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 :)

Little Bit o Everything Salad

I sure do love a good salad! Well, sometimes. I go through phases. Sometimes I'll eat two salads a day for a week, sometimes the thought of a salad will repulse me. Salads are seriously the best way to get your vitamins and nutrients because the vegetables are all raw, but I can definitely sympathize with not always wanting cold, raw, crunchy vegetables. But, for when you do, this salad is one of my favorites!

For the best tasting salad, use organic produce! The chemical sprays and irradiation used on conventional produce greatly effects the taste and nutritional content. The skins of conventional produce are often tough, thick and very tasteless. This is unfortunate because the vast majority of the nutrients are located in or just below the skin. That is why I recommend to not peel the carrot, simply to wash it very well. The only thing you should be washing off your produce is dirt!!

This salad contains a little bit of every nutrient you could possibly need in a meal! To round it out, add a serving of a carbohydrate (half of a pita, a slice of whole grain bread, whole grain croutons) and have a serving of fresh fruit for dessert. The walnuts and chickpeas have a bit of protein but if you want more, add some baked boneless, skinless chicken or broiled shrimp!

Also, play around with the greens. I like to use one crunchy green (such as romaine) and one that's more tender, such as spinach, leaf lettuce or spring greens. If you have some access to frisee, endive or radicchio, throw that in!


Little Bit o Everything Salad

• 3 leaves romaine lettuce
• 1 cup loosely packed baby spinach
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
• 1 carrot
• 1 inch section cucumber
• 2-3 florets fresh broccoli
• 1 mushroom
• ¼ red pepper
• 2 heaping tablespoons cooked chickpeas
• 3 heaping tablespoons walnut pieces
• 1 tablespoon raisins, dried cranberries or currants
• 2 tablespoons vinaigrette dressing, such as balsamic

Chop the romaine lettuce and spinach into smaller pieces. If they are not pre-washed, wash in cold water and dry in a salad spinner or with a clean kitchen towel. Place into a bowl and top with the parsley.

Thoroughly wash the carrot (preferably with Veggie Wash). Use a vegetable peeler to peel long strips of carrot on top of the lettuces. Use about 25 strips. Eat the rest of the carrot, serve it on the side, or reserve for another use.

Cut the broccoli florets up into smaller pieces, if desired. Thinly slice the mushroom and dice the red pepper. Thinly slice the cucumber and then halve into half-moon shapes. Add all to the bowl. Top with the chickpeas, raisins and walnut pieces.

Just before serving, drizzle the dressing around the top of the salad. Toss and enjoy!

Colorful - Beautiful - Textures - Nutrients