Back In The Kitchen

I said the other day that I feel like I've been really lazy with my eating habits.  I used to cook a lot more and lately, I feel like I've been doing my best to NOT cook.  So this past weekend, as I was making my weekly dinner menu, I was flipping through the pages of my latest issue of Vegetarian Times and I found quite a few recipes that jumped out at me.  I'm finding this to happen less and less with this magazine, so I was excited to have the new options.  It's such a good feeling to put a try something new that actually tastes great--so often I try new recipes only to find that the extra ingredients that I had to buy and the extra time it took to prepare the new meal was only to choke down something that I swear I'll never make again.  It's frustrating.  OR, I really like it and no one else does, which means I'm eating leftovers for days and when it's all finally gone, I'm so sick of it I never want to make it again.  But this little snack I made the other day is not one of those recipes.  It's actually not from my Vegetarian Times magazine, but from my much loved Vegetarian Mother Cookbook.  I've seen it in there a lot, but never really tried it.  I was so disappointed that I've been missing out!  Such a quick, versatile recipe!  It's just roasted Garbanzo beans.  That's it.
Toss it with a little olive oil and seasoning and roast at 350 for half an hour.  The recipe says to use paprika or chili powder, but I used a Penzy spice blend--Fox Point.  These would be AWESOME with a little cinnamon as well.  If you like roasted pumpkin seeds these are very similar.  The recipe called for a can and 1 TBSP of oil, but I'll use less oil next time--they were way too oily.  Olivia LOVED them and so did Vince.  I don't know if the other two tried them because we made them during the day and after school is a little crazy here.

These would also be a great addition to  a trail mix,  Throw in some dried fruit, nuts and whatever else you like and you've got a power packed snack.