Arugula and chickpea omelet

 

This omelet recipe was born on a walk back from our favorite health food store. But let me go back in time and start at the beginning.

I woke up with a to-do list longer than my computer screen can hold, and after responding to a few client emails I started researching a couple of article ideas, which in my case means battling through the numbers in scientific journals, figuring which mice ran the longest and if that matters to anyone, finding the difference between words that really sound the same and ultimately wondering how good of a job am I doing catching up to at least 0.1% of what is going on in the world I try to write about. 5 hours into it and 3 short and sweet article ideas later, my head felt like it was being held in a heavy metal vice. Yoga and deep breathing barely took the edge off so I ventured onto a 2 hour walk with a mission - to end up at our favorite health food store, grab some food and come home to cook lunch. 

I initially intended to make a salad, only discovering what I bought and what I had in the fridge did not exactly pair in a way that made sense. As I walked back, with arugula, greek yogurt, a mango and coconut juice in my bag, I thought I did a pretty poor job at planning this meal. I had cottage cheese for breakfast, so the next meal would be fish, meat or eggs, but I didn't feel like any of those. As ingredients started dancing through my head like naughty snowflakes, I figured I was so tired I would just let my imagination do the job and trust that the creative streak that has saved my *** so many times before will show up and do it one more time.

As I kept walking, I saw an omelet, green with arugula leaves, with a touch of chickpeas and I thought this might actually work.

Now if you think I am never scared of trying my own ideas, think again. As I stood in front of the ingredient list a part of me tipped and wanted to reach for some mango and Greek yogurt, but I decided to keep going.

Serves 1:

1 cup chickpeas (canned)

1 cup wild arugula leaves 

2 eggs

pinch salt and pinch pepper

1 oz sharp cheddar cheese, grated

1/2 tbsp butter

In a large bowl, mash the chickpeas, mix with the arugula and the grated cheese, break in the eggs and stir well. In a large pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Season the omelet mixture. Pour carefully making sure the leaves and chickpeas are distributed evenly. Once it's cooked on the bottom, use a plate to flip back into the pan as it's quite heavy. Cook for an extra 3-4 minutes and serve immediately. You can serve as is, with tomato salsa or Greek yogurt (which is what I did).

Surprise! This omelet gets a 10 and I was expecting a 5 or a 6! The arugula leaves softened nicely, lost most of their hot nature, the chickpeas melted into the cheese and eggs and made for a great summer lunch! This meal is also a winner for protein content (30 g) and fiber content (8g), so it's both great for the start or middle of the day when you need energy for a long time. I bet you can make it into a delicious casserole with some melted cheese on top! Enjoy!