Spicy Roasted Chickpeas No Oil (#WFPB)

Healthy nutritious snack options are always on my list of recipes to try. Spicy roasted chickpeas were on my list for a long time. I finally got a chance to post the recipe today. I keep this recipe simple for a spicy tart taste. You can increase the amount of spice or use your favorite spice mix for the flavors you love.

The question I get asked a lot is can you bake without oil? The trick to baking without oil is to keep the temperature lower than the recipes with oil. This prevents the food from burning up. If I were to use oil I would roast these peas at 400 F. Without oil 375 or even 350 F will suffice. Keep them longer to get them dry and crunchy.

You will need
1/2 cup dry chickpeas or 1 can of garbanzo beans
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper powder

Spice mix
1 tsp. Chaat masala
or
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. cumin powder
or
1 tsp. coriander powder
1 tsp. cumin powder

Soak the chickpeas overnight and cook in a pressure cooker until fork tender. I use my instant pot and it takes me 17 minutes manual to get them fully cooked. Alternately, you can use canned chickpeas. Just rinse and drain the water.

Preheat oven to 375 F. Blot dry the chickpeas on a paper towel. Combine with the seasoning and spices. Spread on a baking sheet evenly and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven. Mix them up with a spatula and put them back for another 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Oats, Almond and Chocolate Breakfast Bites

When kids go off to college cooking is the last thing on their mind. But campus food options are such that they have to cook in order to eat healthy. My daughter is no exception. When she started spring semester she was looking for easy breakfast options. I made these Oats Chia Peanut Butter bites and she loved them. But peanut butter is not her favorite so I kept thinking of alternate flavors.

A week before her last visit I happened to pass by the nut grinder at Whole Foods. I had always wanted to try the fresh peanut and almond butter but had never done it. I figured using almond butter to bind the oats would work just as well as peanut butter. When my daughter came home for a visit we stopped at Whole Foods and bought a tub of fresh ground organic almond butter. My daughter suggested I add mini chocolate morsels for flavor so we got some of those and some maple syrup. And this recipe was born. These oats almonds and chocolate breakfast bites are great as breakfast on the go. They would work well as a snack too.

I made a double batch so it would last her a while.

You will need (about 30)
2 cups old fashioned oats
1/3 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/4 cup maple syrup
~ 1/2 cup almond butter
a good handful mini chocolate chips

Add the oats and coconut flakes to a flat bottom pan and dry roast on medium heat until heated through. Grind coarsely in a food processor. Transfer to a bowl and add the maple syrup and chocolate chips. Add 1/4 cup almond butter and combine the ingredients together. Add almond butter as needed to bind the mixture. You should not need more than 1/2 a cup.

Moisten your hand. Pick up about 1 1/2 tbsp of the mixture and roll into a ball. Keep aside on a plate. Continue until all the mixture is used up. I like to refrigerate the bites. They last a few weeks.

Enjoy!

Oatmeal Chia Peanut Butter Energy Balls

Today I am posting a recipe with a combination of flavors mixed into a small ball. Rolled oats and chia seeds combined with peanut butter, coconut flakes and honey make a delicious snack. This recipe is quick to put together and is the perfect mid morning snack. Just one of these energy balls and you are good to go for a couple of hours. Energy balls have been on my list of recipes for the blog for a long time. I am glad I was finally able to post it. 

When my daughter came home for winter break she brought home leftover jars of honey and peanut butter. The raw unfiltered honey had turned to a soft solid mass as the temperature had dropped. And unlike the processed peanut butter with loads of additives, the organic peanut butter she had was just peanut paste with very little salt. I had the rest of the ingredients on hand. The oatmeal chia peanut butter energy balls were ready in no time.

You will need (for 16 balls)
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1/3 cup dry coconut flakes
2-3 tbsp. chia seeds
3 tbsp. maple syrup
3 tbsp. organic peanut butter
1 tsp salt (optional)

Lightly roast the oats and coconut until warmed. Run through a food processor to break down into small pieces. Do not blend to a powder.

Combine with all the ingredients in a bowl. Adjust honey and peanut butter if needed. Take about a small lime size ball of the mixture and using your palm form into a ball. Repeat for the rest of the mixture. You can store it for a week or two in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!

Millet, Chickpea and Buckwheat Flour Crackers

I buy whole millets, buck wheat groats, oats and anything else that catches my eye in the Whole Foods bulk bins. I lightly roast, cool and grind each one to a fine powder in my Vitamix dry grinder. I combine all the flours and use as needed mostly for crepes/dhirdi. Lately I have used it to make crackers. When I started experimenting with different flours for crackers this mixed flour seemed like a good candidate. Last month I posted the recipe for Besan or Bengal gram flour crackers and Semolina crackers. This post was supposed to be the third of that series but for some reason I forgot to schedule it to post. So I am posting it today.

I blog with a group of fellow bloggers for a monthly event called Blogging Marathon. Posts are based on themes and one of the themes I picked this month is Elevenses. A quick google search says Elevenses is a meal from the Lord of the Rings. I have read all the books but I could not remember Elevenses. Luckily for me I now have the books on Kindle and there is a search option. The only reference was to the 'expected party' but even that was so vague I wondered why the series show up in a google search for Elevenses. Then I found it has to do with the movies and not the books. As I am a fan of the books let us leave it at that.

So what is Elevenses? Is it food eaten at eleven? The answer is yes and no. If you lived and followed the meal pattern of the country in which Elevenses originated then food you ate at eleven would be Elevenses. This would include a very light snack with a drink like tea or coffee. So would it be okay to have this meal at ten? Of course! Elevenses is really a light mid morning snack. A snack that keeps you going till lunch but is light enough to not ruin your appetite for lunch. This week I will post some light snacks.

You will need (45 crackers)
1 cup flour (I used combination of millets, buckwheat and oats)
1 cup sourdough starter 100%
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp paprika
1 tbsp. dried basil or any combination of dried herbs
2 tbsp. oil (I used olive oil)

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and knead into a ball of dough. Cover and refrigerate for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 400 F. On a piece of parchment paper roll out the dough into a think sheet. Using a pizza cutter or a specialized roller cut into the desired size. I cut the dough into rectangles.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Cool on a cooling rack.

Enjoy!

Baked Semolina Crackers

I usually take a small afternoon snack with me to work. Whole wheat crackers are my favorite. About 10 1x1 inch crackers usually suffice. I would bake the crackers over the weekend. They would make a filling snack.

After a few weeks I began to crave variety. So last month I began experimenting with different flours. Some experiments were failures and some were successful. One Saturday my husband decided to make upama for an evening snack. When I saw the fine semolina I realized it was a good candidate for my experiment. Unfortunately the experiment failed. The flavor was really good but you could taste the gritty semolina as an after taste. I realized I had to roast the semolina before I made the dough. The next attempt was a roaring success.

You will need (~50 crackers)
1/3 cup fine semolina 
1/3 cup unfed sourdough starter (100%)
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. oil
1 tsp. onion seeds (kalonji)

Place the semolina in a pan and roast it on low flame until it begins to change color. Turn off the heat and let it cool. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl to form a ball. Cover and refrigerate for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Take the ball of dough from the refrigerator and place it on a sheet of parchment paper. Roll it to an eighth of an inch. Using a pizza cutter, a knife or a decorative roller cut the dough into 1"x1" squares or diamonds. Pierce each cracker with a fork.

Place the parchment in a baking sheet. Place the sheet in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. The crackers will be soft when taken out of the oven. The will harden and turn crispy as they cool.

Perfect as a snack or with a cup of tea.

Enjoy!

Spiced Potato Wedges

Last week I had a visitor and was in need of a quick light snack, or at least one where I would not be tied down to the kitchen. I made these spiced potato wedges. I used regular white potato so they cooked up really quick. The oven did all the work.

These wedges turn out crispy and tasty. They were all gone very quickly. I had to prep everything for the pictures before they came out of the oven. They taste best right out of the oven and I did not want to let them get cold.

I used cayenne pepper with some coriander/cumin powder for the spice. You could use your favorite blend of spices.

