Chipotle + Lime Chickpea Salad

Just wanted to hop on here quickly to share my new favorite lunch! I often make chickpea salad sandwiches when hummus gets boring. This latest variation is a real keeper! Especially if you are as addicted to chipotle Vegenaise as I am. We put it on everything!

CHIPOTLE + LIME CHICKPEA SALAD

What you'll need . . .

• 1 (15-ounce) can of chickpeas, drained + rinsed
• 1/2 cup pickles, chopped into bits
• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, chopped into bits
• Handful fresh cilantro, minced
• 3 tablespoons chipotle Vegenaise
• 2 teaspoons time juice
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method . . .

• Mash the chickpea in a large bowl using a potato masher or a fork. The texture should resemble canned tuna or chicken.
• Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until well combined. Season to taste.
• Then toast bread, top with spinach or other greens, and scoop out the salad.

It's so good!

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Indian Curry in a Hurry

My friend Meg gave me this amazing vegetarian Indian cookbook for my birthday. (For those of you who are interested, it’s Indian Vegetarian Cooking At Your House.) I haven’t cracked the book much yet because we were away last week, but it sparked some major curry cooking in me. We’ve been eating vegetable curry for dinner most every night, and it’s all a variation on this Chickpea Mash recipe from years ago with some tips from the book.

So, I thought I’d give you some tips for how to make this dish work in your house . . . tonight! Well, at least once you gather a few key spices. We make this meal so often, we use whatever we have on hand to make it work. If you only have chickpeas, onions, and potatoes, use ‘em.

And don’t forget the naan (we have many recipes), but I’ll give you an update on that part, too.

VEGETABLE CURRY in a hurry

What you’ll need . . .

• Mince a couple cloves of garlic
• Chop one onion
• Chop one large bell pepper
• Consider adding a cup of broccoli cauliflower, or other veggies 
• Use a can (or 1-1/2 cups) chickpeas*
• Peel and halve 2 medium potatoes or sweet potatoes
• Consider adding frozen peas
• Heck, toss in a medium tomato from your garden
• Add spices!
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard or coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric 
• 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
• salt + pepper

* I’ve been using frozen chickpeas. If you’d like to start cooking your own beans, follow these instructions. Works great. Freeze big batches for easy cooking.

PS: I know this seems like a lot, but once you get your spices -- a lot of this is stuff we all have on hand for making other healthy meals. Once you get the hang of cooking it, it’s a breeze. Here’s the process. Read through it once, then make it . . . and you’ll want to do it over and over again.


Method . . .

1. Start a pot of water boiling on the stove. You’ll add your potatoes to the water and cook until they are softened. Then remove from water and chop into pieces the size of your onions and peppers.
2. While those are cooking, you’ll heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan (sometimes I use my tagine) and add your mustard or coriander seeds. Honestly, either type tastes good in this dish -- so just use what you have/can find. 
3. Once they start popping, toss in the garlic and cook until lightly browned.
4. Then toss in the rest of your veggies. You’ll want to cook until the onions are translucent. You can add your spices (all of them) at any point. 
5. Then toss in the chickpeas and potatoes. Add a few splashes of water and keep cooking over medium heat until everything starts to cook together. The flavors will mingle, the potatoes will soften even more to make everything come together in an almost-mushy texture.
6. After 10 to 15 minutes of simmering, serve with naan.

5-MINUTE NAAN RECIPE

What you’ll need . . .

• 1 cup whole wheat flour 
• 1/2 cup bread flour
• 1 tablespoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 to 4 tablespoons vegan mayo (!!!)
• Pinch salt

Method . . .

1. Whisk together the flours, baking powder, and salt.
2. Add in the water and vegan mayo slowly. You want the mixture to be a nice, soft round, but not sticky. Add more water if it’s too dry or more flour if it’s too wet. 
3. Divide into four pieces, then follow these video instructions to get cooking.

ENJOY!

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Budget-Friendly Low Glycemic Foods

Though I won’t be going on some wild post-holiday detox, I’m getting back to the basics this week and eating vegetarian low glycemic foods to come down slowly from all that December sugar. The cool thing with this list is that these foods are triple threats. They’re healthy, inexpensive, and they are also pretty shelf stable, so food waste isn’t a concern. Better on the budget, too.

Add these 5 foods to your weekly grocery list. And consider trying some of the many recipes we have on this site. Back in the day, I posted recipes multiple times a week. More recently, those posts get around half the views of the other stuff I share -- but I think 2015 is the comeback of recipe blogging regardless. I love cooking and baking, and I can’t let pageviews always dictate my content.

Enjoy!

Oats

Oats -- in a variety of forms -- are my breakfast go-to. We have both rolled oats and steel-cut on hand, which we purchased at Aldi on the cheap. Oats contain a special sort of fiber that lowers bad cholesterol levels known as beta-glucan. Plus, they taste great and fill you up so you can get through your day.

