My five-day detox in June (see here) left me feeling so energized that I decided to devote this week to another dose of healthy eating.  The ideal was no wheat, dairy, sugar, alcohol, caffeine or meat.  I have to confess that I racked up: one coffee, a few cups of tea with *whispers* milk, a delicious square of apricot sponge cooked by a friend and oh two glasses of wine this evening.  Oops.  I don’t feel too bad about my breakouts as in the main this week eats were über healthy.  Tonight I made a dish that I have christened, roasted vegetable, goat’s cheese and chickpea bake.  Here’s the recipe, which makes two/three portions.

INGREDIENTS

One small onion finely chopped

400g can of chopped tomatoes

Two cloves of garlic very finely chopped

Handful of basil

Two medium courgettes cut into bite sized chunks

Two red peppers cut into bite sized chunks

70g goat’s cheese diced

Handful of chopped walnuts

Half the contents of a 410g can of chick peas drained and washed

2 handfuls of breadcrumbs (I used spelt bread)

Grated zest of one lemon

Handful of parsley

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

METHOD

First pre heat the oven to 180°C.  Saute the onion in a frying pan in some olive oil until translucent, then add the garlic and cook for a further two minutes (don’t be tempted to throw the garlic in at the start, as garlic burns easily).  Add the tin of tomatoes with salt and pepper to taste and leave to simmer over a low heat for thirty minutes, towards the end of the thirty minutes throw in the handful of basil leaves.  When the thirty minutes are up, take the pan off the hob and allow to cool for a few minutes before whizzing to a smooth sauce in a food processor.  Taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary, if the sauce is too acidic you might like to add a teaspoon or so of sugar.  While the sauce is simmering on the hob toss the chopped vegetables in olive oil and put them in a roasting tin and pop in the oven until the vegetables are soft  (approx 30- 40 minutes).  When the vegetables are cooked, mix in the diced goat’s cheese, chickpeas and chopped walnuts and gently fold in the tomatoe sauce.  Make the topping by mixing the chopped parsley and lemon zest into the breadcrumbs.  Transfer the vegetable, chickpea and goat’s cheese mix into  a baking dish, top  with the breadcrumb mix and place in the oven until heated through (approx 20 – 25 minutes).

This dish was an experiment and it tasted good but next time I think I will try adding a couple of tablespoons of pesto to the tomatoe sauce.