Pasta Veggie Salad With Chickpeas

As summer is winding down (but still hanging on), and everyone is back to school and work, I like to make this dish because it is easy, fast, packs well as a lunch, and does double duty as a dinner.  Plus, it is a one bowl meal!

The protein in this meal comes from the chickpeas and the fiber from all the veggies making this a well-rounded dish. You can use any kind of pasta you’d like.  There are so many out there today that you can choose what works best for you based on personal taste and/or allergies.  If you don’t want to use pasta in this dish, no issue, just double the amount of chickpeas.

I use basil to give this dish a nice, fresh touch, but if you don’t like basil or don’t have any fresh, you can always add another herb like mint or even parsley. If you dont have fresh, you can add a pinch of dried herbs to the dressing.  Feel free to swap out the lemon for lime as well.

Oil can be something that people are eliminating from their diet for various reasons, so feel free to leave it out and just go with a squeeze of the lemon or lime or even a combo of the two all by themselves.  The vinegar by itself would also work, but I would definitely go with a “sweeter” vinegar like white balsamic. If you don’t have a problem with tartness, then really any vinegar of your choosing will work.

Red peppers lend this dish a bit of sweetness, however, any bell peppers will work. If you are using tomatoes larger than grape or cherry, I recommend seeding them (removing the seeds and “juicy” parts) only because it will water down the dressing, but you can absolutely leave it in, especially if you are not using the oil for added moisture and taste.

Finally, the onion: I chose red, but you can absolutely swap out the red for green or even white; however, white onions are generally stronger tasting then red or green, so you might want to put fewer of them in.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup basil, packed
• 1  1/2 cups chickpeas (1 can, drained, rinsed and dried)
• juice of 2 lemons
• 3 cups cooked pasta (any shape)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3/4 cup sliced red onion
• 1  1/2 cups chopped tomatoes, seeded (or use grape or cherry halved, or quartered)
• 2 Tablespoons white balsamic vinegar (or any iight vinegar)
• 1 cup sliced red bell peppers (or any color)
• 2 cups broccoli florets
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine pasta, onion, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli and chickpeas.
2. Thinly slice or chop the basil and add.  Toss all ingredients.
3. In a small jar with a lid or bowl with a whisk, combine the lemon juice, vinegar, olive oil and salt.  Shake or whisk to combine, then pour over the salad.  Toss well to combine.
4. Refrigerate before serving.

Enjoy!