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Chickpeas, Butternut Squash and Spinach

Posted on Wednesday, May 5, 2010 7:22 PM | By: HK

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Last night I was inspired by a recipe I came across in Better Homes and Gardens for garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas). I knew I had a can in the pantry, and had long wondered what I could do with it. It called for stir-frying some carrots with the beans and serving over couscous.

As mentioned in my earlier post today, I got a bonanza of different veggies at Ralphs. Since I knew most of them had to be cooked sooner rather than later, and since I knew the carrots we already had would hold longer than the bargain veggies, I decided to try one of them instead. I picked the butternut squash, since it was sweet and full of vitamin A, just like carrots.

Ingredients:

  • 1 can garbanzo beans
  • butternut squash, diced
  • onion, diced
  • baby spinach
  • quinoa
  • cumin
I started out by stir-frying the onion and butternut squash (which already came pre-sliced/diced in the bag) in grapeseed oil in a wok. Sprinkled with about a teaspoon of cumin and some soy sauce for flavor. Covered the wok and let it cook for several minutes longer. Quinoa was cooking in a pot to the side, according to package directions.

When the butternut squash was almost done (softened but still somewhat firm), I added spinach and cooked till it shrank. Turned off the stove and threw in the can of garbanzo beans to warm them up a bit. Served the whole mix over a bed of quinoa. Voila:

 

Total cost?
1 can garbanzo beans = 99 cents
1 pack squash = 99 cents
baby spinach = $1
1 cup quinoa = $1.25
1/2 onion = ~25cents

Grand total = $4.48 for a nice, filling and vegetarian meal!

Comments (3)

HK said on May 5, 2010 at 7:26 PM

I could definitely have used more seasoning. I only put in the cumin and about 1 fast-food sized packet of soy sauce, because I didn't know how flavorful it would already be with the sweet squash. Didn't want to risk overdoing it-- you can always add more to your plate once it's dished out, right? Next time, I'm adding another packet of soy sauce, that should provide just the right amount of seasoning :-)
Anonymous said on May 5, 2010 at 7:37 PM

sounds YUMMY. I made asian chicken salad tonight. And Quinoa has protien, so what a rounded out meal you made! mmm

Kendra
Ben DeVries said on May 5, 2010 at 9:09 PM

Hey Helly, that's awesome! We love a lot of those ingredients ourselves - Ben

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