Veggie Chickpea Pitas with Yogurt Dill Sauce

This is the recipe that I made for dinner on Wednesday, our snow day, and then subsequently had for lunch the last 2 days in a row! I was craving a good lunch at work - all week I had been eating junk since I had been too mopey to venture into the kitchen. I actually resorted to frozen dinners :( and once just a grapefruit :( Sad life. I have noticed that my afternoon goes by much smoother when I have had a good lunch, so I knew whatever I was going to make at home this week needed to be portable. Hence these veggie chickpea pitas. I saw them earlier in January on Annie's Eats page as part of her Let's Do Lunch series (I have legitimately adored every single one of her lunch recipes - need I mention my beloved roasted vegetable chickpea salad!?) and knew immediately it would be good: lots of fresh veggies, a Greek yogurt-based sauce that reminds me of tzatziki, and pita bread to eat it in: delicious, healthy, vegetarian, and perfect to pack for work.

The salad is made up of crunchy cucumber, juicy grape tomatoes, diced red onion, and of course chickpeas for protein. They are paired with the super flavorful yogurt dill sauce, which is also flavored with lemon juice, white wine vinegar, and garlic. I will say that the sauce was perhaps a tad too garlicky, and next time I will only use one clove. Mom and I both agreed we felt like we tasted and smelled like garlic for a long while afterwards. It made for a slightly awkward lunch meeting with our speech pathologist yesterday, but she promised I wasn't smelling up her office too much (this is partly why she makes the short  list of work people that I like! ;) ). Either way, it was a filling, tasty lunch that helped me to survive practicing MCAS passages and working on the Colonial Fair project. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Recipe:

veggie chickpea pitas with yogurt dill sauce
from Annie's Eats
yield 8 servings

Ingredients:
for the filling:
1 1/2 cups chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 medium cucumber, seeded and chopped
2 cups grape tomatoes, halved or quartered
1/3 cup finely chopped red onion
salt and pepper
for the yogurt sauce:
1 cup Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon minced fresh dill
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

pita bread, for serving
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1) To make the filling, combine the chickpeas cucumber, tomatoes, and red onion in a medium bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix gently until combined.

2) To make the yogurt sauce, combine the Greek yogurt, dill, lemon juice, vinegar, and garlic in a small bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

3) To serve, halve the pita bread. Fill each pocket with the chickpea-veggie mixture and top with the yogurt dill sauce as desired.