The Tig says thank you for all of your comments! He spent the afternoon smoking chewing grass.
He’s so cool..
I found myself stuck at the bakery again this afternoon. Seems to be a recurring situation! I wanted to stay and work, but I wasn’t planning on staying so I’m caught unprepared again. I was pretty hungry after biking to my meeting, so I went over to Cville Coffee for a smoothie! I love their smoothies – they’re made with berries, banana, tofu and plain yogurt.
I asked if I could have a tiny thing of their granola on the side – and a spoon! Bingo!!
SIAB x2 today! I gobbled this bad boy down – it was just what I wanted!
Dinner back at home caught us unprepared as well. I knew it had to involve kale, which was wilting, and garbanzo beans, which I made in the crockpot.
What we came up with took 10 minutes and was a killer dinner!
The chickpeas were soaked overnight, water changed and then crockpotted on LOW for 8 hours – PERFECTION!!!
We called this dinner:
Chickpea Parmesan or Chickpea Pizza Scramble
Ingredients
- 2 cups chickpeas
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1/4 cup chopped sundried tomatoes
- 2 leftover roasted eggplant rings (or any other veggie you like)
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- Salt + pepper to taste
- 1 tsp Garlic gold nuggets
- 1/2 cup shredded jack cheese
Method
- Add chickpeas to a hot skillet.
- Stir in everything.
- Heat through.
- Plate.
- Top with cheese.
- Done!
It was DELICIOUS!!
Of course kale chips were the answer> to the kale question!
Here’s a treat for you: Francesca’s Tiramisú Recipe!!
Francesca’s Tiramisú
Francesca is from Sicily and this is her mom’s famous authentic recipe!
Prep: 20 Minutes
Chill: 2 hours minimumIngredients
- Espresso coffee – We use a stovetop espresso maker but any coffee can work as long as it’s strong and not of the flavored variety.
- Mascarpone Cheese – We usually use 500 grams. Mascarpone often comes in 250 gram tubs.
- Egg Yolks – The use of egg yolks is dictated by the amount of Mascarpone used. 1 egg yolk is used for every 100 grams of Mascarpone. We use the whites for other cooking.
- Sugar – One tablespoon or regular spoonful per 100 grams of Mascarpone. Italian spoons are smaller (surprise!) than American spoons so this is a light (NOT Heaping) spoonful. Also, the cookies are very sweet so you don’t need too much sugar.
- Coffee Liqueur – Yep, its true. Any good recipe uses a little alcohol. We use half of a shot of Kahula or other coffee liqueur. Just a little flavoring!
- Savoiardi Cookies – Americans call these “Lady Fingers”. However, the Italian variety are not soft. They can be found at an Italian Grocery Store (We got them at Foods of All Nations in Charlottesville). We buy two packages at a time, just to make sure there are enough.
- Pan – We use a roughly 9” x 13” pan but any will be good as long as you can get a spatula or other serving utensil into it.
Method
- Use a good size bowl and an electric mixer or stand mixer to mix the egg yolks and sugar together. As the eggs and sugar are blending add the mascarpone and liquor. Mix for about one minute.
- In a separate pan, pour in the coffee (watch out for it being too hot) and if you want to make it a little less potent add a little milk.
- Take your cookies one at a time and dip them on both sides in the coffee and layer them into your pan. This is no more than one to two seconds on each side, otherwise they become soggy and fall apart. Layer the entire bottom with cookies next to each other leaving no gaps on the inside or edges of the pan.
- Spread a thin layer of the mascarpone mix on top of the cookies. Then, set another layer of cookies on top of the mascarpone. And finally, spread the remaining mascarpone mix on top of the second layer of cookies. Keep it thin, beware of crushing the coffee soaked cookies, and spread the mix out over the entire pan.
- To finish we sift some cocoa powder on top. Sam likes to throw some coffee beans into the sifter with the powder, thereby coating them in cocoa as well. He takes the beans and decorate the top while I start cleaning up (after him).
- Congratulations you just finished making my mom’s Tiramisú. Put it in the fridge for at least two hours. Enjoy it for desert or breakfast (I, as most Italians, love my sweets in the morning).
Tiramisú will provide a nice pick-me-up!
