Chick Peas with Chard and Pan Roasted Tomatoes

Last year, when I turned 36, I decided to learn how to bake. I baked something once a week for the year. I was asked to blog about it and share pictures, and I didn't. When I turned 37 I decided that I would resolve to eat at least one vegetarian meal a week for a year. Again, I was aked to blog about it but didn't.

Now, four months in, I've changed my mind. Why? Well I'm taking pictures of most of what I make anyways. Also, this really would be a great way to chronicle what I do and learn from the whole experience. I've decided that I'll post something once a week at a minimum. I'll always share what the vegetarian meal of the week was. In addition, I'll probably share my thoughts on different vegetarian cookbooks and what not that I read. I will likely post about non-vegetarian dishes too that we make that just rock, and things will just evolve from there.

On March 4th, our vegetarian meal for the week was Chick Peas with Chard and Pan Roasted Tomatoes. It looked like this:

The recipe came from the March 2011 issue of Real Simple. I substituted jasmine rice for brown rice. The recipe called for raisins, but we're not fans of raisins in our food so I left those out. On a scale of 1-5 (5 being highest) I'd give this a three. It was simple to make. I used our rice cooker for the rice, and everything else just needed to be roasted/wilted/warmed in a pan. I didn't make enough chard, and I think it would have tasted better it I did. The chard and the tomatoes really give the dish a lot of flavor. When I took a bit of just chickpeas and rice it was pretty bland. The dish could benefit from some additional spices or herbs, but I haven't thought that through yet. Overall, we agreed we would eat this dish again.