Spring! Kale and Chickpea Grain Bowl

Easy peasy lemon squeezy. This catch phrase from a British advertisement in the 1950’s aptly describes this week’s blog: a kale and chickpea grain bowl with a bright shot of lemon! Fresh and easily put together, this decidedly spring recipe reflects the changes in the gardens around our community: a riot of daffodils in the orchard, brave pansies and primroses blooming despite residual winter chill, delicate cherry blossoms and lush magnolias are all in force. These blooms never fail to inspire hope each year and the promise of better days ahead.

 

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Spring! Kale and Chickpea Grain Bowl
SERVINGS
4
CHANGE SERVING SIZE
COOK TIME
20minutes
PREP TIME
10minutes
READY IN
30minutes

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Drain chickpeas and pat dry with paper towels. Heat canola oil in a large skillet over high. Add chickpeas and carrots. Cook until chickpeas are browned.
  2. Add kale and cover to cook until kale is slightly wilted and carrots are tender.
  3. Add chickpea mixture, parsley, salt, and pepper to quinoa.
  4. To make dressing, process guacamole, olive oil, lemon juice, zest, garlic, and turmeric in a food processor until smooth.
  5. To serve, divide salad into bowls, drizzle with dressing and garnish with fresh lemon

Baked Sweet Potato with Roasted Chickpeas and Creamy Hummus Sauce

Our corner of the world becomes pretty bleak at this time of year with bare trees, plowed under gardens and occasional winter storms that blow through.

Ever on the lookout for new recipes, this one for sweet potato, roasted chickpeas and creamy hummus sauce caught our eye: tasty, colorful and with flavors that evoke a warmer time and place, this proved to be a great way to beat the winter blues! We’ve adapted it to our tastes and feel free to do the same. Filling–and meatless–this recipe will most likely find its way back on the table right into spring.

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Baked Sweet Potato with Roasted Chickpeas and Creamy Hummus Sauce
SERVINGS
4
CHANGE SERVING SIZE
COOK TIME
20mins, plus 45 minutes roasting time
PREP TIME
10mins
READY IN

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400. Line 2 metal cookie sheets with baking paper.
  2. Place the sweet potato halves on one cookie sheet and set aside.
  3. Place 1 cup of chickpeas in a bowl and lightly drizzle with olive oil. Dust with salt and pepper and gently toss until lightly coated. Pour in a single layer on the second cookie sheet.
  4. Put the potatoes and the chickpeas in the oven for roasting. Roast the chickpeas until they become a medium shade of brown, about 15 minutes. The sweet potatoes should be cooked until they are fork tender, about 45 minutes.
  5. While the potatoes and chickpeas are roasting, prepare the hummus sauce.
  6. Place remaining 2 cups of chickpeas in a food processor.
  7. Place remaining 2 cups of chickpeas in a food processor and begin to process while pouring in a thin stream of olive oil. Once the chickpeas begin to become a paste, add milk, lemon juice, zest, garlic, salt and pepper. The consistency should be thin enough to drizzle on the potatoes, but still be visible (not watery).
  8. Once the potatoes and chickpeas have finished in the oven, top the potatoes with the roasted chickpeas and drizzle them generously with the hummus sauce. For added color, garnish with fresh parsley or feta cheese and serve warm or room temperature.

Vegan Curried Chickpea, Coconut and Kale Soup

This past weekend, I was a joy-filled member of the cooking team for our remarkable and award-winning marching band, Spirit of America. The band is embarking on a very exciting groundbreaking opportunity to travel to Dubai this January (2017) to assist in starting the first marching field band in the United Arab Emirates!
Over the past few months, they’ve had 4 rehearsals together to pull off this enormous project — creating a field show with 150 people from all over the United States!  One thing we knew for sure, they needed to be fed well! My job was to cook for those with special diets. It was fun to spoil them and experiment with recipes that were gluten free, lactose free and vegan! When the weekend was over, it got me to thinking about creating more healthy recipes that we could add to our diet. This soup is high in fiber and packed with flavor, especially if you like the tastes of curry and coconut.
For more info about our band, click here (link: http://spiritofamericaband.org/).
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Vegan Curried Chickpea, Coconut and Kale Soup
SERVINGS
6people
CHANGE SERVING SIZE
people
COOK TIME
10minutes
PREP TIME
15minutes
READY IN
1/2hour

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. First, sauté the onion in 2 Tbsp of olive oil until softened.
  2. Combine all ingredients​, except the lemon zest and juice, ​in a blender and puree until completely smooth.
  3. Pour soup into a medium pot and heat on medium-high. Allow soup to simmer for 10 min, stirring occasionally.
  4. Add the lemon zest and juice.
  5. Adjust seasonings to your liking and add fresh cracked pepper.
  6. Serve and garnish with the extra garbanzo beans and fresh kale​.

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