chickpea tacos

tacos are my second favorite food (the list goes like this: pizza, tacos, potato chips, in case you were wondering). i think chickpeas are good too, although surprisingly i am not a huge hummus person. perhaps i just haven't had any good hummus. *shrug* anyway a few weeks ago i saw this recipe in the march issue of vegetarian times and knew i'd have to make it soon.

this is a very quick and easy recipe. i think it probably took me 15 minutes to prepare. i wash my herbs when i get home from the store so they're always ready, but if you don't do this it will take you a bit longer.

the magazine article suggests using the chickpea-avocado mixture as a sandwich spread as well, but i can't imagine it any other way than inside of a taco shell with your favorite fixings.


chickpea tacos
vegetarian times, march 2008, page 34
serves 4

1 avocado, peeled, pitted and diced
1 15 oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
3 tbsp chopped cilantro
4 tbsp fresh lime juice (i juiced an entire lime and got about that amount)
1 clove garlic, minced
8 corn taco shells
2 cups baby salad greens 1 cup prepared salad greens (medium or hot)
1/2 cup nondairy sour cream

1. place avocado in small bowl, and mash with fork. stir in chickpeas, cilantro, lime juice, and garlic; season with salt and pepper.

2. set taco shells in napkin-lined basket. place salad greens, salsa and sour cream in separate bowls, and set out alongside chickpea-avocado mash.

3. to serve, let each person build their own taco by filling each shell with 1/4 cup chickpea-avocado mash, some greens, salsa, and sour cream.


i used baby spinach leaves because i'm still trying to use it up. very tasty. a word of advice: don't overfill the shell with sour cream! it will squish out when you take a bite.

the quesadilla is a food from the gods

yesterday i mentioned eating a ton of quesadillas, and today i decided it was once again time to make one.

the great thing about quesadillas is that you can put almost anything inside of them. lately i've been using spinach, portobello mushrooms, black beans, and cheese. even though the filling is good, i think my favorite part is dipping the wedges into sauce. mmm, sauce.

anyone who has seen me cook knows i rarely use measuring cups or spoons and prefer to eyeball things and taste as i go, so this recipe may need to be tweaked if you decide to try it.

mushroom, cheese, and bean quesadillas

4 oz portobello mushrooms, sliced
1/2 c onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 tbsp olive oil
1 package chopped spinach
1 can black beans
1 cup shredded cheese (i like to use either monterey jack or a mix of mj and cheddar)
cumin, oregano
8" flour tortillas

cook spinach according to package instructions. drain or press well (usually i wring it in a clean dish towel or paper towel) and set aside.

in a saucepan saute half of the onion in half of the oil over medium heat for a few minutes. add garlic and cook for an additional minute. open the can of beans and drain about half of the liquid out. add beans to pan, along with a few large pinches of cumin and a bit of oregano. reduce heat to low. cook, stirring often, until most of the liquid has cooked off or thickened. remove from heat and set aside.

meanwhile, add the rest of onion and oil (you may use a dab of butter instead if you wish) to a pan and cook over medium heat. add garlic and mushrooms. cook until mushrooms have released their liquid. add spinach and stir to combine.

heat skilled over medium heat. (melt a bit of butter in the pan if you want.) place one tortilla in the pan and then add cheese, beans, spinach mixture, and more cheese to one half of the tortilla. be careful not to over-fill. if you put too much inside, it will ooze out while cooking or when cut up. use a spatula to fold and press down. once the bottom starts to brown, flip it over. heat until tortilla is brown and cheese is melted. slice and serve while still hot.

you can make at least 4 quesadillas with the beans but may run out of the spinach-mushroom mixture before that. it depends on how much you put in each one.


as far as dipping sauces go, i like to mix sour cream with cumin and use that or mash up some avocados for guacamole.

if you're a ranch fiend, try a dollop of ranch dressing with a drizzle of hot sauce.

Homemade Flour Tortillas

I've been wanting to bake cookies for almost a week now, but I don't have all of the ingredients and sadly I can't afford to buy them at the moment.

I saw this recipe for homemade tortillas posted somewhere else and I really wanted to give it a shot. It wasn't as satisfying as baking something, but I was still delighted with the results. It was pretty easy too.

(Sorry for the awful picture. The batteries for my camera are dead and I don't know where I put the spares.)



Flour Tortillas (recipe from Fine Cooking magazine, no. 79, July 2006)

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour; more for kneading and rolling
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 cup cold vegetable shortening or lard, cut into small pieces [I used Crisco]
2/3 cup warm water

In a medium bowl, stir the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add the shortening or lard and cut it into the flour with a pastry blender or two knives until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Stir in 2/3 cup warm water with a fork until a shaggy dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and soft, 3-4 minutes, reflouring the surface as necessary.

Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces and shape each piece into a ball. Cover the dough balls loosely with plastic wrap and let rest on the counter for at least 30 minutes.

When ready to cook the tortillas, heat a large (11-12 inch) dry cast-iron skillet or griddle over medium heat until hot. Take one ball of dough at a time out from under the plastic and roll out on a lightly floured surface to 9-10 inches in diameter.

Lay the tortilla carefully in the hot skillet and cook until it starts to bubble and puff and light brown spots appear on the underside, 45-60 seconds. Flip with a spatula and cook until the second side gets brown spots and any translucent, raw-looking areas become opaque, another 45-60 seconds. Adjust the heat if the tortillas seem to be cooking too quickly or slowly.

Remove the tortilla to a clean dishtowel and cover to keep warm. Repeat with remaining balls of dough. Makes eight 9-10" tortillas.

I rolled out a ball of dough while the previous one was cooking and that worked well. However I do not own a rolling pin, so I used a POM tea glass because it's tall and thin. I also didn't want to flour up my counter so I layed out a sheet of freezer paper, wax side up. The dough didn't stick to the glass. I didn't make them perfectly circular, but I guess if you were really anal about it you could trim the edges with a pizza cutter before putting it on the skillet.

When my tortillas were done, I chopped up some veggies and sliced off thin pieces of cheese from the wedge to make quesadillas. It would've been a lot better with the addition of black beans, but I'm out of those as well.

The outcome? Delicious! This is pretty cheap to make and not as time-consuming as you would think so I'll probably be making these again next time I've got a hankering for quesadillas or tacos.