Smoked Paprika Chickpeas and Garlic Dandelion Greens

I made this last night. Made it again tonight. I had to post about it. It's soooo good. It's not Forks Over Knives, but I think I know how it could be. It's a combination of recipes from Heidi Swanson's cookbook Super Natural Every Day, that I tweaked and adapted. Happy end of summer, almost fall. Bitter greens, nutty red quinoa and smoky and spicy roasted chickpeas. And maybe a nip of bourbon later on. Mmmm.

Red Quinoa

1 cup red quinoa
2 cups cold water

Combine ingredients in a rice cooker or stovetop pot, cover and let simmer about 20 minutes until cooked through and fluffy. Set aside.

Roasted Chickpeas

1 13.4 oz can of chickpeas, drained, rinsed and dried on a paper towel
2 tbs olive oil or any neutral oil (I use grapeseed)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp sweet paprika
1 1/2 tsp smoked, spicy paprika (if you don't have these, cayenne and chipotle work well, but use less, a scant 1/2 tsp. and more sweet paprika)

Preheat your oven to 425 (or in my case, toaster oven). Toss the ingredients together so all chickpeas are well coated. Then on a foil lined baking sheet, spread chickpeas in one layer and roast for ten minutes. If you want them tender, remove them now, if you prefer them a little more crispy you can roast them another 8 minutes. Then try not to eat them all before dinner is ready. Keep the oven on...

Garlic Dandelion Greens

1 bunch dandelion greens, washed, ends trimmed and then torn in half, roll up greens in one or two dish towels to dry
5-6 cloves of garlic, minced
zest of one lemon
1 scant tsp salt

In a glass baking dish, with the oven still on at 425, pour in about three generous tablespoons of olive oil or any neutral. Add the minced garlic and salt. Put uncovered into the oven until you begin to smell the garlic, careful not to let it burn. Give it a stir while it's sizzling and then add the dandelion greens. Still uncovered, return to the oven for about three minutes. Then toss greens around, covering them in the garlic oil so leaves begin to wilt. Return to the oven again for three minutes. Toss around some more, repeat one more time. Then add the lemon zest, toss greens and continue to roast a few more minutes until the leaves are wilted and the stems just tender.

In a wide bowl, spoon the red quinoa into the bottom. Then sprinkle with half the chickpeas and top with the sizzling hot greens and garlic oil. You can give a little squeeze of lemon juice as a final touch.

Serves 2

For a Forks Over Knives version (no oil), substitute water for oil in the chickpea recipe, roast, watching carefully that the  chickpeas don't burn. Then after they've come out of the oven, give them a squeeze of lemon and toss. And for the dandelion greens, add the garlic, salt and greens and three tablespoons water to a saute pan on medium heat, cover and steam till greens are tender, tossing from time to time, being careful not to let the garlic burn. Add the zest towards the end. Toss greens and serve.