Our first official lunch recipe on Cooking in the Creek! I did not realize there were no lunch recipes on the blog, but boy is this one a great one to start with. First, I must say, we were super excited to shoot this one in the daylight. Since daylight savings time ended a couple weeks ago, having natural light for our dinner blog photo shoots is impossible, which leaves our picture looking rather sad, dark and full of ugly yellow artificial light. BUT we will keep blogging through it and hopefully have more daytime photos from the weekends.

NOW back to the recipe. This Cranberry Almond Chickpea Salad Sandwich is vegan, but you wouldn’t even know it or think about it while you’re eating it. The dressing has an unusual pairing of ingredients, but actually compliments the rest of the salad amazingly. I love when I find a recipe and I have all the ingredients on hand, it makes it that much easier. We ate these as open faced sandwiches on a bed of baby kale and toasted whole wheat bread. It was delicious!!

![Chickpea Salad Sandwich full of fresh scallions, celery, nuts and cranberries with a nutty tahini dressing. cookinginthecreek.com](http://cookinginthecreek.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Cranberry-Almond-Chickpea-Salad-Sandwich-2-1024x681.jpg)
![Chickpea Salad Sandwich full of fresh scallions, celery, nuts and cranberries with a nutty tahini dressing. cookinginthecreek.com](http://cookinginthecreek.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Cranberry-Almond-Chickpea-Salad-Sandwich-3-1024x681.jpg)
![Chickpea Salad Sandwich full of fresh scallions, celery, nuts and cranberries with a nutty tahini dressing. cookinginthecreek.com](http://cookinginthecreek.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Cranberry-Almond-Chickpea-Salad-Sandwich-4-1024x681.jpg)
![Chickpea Salad Sandwich full of fresh scallions, celery, nuts and cranberries with a nutty tahini dressing. cookinginthecreek.com](http://cookinginthecreek.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Cranberry-Almond-Chickpea-Salad-Sandwich-5-1024x681.jpg)
![Chickpea Salad Sandwich full of fresh scallions, celery, nuts and cranberries with a nutty tahini dressing. cookinginthecreek.com](http://cookinginthecreek.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Cranberry-Almond-Chickpea-Salad-Sandwich-6-681x1024.jpg)

Cranberry Almond Chickpea Salad Sandwich

Total time: 15 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

1 can (15oz) garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained and rinsed

1/2 cup celery, diced

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup sliced almonds, (or walnuts or pecans, roughly chopped)

1/4 cup scallions (green onions), thinly sliced

salt & freshly ground pepper, to taste

Dressing

3 tablespoons tahini

2 tablespoons champagne, white wine or cider vinegar (I used Champagne Vinegar)

2 tablespoons water (as needed to thin dressing)

1 teaspoon pure maple syrup

To serve

leafy lettuce of choice

bread of choice

Instructions

Start by mixing the dressing. In a small bowl combine tahini, vinegar, water and maple syrup. Set aside so the flavors come together. This can be made a day or two ahead and stored in the refrigerator until ready to use. Add a tad more water, or vinegar if you’re a vinegar lover, to thin out dressing as desired.

In a medium to large bowl, add your garbanzo beans and roughly mash with a strong fork or potato masher. Add in celery, cranberries, nuts, scallions, salt, pepper and dressing, mix well. Serve at room temp or let chill in the refrigerator for an hour before serving.

Serve on your favorite bread as a closed or open faced sandwich, or on a bed of leafy greens. You may even opt to simply enjoy the salad as is.

Recipe inspired by The Simple Veganista.