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!

Hawaiian Chickpea Teriyaki

Hawaiian Chickpea Teriyaki, The Happy Herbivore, p. 127

Even though it's a little reminiscent of all those restaurant teriyaki dishes we've had to endure as vegetarians (you younger folk may have missed that era), this dish goes beyond "Let's throw some teriyaki sauce on vegetables and call this a vegetarian dish."

I like some sweetness in my food, and this satisfies me. The dish I created for the photo had just a little spinach on it for effect, but in reality, I would heap a whole bunch of spinach (or any other kind of green) on some rice and top it with the nice hot chickpeas to wilt it a little. Throw it in the micro or steam the greens if you want them cooked a little more.

One change I would make to the recipe is to double the amount of sauce. Lindsay says this recipe serves 2, but with this amount of garbanzo beans, it could easily be stretched to 4, especially with enough rice and a handful of greens. I might also add a little more water or other liquid to the sauce since mine seemed to evaporate quickly and didn't leave me with as much sauce as I would have liked to spoon over the whole dish. So maybe even triple the sauce amounts.

I don't keep szechuan sauce at my house, but I whisked together a quick bit (no real recipe) with some agave, dried pepper flakes, tiny bit of sesame seed oil, apple cider vinegar, some powdered garlic, powdered ginger and a bit of sriracha sauce. I used a teriyaki sauce similar to "Soy Vay" (the Trader Joe's brand).

I used a sweet salsa I had in the cupboard–peach and mango–which further enhanced the sweet side of this dish.

This would be a great meal to throw together at the last minute and really impress someone. Most or all of the ingredients can be kept in your cupboard–bottled teriyaki, bottled szechuan, canned garbanzos and a jar of salsa. You could even keep some of the pre-cooked rice on hand (I've seen it at Trader Joe's) and then just heat the beans with the sauces and throw it all together with some fresh greens! Voila! (Or "Viola!" as Phoebe would say.)

Did the DD eat it? She won't eat garbanzo beans anymore...so she did not try this.

Would I make this again? Yes

Rating: 5 out of 5 Forks (with some changes–more sauce!)

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)

Black Bean Red Velvet Mole & Ginger Mashed Sweet Potatoes & Apples

Legend has it that mole was invented when nuns in a poor convent went into a panic when the archbishop was going to visit. They put together what little they had ... chili peppers, chocolate, nuts, day old bread ... and then they killed their old turkey and smothered him in this sauce.

I promise you this is a turkey-safe version using black beans instead.

I've never made a mole before and it was fun to add so many different and seemingly unrelated ingredients into one recipe–chocolate, smoked paprika, chili powder, tomatoes, black beans, raisins, anise seed and more! The taste is complicated, but the cooking is not. Just throw it all in the pot and cook it, basically! (I made my version without onion or garlic since we are having some sensitivities at our house.) We tried it over quinoa (good) brown rice (good), and then I went all out and made the sweet potato dish that Isa recommends for this mole, and she's right. The sweetness of the mole really, really works well with the naturally sweet sweet potatoes. The Ginger Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Apples is good all by itself. I resisted putting a pat of vegan margarine on top to keep the fat content low, but if you aren't watching calories, I say go for it.

What could be better on a cold winter night...chocolate, protein and a root vegetable?

I think a nice Mexican beer would go well with this. I've been drinking the gluten-free beers made from sorghum, and I think that's a nice complement, too.

Oh, and I bought a bike on Craigslist yesterday. The plan (if it's not raining) is to ride for an hour three days a week. It's a "comfort" type of bike where you can sit upright with handlebars that sweep back and grips that don't aggravate the arthritis in my thumbs. Can't wait to go cruisin'!

Did the DD eat it? No.

Would I make this again? Yes, I love the beans and the yams are even tastier the next day.

Rating: Mole: 4 out of 5 Forks

Rating: Yams: 4 out of 5 Forks