I don’t know about you, but in our house, every night is not a “cook a lavish family meal” kind of night. A few times a week, we make a nice dinner to enjoy together. Once or twice, we go out. But, there is always that one day that pops up where we don’t want to cook, we don’t want to go out, we don’t even want to order in.

On those nights, we have created a special type of dinner that we call “pickies”. Or, “pick-ease”.

Usually it consists of this: a bowl of hummus, a bowl of veggies, a bowl of olives, baguette or crackers, an avocado, some peppadews, maybe some pickles… you get the idea. Little things that we snack on… pick at… all night. A very informal dinner that also consists of being on our computers or watching a movie.

Every so often, I have planned enough in advance to make a special “pickies” treat.

I had seen several (non-veg) versions of this bouncing around the web for a while, and I have no idea who created it in the first place. But, it always looked so good to me, I had to figure out a way to make it vegan.

We love this meal. We can pick at it all night long, and it actually keeps well as a leftover, if we don’t get through it in one sitting. You can make it for two people or ten people; I think it would be great for a pot-luck.

I hope you try it and love it as much as we do in our household.

Ingredients:

• 1 package Pita Chips
• 1.5 cups of Greek Style Beans or 1 can Gigandes, Lima Beans, or Garbanzo Beans
• 1/4 cup Tofu Feta (homemade or store bought)
• 1/2 cup vegan cucumber tzatziki (recipe below)
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
• 5-8 kalamata olives, chopped (to taste)
• 1/2 chopped cucumber
• handful of mint

* I used this recipe for the Greek Baked Beans. Every week I make a big pot of beans. The weeks that I make these, the family knows what’s in store!
** I use “The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook” for my Tofu Feta. But there are a lot of great products out there, as well as great recipe resources on the web.

Vegan Tzatziki Ingredients:

• 1 small container (6oz) non-dairy plain yogurt
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 cucumber, chopped
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2 T olive oil
• salt/pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Let sit for at least 30 minutes for flavors to combine.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
3. Using an oven proof dish (pizza pan is perfect!), layer the pita chips, the beans and the tofu feta. Place in oven for 15-20 minutes to get hot, or until exposed pita chips get toasted.
4. Remove from oven and layer with greek style toppings: lettuce, red pepper, cucumber, red onion, tzatziki sauce, kalamata olives and mint. Other toppings can include sun-dried tomatoes, jalapeno, marinated artichoke hearts, or avocado.

Enjoy!!