Mediterranean Chickpea Salad

Mediterranean Chickpea Salad

Although many people do not want to hear it, one of the best things you can do for your body is to eat a mostly plant diet. As Michael Pollen talks about in his book 'In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto', you should eat food, in moderation, and most of it should be plants. What he means is that when you are choosing foods to eat you should be able to identify everything that went into the making of the dish. If you buy a burrito from McDonald's do you know everything that went into making it? Opposed to if you went to Chipotle and got a burrito bowl, can you identify all of the ingredients in that? Chances are the answer to the McDonalds question would be a no, because it is hard to know if the egg is actually egg and if the sausage is made of cow, pork, or a mixture of both. Unlike vegetables that are hard to fake, if you see an onion its an onion and if you see lettuce then it is lettuce. 


Ingredients:

• 1 can of chickpeas
• 1 Red onion
• 1 orange pepper
• 1 cup of parsley
• 1 cup of quinoa
• 2 cups of water
• 1 cucumber
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 1/4 cup of lemon juice
• 1 tsp red wine vinegar
• 2 garlic cloves
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Combined quinoa and water in a pot and cook until the quinoa has absorbed all of the water.
2. In a large bowl combine the chickpeas, cucumber, onion, red bell pepper, and parsley. 
3. For the dressing; in a smaller bowl combine olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, garlic, and salt. 
4. Add the quinoa to the larger bowl, and drizzle the dressing on top. 
5. Toss the salad, and season with salt and pepper. 

“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

― Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto