Summer is coming! Me and my family are planning to take a road trip south to visit my parents. They escaped the worst clutches of winter a few years ago and now every summer my husband and I take the kids down for a week or two to see their grandparents.
But that always means packing. And I have to start a month in advance (are we really through April already?) partly because I have two kids who get into everything and partly because Partner just refuses to plan more than two days ahead.
So I was talking to a girlfriend and she reminded me of my complaint last year: I forgot to buy snacks for the road. We couldn’t stop just anywhere and grab a bag of chips, so I dealt with a husband who gets cranky when he’s hungry (love you!) and two restless, hungry kids in the backseat.
My point is: this year, I will have snacks. I was going through my recipe box looking for things that can be stored for a long time and found a favorite recipe of mine.
Sweet Roasted Chickpeas.
Chickpeas are sooo good for you and they make great snacks? Why?
- They’re filling. Stuffed with an unreal amount of protein they take a long time for your body to break down, meaning that you stay fuller longer.
- They also have tons of fiber, which helps lower cholesterol and, combined with protein, is the best method of controlling your blood sugar levels. Chickpeas contain about 12.5 grams of fiber per cup. That’s 50% of the Daily Value!
- Chickpeas are almost always included in the list of legumes studied when heart disease is the focus of diet research. As little as 3/4 cup of garbanzos per day can help lower our LDL-cholesterol, total cholesterol, and triglycerides in a one-month period of time.
- They are a remarkable food in terms of their antioxidant composition. While containing small but valuable amounts of conventional antioxidant nutrients like vitamin C, vitamin E, and beta-carotene, chickpeas also contain more concentrated supplies of antioxidant phytonutrients. These phytonutrients include the flavonoids quercetin, kaempferol, myricetin, ferulic acid, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, and vanillic acid.
So How Do I Make Them?
Ingredients
- 1 can of chickpeas rinsed, drained and dried thoroughly.
- 1 1/2 tablespoons of cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon of melted coconut oil
- 2 tablespoons of maple syrup (or sweetener of your choice)
Steps
- Preheat your oven to 450°.
- Drain and rinse your chickpeas. The dry them thoroughly. If you don’t dry them, they won’t be crunchy and the effect will be spoiled.
- Put them in a single layer on a parchment lined cookie sheet and stick ’em in for 15 minutes
- When they come out of the oven, put them in a bowl with the rest of your ingredients and stir thoroughly to combine.
- Spread them back out on your tray (parchment paper included) and put them back in the oven for 15 minutes.
And there you have it. These puppies store for about 6 months in a cool, dark place and provided they’ve been thoroughly dried out. They’re great for packing for long car rides, sugar and snack fixes and excellent to replace unhealthy options like potato chips of caramel corn.
Have another flavor combo you love using chickpeas? Let me know in the comments!