• Easy Microwave Muffin
• Homemade Breakfast Muesli
• Chocolate Energy Chunk Cookies
• Half Dozen GF Chocolate Chippers

Lentils

Quick-cooking lentils are great in a pinch because they contain potassium, calcium, zinc, niacin, and vitamin K. And they're particularly rich in dietary fiber, lean protein, folate, and iron. Surprisingly, I don’t have a lot of recipes featuring lentils on this site -- so I’d like to change that! Usually we just toss them into soups.

• Lentil + Quinoa Burgers with baby kale pesto
• Stephen’s Healthy Lentil Bowl
• Split Pea Miso Soup (use lentils in place of split peas)
• Tarka Dhal (with lentils + sweet potatoes)

Chickpeas

There are tons of health benefits you gain from eating chickpeas. They’re high in both fiber and folate. They’re an excellent source of vegetarian protein. They taste delicious prepared in a variety of ways. Heck -- you can even use garbanzos in desserts! No, really. Check out that blondie recipe and tell me what you think.

• Garbanzo Bean Salad
• Stephen’s Garden Hummus
• Healthy Chickpea Blondies
• Chickpea Veggie Burgers
• Curried Chickpea Mash

Beans

Similarly, there’s a wide array of other beans that a packed full of goodness. In fact, each cup of beans contains 15 grams of both protein and fiber. A few months back, I gave you guys an entire week’s worth of dinner ideas that contain beans as their bulk. (Oh, yeah. You can also make some awesome black bean brownies to curb that sweet tooth!)

• Freezable Veggie Burgers
• Improved Pumpkin Chili 
• Black Bean Peanut Butter Brownies
• Black Bean Breakfast Smoothie

*** To cook beans, follow these detailed instructions.

Basically, you soak overnight, drain and rinse, then cook atop your stove for a few hours on low heat until you reach your desired texture. You save money on buying cans, as well as consume less sodium and harmful BPA from cans.

Sweet Potatoes

Despite their taste, sweet potatoes are actually lower on the glycemic index than regular potatoes. When I was working my desk job, I’d often bring a scrubbed sweet potato in for lunch. I’d pierce the skin with the tines of a fork and then place it on a microwave safe dish. Cook on high for 5-6 minutes and then top however you like.

• Baked Sweet Potato Fries
• Roasted Sweet Potato Stew
• Sweet Potato Stuffed Peppers
• Broccoli + Sweet Potato Soup
• Sweet Potato Ravioli with Tofu Ricotta

What types of recipes would you like to see this year?

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Healthy Peanut Butter Blondies

If you were trapped on an island with only one type of bean to eat, what kind would you choose? That's an insanely ridiculous hypothetical question. But I'd choose chickpeas. Between hummus, garlic knots and pizza crust, chickpea burgers, basic bean salads, and even banana bread -- the uses are endless.

Then a friend of a friend posted a link on Facebook to this recipe by Ambitious Kitchen for vegan + flour-less + full of protein (chickpeas!) blondies, and I thought it sounded way too good to be true. I've been trying hard to resist the urge to bake too often and eat lots of sugar. To the extent that I no longer have sugar or other sweetener in the kitchen. It wasn't really a plan of mine, and I will go out and get some maple syrup soon, but I've been OK without it!

That's a huge step. Still, I crave sweets daily. The quantity of what I desire has changed, and I can get along fine without eating too much except for on special occasions. But I'm at a point now where I'll be fine with some sugar in the house but would still prefer to lighten the loads of it in my diet. So, these blondies are perfect for that. I realized quickly I had almost everything on hand to make them.

I followed the recipe almost exactly, but I subbed in a banana for the maple syrup and added more chocolate. Everything else I left the same. Consequently, all the ingredients I used came from Aldi (our store has chickpeas now!), so it's also a budget-friendly treat.

CHICKPEA + BANANA + PB BLONDIES
adapted from Ambitious Kitchen

What you'll need . . .

• 1 can chickpeas, drained + rinsed
• 1 medium ripe banana
• 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch sea salt
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Method . . .

1. I preheated my oven to 350 degrees F. 
2. Then I tossed it all but the chocolate chips into my food processor and blended until well combined, folded in the chocolate chips, and then spread into a well oiled bread pan (you can also use a square brownie dish), and let bake for 25 minutes.
3. I let cool for around a half hour before slicing.

So, try this recipe. It's delicious and pretty healthy, too! I also think it'd be fun to add 1/3-1/2 cup cocoa powder to make "brownies" -- and I'll likely do that soon because this batch didn't last long.

Have you tried a super healthy dessert like this one before?

