Meatless Meals

3:15 PM Brandy 0 Comments

There are a plethora of great reasons to cut meat out of your diet. Today I have a healthy alternative to eating meat that is still packed full of flavor and protein. The most important ingredient in this meal is chickpeas, also known as garbanzo beans. Chickpeas can be used in a million different ways and they are an excellent meat substitute if you are still looking to get healthy proteins without consuming meat pumped full of antibiotics and goodness knows what else.

Another plus - they are much cheaper than meat! A bag of dried chickpeas costs less than $1 and makes a TON. They can be used in salads, to make healthy homemade hummus or roasted in the oven to snack on as a "chip" substitute.

This recipe is a "leaf-less salad" packed full of heart-healthy veggies and delicious, fresh flavors.



Chickpea Salad

Salad
-2 cups cooked chickpeas (dried then boiled - or you can use canned if pressed for time)
- 1/2 red onion 
- 2 garlic cloves minced 
- 2 jalapeños de-seeded and diced
- 1 carton of cherry tomatoes sliced in half
- 1 large cucumber diced (I peel it because I don't like the skin and I scoop out the seeds)
- chopped parsley and/or basil. I used both and it was awesome. 
- 1/2 cup reduced fat feta cheese
Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Vinaigrette 
- juice from one lemon
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup coconut oil or olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flake


Chop all your veggies and mix them together with the chick peas. Whisk dressing ingredients and drizzle over salad mixture. Toss and enjoy!

The beauty of this recipe is that you can use whatever veggies you have on hand and it gets even better the next day if you need leftovers for lunch :)