Crispy Oven Roasted Chickpeas

I actually made this a couple weeks ago, but have been super busy wedding dress shopping and St. Patty's Day partying. :P I had a bunch of chickpeas (made from dry) that I needed to use fast, since they're only good a few days after you cook them. And I found a snack recipe for them! They turned out great. I actually took them on a Color "Run" 5k that my friend and I did, and these were a good pre-run snack while we were waiting for the run to start.

Original recipe here

Servings: 10
About 172 calories per serving  (~100g per serving)

Ingredients:
5 cups garbanzo beans/chick peas (canned or cooked from dry)
3 tbps olive oil
2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp salt
2 tsp cayenne pepper

Step 1: Drain and rinse chickpeas, if not already done. Lay out on paper towel to dry.
Step 2: Preheat the oven 400°F.
Step 3: Combine olive oil, cayenne pepper, garam masala, and salt in a bowl.
Step 4: Place chickpeas in a medium to large bowl.  Pour the spice mixture over the chickpeas and toss until coated.
Step 5: Spread chickpeas on a baking sheet (I lined mine with aluminum foil). Make sure they're not too tightly packed.*
Step 6: Bake for 35 to 45 minutes.  Carefully shake the tray a couple times between cooking.**
Step 7: Remove from oven. Serve hot or room temperature.

*I had to use two baking sheets to have them spread out. If you have too many on one sheet, they take longer to get crispy.
**I shook tray at 15 minutes in and 30 minutes in.

Recipe's time estimate: not listed
My total cooking time: 50 minutes (5 minute prep, 45 minutes cook)

As you can see, this recipe is SUPER easy. And so yummy. I ate a whole serving right when they came out out the oven. Sooooooooooooo good. They're still good after they've cooled, and even after a couple days (stored in ziploc bags), but they're the best right out of the oven.

Ingredients

Step 3

Step 5 - This tray took a little longer to get the peas crispy

Baked Nian Gao with Coconut Milk

Chinese New Year just passed. And I was sad to miss my family party AND new year's cake! So I decided to make my own! A couple years ago I made a Baked Nian Gao cake, and although I liked it, it wasn't too popular. So I hunted down a different recipe. And this one turned out sooooooooooo GOOD! Rather addicting. One of my favorite recipes now!

Original recipe here

Servings: 24
About 181 calories per serving

Ingredients:
3 cups of glutinous rice flour
1 cup canned coconut milk
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
4 eggs
2 tsp salt

Step 1: Line a 8 x 8 inch square tin with parchment paper.
Step 2: Pre-heat oven to 350F.
Step 3: Mix butter, coconut milk, sugar, salt and water in large bowl, until sugar is dissolved.
Step 4: Add eggs. Mix well.
Step 5: Add glutinous rice flour. Stir until well combined.
Step 6: Strain mixture into baking tin (I used a mesh rinse/drain bowl, like that used for washing veggies or draining pasta).
Step 7: Bake in the oven 45-90 minutes or until the cake is set. Cool completely for at least one hour before transfer out for cutting into desired size.*

Recipe's time estimate: not listed
My total cooking time: 2 hours (30 minute prep, 1 hour 30 minutes cook)
Does not include cooling time or overnight setting.

*I waited at least two hours before cutting, the cake was still pretty warm despite being on a cooling rack. And the cake was still pretty gooey. It tasted good, but the consistency was off a little. However, after the leftovers sat overnight, the consistency was PERFECT (a little more solid). So it would be best to make this the day before OR at least several hours before serving.

Also, the original recipe cook time was 30-45 minutes. When I checked the cake at 45 minutes, it was still pretty liquidy and not set. I kept adding 10-15 minutes to the cooking time. I probably left it in longer than I had to, but I wanted to be sure it was fully cooked, and the top wasn't burning so I felt it was safe to leave in longer. I ended up leaving it in for almost 1.5 hours.

I took the leftovers to work the next day, and everyone loved it. Many asked for seconds!! And it took all my will power to hand it all away so I wouldn't sit there and snack on it. So I will definitely be making this again. But I might use a larger baking tin or maybe try a higher cooking temp, to try and speed up the cook time.

Ingredients

Step 1

Step 4 

Step 5

Step 7 - completed cake before cutting

Slow-Cooker Barley and Chickpea Risotto

I've been eating pretty badly after I get home from work...either because I snack on random stuff, or each too much pizza during MTG night...or because I don't feel like cooking. So I wanted to pick something easy that was healthy....AND I wanted to use barley, because I'd just read an article saying barley was a good add-in for healthy eating. So I found the this recipe on Pinterest and it sounded pretty simple. That's what I based my attempt on (I changed some things slightly and doubled it up since I have a large slow-cooker).

My mistake....trying to start with dried chickpeas...without looking up/remembering that not only do they need to be soaked overnight (which I did), they need to be cooked in a pot of water for an hour and a half (which I didn't). So that was stressful, there I was in the middle of preparing all this stuff to toss into the slow-cooker and....I had no chickpeas.....Go me.

BUT...I ran to the store and grabbed some canned chickpeas really quickly, and finished setting up the slow-cooker. The rest of the prep was pretty easy. AND IT WAS GOOD.

Servings: 10
About 291 calories per serving

Ingredients:
3 tbsp olive oil
30 baby carrots, chopped
3 tsp garlic powder
1 head cauliflower, cut into small florets
1 yellow onion, minced/chopped
3 tsp dried thyme
2 1/2 cups pearl barley, rinsed
2 cans (15.5 ounces) garbanzo beans (chickpeas), rinsed and drained
5 cups beef broth (prepared from beef Bouillon)*
2 1/2 cups water
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
3 tbsp lemon juice
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

*can opt for vegetable or chicken broth, per original recipe

Step 1: Heat oil in large skillet or saucepan over medium-high heat. Add carrots, garlic, cauliflower and onion. Cook until veggies begin to soften (about 5-8 minutes), stirring occasionally.
Step 2: Stir in thyme and barley; cook 2-4 minutes, stirring frequently.
Step 3: Transfer mixture to slow-cooker. Stir in garbanzo beans (chickpeas), broth, water, salt and pepper. Cook on high about 2-1/2 hours or until barley is tender and most liquid is absorbed.
Step 4: Stir in lemon juice.
Step 5: Serve; top with parmesan, if desired.

Recipe's time estimate: not listed
My total cooking time: 3.5 hours (45 minute prep*, 2 hour 45 minutes cook)

*My prep time is exceedingly long because I kept running around trying to figure out the garbanzo beans/chick peas. My estimation is that regular prep should take no longer than 20-30 minutes. And most of the cook time is just letting it sit in the slow cooker!

I'll definitely be making this again. I had a ton of left overs, and it reheats REALLY well. I even mixed in some crushed red pepper to give it a little kick, and that worked out great! Super easy (minus the chickpea fiasco) and some down time do work out or clean or whatever floats your boat! This recipe actually work perfectly for me, since I usually get home from work around 3-4, so even if I need to prep everything right then, dinner would still be done around 6-7. And since this is a one-pot meal (it's got veggies, protein, and carbs), you really don't HAVE to serve it with anything else....just eat more of it. ^^

Ingredients

Prepped carrots & onions (used Pampered Chef food chopper)

Rinsed Barley

Step 3 (Everything mixed in the CrockPot!)

Step 5 (already topped with Parmesan)