Chickpea Salad and Roasted Broccoli and Red Peppers

This dinner was AMAZING!! In case you have not figured this out yet, I love vegetables and this dinner was a perfect example of why. It is made up of yummy, natural, basic ingredients and the end product is full of flavor! I got the idea for the chickpea salad from the AJC today. It had a recipe from Leon's Full Service restaurant that sounded yummy. I knew it could be easily altered to have more flavor and vegetable and less calories and fat. I will post the way i cooked the recipe on the blog and if you want their original recipe you can get it from AJC. All I needed to make this a complete meal was a side; in steps roasted vegetables that I already had in my refrigerator! Enjoy!!

CHICKPEA SALAD
Serves: 4
1 large delicata squash (a hard squash that is easy to find in any grocery store this time of year- if you cannot find it, you can substitute acorn squash)
2 14oz cans no salt added chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup dried cranberries
2 Tbs red wine vinegar
1/4 cup provolone cheese, diced into small cubes
green onions
sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Peel squash and remove seeds with a spoon. Dice squash into small cubes about the same size as chickpeas. Place a small amount of water in a pan. Bring to a boil. Place steamer basket in pan. Place squash in pan and top with pan lid. Steam for 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
Heat a large skillet over medium, high heat. Add drained chickpeas and cook five minutes until chickpeas look dried. Add oil and cook until chickpeas begin to brown, approximately five minutes.
Add cranberries, cook 1 minute. Add vinegar and cook until the vinegar is evaporated/ the pan is dry, approximately 1-2 minutes. Add cheese and drained squash. Remove from heat. Toss. Garnish with green onions (I use about 2 Tbs), salt and pepper. Toss. Serve!!!

ROASTED BROCCOLI AND RED PEPPER

Serves: 4

2 crowns/bunches broccoli, chop florets off of stems and separate into small heads

1 large red bell pepper, diced

1 tsp olive oil

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place all ingredients on a foil lined baking sheet. Toss. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.