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Here's an alternative to the handful of salads you might eat every week. Both the preparation and cooking time are pretty quick (maybe 5-10 minutes). It's best served warm so let it cool off a bit before diving in.

Ingredients:
6-8 asparagus stalks, chopped
2 cups of chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
1 can of artichoke hearts, quartered (feel free to use fresh artichokes if you want, canned is just easier sometimes)
2 cups of fresh spinach
1/4 cup of onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. lemon juice
Pinch of crushed red pepper
Salt and pepper to taste



What to do:
Start by adding the olive oil and garlic to a large saucepan. Once the oil is hot, add the asparagus and cook for 4 minutes on medium heat.

Add the chickpeas, artichokes, and onion. Cook for an additional 3-4 minutes or until asparagus is cooked to your liking.

Finally, add the spinach, crushed red pepper, and other seasonings and cook for another minute or so until the spinach has wilted.

Allow the salad to cool down and give it a splash of lemon juice before serving. That's it!

This recipe was an experiment of sorts. In fact, it's a combination of several recipes I combined together from the web. The result- flavorful and filling enchiladas! The ingredients are pretty basic (and inexpensive) and the most time is spent making the actual filling. The recipe below made 5-6 decent size enchiladas.

Ingredients:
2 large sweet potatoes (peeled, cooked, and diced)
1 14oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup red onion, chopped
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tbsp. cumin
1/2 tbsp. cilantro, chopped
2-3 cups of shredded cheese (I used Sargento's Mexican Blend but a regular colby jack would work too)
2 cups of salsa verde
Salt and pepper
5-6 flour tortillas



What to do:
Cook the sweet potatoes. Allow them to cool off a bit before dicing into small pieces (trust me, hot potatoes are like napalm!).

Add the black beans, diced sweet potatoes, red onion, cilantro, cumin, and olive oil into a large bowl and give it a good stir. Add salt and pepper to taste. That's your filling!

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Now, the more tedious part. In a large baking dish, layer the bottom with the salsa verde sauce. Warm each tortilla for about 20 seconds and fill each one with a scoop or two of filling, topping with shredded cheese.

Carefully roll up the tortilla and place seam-side down in the dish.

Once you have all your enchiladas rolled up and ready to go, top them with a layer of salsa verde sauce and a handful more of cheese.

Place them in the over and bake for about 20 minutes, until the cheese is melted and/or has a hint of brown.

Serve with sour cream and feast!

Seapoint Farms calls themselves the "largest importer and manufacturer of edamame products in the United States." This, to me, is a good thing because edamame (usually labeled an immature soybean grown in East Asia) is one of my favorite snacks. It's fun to eat, low in carbs, and is one of the few vegetarian protein sources that has all nine of the essential amino acids the body cannot produce. This weekend I was able find Seapoint Farms' Dry Roasted Edamame that is wasabi flavored (a snack I've been in search of since trying it almost over a year ago!) While the regular Dry Roasted Edamame of theirs is easy to find in most supermarkets, this product is a bit more obscure...at least in my area. So if you're tired of the whole boiling, pod splitting edamame routine give this a try. It packs a nice punch and makes for a great snack to share.