This recipe and post were created in partnership with Shuman Farms’ Real Sweet Vidalia Onions.

This Three Bean and Vidalia Onion Salad has to be one of my favorite salads to make when we are barbecuing over the summer.  It’s a classic salad that you probably have seen more than once on a salad bar – but homemade is so much better! Wow, can you taste the freshness. I love to add sweet Vidalia onions for extra flavor, especially when they are in season mid-April to early August.

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Click here to Pin this Mediterranean Farro Salad with Arugula and Chickpeas recipe!

If I’m going to eat a salad a day successfully each week, I tend to pick my “salad of the week” and just go with it to keep things on the easy side. This particular Mediterranean Farro Salad with Arugula and Chickpeas was my salad of the week a couple of weeks ago and I’m ready for it to make a comeback this week. It’s so good.

I am in love with farro and it’s versatility. You can add it to soups like this Slow Cooker Chicken and Farro Chili or make an incredible grain salad like this Harvest Farro Salad. Either way it’s always a great addition because it’s such a hearty grain, filled with protein and fiber. It makes you feel good when you eat it.

My advice is to cook up a batch (it takes a bit of time, similar to brown rice) and store it in the fridge ready to go for salads like this one, or if you’re into meal prep, prep your salads (minus the oil and vinegar) in containers and they will be ready to go when you are (I love these containers for salads to help me with meal prep).

Arugula is in season right now, and if it’s warm enough where you are living right now, so are fresh herbs. My littlest son and I recently got our our container herb garden back in business and I am loving being able to step outside and snip a few leaves to add to whatever I’m cooking. One herb I absolutely adore but I don’t think  gets a lot of love is fresh oregano. Add it to anything Greek, or anything that includes roasted peppers and you will be blown away by the flavor. I added some fresh oregano leaves to the top of my Mediterranean Farro Salad and in seconds this salad was elevated with fresh flavor. Fresh herbs tend to do that.

So much fun with this kid. <3

There is a lot more seasonal inspiration where this came from. Look below the recipe to see what’s in season for May and what my #EatSeasonal friends cooked up for this month.

Mediterranean Farro Salad with Arugula and Chickpeas

Yield: 1 salad

Ingredients:

• 2 cups baby arugula
• 1/2 cup cooked farro
• 1 oz crumbled feta (about 1/4 cup)
• 1/3 cup garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
• 2 sweet cherry peppers
• a few splashes of balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• fresh herbs, for garnish (I used fresh oregano leaves from my container garden)

 

Directions:

1. Arrange ingredients into a large bowl or plate and drizzle with balsamic and olive oil. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper to taste.

Nutritional Information (calculated from My Fitness Pal):  460 calories / 18g fat / 11g fiber / 16g protein

Love whole grain salads like I do? Check out these 12 Healthy Whole Grain Salad Recipes including farro, quinoa, wheat berries and brown rice!

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One thing I am really trying to do lately is to have a container of “something” for me to grab for a quick lunch. Last week I was really craving a grain salad so I grabbed some wheat berries out of the pantry and cooked them up, with no real idea of what I was going to do with them. I was craving a salad like this one, but I didn’t really have the right fruit and such. So instead I turned these wheat berries into an Italian Wheat Berry Salad by adding roasted red peppers, garbanzo beans, fresh basil, olive oil and a squeeze of lemon. Super simple, fresh and delicious!

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Happy New Year!! I can’t tell you how excited I am about a new year starting, it’s really one of my favorite times of the year (I feel the same about back-to-school season). I’m all about fresh starts, reflection and growth. This upcoming year is going to be full of changes for me personally, one major change is that I’m going back to school! Yep, I turn 40 and start my first class toward a degree in nutrition and dietetics in just a little over a week. I am over the top excited and terrified at the same time. I’ve spent a good part of 2015 talking to a life coach and researching schools and programs….I’ve had a tug to pursue this career for years and now is the time to finally move forward. I’ve learned that sometimes you have to be patient with yourself and just trust in timing. (Thanks Merrill.)

So, with the New Year I think it’s obvious a lot of us are in the mood for lighter food and getting back on track. I try really hard to balance things out over the holidays (I got to the gym 5 days this past week and THANK GOODNESS I did…), but let’s face it, it’s hard when there are random cookies, pizza nights or snacks everywhere you turn. I’m craving routine and I know it’s coming and with that better food choices will be a heck of a lot easier to make.

