Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Tasty Chickpea, Asparagus and Orzo

Dinner last night was heaven.



I made Heidi Swanson's Ten Minute Tasty Asparagus and Brown Rice Recipe.

Heidi is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. I'm seriously going to Barnes and Nobles to pick up a copy of Super Natural Cooking.

I followed her recipe exactly except I used whole wheat orzo instead of brown rice. (I didn't have any cooked brown rice, so I chose orzo to make it a quick meal.) I also used a little less oil then called for. Oh and I threw in mushrooms that were about to go bad; and I added pine nuts, rather than almonds. The result? Outstanding.

The chickpeas getting nice and crusty in olive oil and sea salt



With the asparagus, mushrooms and orzo.




With the tahini dressing



This recipe is perfect for a weeknight, as it came together really quickly. It is supposed to make 4-6 servings. Ha. If your family is any thing like mine, it will only make four. It is however, SUPER filling. I was almost too full after I ate my bowl...but it was so good I licked the bowl clean.

FYI, my dad was wary at first. He doesn't like asparagus, (or broccoli/cauliflower/peas) so I carefully served his portion without any. He LOVED it. Mission accomplished :) It makes me feel so good to make these delicious dishes that are super healthy and tasty for my family.

5 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Ahh, what a delicious, springtime orzo dish!! Yum!! Yes, you MUST purchase Heidi's cookbook - she's amazing, for sure. So glad that your family liked the dish as well!

Jill said...

yuuuuuuum, it sounds better with orzo! I love that stuff, it has a fun shape. I hadn't heard of Heidi's natural cooking, but seeing as it sounds awesome I need to look into it! Thanks for the recipe, I have extra tahini to get through.

Monica said...

Jill- you must try the recipe, it won't disappoint! let me know if you try it!

healthy ashley said...

Yeah.. I think I'm going to try that! I've never had orzo, though...

Enjoy the afternoon cake!

Monica said...

Ashley- orzo is pasta but it looks like rice. i really like it. this was my first time cooking with it but i'm going to start using it more often. it's awesome because it cooks in just 10 minutes.