Vegetable Medley

Ok, I know I've already done a recipe with chick peas this week. But come ON! Who eats something different every night of the week? that lives on a reasonable budget? that hates to throw out good food?

I'm calling this recipe "vegetable medley", because it's better than "leftover vegetables from the frig that need to be cooked before they go bad."

There wasn't really enough of it to make into a dinner for two, but it made a robust lunch for one.

HERE'S WHAT I DID FOR LUNCH

• 1/2 onion, roughly chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, quartered
• 1/3 red bell pepper, roughly chopped
• 4 large white mushrooms, slices
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 1/2 cups frozen spinach, thawed
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
• salt & pepper
• 1 cup chickpeas, cooked
• Parmesan cheese, shredded

Cook onion, garlic, bell pepper, and mushrooms, pinch of salt & pepper, in oil over medium heat until softened. Lay spinach on top, sprinkle with a pinch of salt & pepper, add oregano and parsley. Cook for 5 minutes. Stir in chickpeas and cook until warmed through. Remove from heat.

Top with Parmesan cheese and CHOW DOWN!

Chick Peas and Vegetables

You want healthy? THIS vegetable plate is HEALTHY!

My husband and I are not vegetarians but we love our vegetables. We have our moments when we're completely burned out on eating meat and just want fruits and vegetables to eat.

Do you get that way, too?

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES TO GET THIS DINNER GOING

RICE PILAF

• 1 cup uncooked parboiled rice
• 2 teaspoons oil
• 2 1/4 cup chicken or vegetable broth
• 5 to 7 button mushrooms, quartered
• 1/4 cup red bell pepper, finely chopped

Lightly brown rice in oil over medium heat. Add broth, mushrooms and bell pepper, and bring broth to a boil. REDUCE HEAT to medium-low, cover with lid and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat. Let stand covered for 5 minutes or until water is absorbed. Fluff with fork right before serving.

NOW FOR THE OTHER VEGETABLES & LEGUMES

• 1 1/2 cups cooked garbanzo beans
• 1 bunch of fresh spinach, roughly chopped
• 1 to 2 crowns of fresh broccoli, chopped into bite size pieces

For the chick peas or garbanzo beans, I happen to have had some frozen from cooking a batch last week. See the recipe, Home Cooked Garbanzo Beans or Chick Peas for cooking directions. Using canned garbanzo beans will work fine, too. Whatever you have on hand. Just heat them up and set aside.

Let's blanch our veggies.

Fill a 5 quart cooking pot 2/3 way up with water and bring to a boil over medium high heat.
TIME SAVER: You should start this water while you're cooking the rice pilaf.

Thoroughly rinse spinach and broccoli before blanching. Toss in 1 tablespoon of salt in the boiling water, then start with the spinach. Submerge spinach in boiling water and cook up to 2 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to scoop out spinach and set aside in a warm bowl.

Next, carefully add broccoli to the same cooking water, cook 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Broccoli doesn't take long at all! Scoop out with slotted spoon into the same bowl with the spinach.

Season the spinach and broccoli with salt and pepper to taste. For an extra kick, add a little ground red pepper flakes.

Pile the vegetables and chick peas on top of a bed rice pilaf, drizzle very lightly with garlic seasoned olive oil if you have any on hand. Simple extra virgin olive oil is nice, too.

YOU'RE READY TO EAT!

HEALTHY FOOD EVENTS IN THE FOOD BLOGOSPHERE
I just realized this meal qualifies for two great food events going on right now! So, I'm entering both with one meal. I hope they don't mind.

Fat Chefs or Skinny Gourmets?
Hosted by Ben from What's Cooking? and Ivy from Kopiaste to Greek Hospitality

Tried, Tested and True Two
Hosted by Giz and Psychgrad from Equal Opportunity Kitchen

Roasted Garlic Hummus

I served up a zesty batch of hummus to share with friends for New Year's eve.  I used a combination of recipes that I thought would give a traditional flavor.  It was my first time to make it and I only had a few memories of really good hummus to go on.

The roasted garlic is my favorite part of this recipe.  It's super easy to roast garlic.  Going the extra step to prepare it was well worth it. Drizzling the top of the dip with a good, dark extra virgin olive oil didn't hurt either.

I did a pretty tasty job here.  My friends haven't called to complain, so I'm betting it's safe to share this recipe with you.  Hummus is delicious for dipping and making into sandwiches.  If you've never made hummus, this is a good starter recipe.

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED

• 1 small bulb of roasted garlic
• 1 (15oz) can of chickpeas, drained and save back 2 tablespoons of liquid
• 3 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• extra virgin olive oil to drizzle on top
• pita bread wedges, crackers

Squeeze roasted garlic cloves into a food processor.  Add chickpeas, reserved liquid, lemon juice and salt.  Process until coarsely pureed.  Move dip to a serving dish.  Before serving, drizzle 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the top.

MAKE AHEAD

Prepare up to 1 day ahead of time.  Cover and refrigerate until serving.

Can you find what I got for Christmas in the picture above?