Lots of fresh, chopped veggies mixed with chickpeas and feta in a light and tangy dressing. Lunch is a no-brainer when you’ve got a container of this chickpea salad in your fridge. And it comes together in a snap. If you’re looking for a little midday happiness, your search is over!

It’s been a while since I’ve talked about lunch around here. Everybody has their own thing, right? Do you buy? Brown bag it with a sandwich? Or orchestrate lots of different leftovers into various tupperware containers like my adorable husband? Are you more the type to graze all day long on snacks and not need to take an official lunch break? Or do you just generally starve until dinner? LOL! Since I usually work from home, my lunches can range from a sensible cup of yogurt or a leftover cup of some soup I made the day before to dangerous nibbling on some baked treat that I NEED TO GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!!! That’s why I love having ready-to-go salads that I can just grab. Keeps me honest! And trimmer!

And able to nibble just a little bit on some goodie or another!

Looking for other great make-ahead lunch salads. How about Spicy Black-Eyed Pea Salad, Strawberry Chicken Salad with Poppyseed Dressing, My Mom’s Famous Egg Salad, Addictively Yummy Chickpea Salad (yes, it’s also chickpea based but it’s a totally different take), My Favorite Chicken Salad-Lightened Up, Sesame Chicken Salad, Grilled Pita Bread Salad and Sweet Potato Salad.

Happy lunching!

Chickpea Lunch Salad

Makes 4 servings

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard

• 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar

• Kosher salt

• Black Pepper

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• One 15 ounce can chickpeas, rinsed, drained and skins peeled (I think it’s worth the few minutes to take off the skins but you absolutely don’t have to)

• 6-8 radishes, trimmed and thinly sliced into half-moons

• 3-4 mini-cukes or half an English cucumber, diced

• 4 scallions, thinly sliced

• A large handful of baby arugula, chopped

• 1/2 cup crumbled feta

The Recipe

1. Put the mustard, vinegar, pinch or two of salt and pepper in a large bowl and whisk together. Add in the oil gradually in a slow stream, whisking all the time. Add in the chickpeas, radishes, cukes. scallions and arugula and toss well. Taste and season with more salt and pepper if necessary. Add in the feta and stir gently. You can either serve this right away or cover and chill it. Leftovers will last about 3 days.

Enjoy!

Note: Recipe adapted from Small Victories by Julia Turshen. I tinkered a lot with this—feel free to use what you have/like and make it your own.