Healthy snackies

Last night Sissy and her Fancy came over (Fancy is seester engagement slang). The boys watched football while we paged through bridal magazines, and then later the two of us left for the mall and spent way too much time and waaay too much money. But hey, we don't get much time to spend together anymore, so we can easily justify all of that shopping!

Rewind to earlier that day. With guests coming over we needed some snacks, but I didn't want to spend a lot of time preparing them. The perfect chance to make one of the recipes on my to do list!



Crunchy roasted chickpeas are quite popular with the food bloggers right now, and there is a good reason why. They're quick, easy to prepare, can be tailored to anyone's tastes, and they're de-lish. They are similar to corn-nuts in texture, but without all of the oily/salty blechiness that makes them not feel like a healthy snack at all. The chickpeas use just a bit of oil and salt and are relatively guilt free. They can be seasoned with whatever spice mixture you like, but just be sure to dry them thoroughly before roasting them.

Crunchy Roasted Chickpeas

2 15oz cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
1 Tbsp lime juice
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp garam masala powder
1 Tbsp smoked paprika
1 Tbsp kosher salt

Optional serving idea -

1 cucumber, diced finely
1 serrano or jalapeno chili - seeded and finely chopped
1/4 cup red onion, diced finely

Drain chickpeas and rinse well. Blot with a paper tower to remove as much water as you can, then sprinkle with lime juice and leave in a colander for an hour or two if you have time. If not, just keep blotting with paper towels and try to get them as dry as possible.

Preheat oven to 400°F.

When chickpeas are dry mix together remaining ingredients in a medium bowl to form a paste and then toss chickpeas very well so that they are coated. Spread evenly across a roasting pan or baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and bake at 400°F for 45-55 minutes, stirring once halfway through. At 45 minutes begin checking on them every few minutes to be sure they aren't burning - the gap between being crunchy all the way through and being burnt is very small.

If desired, toss with optional ingredients and serve, or just eat them plain by the handful!

Chickpeas are best eaten the day of cooking, but can be kept in an airtight container for a few days. Keep in mind, if you store them they will lose much of their crunch.

xoxo

me