Monday, January 6, 2014

Lunch In A Box: Chickpea Pesto Salad

Today it's back to reality. A regular work schedule, a half-marathon in 6 weeks, and a weigh in at work as part of a holiday weight loss challenge. I failed miserably at finding a way to be independently over the holidays, so I guess it's time to face the music. I think we did a decent job of balancing our holiday indulgences with a few healthy meals and workouts, but it's time to buckle down and get serious. Not only do I have my race, but Hank is running the Napa marathon the first weekend in March. My goal is some serious clean eating between now and our California trip.

On Saturday I was running late for a hair appointment and forgot to eat lunch, so I grabbed a quick snack at the Snap Kitchen next door to where I get my hair done. I have not eaten there before, but have a co-worker who regularly follows their meal plans. They have fantastic, healthy options...but $3 for a small chickpea snack?! No thank you. Convenient, yes. But I can do so much better than that.

I snapped a picture of the ingredients on the package and attempted to recreate this at home. I spent $4.35 at the grocery store, but also used items I already had at home. I made a few adjustments and  was able to get 4 lunch-sized portions from what I made. A much better deal for the price.

The Holland House: Chickpea Pesto Salad
Chickpea Pesto Salad 
(makes 4 lunch-sized servings)

Pesto:
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 T olive oil
1/2 bunch cilantro
1/2 tsp sea salt
3 grinds of black pepper
2 T slivered almonds
handful of spinach
white and light green parts of 2 green onions

2 cans chickpeas (rinsed and drained)
1 red bell pepper (diced)
dark green parts of 2 green onions
1/4 red onion

1. Put all ingredients for pesto in a blender or Vitamix. Blend until mostly smooth. (This should be a fairly liquid pesto.) 
2. Put remaining salad ingredients in a large bowl, then toss with the pesto.
3. Server over a bed of greens, or eat as a side snack.

The Holland House: Chickpea Pesto Salad

For lunch I served the Chickpea Pesto Salad over spinach, and added hummus with carrots (for a later in the day snack) and some low fat cottage cheese. Lots of fiber, a decent amount of protein,and a super healthy/clean lunch. I'm rather proud of myself! I really like the punch of lemon in the pesto (I ended up using 1 1/2 lemons), and the cilantro gives a good flavor too. I added spinach to the pesto as an after thought, just to beef it up some. Can never go wrong with extra spinach.

The Holland House: Chickpea Pesto Salad


How are you starting this "back to reality" week right?





1 comment:

  1. Yum! Pinned this to make sometime. I saw the picture on Instagram and secretly hoped you'd share the goods :)

    ReplyDelete

 
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