Triple Protein Salad — Recipe

I’m supposed to eat a high protein diet and average around 70 to 75 grams of protein a day.  While I do like meat, I find it hard to consume that much.  Not to mention that meat is expensive and I cannot have “steak” for every meal.  I try to find a way to eat a variety of protein sourcess of varying nature and cost.  Since I had a cup of chickpeas left, I thought I would share my “un-recipe” for  what I jokingly call “Three P Salad.”  It includes three protein sources (chicken and chicken eggs, chickpeas, and sour cream).  

These are the ingredients:

2 tablespoons Light mayo

2 tablespoons of Sour cream (I buy FF)

Chicken, cooked and coarsely chopped (I did one decent sized breast.)

Red onion, 1/2 small chopped to desired size

Celery, 1 stalk diced

2 hard boiled eggs, diced

1 dill pickle, diced

1 cup of cooked chickpeas

Salt and pepper to taste

Mash your chickpeas with a fork — I leave them kind of “chunky” for texture.

Add other ingredients.

Stir.

I added salt and pepper to taste.

It is now ready to serve.

However, I usually put it in a bowl and refrigerate it for a while to allow the flavors to meld.

Although your mileage may vary, my yield was approximately 5 cups.

Now for my notes:

1.  You can use any chicken or bits.  Or almost any leftover meat for that matter.

2.  Egg size doesn’t matter and you can add more or less.

3.  Any onion you like works.

4.  In addition to celery you can add carrots, apples, grapes, or whatever you like to bulk it out more.  Dried cranberries are pretty good, too.

5. You could easily drain and rinse a can of chickpeas for this.

6.  I don’t buy relish normally, but you could use pickle relish.

7.  Simply adjust the amount of mayo and sour cream to reflect what you need for your proportions.

8. Frugal note — cook an extra breast when you are cooking for something else for power savings.

As for serving:

On crackers

On a bed of lettuce

Wrapped in lettuce

In a sandwich

In a pita

In flour tortillas 

One final serving tip to stretch this even further.

Cook a batch of your favorite pasta.

Elbow noodles work well.  (GF works fine, too)

Stir noodles in.  Adjust mayo/etc.

Refrigerate and serve as a pasta salad.

(If I am making pasta salad, I will often use a “ranch” type seasoning blend to add some zing.)

Cinnamon Chickpea Blondies (Recipe)

Chickpeas are so versatile.

 For dish three from the pound of chickpeas I cooked, I decided to go with something sweet.  The original recipe is from Veggie Inspired and is here — Cinnamon Chickpea Blondies.  

 Of course, I made some changes.   

 This is my version:   

 Preheat oven to 350F and lightly grease an 8”x8” pan. 

 In food processor bowl (with blade) combine the following and puree until smooth: 

 1 1/2 cups of cooked chickpeas 

 1/2 cup of sunbutter 

 1/4 cup of old fashioned oats (GF certified if needed) 

 2/3 cup sugar in the raw 

 1/4 cup pure maple syrup 

 1 1/2 tsps. Cinnamon 

 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 

 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 

1/4 teaspoon salt   

 Pour into dish and bake for 30 minutes or until pulling away from side and top is firm.  (This took 35 minutes in my oven.)   

 So for my notes —

 1.  I used chickpeas without salt.  I’m not sure how well canned would work.

 2.  Sunbutter (and omitted additional nuts) due to allergies.  I would think any nut butter would work for those who don’t have to be careful. 

 3.  Original recipe calls for coconut sugar.  I’ve tried it and I’m not a fan. 

 4.  I used Aldi brand pure maple syrup.  Still costly, but not as costly as Whole Foods.

 5. I used imitation vanilla extract....sorry, but it is true.  I rarely buy the real deal because of costs. 

  

I tried to capture the texture in this photo.

These are soooo good!

The maple syrup is expensive and I would think you could use honey, agave, or perhaps even a Karo syrup.

However, it uses very little so if you keep some on hand I think it would be worth the splurge.

I have just a little bit of my chickpeas left.

Tomorrow I’ll share what I do with the last of them.

