Vegan Month - Day 6: Vegan Arugula Bowl with Chick Peas and Creamy Lemon Sauce

Less then a week into vegan month - and to combat what has turned into a very snowy and cold NYC weather - I've been cooking a whole lot of very hearty vegan recipes, such as this delicious mushroom stroganoff.  And a very tasty vegan matzoh ball soup.

I've been on vacation for 2 weeks straight (mostly spent snowed in with yoga pants and comfort food ... I even wore yoga pants on NYE... though I did manage a sparkly statement necklace...) I finally had to go back to work today.  It was actually good to get back to the office - I had been feeling stir crazy and I have a lot of fun events coming up for the spring.

So on this particularly rainy and grey Monday day (which is allegedly the most depressing day of the year), I decided to play around with this refreshing and delicious (non-vegan) California Barley Bowl from Epicurious.

So, we're going to call it, "Vegan Arugula Bowl with Chick Peas and Creamy Lemon Sauce."

Incidentally, having an apartment to myself is a rare luxury, so I also made it with one of my favorite old standbys - Rosemary Roast Potatoes (which is basically just tossing some yukon potatoes - cube into about 1/2 inch pieces - along with chopped up rosemary, garlic, sage, salt, pepper, and plenty of extra virgin olive oil).  I curled up to enjoy this, my favorite potatoes, a whole lot of cabernet, and the classic Otto Preminger noir, "Laura."

So... here we go:

Vegan Arugula Bowl with Chick Peas and Creamy Lemon Sauce
Serves 2

Ingredients:

1. Handful of arugula (2 cups)
2. Can of chickpeas
3. 1 cup of dried cranberries
4. Half a cucumber, chopped up
5. 1 cup mung bean sprouts
6. 1 tablespoon olive oil
7. 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
8. 1 avocado, chopped
9. 1/2 cup of Tofutti vegan sour cream (this is actually delicious!!)
10. 1 tablespoon chopped up scallions
11. 1 teaspoon of lemon zest
12. Juice from half a lemon

Directions:

Combine the first 5 ingredients in a bowl.  Toss with the evoo and balsamic.  Top with the avocado.

For the sauce, mix together the final 4 ingredients. Use to top the salad when serving.

The whole dinner was totally delicious, super easy.