Moroccan chickpeas and Carrots

It’s the time of year again, the few weeks time between winter veggies and spring veggies. Farm share is over, asparagus season is pretty much over. The greens, beans, and peas are still growing and the chest freezer is empty. I am living off greens and the few roots that I stashed in the fridge. Yeah I know I can just go buy veggies at the grocery store (the mr informed me…) but nothing is very good there right now either. Poor me right!

But what I do have and always have is carrots and I always have chickpeas. I also always have all the spices and I am never going to run out of raisins because well, Megan keeps giving me boxes and boxes of them.( I went from 5 lbs to like now having 10 lbs) so right here I got stuff to feed myself.

Moroccan chickpeas and carrots. The flavors are very similar to a Indian which I love so much. Cumin, ginger, cinnamon, coriander, and many more. A smokey sweetness that is oh so good. Add that to a big pile of cooked up chickpeas and carrots, sprinkled with raisins, and finished off with fresh parsley. I mean, doesn't that just sound splendid? (It does because it is.) This dish makes not having much in the way of fresh food tolerable. I made a big batch and ate it all day long because you can’t got wrong with carrots and chickpeas. No, no you can’t.

To the Moroccan chickpeas and carrots.

The stuff. Carrots, chickpeas, spice blend (cumin, ginger, coriander, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, clove), a small onion, raisins, garlic, fresh parley, and salt and pepper.

Start with mincing garlic and chopping th onion up into small pieces.

Toss it into a oven safe skillet, add about 1/2 cup water and set on medium heat to start to cook.

in the meantime, cut up carrots. Rounds about 1/2 inch thick.

once all the water evaporates from the onions, add in the spices and stir around. Let cook for a minute then add in about a 1/2 cup more of water.

Now add in the carrots, the chickpeas (with liquid) and the raisins. Bring the liquid to a boil then transfer the skillet to the oven. Cook for about 25 minutes.

While the stuff is in oven, rough chop up parsley.

And once the carrots are tender, remove form oven, let cool for a few minutes, then mix in all the fresh parsley and season to taste with. salt and pepper

Grab a bow and a fork and do it…Eat.

-C

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Moroccan chickpeas and Carrots

• 1 lb of carrots

• 1 can chickpeas with liquid

• 1/3 cup raisins

• 1/2 teaspoon each of cinnamon, cayenne pepper, and ground coriander

• 1 teaspoon each cumin and ground ginger

• 1/8 teaspoon ground clove or allspice

• 2 cloves garlic

• 1 small onioin

• I bunch parsley

• water

• salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mince up garlic and chop up onion into small pieces. Place into a oven safe skillet and stick skillet on stove on medium heat. Add about 1/2 cup of water to the skillet and start to cook down the onions.

Clean carrots and cut them into 1/2 inch rounds. (Peel if you want but I don’t so..)

Once water have evaporated from skillet add in all the spices along with a pinch of salt. Let cook for a minute then add in about 1 cup of water. Also add in the cut up carrots, the chickpeas and liquid (or 2 cups cooked chickpeas and 1/2 more cup water), and the raisins. Mix around and bring the liquid to a boil. Once boiling, transfer skillet to the oven. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until carrots are tender.

Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes. Rough chop the parsley then toss it in. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Eat.

ChickPeas and Peas

I am all about the quick meal. Sure I love me some kitchen time, but sometimes I just want good food good and fast. Chickpeas lightly sautéed, tossed with fresh green peas, thin pieces of raw onion, and tahini sauce. Sounds easy and so simple right? Well it is, simply freaking fantastic.

I am also thinking ahead to those summertime cookouts or when people are flowing through the house in need of food. This is a definite dish to bring to a cookout of potluck dinner situation. You know, when we can do those things safely again. Until then, I make it and eat it to my face. Now you should too.

To the chickpea and peas!

The stuff. Chickpeas, peas, an onion, some tahini, soy sauce, red wine vinegar, and a little oil. Also need a splash of chickpea waster or regular water. And pepper, if you want it.

Tahini, soy, vinegar, and a little bit of chickpea water. Stir until smooth and creamy.

Cut up onion, nice and thin like.

Now sauté chickpeas. Drain and rinse the beans and lightly coat a pan with oil. Toss chickpeas into pan on medium high heat and cook until they start to brown.

Once the chickpeas have somef dark color, toss in the peas and the onion. Mix it all tougher and turn heat off.

Dump it all into the bowl with the tahini sauce and mix it all together.

Add pepper, grab a fork, eat.