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Roasted Carrot + Miso Chickpea Spread

It's true! Eliminating food waste is one of the best ways to cut down on grocery bills. So, if you're looking for a way to use up that last cup of Roasted Carrot + Miso Soup -- I've got you covered. Not only is this dip great on its own, we also had some major success subbing it in for the pumpkin in our favorite garlic knots recipe.

And I think you could use most similarly pureed soups in this recipe! Maybe use Miso Split Pea Soup instead. Or our Carrot Soup With a Kick. I love Broccoli + Sweet Potato Soup. And Cheesy Potato Soup might make an interesting alternative.

ROASTED CARROT + MISO CHICKPEA SPREAD
Makes around 1-1/2 cups of delicious, vegan "hummus" dip.

What you'll need . . . 

• 1 can chickpeas, drained + rinsed
• 1 cup Roasted Carrot + Miso Soup
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Pepper, to taste

Method . . . 

1. Put chickpeas, 1/2 cup soup, the olive oil, and pepper in a food processor and blend.
2. Add more soup 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach your desired consistency.
3. I didn't write to add salt to this recipe because it's already in the soup. You can add any other spices you'd like, though.

Top with olive oil and serve with crackers!


// SIMILAR RECIPES

Leftover Roasted Veggie Hummus
One Bowl Juice Pulp Muffins

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Stuff & Chickpea-Miso Gravy

If you read Writing Chapter Three, you got a taste for why I didn't write anything yesterday. Things were crazy. But they eventually got much better. Today was much the same, but I can't let that paralyze me all the time.

My new mantra is "roll with it" . . . we'll see how that works! I'm staying optimistic that thinking positively has the power to impact my actions and feelings. I got that idea from some of your comments.

Which brings me to a BIG THANK YOU for your positive response to my last post. It means a lot that you all are with me as things change and evolve. And if you haven't yet entered the giveaway(s), there's still time!

I've received some questions about why I won't just merge (never)homemaker with Writing Chapter Three. Originally, I wanted to avoid bombarding this audience with baby photos and anecdotes. That's not what this blog is about. Some content does overlap, though, and many have told me that they just read both blogs anyway. But I don't know if that's the majority.

For the time being, I will continue to keep them separate and see how it goes. But if you feel strongly either way, please let me know!


It feels weird posting Thanksgiving recipes now. I hope to have my act together next year . . . but this one in particular is worth it, as I'll surely be making again to go with dinner or lunch or even breakfast. It was great on the mashed potatoes, stuffing, and just alone.

Like with many of my recipes lately, the flavor combination was a result of using what we have versus buying extra ingredients.

MISO & CHICKPEA GRAVY

What you'll need . . . 

• 1 small onion, chopped 
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon white miso 
• Black pepper and thyme, to taste
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

Method . . . 

1. In a small saucepan, heat some olive oil and saute the onion and garlic until glassy.
2. Add the miso, black pepper and thyme cook until coated.
3. Add the stock and flour and whisk for a couple minutes, until thickened.
4. Then add in the chickpeas and cook for a couple minutes.
5. Then toss everything into your blender and blend until smooth.

I'll get on with the rest of the Thanksgiving recipes tomorrow (some of them are really short and some of them are just links to other sites).

Have a great night!

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Stephen's Garden Hummus

I came down to the kitchen after a shower to find THIS in our food processor.

I knew was he was up to, but I'm always amazed at how many ingredients Stephen can toss into a hummus recipe. His results are always delicious. But it's so different from how I approach making the spread.

After adding some water and blending until smooth, we had THIS to enjoy for dinner with a plate of veggies and pita bread:


What's in the mix:

• 2 cans of chickpeas
• 1 small onion (or several tiny ones from your garden)
• Handful of fresh parsley
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• Salt and pepper
• 2 to 3 tablespoons tahini
• Water

How THIS guy makes it:

1. Toss all ingredients into a food processor. (You may wish to add the salt and pepper last.)
2. Add water slowly -- tablespoons at a time while blending -- until you reach your desired consistency.
3. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. NOTE: Makes enough for several lunches and dinners.

Stephen's so fantastic at making up his hummus recipes, we simply can't eat store-bought anymore. It just doesn't taste as good. Stephen's is custom (and he's particularly proud to have used onions and parsley from our garden!). Plus, we can make a TON of it on the cheap.

All this chickpea mash has me scheming up new hu-mousse -- dessert hummus -- ideas! Hmmmmm . . .

And today on (never home)maker, baby! I wrote all about all the ways my third trimester is reminding me of my first. Not exactly a good thing, but -- unlike in the first tri -- we're getting closer to our due date!!!

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Great Garbanzos

Hey, all you crazy ninjas -- Stephen here! Ashley's feeling sluggish today, so I've taken on the posting responsibilities. When presented with the challenge of coming up with a topic, I didn't need to think for very long at all.

