I had so much fun making these for my family and friends this week! They turned out soooo good, and have almost 30 grams of protein each. So, anyone who says you can’t get enough protein without animal products is dead wrong! Remember, that I use almost exclusively organic ingredients, so I don’t list the word “organic” next to each ingredient, because I’m a busy single mommy, and don’t have a second to spare!
My first step was to make my greek dressing. I always like to make the dressing first, for some reason…So I blended up some wonderful fresh herbs, including mint, parsley, basil, and oregano in my Ninja single serve attachment. I also threw in some walnuts and pulsed a few times. Then I added a whole lemon wedge, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper and went for it, blending until it looked like pesto: herby and thick, but not chunky. Then I put it aside while I cut up my local cucumbers and added them to a bowl with some soaked/rinsed/cooked/drained/cooled chick peas. I know that sounds like a lot of steps for chick peas, but I usually make a big batch and freeze in glass jars. So for this recipe, all I did was thaw and throw in one 16 oz. jar full of them!
Then I tossed the chick peas and cukes with my herby greek dressing and this is what it looked like:
After, having a few bites, I decided that I should probably make the salads before there was no cucumber mixture left! Here’s how the layers went, bottom to top: kale, chick pea and cucumber salad, sliced black olives, sunflower seeds & hemp hearts.
*In hindsight, I probably should have thrown a layer of sliced grape tomatoes in there for color, but I’m actually not a tomato lover, so it didn’t even cross my mind at the time!
Again, here is how they should look at the end:
RECIPE
Makes 6 Servings
(I really don’t like using exact measurements. I feel like it limits creativity. Do your best, go with your gut, don’t feel like you have to follow this exactly and taste while you cook!)
– 2 heaping handfuls of chopped or bagged kale
– 1 1/2 cups cooked chick peas (garbanzo beans)
– 1 large cucumber
– 1/4 cup of sliced black olives
– 1/4 cup hemp hearts
– 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
– *optional 1/4 cup of halved grape tomatoes*
Dressing:
– about 2 loose cups (1 cup packed) of the following fresh herbs, combined: mint, oregano, parsley, basil
(you can play with the ratio, but I did about an even amount of each)
– 1/4 cup walnuts (*optional*)
– 3 garlic cloves
– 1 lemon wedge (that’s right, I put the whole thing in there!)
– 3 tbsp olive oil
– himilayan pink sea salt and ground black pepper to taste
– some water or broth
First, make dressing by pulsing the herbs, walnuts, garlic cloves, and lemon wedge in your blender/processer/bullet. Then add oil, salt and pepper. You may choose to add more oil, but I finished mine off with water. Set aside.
Chop cucumber and combine with cooked chick peas. Then add enough dressing to fully coat, but not saturate. If you have some dressing left over, throw in in the fridge and put in on a salad or rice/pasta/quinoa. It should last for about 4 days, maybe longer if you add some vinegar to it.
Now, time to layer! Get out all 6 jars and do this side by side, down the line with one ingredient (not jar) at a time. Here’s how it’s done, from the bottom up:
– Kale (fill each jar about half way – it will smush down as you add more ingredients.)
– Cucumber and chick pea salad (I did about 1/4 cup in each – leaving about an 1 1/2 inch of room at the top of each jar)
– Sliced black olives (sprinkle just enough to form a layer, less than 1 Tbsp in each jar)
– Hemp hearts and sunflower seeds (I mix these and fill to the top with them – a little more than 1 Tbsp of the combination in each jar)
Andddd, tadahhhh! You have FABULOUS jar salads that will last for 2-3 days 🙂
Enjoy and share!
Source: New feed