I’m off to have a sliver of the piece that is left!
It’s a stormy evening and if Matt will tell me I can end my shift at the bakery now, I’m hoping to dig back into my book! I started Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers, which I picked up used online after you guys recommended it a few months ago when I was looking for Westerns. I read the prologue last night and I am hooked!
That smoothie sounds good & it’s a really pretty color too as a bonus!
Chickpea parm sounds AWESOME! And it looks os tasty, too. Yummy! Great call. 🙂
I have Redeeming Love on my bookshelf just waiting for me to read it!! I hope you like it. 🙂
My favorite book of all time–take it off your shelf and read immediately:) Just make sure you have some extra time because I got sucked in for an entire weekend of reading once I started the book!
It happened to me too. One of her best books =) The Scarlet Thread was also awesome.
I love chickpeas in the slow cooker! So easy and versatile. I like what you did with them.
That is one of my favorite books EVER! You are going to love it!!!
Whoa! That chickpea dish looks & sounds AMAZING! And how easy! I will try this soon… I love this blog so much.
Add cheese and tomato sauce to anything and it makes dinner.
That cake is a tease! I can probably buy it quicker than make it! …but not nearly as good 🙂
I am for sure making that chickpea dish! We live off beans, lentils, and legumes/peas (literally, we’re vegetarians, haha), so you can imagine how frequently we use our crockpot 🙂
I can’t wait to try this chickpea dish! 🙂 My husband loves chickpeas!
That dinner looks amazing! Glad the tigre came back to play.
Love the chickpea recipe! Looks great. 🙂
I love all the photos of Matt waiting patiently for you:)
I just tried the smoothie with granola today, AMAZING. I’m totally hooked now.
LOVE that book! And don’t forget about GG tonight…it’s the finale!
This is so ironic! When you first said you loved Westerns, I wanted to tell you that you have to read that book, but for the life of me, I could not remember the name of it. I guess I’m not the only one who enjoyed it so much. It’s a really great book and I hope you enjoy it! I’ve loaned your copy of The Help out to so many people and am taking it to work to loan it out again. 🙂
Did I send you my copy!? I don’t even remember 🙂
chickpeas were soaked overnight, water changed and then crockpotted on LOW for 8 hours ––thanks for sharing your method.
and the chickpea parm. wow Kath, it looks wonderful!!!
and of course, the tiramisu too. But tiramisu always looks wonderful to me 🙂
This is a super easy, fail safe method of cooking beans. I add a bit of baking soda to the beans in the crockpot, this helps them to cook faster and helps with digestion for those that are a bit … sensitive … to beans! 🙂
thanks, Sabina. I need all the bean cooking tips, ahem, that I can get…yes, Im sensitive to beans 🙂
Woohoo for the tiramisu recipe!!
Chickpeas need to come back into my life besides in the form of hummus! I shall be trying your recipe soon 🙂
Tig is too cute, I wish I had one of him on my steps 🙂
I LOVE chickpeas. Thanks for the recipe idea 🙂
Looove that cat! If I weren’t allergic, I’d get one just like him 🙂
I love seeing chickpeas used for things other than hummus – and you didn’t use canned, even better!
Kath! These photos are EXTRA gorgeous today. I love the 2nd photo of dinner…and the lilac smoothie is beautiful (it matches LLE :)).
🙂
You just made my day! My husband’s birthday is next week and when I asked him what type of cake he wanted me to make him he replied Tiramisu. I have been searching the Internet but hadn’t found a recipe I wanted to go with – but this one is a winner for sure! It will put my baking to the test too 🙂 Thanks!!
Awesome! This was the best I’ve had!
Pizza Chickpea’s sounds amazing 🙂
Tonight must have been a crockpot bean night cause that’s what we did too. Nothing better than dinner waiting for you when you get home! Your eats looks perfect. Enjoy your evening Kath!
haha I love that matt is so used to the dinner food pics by now, he patiently waits until he can dig in!
Your dinner looks super delish! I’ve been eating lot’s of kale and chick peas lately. Kale chips are the best! I love the pizza style chick peas too!
Thanks for the tiramisu recipe I can’t wait to make it!