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We are well into our fourth week of school here in Florida. I know a lot of northern schools start right around now so the back-to-school season seems to be spread out a bit over a month. I’m happy to finally be back into the groove of school and settling into a routine.

Packing lunches are of course a huge part of that routine!

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I am so excited to share a new cookbook I recently received to review with you today. America’s Test Kitchen has been working hard at revamping and rebuilding one of its classic landmark family cookbooks – The America’s Test Kitchen New Family Cookbook.  It includes more than 1,100 recipes and features new color photographs for several of those new recipes. This book is a beast, I’ve been going through page after page of tips and recipes from every category you can imagine. What I love the most is that along most recipes there is a paragraph explaining why the recipes works, along with variations, tips, even some step by step photos. The recipes are creative, yet very do-able, so this book is perfect for a seasoned cook but would be a wonderful first cookbook for anyone just starting to cook.

I am a huge fan of any cookbook that America’s Test Kitchen puts out. You may remember my review and recipe from their Six-Ingredient Solution last year. I also featured and included their Healthy Family Cookbook in my healthy cookbook giveaway a couple of years ago.

These chickpea patties caught my eye as soon as I saw them in the book. I actually had all of the ingredients on hand in my fridge and pantry so it was one of those recipes I just had to make immediately. Such a great vegetarian recipe! The recipe includes the spice garam masala which is one that I am always trying to find recipes using. They also used Greek yogurt in the actual patty filling which made it extra moist and rich – genius!

My little recipe tester and I enjoyed these Chickpea Cakes with Cucumber-Yogurt Sauce for lunch for a couple of days. They reheated well and the cucumber-yogurt sauce is so versatile and would be a great sauce to serve with any Greek style chicken or fish recipes too.

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Blogging has changed quite a bit for me over the years. When I started my blog, I was a stay at home mom to my two babies who were of the ages 3 and 1 at the time. There were no iPhones, I had only recently acquired a digital camera when my older son was born a few years before and there certainly wasn’t any social media to waste precious time on throughout the day. Blogging was my outlet, my way to reach out and connect with other people without leaving the house. It was exciting to publish a post and see who stopped by to leave a comment. At first it was my friends or my husband’s co-workers. Eventually I became friends with other bloggers like Lisa and Jenny and Maria and Leslie and commenting on each others blogs were our way of keeping in touch with each other. I was over the moon when my sister in law Jamie started her blog, it was like we were cooking in each other’s kitchens all the time though we lived 9 hours away.

Fast forward to 2014 and blogging has evolved into a whole other animal. It’s become somewhat of a business for me (though I still struggle with the idea of that) and I am so grateful beyond words to be able to work from home because of it. I’ve made some of my best friends through blogging…some I’ve been fortunate to have met in real life, some I still haven’t met. It’s amazing to reflect on the doors that have opened up and the experiences that have been experienced. However, blogging in 2014 isn’t just about cooking a recipe, taking a photo and publishing a post anymore. There is so much that goes on behind the scenes, so much busy work to keep up with…a huge part of it being social media. I’ve kept up with it over the last few years for the most part but lately I’ve been wondering how much I want to keep up with anymore. I think having my third baby (9 years after my 1st) and seeing how fast my older two are growing up makes me realize how precious this time in life is. I am not going to stop blogging, don’t get that crazy idea in your head. But I have finally come to terms with the idea that I can no longer keep up. Nor do I want to. I am determined to focus on working smart and not hard to be able to happily manage my time spent with the online world and with my real life world. I am not 100% there (will I ever be, probably not) but I’m figuring it out. Bottom line is, I don’t ever want to look back at this time with regrets because I was spinning my wheels and not being intentional with my time.

On that note, I had no intention of rambling on like this here today. All I wanted to do was update a photo on a recipe that I published back in September of 2009. Reading the post and seeing the recipe brought back so much from that time in life that I couldn’t help but reflect on how things have changed and evolved over the years. I hope you don’t mind the rambles… 😉

Have a great Monday!!

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(originally posted in September 23, 2009, photos updated in March 10, 2014)

I love having salads for lunch. But I don’t always like making salads for lunch. Unless everything is already cut up or pre-made for me, I would more likely grab something like a piece of bread and turkey in a rush, rather than sit down and eat something really good for me.I made this salad one day using a little shortcut of bagged shredded Broccoli Slaw that you can find in your grocery store produce section. To it I added, some grape tomatoes, chickpeas, crumbled blue cheese and balsamic vinegar. It doesn’t take long and it will definitely satisfy your taste buds. And bonus… its good for you, like a good salad should be.

