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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

should have thought this week's plan through a little better

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I'm REALLY happy with my meal plan this week - it's yummy, it's healthy and I now have all of the ingredients for it.

However, tonight, I kinda feel like I encountered one of the downsides of meal planning. My salad was AWESOME, don't get me wrong...I loved every last bite of it. But I really could have gone for something a little warmer - a soup would have been a better choice.

Normally, I just switch my days around to have something suitable, but it didn't work so well this week...I was out all day, so the meal had to be speedy (i.e., not lasagna or pea soup). And I was saving the quinoa risotto and seared scallops for friday (and the scallops were still frozen).

So that meant that I had a caprese salad of sorts for dinner. SUPER yummy, but not quite what I was craving after a day of tromping around in the snow.

At any rate, this was a great meal. It's a side dish recipe, so the original recipe says it serves 5. As a meal, it serves 2-3 (it served us both good sized portions with two quite small lunch portions left over).

You can put it together in about 15 minutes, and it involves absolutely ZERO cooking. It would be a GREAT choice for a potluck, or for a summer BBQ, or just one of those hot nights when you don't wantt to cook.

The basil makes it....if you don't have fresh basic, make something else!!!!

caprese salad with chickpeas

insalata caprese with chickpeas

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1 tub mini bocconcini balls, halved (my pack had 16 in it and I quartered them)
1/3 c minced red onion
1/3 c chopped fresh basil leaves
2 T olive oil
2 T balsamic vinegar
1 T lemon juice
1/2 t fleur de sel
fresh black pepper

1. Place in ingredients in a large bowl in the order listed.

flash batteries dying...

2. Mix well. Eat.

Pretty complicated, eh? Hubs loved it and is sad that I'm getting the lion's share of the leftovers. The chickpeas in it are great - full of fibre and protein. They really 'flesh' out this salad and make it a satisfying meal. Adding a slice or two of grilled garlic bread would be yummy too!

However, hubs eschewed his super yummy pad thai lunch today in favour of MCDONALDS (meaning I'm totally going to win our game, hehe).

Thanks for reading - tomorrow I"m making two lasagnas - one for the table and one for the freezer. Stay tuned.

5 comments:

Michele said...

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Thanks! Happy Cooking!!!

Christy said...

It looks delicious! Too healthy for my Hubby though I think.

Good to have you back too ;)

Not So French Girl said...

You do love Eat, Shrink and Be Merry, don't you ? I make this salad now and again, but yours looks better! It's true that the fresh basil makes it. I'm considering trying to grow it inside this winter.

dinah34 said...

that does look delicious!

mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

did you resolve your problem of not eating frozen meals? inquiring minds do want to know!

Anonymous said...

eating this for lunch right now - thanks for the inspiration!

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