organic chickpea tossed salad with fresh red pepper, onion, sprouts, and miso ginger dressing
It's summertime and daily living can be easy. Discover "Why Chickpeas are Versatile,
Delicious, and Healthy," and are an ideal plant-based ingredient to feature in
simple summer meals.
I've chosen the best tips, time saving ideas, and flavorful recipes out of the many I've gathered, selecting ones that are particularly
enticing as well as healthy. Each helps keep summer meal planning as
carefree as possible.
The name chickpea comes from the Latin word cicer,
referring to the plant family of legumes, Fabaceae. They are also known by the
popular Spanish-derived name, garbanzo beans.
Chickpeas are most commonly tan or beige when dried or
canned. Research indicates chickpeas can be other colors, including
green, brown, black, and even red, depending on the variety and stage of
maturity. Freshly harvested chickpeas, before they are dried, are bright green.
presoaked dried chickpeas and fresh veggies simmering on stove top
Chickpeas are versatile, as they have a mild flavor and are an
excellent source of plant protein, fiber, and nutrients. Their texture is adaptable and makes them a satisfying addition
to everything from salads and soups to snacks.
cooked organic chickpea dish with edamame, red pepper, onion, garlic, carrots, lemon juice, and herb seasonings
Cooking dried chickpeas is easy. To reduce cooking time, soak beans overnight in clean cool water (using enough water to cover all the beans). Rinse in cool clean water and stick chickpeas in a pot on the stove to cook.
Plan to reserve at least 35-90 minutes of "at home time" to oversee the beans cooking, as they simmer in a pot on the stove top.
Using dried
chickpeas in a recipe is more economical than using canned ones, so weigh your options. You may need or want to watch how much you spend on food, or may be short on time. Personally speaking, I use both kinds of chickpeas and like having both options.
Dried chickpeas can be seasoned according to personal preferences. Canned ones are ready to eat, and can be thoroughly rinsed, if they are too salty.
Chickpeas also come frozen, so look for this product in the
frozen vegetable aisle of many good supermarkets.
Chickpea recipes are popular all over the world. See sample recipes from many countries by looking below.
In
India and Italy, chickpeas are turned into flour and made into various
fritters, like vegetable pakoras (India) and panelle (Italy).
Chickpea flour also
makes excellent gluten-free flatbreads, and many cuisines make their own
version — like the French socca or the Ligurian (Italy) farinata.
One of the most popular ways to eat chickpeas is as the star of a creamy, luscious Mediterranean/Middle Eastern food/dip called hummus. See "How to Make Scrumptious Hummus, a Recipe Roundup" for several creative variations.
superb vegan chickpea salad sandwich on whole grain bread
An additional way to eat this bean powerhouse is to Make the Best Tomato Gazpacho Soup and add home cooked or canned chickpeas to increase the amount of protein and fiber in it. Altering the original recipe is simple and healthful.
chilled tomato gazpacho soup with chickpeas
Do you eat chickpeas often and what's your favorite recipe that features them?
Are you willing to check out some of the recipes mentioned in this post?
Please comment below. I appreciate every comment, but will not be able to publish those that contain links.
If you like what you see, share on social media and credit Nancy Andres at www.colors4health.com please.
I enjoy eating light, attractive-looking salads, main
courses, and veggie dishes made without any oil. Light meals are especially appealing to me during warmer months.
I'm excited and delighted to reveal my simple (5 minute prep time) recipe for Delicious Oil Free Vegan Miso and Ginger Dressing or Sauce. I encourage you to try it. I'm sure you'll be more than satisfied.
Ingredients: 2 T light miso paste (I used white miso because it's the lightest, sweetest variety). Look for miso paste in the refrigerated case in the market
2 T unseasoned rice vinegar or fresh squeezed lemon or lime juice
1 T low sodium gluten-free tamari or 1 T Bragg Liquid Aminos
salt and fresh ground black or red pepper to taste (you may not want to add salt as miso paste is a salty ingredient with 634 mg per T)
lemon juice, salt, pepper, water, grated garlic, maple syrup, Bragg Liquid Aminos, grated ginger, white miso paste
What to Do:
1. For a salad dressing, place all ingredients into the bowl of a blender and process until smooth. If you like your salad dressing to be thin... add a few extra drops of liquid (use water, veg broth, or fruit juice). Taste and correct seasonings. An alternative preparation method is to use a whisk and blend until ingredients are thoroughly blended.