-C

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ChickPeas and Peas

Serves 1-4 people

• 2 1/2 cups (or one can) cooked chickpeas

• 2 cups fresh or frozen (and thawed) green peas

• 1 small onion

• 1/4 cup tahini

• 2 tablespoon red wine vinegar

• 1-2 tablespoon soy sauce/tamari/liquid aminos

• a couple teaspoons olive oil for pan

In a medium sized bowl mix together the tahini, lesser amount of soy, and vinegar. Stir until smooth, adding in a splash or chickpea or regular water to thin out until it is the consistency of heavy cream. Taste. If it needs more soy, add a little more in until it tastes right.

Grab the onion and slice it up, really thinly and into small pieces.

Place a large skiller on medium high heat on stove. Add in a couple teaspoons olive oil to coat. If the chickpeas are still in water, rinse and drain. Dump drained chickpeas into hot skillet and cook for about 5-7 minutes or until they start turn deep brown on some sides. Throw in the peas and the onions, turn heat off, and mix around. Let sit in hot pan for a minutes or two then dump it all into the bowl with the tahini sauce. Mix it all around, add some cracked pepper, then, eat.

Falafel Stuffed Peppers With Pickled onions and Tahini

I love me some falafel. I love me some peppers. So I guess it is natural that I would want to stuff falafel inside of peppers and eat them all to my face right? I think so.

As we all already know, most of what I cook is depicted by whatever I get at farm share. And the past few weeks we have been getting a lot of peppers. I have been happily eating one or two a day, just as they are, but I figured it was time that I did something else with them. Now what is the first thing that comes to mind with peppers? Stuffed peppers of course. And there you have it, falafel stuffed peppers.

So I am not going to lie and say the mr ate them and swooned. He is not the biggest fan of peppers (I am starting to realize that he doesn’t have all the right taste buds in his mouth. So sad for him.) so he dumped the falafel out of the pepper and ate it with most of the pickled onions, the tahini, and rice. That he really liked. Lucky me, I wanted his pepper anyway because roasted peppers are freaking fantastic amazing and whatever him. Me, as a pepper and falafel lover, I found these stuffed peppers to be everything that I wanted and needed and then some. Eaten pretty much right away warm, with pickled onion and covered in all the tahini, it was a very very satisfying meal. But also a left over stuffed pepper that was stuck in the fridge, eaten cold standing in front of said fridge, right before bed. That was something great as well. I might have even gone in for a second one……

Anyway, a pepper stuffed with falafel is a good idea if you want food, like peppers, like falafel, and are cool. Just saying.

To the falafel stuffed peppers!

The stuff. A few sweet peppers, some cooked chickpeas, chickpea flour, an onion, a bunch of fresh cilantro and parsley, a few cloves of garlic, red wine vinegar, a little water, tahini, cumin, chili pepper flakes, and salt and pepper.

First, take the onion and cut in half. Take one half and cut into very thin slices, place in a bowl, sprinkle with a pinch of salt and toss with the vinegar and a few tablespoons of water. Set that bowl aside. The other half of onion just cut into a few smaller chunks.

To make falafel. Add the chunks of onion and garlic to food processor and pules a few times to start chopping it up. Add in the cilantro and parsley, the chickpeas and chickpea flour, the cumin and chili pepper flakes, and a good few pinches of salt and lots of pepper. Pulse until completely combined but still a bit chunky. OR pulse until smooth if you would rather it like that. It’s up to you.

Grab peppers and cut each in half. Remove the ribs ad the seeds.

Take falafel mix and stuff it into peppers.

Place peppers onto a baking sheet and into the oven they go.

In the meantime while the peppers are cooking, toss the onions around in the brine a few times. Then right before you take the peppers from the oven, drain the brine from the onions into a jar with the tahini and mix until smooth. Add a splash of water to the mix if you need to loosen it up a bit more to make the consistency of the tahini drizzle-able.

And out they come when all roasted and crispy and my oh my, so good!

Now you eat. Garb a bowl, maybe a grain of some sort if you like (I made the mr rice), plop a pepper down, add some pickled onions and drizzle that tahini all over.

Eat.

