{"id":21655,"date":"2014-09-05T00:30:06","date_gmt":"2014-09-05T04:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=21655"},"modified":"2014-09-04T23:48:37","modified_gmt":"2014-09-05T03:48:37","slug":"chickpea-cranberry-salad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2014\/09\/05\/chickpea-cranberry-salad\/","title":{"rendered":"Chickpea Cranberry Salad"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Chickpea-Salad-resize.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-21657\" src=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Chickpea-Salad-resize-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Chickpea Salad resize\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Chickpea-Salad-resize-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Chickpea-Salad-resize-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Chickpea-Salad-resize.jpg 1348w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When I was in 10th grade, I decided to become a vegetarian. \u00a0My mom made no objections, but she did make it known that it was up to me to make sure I was eating a balanced diet, and that I should do some research. \u00a0&#8220;You can&#8217;t live on cheese sandwiches!&#8221; she told me more than once. \u00a0So I read up (in actual books. \u00a0It would have been so much easier to go online, but the internet hadn&#8217;t been invented yet!) and found out which foods were good sources of vegetable protein. \u00a0Chickpeas are your meatless champions! \u00a0Try this <strong>Chickpea Cranberry Salad<\/strong> and see for yourself!<\/p>\n<p>Whether you are a vegetarian (or making lunch for someone who is), or if you just want a few meatless options, chickpeas are your friend. \u00a0Stock up on canned chickpeas for making hummus or adding to soups and salads. \u00a0I like to buy them dried. \u00a0They&#8217;re cheap and they pretty much last forever in your pantry. \u00a0Soaking them the night before you make this will cut down on cooking time, and also helps eliminate some of the chemicals that can cause gas and bloating in more sensitive tummies. \u00a0I like them better this way, because you can cook them to your preference&#8212;you can make them soft like the canned kind, or (and I<em> highly<\/em> recommend this) a little bit al dente. \u00a0The toothsome texture makes them seem more filling to me.<\/p>\n<p>Serve this Chickpea Cranberry Salad between slices of bread, like a sandwich, or wrap it in lettuce. \u00a0Out of lettuce, like I was? \u00a0Use half of a sweet bell pepper as a taco shell! \u00a0Crunchy, delicious, meatless, marvelous!<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Chickpea Cranberry Salad<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>(makes two servings)<\/p>\n<p>Ingredients:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1\/2 cup dried chickpeas (or use 1 regular can of chickpeas)<\/li>\n<li>1 stalk celery<\/li>\n<li>1\/4 cup walnuts<\/li>\n<li>1\/4 cup dried cranberries<\/li>\n<li>1-2 tablespoons mayonnaise<\/li>\n<li>salt and pepper to taste<\/li>\n<li>squeeze of lemon juice<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Directions:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>The night before you make the salad, pour the chickpeas into a large bowl and cover with water by at least an inch or two. \u00a0Cover the bowl with a plate and leave on the counter overnight.<\/li>\n<li>After soaking, drain the chickpeas. \u00a0Place in a pan and cover with water. \u00a0Simmer, covered, for about an hour. \u00a0Taste one and see if you like the texture. \u00a0Cook longer if you like. \u00a0When done, drain off the water and pour the chickpeas into a bowl. \u00a0Mash with a potato masher or the back of a fork. \u00a0I like to leave them a little chunky.<\/li>\n<li>Add in the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine. \u00a0Refrigerate until ready to serve.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Explore, experiment, enjoy!<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 Dana<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>To view even more of Dana\u2019s unique recipe, you can visit her at\u00a0<a style=\"color: #336699;\" href=\"http:\/\/frugalgirlmet.blogspot.com\/\">Frugal Girlmet<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When I was in 10th grade, I decided to become a vegetarian. \u00a0My mom made no objections, but she did make it known that it was up to me to make sure I was eating a balanced diet, and that I should do some research. \u00a0&#8220;You can&#8217;t live on cheese sandwiches!&#8221; she told me more [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":21657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15],"tags":[3038,1314,7242,279,398,425,7124,7241,926,6937],"class_list":["post-21655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-at-home-with-gch","tag-at-home-w-gch","tag-bean-recipes","tag-chickpeas","tag-dana-kim","tag-frugal-girlmet","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-lunchbox-ideas","tag-meatless-monday-recipes","tag-salad-recipes","tag-vegetarian-recipes","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Chickpea-Salad-resize.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-5Dh","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21655"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21663,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21655\/revisions\/21663"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}