Today's focus? Garbanzo beans (chickpeas).

One of my favorite snacks in a rush is a half cup of rinsed garbanzo beans with a couple drips of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. And it seems the leftover beans always find their way into our meals.

WHY WE LOVE GARBANZOS:

• They're delicious.
• They're high in fiber and folate (shout to the pregnant women!).
• They're a great source of protein for vegetarians.
• They're cheap and readily available in canned or dried form.
• There isn't a single spice -- at least we've found this to be true -- you can't toss in with them.
• You can use them in almost any recipe. Seriously!

OUR 10 FAVORITE GARBANZO RECIPES:


THE NEW BANANA BREAD


COCONUT-GARBANZO BEAN SALAD


GARBANZO GARLIC KNOTS


HEALTHY LENTIL-GARBANZO BOWL


PUMPKIN MAC 'N CHEESE -- with garbanzo puree


CHICKPEA BURGERS


COOKED KALE AND CHICKPEA SALAD


CURRIED CHICKPEA MASH


CHOCOLATE CHUNK COOKIES


CHOCOLATE-PB HU-MOUSSE -- Ashley's favorite


Today on (never home)maker, baby! -- learn how we jazzed up cheap-o, $5 Target poster frames for our nursery art. For super easy instructions, head this way . . .

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Chocolate Chunk & Banana Cookies

OK. So, I lied. There's more than meets the eye (and taste buds) with these chocolate-banana chippers. But before you click the X at the top of your screen, I beg you to keep reading. The base recipe for these cookies comes from Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious cookbook. I've read the good, bad, and often ugly reviews, but when I found a copy for a mere $3 at a local discount store, it was too much of a steal for this cookbook addict to pass by. Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Foods. In this event, I was the "kid" we were so eagerly trying to have eat more healthful foods. (I tend to be a bit of a sweet tooth, and those of you coming to us from METHOD know this reality quite well.)

One night I opened the pretty pink book and started reading. First thoughts: I wasn't really shocked by the idea to incorpore vegetable purees into my meals -- I've been doing that for quite a while in fact. When you're vegan, especially, you find yourself putting all kinds of purees (and other strange ingredients) into baked goods to substitute for eggs, milk, etc. Unimpressed, I continued on to the dessert section. Then I found it. The page with those infamous CHICKPEA chocolate chip cookies. And you don't mash up the little buggers, you add them right into the batter like so many walnuts.

I just had to try it out.

But I didn't have eggs. Or applesauce (which is my favorite substitute). However, I did have two ridiculously ripe bananas sitting in my line of sight. CHICKPEA and BANANA cookies? I don't know . . . Oh, why not?! I sent Stephen to the corner pharmacy to pick up some chocolate chips (CVS is our favorite "emergency foods" store) and got to work on the dough.

Here's the recipe. I'll continue below with my comments.

What you'll need . . .

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 1 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar (I used dark)
• 3/4 cup trans-fat free soft tub margarine spread (I used Earth Balance)
• 2 large egg whites (I used 2 medium, very ripe bananas)
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• (15 - ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed. NOTE: She does not instruct to mash them.
• 2 Cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips (Stephen's trip to CVS only yielded some Halloween-sized chocolate bars I used my food processor to "chunk" -- either way, just add some chocolate. You're going to need it.)
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
• 3/4 cups raisins (optional -- but YUCK! REALLY?!)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1/2 cup wheat pastry, 1/2 cup all-purpose)
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Method . . .

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the sugar and margarine with a wooden spoon or on medium speed until smooth.
3. Beat in the egg whites (bananas) and vanilla.
4. Add the flour, oats, baking soda, and salt, chocolate chips, CHICKPEAS, walnuts, and raisins (if wanted), and mix on a low speed until a thing dough forms.
5. Drop the dough by the tablespoonful onto the baking sheet, spacing the cookies about 2 inches apart.
6. Press gently with a fork to flatten.
7. Bake until the cookies are golden brown and just set, 11 to 13 minutes; do not over bake.
8. Transfer to a rack to cool.

Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days. However, our batch didn't last that long.

Personally, I hated these cookies more than anything I've ever baked in my entire life. And this includes several failed attempts at vegan brownies that turned into an oily goo in the oven. What makes them so bad, you ask? Well, as much as I tried to ignore the chickpeas, their texture and taste simply didn't allow me to forget them. They don't really transform in the baking process. Maybe dry out a bit, but they remain that familiar chickpea from salads and such. The rest of the cookie, though, wasn't too bad. I'd try them again -- maybe -- sans legumes.

Stephen's take? He LOVED them. Everything about them. He ate them all in two days and has since begged me to make them again. We'll see about that.

Final verdict? Give 'em a try. At very least you'll have an interesting story to tell you friends & family. And I've read that kids really don't notice if you don't tell them what's in it.

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