Chickpea Stuffed Avocados

I'm a student, living in one of the most expensive cities in Canada. I'm currently unemployed, and I can't seem to get a job here. Needless to say, I am on a tight budget. I've started shopping at Walmart (a place I used to shun) since stuff actually is really, really cheap there! Like Avocados. These wonders were only 57 cents each. That's just insane! Never in my life have I seen avocados that cheap. Even at the local fruit and veg markets, where I buy most of my produce for good deals. (Like a bag of 2 dozen overripe bananas for $1!) While not everything was cheaper at Walmart, there were some good deals to be had, and I just had to pick up some 57 cent avocados.

They're all perfectly ripe now, and i've been trying to find new ways to eat them. (Since I got crazy and bought 5.) But I didn't want to eat guacamole for days on end. Usually I put them on sandwiches, or in salads, or just eat them mashed on toast. But my kitchen is pretty bare bones right now -all I have are avocados and canned goods, so I had to think up a new way where I could use up what ingredients I had with the avocados.

Then came to mind a recipe I saw a while back, on Poor Girl Eats Well for Tuna Stuffed Avocados. As soon as I remembered that, I knew what I was having for lunch today.
Since I don't eat tuna (or any fish) I decided to use the classic vegetarian substitute- chickpeas! Just a quick mash, a few spices thrown in, and I had lunch.


Chickpea Stuffed Avocados
serves one

1/2 can chickpeas
1 small green onion, sliced finely
1/2 tbsp mayo type dressing, or olive oil, or even hummus
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp mrs. dash

1 avocado

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

In a small bowl, roughly mash chickpeas while leaving some whole. Add the miracle whip or olive oil, and spices. Mix to combine.
Cut an avocado in half, remove pit. If it's a small pit, scoop out some avocado (which you can then add to the chickpea salad),  to form a small bowl with each half. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar before serving. (Optional, but I threw some on there after the photo was taken, and it gave it a nice kick.)

Chickpea Lettuce Wraps

This salad is often referred to as a mock tuna salad, or mock chicken salad. Since i've never eaten tuna salad or  chicken salad (I always hated tuna and didn't find chicken salad all that appetizing...) I can't really say if that's true. I can say, that this salad is delicious. It's easy to make, and pretty healthy too. It's one of my favorite staples. This salad can be enjoyed on it's own, served in a pita, or on some large romaine lettuce leaves like here. It's so easy, delicious, filling and healthy.  I just love it.

Chickpea Salad
(makes enough for 4 large lettuce wraps)


1 small can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed well!
2 tbsp miracle whip (or mayo, or veganease if you wanna be vegan)
2 tsp dijion mustard
1 tsp white vinegar
3 tsp dried dill
1/4 cucumber, diced
1-2 celery stalks, diced
2 sprigs of green onion, chopped.
1 clove of garlic
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp mrs.dash
1 tsp paprika, red chili flakes (optional)

Combine the mayo, mustard, and vinegar in a bowl. Wash the chickpeas andd pat to dry. You can chop them up a bit, or leave them whole. I like to give them a course chop so you get more variety with every bite. Chop the rest of ingredients and combine them all together.  Add spices and seasonings.
Serve on a big leaf of lettuce or in a pita. Or just in a bowl.

Other add-ins:
red onion instead of green
diced pickles
grated carrot
finely chopped radish

Falafel Salad

So I really suck at this food blog thing. Lately i've either been too busy to cook, to lazy to cook something special, or too hungry to take a picture of what I make.

That isn't the case today though! I made a really easy and tasty falafel salad.



Since were running low on groceries, this is another one of those dishes that is made in hunger and desperation, using the only edible (and vegetarian) things on hand. I find these situations almost always to yield one of two results: either I come up with something tasty and delicious that I might not have thought of otherwise, or I microwave a frozen dinner. Luckily the first scenario is what went down today.


I knew I had some frozen falafel in my freezer, so I decided to do something with those. And since I didn't have any pitas, I decided to throw them in a salad.

I won't bother with a recipe, since all this salad took was some chopped lettuce, cucumber, green onions, and carrot ribbons tossed in a lemon vinegarete with some grated parmesan and falafel crumbled on top. Now doesn't that sound easy? I suggest giving this a try. Putting the falafel atop the greens was a great way to turn a side salad into a more substantial meal.