Sharing recipes, crafts and frugal living, the challenges and triumphs of parenting a neurotypical child and a child on the Autism Spectrum. Yoga Instructor said goodbye to her nightly glass of Chardonnay to give up habits that were not serving her purpose in life! The CocktailMom name remains, however with a new focus on healthy and authentic living.

7/02/2007

The Great Garbanzo Bean Salad

Just in time for the 4th of July I offer up my favorite picnic side salad: The Great Garbanzo Bean Salad. You can make this salad in a variety of ways by switching the spices or adding pasta. Because the salad is made with oil and vinegar it has less of a chance of spoiling at a hot humid picnic. The other great bonus is that I usually make it completely vegetarian which always make a few non-meat eaters happy.

  • The Basic
  • 2 Cans of Chick Peas
  • 1 Cucumber halved length-wise and cut into 1/4 inch slices
  • 1 medium red onion diced
  • 1 red, yellow, or green pepper (I like Red for color)
  • Pepper and Coarse Salt
  • Red Pepper Flakes
  • 2-4 Tbsp.
  • Oil 1-3 Tbsp.
  • Red Wine Vinegar
Mix all vegetables together and then use as much or as little dressing as you want. The same goes for the Red Pepper Flakes.

  • Italian Version
  • Add 1 1/2 cup cooked tri-color pasta
  • And spice it with Oregano and Rosemary to taste

There are literally a million variations of this salad - I've used Spiced Vinegar or Balsamic to nice effect. I've added Parmesan cheese and home-made bacon bits. In a pinch I've even used Annie's Organic Dressings instead of oil and vinegar and eliminated the spices.

Happy Independence Day!

1 comment:

Gretchen said...

I'm a big fan of this salad Jabby. I've also added cooked lentils to it and it was a hit. Even the people at the cookout who are scared of lentils (crazy I know) tried it and was surprised that they like lentils (go figure!)

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