Honestly, I've found that I'm somewhat addicted to beans (which probably explains why CH and I affectionately call each other "Beans" on occasion...awww).
Anyway, I love their versatility: they can be eaten hot or cold; can be used dried or from a can; and are perfect as part of a side dish or even as the "main event." Although black beans are my all-time favorite, a variety of other kinds are quickly moving up on my list.
Typically, I prefer chickpeas in the form of falafel or hummus. I also like them in soups/stews, because they usually taste kind of funny to me when I eat them cold, as whole beans. Actually, if I eat enough chickpeas, their taste starts to remind me of tuna fish, which makes me a bit unsettled. Interestingly though, after doing a bit of recipe googling, I discovered that chickpeas are often used as a vegetarian substitute for tuna salad. Hmmm...maybe my taste buds are even more well-developed than I previously thought.
So, I found this Mexican-Chickpea Salad on the Food Network website. I actually didn't like it that much, but maybe that's because I left out the chipotle peppers. (While I do love jalapeños, I cannot stand chipotles, which are smoked jalapeños.) Despite that fact, I decided to go ahead and post the pictures and a link to the recipe anyway. Who knows, maybe some of you will find this recipe more to your liking. In the mean time, at least it looks nice! You can find the recipe
here.
(Edit 4.24.12) A thoughtful reader pointed out that this recipe is no longer available on The Food Network website. Thus, please find the recipe below:
Mexican-Style Chickpea Salad
(from The Food Network)
Ingredients:
2 canned chipotle chiles in adobo, minced (I omitted these)
3 fresh jalapenos, minced
1 medium onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tomatoes, chopped
4 c. canned chickpeas, rinsed & drained
1/4 c. extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 c. lime juice, freshly squeezed
3 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped
salt + freshly ground black pepper
Directions:
Add all ingredients to a large bowl & refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Season with salt & additional lime juice, as desired. Serve salad cool or at room temperature.
Ah, so you have to make something for your next family event, and you're the only one who's vegan, huh? You don't feel like throwing together yet another boring lettuce-based salad, and you're not in the mood for dessert. Moreover, you want to make something that everyone will enjoy, without all of those puzzled "How can that be vegan?" looks.
Sometimes I just feel like having some good old-fashioned pasta salad. I mean, there's nothing quite like a chilled bowl of pasta (dressed up with a few accouterments, of course) to help get you through that midday slump. Unfortunately, however, it seems as though most pasta salads are heavy on the mayo and light on the flavor.
Actually, the meager breadth of my "juicing" experience extends only to squeezing the juice out of lemons, limes, and oranges for various recipes. If that's not bad enough, I don't even have a juicer. And my blender has been decidedly uncooperative lately, resulting in this being a much more time-consuming recipe than it should've been.
Basically, it appears that a previously latent compulsion is suddenly driving me to bake every recipe in this entire cookbook, without regard for the fact that my name is neither Cookie Monster, nor Martha Stewart.
Honestly, I've found that I'm somewhat addicted to beans (which probably explains why CH and I affectionately call each other "Beans" on occasion...awww).
