Chickpea Salad with Herbs and Vegetables

I knew this week was going to warm up and the last thing I want to do when it gets hot is cook over a hot stove and eat something heavy.  I ate a lot of salads last summer but I hated the prep work that went with that (I'm anal about cleaning romaine leaves since I'm always worried I'll accidentally eat a bug), and bag lettuce goes bad so quickly.  This chickpea salad involves a little less prep work and chopping since the bulk of this salad are the chickpeas and not lettuce.  It's also a lot quicker to throw together on a weeknight after work if you do the chopping in advance, which is what I did.  And this is a super flavorful dish that you can eat during the hot months without feeling gross afterwards.  This can be eaten as a meal or portion it out smaller as sides to your entree.  A great thing about this salad is that you can use whatever vegetables you want so throw in your favorites for this satisfying vegetarian dish!

Servings: 2-6 (depends on how you're eating this as an entree or side dish)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
3/4 cup red onion, chopped
2 cups halved grape tomatoes
1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped
2 cups cucumbers, chopped (I like the Trader Joe's persian cucumbers)
1/4 kalamata olives, chopped
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon rosemary
1 teaspoon thyme
1 cup crumbled feta cheese

A couple notes:

• I also threw in a couple handfuls of chopped green onions that I had leftover from another dish.  I know this dish already has red onions but I love onions of all kind and can't get enough of them!  Use whatever vegetables you like for additions or substitutions)
• This dish was very flavorful and pungent in a good way but if you want it less strong, decrease the herbs and garlic a bit.  Also if you have fresh herbs and the patience to chop them, then definitely use them instead of the dried ones!  I love fresh herbs, but I got lazy and the dried herbs here were still delicious!

Instructions:

• In a small bowl combine 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp black pepper, 4 minced garlic cloves and whisk together.
• In a large bowl mix together 2 cans chickpeas, 3/4 chopped red onion, 1/4 cup chopped kalamata olives, 1 tbsp parsley, 1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp rosemary, 1 tsp thyme, 1 cup feta cheese, 2 cups halved cherry tomatoes, 2 cups chopped cucumbers, 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper.  
• Drizzle the vinegar dressing over the chickpea salad, toss well, and enjoy!

The entire time I was prepping the salad my pugs were like this:

Or like this:

Sorry girls, you can't have any!  But please come closer and stay still for a second while I taunt you with the food so that I can take some photos. 

Ok last one and then I'll give you a carrot and peanut butter treat!

Adapted from My Recipes.

Cheese Straws

I made my first batch of cheese straws when I was just beginning to cook and bake myself.  I can still recall the impatience and urgency I felt when I became obsessed with the idea of making them one cold winter day.  I didn’t even have any baking sheets and so right after work I sped over to Target and bought a couple.  These cheese straws are so yummy and you can use all sorts of different cheese depending on your preference.  My sister and brother-in-law referred to them as fancy and delicious cheeze-its.

Servings: Makes about 24 sticks, but can vary depending on length and width of the straws you make.

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups coarsely grated extra-sharp Cheddar (can use any cheese you like)
1 cup flour
¾ stick cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
½ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper (omit if you don’t like spicy, but this makes it really good!)
1 ½ tablespoons milk

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Mix together 1 ½ cups grated cheese, 1 cup flour, ¾ stick chopped cold butter, ½ tsp salt, and ⅛ tsp cayenne pepper well.  Either work the dough together with your hands until the butter and cheese is worked into the dough or use a food processor.
• Add 1 ½ tbsps milk and mix in until dough starts to come together and you can form a ball.
• Place dough on a lightly floured surface.  Now there are a number of ways you can prepare the dough before baking, depending on your preference.  Here are a few suggestions:
• Roll out the dough into about a 12- by 10-inch rectangle and cut about ⅓-inch wide strips.  You can either leave them as strips or try twisting them (the strips are delicate though so this can be difficult).
• Pull out chunks of the dough and roll it with your fingertips to round it out into long round sticks. (This is my usual method).
• Roll out the dough and use small cookie cutters
• Transfer sticks/strips/whatever onto ungreased baking sheets, arranging them about ¼ inch apart. (In the photos the sticks are all close together but that's only because I moved them all to one sheet after they were baked.)
• Bake until the sticks are golden, 15-18 minutes.  
• Transfer to racks to cool.  Then try to restrain yourself from eating all of them at once!  These can be made a day in advance, but I don’t like to put them in an airtight container because I find they lose their crunch a bit.  

I’ve tried these with extra sharp cheddar and asiago and both times were delicious!  I’ve also heard that gruyere is pretty good and you can even try adding other flavors like dry mustard, cumin, or paprika.  When I know my niece and nephew will be eating these with us I omit the cayenne pepper since they are sensitive to spices.  

Adapted from Epicurious.

Butternut, Ginger, and Shallots Soup

As I mentioned in an earlier post (Bacon, Butternut, and Kale Penne), I recently discovered my love for butternut squash.  I also recently purchased a hand blender (which is ginormous) and so I wanted to try out a butternut squash soup recipe.  It's funny how sometimes a seemingly small and unimportant ingredient makes such a huge difference in a dish.  With this one, I highly recommend that you make sure to include the fresh chives.  This can be eaten either as a meal or in smaller portions as an appetizer.

Servings: 3 servings.

Ingredients:
4 cups butternut squash, peeled and 1-inch cubed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 large shallots, peeled and halved
1/2 inch piece of peeled fresh ginger, thinly sliced
2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/3 cup fresh chives, sliced into 1-inch pieces
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• In a baking pan toss together 4 cups butternut squash, 1 tbsp olive oil, 1/4 salt, 4 halved shallots, and sliced 1/2 inch piece of ginger.  Spread butternut squash mixture evenly and bake for 50 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until squash is tender.  Let cool for 10 minutes.

• Either blend in portions the squash mixture in a blender or you can do what I did and use the hand blender in a large pot.  Blend until smooth and then heat in a large pot over medium heat for 5 minutes or until heated throughout.
• Salt and pepper to taste and top with some fresh chives (in the picture below I added just a little bit of chives but soon realized how key they were and added a ton more after taking photos).

Then taunt your pugs with this delicious soup, all in an effort to get some good photos.

Adapted from My Recipes.