Name: Healthy Mediterranean Chickpea Salad (Winter Salad)
Prep time: 15 min
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 2-3
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups chickpeas, canned, rinsed and drained; 1 cup cabbage, chopped, red or green; 1 cup arugula; 1/3 cup olives, pitted; 1/2 cup beets, peeled and chopped; 2 Tbsp feta cheese, crumbled; 1 avocado, peeled and chopped; 1 garlic clove, minced; 1/2 lemon, juice of; 1 Tbsp olive oil; 1 Tbsp basil leaves, chopped; 2 scallions, chopped; salt and pepper to taste; 1 Tbsp walnuts, chopped (optional)

It might not be salad season right now, but I am craving salads, so today we’re gonna make this healthy Mediterranean chickpea salad. Too self-centered? Well…It is perfect for winter and we’re gonna feel fresh, energized and healthy – as if we’re on vitamins or something. And we’re not gonna cry while we’re eating this, because it tastes good, okay?

Mediterranean Chickpea Salad Ingredients

OMG, I’m pretty sure when you read the ingredient list you’ll be like: “No thanks” if you’re polite. Or, if you’re like me, you’ll just go “Bah”, turn around and go back to talking with your sheep friends. Get it? Sheep also say baaaahhhh…Let’s pretend this conversation never happened. I haven’t written anything in a while and I’m a little bit rusty. Anyway, here’s what’s in this Mediterranean salad:

chickpeas
cabbage
beets
arugula
olives
scallions
feta cheese
avocado
garlic
olive oil
and some other things.

Dirty Beets

You know how usually beets taste like dirt? They do, they taste “earthy”. They taste like something you chew once and spit out the moment it hits your taste buds because you realize you haven’t washed your vegetables and E.coli will ruin your life for a few days. In reality, that’s just how beets taste, no E.coli or salmonella. That’s their taste. The unwashed vegetable flavor.

However, I realized this winter there’s pretty much nothing else to eat that is kinda in season. Cabbage and beets. That’s it! It’s a sad, sad life.

Tomatoes? My sister has one in her fridge for 2 months and it hasn’t aged a day. J. Lo is aging faster than that tomato.

Berries? Forget about them during winter. They cost an arm and a liver and aren’t bursting with antioxidants during this season. They’ve probably been grown on wet cotton. (My dad tried to explain to me how that works once, I spaced out, so don’t ask me – and now you’re like I don’t care, okay okay).

Basically the options are very limited and my immune system seems to not be doing well these last few months. I need vitamins!

And so I went for the beets. You know what? Once you get past that dirty taste, they’re actually sweet. They’re kinda becoming my substitution for tomatoes right now. Who am I kidding, nothing is as good as tomatoes and you can’t convince me otherwise. But if you choose a very good, firm beet you might even not notice that dirty taste. You’ll just taste the sweetness.

How To Make This Mediterranean Chickpea Salad

Well, I’m very surprised, because with those unexpected ingredients this salad is actually now what I’m making pretty much 3-4 times every week. I love it! It’s delicious, it’s healthy and I feel so alive and good when I eat it. It makes me so happy! It’s pretty easy to make too, the process involves:

some peeling and chopping
opening a can of chickpeas, rinsing and draining
mashing a garlic clove with a garlic press

And that’s it. Put it all in a bowl, pour some olive oil and some sugar on it, then remove the sugar, because it will taste bad in the salad and because it will get you addicted and you’re done.

I hope you enjoy this salad if you’re brave enough to make something fresh during this cold weather. I don’t know what’s wrong with me I keep craving smoothies and salads which is not normal, I know. And I’m not even pretending, I’m not a real hippie you know. Okay, I’ll go. and leave you alone with the recipe.

Yield: 2-3