Roasted Chickpeas and Veggies over Quinoa

It's snowing outside and I wanted comfort food. I took a look around and came up with this for dinner. The flavors were rich and warmed my hubby and I right up!

I'm not a photographer, this dish tastes so much better than it looks-just ask my husband he went back for thirds!

 Ever had roasted chickpeas? They are the best mock meat ever. No mushy beans here, they have a chewiness to them that will satisfy all who bite into them. 

 These have been flavored with basil, garlic, olive oil, and veggie broth

Tomatoes, garlic, onions, olive oil, and black pepper flavor the dish so well

 cook the quinoa in veggie broth and fluff it up

 Place the roasted chickpeas and veggies on top of the quinoa and serve it up! 

Ingredients

1 cup cooked quinoa

2 1/4 cups veggie broth

5 cloves garlic chopped into thirds

1 large onion chopped in large pieces

8 small vine ripe tomatoes, sliced in thirds

1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans) rinsed and drained

1 Tbsp dried basil

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

A few dashes of cayenne pepper 

Directions

Heat oven to 375 and place the rinsed and drained chickpeas onto a cookie sheet. Drizzle  olive oil over the top and roll the beans around until they are coated. Sprinkle dried basil and cayenne pepper over the top along with 1/4 cup of the veggie broth and bake in oven for 1 hour, stir them every 20 minutes.

Chop up the garlic, onion and slice the tomatoes. Place them onto another cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil and grind some black pepper on top.  Put the cookie sheet on the rack next to the chickpeas. Roast them for 35 minutes.

With 15 minutes left measure out 1 cup of quinoa, rinse it and cook it in 2 cups of water or veggie broth.

Roasted Garlic Hummus

Not the best picture but it was soo good I just wanted to eat it right away!!

Hummus is one of my favorite foods. It's healthy, taste great, and is very versatile. My top 3 are Roasted Red Bell Pepper, Jalapeño with Cilantro, and the one I am about to give you-Roasted Garlic Hummus!

Hummus calls for Tahini. You can buy a jar for 8-11 bucks at the store or blend up your own and save a ton of money. I usually buy 1 lb of sesame seeds out of the self serve bins for $3.50. You only need 1/2 cup of sesame seeds and you'll be able to make this hummus recipe a couple times.

Tahini
1/2 cup hulled sesame seeds
1 Tbs olive oil

Dump the sesame seeds in a pan over medium heat on the stove. Stir the seeds until the start popping and turn golden brown. Usually takes about 7 minutes or so, remove and let cool on a plate. Pour the seeds into a food processor, add 1 Tbs of olive oil, and blend until it turns into nut butter. Seal in an air tight container and it will store in the fridge for several weeks.

Roasted Garlic
1 bulb garlic
1 Tbs olive oil

Cut the garlic bulb in half and place them on 2 sheets of aluminum foil. Drizzle with olive oil and wrap up the bulbs in the foil. Set oven to 375 and roast in oven for 40 minutes. The garlic with be very soft, golden brown and easy to squeeze out of the bulb.

 As you can see the sesame seeds aren't completely pureed. I used sesame seeds that were NOT hulled. The store was all out of hulled so instead of buying a jar I decided to try unhulled. I put the garlic in and after a few minutes I eventually had nut butter. So for quick tahini use HULLED! 

Roasted Garlic Hummus

1 bulb roasted garlic

2 Tbs olive oil

15 oz chickpeas cooked and drained (garbanzo beans)

2 Tbs tahini

Juice 1/2 lemon

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp salt or 1/2 tsp veggie base 

Chopped parsley and Greek olives for garnish (optional)

Add all the ingredients except the garnish into the food processer. You'll have to squeeze out the garlic. Blend until very smooth. Scrape into a bowl and top with the garnish. Serve with carrots, cucumbers, celery, radishes, crackers, pita bread, and any other food you like to dip with.

I made whole wheat crackers to dip in my hummus that turned out wonderful! I'll be posting them soon!