good good things

VeganMoFo Day 1

November 1st, 2010

Roasted Chickpea Taco Salad

I’m always excited when it’s time to MoFo again. It seems to always start just when I’ve majorly slowed down with new post and it gets me back into the swing of things. I have no real themes or plans for this year’s event. My only goals are to post  at least 5 days a week and post some recipes I’ve been working on for awhile now. Tonight you’ll be getting one of those recipe. Its for Crunchy Taco Chickpeas which I use for Taco Salads (or just snacking right out of the oven) and i’m obsessed with them.

I’ve been trying to eat healthier during the day. I’m still a stay at home Mom to Reno and although she is eating breakfast and lunch everyday I’m not always doing the same and she is starting to call me out on it. She’s 3 now so she takes notice if she’s eating and I’m not so I need to be a better example for her in the meals department. I decided a nice big salad for lunch would be perfect one day but I wanted to make it something special so that it wasn’t boring. I’ve been obsessed with all things taco lately, especially taco seasoning, so I decided to create my own taco salad. I’ve done it before with a raw nutmeat but I wasn’t feeling that this day so I went with chickpeas and I was instantly addicted to them as soon as they were done roasting in the oven.  I threw some mesclun in a bowl with some avocado, sliced cucumbers, the taco roasted chickpeas and a quick agave lime dressing which had a touch of whole grain mustard. It was the perfect lunch and the perfect salad to get me to eat more salads during lunchtime.

Roasted Taco-flavored Chickpeas

1 15 ounce can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons taco seasoning (homemade or store bought)
pinch of salt
pinch of cayenne pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a sheet tray with parchment paper and set aside. In a bowl add the chickpeas, olive oil, lemon juice, taco seasoning, salt and cayenne and stir well to combine all ingredients and coat the chickpeas. Spread out the chickpeas on the sheet tray and  place in the heated oven. Bake for 25 minutes, stirring the chickpeas after the first 10 minutes and then again every 5 minutes or so until the chickpeas are nice and roasted and all of the liquid is gone. Enjoy as is or cool for a few minutes to add to salads, taco’s or whatever. Store any extra in sealed in a container in the fridge.

Entry Filed under: beans, event, recipe, vegan, veganmofo