Recipe – Greek Garbanzo Bean Salad

Here is something REALLY good!  I love trying new things… well, depending on what the new thing is.  But I found this recipie (or is it recipe) on AllRecipes website (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Greek-Garbanzo-Bean-Salad/Detail.aspx) and you know what – it’s great!

There are several indian dishes that make use of garbanzo beans, but they all are spicy and have a fair amount of oil – but this salad is really, really good.  It is very refreshing and light.

The tastes that mix together are a delight.

And you know the best part, any guy could make this!

• 1/2 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
• 1/2 cucumbers, halved lengthwise and sliced
• 3 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/8 red onion, chopped
• 1/2 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 (15 ounce) can black olives, drained and chopped
• 1/2 ounce crumbled feta cheese
• 2 tablespoons Italian-style salad dressing
• 1/8 lemon, juiced
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

Combine the beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, garlic, olives, cheese, salad dressing, lemon juice, garlic salt and pepper. Toss together and refrigerate 2 hours before serving. Serve chilled.

The recipe here is shown for two servings, but if you visit the AllRecipes website you can change this to be more than 2 servings.

Now all that said, the recipe is slightly fattening – about 15g of fat and is high in carbs – about 33g but there is a lot of fibre 7.5g worth!

I really enjoy the taste of red onions, and use that in many salads that make.  I’m not a fan of black olives, but in this particular recipe it is very tasy and the cerry tomatoes and cucumbers give the salad a Mediterranean feel.

The garlic also is tasty… but you probably want to bring your toothbrush to work and clean yourself up because of the rich tastes in the recipe (onion, garlic… yummy!).

Another thing – as a first time, maybe make the salad as it should be made – then next time add or remove items.  Green/red/yellow/orange peppers will give the salad a nice mix of color.  You could also add mushrooms and even carrots to it (straw carrots - cut lengthwise but are very thinly sliced) or get creative with your favourite veggies.

To combat the high fat you should probably use a light Italian style dressing, and you can even buy light Feta cheese as well (though I hate the taste of the light products, for whatever reason they leave a nasty aftertaste).

Rather than use light products, I tend to use regular products but watch how much I eat – that way I still enjoy the full taste which satisfies me.

Enjoy!

Mohamed

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