I can’t wait to make the tiramisu! My favorite ice cream place has tiramisu flavored ice cream and it is the best!
The chickpeas look delicious. I’m adding that to my recipes to try folder now! Beans are a great source of budget-friendly protein, and I’m always looking for new ways to flavor them.
Those chickpeas look amazing. Considering that I just bought TWELVE cans this weekend, this recipe will help to use some of those : )
That chickpea dish looks delicious! I love cooking with tomato paste….it thicken things up so nicely and gives such a great tomato flavor! Just like pizza for sure!
Do you have a list of recommended books? You should, if not 🙂
I don’t.. I probably should make a list, but I’m so scatterbrained when it comes to reading. My favorite book ever was Ahab’s Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund. The best book I’ve read recently was Resistance by Anita Shreeve.
I’m wishing I could grab that slab of tiramisu right form the screen. It looks so good!! And really great tolearn more about what goes into it.
Oh Kath, Redeeming Love is such a great book! I’m sure you will enjoy it:) I also need to make this tiramisu stat!
Is Matt checking out his manicure? haha
Ha, yes! He just got them done that afternoon 😉
Ha! The same question sprung to mind for me…Matt’s expressions never fail to crack me up!
Love your “organic cup”– so cute 🙂
Jealous of your active and successful day. I’ve had the flu the last three days and activity has been out of the question.
Such a complex recipe! The tiramisu look so good. And authentic! 🙂
Redemning Love is an excellcent book!!!!
Redeeming Love is AMAAAAAAZING! One of my favorite books of all time. You will LOVE it!
Best. Book. Ever. Love me some Francine Rivers!
I can’t wait to read your review of Redeeming Love! I’ve been wanting to read it for a long time now, so I think I’ll start it in June, depending on your thoughts…though your readers’ reviews seem to be pretty good!
Sometimes it’s fun to be caught unprepared for a meal, and make do with the situation 🙂
So many things to comment on: 1. Love the sound of that easy chickpea recipe. I will be making it for sure. 2. I told the mom I nanny for about your kale chips and gave her the link awhile ago, and she’s been making them and her two year old LOVES them. It’s so cute to hear a little voice say, “kale chip pease!” 🙂 3. The pic of Matt is heelar. 4. I love that book so, so much. and 5. Your blog always inspires me to eat nourishing foods and enjoy a beautiful meal. Makes me happy. I really like what you said last night-so true how much what we eat affecting how we feel. Ok, I think I’m done with the lists. Thanks Kath. 🙂
Thank YOU!
Redeeming Love is the best book I have ever read! Such a beautiful picture of the steadfast and unchanging love that Christ has for us!
Is that what it’s about?
I was just looking into reading it and saw this – “Its central theme is to portray the redeeming love of God towards sinners”.
Hm. I thought it was about prostitution!
It probably is just a story from the bible told in a different setting? I’m not sure, I decided to bump Born to Run to the top of my book queue instead 🙂
Yes, it is a story from the Bible told in a different setting. It doesn’t push Christianity in the book, it just shows unconditional love from a man even toward a prostitute.
Yes, it’s the story of Hosea that she changed and set it in the old west.
OK cool. I like the Bible as a historical book 🙂
The tiramisu looks amazing…thanks for posting the recipe!
I have such a craving for kale chips now!
That dessert looks fabulous!!!
I made Kale chips with dinner tonight too!! I introduced them to my picky boyfriend and he ate them! So delish!
Hi Kath, I think that’s my favorite book! Anything by Francine Rivers is good!
I would NEVER have thought of using chickpeas like that but it sounds seriously amazing!
Awesome! I have almost all of those ingredients for the chickpeas in my cabinet. Must try! 🙂
You need to take pictures of my food. I swear, these are amazing pictures.
Yesssss! Please tell Francesca thank you sooooo much for sharing her tiramisu recipe. I cannot wait to make it!
Love having chickpeas with a tomato sauce. I did them in an Indian-spiced tomato sauce over some spaghetti squash a few weeks ago. Ah-mazing. 🙂
yum. chickpeas please!
Pizza has been our go-to busy meal. Pizza baked potatoes, pizza tortillas, pizza millet, so delicious and can be made so healthy! I’ll have to try the crockpot sometime for cooking beans. I typically just do it on the crockpot, but hate that you have to kind of watch it and keep testing during cooking.
