Wednesday, May 28, 2008

The Great Garbonzo

I tend to get overly excited about things that most people don't. Actually I often get overly excited about things that many people openly hate. I will explain, but first, I must rewind.

I am beginning to think that I am a virtual Bermuda Triangle of medical mystery. Either that or I am actually 80 years old. On the upside, if I am 80, my skin is fantastic. I mean, my knees don't bend, I cannot function on less than 9-10 hours of sleep, I just had a significant section of my breast removed and occasionally I have a teensy bit of a problem with continence. Seriously. I am 80. TMI? Who cares, I am 80 and with that I am going with a wardrobe of purple and gold, getting 17 more cats and disclosing waaaaaay too many details about my health and my cats' eating habits. So just imagine my surprise when two days ago I do make it to the bathroom in time but instead of pale yellow I see an undeniable shade of pink. Rosy, pure pink. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? No, it was not my "monthly". What is this? Blood? Not red, but, pink. Admittedly, it was beautiful shade, but not what I wanted to see where I saw it. Sigh. I tried to push this most recent MMM (Meg medical mystery) aside and head to the fridge for some comfort food. I open the fridge and was instantly cheered. Beets! I loooooooove beets. Love them. I hadn't bought them in a while but saw the most beautiful red, purple and yellow beets on my last shopping trip. There is nothing better than a beet and goat cheese salad. Nothing. Woohoo! Beets! Medical mystery be da. . .wait a second. . .beets. Beets! It was the beets! I am not horse of a different color, I just ate too many beets. Darn anthocyanin, it will get you every time.

See? Way too excited about the beets. Another example would be the great garbonzo. Since my new push to eat less meat I have been experimenting with more beans. I looooooove beans. Really, I love them (see? Here I go again.) Lately I have been loving chickpeas (garbonzo beans) and I have been a little over eager to share some of the recipes I have found and developed. I have told almost everyone I know about my garbonzo bean pasta sauce. It is a little embarrassing to be honest, but I can't help it. I think about it and I just start gushing. It is so so so good and so healthy it is ridiculous! I simply do not have enough friends here in Maui to quench my excitement over this recipe so I had to share it here. I know it sounds weird, but you have to try it. You really must, it is yummy and so good for you! Lily likes it better than macaroni and cheese.

Pasta with chickpeas and tomatoes:

2 cups cooked chickpeas (or 1 can drained)
2 cups broth (veggie or chicken) or 1 can
2 cloves garlic
3 diced tomatoes
yellow squash or zucchini coarsely chopped (I use mini crook neck squash. Yummy!)
1/2-3/4 cup frozen peas or broccoli or whatever is on hand and you or kids (or hubby will eat)
salt, pepper and red pepper to taste
1 tsp olive oil
parm. cheese

cook minced garlic in olive oil until fragrant (15 seconds) do not burn.
add chickpeas and broth and simmer for 15 minutes
Add chickpeas, broth, and squash to food processor or blender and process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Pour sauce on whole wheat pasta, add peas and stir until evenly coated. Top with cheese and diced tomatoes.

I know, I know, it sounds disgusting. It's not. It started as a Cooking Light recipe (there's the cred) and I tweaked it and fine tuned it until it reached it's garbonzo greatness. Interesting tidbit: making a hearty pasta sauce from chickpeas is a traditional, Italian technique. Buon appetito!

7 comments:

Claudia said...

I am envious of healthy eaters. Healthy eaters who truly love their healthy food. Seriously. But I am finally getting out of my fast food pregnancy craving, so I'm hoping I'll revert away from heart-attack-in-a-bag fare for things that are better for me. It must be said that I LOVE hummus. LOVE IT!! With pita bread, tomatos, cucumber, feta cheese....mmmm, it is so tasty! I tried to make it once myself, but it had a wierd taste to it. Maybe my canned garbanzos weren't good? Or maybe, just maybe, it was because I didn't have any tahini...you decide.

Brooke said...

Meg you are hilarious!! I love your blog. Little Lilly is just beautiful and getting so grown up.
We love to eat pretty healthy too, I will have to try that recipe on my family one night, sounds gooooood!
Glad to see you, keep in touch.
And please... when you do come to Utah, call me! I would love to see you.

Erin said...

What I love more than your stories is your voice and face as you tell them. One of the beautiful things about a friendship is hearing your voice and seeing your face when you tell stories over the internetj and 2000 miles. Still the same you, dear friend.

Malia said...

okay meg, each blog i read of yours confirms to me the fact that you should be getting paid for this! you are so cute and clever! your blogs are always good for a chuckle and leaves me with a smile :)

Angi said...

I have everything
trying it this weekend.
Malia is right someone should be paying you...it probably should be me.

Angi said...

PS this may be too much information but one time my uncle ate too many tomatoes and turned his poo red. (you can delete this comment if it's too crude for your readers)

Josie Allen said...

Hi Meg,

I can't wait to try your recipe! I still think about those yummy cranberry, cornmeal scones you made when we were visiting Hawaii.

Glad I found your Blog. I have to admit that I did have to do a bit of stalking.