Healthy Recipe: Mashed Chickpea Bruschetta

This recipe is great for a quick snack or a light lunch. It has healthy fats in the olive oil and black olives, a good source of fiber and protein from the chickpeas, and a good serving of vegetables with the tomatoes and leafy greens. This recipe is also very easy to make, taking less than 15 minutes to prepare all together. Chickpeas are great because they have a mild flavor that makes them a perfect base food to work with.

Ingredients:

• 1 can low sodium chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• ½ tsp minced garlic
• ⅓ cup of canned, diced tomatoes with basil, oregano, and garlic (drained)
• 2 scallions, chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 8 small black olives
• 2 tbsp lemon squeezed
• Salt and pepper (to taste)
• 1 cup spinach or arugula
• 1 whole grain baguette (or bread of your choice)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 365F. Cut 5, 3-inch slices of baguette and put on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake bread for 4 minutes, until bread starts to crust.
2. Put the chickpeas, garlic, canned tomatoes, scallions, olive oil, lemon juice, and black olives into a food processor and blend until ingredients are well mixed. Then mix in salt and pepper to taste.
3. Put a handful of spinach or arugula onto each slice of baguette, then spoon the chickpea mixture on top of each slice, spreading evenly. Place the slices back onto the tray and bake for another 5 minutes. Then serve warm and enjoy.

Nutrition Information: Recipe makes around 5 servings, nutrition information is based on ⅕ of the recipe.

Calories:

A couple recipe notes:

• You can use whatever type of bread you like. I personally like to use french bread because it is more affordable than whole grain baguettes, but the nutritional value also isn’t as great. This is a trade off that I am willing to make, but know that bread choice will affect the nutritional information.
• You can use a whole tomato and basil instead of the canned variety. However, canned tomatoes are faster to prepare and less expensive.
• You can use a regular can of chickpeas, I just prefer to buy low sodium ingredients and then salt the food to taste.
• You can use spinach or arugula, both taste good and add flavor to the recipe. I just had spinach in the house already so I went with that. Arugula will add more flavor, but also not everyone likes arugula so this is really just personal preference.
• You can make this recipe ahead of time and store in an airtight container for up to a week.