All these posts are making me hungry...

lisa4you143

I eat really healthy during the day when I'm at work, then when I get home in the evening the worst munchies come my way! Does anyone have any good ideas/tips/recipes for healthy snacks? My biggest cravings are for chips and popcorn! What can I say i've got a salty tooth! :sad: I've heard kale chips are a good substitute... thinking about making those.

CaffeinatedConfectionist

I really like roasted chickpeas. You can roast them til they're crunchy, and spice them with whatever you want. Sometimes I make sweet ones with cinnamon, sugar, and nutmeg, but lately I've been making them with kosher salt and some Penzey's Southwest seasoning. You have to make sure they're pretty dry before roasting them, tho. I usually let mine air dry for a bit before putting them in the oven.
http://www.chow.com/recipes/30368-spicy-oven-roasted-chickpeas

lisa4you143

Awesome! I've tried that before in the past but they turned out mushy and I think I added too much salt. Do you used canned ones? Are they high in fat/sodium?

CaffeinatedConfectionist

I usually use dried chickpeas that I soaked & boiled myself, but most recipes seem to call for canned ones, so I assume either would work. The amount of sodium really depends on you, and how much you add. For 1.5 c of chickpeas I usually sprinkle on about 1/4 tsp of kosher salt, and then the spice mix I use has some salt in it, so it probably works out to around 700-800mg for the entire 1.5 c. The fat will depend on how much oil you use, too, but since you want to be sparing you probably wouldn't want to use more than half a tablespoon or so, which is 7g of fat. The chickpeas have about 6g of fat for 1.5c, and 22g protein. But the fats in olive oil and chickpeas are good fats, so I wouldn't worry much about that. If they came out mushy before, maybe you used a bit too much oil, or didn't let them dry enough before flavoring/roasting?