Too many dates

So as I moved to Cali, I found out that Hannah has been shopping at Cosco for some of her food. Its a great place to shop, don't get me wrong, but one of the downsize of shopping at Cosco is that sometimes you just get ways too much food. Sometimes this is a good thing, like when it comes to artichoke hearts, a food I could eat until I got sick, but then there are dates. She got a giant tub of them. She wanted to make vegan date ice cream and tried at first but then gave up... and then was stuck with the giant tub of dates.

Enter me into the picture. About two weeks ago I moved out here and was staying with Hannah until I found my own place. And like any good temporary housewife, I made lots of good foods. I like to try and use what is already in the house and what I had was dates. Now in my experience dates are really good for baked goods. Unfortunetly both Hannah and I are watching our figures and are not so interested in baked goods at this time. So I had to get a little more creative when I came to using the thousands of dates in Hannah's fridge. So I spent a good amount of time on the internet and epicurious looking for some other good delicious way to use dates. And low and behold my great googleing skills paid off. according to google there are many salads and sweet things to make with dates and then there is Date and Chickpea Tagine. Never heard of it. Neither had I until just a week ago.

The funny thing about my google results from this recipe is that many of the hits were also from other blogs. there was one legit recipe from Vegetarian Times and the rest were recipes slightly altered from that first one on a bunch of other food blogs. Blogs are such a funny thing. But anyways this recipe as follows is my give on this already passed around recipe.

Date and Chickpea Tagine

1 Tbsp Olive oil
1 Chopped Onion
4 Cloves of chopped Garlic
1 tps Cumin
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1 15 oz can of Diced Tomatoes
1 15 oz can of Chickpeas
1 c Pitted and diced Dates
1/4 c Lemon Juice
1/2 c Coos Coos
1/2 c Water or vegetable broth

Add oil to a saucepan over medium heat. cook onions until caramelized, about 10 min. add garlic, cumin, cinnamon, tomatoes and chickpeas. Simmer for ten minutes. If more liquid is needed add 1/4 c water.
While that is simmering boil 1/2 c of water. When water has come to a boil add coos coos, stir and take off heat.
Once chickpea mixture has simmer for 10 min add dates and lemon juice. Add salt and pepper to taste (we did not add anything else)
Serve Tagine over coos coos and enjoy!

This meal is very sweet, but somehow all the other flavors seem to still be able to pop out and be tasted. its funny, you can totally taste every single ingredient in it.