Chickpeas and More Granola

I cooked up another massive batch of chickpeas on Tuesday. Crazy, I know, but it's so comforting to me when I have a freezer full of chickpeas waiting for me to use. They are my favorite legume, by far.

I'd heard of "mock tuna-salad" before, and people online just seem to rave about it. So, I thought I'd give it a try. I'm going to just call it "chickpea salad," though. To me, that's a much more appealing name. I was skeptical about it being so tasty, but it truly is. I can see it being my go-to meal for the evenings when I just can't manage to cook a full-on meal. Here's how I made it:

Cooked chickpeas (I'm not sure how much, maybe a cup and a half? Doesn't really matter, as all
the other ingredients can be adjusted to suit the amount of chickpeas used.)
Vegenaise
A little minced onion
Diced pickles

Mix it all together, and there ya go. I had it on some toasted whole-wheat bread with some fresh tomatoes. So. Freaking. Good. I've had one for lunch the last three days. I already can't wait to make more.




Last night, I made one of our favorites here. The Chickpeas Romesco from V-con. As usual, I made the Garlic-Saffron Rice to go with it. It's so easy to make, and it's one of those dishes that upon tasting it, you'd think I'd slaved over the stove all evening.

I've still been making granola like crazy. I've finally tweaked the recipe enough that I think I can call it my own. This is it:

1/8 cup wheat germ, toasted
1/8 cup flax meal, toasted
1/4 cup sesame seeds, toasted
1/2 cup of sunflower seeds, toasted
1 cup of nuts, chopped and yes, toasted
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup of unsweetened coconut
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup brown rice syrup
1-1.5 cups of dried fruit

Mix all the dry ingredients (except dried fruit) in a large bowl. Add oil and brown rice syrup and mix well. Spread on a baking sheet and bake at 300 degrees for 30-35 minutes, stirring every 10 or so minutes.

You can get really creative with this, and make pretty much any kind you can dream up. So far, I've made it using raisins, dried apples and walnuts. I think my favorite so far is blueberry hazelnut. This week I made cherry almond. I added a bit of almond extract to it to give it a little extra flavor. Next week, I'm either going to do either tropical or peanut chocolate chip. Decisions, decisions.