I am going to start the month of Vegan MoFo with main dishes, and then work my way through the main meals, sides & snacks, and then desserts.

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.

I recently took a day trip to the Oregon Coast with a friend to do some whale and wildlife spotting. She brought BBQ soy curl salad rolls that we dipped in Follow Your Heart Ranch dressing, and I have been thinking about that combo ever since. I love BBQ sauce and ranch together and came up with 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.