Tag: chickpea

Garbanzo Bean “Tuna” Salad

Let us be clear, there is no tuna in the recipe. In fact, I’m only using the word “tuna” to give you a sense of how I use this great dish. I have nothing against tuna, but since I’m not eating a lot of meat these days, I wanted an option that is simple, delicious, and filling.

For example, if I were to make the Nicoise salad mentioned here, I’d simply substitute this recipe for the tuna. Of course, I mostly use it in these extremely addictive collard green wraps. I cannot get enough of these…to the point where I will eat them for lunch every day for two or three weeks. Let everyone else have their gluten-filled wraps; my version is gluten-free, tasty, and doesn’t leave me feeling bloated.

Yeah, I *do* get that excited about collard greens and chickpeas.

There Is No “Easy” in Gluten-Free Baking

Every day, my inbox and Twitter feeds are filled with delicious-looking gluten-free baked goods. While I remain in awe of those who have the time and energy to create these wonderful foods, I also remind myself of this: making these foods is not easy. It’s not foolproof. And, unless you bake a lot, it’s not all that cheap.

Wheat-based breads, cakes, cookies, and more rely upon gluten for elasticity in the dough. Baked goods rise. Gluten is protein that is sticky, elastic, and strong. Unfortunately, gluten-free alternatives require a lot of additional effort to mimic — but never quite achieve — those qualities. Continue reading “There Is No “Easy” in Gluten-Free Baking”

Salads, Little or No Lettuce

I am a huge fan of really big salads — the kind of salads made famous by Elaine Benes on Seinfeld — but they are often boring. Really boring. Pretty much every menu of every restaurant has the same suite of salads, with some minor variations: Cobb Salad, Caesar Salad, Boring Green Salad, Chinese Chicken Salad, Taco Salad.

Sure, sometimes you get something wild like a Kale Caesar Salad, but when it comes to the world of restaurants, salads are predictable and generally not that exciting. And by not that exciting, I mean not all that flavorful — usually these salads rely upon the salad dressing to carry all the flavor work. This, as we all know, is how a salad goes from reasonably healthy to a calorie bomb in under thirty seconds. Continue reading “Salads, Little or No Lettuce”