Avocado Pesto Chickpea Salad Sandwiches

Today is a very special day.

Not only are we making avocado pesto chickpea salad sandwiches, a few of us bloggers are (more importantly) celebrating our good friend Erin who is about to become a first time mama. I couldn't be more excited to be apart of this surprise for Erin.

Erin and I have gotten to know each other pretty well over the years, and we've had the chance to hang out a few times together, too. Most recently, we spent a couple days together at Expo West (the largest natural foods trade show in the country) in California. The trip was awesome but exhausting. Each night, we both ended up back at the hotel, in bed, dinner in hand, in our pajamas. And then we pretty much rolled over and immediately passed out. Erin was such a trooper at 30+ weeks pregnant!

While we were together, Erin seemed so calm and excited about their soon to be baby boy. She is going to be a complete natural as a mom. You can just tell. And I know this little babe will grow up loving and appreciating food, as he watches his mom grow their food and prepare it in the kitchen. He'll see how simple ingredients can be combined together without hassle to create something wonderful. Just like Erin has showed the world with her new cookbook. And soon enough, I'm sure he'll be standing right next to his mama, helping stir and chop, and asking for tastes.

Staying true to Erin's style of cooking, Melissa, Alex, Sonja and I thought it would be fun to throw her a shower and ask everyone to contribute a simple vegetarian meal. We wanted to create a catalog of recipes that Erin and her husband could quickly whip up as their lives become a little more full.

I've seen chickpea salad sandwiches floating around for awhile now but somehow never got around to trying them out. I really have no idea why it took me so long because they're incredibly simple to make and totally delicious.

I was inspired by the avocado lime sauce I made the other day for the corn fritters, thinking that would be been a good base to hold the chickpeas together. However, I was also craving pesto. But traditional pesto probably couldn't hold the chickpeas together and you'd need to make a gigantic batch to even try.

And that's when this avocado pesto was born.

It's like a summery guacamole, filled with basil and lemon and thick enough to act as the perfect binder for the mashed chickpeas.

Toppings are optional but I always like to add a little crunch in my sandwich. 

This takes about 15 minutes to throw together and will keep you full for hours on end.

Print Recipe!

inspired by: Corn Fritter Cakes with Avocado Lime Spinach Sauce and Smashed Chickpea & Avocado Salad Sandwich

Avocado Pesto Chickpea Salad Sandwiches

gluten-free, vegan // yields appx. 4 sandwiches

• 1 large clove garlic, peeled
• 1/4 cup roasted shelled pistachios
• 2 medium avocados
• 1 1/2 cups lightly packed fresh basil
• 3-5 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon salt + pepper
• 1 3/4 cups cooked chickpeas, rinsed + drained

Place the garlic clove in your large food processor and turn on until minced. Scrape the sides. Add the pistachios and pulse until evenly chopped (refer photo 3). Add in the avocado, basil, and 3 tablespoons lemon juice. Pulse a few times until the basil is roughly chopped. Scrape the sides. Add salt + pepper. Stream in the olive oil slowly while pulsing the avocado mixture until it reaches a thick consistency but not fully pureed. Scrapes the sides and bottom as needed. You want to leave it with some texture. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, roughly mash the chickpeas. You want them about half-mashed. Add in as much of the pesto mixture as desired (I used about 3/4 of it) and mix together. Add remaining lemon juice (I added an extra 1-2 tablespoons) and salt + pepper to taste. 

Build your sandwich with any other toppings you choose.

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Notes:

• This can be stored for 1 day but will slightly brown. For best results, place in an airtight container. Spread out evenly then drizzle lemon juice over top. Cover the surface with plastic wrap and secure the lid. Refrigerate. Stir before eating.

The pesto avocado also works well as a summer guacamole with or without the chickpeas!

To see the full lineup of recipes created for Erin be sure and check out the posts below. Trust me, they're not to be missed!

