Light, healthy and insanely delicious, this vegan dish is packed with vegetables and tons of flavor!
So yeah, summer started. As much as I love making healthy meals like this and I wish I could make them all the time, I just need to keep it real. I barely have time to cook anything in the summer.
My husband grills a ton of stuff for me on Sundays which definitely helps. But with 3 boys that eat A LOT (and I seriously mean A LOT) all that food goes really fast. During the week, I have so many baseball games and I don't always have dinner prepared. Take last night for instance, my kids came home at 8:30 and there weren't enough leftovers for dinner so two of them ate oatmeal for dinner. And guess what? They were still hungry.
And then the guilt hits me. Why didn't I make something earlier? Or prepare something in my slow cooker? Why can't I be more organized?
So, I shook it off and spiraled some squash and decided to make something healthy. I was on a kick where I was spiralizing everything and then I just kind of stopped.
I wanted to make something clean, healthy with all fresh ingredients. And the more vegetables the better.
Then I realized, I've been on a roasted chickpea kick, so why not add some of those?
I made this for my whole family and guess what? Only me and my husband ate it.
Shrug... more for me.
Darn kids.
They just might be eating oatmeal a lot this summer.
And for all of you non-vegans out there, I used nutritional yeast in place of parmesan cheese (or asiago) but you can easily substitute your beloved cheese of you'd like. Nutritional yeast is indeed a type of yeast that is packed with B-vitamins, folic acid, selenium, zinc, and protein. I like it for its cheesy taste and for the fact that its vegan. Try it! It's a fantastic plant-based alternative to cheese.
Ingredients
- 2 large yellow squash
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 15 ounce can chickpeas rinsed and drained
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 cup grape tomatoes halved
- Pesto:
- ⅓ cup walnuts
- ¾ cup kale
- ¾ cup arugula
- ½ cup fresh basil
- 1 clove garlic
- ½ cup olive oil
- ½ lemon juiced
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- After the chickpeas are rinsed, drained and thoroughly patted dry, place in a medium bowl.
- Remove any excess "skins" by picking through with your hands.
- Add the salt and garlic and stir well.
- Lay in an even layer on a baking sheet and bake in preheated oven for 5 minutes.
- Shake the pan to mix up chickpeas.
- Add tomatoes, stir and place back in the oven for 10-12 minutes.
- Place roasted chickpeas/tomatoes on parchment paper and allow them to dry.
- Place squash into the spiralizer or use a peeler and create long strips.
- Heat oil into a large saucepan over medium heat.
- Add squash and cook for 3-4 minutes until tender.
- Place the ingredients for pesto in a food processor or blender and pulse until smooth.
- Make sure to scrape down the sides of the blender to incorporate all of the mixture.
- Place pesto and roasted chickpeas onto of zucchini noodles and serve immediately.
I hope you enjoy this!
Jennifer
This has seriously become one of my new favorite dishes! The flavor is just incredible! Loved everything about it!