Tina's Chic Corner

I finally watched the movie, Frozen, and I love it! Don’t worry, I won’t talk about it in detail to avoid spoilers for those who haven’t seen it yet. Olaf is seriously the coolest snowman ever. (I want one!) It’s a great movie with several good songs in it, but the song “Let It Go” stands out as being the one that is stuck in my head. You know a song is stuck in your head when you find yourself singing it in the shower and in the car even over the radio playing a different song. Even if you haven’t seen the movie, I’m sure you’ve heard it on the radio.

The lyrics inspire me to be true to myself. It helps me to realize that I don’t need to look like a supermodel to be beautiful and healthy. How does this topic relate to a salad? Well obviously it’s because feeling healthy tends to come from tasty salads. Duh.

This healthy salad is is loaded with chickpeas and lots of veggies, tossed in a homemade dressing of traditional Indian spices.

Indian Chickpea Salad Recipe
(About 6 servings)

Ingredients For Salad:

2 (15 ounce) cans chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
3 cups miniature tomatoes, chopped
1 cup carrots (equivalent to about 2 carrots), shredded
1 cucumber, halved lengthwise and quartered
1/2 medium red onion, very thinly sliced

Ingredients For Dressing:

2 teaspoons lemon zest (equivalent to about 1 small lemon)
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions for Salad:

In a large bowl, combine the chickpeas, tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, and red onion.
Pour the dressing (see directions below) over the mixture.

Directions For Dressing:

In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, cumin, curry powder, salt and pepper.

“Do you want to build a snowman?” Hehe. There are so many great lines in the movie. It’s finally getting warmer out so I’m good with building a salad today instead.

02Indian Chickpea Salad

I love chickpeas. Who’s with me? You can do so much with them and they’re a great source of protein and fiber. Pile them up with fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onions and you’ve got a really awesome combination. Raw onions? Don’t worry, the red ones tend to be mild and on the sweeter side. They add great flavor to the salad, but the best part about building your own salad is that you can put as much as or as little as you like.

Truth be told, though, it’s the dressing that makes this salad super awesome. Isn’t that always the way? It’s an oil and lemon based dressing complete with delicious spices.

Are you loving that this “salad” doesn’t involve any leafy greens? I am. I love leafy greens too, but sometimes a break is just what you need to keep from getting sick of salads altogether and going back to cheeseburgers.