The Fauxmartha | A Pasta Dish for Busy Hands
A Couple Cooks | Breakfast Parfait with Roasted Strawberries
Eat This Poem | Penne with Cherry Tomatoes and Arugula
Cookie and Kate | Brussels Sprouts Pizza
FoodieCrush | Beet, Avocado and Fried Goat Cheese Salad
The Bojon Gourmet | Tempeh BLTs with Avocado + Chipotle Mayonnaise
Girl Versus Dough | Spiced Lentils with Poached Eggs
Dolly and Oatmeal | Chickpea Bean Bowl with Toasted Bread Crumbs and Dill Tahini
Food Loves Writing | Erin’s Veggie Burgers
With Food + Love | Creamy Polenta with Crispy Beets
London Bakes | Ricotta Gnocchi with Wild Garlic and Pistachio Pesto
Flourishing Foodie | Glazed Tofu with Ramen
This Homemade Life | Chickpea Greek Salad
My Name is Yeh | Creamed Spinach
Brooklyn Supper | One-Pot Pasta Primavera

Wishing all the best to Erin and her growing family.

xo

Ashley 

Corn Fritter Cakes with Avocado Lime Spinach Sauce

You know the days when you feel like there's not enough in your fridge to pull together a real dinner? Or those days when you find yourself with a few lingering ingredients in your crisper drawer that have seen better days? That happens around here all.of.the.time.

I try and treat it as an adventure, that sometimes ends up just barely edible. But sometimes it's a total success!

This post is sponsored by Earthbound Farm.

Instead of creating a hodge-podge meal with those leftover ingredients, today I'm trying to pull them together and actually make a recipe. Something you want to make more than once and that can be pulled together with pantry staples and common fridge + freezer items most people have on hand.

Avocados are hit + miss for me. Don't get me wrong, I love avocados, but sometimes I buy them out of habit with no real plan for what to actually make with them. Maybe you do the same?

I also typically have a pepper or two lingering in the fridge. The same goes for organic baby spinach, because it's just so dang convenient and easy to add to everything. Those giant Earthbound Farm spinach tubs from Costco are my go-to. One trick I've learned when dealing with large quantities of spinach is to freeze any I know I won’t use before it expires in the fridge. I pack it into a large freezer bag, squeeze the air out, and then freeze the bag. It's perfect to add straight into your blender for smoothies or even soup! It also helps avoid food waste and makes your dollar stretch a little further at the store.

Frozen corn is one of those staples that everyone has in their freezer. It's just always there. It can be called on in a pinch for a dinner side dish (with butter + salt, mmmm), used in savory oven bakes, corn chowder, and obviously for taco night.

Limes are also a staple around here (hello, moscow mules!), as well as basic flours, garlic, milk, and eggs. I would say that the only non-staple (for our kitchen) ingredients in the recipe list you'll find below are jalapenos and chives.

But if I can cook up a delicious meal and only have to buy jalapenos + chives I'm a happy person.

This month, Earthbound Farm is celebrating Earth Day for the entire month! They’re focusing on how to get creative with pantry meals and dishing out plenty of earth-friendly tips for you to think about all year long. I loved reading Amelia’s simple tip for helping conserve water when washing fruits and vegetables and how to reuse the water when you're done.

And speaking of being a little kinder to our planet, in 2015 alone, the organic farming efforts made by Earthbound Farm will keep 16.1 million pounds of toxic chemicals + fertilizers from entering our environment. I found this fact to be mind-blowing. It not only helps the environment but our health as well!

While you will need to bust out your food processor for this meal I promise it's worth it. The recipe is actually pretty simple and ends up looking fancy, thanks to that bright green sauce.

You'll first create a simple avocado lime spinach sauce that is sort of like guacamole meets pesto. You won't find basil here, but it is still loaded with a fresh, bright flavor. It will keep in your fridge for a day or two and would be fantastic as a topping to so many other things (ie: tacos, sandwiches, enchiladas, etc.). The sauce will take about 5 minutes to prepare.

