Roasted Summertime Chickpea Salad

Roasted Summertime Chickpea Salad.

July 19, 2012

This is what comes next.

What comes after 28 ounces of cheese… err, give or take – specifically give, considering Tuesday’s cheesecake - when you’ve just had… enough.

Enough of everything.

I’ve had enough of being an adult. No, really… more than enough. I’m through with being a grown up.

I mean, I don’t even act like an adult half the time. More like three-quarters of the time. I don’t make my freaking bed. I don’t clean up after myself. In front of me on the living room floor, the main gathering space in our home, I currently spy four pairs of socks that I ripped off after workouts this week along with shoes and hats and empty water bottles. You’d think I could walk these things up the stairs. Or better yet, into the laundry room. But no. I can’t.

It’s a constant internal battle every evening to wash my face. Isn’t washing your face at night, when you’re exhausted, just the WORST? It is. Tell me it is. I push the limit when it comes to showering. I refuse to unload the dishwasher until the dirty dishes are piled so high that I can’t physically move in my kitchen. I have no idea how I can ever teach another small human being how to behave properly.

What’s really thrown me for a grown-up loop is having to spend three days getting unexpected, very expensive work done on my car, while I have like a million other important things to do such as go to Whole Foods because I’m a brat and make grilled cheese’s with peaches inside. After day three, the nice service man, who clearly thinks I’m insane and is well aware that I have no business being near any sort of car maintenance – I’m sure the pink shoes and Midnight Cowboy shadow on my lids had nothing to do with giving it away… – gave me a loaner car because I was having a full on major fah-reak out over getting things done before I leave for vacation. That was nice of him.

And the first thing I did was run to Lowe’s (another place I have no business being), park my car, get frustrated because I couldn’t find what I needed and was too proud to ask for assistance, then came back outside and walked around for 10 minutes searching for “my car,” which was really not “my car.” But I had already forgot that I was driving a different car.

Then I went to the grocery store and did the same thing. Five full minutes spent losing my marbles, swearing up and down that “somebody STOLE my car, OMG,” texting my husband who is hundreds of miles away and doing very important things that don’t include buying toffee-studded chocolate bars just so I could have them to eat while watching Crazy, Stupid Love for the 21st time.

And THEN I had to come home to a house with no power, and I left all my belongings in my real car, which I was not driving, and I was locked out of my house because I am from the internet generation and we are unaware of what KEYS are for. Can’t some magical electronic device just beam me inside?

So… I’m done.

This is the sort of meal that I eat when I feel like I have to act like an almost-thirty year old, but guess what? I’m not doing that today. I did it last week. And it was pretty delicious – as delicious as beans and roasted vegetables can be, covered in additional cheese because seriously? Do you really think I can do something like this cheese-less? No. Impossible. But put grilled corn and beans in almost anything and I’ll eat it. Probably.

But today I’m just going to eat chocolate. Because I said so.

Roasted Summertime Chickpea Salad

serves 4

1 pint grape tomatoes, halved

1 poblano pepper, chopped

1/2 red onion, chopped

4 ears of fresh corn, corn cut from the cob

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 (15-ounce) cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

4 ounces gorgonzola cheese, crumbled

1 avocado, chopped

3 tablespoons freshly chopped basil

3 tablespoons freshly chopped cilantro

2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley

1 tablespoon freshly chopped mint

2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

2 teaspoons honey

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil and add tomatoes, peppers, corn, onions and garlic. Drizzle with 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 15 minutes, toss, then roast for 10 minutes more. Remove from oven and let cool slightly.

While veggies are cooling, add chickpeas to a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk together remaining olive oil, vinegar and honey. Set aside.

Add veggies to the chickpeas in the bowl. Add in fresh herbs, then crumble on gorgonzola. Drizzle with dressing, tossing to coat, then top with freshly chopped avocado. Season more if desired. Serve immediately!