My mainstay meal

While being on a budget and having limited options for ingredients, it's sometimes hard to come up with a meal that really satisfies my hunger and need for deliciousness. But shortly after coming to site, I've found a meal that I have weekly. It's easy to make, relatively healthy, and quite affordable. So I'll share the recipe here for other volunteers and people back in the states looking to try something new.

Ingredients:
1 can of whole chickpeas (mine are in brine, but water would be better)
1 can of plain mushrooms (again, in brine.)
Fresh garlic (mine is from a container, which is diced finely)
1/2 of a yellow onion
Lemon
Olive oil
Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper

Start by draining the chickpeas and mushrooms. Then, chop the onion into thin slices. If the mushrooms are not sliced, cut them into bite size pieces. Add the chickpeas, mushrooms, and onion to a bowl. Add garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and dijon mustard to taste. (I usually end up using about 2 tablespoons of garlic and dijon mustard.) Then, drizzle over olive oil and mix to combine. It should be the consistency of like a bruschetta topping. I then toast some bread and do a light smear of cream cheese. I spoon the mixture on top and eat it like bruschetta.

A little tip- the mixture gets so much better if you refrigerate it for a few days to let the flavors combine.

It usually makes about 4-5 servings and can easily be doubled for a larger output. You can also add other ingredients you like- tomatoes, bell peppers, squash, etc. And depending on the seasoning you use, you can change the whole dish up taste wise.

The finished product