Chickpea Tacos

My excuse for the lack of posts is as follows:

This past weekend my family held a memorial for my step-grandmother down in Virginia, and in order to take of the weekend for it, I had to work 8 days in a row. This didn't leave much time for blogging, although I did cook as much as I could. But now I'm back, so I have some food that hasn't been posted to post.

The great thing about Vegetarian Times is that they archive old issues on their website and post the recipes. March 2008 is already up there, so I thought I would share their Chickpea Tacos and mexican rice. Unfortunately the rice recipe isn't online yet, but I'll share the basics.

When I went grocery shopping for the week, I bought dried chickpeas for this dish, thinking I'd remember to soak and cook them before attempting this. Wrong. I totally forgot, and ended up having to use a can of small red beans, which are pretty bland in comparison with the garbanzos. But whatever. Phil made a pico de gallo to go with this instead of us using jarred salsa. Overall the avocado/bean mash was good but a little bland-- something I've found often with VT's recipes. I realize they're trying to appeal to all of their reader's palates, so it doesn't hurt to add a little more seasonings if you know you like salt or spicy flavors.

I do love VT, though. Even if I need to tweak some things to my taste, the recipes offer a lot of inspiration!

Oh, and for the mexican rice. I actually made quinoa, and it went something like this:

Mexican Quinoa
Serves 4 (or 2 pigs, i.e. Phil and me)
Ingredients:

• 1 c. dry quinoa
• 2 c. water
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil (optional)
• 1 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp. ground cumin
• 1 Tbsp. chili powder (this amount can be tweaked to your taste!)
• 1 c. frozen peas
• 1 c. frozen corn

Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan. Add the quinoa and stir until slightly browned, 2-3 minutes. Add cumin and chili powder and stir for another 2-3 minutes or until the spices are fragrant.

Add the water and tomato paste and stir well until the paste had dissolved (mashing it against the sides of the pot helps me!). Then, stir in the corn, peas, and salt. Lower the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 15-20 minutes.

As usual, enjoy!