Roasted Taco Chickpeas & Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread

I'm super excited about day one of Leng's salad challenge!! We usually eat salad a few nights a week at least but not usually as the main course. And we usually buy the box salad because we don't have a salad spinner and I haven't wanted to go through the hassle of washing lettuce and fearing it will go bad before we eat it. But tonight I realized (yes it took me a while) how ridiculous that is and how insanely delicious fresh lettuce is!! (Not to mention that now we'll be avoiding that extra packaging and production required for the boxed lettuce.) I loooove romaine lettuce. So crunchy and delicious. The box salads always taste kind of chemically or weird to me. But fresh lettuce you can easily eat on its own without dressing. I could just snack on a bowl of it even. Maybe that's because I've been depriving myself of fresh lettuce for so long though haha.

Tonight for dinner we had a salad with: romaine lettuce, roma tomatoes, red bell pepper, corn, green onions, taco seasoned roasted chickpeas, and jalapeno cheddar cornbread! Mmmm. For the cornbread, I wanted one that used oil not butter so I found a vegan recipe. Then I added some cheddar cheese and jalapeno to it. I love cornbread, and shockingly my boyfriend said he liked the texture of this one (he really doesn't like cornbread because he usually thinks it's too dry). I didn't add enough cheese to make it distinctly cheesy nor enough jalapeno to have a strong flavour (should've left in some seeds), but I will make some version of this cornbread again. It's super easy and I'm already planning on adding corn and red pepper next time.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Spicy Indian Chickpeas/Chana Masala
Artichoke Rotini Pasta
French Barley Salad
Caramelized Onion, Sage and Cheddar Muffins

Roasted Taco Chickpeas
Adapted from Veggie Terrain who adapted from Happy Herbivore

The amount of taco seasoning in this recipe is enough for 2 batches of roasted chickpeas, so you'll have some leftover for next time!

1 1/2 cups chickpeas (about a can)
1 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce (Ashley note: Next time I think I'll just use water.)
2 tbsp taco seasoning

Taco Seasoning
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp dried oregano

Preheat oven to 400F.

In a small bowl, mix all taco seasoning ingredients together.

Mix together chickpeas, soy sauce, and taco seasoning. (Put extra taco seasoning in a sealed container.) Spread on a cookie sheet/jelly roll pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread
Adapted from Isa Moskowitz

1 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 tbsp canola oil
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 cup soymilk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 jalapeno pepper, diced (I removed the seeds)
3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese, separated

Preheat oven to 350, line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper or spray the bottom lightly with non-stick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the soymilk and the vinegar and set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients (cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt). Add the jalapeno pepper and half of the cheese, and mix together. Add the oil and maple syrup to the soymilk mixture. Whisk with a wire whisk or a fork until it is foamy and bubbly, about 2 minutes. (Ashley note: I didn't see that I was supposed to whisk these all together so didn't do it. I'll try it next time though to see if it makes a difference!)

Pour the wet ingredient into the dry and mix together using a large wooden spoon or a firm spatula. Pour batter into the prepared baking pan and bake 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.