Chickpea Salad (Sandwiches)

The past few weeks I have been seeing a few "Vegan Tuna salad chickpea" recipes - I don't understand the need to use "tuna" in the title of such a yummy dish, so I am just going with "Chickpea Salad". Name drama aside - you guys! This stuff is amazing! I read through about 5 different recipes and after seeing most of them calling for ranch (WHY!?!?) I decided I'd just made up my own. I am so glad I did. I think that this is going to be a very frequent dish in our house now! Everyone in my family is still raving about them although, we literally just finished eating them.

The good news with this recipe is it isn't limited to just sandwiches. You can eat the salad alone, stick it in a whole grain wrap, a white tortilla or even a lettuce wrap if you are trying to reduce the amount of carbs you are eating. I didn't use much mayonaise - so it doesn't have much fat (reduced fat mayo is also an option) and the chickpea's are so filling and protein rich! I hope you will give it a shot, I am so glad I tried it! 

Ingredients:

• 1 - 15.5 oz. can of chickpeas or garbonzo beans (drained and rinsed)
• 1/4 cup vegan mayonaise (I used Trader Joe's)
• 3/4 cup chopped celery
• 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
• 3/4 cup chopped dill pickles (about 3 good sized pickles, chopped - add more to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried dill (can do fresh - chopped - I would double with fresh)
• 1/4 teaspoon celery seed 
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika 
• 3 tablespoons kidney beans (optional - I added for texture and color, it was great!)
• Bread/wrap 
• Sandwich toppings - I used spring mix/baby spinach and shredded carrots, other options would be sliced cucumber, sliced tomato or dill pickles 

What you do:

• In a medium bowl - using a fork or potato masher - mash chickpeas leaving some chunks for texture
• Add mayonaise, mustard, garlic powder, onion salt, dill, celery seed and paprika
• Fold in celery, pickles and kidney beans
• Spoon onto bread, wrap or eat alone

XOXOXO - Enjoy!!