Hi everyone, sometimes it’s very hard getting back into a routine after a wonderful holiday. I knew I had to start the day going back to the gym. I did an hour of spinning and some weights. It felt good to work out again even though we were active while camping. We do activities like hiking, biking and kayaking, I feel I work my body harder at the gym though.
Today’s lunch was a Mediterranean Chickpea Salad it was so tasty and delicious. Chickpeas mixed with olives, sun dried tomatoes and red onions yum! You won’t miss the feta cheese that everyone seems to want to put in a Mediterranean salad. The dressing is so simple; a mixture of lemon, mint and mustard. I don’t add any oil to the salad dressing as there is oil in the sun dried tomatoes. I used two different kinds of olives in this salad, Manzanillia and Kalamata. I like the flavors of both olives in this salad, but if you were only going to use one kind I would choose the Kalamatas. The king of Greek table olives, beloved and popular Kalamatas are deep purple, with tight, snappy, shiny skin, and a pretty almond shape. They’re typically preserved in red wine vinegar, red wine, and/or olive oil for a distinctive rich, smoky, fruity flavor. This variety is a great candidate for tapenades as well as salads. Manzanillia olive is a familiar, friendly, oval-shaped olive from Spain it is brine-cured, with a crisp texture and a slightly smoky, almondy flavor. They’re often stuffed with pimientos, or cracked and dressed with olive oil and fresh garlic.
- 2 cups cooked chickpeas
- ½ cucumber diced
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- ¼ cup of sun dried tomatoes in oil chopped
- 8 kalamata olives
- 8 manzanilla olives
- ½ red onion chopped
- 3 tablespoon fresh mint chopped
- ¼ cup flat parsley chopped
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 3 tablespoon lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
- Fresh Pepper to taste
- In a large salad bowl place the first 9 ingredients.
- Toss all the ingredients together.
- In a small bowl mix the garlic, mustard and lemon juice together.
- Pour over salad and toss together.
- Season with fresh ground pepper.
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