Bright and Fresh Chickpea Salad

It's growing season again! Every Saturday morning from here until winter will be spent at the Kansas City Farmer's Market, where I will buy produce from my favorite farmers! See the "Food Sources" page to see links to my favorite stalls and farms. There isn't too much available just yet, and a lot of my favorite stalls (such as Hun's Garden) were still only selling plants, but I did come out with some good buys! Here's the loot I came home with this week!


Bryson's Farm:
- 4 red, juicy tomatoes
- 2 lovely bunches of asparagus
- 1/2 pound of creamy fingerling potatoes
- 3 exquisite heads of garlic
- 1 bunch of crisp red radishes


Goode Acres:
- 1 bag of crunchy baby romaine lettuce
- 1 bag of delicious curly green kale

I saw a stall I had never seen before, drawn in by the signs declaring "RAWSOME DELIGHTS." They were selling two different kinds of raw cacao treats! One was a coconut chocolate truffle and the other had dates and pecans. I went for the dates! Ingredients:
coconut, pecans, cashews, cacao, walnuts, dates, agave, coconut oil, sea salt
All organic. $3.50 for three treats - we haven't eaten any yet. I think I'll save them for late at night ;)

Carollo's Gourmet Grocery is a fantastic little Italian deli and shop in the farmer's market area. From there I brought home:
- about a pound of mixed olives: Sicilian green, Greek black and Gaeta olives
- (what I was really excited about!!) THREE POUNDS of dried cannellini beans!!!! I can hardly ever find these anywhere... so when I saw them, I bought three pounds! I'll be giving some to my mom. I'll probably be making a pasta fagioli soup with the kale from Goode Acres very soon :)

Another part of Market Saturdays is coming home and making lunch out of all the produce left in the kitchen from last week. I must use the old stuff before touching the new! I had a lot leftover this week and managed to make a very delicious salad from it.

This salad is light, fresh tasting, crunchy and nutritious. The dressing is slightly spicy and dances on your tongue. My husband says he is going to use the leftovers to make a pita sandwich for dinner this evening. I used leftover white basmati rice, but I can imagine that any sort of rice will be great, or even another grain like quinoa or kamut that you may have sitting around.

I hope some of you get as excited for growing season as I do. Here's to months and months of farmer's market Saturdays! CHEERS :)

Bright and Fresh Chickpea Salad

• 2 cups cold, cooked chickpeas
• 1 cup cold, cooked rice
• 1 medium carrot
• 1/2 a zucchini
• 1/2 tomato
• 1/2 bunch green onion
• 1-2 romaine lettuce leaves
• 1/2 a jalapeno, seeds and ribs removed
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 tablespoons or so of fresh parsley leaves
• small chunk of fresh ginger, skin removed
• 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lime juice
• 1 teaspoon stone ground or dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Chop the carrot and zucchini into very small pieces. Dice the green onions and tomato and tear the romaine lettuce into bite size pieces. Toss in a bowl along with the chickpeas and rice.

Roughly chop the jalapeno, garlic cloves, parsley and ginger and add to a food processor. Pulse a couple of times, then add in the lime juice, dijon mustard and olive oil. Combine until they form a thick, creamy dressing.

Pour the dressing over the vegetables and mix thoroughly. Let sit at room temperature or in the refrigerator for about fifteen minutes before enjoying.

(P.S. I know my pictures are never exactly professional - haha - but lately I've just been using my camera phone. So believe me, this salad is much brighter and delicious looking than the pictures allow for :)

Balsamic Risotto

I love my whole grain rice, but sometimes I get cravings for white rice - sometimes plain as a side to a saucy Asian-style dish, usually in the form of risotto. Arborio rice is a little bit more expensive, but it is the only kind you can use to get the creamy texture of risotto.

This dish requires some time and effort, standing at the stove and stirring. I enjoy making these sorts of dishes because I enjoy standing in the kitchen and stirring a pot on the stove :)

For the broth here, I cheated a little bit. I used this:  Better than Bouillon Organic Mushroom Base. Instant bouillon is my one processed food kitchen weakness that I just can't seem to get over! It doesn't taste as good as homemade, but then again, I don't like the idea of buying a bunch of vegetables simply to boil them away, and while I do save the ends of my carrots and celery and onions and such they don't gather up enough to make a stock as often as I need one. So, whenever this is on sale at Whole Food Market, I pick a couple up. I used mushroom in this dish because mushrooms are a common companion to risotto.

I used chicken in here, but it is completely optional. Neither my husband and I are vegetarians, but him and I both did separate seven year stints as vegetarians before we knew each other. I have been eating meat sparingly, mostly seafood, for about two years now and him for about six. If you haven't been able to tell by reading my blog, most of the meals I cook are vegan. Part of the reason is because it is healthier, part of the reason is because I simply don't have a taste for meat more often than every once in a while, and part of the reason is because less-cruel organic meat is very expensive and we both don't like the idea of eating factory farmed meat that was fed genetically modified food and/or whatever else (so we only buy the $7.99/pound organic chicken, etc). Nonetheless, he misses meat more than I do, so every few weeks he will say "....can we have meat for dinner this week?" So I'll thaw some out and cook it. It is completely optional and you may leave it out if you wish. Make this vegan by using a vegan butter, or by simply leaving it out.

Balsamic Risotto

• one 4-6 ounce chicken breast (optional)
• 1 1/2 cups arborio rice
• 4-5 cups stock
• 3-4 stalks of kale
• 1 onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons butter (vegan or dairy)
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar (separated)
• olive oil
• sea salt and ground black pepper

Rinse the kale and remove the thick stalks. Chop the leaves into small pieces and set aside.

Heat the stock in a medium sized pan but do not allow to boil. In a separate, large pot, heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat.

If using chicken: season each side of the chicken breast with sea salt and pepper. Place in the plan and cook for about two minutes on one side, to make a nice brown crust, and then flip over and cook for two minutes on the next side. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cut the lemon in half and squeeze one half of the juice into the pan and add in two tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. Cover and cook until the chicken is done, flipping over once, about 5-7 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Heat some more oil in the pan (if necessary), chop the onion and add to the pan along with the rosemary and thyme and saute until soft and translucent and the spices are fragrant, about five minutes. Add in the rice and saute, stirring occasionally, for another five minutes. Mince the garlic cloves and stir those in. Ladle in one ladle full of the warm broth and stir until the liquid has absorbed. Add in another ladle full and stir until the liquid is absorbed - repeat this process. When you've used about half the stock, add in the kale and carrots and continue the process until the rice is soft and the texture is creamy.

Meanwhile, butterfly the chicken and chop into small pieces. Add to the finished risotto, along with the butter, the remaining two tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, and the last half of the lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and black pepper and serve immediately.