We eat a LOT of legumes in our house.  Protein is important when the majority of your meals are meatless and we love the heartiness that beans and things bring to our meals.

And better yet, putting this love into sandwich form for some lunch deliciousness can keep a busy day from being really lame.

Smitten Kitchen recently posted a fantastic chickpea sandwich recipe which prompted me to grab a can of chickpeas and enjoy them for lunch in a new way as well.  SK’s version is super but I add extra parsley, extra lemon juice and zest — and also finely chop a small clove of garlic for an extra kick.  I really love garlic, so this may not be for you.

In the past, I’ve concocted some creamy curry chickpea sandwiches before based on curry chicken salad sandwiches I used to get at a great little Belgian restaurant in Houston (RIP Cafe Montrose).  Mine were great, but a little heavy on the vegan mayo for me – which was fitting as the original chicken version was a bit too.  So… mission accomplished I guess :)  But it’s not something that I return to as a vegan lunch staple.

This time around, I took the sandwich spread/salad/filling/whatever in a different direction – and, I don’t know how this sounds to you, I’ve made it into a bit of a vegan tuna salad kind of thing.  So…  vegan tuna-less salad :)  It’s delicious and I hope you love it like we do – it leaves you nice and full, but in that really good healthy feeling way.

The Vegan Tuna-less salad heaven recipe is as follows – but first, some pretty pictures:

Vegan Tuna-Less Salad Sandwich Heaven Recipe

1. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl until evenly distributed
2. Grab a fork and smash your chickpea mixture, leaving some medium size chickpea pieces intact (see the photo above as reference, you’ll have your own preferences) – this is a fun job for kiddos to help with
3. You take it from here!  Slap it between 2 slices of delicious whole grain bread with a handful of spinach and loads of tomato slices, stuff it into a pita, chop up some buttery lettuce, onion, carrots and apples and make a salad… etc.  Sometimes I just eat it plain with a spoon :)