August 30, 2017
This week I am so happy to say we are finally off the soup diet! Hooray for solid foods! I actually feel like eating soup for that long really didn’t do much for me, I would have thought that eating blended vegetables would have had a rather drastic impact on my post Italy food baby. Sadly, all of that effort in sticking to the diet doesn’t seem to have done much, although it has done something at least! So I’ve decided it’s probably better to just go back to my normal healthy eating during the week, and eating loads more protein which my body clearly wants!
We went to the market last weekend and were lucky enough to arrive when the stall holders were trying to get rid of everything, so we got a huge box of vegetables for only $16! Pity that we don’t have as much need for them now, especially with my partner being in and out most of the week and being out for dinner myself. So we have a lot of veggies that I’m now trying to get rid of into this week as well! Not the worst problem to have, it has definitely been a cheap week for groceries at least!
So when I was on my own for dinner, I decided to try something new whilst also trying to make a dent in our veggie stock. I love vegetarian cooking, but my partner isn’t as much of a fan, especially after so much soup, so while he was out I thought it was a good excuse to give another vegetarian recipe a go. It’s been a while since I’ve used chickpeas in cooking, and we had a spare can lying around so I decided to rustle something together for myself!
This chickpea dish is perfect for a weeknight meal when you don’t have a lot of time on your hands. You just chuck it all in a roasting pan and put it in the oven, then once it’s cooked you have a delicious meal with minimal preparation effort. It was such a winner in my book that I wanted to share it with you all.
- 1 can Chickpeas, rinsed
- 1 large head of broccoli, chopped into florets
- 1/2 bunch kale, leaves pulled off and stems removed
- 2 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- Juice of one lemon
- 2 tsp olive oil
- salt and pepper, to taste
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Preheat your oven to 200C (400F), and line a baking dish with baking paper.
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Add the chickpeas, broccoli, kale, tumeric, cayenne pepper, dried oregano, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper to the dish. Stir to coat the vegetables evenly.
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Put the dish in the oven and bake for 45 minutes, or until chickpeas are crunchy. Toss a couple of times throughout to ensure even cooking.
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Serve immediately with a salad of your choice.
This dish is a great winter warmer, but it’s also perfect as leftovers the next day. I took it to work with a salad and it was absolutely delicious. I loved the flavours from the turmeric and oregano, as they worked really well with the broccoli and kale. A word of warning though, if you don’t like it hot like I do, reduce the amount of cayenne pepper you put in, or even remove it completely. I was surprised by how spicy the dish ended up given the amount of it I put in, so if you can’t handle spice I would leave it out completely.
Like I said earlier, although this dish takes a while to cook in the oven, it’s a simple matter of chucking all the ingredients together in a dish and then into the oven. You can then go about whatever else you need to do, and when it comes time to eat, the dish is all ready to go! I love a weeknight dinner that you don’t really have to think about, and this is perfect for that. It’s also really easy, and I love how you don’t have to spend much time at all chopping up vegetables and cooking things. It also means minimal washing up, which is even better!
This dish reminded me of cooking with my housemate in Melbourne. She used to always make roasted chickpeas and they were delicious, so it made me smile sitting down to a delicious bowl of roasted chickpeas in front of the TV.
Until next time, happy eating!
Ella xx
