Simple Steps to Dinner

Chickpeas have recently become one of my favorite legumes. They can be made into anything from dinner to dessert. Tonight I made these legumes into snackable, stackable, and dinner worthy partners, all in my nonstick pan. See below for recipe.

Simply salad for dinner? Yes! My favorite way to eat a light and healthy dinner is to start with a bowl of lettuce and top until I can't top it anymore. This night I added pine nuts, pan roasted chickpeas, julienned carrots (small strips), halved plum tomatoes, green bell pepper, all on a bed of lettuce. I topped it with a veggie vegan ranch (see below for recipe) and nutritional yeast for a cheesy flavor. Can you say easy dinner in less than ten minutes?

This is corn bread gone nuts...I mean beans. There are no nuts in this recipe, except for the one who made it. A couple weeks ago I was at BigLots, a super-saver store that has everything for a low price, and found Bob's Organic Corn Bread mix for a couple dollars. Normally this stuff is like five bucks, so I picked up a bag and figured I'd make some good ol' fashioned corn bread. But then I decided to go all beans on this batch and cooked up black beans in a spicy tomato sauce. It came out pretty tasty, although I wish I had some vegan sour cream. I guess I'll have to top it with a guacamole made in this:

Let me introduce you to my new toy. Well calling it a toy is not right, so let's call it a machine. This is a no joke, professional kitchen gadget that will have you creaming your coconuts. Literally. I made coconut butter this morning in it. And vegan vanilla ice cream. And a green smoothie. And my cornbread mixture (even though I should have just mixed that in a bowl with a fork). I am finding any reason to use this new baby. Seriously, when it says "professional series" it is not kidding. It is so awesome that it even cooks soup! Gosh I love physical science so much right now. Anyways, many new recipes will be coming out of this thing but of course I'll give you other options if you don't have one. But if you're serious about your cooking skills, you should look into it. 

Spicy Chickpea Recipe

1 can chickpeas

cayenne

paprika

garlic pepper

sea salt

• I used my Misto to spray my pan with canola oil and got cooking! 
• Toss in all ingredients and cook on medium high until beans start popping around. 
• They actually jump when they're done. How fun!

Vegan Veggie Ranch

8oz Tofutti Non-Hydrogenated

micro chopped: (use blender, omega juicer, or food processor for easiest prep)

1/4 white onion

1 handful plum tomatoes

1 handful baby carrots

1/4 bell pepper

few dashes black pepper

dash of salt

dash of rice vinegar

cayenne (if you like it spicy)

soymilk (enough to thin out to your liking)

• Prep your vegetables so that they are as small as possible. See above for how to get them that way.
• Stir all ingredients into a small bowl, slowly incorporating soymilk to the consistency you like your ranch. 
• I like my ranch thick, so I added just enough to liquify the dressing.