cilantro spinach chickpea salad {by laurie}

hi everyone!  i'm laurie, one of jenn's friends from way back in the day.  (believe it or not, jenn and i have known each other since fifth grade!)  for as long as i can remember, jenn and i have loved to eat . . . really, who doesn't?  so, i was so excited when she told me she was starting a collaborative food blog.  i am trilled to join the team and to be able to share some recipes here!

i absolutely love cooking and baking.  for as long as i can remember back, i have been helping my mom in the kitchen.  my mom is absolutely amazing when it comes to food, and i definitely get my love of being in the kitchen from her.  now that i'm married, i love being able to cook and bake with my husband too.  we have so much fun creating recipes together for our family and friends.

i share tons of recipes as well as snapshots of my daily life over on my blog love, laurie so be sure to stop by and say hi sometime.

so . . . let's get down to business.  the real reason that i'm here is to tell you about this salad.  since it has been so hot the past few days, i haven't been in the mood for heavy meals.  so the other day for dinner i made this chickpea salad with cilantro and spinach.  it was so light and refreshing (and healthy too)!  ryan has already requested that i make it again soon.  i have a feeling that this salad is going to be a staple in our house over the summer!

cilantro spinach chickpea salad
prep time: 10 minutes
yields: 4 servings

ingredients:
2 15-ounce cans of chickpeas
4 cups of fresh spinach
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
1 small sweet onion, chopped
1 lime, juiced
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
dash of salt
dash of pepper

directions:
drain and rinse the chickpeas.  place the chickpeas in a bowl and set aside.  in a food processor, add the spinach and pulse until finely chopped.  add the chopped spinach to the bowl with the chickpeas.
in the food processor, add the cilantro, onion, lime juice, sugar, olive oil, garlic powder, and onion powder.  pulse until smooth.  pour the cilantro dressing over the spinach and chickpeas.  stir well.  season with salt and pepper to taste.

*you can see my original post of this recipe here on my blog.

enjoy!

love, laurie

Long Time, No Share- Sorry!

I have been baking/cooking in Florida, but I haven't been blogging about it and for that I must apologize. It's no excuse, but my beloved digital camera crashed a few months ago and while I've tried a few things to see if I can fix it (to no avail), it seems that I'll have to get a new one. I have snapped a few shots with my 3G iPhone (no flash, no zoom, not really a great picture-taker, but still something), and luckily, the sites that have inspired my recipes have some great pics you can check out. So let's catch up on some recent favorites. First, let me say that I'm LOVING reading 2 healthy blogs- one is Peanut Butter Fingers and the other is Can You Stay For Dinner? . Both Julie & Andie are fabulous writers and positive sources of motivation/inspiration for my 2012 healthy lifestyle. Since I'm following these blogs, I found out that Fitness.com has their Fitterati Blogger Awards voting going on now, and you can go find the best blogs for healthy eating, exercise, and more here. Awesome :) I've also been using Pinterest to keep track of recipes I find that I want to make, as well as those that I've made (I'll be updating/moving some of these around after I write this post). Enjoy, and please don't hesitate to send a text or give a call if I go this long without posting again and tell me to get my hiney in gear. Thanks in advance :)

First up...Spinach Mini Muffins (inspired by my sister Rachael, who found the recipe at Eatingwell.com)

These should take about 40 minutes total (prep and baking)
Ingredients:
12 ounces fresh spinach, (I labored over fresh spinach for way too long, and while they turned out delicious, I think next time I'll definitely use frozen spinach- and hopefully my Quick Chef or an alternate food processor)
1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese, or low-fat cottage cheese (I used ricotta)
1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
2 large eggs, beaten
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper (skipped)

Prep:
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Pulse spinach in three batches in a food processor until finely chopped (or, if you want to spend a really long time on it, roll up spinach leaves together and chop, chop, chop until you have about 10 cups!). Transfer to a large bowl. Add ricotta (or cottage cheese), Parmesan, eggs, garlic, salt and pepper; stir to combine.
Coat 8 cups of the muffin pan with cooking spray. Divide the spinach mixture among the 8 cups. I used mini muffin tins and this recipe made a LOT (like, enough to refrigerate and freeze to enjoy the following week).
Bake the spinach cakes until set, about 20 minutes (about 15 for minis). Let stand in the pan for 5 minutes. Loosen the edges with a knife and turn out onto a clean cutting board or large plate. Serve warm, sprinkled with more Parmesan, if desired.


Note: Baby spinach is immature or young spinach—it's harvested earlier than large-leaved mature spinach. We like the sturdy texture of mature spinach in cooked dishes and serve tender, mild-flavored baby spinach raw or lightly wilted. Baby and mature spinach can be used interchangeably in these recipes (yields may vary slightly); be sure to remove the tough stems from mature spinach before using.

10 ounces trimmed mature spinach=about 10 cups raw
10 ounces baby spinach=about 8 cups raw

Nutrition (love that Eatingwell.com has this info, be sure to cut it into 1/2 or even 1/3? for minis)
Per serving: 141 calories; 8 g fat ( 4 g sat , 3 g mono ); 123 mg cholesterol; 6 g

Nutrition Bonus: Vitamin A (170% daily value), Folate (46% dv), Vitamin C (40% dv), Calcium (30% dv), Potassium (16% dv).

Review: I thought these were delicious and very mini-quiche-like and the recipe made so many! They'd be awesome in a little crust, but were great the way that they were. The only thing I'd change is that I used Pam in the tin and did not use papers and the bottom of the muffins tasted a little Pam-my. I'd probably do something different next time to avoid that. These were nice as a snack or a side dish and I'll definitely make them again.