Pesto Mushroom & Chick Pea Spinach Salad
Pesto Mushroom & Chick Pea Spinach Salad is an incredibly delicious, easy, quick, and simply awesome recipe! Very few ingredients but loaded with flavor… now, that’s my kinda meal! Especially with a baby, blog, full time job, massive move prep, and my current “quest” to shed some lbs. Now that is not so simple, so shedding time, eating well, and assisting said “quest” makes this Pesto Mushroom & Chick Pea Spinach Salad my current favorite dish of the day. I think I average eating this delight about 3 times/week for sure.
Okay, I know I’ve said this before but it’s not like I’m on a permanent diet. I don’t think I could cope with that. However, I am officially trying to shed .6kgs/month (1.3 lbs). Sound like an odd number? Haha. I’ve sorted it out that from the time I began my weight chart (a simple but effective chart I made for myself) until when I leave Beijing for good in June that .6 kgs/month will get me to my goal weight. Bless you Jillian Michael’s for your assistance in this “quest.” Thus far, I’m doing fairly well. I’ve hit a plateau though and felt myself getting demotivated. Therefore, I…sigh…ugh…sigh again… am now going to have to cut back on some calories, mainly carbs, and outside of Greyson, that is my biggest love. Am I calling this a diet? Absolutely not! Not that there is anything wrong with dieting! I just need to get things moving again (em-hem, the scale!) and need to start seeing numbers that make me smile and for a moment, a meer wrinkle in time, make me forget about the carb I would’ve been enjoying at dinner. This brings me to my point, I know right? You didn’t think I’d get there! Why did I go on this tangent?! I’ll tell you, SALAD. I love it. It completes me. Well no, carbs do, but it’s not a far second or third. I believe salads should be delicious and specifically not boring. If I’m gonna shed some lbs I want to do it whilst catering to my tastebuds and not going bland, bland, bland! Pesto Mushroom & Chick Pea Spinach Salad will definitely be a recipe to add to your collection if you’re going down this rabbit hole with me, or even if you just love salad and want an awesome new and easy recipe. Let me know your thoughts! Enjoy!
- Large handful of spinach leaves
- 1/2 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
- 5-7 shiitake mushrooms (you could substitute with other mushrooms) - sliced thin
- 3 Tbl pesto
- Parmesan cheese to taste for topping (optional)
- 2 tsp lemon juice (optional)
- tsp oregano (optional)
- Sea salt & cracked pepper to taste
- Olive oil for pan
- Place your spinach in the bottom of a bowl and set aside
- Heat oil in pan and add mushrooms, salt & pepper, oregano, 1 Tbl of pesto. Mix and let cook for 2 minutes
- Mix again and add add chickpeas, any more s & p you'd like, lemon juice, and 1 more Tbl of pesto. Cook for 2 more minutes
- Add last Tbl of pesto, toss, and cook for one more minute then remove from heat
- Place pan ingredients on top of spinach and garnish with parmesan cheese & pepper
- Toss well and enjoy!
- If your ingredient balance is a bit different and you want more dressing, consider adding a sprinkling of olive oil, more lemon juice, or more pesto.
- I've also tossed in some hummus just for the heck & deliciousness of it!
- Serve with a crisp white wine if you'd like (I prefer a nice sauvignon blanc with this)
