Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Roasted Chickpeas / 23 Are All You Need (Almonds)!

I've always wanted to try make roasted chickpeas but never attempted it. For some reason I didn't think they would turn, well nutty! Well rest assured that they do indeed and there is very little effort involved. It was so simple. All you do is open a can or if you have your own cooked supply on hand so much the better. There is no need for exact amounts. I used my Western Family Organic Chickpeas. I drained them, rinsed them and put them in a bowl. I then put about 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil over them and sprinkled in about 2 teaspoons of my favorite frontier chili powder and about 1/4 teaspoon of salt. (Choice of spices is of course entirely at your whim. I'm just a big fan of frontier chili powder -- it's a wonderful combination of spices and really works wonderful for so many dishes. If I had to pick only one spice to have in my cupboard that would be it!) The next step is to put the chickpeas on a baking sheet and put them in a 400F oven for 50 minutes. I would suggest lining your baking sheet with either parchment paper or aluminum foil as burnt chickpea marks are hard to remove. Stir at 15 minute intervals and that's it. My next goal is to find an easy way to make home-cooked chickpeas (hopefully in the crockpot) because I can see how that would be a lot more economical. The amount of chickpeas you see in the little dish in the photo is the full amount this recipe made from one regular size can chickpeas. I'm thinking they would make a healthy, gluten-free alternative to wheat croutons for use in salads.

NaturSource Tamari Almonds
Since I'm in a nutty mood today (literally -- I ate almonds and chickpeas for breakfast today) I'd like to continue on for a bit here and tell you about the almonds that I eat and really enjoy and that is NaturSource Tamari Almonds. I purchase them at Costco -- not sure where else they are sold. They have a nice salty flavor that makes it very easy to eat your daily serving and yet the nutritional profile doesn't indicate that it's crazy high in sodium. It's just 120 mg sodium for a 40 gram serving so that is really quite reasonable. Everywhere we're reading how healthy it is to try and include about one ounce of nuts in your diet daily. The following quote is from the Almond Board website. I thought the chart was kinda of cute and a good visual to give you an idea of what one ounce looks like:

"Think about this number every time you’re suffering from a mid-day slump or when you’re ravenous on the go. Remember it when you’re pondering a sugar splurge or feel like you won’t last until dinner. 23 are all you need. Empowering, isn’t it?"

23 almonds = 1 ounce
Here are some easy ways to measure the perfect portion of almonds.



www.almondboard.com/Consumer/Pages/Default.aspx

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