Morrocan Roast Vegetable and Chickpea Salad

Make this delicious and nutritious dinner with leftover roast vegetables, or bake them specifically for it. An easy alternative to the Sunday roast.

Go light on the seasoning if you are feeding children. And since unsalted roast vegetables make wonderful finger foods for babies, this dish is perfect for feeding the whole family.

Moroccan Roast Vegetable And Chickpea Salad

2 tbsp olive oil

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 zucchini, thickly sliced

6 baby potatoes, thickly sliced

500g sweet potato, cut into cubes

3 onions, peeled and quartered

400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 tsp Moroccan seasoning mix

50g rocket

1-2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
2. Place potatoes, sweet potato, and onion in oven tray and coat with 1 tbsp olive oil. Sprinkle with 1 tsp Moroccan spice mix. Bake until cooked and slightly caramelised.
3. Heat remaining oil in a hot saucepan and fry thick sliced zucchini until just cooked. Season lightly.
4. Combine roast vegetables, zucchini, chikpeas, rocket, and sweet chilli sauce in a large bowl, mixing gently with a large spoon.
5. Delicious served warm.

Chickpea and Carrot Salad

Bored with steamed vegetables? Salads are made for summer. This is such a simple salad to make and it is a great example of how you can incorporate more legumes into your diet.

Take leftovers to work for lunch. Turn it into a meal by adding a small can of salmon and a dollop of cottage cheese.

Suitable for 12mths+

Chickpea and Carrot Salad

400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 onion, finely diced

1 red capsicum, finely diced

1 carrot, coarsely grated

Dressing

1/2 lemon, juice only

2 tbsp French dressing

Ground white pepper to taste

Panzanella

This Italian bread salad is best described as a type of freestyle bruschetta. It is a wonderful way to use up stale bread. And it also tastes even better the next day.

Best made with good quality organic sourdough, thickly sliced, torn apart, and then left overnight to get even more stale.



Panzanella

Cubes of stale bread

2-3 ripe tomatoes, sliced into eighths

Fresh basil bunch, leaves only, gently torn

1 red onion, finely diced

Dressing

4 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp iodised salt

1 garlic clove, crushed

1. 
   
   Place all salad ingredients in a large bowl
2. 
   
   Combine dressing ingredients in a jar and shake until sugar and salt dissolved
3. 
   
   Pour dressing over salad and stir gently until it coats all salad ingredients

Puy Lentil Salad

Can't think of ways to add lentils to your diet. Try this recipe. Puy lentils make a wonderful salad ingredient with their slightly peppery taste. They also keep their shape well when cooked. Delicious served with grilled salmon.

Puy Lentil Salad

1 cup puy lentils (or Australian blue lentils)

1 cup chicken stock

2 cups water

1 carrot, finely diced

1 bay leaf

1 tbsp olive oil

1 garlic clove, finely diced

1 onion, finely diced

10 button mushrooms, sliced

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1/2 lemon, juiced

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

Baby spinach and rocket leaves

1. 
   
   Cook puy lentils in a saucepan with the chicken stock, water, carrot, and bay leaf. This will take 25-30 min or until lentils are cooked. Drain, remove bay leaf, then set to the side.
2. 
   
   In a small jar, combine mustard, lemon juice and vinegar. Shake dressing until well mixed.
3. 
   
   In a large pot, fry onion, garlic and mushrooms in the olive oil. When cooked, remove from heat.
4. 
   
   Add in well drained lentils to onion mix.
5. 
   
   Stir through dressing, spinach and rocket leaves.
6. 
   
   Serve warm or cold.

Roast Sweet Potato and Baby Spinach Salad

This salad is delicious on its own. But it also makes an easy weekend dinner if you throw in some torn strips of roast chicken. Make sure you keep the chicken carcass to make a soup stock for the following week. Two meals from the one chicken will make your purchase of an organic free range bird great value!

Roast Sweet Potato and Baby Spinach Salad

900g sweet potato, peeled, cubed and roasted

600g pumpkin, peeled, cubed and roasted

120g baby spinach leaves

1 bunch coriander, chopped

100g, toasted pine nuts

Dressing

2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

1. Simply toss together roast sweet potato, pumpkin, spinach, and coriander with dressing.
2. Sprinkle with toasted pinenuts and serve.

Chickpea Tabouli

Not traditionally what you would call a kid food. But a perfect example of why you should never assume what a toddler will and will not eat.

It is surprising how many children love chickpeas and they are such a nutritious meat free alternative to the diet. To reduce choking risk, it is important to supervise meals and encourage children to sit whilst eating.

My daughter learned to love this through natural progression. First, we prepared it together, her stirring and picking out all the chickpeas to eat. The next time, we ate it together. I served myself, and she wanted to eat most of mine off my fork. Finally, on another day entirely, I served her a bowl and she ate the whole lot with her own spoon.

Chickpea Tabouli
1/2 red onion, finely diced
1 red capsicum, finely diced
2 tomates, finely diced
1 bunch of parsley (or other herbs), finely chopped
400g can chickpeas, drained
1 avocado, finely diced (optional)

Dressing
1/2 lemon, juiced
3tbsp French dressing