Whew!! What a whirlwind the last week has been!! Sorry to be so spotty on the posts, but what with work suddenly ramping up, my daughter smack in the middle of hockey playoffs and the little thing of our kitchen renovation starting...wait, what was that last thing she just said? Did the long promised kitchen renov actually begin? Yeppers, it certainly did and oh what fun the next couple of months will be without any oven!! We've converted one of boys' rooms upstairs (he's away at school) into a makeshift kitchen complete with electric griddle, hot plate, toaster oven and microwave. When he comes home for spring break he will not only be able to literally eat breakfast in bed, but cook it there too!! But not to worry folks, I've been cooking up a storm in the past few weeks so I'll still have lots of stuff to share with you and maybe I'll throw in a few hot plate/griddle specialties too, depending on how adventurous I'm feeling. But today it's all about Peanut Chickpea Veggie Bowl. It's easy-to-throw together, easy to eat, totally customizable and just right for the sort of springy weather that's beginning to pop up every few days or so. For a light vegetarian dinner or a healthy lunch, you can't go wrong!

If you're like me, you love getting to sneak a peek into other's people's homes. Hmmn...that might have come out a bit wrong--I'm no peeping Tom, but I do love to spend long hours on Houzz or other sites, looking at what folks are fixing up in their houses. If that's not your thing, I totally get it--just scroll down to the recipe and make this yum of a bowl, but if you'd like to see the kitchen I've been cooking in for the last 15 years and then watch the progress as it goes to hopefully the space I've been dreaming about, take a look at the photos below. Note the stuccoed walls, archaic wall fan and chipped Formica counters--YIKES!!

And this is the dining room we'll be breaking into to expand the kitchen into a great room.

Day One of construction--everything's out.

Tomorrow they break through the wall to the dining room and there is no going back!!! Can't wait!!

And here's my son's room (aka our temporary kitchen).

Ok, enough voyeurism--back to this delicious bowl full of chopped red cabbage, chick peas, carrots and scallions, all covered in an addictive,lime-spiked, peanutty dressing that comes together in just minutes. Full of color, flavor and crunch!! And absolutely doable even on busy weeknights. Just the thing to have on hand to keep you on that healthy eating track. After all, shorts and (gulp) bathing suit season is a-coming!! 

More kitchen updates and of course another yummy recipe tomorrow!!

Peanut Chickpea Veggie Bowl

Makes 4 servings as a meal

Prep Time:  20 minutes

Ingredients

For the salad

• Two 15 ounce cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• One small red cabbage, shredded
• 2-3 large carrots, peeled and shredded or grated
• 3-4 scallions, chopped
• 1/2 cup roasted and salted peanuts, roughly chopped

For the dressing

• 1/4 cup peanut butter (any kind or almond butter if you prefer that)
• 1 tablespoon of sriracha (use less if you don't want any spice)
• 2 fresh limes, juiced
• 1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
• salt and pepper to taste
• Water

The Recipe

1.  To make the salad, place the chickpeas, cabbage, carrots and half of the scallions in a large bowl and toss together. 

2.  To make the dressing, place the peanut butter, sriracha, lime juice, soy sauce and a pinch of salt and pepper into a small bowl and whisk together well. The mixture will be very thick. Add a little water and whisk again. Keep adding water until the dressing is pourable. Now taste and add more salt, peanut butter or sriracha if you like and whisk again. 

3.  Pour the dressing over the ingredients in the large bowl and toss together. Top with the remaining scallions and peanuts and serve.

4.  Leftover salad can be stored in an airtight container for several days. Also, feel free to add in any veggies you like.

Enjoy!

Note:  Recipe adapted from Food 52. I tinkered around a lot with this one and you should feel free to do so too. The original recipe calls for dried chickpeas, but that takes all the ease out of the recipe for me and I also actually really like the taste of the canned ones better--but if you want to make your own, feel free to soak away.