Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Food for the Hot Days: Chickpea Couscous Bowl with Mango

Some days you don't really want to cook or eat.


When the AC is only in your bedroom, this is just not fun. My sister, she loves this kind of weather. Me? There's a reason I dream of living in Maine.




But my husband worked a long, hot day and he's hungry, so the kitchen is open.

Pork chops, rice, and applesauce for him, but I needed a different variation.

I also need to get back to healthier eating. This has been a long, stressful school year that has taken a toll and it shows when I look in the mirror. Tonight's "dinner" began with iced coffee and Pepperidge Farm Maui cookies when I got home at 6. Just for curiosity, I checked the temp in Maui tonight -

No thanks, I'll stick with Portland.


But, I did come up with something healthier which if it pans out, I'll share next week when I will only have one day of school left.

Tonight I'm sharing my daughter's dinner: Chilled chickpea, couscous and mango salad bowl.

First she cooked the chickpeas and couscous earlier in the day and let them chill. (Note: she uses dried chickpeas so she set them to soak in water very early this morning.)

Tonight she added roasted and chilled sweet potatoes, very slightly toasted kale, and carrots.

She asked me to mention that this mango was overripe so it mushed into kind of a dressing.


And then blended it all together. And chilled it briefly in the freezer.

I'll confess, I have never eaten a mango. I had relatives who had severe allergies so I never tried one, but my daughter loves them.

It looked delicious and perfect for a hot night!



4 comments:

  1. That does look so cool and delicious!

    Not the picture of your temperatures! That doesn't look good AT ALL. Give me mid-70's and low humidity, and I'm happy!

    But back to the salad/fruit/bowl... whatever it is, I can imagine the blend of flavors was delicious. I have a mango in the fridge and some canned chick peas. Maybe I'll try them roasted and then chilled for this salad/fruit/bowl.

    Thanks for the great idea for a hot day, Cate! And enjoy your last week of school. It sounds like you need the break!

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  2. What a unique combination! I think that would be a great meal on a hot day. And boy, it was hotter there than here in Georgia!

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  3. It sure looks pretty! I've had mango in a fruity drink mixed with other stuff and didn't like it at all -- but I'm not sure if it was the mango or one of the other strange ingredients. Still, that scared me off buying one (they are expensive up here) in case I didn't like it.

    Hate those temps too. We only had a three day heatwave and it looks good for the rest of the week. Phew! Even Maine is too hot for me.

    Praying that the rest of your school year goes smoothly. So many stressors at the end of the school year!

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  4. We have been planting and running children night and day this past week, and I haven't been over here like I should be... When planting time settles down, I might make it back each day like I should!!!

    I love mangoes. The first one I had was when #1 Son was at the University of Pennsylvania.... and one of the food carts outside the quadrangle had fruit salads and I got one during Penn Relays.... OH MY STARS... the mango was like the best thing I ever tasted!!!! I buy them regularly and it's a trick to get good ones... you win, you lose.... and the level of ripeness makes a difference. And the pit is HIDDEN inside, so you carve and slice and whack and eventually you have mango... but those Vietnamese owners sliced and diced those mangoes like they were doing a Hollywood food show.... Amazing!!!!

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