
I will also talk about a few drink ideas, as well as picnic success equipment (hint - nothing special is needed!).
For the first picnic main, and day 2 of Vegan MoFo, here is a BBQ Chickpea Kale Salad! BBQ and picnics go hand-in-hand, and I love the extra punch of flavor the chickpeas give to this salad.
For the chickpeas, I simmered cooked chickpeas (from a can, drained and then rinsed) with about 3/4 cup of BBQ sauce until the sauce reduced and thickened. I let it come to a quick boil and then turned it down to a simmer. The sauce coated the chickpeas perfectly and continued to thicken after I removed the mixture from the heat.
The salad was gently massaged kale topped with carrots, cabbage, Follow Your Heart ranch dressing, green onions, and the chickpeas! Easy peasy (pun intended!)! I had this along with fresh-cut watermelon (because is there anything better during the summer?!). This main is also great because you can make as little or as much as you would like pretty quickly. I found that one can of chickpeas worked well for two people.