I pride myself on being inventive in the kitchen. A little untraditional? Absolutely.
I am by no means a gourmet chef - and I think for that reason, I end up with a number of interesting/ surprisingly delightful healthy goodies by accident! [If you take nothing from this post but 'with a little creativity, healthy, delicious home-cooking is absolutely possible', my work here is done! Truly - anyone can do it. Home-cooking isn't meant to be terrifying... it's meant to be a liberating creative venture!]
Last week, my experimentation in the kitchen led to this wacky combination. It was the product of the following three thoughts:
- That avocado is going to spoil if we don't use it.
- I can't remember what I'd planned to do with those mushrooms. I should probably use them.
- I'd love to try to recreate those chickpeas we had in Turks and Caicos! [Michael and I visited a neighboring resort for lunch on the beach a couple of times when we honeymooned there last winter: the chickpeas were amazing. Who knew!]
And so, we kicked off the weekend with this flavor- and texture-explosion: super simple to put together, super delicious, and super balanced. (Great, considering the next few days were full of packing/ moving/ unpacking/ venturing out for furniture...). Try this on for size for your next what-do-I-do-with-all-these-random-ingredients meal!


- 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas
- 2 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 3 tbsp curry powder
- 2 tsp coriander
- 3 tsp sea salt, divided
- 1/3 cup pistachios (shells removed)
- 12 white mushrooms, cleaned, destemmed, and sliced
- 3 stalks celery, sliced thinly
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 cups cooked quinoa
- 1/2 ripe avocado, mashed
- 1. Preheat oven to 400F.
- 2. Toss chickpeas and pistachios with 1 tbsp oil, curry powder, coriander, and 1 tsp salt.
- 3. Spread on foil-lined baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes until crispy.
- 4. When chickpeas are halfway done, heat remaining oil in skillet over medium heat.
- 5. Sauté mushrooms until soft; add celery and sauté 1 minute more.
- 6. Add lemon juice, quinoa, and remaining salt. Stir to combine and allow to heat through.
- 7. Remove from heat and stir in avocado.
- 8. Serve with chickpeas and another green [we used steamed chard]. Enjoy!
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