-C

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Falafel Stuffed peppers with Pickled Onions and Tahini

Makes 6 half peppers stuffed

• 3 medium sized sweet peppers

• 2 cups cooked and drained chickpeas (or one can)

• 1 large onion

• 1 bunch (about 1/2 cup packed) cilantro

• 1 bunch (about 1/2 cup packed parley

• 2-3 cloves garlic

• 2 teaspoons cumin

• 1 teaspoon chili peper flakes

• 1/3 cup chickpea flour or oat flour if you don’t have chickpea

• salt and pepper

• 1/4 cup tahini

• a few tablespoons water

• 3 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Preheat oven to 425

Grab the onion and cut in half. Take one half and cut into very thin slices and place in a bowl. Spinkle with a pinch of salt and dump in the vinegar along with about 2 tablespoon water. Toss around until all the onion is coated and set aside.

Take remaining half onion and cut into big chunks. Toss into a food processor along with the garlic and pulse a few times until the onion is chopped up. Add in the cilantro, parsley, chickpeas, chickpea flour, cumin, chili pepper flakes, and a good pinch of salt and lots of pepper. Pulse the hole shebang until the mixture is combined, the herbs are incropeted, but there is a little chunk left. Or you could make it smooth if you wanted too. It’s up to you.

Grab the peppers and cut them in half. Remove the ribs and seeds then take the falafel mixture and evenly distribute it between the peppers halves.

Place stuffed peppers on a baking sheet, falafel side up, and place into oven to bake for about 45 minutes. You want the falafel mix to have a chance to cook inside and out and to get nice and golden brown and crispy on top.

Right before the peppers are done, grab the onions and the tahini. Toss the onions one last time in the briny mix it’s been sitting in, then drain that brine into the tahini. Mix around until smooth. The tahini should be at the consistency to drizzle so if it is still to thick, add in a splash of hot water to loosen it up.

Once peppers are cooked, remove fro oven. Place on a plate with or without some grain, toss on some pickled onion and drizzle tahini all over.

Eat.

Store left over peppers in a the fridge. To eat, just reheat or eat cold. I really enjoyed eating one cold.

Sweet Potato Chickpea Hash with Lemon Tahini Sauce

Easy quick dinners are no joke because sometimes life happens and then you are hungry, then hangry,  then maybe yelling and or tears start and nothing is ever going to be good again. And then you eat and everything is A OK, but that time between tears and food can be long, especially when you just can't think so one should have a least a good 2 or 3 good dinners up there sleeve (besides pasta) that can be made quick and easily to avoid the fallout of food deprivation. This bowl of goodness here is one of those. And sure some people might not always have a sweet potato, tahini, or chickpeas is the house  (I ALWAYS have a sweet potato or some type of winter squash and tahini and chickpeas... they are staples here) but with a tiny it of foresight, you can make these things happen too. And then you will make it and realize that you must have these ingredients on hand at all times because yeah, a good go to meal that will prevent the tears.

Admittedly I have made this for the mr but he is not that into it. Says he is not a huge fan of sweet potatoes. (what the fuck is wrong with him?) But me, I eat is and I eat it all.. The sweet potato/chickpea/tahini combination is classic fantastic. This hash is sweet potato sweet, a little chickpea crunchy, salty, savory, and creamy citrusy.  It's all sorts of goodness. I tossed this hash on a big bed of kale (any sturdy green would be good) and only good things happen in my mouth. So the mr. might not like it but I am starting to realize (after 15 years) that my taste is far superior to his. Haha. (but really)  Quick and easy (and healthy) and good.  Make it once and it will turn into on of your go to dinners, unless you don't like sweet potatoes. In that case there is pasta. 

The stuff. Chick peas (I had just made a batch but if you don't have any made already, grab a can) a sweet potato, an onion, a lemon, some tahini, and garlic Also some cumin and chili powder, olive oil, and salt and pepper. 

Preheat your oven and chop up the onion and sweet potato into mouth sized pieces. 

Toss the chopped stuff onto a baking sheet with the chickpeas.

Drizzle the whole shebang with olive oil and toss with cumin, chili powder, and salt and pepper.  

Into the oven it goes.

Half hour later it is all roasted and ready.

Oh quick, make this before the stuff is out of the oven. Tahini, minced garlic, a dash of salt, a bit of the liquid from the chickpeas and the juice of a lemon. Just stick it all in a cup or bowl and mix it around. Then it's done.

Scoop the hash into a bowl (I like a large pile of greens underneath) and cover with the tahini sauce. 

Eat is all to your face.

-C

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Sweet Potato Chickpea Hash With Lemon Tahini Sauce 

dinner for one, a side for two. Very easily doubled or tripled. 

