easily, and is one of Andy’s favorite lunches, believe it or not. He loves chickpeas, and this salad, when wrapped up in a flat-bread, carries him through the longest afternoon- and he’s a construction worker! It must be substantial. It’s also bright, colorful and appealing, and it keeps for several days spectacularly well. As it turned out, we ended up not even needing it this past weekend, so Andy took it with him for work lunches this week. This salad is fantastic in a wrap, but is also good eaten as a salad on top of a bed of lettuce, or just as it is.
I’ve also been a busy beaver this morning! Be sure and check out the Garden Notes for a garden update, as well as Menu Planning 101 for this week’s menu. There are a lot of new recipes on tap for this week, which means plenty of good posting here should they all turn out well. Tomorrow I’ll be sharing another delicious use for chard.
Marinated Chickpea Salad
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup thinly sliced baby carrots
1/2 cup red or yellow bell pepper, cut into strips
1/4 cup finely chopped onions
1/4 cup finely chopped cucumber
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon whole grain Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley
2 small sprigs rosemary, finely chopped
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakesalt and pepper to taste
Place the chickpeas, celery, carrots, bell peppers, onions and cucumbers in a mixing bowl.
In a smaller mixing bowl, place the vinegar, olive oil, mustard, garlic, herbs, crushed red pepper and salt and pepper and whisk well to combine. Taste for seasoning, adding additional salt and pepper as needed. Pour the dressing over the vegetable mixture and toss to coat.
Place in the refrigerator and allow to marinate for at least an hour. This can be served straight up as a salad, or on top of a bed of greens. In addition, this makes a fantastic salad for a wrap- wrap it up in a whole grain flat-bread for a delicious and nutritious lunch, adding some fresh romaine or spinach.