Creamy Vegan Ranch Chickpea Peach Farm Salad. Peanuts Lime.

Creamy Vegan Ranch Chickpea Peach Farm Salad. Peanuts Lime.: Creamy Vegan Ranch Chickpea Peach Salad

This blogger seems to be making a lot of really good  recipes that are along similar lines to those I would like to see.  So I made this, with the variations that I used onion powder instead of fresh onion (housemate doesn't like onions), and instead of "mixed herbs", I used dill weed.  I mean, that's what's in ranch.  Ranch does not have Italian seasoning, and I was looking for ranch flavor... haha.

Otherwise, I tried the recipe as written.  There was more than enough chickpea mixture for several salads, and it seemed to go over very well with arugula.  But both me and the housemate agreed it was better with smoked almonds and avocado, than it was with peaches and peanuts.  Also, for as much as I like chickpea, wasn't too sure about leaving them whole.  I think the ranch flavor would penetrate the chickpea mixture better if they were lightly smashed.  Not enough to make a paste, just sort of a chickpea crumble.

It's a great salad and I will experiment with it a lot more in the coming weeks, no doubt.  I've also gotten my hands on some lactic acid (vegan, made from sugar), which I know is "exotic", but qualifies easily as the one exotic ingredient I'd be willing to put in.  Honestly, I'm not sure why it's not a vegan/ plant based staple, since it will make foods taste more like milk or cheese instead of... you know, nuts.