• 1 sweet potato
• 2 cups or 1 can cooked chickpeas drained but liquid reserved 
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• salt and pepper
• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoon tahini
• 1 lemon
• 1/4- 1/2 cup of aquafaba (chickpea liquid)
• 2-3 cloves garlic

Preheat oven to 425

Chop sweet potato and onion into mouth sized cubes and place on a baking sheet. Add the drained chickpeas and drizzle with olive oil and toss around. Sprinkle on the cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper, and toss that around again. When the oven is preheated, slide the baking sheet on in. 

While the stuff is baking, mince the garlic and place it in a bowl with the tahini, the juice of a lemon, and a pinch or two of salt to taste. Add in 1/4 cup of aquafaba and mix it all around. If to thick for your liking, add a little more of the aqaufaba until its a good consistency. 

Check the stuff in the oven after 20 minutes and give it a toss.  Keep baking for another 5-10 minutes or until the sweet potato is cooked and starting to brown. Remove from oven and dump into a bowl (maybe on a bed of greens or rice) and drizzle all over with the tahini sauce.

Eat

Roasted Eggplant Red Pepper and Chickpea Pitas with Za'atar and Tahini sauce

I don't know guys… today already kind of feels like a blah day. It's way to warm out (I want crispy cool, not upper 70's), I have a butt load of paperwork to do, laundry up the butt, and a huge mess in the basement. And I just don't feel like doing anything, except maybe think about, make, and eat food. 

Food. My ultimate form of procrastination Whenever I don't want to do something, I find myself cooking or baking instead. Oh me… what to do. 

Anyway. This was dinner a few nights ago, and an awesome dinner it was. I mean, anything za'atar or tahaini is, and together on roasted veggies… mouth watering!  So good in fact that I was thinking (already thinking) of making it again tonight. Maybe while I am sitting with the bills and the dirty laundry. Don't worry, it's cool, I am a fantatic multi-tasker. Doing laundry, the bills and  making food.. No problem. I thing it's really just  the damn warm weather that's getting to me, and there is nothing I can do about that except bitch a little. So consider me bitched.  

And dinner. Maybe if I make this again, today won't feel so blah. 

The stuff… Eggplant, red peppers, onion, and some chick peas (in liquid).  Tahini, a lemon, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. And of course we need some pitas, some greens and lots and lots of za'atar.

Dice up the eggplants, the red pepper and the onion into chunks that will fit in your mouth.

Toss that all together into a slightly oiled roasting skillet with the chickpeas (liquid drained but saved), salt and pepper, and a big ass dowse of za'atar. 

Stick into the oven to roast.

While the veggies are roasting, mince the garlic and add to the tahini. Mix in the juice of the lemon, a little salt and pepper, a drip or tow of oil, and the liquid from the chick peas. And no, it's not gross, its fantastic and makes the sauce all nice and creamy. But if you happen to have no chick pea liquid, just add in enough water to thin out the sauce.

After a good bout in the oven, the veggies and chickpeas are all nice and roasted . 

Get ready to compile. 

And all together now. Roasted veggies on greens, smothered in tahini sauce, and tossed with another good pinch or two of za'atar.

Food is so good. I am glad we have to war every day!

Happy Tuesday!

-C

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Roasted eggplant red pepper and chickpea Pitas with za'atar and tahini sauce 

Make about 4 pitas 

• 2 small or 1 large eggplant
• 2  red peppers
• 1 medium onion
• 1 1/2 cups (give or take) cooked chickpeas  drained but save the liquid (about 1/4 cup of liquid)
• 2 heaping tablespoons Za'atar* for roasting plus as much more as you like to garnish (I like a lot..like tablespoons worth)
• 1/3  cup tahini
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• 1 lemon
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
•  pitas (  4 of any kind you like)
• a few handfuls of greens (any kind)

Note. Za'atar is a fantastic, tangy and nutty spice blend made up of primarily sumac, toasted sesame seeds, and thyme. I make my own by combining equal amounts of the the three, usually adding fresh oregano if I have it,  and crush together. You can make your own too, or buy it pre blended. 

Turn oven to 425

Small chop the eggplant, red peppers, and onion and toss into a large oiled oven safe skillet or roasting pan. Add in  the drained chickpeas and toss with the za'atar, salt and pepper. Place in oven to roast.

For the sauce, mince garlic and mix into the tahini with the juice of the lemon, and the bean water, a little drizzle of olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Whisk together with a fork. 

After about 35 minutes or so, the veggies should be all nice and roasted… so take them out of the oven.

Ready you pitas. (warm them up if you like) A hand full of greens, a big helping of roasted veggies, a good scoop of two of tahini sauce, and a another pinch or two of za'atar

Now all you have to do is eat. No utensils required!