CHICKPEA TABBOULEH SALAD

 

Chickpea Tabbouleh Salad

I have to admit, this dish, was more for me than for MOO, I didn’t like my chances of having him eat any of this, and I was right. He saw it, and he looked at me like I was insane. I had to share this dish nonetheless because it was so tasty!! We served ours with steak but would be equally as good with any meat or fish. Or alone as a light lunch. 

Make it with or without a thermomix, recipe below. 

INGREDIENTS 

1/2 C Burgal Wheat 

1C Boiling Water 

1x Lebanese Cucumber, diced 

1x Packet Cherry Tomatoes, Halved 

1x Lemon, juiced 

1x Tin Chickpeas, drained 

Parsley and Mint 

4x Spring Onion, chopped 

METHOD

1. Cover wheat with boiling water, cover and simmer for 10 minutes to cook. 
2. Combine herbs and spring onions (speed 9 for 10 seconds if using TMX) 
3. Dice Vegetables
4. Drain Wheat
5. Combine wheat, herbs, vegetables and chickpeas
6. Dress with olive oil mixed with lemon juice 

Like I said this was a fussy fail but I ate this for days and never tired of it! Delicious! 

Rainbow Salad

RAINBOW SALAD 

Tonight is another one of those easy nights. A challenge and he didn’t eat much of it. BUT the win here is that he tried it, we had no tears and it was a bit of a game. Whilst making the salad we talked about rainbows and the different colours we see. We talked about what these colours might taste like and how they make us feel. We discussed the names of the vegetables, where and how they grow – it was great bonding time.  I added a tin of tuna for some protein but would be great with chicken or just on its own! 

RECIPE 

2x Carrots

1x Beetroot

1x Bag of mixed lettuce

1x Cob of corn – kernels removed

Cherry tomatoes 

Olives (optional) 

1.5 Tbs Tahini 

1.5 Tbs Apple Cider Vinegar 

Juice of /12 a lemon 

1 tsp Raw Agave 

METHOD

1. In a large bowl add lettuce – using a vegetable peel shred carrot – add halved cherry tomatoes – add corn kernels, peel and dice / slice beetroot, add olives. 
2. Combine Tahini, Vinegar and lemon juice until mixture is thin – add raw agave – mix through the salad 

I am really glad I made this salad tonight – it was so tempting to throw caution to the wind and scoff a take away burger but this was a much better option – plus if moo gets hungry later on there is always plenty more left over! 

I often find it difficult to have that balance, when you come home from a long day at work to make something that looks good, tastes good and pleases everyone – thats why I particularly love this salad – it ticks all of these boxes, it’s easy and there is so much variety in there that there is bound to be something that everyone likes 

xox

 

Power Bars

POWER BARS 

I confess I forgot all about school tomorrow! It is 8pm and I am washing uniforms, packing lunch boxes and discovering I have not prepared anything awesome for lunch.

Tonight we had pizza for tea – I have discovered mashed roast pumpkin is incredible as a sauce base and as long as I call it orange sauce Moo eats it up. I cheated and made tonights on Gluten Free wraps and topped Moo’s with cheese (I know sounds gross but oddly it worked and he couldn’t get enough of it!) Us grown ups had other roast vegetables like eggplant and red onion mmmmm

I had some left over pumpkin and some fruit going off so I whipped up a batch of our favourite power bars (great name if you have a super hero mad child – gives them super strengths!)

RECIPE 

2/3C Nut Butter

10tbs Cooled Roast Pumpkin (roughly)

1.5C Shredded coconut

1 whole ripe banana

2tsp Cinnamon

2tsp Vanilla

pinch of salt

METHOD 

1. Pre heat oven to 180 degrees
2. Combine ingredients in order as listed above in your blender or food processor (this is a time saver if you don’t have or want to use a machine – Mash the nut butter, pumpkin and banana together then stir in the remaining ingredients)
3. This mixture will go mushy, almost cake like
4. Place into prepared lined tin, I think mine is 20cm x 20cm and it filled this nicely.
5. Bake for about 1 hour (keep an eye on them to avoid burning like I dod … whoops)
6. Let cool in the tin then transfer to a wire rack, slice and serve.

I just adore this recipe, and whilst I would rather he willingly eat vegetables and fruit I take comfort knowing that he thinks he is eating super hero cake and not picking bits and bobs out of it!

You can make this recipe in mini / individual loaf tins also and serve as a breakfast with some fresh berries and a drizzle of honey – YUM

The best part about this recipe is it doesn’t have to be exact – you can play with it – add and take bits out – tonight I fell short on the pumpkin and coconut and they are still amazing!

Here is a picture of our thrown together lunch for tomorrow

I think I will also let him take some left over pumpkin pizza as I fully expect the fruit salad to make it home along with the vegetable sticks – but I mum can dream right? At least the power bars will keep him moving and focussed!

xox