The Musical Fruit

Beans may be called the musical fruit but I think that this salad will garner more applause and yum sounds than what you might have expected this post's title meant. 

First of all this salad has all the ingredients of a Greek salad with the added benefits of protein rich chick peas. Second of all, and more importantly, it tastes great. And third, if you need a third reason to try it, it takes only mere minutes to make. 

I like to stock my cupboards with the ingredients needed to make this for quick weeknight suppers because I almost always have a cucumber and a few tomatoes kicking around in my fridge. And now that spring is here, I expect that I'll be outside more than usual and I will need to rely on my cupboard ingredients more than usual! 

Greek Chick Pea Salad - serves 4 

2 cans of chick peas, drained and rinsed 

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 jar of roasted red peppers, cut into strips

1/4 cup of kalamata olives, sliced (I prefer the kind that comes sliced in a jar)

1/2 pint of grape tomatoes, halved 

1/2 cucumber, chopped into bite sized pieces 

1/2 red onion, finely chopped 

1/2 cup feta, crumbled  

2 tablespoons lemon juice 

2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup basil, for garnish

1. Gently toss all ingredients except basil in a large bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

2. Serve and garnish with basil.

When I saw a version of this salad in a cookbook I couldn't resist making something similar. Two steps and no cooking for dinner makes me a very happy girl!