Spicy Roasted Chickpeas

Found the below recipe in an internet search when I had a hankering for crispy chickpeas. I had friends try to make crunchy chickpeas at home and they would comment that most recipes weren't able to make them crunchy, I tweaked the linked recipe a bit and was able to get the chickpeas crunchy! Not rocket science, but I just cranked the heat up a bit and it helped immensely. I recommend this recipe to go with dinner as texture to a dish or as a healthy snack.

Spicy Chickpea Recipe Inspiration

Ingredients:
1 can of garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder or cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste ( I added about 1 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp pepper)

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 450 F
2. Put rinsed and drained chickpeas in a bowl and add the spices and olive oil. Mix well.
3. Pour the chickpeas onto a cooking sheet and shake the sheet to space the chickpeas evenly. You don't want them on top of each other.
4. Roast chickpeas in the preheated oven on a greased cooking sheet for approximately 20 minutes.
5. Shake the tray a few times while the chickpeas are cooking to move them around so they cook evenly. Keep an eye on them as well when they are cooking to make sure they are not burning, everyone's oven is a little different.
6. Pull them out of the oven and enjoy!

Meatless Mondays: Chickpea Coconut Curry

This is an original recipe but you can find other recipes similar to it on the internet. I have made curries enough at this point, they're pretty easy to throw together. I love coconut curries so much! This recipe was made for meatless Mondays! The idea behind it is to help lower your carbon footprint by eating less meat even if it's just one day a week.

http://www.meatlessmonday.com/

Ingredients:
1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 tsp coconut oil or olive oil
1 can of light coconut milk
1 tbsp of chopped jalapeno
1 cup of diced fresh tomato (I used cherry tomatoes)
1 large yellow onion, chopped or 2 small onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp of lime juice
1/4 cup (or more if you want) of chopped cilantro
1 tbsp of lime juice
1 tsp brown sugar
3 tbsp of curry powder (can use store bought spice mixes or the below homemade mix)
2 cups of brown rice, cooked
Salt and pepper to taste

Curry Powder:
2 tbsp Turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp red pepper flakes

Instructions:
1. Heat oil in a deep saute pan until shimmering. Add diced onions, jalapeno, and garlic to the oil.
2. Saute for 3-5 minutes on medium heat until onions are translucent and lightly browned.
3. Add in the curry powder and mix well with the onions, jalapeno, and garlic until the veggies absorb it. Saute for 1-2 minutes until fragrant.
4. Add coconut milk, brown sugar, lime juice, diced tomato, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring the coconut curry sauce to a simmer.
5. Add the drained and rinsed chickpeas. Simmer for about 20 minutes or until the curry sauce is nice and thick.
6. Turn off the heat and add the chopped cilantro and mix into the curry.
7. Garnish with more cilantro if desired and pour over cooked brown rice. Enjoy!

Italian Wedding Soup

This recipe was inspired by few recipes that are linked below but I made a few tweaks to make it my own, including making homemade chicken stock to use for this recipe. I'm like a pioneer woman right now. You don't have to do that to make this recipe, store bought stock is fine. This recipe is a bit involved but man it was delicious. So if you have time to make a delicious and clean eating soup, I suggest giving this one a try.


Alton Brown's Baked Meatballs
Ina Garten's Italian Wedding Soup

Ingredients:
Meatballs
1 lb of ground bison or lean ground beef
1/4 cup of parmesan cheese
1/4 cup of rolled oats
1 egg
2 tbsp of italian seasoning
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tbsp of garlic powder
1 tsp fennel seeds or fennel powder
Sprinkling of salt and pepper

Soup
8 cups of chicken stock
2 cups of water
1 large onion, diced
1.5 cups of diced carrots
3 cups of baby spinach, chopped thinly
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped or 2 tsp dried
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped or 3 tsp dried
1 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped or 2 tsp dried
1 tsp italian seasoning
1 tsp dill
1 tbsp of lemon juice
1 tbsp red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp of parmesan cheese
1 cup of cooked quinoa

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Combine all meatball ingredients into a bowl and mix together with your hands until all ingredients are very well mixed.
2. Roll small pieces of the meat mixture into little 1.5 inch high meatballs and place on a cooking sheet lined with parchment paper or sprayed with cooking spray. Should get about 20 meatballs.
3. Put meatballs in the oven for 20 minutes until cooked through.
4. Start the soup by adding onions and carrots to a large soup pot with a little bit of stock. Just enough to water saute the veggies in the stock.
5. After sauteing for 2-3 minutes add the garlic, red pepper flakes, dried dill, italian seasoning and saute until the onions are translucent and carrots are softened. 7-10 minutes on medium heat.
6. Add the rest of the stock and fresh herbs and lemon juice. Bring the soup to a boil and then turned down the heat to a simmer.
7. After the meatballs are done, let them cool and then place them in the soup. Simmer for about 10 minutes.
8. Add chopped spinach and cooked quinoa to the soup. Simmer for 2-3 minutes until spinach is wilted. Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste
9. Garnish with parmesan cheese and enjoy!

Mexican Cole Slaw

This recipe was inspired by wanting to use a head of cabbage that was going to go bad if I didn't use it on taco night, so Mexican cole slaw came to mind! The recipe is slightly tweaked from the link pasted below. If you try any recipe on my blog, it maybe should be this one. The dressing has spicy sweet sour and salty flavors, which is my favorite type of food! It's a healthier version of traditional cole slaw and has a nice zing to it. You could add this to tacos, sandwiches, or a salad.

Original recipe link

Ingredients:
1 small head of green cabbage or 1/2 head of a large cabbage, shredded
2 green bell peppers, julienne
1 small yellow onion, sliced very thin
1/4 cup of chopped cilantro
1/4 cup of lime juice
A few dashes of tabasco sauce or your favorite hot sauce
1 tbsp of maple syrup or honey
2 tbsp of olive oil
2 tsp of cumin
1 garlic clove, minced
Generous salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. After chopping and slicing the vegetables, place cabbage, cilantro, green pepper, and onion in a bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, add lime juice, maple syrup, olive oil, cumin, garlic, and salt and pepper. Whisk together and pour over cabbage, peppers, and onion.
3. Toss ingredients together until the vegetables are well coated with the dressing. Season with salt and pepper and toss again. Enjoy!