Happy Valentine's Day

My first sweet daughter made me this lovely peanut butter filled chocolate covered bites for Valentine's Day!  She knows the way to my heart!  Recipe soon.  (But don't hold your breath, it won't be that soon.) 

very very very easy

I think this blog should be known as the blog where recipes are SUPER easy.  I take recipes and try to hack them to make them easier and faster to make.  This blog is dedicated to people with very little extra time EVERY where!

Some of my hacks include:
1) using frozen veggies
2) cutting up onions ahead of time and freezing them
3) just being lazy

Today, I decided I wanted a chickpea scramble for lunch.  However, putting the chickpeas into a bowl and mashing them seemed like too much work.  I decided I needed to try to simplify chickpea scramble.  (What???! Chickpea scramble is VERY simple--it can't be done, they cried.)

It can and it was.  Here's how.

Open 2 or 3 cans of chickpeas.  Drain off 2/3 - 3/4s of the brine in the can, but keep 1/3-1/4.  Pour the chickpeas and brine into a regular pan.  Add a teaspoon or so of olive oil.  Add spices.  (I used 3 cans of chickpeas; I knew this was going to be good.)

Spices:
1-2 teaspoons of smoked paprika
2-3 teaspoons of chili powder  (maybe more)
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1-2 cloves of garlic
a few shakes of onion powder
1/2 - 1 teaspoon cumin
A few squeezes of Sriracha sauce (could be cayenne pepper)
1 teaspoon salt (remember I had 3 cans of unsalted chickpeas)

(Spices are approximate, I don't measure.  If you're nervous, start with the smaller amount, and then add more if you need it.  Tasting is part of cooking!)


Stir all the ingredients in the pan and smash the chickpeas while cooking.  I used a big stainless steel spoon to stir and smash.  Easier and less messy than smashing them in a bowl for chickpea scramble.  I cooked this for about 10-15 minutes.  I forgot to take a picture of what it looked like.  It wasn't that exciting; next time I'll get a picture!

I put it on a tortilla and smashed the chickpeas even more.  I added broccoli to my wrap.  YUM.  (I ate too much.)

Next time, I'll probably add some kale to the mixture. 

Sort of Socca

I call this sort of socca because we fry it instead of baking it.  

1 cup chickpea flour
1 cup water
3/4 teaspoon sea salt

spice with:
cumin
garlic or garlic powder
onion powder
chili powder or cayenne (optional)

Also needed olive oi.

I mix up the chickpea flour, water, salt, and desired spices and then let sit for a little bit of time (1/2 hour is good).

I make this into little pancakes in my cast iron pan with as little olive oil as I can manage.  The pan definitely needs to be coated well, and you need to keep adding it as you cook, but you don't need to deep fry.  (Although, I have used a lot of oil and it is good.)  I tend to make the pancakes somewhat small--about 1/4 cup of the batter at a time.

(Depending on how much oil you use, you might want to put these on paper towels to let cool so you can get rid of some of the oil.)


Yum!

Serve with sauteed onion and kale (or your choice of greens).

(This is comfort food, hence the "not healthy" label.)