While at the store the other day I spotted a crate of bright local tomatoes, and I thought cold summer salad!  The fact that I am kitchen-less has nothing to do with it.  Honestly.  It has been a while since I’ve had a good avocado as well so I decided to marry the two in a union of epic proportions.  Chickpeas were thrown in for protein and a balsamic vinegar sauce went on top.  The combination of crunchy, creamy, smooth, tang was good enough to knock your socks off.

~ A very affordable and tasty dish for the financially troubled college student ~

Chickpeas.  Rinsed and Drained.

The best thing about fresh local tomatoes are the crazy and whacky shapes they tend to come in.  When every tomato is different the possibilities are endless…. This one had a swirl on it’s backside resembling the top of a soft serve ice cream cone.  Tomatoes trying to be like ice cream?  -Okay in my book any day of the week.

If you can picture it, I have my makeshift paper towel ‘cutting board’ on a stool in the middle of my 15 x 15 dorm room.  Get ready mom, I am going to take complete control of your kitchen in 7 days time, and I won’t be looking back.

I have a love and hate relationship with avocados.  Normally you have to let them sit out for a few days till they are ready to eat.  My problem, I can never tell when that day is.  The worst is to cut open an avocado ready for its smooth and scrumptious interior and find 70% of it still hard as a rock.  You can put it in the fridge, and wait for it to ripen.  But it will never be the same.  Resulting in a wasted avocado and a disgruntled cook.

This avocado, however, was perfect.  Perfect as perfect can be.  I picked out one that was ready to eat immediately, leaving no room for error.

If this is not the avocado king I would please like you to correct me.

[<3]

Next came the sauce.

The first thing that came to mind while constructing this was how lovely some fresh ground black pepper would be.  Hand in hand with tomatoes and an avocado, no?  …And I didn’t have any.  Once I got over the shock and got on myself for having no pepper but plenty of concentrated canned panang curry paste imported from Thai Land.  Why I have this over pepper when the only cooking appliance I own at the moment is a blender is beyond me.  I dug around and found a bottle of aged red wine vinegar.  I’ll take it.  Mixed with salt and some garlic grape seed sesame oil.  The vinegar provided the perfect tang for this dish that I promptly forgot about my lack of pepper.

Poured over top.  This would be great paired with a crusty baguette and a good glass of red wine.  On a porch somewhere far away from the city 😉

~ Balsamic Chickpea Avocado Tomato Salad ~

1 can of chickpeas [drained & rinsed]

1 large tomato [chopped]

1 avocado [chopped]

~ Dressing ~

2-3 tbsp aged balsamic vinager

garlic grape seed sesame oil and salt [to taste]

Chop.  Mix.  Plate.  Done.

Afterwards fruit, peanut butter, and graham crackers commenced.

I don’t think there is anything better then a thick, almost chewy yet still crunchy, graham cracker, topped with a large smear of natural peanut butter and then sprinkled with dried fruit.  Dried cranberries, cherries, blueberries, and golden raisins to be exact.

So good I went back for another.

~ Happy weekend everyone ~