Guaco Garbanzo Salad

Have you ever ordered a chicken quesadilla with sour cream, guacamole, and salsa?  This is like that only without the cheese, tortillas, sour cream, and chicken.  My favorite part about a quesadilla has always been the condiments.

One of the great things about blogging food is that we meet really great people along the way who introduce us to even more foodies, and they are interested in even more different things than we ever conceived.  This recipe is the product of those associations.

We are blessed with an abundant garden.  For this salad we used kales, tomatoes, and basil from our plot.   A can of garbanzos, a couple of avocados, and lemons, completed the required ingredients for this recipe.  The inspiration for this is from http://www.glutenfreecat.com.  Check out the website if you are gluten-sensitive. 

Prep time:  15 minutes

Serves: 4 as a main dish, 6-8 as a side dish

2 tablespoons minced scallions or red onion

1 clove garlic

1/2 lemon, juiced

pinch of salt

handful of fresh basil or cilantro

2 avocados

1 stalk celery, minced

1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

many handfuls of greens, your choice

1 cucumber, cut using a peeler or sliced into matchsticks

1 large carrot, cut using a peeler or sliced into matchsticks

several tomatoes, bite-size pieces

vinaigrette dressing or balsamic vinegar

In a blender or processor, mix together onion, garlic, lemon, salt, and 1/2 handful herb of choice.  Add one whole avocado and mix until almost smooth.

Finely chop the second avocado and add it to a bowl along with the ingredients from the blender.  Add in celery and garbanzos and gently stir to combine.

On a platter or wide bowl, place greens, cucumber, carrot, and tomatoes.  Drizzle with vinaigrette or just with balsamic vinegar as the original recipe suggests.

Our greens consisted of fresh lacinto kale, cucumber, and carrots

I like to use a mix of tomatoes and here we have cherry, grape, and roma tomatoes.

Top with avocado-garbanzo mixture and sprinkle with more herbs if desired.

Dive in!

Each serving, assuming four per recipe, offers less than 350 calories, 12 grams fiber (!), almost 9 g protein, your full compliment of most vitamins, and several minerals.  Potassium in this recipe reaches to 85% of your daily allowance.  Zinc and vitamin E are close behind.  Wow. 

- Kim Fielding

White Beans with Roasted Tomatoes and Fresh Basil

Using cooked white beans from a post in March, we liven them up for yet another meal!

When you prepare a one-pound bag of dried beans, get ready for left-overs.  This version using white beans is delicious.  Pair this recipe with grilled meats or by themselves with a big greens salad for a vegan meal.  The beans are my variation of a terrific recipe found on epicurious.com from Gourmet Magazine, June 2004.

Prep time:  10 minutes                                         Cook time:  45 minutes
Serves:  6

One-half recipe of Basic White Beans, cooked, using our blog recipe from March 2013
1 basket small tomatoes, sliced in half
Several Roma tomatoes, sliced in half or quarters if large
Olive oil
Sugar
Salt and pepper
Fresh basil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place tomatoes cut-side up on a baking sheet and toss with olive oil to coat the pan and the vegetables.  I like to use my hands to make sure each tomato is oiled and the pan is too.  Sprinkle tomatoes with sugar, salt and pepper.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Remove the smaller tomatoes to a plate and reserve.  Add more olive oil to pan if it looks like it is dry (be generous) and make sure larger tomatoes aren't sticking.

Rotate pan and bake another 20 minutes or until tomatoes are softened and glazed.

Cut larger tomato pieces into bite-size pieces and add all cooked tomatoes to the cooked beans.  Scrape oil and tomato drippings from pan into beans.  If there are burned bits, avoid adding them to the mix.  Slice 1/4 cup basil leaves into slivers and add to the bean/tomato mixture.  Save some leaves to serve on top.  Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

Nutrition from this dish is awesome:  Each 1/2-cup serving offers 11 grams fiber, 9 grams protein, 33% of your daily requirement for iron, and only 180 calories. 

- Kim Fielding