Italian Spinach and Chickpeas

I sort of made up this recipe a while back when I was making dinner for a vegetarian friend.  It’s vaguely based on a recipe for Italian Chicken and Chickpeas from allrecipes.com.  The original recipe is delicious (I made it about a year ago), but I realized it was so flavorful that it really didn’t even need the chicken!  So I decided to experiment by scrapping the chicken and adding LOTS more veggies.  The result is a great vegetarian dish that totally works as a main dish if you want, but would also be a great side dish to any Italian inspired main dish.  If you want the meat I’d recommend keeping everything about this dish the same (the added veggies really make it so much better) and cube a few breasts of chicken and saute them in olive oil with the rosemary before adding the rest of the ingredients.

Ingredients (Serves 6)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp dried rosemary

1 can tomato sauce

1 (15 oz) can Italian-style diced tomatoes

1 tsp Italian seasoining

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp sugar

1 bay leaf

1 cup mushrooms, sliced

2 cups zucchini, halved and sliced

1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 (15 oz) bag frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

Directions:

1. Saute onions and garlic in oil until onions are translucent. Add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, Italian seasoning, cayenne pepper, sugar, bay leaf, and red pepper flakes to the skillet; stir. Add mushrooms and zucchini and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until zucchini are tender, 10 to 12 minutes.

2. Stir the garbanzo beans and spinach into the skillet; continue cooking until the beans are heated, 2 to 3 minutes more.