The Happy Herbivore Meal Plan-Pineapple Teriyaki Chickpea

This may look familiar to you since it is very similar to Lindsay's "Hawaiian Chickpea Teriyaki" featured a couple of posts earlier.

This is a simpler version with fewer ingredients. You can use bottled teriyaki sauce or make your own (many recipes on the internet). Two changes I made: 1. I used cooked millet in place of the quinoa. 2. I put most of my pineapple IN with the garbanzo beans when I sauteed them in the sauce.

I like this as did The Man. The Girl doesn't like garbanzo beans any more so I didn't try. I LOVE millet now, which I made in my rice cooker after dry-toasting in a skillet.

We also had this for lunch cold on a bed of romaine lettuce. Great way to add greens to this!

Everyday Chickpea-Quinoa Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

Appetite for Reduction

Isa's first recipe and my first attempt. Pretty easy and I thought it turned out well. I tried to skimp and not use the whole recipe of dressing, but I think it can take it, the quinoa will absorb it just fine. Remember to make the quinoa the day before and soak the cashews (for the dressing). I didn't see her mention that you need to rinse quinoa first before you cook it otherwise it will be bitter (for those of you new to this grain). Quinoa is wonderful and easy to cook, a whole grain with protein that cooks in 15 minutes–the ease of white rice but so much better for you. I used a quinoa mix that has a couple different colors and both Romaine and Red-leaf lettuce.

I could see adding some garlic, basil or tofu as she suggests, but the tofu might be overkill with protein for me.

Update 2/24/11: I had leftovers of this for lunch today and I added some perfectly ripe avocado. Yes! That was a good idea! Onions have become problematic for my DH (Darling Husband) so I will need to make a lot of these dishes without finely chopped onion (and add it to mine as I eat it) or slice it in big chunks so he can pick it out easily. Final update: We've determined, oddly enough, that quinoa is also a culprit for the DH, so I won't be making this for him again. But I will make it for myself and company.

Did the DD eat it? No. "I don't like garbanzo beans."

Would I make this again? Yes, I love this salad and the dressing. Great for a brunch.

Rating: Salad: 5 out of 5 Forks

Rating: Dressing: 5 out of 5 Forks

Curried Chickpeas & Greens

This dish has a lot of ingredients--mostly spices, but is still pretty simple to make. With all these dishes with multiple spices, I have been prepping my stove area with all the chopped veggies and pre-measured spices in little glass bowls so I can just plop things in at the right moment.

I used two cloves of garlic instead of four and no onion, which was called for. I used the two tablespoons of ginger in the recipe and I think it was a too much ginger for me, or I didn't mince it well enough. I just did a rough small chop. I forget how hot ginger can be in quantity!

Did the DD eat it? No, she won't eat chickpeas.

Would I make this again? Yes, I liked it and it's an easy dish to have the ingredients for. I think you could use spinach instead of kale.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Forks (reducing the ginger)