Roasted Spicy Chickpeas (Vegan)

These are delicious on top of salads or as a healthy, crispy snack.

1 can of organic chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained (reserve juice*)
Sea salt or APB seasoning

1) Drizzle chickpeas with olive oil, stirring lightly to coat. (I omit this step and it works fine.)

2) Season with sea salt, if you're serving children or a tame crowd. For the more adventurous, season with APB or other favorite such seasonings.

3) Line baking pan with parchment paper and spread chickpeas in a single layer.

4) Roast in a 450 degree oven (I used my toaster oven, on convection) until crispy, stirring once or twice, 10-20 minutes or so. Just watch them.

Who knew these even existed, or how easy they were to make?!!

When you're on an elimination diet, you're desperate for some crunch and spice. These little buggers deliver on both!

*Chickpea brine, the liquid drained from canned chickpeas, is known as aquafaba and can be used for many things. It makes a wonderful vegan whipped "cream" or for making GF, oil-free, vegan granola.

Sweet & Salty Party Mix, Dowdy Style

This recipe was originally a teacher gift from Cheri's son one year. It is a nice sweet-salty-crunchy taste, and we thought it would be nice among the passed appetizers at Evie's wedding. It was pretty in little serving cups on the trays, and they made nice dividers on the trays themselves. The original recipe was modified, Dowdy-style, from a Pampered Chef recipe of the same name.

Ingredients:
10 c popped popcorn (not microwave)
6 cups miniature pretzel twists
4 cups dry-roasted salted peanuts
4 cups oven-toasted rice cereal squares (not wheat)
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup corn syrup
1 tsp baking soda

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 300°F.  In Stainless (6-qt.) Mixing Bowl, combine
popcorn, pretzels, peanuts and cereal; set aside. Combine butter, brown
sugar and corn syrup in (2-qt.) Saucepan. Cook and stir with over medium
heat until mixture comes to a boil. Continue to cook without stirring 3
minutes. Remove from heat; carefully stir in baking soda.

2.  Pour caramel sauce over popcorn mixture; stir until evenly coated. Spoon
onto Large Bar Pan; bake 30 minutes, stirring every 10 min. Remove from
oven.

3.  Transfer popcorn mixture to large piece of Parchment Paper. Cool
completely, breaking mixture into clusters as it cools. Pour into Large
Bowl.

Yield:  24 cups

Cook's Tips:  This recipe can be stored in an airtight container for up to
three days.

Do not use dark brown sugar when preparing this recipe as it may alter the
taste and appearance.

Evie's Yummy Kale Chips

1 bag washed/prepared kale (Trader Joe's bag makes one batch; huge Costco bag makes four)
olive oil
sea salt
grated parmesan cheese (opt.)

1) Separate the kale leaves from the kale stalks. (Save the stalks for smoothies, or for dog treats.)
2) In a large bowl, drizzle kale generously with olive oil and massage the oil into the kale until it's well-coated.
3) Spread kale evenly over large cookie sheet. Sprinkle with salt.
4) Bake at 325 degrees until dry and crisp (20-30 minutes).
5) Sprinkle immediately with parmesan cheese, if desired, and serve.

Chef's notes:
* These will go through a stage during cooking when you smell them strongly and therefore think they're done. Check them, but usually they're not. They usually move through this "smell them" stage and into another stage where you don't smell them anymore, before they're done.
* These will be light and crispy and airy when they're done.
* These take a long time (low and slow) to cook, but be careful not to overcook (burn) them. They're not good that way.
* One batch is not usually enough for any significant quantity of people.