One Month Eating Vegan!!!!!!

I have passed the first month mark of eating only vegan!!!! I hate to brag, but yeah, I am so proud of me. It has not been easy the entire time thus far but when I compare how I am feeling now versus before going vegan, it is easy to stay on track. Some weight and inches have come off although I am not sure how much yet because I have not stepped on a scale but my clothes are fitting better and I feel "lighter" in general. I have an appointment with my thyroid doctor coming up this month so I will find out then how I am doing. For once I am super excited about this appointment, normally I am nervous about what the blood work and scale are going to reveal each visit. This time I am excited to see the positive changes in the data that I feel confident are there.

I realized real quick last week that if I am going to only serve healthy vegan food at home to the entire family, I had better provide lots of yummy vegan snacks to ward off the whines from my family. My husband and kids love chips, which are mostly vegan but also loaded with chemicals and fat. I discovered roasted chickpeas this weekend and they were an instant favorite. These yummy bites remind me of corn nuts and you can season them with just about anything you want. I have used plain salt, taco seasoning, a dry bbq rub which makes them taste like bbq flavored chips and plan on doing a vinegar and salt  version this week. These babies are so good that I have a hard time keeping them made because they disappear as soon as they are cooled.

To make these all you need to do is buy some dry chickpeas/garbanzo beans from your market. You can used the canned cooked version but for ultimate crunchy goodness start with the dry ones instead. I bought mine from the bulk bin and filed a good sized container for less than a few bucks so this is also a very economical snack as well. Once you have your dry chickpeas you will need to rinse them then place them in a bowl of water to soak. I let mine soak overnight or for approximately 4-5 hrs, you want them to be almost double in size and soft enough you can bit into.

Next drain and rinse ans spread them out on a towel of some sorts. I use a big flour sack cloth on my kitchen counter for mine. Let them dry for about 2 hours, you don't want them wet because they will chewy instead of crunchy in the end. If you are using the canned chickpeas than you will want to drain and rinse them and lay them out to dry in the same manner.

Once your chickpeas are fairly dry, spread them out on cookie sheet or shallow pan. I put the tiniest faintest amount of non stick spray on mine but if you are not concerned about the fat you can just toss the chickpeas with olive oil first. Bake on 350 for about an hour, stirring every 15-20 minutes. As soon as they come out of the oven season them and place somewhere they can cool. I usually just pour mine onto a plate to let cool.
Once they are cool you can store them in any container really, keep them in a baggy in your purse, a jar in your office or car....they are yummy and easy anywhere.

I have so many more new recipes to share with you, I can't wait....but I must because I have a ton of errands to run today and I best be getting with it.

Have a lovely day everyone!