MMmmmMMMMMM … Homemade chickpeas ! 🙂 Just had some in my dinner tonight as well. Loving the frozen portions.
Thanks so much for posting the tiramisu recipe! It looks delicious as do your chickpeas.
I think I remeber reeding that book. It was a great read!
How is it that I’ve made dishes like that chickpea scramble countless times and they always end up looking like something that’s been regurgitated, and yet you make it gorgeous? Sigh 😛
omgshhhhh since this is authentic I need to save it and make it asap! thanks kath
redeeming love is one of my favorites!!!
Thanks to you, I always drink my smoothies with a spoon now- so much for satisfying!
I LOVE Redeeming Love!! It’s one of my faves 🙂
Everything looks amazing!
While those chickpeas sound amazing, I’m super psyched that you posted the tiramisu recipe!!
Thanks for posting the recipe! Now all I need is an excuse to make that…
That chickpea parmesan looks and sounds so tasty! Great idea! I’ve just discovered your blog and so far, woah, you’ve got some killer recipes and ideas that I’m dying to try out! SIAB? Who knew! Dough boy oatmeal? My mouth is already watering! Oh, and I am a total organizational queen and loved your section “home neat home” and seeing how you organized it! Neato! Also, are there any posts regarding your job as a dietician or are you more involved in the bakery now? I’m looking into getting a MPH and being health educator so just curious 🙂
🙂
I’m a free spirit dietitian – meaning I don’t work in clinical or food service. My career is in blogging, writing and entrepreneurship!
The cat is so precious!! And I love the chickpea recipe,sounds tasty:)
GASP! so excited to have the tiramisu recipe!!! thank you!
Your smoothie looks fantastic! I can’t imagine a smoothie without granola. You have me hooked. 😀
I LOVED Redeeming Love – so good!!!! I highly recommend her other series, the Mark of the Lion if you enjoy that (I liked it even better!)
ps – thanks for a great chickpea recipe. I struggle sometimes finding ways to make it so that it tastes flavorful…
Kath! So glad to hear you tried the crock pot chick peas!! See what I mean, even when you have no clue what dinner might look like, if you have your beans (or peas!) ready, you can come up with something quick and easy! Dinner looks yummy, save me the leftovers, I’m on my way!!
: )
As a homebrewer I have to say I Love Matts HOP shirt, where did he get it.
The Brewing Network!
Awesome! Cheers to both of you and I want to come eat at your place.
PUSH! Thanks for stopping by!
-Matt
aka BottledAnger at the BN
That dinner looks delicious! I never thought to add chickpeas to the crockpot! What a great idea! Definitely going to try this! 🙂
I was wondering how com you soak your chickpeas overnight and are they from a can or just raw because i can only find the canned one.
They were dry, which is why you soak them. It reduces the cooking time
I love that chickpea parmesan idea! What a perfect fast weeknight dinner. 😀
Tiramisu is my favorite. Oh boy, does this look good.
Redeeming Love is my favorite book– by far! Hope you enjoy it! And I’ve only made kale chips in the oven @ 200 degrees for about 4 hours, so your method looks great! So much quicker!
Those chickpeas look to die for! I never realized you could cook them in the crock pot…must try!
You will LOVE Redeeming Love!! I have now read it twice and recommend it to everyone I know!
Just wondering, when you are ready to cook the chickpeas in the crockpot, how much water do you cook them in?
Thank you Francesca for the Tiramisu recipe. It looks amazing!
BTW, love that cat!!
I covered them completely – because you drain them at the end. Just make sure they’re well covered
Thanks for the tiramisu recipe! Such a treat to get a family recipe like that. Can’t wait to try and hopefully will impress my Italian co-worker from Naples!
Redeeming Love is on my list of books to read. My friends have highly recommended it!
Redeeming Love is AMAZING! be sure to let us know what you think of it!!
Just made the tiramisu! Boy, it was soo good and super easy to make! Love to hear more desert recipe ideas from you and your friends 🙂
Hi Kath!
Do you think I could cook black beans using this same method?
Thanks!
You definitely could, but I dont’ think it would be as pizza-y