Mediterranean beets cabbage and chickpea salad

It might not be salad season right now, but we are craving salads, so today we’re gonna make this healthy Mediterranean beets cabbage and chickpea salad. Too self-centered? Well…It is the solid Mediterranean recipe for winter and we’re gonna feel fresh, energized and healthy – as if we’re on vitamins or something. And we’re not gonna cry while we’re eating this, because it tastes good, okay?

Now you know how to feel and think about our recipes. First step to World domination, check.

Mediterranean Chickpea Salad Ingredients

OMG, we're pretty sure when you read the ingredient list you’ll be like: “No thanks” if you’re polite. Or, if you’re like us, you’ll just go “Bah”, turn around and go back to talking with your sheep friends. Get it? Sheep also say baaaahhhh…Yes, we did call myself sheep right now. And that’s okay, because they’re cute and probably warm. Let’s pretend this conversation never happened. We haven’t written anything in a while and we're a little bit rusty. Anyway, here’s what’s in this Mediterranean chickpea salad with beets and cabbage:

• chickpeas
• cabbage
• beets (so far no surprises!)
• arugula
• olives
• scallions
• feta cheese
• avocado
• garlic
• olive oil
• and some other things.

Dirty Beets

You know how usually beets taste like dirt? Sorry, we forgot to be sophisticated. They taste “earthy”.

They taste like something you chew once and spit out the moment it hits your taste buds because you realize you haven’t washed your vegetables and E.coli will ruin your life for a few days. In reality, that’s just how beets taste, no E.coli or salmonella. That’s their taste. The unwashed vegetable flavor.

However, we realized this winter there’s pretty much nothing else to eat that is kinda in season. Cabbage and beets. That’s it! It’s a tough life, but we’ll survive, we promise.

Tomatoes? Our sister bought one about two months ago and it hasn’t aged a bit in the fridge. J. Lo is aging faster than that tomato.

Berries? Forget about them during winter. They cost an arm and a liver and aren’t bursting with antioxidants during this season. In fact, a few weeks ago we saw perfectly white strawberries in the shop. Apparently they forgot to inject the red dye. Who knew strawberries can’t fully develop when you grow them on wet cotton. (Our dad tried to explain to us how that works once, but we spaced out, so don’t ask us – and now you’re like we don’t care, it’s okay, let’s move on).

Basically, the options are limited and our immune system seems to not be doing well these last few months. We need vitamins!

And so we went for the beets. You know what? Once you get past that dirt taste, they’re actually sweet and satisfying. They’re kinda becoming our substitution for tomatoes right now. Who am we kidding, nothing is as good as tomatoes and you can’t convince us otherwise. But if you choose a good, firm beet you you’ll love the sweetness.

How it comes together

Well, we're surprised, because with those unexpected ingredients this salad is actually now what we're making pretty much 3-4 times every week. We love it! It’s satisfying, it’s SUPER healthy and we feel so alive and good when we eat it. Like, it makes us so happy! It’s pretty simple to make too, the process involves:

• some peeling and chopping
• opening a can of chickpeas, rinsing and draining
• mashing a garlic clove with a garlic press

And that’s it. Put it all in a bowl, pour some olive oil, lemon juice and some sugar on it, then remove the sugar, because it will taste bad in the salad and because it will get you addicted. And you’re done.

We hope you enjoy this Mediterranean winter salad with chickpeas, beets and cabbage if you’re brave enough to make something fresh during this cold weather. We don’t know what’s wrong with us we keep craving smoothies and salads which is not normal, we know. And we're not even pretending. Okay, we'll go and leave you alone with the recipe.