Quick and Easy Stuffed Grape Leaves

I know I have not had a chance to post savory recipes like I have been in the past but it almost feels like I hardly have time to post them! What has this mother been making? Well, I have been forced to prepare foods the night before so that Ryan and I could both eat the next day. Lately, I have had a hankering for Mediterranean food but I have not had time to make even hummus! How sad is that?

Look at this cute face I get to watch over all day!

5 month tummy time

Even so, I know I need to make healthy quick lunches or even dinner. When it comes to Mediterranean, I enjoy chickpeas a lot but I am usually the only one that likes them at home. Ryan likes hummus but, like he told me tonight, he likes hummus to taste like oil. Whaaaa??? He totally does not like the flavor of chickpeas. Silly silly.

Oil has too many calories honey! Anyway, every time he goes off to his weekly night meetings I take advantage of preparing something he would not normally eat. Tonight I felt like eating stuffed grape leaves but I was not going to buy them from my local restaurant. I wanted to make them!

After I got home from over an hour walking the mall with Julianne, at almost 7pm, I knew I was NOT going to make the recipe that I had laid out on the counter. I was SO disappointed and I STILL was not going to order out. What to do?

Grape leaves normally cook in boiling water and then they are doused in olive oil and lemon juice. I did not have an hour or more for this process. I took out my jar of grape leaves in brine and took out about 10 leaves and soaked them in hot water for 10 minutes. I drained and dried them and set them aside. Luckily I had already prepared my brown rice before leaving for our walk.

Next, I took a 1/2 cup of cooked brown rice and mixed it with a 1/2 cup of canned chickpeas. I added lemon juice, minced garlic, dill, red onion, sea salt and chopped tomatoes and mixed well. I divided the mixture between the ten grape leaves. I rolled them and ate them. All this took 15 minutes! SCORE! I drizzled a little olive oil.

What were these like? Well, they were like Mediterranean tacos if I say so. They were quick, easy, and delicious. I am so happy I made them. I was so satisfied and hope to make these again this week.

Try them and let me know what you think.

Quick Stuffed Grape Leaves

by Noelle Kelly

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Keywords: lunch entree gluten-free low-carb vegan grape leaves chickpeas Mediterranean

Ingredients (10 stuffed grape leaves)

1/2 cup cooked brown rice
1/2 cup chickpeas, canned or cooked
1 tomato, diced
1/4 cup red onion, diced
1 1/2 teaspoons dill
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 Tablespoons lemon juice
10 grape leaves, from a glass jar in brine

Instructions

Grape Leaves

Rinse the grape leaves and pour hot water over the leaves. Let the water sit for 10 minutes. Then drain the water, and dry each leaf. Separate each leaf on a bamboo board.

Filling

Cook rice according to packaged directions. Add rice warm or hot to a bowl and mix all the ingredients in a medium bowl.

Assembly

Add 2 Tablespoons to the center of each grape leaf. Fold the sides of each leaf and then the roll the leaf to look like a cigar. You can also leave open like a hand roll or a taco.

Eat immediately with a side of hummus, tahini sauce, or simply drizzle with a little of olive oil.

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Labels: brown rice, dinner, easy, gluten-free, grape leaves, low-cal, lunch, Mediterranean, olive oil, quick, stuffed grape leaves, vegan