(kept this old photo around for memories 😉 )

Note: If you aren’t a fan of blue cheese, try it with gorgonzola, it’ a little milder and equally delicious. I used Ile de France’s St. Agur blue cheese recently for this salad and wow, my taste buds were singing! Good stuff!

Broccoli Slaw Salad

Yield: 1-2 servings

Ingredients:

• 1/2 bag of pre-shredded broccoli slaw
• 1/2 pint grape tomatoes, sliced in half
• 1/2 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 oz crumbled blue cheese or gorgonzola cheese (I used Ile de France St. Agur blue cheese)
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 2-3 TB balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Combine veggies, beans, and cheese in a bowl, gently toss with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Top with crumbled cheese.

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I’ve heard my friend Maria mention her favorite go-to lunch being her Smashed Chickpea & Avocado Salad Sandwich more than a few times. Every time she mentions this avocado sandwich I immediately begin to crave it, but for whatever reason, I have never actually gotten around to making it for myself. Don’t you hate when that happens?

The other day Dara asked the question “what are some of your favorite go-to lunch ideas?” on her Facebook page and after seeing Maria’s comment about what hers was, I figured it was finally time to make it for myself – especially since I had nothing planned for lunch but happen to have an avocado and a can a chickpeas in the pantry (like I pretty much always do).

I didn’t have everything I needed to make it exactly how Maria does, but I improvised and used what I had in my kitchen. The fresh whole wheat bread from the bakery and the zippy arugula along with the lemony smashed chickpea and avocado mixture made this sandwich one of my favorite lunches I’ve had in a long time. As a matter of fact, I’m having it for lunch again this week.

I don’t recommend waiting as long as I did to try it. 😉

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This Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Chickpeas and Spinach dish has appeared in my kitchen many a Saturday night.

Why Saturday night?

Well, because on Saturday nights, unless I’m eating out or getting together with friends I’m usually feeling pretty lazy and don’t feel like making a huge fuss over dinner.

But because it’s Saturday night, I don’t want just a bowl of cereal or a sandwich either.

You can pretty much find everything in this pasta dish in my pantry or fridge any day of the week. That’s what’s so great about it. I’ve made it plenty of times without the fresh spinach, but I really prefer to have that punch of green on my plate (& its health benefits too). The freshly grated Parmesan and red pepper flakes make it extra delicious. In no time you’ll be curled up on your couch with your big bowl of pasta and remote feeling total comfort. You can worry about the dishes in the morning.

Ingredients you need for Spaghetti with Chickpeas and Spinach:

• boxed spaghetti
• olive oil
• garlic
• onion
• can of chickpeas
• fresh spinach
• red pepper flakes
• Parmesan cheese

A perfect, no fuss vegetarian pasta dish that you can feel good about.

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Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Sauteed Chickpeas and Spinach

• Author: Aggie Goodman

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Ingredients

• 1/2 13 oz box whole wheat spaghetti
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 onion, sliced thin
• 1 can garbanzo/chickpeas beans (I prefer Bush’s Beans Garbanzos), rinsed and drained
• 2–3 bunches of fresh spinach
• pinch of red pepper flakes
• salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
• additional olive oil, to taste
• freshly grated Parmesan cheese for serving

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Instructions

1. Cook pasta according to directions.
2. While pasta is cooking, heat oil in a large saute pan. Add garlic and onions to pan and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes or until slightly soft, season with salt and pepper. Add chickpeas to onions and saute for another 5 minutes. Drain pasta, reserving about 1/4 cup of pasta water. Add fresh spinach to pan, add cooked pasta and pasta water over spinach and gently toss. Turn off heat.
3. Before serving add an additional drizzle of olive oil over pasta. Season to taste with salt and red pepper flakes. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

More vegetarian pasta recipes:

Mexican Pasta Toss

Ziti and Zucchini with Lime and Herbs

Angel Hair with Zucchini and Tomatoes | Skinnytaste

Creamy Goat Cheese Pasta with Spinach and Roasted Mushrooms | Two Peas and Their Pod

Spicy Roasted Ratatouille with Spaghetti | Cookie + Kate

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