Roasted Chick Peas!

 In my personal opinion, I think that snacking while trying to stay healthy is super difficult!! I mean what are your good choices? Rice Cakes (gag) or how about the always appetizing vegetables? Don't get me wrong we eat a lot of veggies around this house, but no rice cakes :)  But ya know sometimes a girl just wants some chips or something! So I attempted the roasted chick peas! The first time we tried it, the recipe said to roast them and then add the seasoning, but I found it was better the opposite way!

These are no doritos, but they are actually a good and healthy snack to keep in a bowl around the house! Mr. R was a big fan, and i ate almost the whole bowl in one sitting.  For the record I don't think anything counts as healthy if you eat 5 servings, whoops.  


 So first and most important (i think) is to drain your chick peas or if you want to get fancy Garbanzo Beans (whatev.) So I drained mine and laid them out on a paper towel and repeated the process.  I used canned beans, clearly, I honestly wouldn't even know where to start with uncooked ones, and honestly I mean does it really matter.  Just to be extra healthy I used the reduced sodium ones.  I mean, I think that counts for something right?










 Then add about 1-1.5 table spoons of extra virgin olive oil to a bowl along with your seasoning of choices.  I used kosher salt, black pepper, a little garlic powder, and a favorite spice in our house, SLAP YA MAMA! ( I feel it necessary to say it in all caps.)

 Make sure they are on a single layer on a baking sheet and then pop them in the oven at 400 degrees for 40-50 minutes.  Just keep an eye on them because all ovens are different and they can burn.  Toss them around a couple times during baking and then enjoy your snack!!

I think these would be amazeballs with a ranch packet or some dill! We will be trying all different variations soon so let us know if you would like to see more recipes with roasted chickpeas!!

Sidenote: My mom asked me what all I used to season so I sent her a text that said "Kosher Salt, Black Pepper, Garlic Powder, and Slap ya Mama." In which she replied... "you better watch who you are slapping, I was just asking about the recipe."
Always Laughs around here!

Eggplant Chips

Lets be honest, everyone wants to glamorize how wonderful eating clean and healthy is... it makes you feel so much better, it clears your skin, it makes you skinny, Right? well all these things may be true but heck, it takes a lot of adjustment too!! It would be WAY easier after working a 13 hour day to pick up some fast food instead of coming home to make fish or whatever.

 But here's a funny story... I ended my 10 day cleanse last week and was able to add in red meat, so Cody and I decided that on Friday night we were going to go eat steak.  We go to SaltGrass. I ordered a filet, and it was topped with garlic butter, I asked the waiter if he could please not put the butter on the steak, after he got finished looking at me like I had three heads, he was like well we can put it on the side? and I said no thats okay, you can just leave it off... he was totally appalled. Then I get my steak and I am almost positive my veggies were covered in butter...(which 4 weeks ago was just about the only way i could get them to stay down)... I was kind of picking at them and Cody looked at me and said.. Kendel are you scared to eat those? and he was TOTALLY right!! My stomach is so sensitive that I was literally scared to touch the butter infused squash!

So I have been desperately trying new things... anything I can to make things interesting in my kitchen! Here is what we came up with!

Baked Eggplant Chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees!

 First you cut your eggplant into very thin slices-- around 1/4 inch thick... This would have been much easier with a Mandolin Slicer, which I plan on purchasing in the immediate future.

 LIGHTLY brush both sides of eggplant slices with olive oil, and sprinkle on your favorite spices
I used Kosher Salt and Ground Black Pepper with a little Garlic Powder. Do Both Sides

Put them in the oven and at 10 minutes take them out and flip them all... Return to oven and cook for 10-12 more minutes

YUMMMMM!!!!