Middle Eastern Chickpea & Rice Salad

Serves 10

What You Need:

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
Zest of one lemon
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 minced garlic clove
2 red peppers, cut into wide strips
2-1/2 cups cooked brown rice

1-cups wild rice varieties
1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
24 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup pitted kalamata olives (I used black olives)
1 cucumber, peeled, deseeded, and diced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup finely diced sweet onion


What You Do:

Preheat broiler. 

In a bowl, combine lemon juice, lemon peel, olive oil, and garlic. Set aside. 

Place red peppers on baking sheet and broil until skin bubbles and starts to turn black. Remove peppers from broiler and place in a covered bowl for 5 minutes. Remove outer skin, and dice peppers.  The skin comes off easily if you broil the peppers long enough.

In a large bowl, combine rice, beans, tomatoes, olives, cucumber, parsley, onion, and peppers and toss with lemon juice dressing.

Absolutely yummy!

Quinoa and Black Beans

1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon ground cumin

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup corn kernels
(fresh cut from the cob)
1 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed
and drained
2 tsp dried cilantro or 1/2 cup fresh

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute until lightly browned.

2. Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with vegetable broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes,

3. Stir fresh corn into the saucepan, and continue to simmer about 5 minutes until heated through. Mix in the black beans and cilantro.