When you use this combo as a sauce, adjust the liquid, depending on whether you want the sauce to be light or thicker.
tossed green salad with lettuce, carrot, broccoli, snap peas, cashews, onion and miso ginger salad dressing
Here are additional ways to use this mouth-watering dressing /sauce: combine with slivered almonds and broccoli florets, pour over steamed bok choy or edamame, toss with small chunks of grilled tofu or tempeh, mix with lentils or other legumes or beans. If you choose, add one or more additional spices or herbs like cilantro, basil, oregano, etc.
Sprinkle miso and ginger dressing onto leafy greens with daikon radish, clementine or orange segments, sliced water chestnuts, snap peas, bean sprouts, shredded carrots or zucchini, celery, onion, and/or scallions.
Refrigerate leftover dressing in a tightly sealed container, and use within a day or two for best taste.
I appreciate food made with oil free dressings and sauces, and am mindful about cutting out empty calories. I want my fat-calories to come from whole food
plant-based sources including avocados, tofu and tempeh, olives, and nuts and
seeds, rather than oils.
1. Repurpose or
purchase a notebook or journal and pen. Commit to reserving time each week to journal. Then make a decision not to sensor
writing and allow words to rip! For additional journal writing tips read "Tips to Recharge on Your Lunch Break" now.
2. Write about a summer adventure you’d like to experience. It doesn't have to be an expensive outing. Be creative and list things that you think or sense will bring simple pleasure. Read "Budget Friendly Activities to Inspire Joy"for ideas.
3. What books are on your summer reading
list? Jot down the titles of books you think you'd like to read this summer. Check with your local library about availability and reserve at least one book today.
4. Reflect on a childhood summer memory and write about it.
5. Describe a summer festival or event
you’d like to participate in.
6. Describe a place you want to visit
this summer.
7. What five things are at the top of your summer bucket
list? Jot them down or list them and then describe them in detail.
8. Write about a time you overcame a
fear, and how it made you feel.
9. Have you developed any summer
traditions and what are they?
10. Write about your favorite summer
outfit and why you love it.
11. What's the most important
thing you would like to do this summer?
12. What foods and drinks do you find refreshing during the summer and do you prepare them often? The picture below shows a healthy and tasty fruit infused water. Stay hydrated and sip it as you journal write.
Quench thirst as you sip a glass of strawberry/mint flavored water and journal away
13. Do you try to select and prepare fresh in-season fruits and vegetables over those that come from distant lands or are out of season? Explain.
14. What is your favorite
summer sport and why?
15. Are you willing to
reserve a few moments during the day to meditate, pray, and/or engage in activities including yoga, tai chi, deep breathing exercises, or a body
scan? All are great ways to turn over cares and unwind. Do you agree or disagree and why?
16. Summer can be a season of self-discovery and personal growth. Describe a time
you worked hard for something and it paid off.
17. Write about something you
love about yourself.
18. If you could change
anything about yourself, what would it be and why? Share that.
19. Go for a walk on a sunny, cloudy, or rainy day. When you get home, write about interesting things you noticed on your
trip.
21. List ideas to help you plan a summer picnic, barbeque, potluck, or brunch for work associates, friends, or family. Can you keep arrangements simple and fun? If you want to assemble a delicious yet easy meal, here's a recipe for coleslaw to start you off.
Release anxiety and worry through journal writing, and turn on the relaxtion process by being outdoors
23. What does the word vacation mean
to you?
24. Write about someone you care
about and schedule a play date with them. Describe what things you want to do with them, and follow through. If you can’t meet with this person face to face, speak on the phone, send a hand written note to them, Facetime, or do a Zoom call.
25. Opportunities for outdoor activities abound in the summer. With time off from work or school, and freedom to do as you please, this season can be so sweet.
Perhaps you'll use free time to visit a friend or relative you haven't seen in a while. Before you do, write a short story about a summer adventure you've had in the past and reveal why you think you still remember it.
26. In what area or areas of your life could you use a refresh? Do you want to make this a goal to work toward in the coming months? Please explain.
Which journal prompts helped you connect with a secret longing or inspired a shift in perspective?
Did any journal prompts stimulate ideas about things to do or places to go this summer? Please share in the comments section below. ⚾🎈🎨🎹⛱🚲🥗
Please be aware I will not be able to post comments that have links in them. Thanks for understanding.
If you like what you see, please comment below. If you share on social media, please put a link back to this post.
