When I was a child, becoming an orphan was my greatest fear, and I literally lost many nights of sleep worrying about it. So, when I learned that one member from the Secret Recipe Club was about to be an orphan this month (the person supposed to pick a recipe from the blog had a problem and could not complete the assignment in time) I decided to perform a virtual adoption… 
My “encore” post for this month’s reveal day comes from Without Adornment, and you can visit it clicking here. Bean, the hostess, has a site loaded with gluten-free recipes, and absolutely gorgeous photography. Due to the time constraints (I had less than 24 hours to pick a recipe, make it, and write about it), I had to go with a simple dish. But, it all ended perfectly for me: I had no idea what to eat for lunch after working out, and her chickpea salad came to the rescue. Delicious, refreshing, light, healthy, but also filling enough to carry me through a busy Sunday afternoon…
CHICKPEA SALAD
(adapted from Without Adornment)
1 can of chickpeas
2 medium carrots, thinly sliced
1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, diced
Grape or Cherry tomatoes to taste
salt and pepper
grapeseed oil
lime juice
white balsamic vinegar
Boil 2 cups of water in a small sauce pan. Drain the chickpeas from the can, and drop them in the boiling water for 5-10 second. Quickly drain them and rinse with plenty of cold water. Reserve until cold.
In a bowl, mix all the ingredients from chickpeas to tomatoes. Make a simple dressing with oil, a squeeze of lime juice, a little balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Drizzle over the salad and….
ENJOY!
to print the recipe, click here
This salad gives me the chance to introduce you to a reasonably recent acquisition from the Bewitching Kitchen… a spiralizer! Or a spiral-cutter… or… whatever you want to call it…
I like raw carrots in salad, but prefer if they are cut paper-thin. This gadget gave me the exact texture I was hoping for. The very thin ribbons get perfectly seasoned and retain just a little crunch.
Chickpeas & boiling water: this is a tip I learned from Barbara Tropp, in her book Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking. She recommended to rinse all sorts of canned products in boiling water, to remove what she described as the “tin taste”. The improvement in flavor is quite noticeable. So I normally do it whenever I use chickpeas, beans, and water chestnuts.
Bean, it was fun to get to know your blog, I wish I’d had more time to devote to it, your Lemon Cupcakes seemed absolutely scrumptious!
ONE YEAR AGO: A Soft Spot for Chevre
TWO YEARS AGO: Seared Tuna, My Own Private Idaho
I have one of the spiral shredder thinges too. I don’t use it alot, but when I need it it works brilliantly. I love doing carrots and beets with it and using them in wraps with what ever else I’m putting in it.
I am looking forward to doing beets with it (much to my beloved’s “delight”)
this looks fabulous! i love chickpeas
You and me both… chickpeas are delicious, and hummus something I cannot live without
Love your shredder and the salad. I too cooked from Bean’s blog, she’s now one popular blogger!
If you haven’t already, I’d love for you to check out my Group ‘A’ SRC entry: Crunchy Fudgy Heart Bites and my Group ‘D’ entry: Health(ier) Peanut Brittle
Lisa~~
Cook Lisa Cook
Yeah, for those who don’t know, Lisa also “adopted” Bean’s blog this month – so she went from motherless to having two Moms! not bad, huh?
What a lovely and colorful salad, and I bet it’s very delicious too. Great recipe!
Next time I will make it with dried chickpeas, soaked and cooked – just to compare. But the canned version worked great
Oh, this looks beautiful! Best of all, it’s healthy, and someone such as myself (kitchenally challenged) can make it! I love the tip about submerging the chickpeas for 10 seconds in boiling water; this will also help keep the “tinny” taste out of my homemade hummus.
Thanks, Sally.
Homemade hummus…… pure bliss!
One of our favorite summer salads! I love your version.
I am calling Summer in. Need it desperately. Brazilians lose their shine in cold weather. And the mood gets rotten too.
Sally, this is such a pretty salad! I love grapeseed oil – it’s nice and stable too at higher temperatures – I use a lemon infused grapeseed oil in stir-fries. Your carrot gizmo is hilarious – (huge!
).
I also use grapeseed almost exclusively in sauteing – I like the fact it has such mild flavor, and actually prefer salad dressings made with it rather than olive oil. Not always, but often enough
Thanks for the tip on rinsing in hot water. I never worried about being an orphan. I was convinced I was adopted as I’m so different to everyone in my family. Nowdays I look in the mirror and I see my paternal grandmother staring back at me it’s time to concede I was never adopted.
I think it happens to all of us – I see my Mom in the mirror, no doubt where I came from
Thanks for the wonderful compliments and for making sure I wasn’t an orphan, Sally! I’m so glad you liked the salad – It looks so delicious! I love your tip about submerging the chickpeas – usually i just rinse them off, but I’m sure that will work better.
That is such a neat little gadget – too bad I don’t have room in my kitchen for it.
Take Care!
Bean, thanks for stopping by! Not bad to get two Moms in a single month! It was fun to get a blog post going so quickly, I had never done that…
A beautiful salad! So delicious looking.
Cheers,
Rosa
I polished that whole bowl…. (avoiding to do the math between spent calories in the workout and the chickpea intake)
Aww how sweet of you to adopt this orphaned blog! That chickpea salad sounds delicious. So fresh-flavored and lovely!
It was fun to search for a recipe in a complete hurry….
YUM! You are truly an angel…a wonderful kind hearted food blogger!
I will definitely be making this lovely salad soon and will hold your kindness in my heart as I make it.
Oh, I wasn’t the only one… Lisa did it too. As everything had to happen so fast, two bloggers stepped up, and we both blogged about it. Fun!
Can you believe I’ve never tried chickpas? This colorful salad sure makes me want to try them now though. Thank you so much for stepping up and helping out a fellow src sister at the last minute. It is very much appreciated.
Oh, you MUST try them! Growing up I would not get in the same room with them, but now I cannot have enough. They are earthy, dense, chewy, with such unique flavor! I am addicted.
Hi Sally! This chickpea salad looks so refreshing and delicious. It’s nice to meet you too. Looking forward to exploring your blog further
nice to “meet” you too! Thanks for stopping by…
This is such a pretty salad!! And I love your gadget and helpful tip… I’m going to remember this!!
Thanks! Some tips I hate to forget, and this is definitely one that stayed with me…
at any given moment we typically have 5 cans of chick peas in our cabinets. must make!
That is one cool gadget! I don’t cook chickpeas as often, but funny that I always have it in my pantry, dried or canned.