You will need (2 servings)
3 medium white potatoes
salt and black pepper to taste
spices (I used a pinch of cayenne with a 1 tsp coriander/cumin powder)
1 tsp. olive oil

Preheat oven to 375F. Peel the potatoes and cut them into wedges. Sprinkle all the dry ingredients (except oil) and combine to coat the potatoes with them.

Place the potatoes on a rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle oil over the top. Bake for 10 minutes. Take the sheet out of the oven and flip the potatoes. Return the sheet to the oven and bake another 10 minutes until the potatoes are golden brown.

Enjoy!

Cinnamon Sugar Popcorn

Popcorn reminds us of the movies. It is the most popular movie theater snack. While the popcorn at the theater is flavored with artificial butter and coloring I used cinnamon sugar to flavor it. I have kettle corn in this space already. It is also a very popular movie theater option.

I made this as a change to the savory flavors I usually make. It has a very subtle sweet flavor.

You will need
1 cup corn kernels
1 tbsp. oil
1 tsp. cinnamon powder
1 tbsp. sugar

Heat a pan and add the oil and corn kernels. Keep the heat on medium and cover the pan. When the kernels begin to pop turn down the heat. When the popping sound stops take the pan off heat. Combine the cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle them over the popcorn.

Enjoy!

Kettle Corn

Kettle corn is a perfect corn snack. Back in Arizona one of our local Mall had a kettle corn shack just outside their doors. Whenever they started a new batch a long line would form outside. That fresh popped corn was delicious.

Popped corn is a healthy snack and is very popular in my house. I usually make it in small batches. Today I realized I have not posted kettle corn on this space.

It is not really a recipe, a little of this and little of that.

You will need
1/2 cup unpopped corn kernels
3 tbsp. oil
3 tbs. sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt

Heat oil in a pan and add the corn kernels with the sugar. Shake the pan and cover with a lid. Keep the heat at medium high. When you hear the kernels popping shake and swirl the pan every 15 seconds. When the pops are a few seconds apart take off the lid and transfer the popped corn to a bowl. Sprinkle salt and mix well.

Enjoy!

Honey Roasted Peanuts

Yesterday my daughter asked me to buy her some honey roasted peanuts. I thought I could do better, I could make her some. This was my first attempt at making candied nuts. My goal was to get them to taste sweet with a hint of spice. I think I managed that and more. The nuts are crunchy and sweet. The spice is evenly distributed.

Next time I will skip the nutmeg and add cardamom instead.

You will need
1 cup peanuts
1/2 tsp. cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp. cardamom powder
3 tbsp. maple syrup
3 tbsp. sugar
a pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 325 F. In a bowl mix all the ingredients except the sugar.

Transfer to a baking sheet covered in parchment paper. Roast for 15 minutes or until the nuts are brown.

Cool and mix together. They will have a honey glaze.

You could stop at this step but I did not want them to be sticky. So I sprinkled sugar over the top. That gave the nuts a matt finish and dried them up some.

Enjoy!

Pepper Lime Potatoes

There are a variety of ways in which baked potatoes can be flavored. Today I used small red potatoes with chipotle red pepper in adobe sauce and lime. The peppery lime dressing is poured over the top of the baked potatoes.

This makes a great snack. You can change the amount of the red pepper to adjust the level of heat. I adapted the recipe from here.

You will need
5 small red potatoes
1 tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper
3 tbsp. cilantro

For the dressing
1 chipotle red pepper in adobe sauce
2 tbsp. lime juice
1 tbsp. lime zest
1 clove garlic
3 tsp. olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 F. Wash and dry the potatoes then cut them in quarters. Sprinkle salt, pepper and olive oil over the potatoes. Toss to coat. Layer them on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes turning over every 10 minutes.

In the meantime, crush and mince the garlic and zest the lime. Extract one pepper from the adobe sauce and mince. Remove the seeds before you mince if you want to cut down the heat.

Mix the ingredients for the dressing in a bowl and whisk them together.

When the potatoes are done let them rest for a couple minutes.

Mix them with the dressing and chopped cilantro.

Serve.