Chickpea Patties Recipe

Since I cooked one pound of chickpeas in the pressure cooker yesterday, I thought I would share how I use them in meals.  I find I don’t particularly like to eat them by themselves, but when I use them as an ingredient I am quite fond of them. I’ve always struggled with bean burgers being too wet or too crumbly.  It took me some time of playing around and after years of experimenting I have finally created the recipe that works for me.

The ingredients are pretty simple.

2 cups of cooked chickpeas (drained)

1/2 of a medium red onion, finely diced

2 tsps. Of minced garlic

2 tsps. Of Italian seasoning

2 tbsp. Of olive oil (plus more for frying pan)

Salt/pepper to taste

1 egg

1 cup of gluten free panko bread crumbs 

(If using another “grain” make sure you use dry bread crumbs.)

Lightly cook onion and garlic in a small pan.  

(I added a tiny bit of olive oil.)

The goal is to remove that raw taste.

In food processor, with blade:

Mix chickpeas, cooked onion, garlic, Italian seasonings, salt, and pepper.

(I cooked my beans without any seasonings so I tasted the mixture until I had the salt level right.)

Then add in egg and 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Mix again.

Mix in 1 cup of dry bread crumbs.

The mixture is slightly damp, but forms a good patty.

Heat a tiny bit of olive oil in a non stick frying pan.

Fry patties on medium heat until browned well on both sides.

Serve with your choice of sides, in pitas, or in buns with the usual burger fixings.

I opted for sliced bell pepper and sweet potato noodles.

The texture is firm without being too dry.

Vegetable Lo Mein Recipe (with options)

At the end of this post, I’ll share exactly what I did, but this recipe has lots of options.

You can cook your beans from scratch (you’ll need about 2 cups) or you can used canned — just drain and rinse.

You can use zucchini noodle, which I did, or you can use gluten free or wheat pasta of your choice.

You can use fresh veggies or a bag of stir fry blend.

You can use soy sauce or liquid aminoes.

You can use fresh pineapple, grate ginger, etc.  I didn’t.

You get the picture — pretty versatile.

My pithy recipe:

Cook your chickpeas.

I used the Instant Pot and cooked a pound with planned leftover.

If using canned, just drain and rinse.

Set aside.

1 or so cups of sliced cabbage

1/2 of a large red bell pepper

1 cup or so broccoli florettes (I broke them up to bite sized pieces.)

Carrot pieces

1 stalk of celery, sliced

Set aside.

If you are doing a traditional posta, start your pasta cooking.

If not, spiralize a zucchini or two.

Set aside.

In small sauce pan, mix:

8 ounces of pineapple tidbits in juice with 3 tablespoons of soy sauce (I use aminoes).

Stir in 1/4 teaspoon of ginger powder.

Stir in 1 teaspoon of diced garlic.

I added a tiny bit of black pepper.

Bring to a boil, turn down and let simmer a few minutes.

Meanwhile, stir fry your veggies.

I use olive oil, but you can use an oil of your choice.

I add the zucchini noodles last.

When the desired “softness” is almost reached stir in the sauce and let cook another minute or two.

Serve with your choice of sides.

I didn’t eat one.

Plans Change

Our plan for Sunday had been to stay home for a lazy day.  We thought we might venture out to the library, but that was about it.  Early morning we got a call from our son.  Our daughter in law has been sick and they were looking at a crazy upcoming week — including appointments with two medical specialists.  After some back and forth in conversation, it was agreed we would meet halfway and bring our grandson home with us.  We were, of course, excited to do so.    

We hadn’t been on the road more than 30 minutes when they called.  They were on their way to the ER.  We continued heading that way and told them we would just meet them there.  (They’re almost 6 hours away without Thanksgiving traffic.). We were within two hours — including mega holiday delays and accidents on I-95.  We actually got off and went back out to the coast to go up that way — when they called and said they were home.  We told them to stay put and we would just meet them at their house.  (Please send up prayers and positive thoughts for her this week.)

 Long story short, we opted to spend the night and head out early Monday morning.

