I posted this picture of my dinner on instagram yesterday, and lots of people emailed or commented for the recipes. This dinner (salad and chickpeas) was always a common one growing up, and I’ve brought the tradition with me to my new family. Lucky me, Joe loves it, and is perfectly content eating just salad and chickpeas for dinner. They pair together so nicely, and it’s an incredibly satisfying meal.

I usually make my caesar salad, but recently, I’ve been using fresh kale and chard from the garden, and making a quick dressing. Just the juice from half of a lemon, extra virgin olive oil, 2 cloves minced garlic, and s&p to taste. I like my salad a bit on the lemony side, so I mix the dressing up in a small bowl and keep adjusting amounts of lemon and oil until it’s tasty (sorry, I don’t usually measure it). If I have cheese and tomatoes on hand, I top the greens with them. One thing to note with kale – you really want to toss the salad with the dressing well…the more you coat the kale, the more tender it becomes!

Then, for the chickpeas, I lightly fry them in extra virgin olive oil and miscellaneous seasonings. Usually, it’s sliced garlic and salt and pepper. Sometimes I’ll add herbs (like rosemary or thyme). Enjoy separately or on top of the salad!

Do you have a simple default dinner? I’d love some new ideas, especially since this little girl is about to join us any day and simple-to-prepare meals will be wonderful!