Chickpea "Kitchen Sink" Salad

A couple of weeks ago, for lunch, I grabbed a chickpea salad from the cafeteria in my building.  It was delicious and inspired me to re-create it.  It was full of veggies and had a delicious vinegar-y dressing on it.  The dressing reminded me of a dressing from a pasta salad I had made before from my Betty Crocker cookbook.

Utilizing the dressing recipe and my imagination, I came up with what I am calling my chickpea "kitchen sink" salad!  I have since made this recipe a couple more times and every time I use different veggies. The dressing goes with all of them!  So feel free to use whatever vegetables you have on hand or are in season.

Chickpea "Kitchen Sink" Salad

Dressing adapted from Betty Crocker's Cooking Basics cookbook

Garlic Vinaigrette Dressing (see below)

2 cans of 16 oz chickpea (low sodium), drained and rinsed

1 tomato, diced

1 cucumber or green zucchini, diced

1/2 red onion, diced

1 green bell pepper, chunked

1 red bell pepper, chunked

Garlic Vinaigrette Dressing

2 cloves garlic

1/4 cup white vinegar

2 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil

1.  Combine all vinaigrette ingredients together and mix well

2.  Combine chickpeas and all vegetables together in a large bowl

3.  Toss chickpea/vegetables with garlic vinaigrette

4.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (the longer the better!)

Enjoy!

PS - I'm off to visit friends and family later today, so not sure if I'll be able to post until Monday.  Enjoy your weekends if I don't post.