Mourning doves are fascinating birds. People identify them by their coo, a sound that is often described
as sorrowful. Another inflection these birds use signals courtship, and a third warns other birds
of danger.
Doves are also known for their distinctive whistling sound during takeoff, and tradition of being ground-foraging eaters.
Mourning Doves are scientifically known as Zenaida macroura, and are found throughout North
America.
This species is a common year round resident here in Tucson, AZ, and typically breeds from March to September. When weather gets too cold for Mourning Doves who live in colder climes, they migrate here.
Mourning Doves co-parent their offspring, and the mother lays up to six broods each year, although fledglings' have high mortality rates.
Each adult bird is medium size with slim body, thin neck, small head, and long, tapered tail that enables it to fly speeds up to 55 miles per hour.
Mourning Doves aren't dainty eaters. When they find a food source—preferably, a bunch
of seeds on the ground—they’ll quickly grab as much as they can manage, storing
their haul in a throat pouch called the crop. Then, they’ll fly off to a safe
spot to work on digesting.
On average, Mourning Doves will eat about 12 to 20 percent of their body weight every day. One
champion eater was recorded racking up 17,200 bluegrass seeds in its crop at
once.
These birds often build nests fast and flimsy, which I can attest to. We have had visiting Mourning Doves in our backyard throughout the years, and seen nests in what we think are unusual places.
After a pair of doves picks a
site, the males will bring back twigs and stems for the females to weave into a
loose pile—often so loose that you can see the eggs through the bottom.
We've noticed doves aren't picky about nest locations. While doves often seek out trees or
shrubs, they’re just as likely to start nest building in flower pots, cacti, or air
conditioners.
The Mourning Dove is one of North America’s most adaptable species, thriving in a wide range of habitats from coast to coast.
Open areas like farmland, parks, and backyards are preferred over dense forest. However, they can tough it out in harsh habitats like the Southwest desert, where their ability to drink brackish, or slightly salty, water—up to around half the salinity of seawater—without getting dehydrated gives them an advantage.
This year, to our amazement, a pair of them tried to build a nest inside one of our outdoor house lights. Two days running, a messy collection of twigs and sticks littered the ground below where the light is situated.
When I realized what was going on, my first thought was that the baby birds might roast from the heat of the automatic-timed light.
To discourage nest building there, my husband put cardboard and tape over the opening.
The next day, we were happy to see the parent birds, who were building a nest in a shrub on the side of the house.
Then a week or two later we heard the chirping of baby birds and knew all was well.
Both baby Mourning Doves, or
squabs survived, and they remained in the nest for about 12 to 15 days after hatching.
The baby birds fledged, meaning left the nest, at this age. Each remained close by to their parents for another week or two, continuing to be fed by
them.
Mourning Doves form seasonally monogamous couples that
can raise as many as six broods of two eggs each a year.
Want to attract
mourning doves to your yard?
Scatter seeds, particularly millet, on the ground
or on platform feeders. Dense shrubs or
evergreen trees make appealing nesting sites. Remember to keep your cats inside.
As mentioned above, Mourning Doves have many intriguing characteristics. They are
ground feeders, primarily eating seeds, and are surprisingly fast fliers,
capable of reaching speeds up to 55 mph.
These brown or tan or gray and
white colored feathered friends drink water in a unique way, sucking it up
through their bills like a straw.
We've spotted Mourning Doves that are primarily light brown to grayish tan too. They have a speckled back, a long pointed tail, and a black "ear" patch behind the eye. Their wings are blue-gray.
Other Mourning Doves can be brown to buffy-tan colored with black spots on the wings and black-bordered white tips
to the tail feathers.
The
species’ scientific name, Zenaida
macroura, is also an ID hint: “macroura” comes from the Greek words for
“long tail.” The Mourning Dove’s tail—slender, tapered, and with white-tipped
outer feathers—offers a key clue to tell it apart from its cousins like the
Eurasian Collared-Dove and White-winged Dove, whose tails end in square tips.
I am intrigued with the daily comings and goings of our backyard Mourning Doves, and find their cooing sound soothing, peaceful, and familiar. I enjoy seeing them scurrying along the top of our property wall or flying back and forth on their daily rounds.
Have you spotted Mourning Doves where you live and do you like hearing them coo? Some people find it annoying and others like me find it pleasant. Which camp are you in and why?
What other kinds of birds live near you and which ones do you enjoy seeing? Please comment on that too.
I appreciate and read every comment, but will not be able to publish those that contain links. Thanks for understanding.