After quickly rinsing your food processor you'll finely chop a pepper, garlic, jalapeno and more spinach that will be mixed into your fritters to give them a ton of flavor and those pretty flecks of color.

You'll then combine a few basic pancake-type ingredients together and fold in the pepper mixture, corn, and chives. After a few minutes on each side in a skillet you'll be ready to chow down.

I like to make sure the skillet (or pan) is well coated with oil to help create a crispy, golden edge on the fritters.

They're sort of a fritter meets savory pancake meets cornbread.

Can you deal?

Print Recipe! 
adapted from: Savory Cornbread Pancakes
gluten-free | yields 12, 3-4 inch cakes

Corn Fritter Cakes with Avocado Lime Spinach Sauce

for the cakes:

• 1 small bell pepper, roughly chopped
• 1 jalapeno, seeded, de-veined and chopped
• 1 cup lightly packed Earthbound Farm Organic Baby Spinach
• 1 med. clove garlic, peeled
• 2 large eggs
• 5 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk (or soy, 2%, etc.)
• 3 tablespoons refined avocado oil (or other baking oil)
• 3/4 cup corn flour
• 1/4 cup gluten-free oat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 1/4 cups thawed frozen Earthbound Farm Frozen Organic Sweet Corn
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped chives

for the sauce:

• 1 med clove garlic, peeled
• 1 1/2 medium avocados
• 2 cups lightly packed Earthbound Farm Organic Baby Spinach
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 2 tablespoons chopped chives
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 - 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

To prepare the sauce: Place garlic in your food processor and turn on to mince. Scrape sides and add the avocado, spinach, lime juice, chives and salt. Pulse until spinach and avocado are well chopped and incorporated together. Scrape sides as needed. Stream in the olive oil while continuing to pulse until desired consistency has been reached. Add more oil for a thinner texture. Taste and pulse in more salt/lime if desired. Transfer to a bowl.

To prepare the fritters: Rinse your food processor. Place garlic in your processor and turn on to mince. Add chopped pepper, jalapeno and baby spinach. Pulse about 15 times until small bits remain (refer photo 3). Do not puree. Set aside. (This should amount to a heaping 1/2 cup. There will be a small amount of liquid. If the mixture is overly wet you should lightly strain it.)

Preheat a skillet or large pan over medium heat with a good coating of oil.

In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, and oil. Add the flours, salt, and cumin on top. Stir until just combined. Fold in the corn, chives, and pepper mixture until combined.

Once skillet is fully preheated, scoop a scant 1/4 cup of the mixture onto the pan. Spread slightly with the bottom of your measuring cup (appx. 3 inches wide and 1/4-inch thick). Repeat, leaving a few inches between each fritter. Don't overcrowd. Cook for 3-4 minutes until golden brown, then flip and cook for another 2-3 minutes until the fritter is set and golden brown. Repeat with remaining batter until all are cooked, adding oil to the pan in between batches. Serve as they finish or keep warm in a 200° F preheated oven on a baking sheet.

Serve with fresh lime and avocado lime spinach sauce.

Store sauce in an airtight container for 1-2 days.

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Notes:

• A mini food processor should work for both the sauce and pepper chopping. You may need to work in batches. Instead of streaming in the oil (for the sauce), simply add 1 tablespoon at a time and pulse in for the sauce.
• Do not sub cornmeal for the corn flour. However, cornmeal can be finely ground in a high-powered blender to create corn flour. Sift out any larger pieces.
• To quickly thaw your corn, place in a bowl with cool water until tender. Drain water.

Not bad for a pantry staple/leftovers meal, huh?

To get a $1 off Earthbound Farm product coupon, simply take their Every Cart Counts quiz and find out what type of shopper you are.

Ashley

Today’s post is sponsored by Earthbound Farm. Product opinions are always my own. If I didn’t love it, you wouldn’t hear about it.Thank you for supporting the occasional sponsored post that helps fund all the deliciousness + behind the scenes action you see here.