Do you have a Meatless Monday or other meatless day at your house? We do every now and then. Not necessarily for health reasons or money reasons, but more to just change things up. I also love chick peas so it gives me an excuse to try out a new chick pea recipe. Doesn’t everyone need a new chick pea recipe?
When I plan out my recipes for the week, I try to find ideas that use up what we already have on hand. If one recipe calls for a few tablespoons of mint and I had to buy a bunch, I look for other recipes with mint. I’ll also buy meats in bulk and freeze them in recipe sized batches. Waste not, want not. Remember those leftover chick peas from the last recipe? Well here’s what we did with them.
There was about a cup and a quarter leftover from the can after making the quinoa salad. If you didn’t make the previous recipe, don’t worry. Just use the entire 15 oz can and you’ll be fine. You don’t have to adjust the spices or anything. You’ll just end up with extra chick peas. I’ll grab my fork and head over to your place.
Chick peas are relatively high in protein for a non-meat food, but since I’ve currently got protein requirements to meet I actually added in some grilled chicken to my pocket sammie. Get creative with this recipe to fit a range of tastes. Add more or less red pepper. Make the sammie with chicken or ground beef. Think outside the sammie box. 😉
Roasted Chick Pea Pocket Sammies
- 1 1/4 cups chick peas, drained and rinsed
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/8 tsp crushed red pepper
- 3 Tbsp chopped fresh mint
- 2 tsp lime juice
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1 large cucumber, diced
- 1 – 2 Tbsp almond milk
- 2 6 inch pita breads
- Romaine lettuce
- Sliced tomatoes
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toss the chick peas with the olive oil, cumin, paprika, and crushed red pepper. Place on a foil lined cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 20 – 25 minutes until crunchy. Remove from oven.
While the chick peas are roasting, make the sauce. Combine the mint, lime juice, garlic, and diced cucumber in a bowl. Toss lightly to coat and add the almond milk. Note: Traditional tatziki uses yogurt to make a sauce, but The Kid has a dairy allergy and we couldn’t use that. Almond milk worked perfectly for us but feel free to use a few tablespoons of plain yogurt if you prefer.
Slice the pita breads in half crosswise to make four pockets total. Fill each pocket with chick peas, cucumber sauce, romaine and sliced tomatoes to taste. Makes 4 pocket sammies at approximately 261 calories each.
If you’re not in a sammie mood, roasted chick peas are perfect to munch on alone as a snack too. Do you lay out your recipe meal plans to use up what you’ve got or do you just go with the flow?
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