Slow Cooker Chickpea and Garden Vegetable Pasta sauce

Prep Time: 23 minutes
Cook Time: 9 hours + 30 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes
 
Recipe Source: Slow Cooker Revolution

(I found a copy of the recipe online here.)

I made this over the summer, and am finally posting about it. This was really good. The sauce was very tasty on pasta and would probably be good on its own as well. If you like chickpeas this is a good one to try.

It froze pretty well. The zucchini got a little soft, but was acceptable.

I used canned diced tomatoes which made it is a little easier to prepare.

Baked Quinoa with Roasted Kale and Chickpeas

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: 6 Ingredient Solution

This is another great recipe from one of ATK's recent cookbooks. I'm definitely buying this book. (I've had it from the library so far.) It comes from the Vegetarian chapter, which has 9 recipes. (There are more vegetarian recipes in other chapters though.)

There is not much work to do with this: prepping the kale, cutting the tomatoes, rinsing the quinoa and beans, and zesting a lemon. The recipe does call for marinated feta cheese, which I did not have. So I used a tiny bit of olive oil and a little oregano in this as well. You do have to roast the kale for about 6-8 minutes, but that is done while you are prepping other ingredients. It all comes together very quickly (because there are so few ingredients.)

I really liked the leftovers cold. Eating it warm was good too. I will definitely make this again because it is filled with good things, tastes good and is easy.

Harvest Vegetable Pancake with Salad

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

Grade: B

Make Again: maybe

Recipe Source: Everyday Food (September 2011)
(no recipe at link yet, but ingredients listed below)

This is supposed to be pancake made from Beets and Carrots (along with some chickpeas and potato). It is also supposed to be purple. I thought it would be good recipe for me to try beets for the first time since it includes a lot of other ingredients I do like.

When I went to go buy the beets, I was frightened by the thick looking dirty skin and shapes, so I didn't buy any. It seemed like they would be hard to peel. I don't know if they were good ones or bad. So, I decided to just try the recipe without them.

That wasn't a bad decision, but I used almost half the salt, because I thought a lot of the volume would have come from the beets. That was a bad decision. The pancake needed more salt. I also tried to get away with only 1/2 T of oil on the pan, and that made it harder to flip. The taste was decent, but it probably would have been much better if I had used the proper amounts of oil and salt. The salad and goat cheese on top was good. I am toying with the idea of making this again, but mixing in some goat cheese instead of putting it on the top.

3 beets, shredded
3 carrots, shredded
1 russet potato, cooked, diced
1 can chickpeas, chopped
1/2 c. flour
1 t. salt

Mix together and heat in pan coated with 1 T olive oil over medium heat for 10 minutes until crispy on bottom. Use plate to help you flip pancake over. Cook other side 10-12 minutes.

Top with Mesclun mix, dressing and some crumbled goat cheese.

Curried Brown Rice with Tomatoes and Peas

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 60 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (May 2004)

This is a new favorite (although I had tried it before and liked it.) I have been making brown rice and bean variations of this recipe a lot lately, because it is so easy and really healthy too. I love the nuttiness of brown rice, but don't like it plain really, and this recipe ends up quite flavorful.

I modified just a bit to make it a little easier to make. Basically, I bring everyting but the rice to a boil in a dutch oven then add the rice (and some chickpeas - my own addition), cover and cook in the oven. It still works out well, although probably not as perfectly as pouring boiling liquids into a baking dish and covering with foil. Some grains of rice on the pan do get a a little overcooked, but not a lot and I prefer the ease of this method.

Moroccan-Style Chickpea Soup

Total Time: 26 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Best 30-Minute Recipes

This was very delicious and super quick. The one thing I would change is to skip brining some ingredients to a boil in a separate saucepan. I believe it would be just fine to have this recipe take a few minutes longer than 30 minutes, and have one less pot to clean.

I used very old saffron, so I wonder if it could just do without. I wondered about the ground ginger in it, but it all tasted very good and I will probably make this again for a quick and healthy dinner.

Indian-Style Vegetable Curry

Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 20-25 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (May 2007)

This recipe does require a bit of prep (onions, potatoes, serrano, cauliflower, garlic, ginger, toasted spices, and more) but it is very good. I used less oil (1.5 T instead of 4T) and had trouble with the potatoes sticking. I probably should have used more. It is a completely lean dish otherwise, so it wouldn't hurt to use a little bit more.

Penne and Chickpea Soup

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated Magazine (Sept 1999)

This is such a simple soup recipe, and very flavorful. It calls for 4 pieces of bacon (including rendered fat) and 1/4 c. olive oil. However, I soak up much of the rendered fat from the bacon (leaving about 1 T.) and then add only 1 T. of olive oil. This still leaves you with a very rich broth. The broth flavor comes from the bacon, garlic, rosemary, and the tomatoes.

The biggest problem with the soup is that it doesn't save well, because of the pasta. The pasta soaks up all the broth in the leftovers. So, I take some out of the pot for freezing before I add the pasta and then add less pasta.

Zucchini and Chickpea Salad

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes

Grade: A+

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Everyday Food (July 2005)

I have modified the recipe quite a bit, to make it lighter, and to use Zucchini instead of Eggplant. The original recipe called for Mint, and I use fresh Oregano.

Roasted Zucchini Salad

4-5 medium zucchini, 1/2" dice
2 1/2 T. olive oil, separated
salt
pepper
3 T. fresh lemon juice
1 T. fresh oregano, minced
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 oz feta cheese, crumbled

1. Preheat oven to 425.
2. Toss diced zucchini with 1 T. olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Place on foil lined heavy pan. Roast
3. Roast zucchini for 30 minutes, tossing once or twice.
4. Mix olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 pepper in large bowl. Add chickpeas, zucchini and feta and toss to combine. Serve warm or cold.


Update: There is also a curry version of this salad with peas, which I tried. I don't like this one as much, so I will stick with the chickpea feta version of zucchini salad.