Chickpea and Tomato Summer Salad

Lets be honest, I have a love affair with beans. It started when I was single and it was me and the baked beans. We were pretty monogamous. Then I got a little older and had some flirty times with the refried beans at Mexican restaurants. Since my vegetarian lent, well lets just say I'm a full on bean slut. I haven't really had a bean I didn't like. 

When it comes to chickpeas though, they always make me think of my mom. Her palate is a little more constrained than mine, however out I the blue when I was in high school she piled some garbanzo beans on her salad and announced that she had always lied them. I had never seen her eat them before that, but they are her bean of choice. So when I was out searching the interweb for recipes and came across this Chickpea and Tomato Salad on Eat Yourself Skinny, I knew I had to give it a try. 

I was able to use cherry tomatoes from the farmers market and basil out of our garden, making this super fresh and delicious. Winning:  Keys - fast, easy, fresh, healthy, tastes.  I enjoyed the combination of the different vinegars and the addition if honey for a smidge of sweetness. I see this being repeated agin this summer, possibly while mom is visiting.  

Ingredients:  

1 large container farmers market tomatoes

1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained. 

1 handful fresh garden basil

1 tbl red wine vinegar

1 tbl apple cider vinegar

2 tsp olive oil

1/2. Tbl honey

Salt to taste

Directions 

I started with quartering the tomatoes lengthwise and added them to a bowl with the chickpeas. 

I chopped up the basil fairly finely, and added the remaining ingredients to the bowl. Mix and allow to sit for a while to mellow the ingredients. 

Salmon Tacos

You know how fish tacos left California in like 2001 and started gaining popularity around the country. Yup it's 2013 here, you can do the math. I've had some delicious fish tacos at restaurants, but they were usually battered (not exactly how i roll at home 95% of the time) or just seemed out of reach (i have an inferiority complex with cooking fish). Meanwhile,  we've had a few less than super-successful (but still edible) attempts involving tilapia and pre-packaged taco seasoning.

I pulled this recipe out of a magazine months ago and it go shoved to the bottom of a bunch of recipe cards.  I found it last week while meal planning and thought it had potential. We generally love salmon (yay omega 3 fatty acids!) and buy it whenever it's on sale. The  magazine actually gave guacamole and rice recipes, but I was honed in on the salmon. 

I thought this tasted awesome. I put mine in a hard shell corn taco with a little cheese and some guiltless guac from trader joes that is sitting around needing to be used with a little tomato on the side. I had planned to add some napa cabbage that I have, but totally forgot to take it out and slice. Oops. But back to my point, it was light, I knew it was healthy, and it really hit the spot. David also enjoyed it - giving it approval as another good way to prep salmon. I would eat this without tacos - just prepared as seasoned fish, but I love tacos. It was so easy I for see this being added to the regulars. 

Ingredients (served 2, 2 tacos for each of us)

2 salmon fillets (4 oz apiece)

Olive oil

1/4 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp coriander 

1/8 tsp salt

Pinch pepper to taste 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet  with foil. Pat the salmon dry and place skin side down. Spray with a little olive oil to coat surface of the fish. 

2 Mix spices in a small bowl. 

3.  Rub the spice mix on the salmon. Bake for 15 minutes.

4.  Flake cooked fish into large chunks and enjoy on your favorite corn or flour based tortilla product. :)