For me, winter salads have to at least have something a little warm about them. In summer I love the crisp, fresh, chilly feeling of a fresh salad with chilled dressing and loads of colourful produce. In winter I need something a little more comforting and warming. Something to give me a big warm food hug and say hang in there girl, winter will be gone before you know it. This warm chickpeas, pumpkin and seed salad is all kinds of awesome for hanging in there. If you’re going to eat your winter feelings you might as well do it with this baby.

For those of you playing along at home, I plugged the recipe into My Fitness Pal and it’s around 300 calories per serve {the recipe makes 5 serves}. Let’s face it, as far as eating your feelings goes, this one is a pretty good option. Tasty, satisfying and pretty darn good for you. If you remove the seed and nut mix you could strip it down to almost 250 calories per serve. If such things interest you, of course. Otherwise, add more olive oil and whack some feta on this baby! Haha.

Anywaaaaay, that’s an interesting intro into a recipe blog, for me anyway. Perhaps I really have spent too long on Pinterest, there appear to be a lot of blogs out there designed for the sole purpose of giving low-calorie recipes. Which is great, usually that means they are high on the content of the real food. BUT we all know how I feel about refined sugar, processed vegetable oils and low-fat anything. So don’t expect too much of this business. But I do plan to do a bit of a calorie report, keep us all informed.

See, aren’t you feeling a little better about winter already? I know I am. Get this in your belly and make peace with the season warm weather lovers. Now that you’ve done the little visual tour {YUM!} I think it’s just about time we cooked this thing. Are you ready? Let’s do it…

YOU’LL NEED.

  • 1 x 400gm can Chickpeas
  • Pumpkin
  • Lettuce Mix
  • Snow Peas {I forgot to add mine}
  • 1 Large Red Onion
  • 1/2 cup Nut & Seed Mix
  • 1 x Red Chilli
  • Juice of 1 Lemon
  • 1 x tsp Garlic
  • 5 x tbsp Olive Oil
  • 1 x tsp Raw Sugar
  • Chives – Fresh

THEN DO THIS.

  1. Remove chickpeas from the tin, rinse and pat dry.
  2. Wash and chop pumpkin into small cubes.
  3. On separate flat baking trays roast the pumpkin, chickpeas and nut & seed mix. {If you’re short on trays, just toast the nut and seed mix on a pan on your stove}.
  4. While you’re waiting make the dressing:
    1. Cut and juice the lemon into a small bowl.
    2. Finely chop the chilli, red onion and a small handful of chives {see my pic above}.
    3. Soak the red onion in the juice of the lemon {you can also use any vinegar} for 15-20 of the wait time.
    4. Combine the chilli, the chopped chives {leave some for after}, brown sugar {I omitted the sugar because we don’t eat it, you could to}, half cup of olive oil, salt & pepper in a small bowl. I added mine to the bowl where the onion was soaking in the lemon.
  5. Remove each tray from the oven as they are browned; nut & seeds first {15 minutes}, then chickpeas {25-30} and finally pumpkin {30-40 depending on size of pieces}.
  6. Lay the salad mix on a serving platter.
  7. Add chickpeas, some of the nut & seed mix and pumpkin to the platter {while warm is yummiest}.
  8. Top with red onion and dressing mix.
  9. Top with the rest of the nut & seed mix and chives {flat parsley or Thai basil is good too}.
  10. Eat it on its own or with an accompanying protein, makes a perfect main meal or snack.

 

There you go, team, enjoy! And let me know if you try it out, I’d love to hear about other herb and dressing combinations!

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