 I’m hoping that knowing he is covered will allow her to rest, give her peace of mind that he is covered, and take a little stress off of them this week.    I always enjoy his visits and this visit will give me a chance to do so Christmas spoiling — so we started with putting up the tree and baking sugar cookies.

Frugal Thanksgiving Week

Sunday    

• We invited my sister and her boyfriend over for supper.  I kept it simple with a one pot meal.  Beef roast with the usual fixings.  I baked a cake to go with the meal.  (The entire meal came from supplies I had on hand.). I had enough to send leftovers home with them for the next day’s lunch and pack lunch for my husband.
• We turned in 3 printer cartridges to Staples for recycling and got a few dollars added to our account.
• I checked out 4 cookbooks from the library, as well as some reading material.
• We took out extra through blankets to leave in the living room for when the nights get colder.
• My electric bill for double the space was actually less than my husband’s bill this month.  Gloating rights!  Haha!

Monday

• I finished up most of our Christmas shopping.  I have to do stocking stuffers and closer to time the gifts for my husband’s work, but all the big stuff is finished.  I took advantage of free shipping on items going across country and shipped them directly.
• I went thrift store shopping for winter sweaters for myself.  Post here.
• We paid via direct debit for my daughter’s next semester.  This saves us the fees the school charges.
• I ordered one of her text books online for a savings of $130.

Tuesday 

• I hung laundry on the drying rack to dry.
• I cooked a whole chicken with plans for a casserole for the leftovers and used the pressure cooker to cook it.
• I made homemade “mounds” using ingredients I had on hand...and put several in the freezer for later.
• We wanted a “mocha” and opted to make our own. 

Wednesday 

• My husband treated my daughter to a fast food chicken biscuit.  They used a B1G1 coupon.  I made us coffee at home.  (I’m avoiding fast food so I just grabbed some leftovers from the fridge.)
• We picked up the last official Christmas gift at a “pre-Black Friday” sale.
• I cooked a pumpkin cheesecake using free ingredients.  Festive and no waste so a win win!
• I cooked our ham in the pressure cooker, reducing the amount of energy used.

Thursday

• We did the usual family stuff.  We carpooled in one car and we ate leftovers for supper.

Friday

• We stayed home...no shopping, no anything.  A quiet day at home.  I cooked homemade crackers — gluten free crackers are not inexpensive and I cannot find cheese crackers in the stores.  These were easy to make and a hit.
• I used the pressure cooker to cook spaghetti squash.  I cooked double for the meal so we would have enough for two days worth since we knew we would be painting on Saturday.

Saturday 

• We continued to work on our painting.  

Not bad on the frugal front all things considered.

Pumpkin Cheesecake (Recipe Link included)

A week or so ago, Mama brought me two small pumpkins that she was not going to use.  They had been given to her, but she does not eat pumpkin and she thought I might like to have them.  I put them both in the XL presssure cooker — still whole.  I cooked them and then saved the flesh.  I ended up with between 5 and 6 cups of pumpkin from them.  

 I love pumpkin cheesecake and since Thanksgiving was coming up it seemed a good way to use up some of the pumpkin.

 I made this recipe — RECIPE — with a few changes. 

 I wanted a deep dish pie with a gluten free crust, so I started by making 1 1/2 times the filling.  I used reduced fat cream cheese, turbinado sugar, fresh eggs, and my home cooked pumpkin.  I added pumpkin pie spice blend instead of worrying about separates.  For the crust, I used gluten free graham crackers that I pulverized in the food processor along.  (I added a bit of melted butter.). I did not take the crust all the way up the pie because I wasn’t sure how it would handle the baking time.  I ended up baking for 45 minutes, turning the oven off, and then letting sit in a hot oven for about 10 more minutes.

I ordered the “graham” crackers from Vitacost.

While this wasn’t the most beautiful cheesecake in the world, it was delicious.

We served it with whipped cream.

Despite the cost of the crust, which is higher for gluten free products...I consider this to be a pretty frugal make this time.

Cream cheese was on sale for the holidays.

The eggs and pumpkin were free.

The spices were on hand.

If I had gone crustless it would have all but been a free dessert.