Chickpea Salad

Tasty, fresh, and healthy salad that makes a great way to eat some beans, not to mention get the nutritional benefits of avocado!  It works well as a lunch or a side dish with dinner. 

1 15-ounce can of chickpeas/garbanzo beans, drained

6 medium tomatoes, diced thick (quartered then halved) or quartered

1 medium red onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced (optional--I forgot to add it, but it was still delicious!)

6 ounces feta cheese--cubed or crumbled, your choice

4 ounces pitted black olives (small canned ones, cut in half lengthwise work great)

2 medium avocados, peeled and pitted, and sliced (I halved lengthwise, then sliced)

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 tbsp each fresh cilantro and mint

3/8 c olive oil

the juice of 2 lemons or 3 limes

1. Combine chickpeas, red onion, garlic, olives, salt, pepper, cilantro, mint in a large bowl.
2. Add in feta.
3. Gently fold in tomatoes and avocado.
4. Pour in olive oil and juice.  
5. Mix well.  Serve immediately.

Unfortunately, the salad will have a short lifespan because of the avocado.  I would suggest 2 things to try to keep it fresher:

1. Store it in the most airtight container you have (I love Lock and Lock!--see recommended items on homepage) and place a piece of plastic wrap right over the salad, so that there is no space between it and the salad.  This will keep air out even better.  Then cover the container with the lid as usual.
2. I drizzled some lime juice over the unsliced avocado before slicing it to be extra sure it would be completely covered, which helps with browning.