Chickpea Salad and Baby Quiche

This chickpea salad is quick, quite flavorful, and easy to make. It is nutritious and filling, and doesn't cost a lot of money.  You could eat this on top of rice, make a wrap with avocado, or put on top of lettuce.  You could even add pasta to make it a pasta salad.  This will stay good in the frig for a few days, so you can mix up the way you eat it.

-1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
-1 carrot, peeled and chopped REALLY tiny
-1 small celery stalk, chopped
-3 chopped scallions, green and white parts
-1/4 cup of orange or red bell pepper, chopped
-1 serrano chile, chopped very tiny
-1 2.25 ounce can of sliced black olives
-1 kirby cucumber, peeled and chopped
-1/4 tsp of garlic powder
-about 4 or 5 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
-salt and pepper to taste
-juice of one half of a lemon


I ate this with vegetarian baby quiche by The Filo Factory.  I love to eat quiche with greens so I topped some mesclun greens with mushrooms and balsamic italian dressing.

Tofu Stir-Fry

I'm not a HUGE fan of tofu, but made this way, it's not mushy and it really has a lot of flavor. Here is one of the few ways I like to make it:

-1/3 package of extra firm tofu, cubed and patted dry
-2 carrots, shredded
-2 or 3 heaping tbsp of chopped cilantro
-1 tbsp of toasted sesame seeds
-11/2 cup of chopped snow peas
-5 tbsp of low sodium soy sauce
-1/2 tsp of garlic chili sauce
-1 packet of chinese take-out duck sauce
-1 tsp of sesame oil
- 1 scallion, chopped
-1/2 tsp garlic powder
-2 tsp of olive oil
-fresh ground pepper
-White rice or lettuce leaves for wraps

Use a non-stick pan and toast the sesame seeds under low heat.  Take the sesame seeds out when golden and wipe the frying pan.  Place the patted dry tofu with the olive oil in the pan and cook until the tofu is browned. Then, add the carrots, snow peas, soy sauce, sesame oil and duck sauce.  Add more soy sauce if it looks dry.  Also add the garlic powder and some black pepper.  Cook the vegetables a few minutes until a little tender but so that the snow peas are still crispy. Add the scallions and cilantro.  Mix and turn the heat off.  Scoop on top of white rice and sprinkle the sesame seeds.  You can also wrap these in lettuce leaves.

Wrap It Up!

I've been making a lot of sandwiches and wraps lately. Buying some ingredients for wraps or sandwiches can save you money on lunch, and they take no time to make. I've been using Mission Multi-Grain Flour Tortillas. This one has swiss, tomato, arugula, orange bell pepper, hummus, and some Paul Newman's Balsamic Dressing.

Here is another one, with some of that Tabbouleh from yesterday, feta cheese, and hummus.