Chickpeas and Popcorn (The good, the bad and the soggy.)

A couple of weeks ago, I tried a new recipe that turned out to be pretty tasty and this new recipe inspired me to try something else new that unfortunately turned out to be pretty nasty and was probably a fire hazard as well!

This is the tasty recipe:

Italian Chicken with Chick Peas

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 2 tablespoons dried rosemary
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed 

Directions 

1. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Season the chicken with the rosemary on both sides; cook the chicken in the hot oil until browned evenly, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
2. Pour 1 tablespoon olive oil into the skillet. Cook and stir the garlic in the hot oil until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, cayenne pepper, sugar, bay leaf, and red pepper flakes to the skillet; stir. Return the chicken to the skillet; cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until the chicken is no longer pink in the center and the juices run clear, 10 to 12 minutes.
3. Stir the garbanzo beans into the skillet; continue cooking until the beans are heated, 2 to 3 minutes more.

Like most of the new recipes I try, this one came from AllRecipes.com.


The sauce was yummy and the chickpeas were delicious.  I like hummus but I can't really recall ever eating chickpeas in their natural chick pea form before.  

I was so excited by my new love of chick peas that I decided to try this recipe:

Roasted Spiced Chick Peas

Ingredients

• 15-oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp coriander 1/4 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a colander, drain and rinse the chickpeas. In a small bowl, combine the oil and spices, then add the chick peas and toss to coat. Spread chickpeas in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast for 30 minutes, shaking the baking sheet several times to rotate the chic kpeas. Let cool completely. These will store for 2 weeks in an airtight containe.

I got this recipe from MoneyWiseMoms and was so excited to try it.  I was hoping the chick peas would turn out crunchy and I could eat them as a healthy, crunchy, tasty snack in the afternoons.

Imagine my surprise when I was sitting at the computer and could hear popping noises about 15 minutes into the baking process.  I ran into the kitchen to investigate and discovered the peas were a poppin' - like popcorn!

I got nervous, turned the oven off and took the peas out of the oven.  So my healthy, crunchy, tasty afternoon snack was anything but. Because I didn't leave them in the oven long enough (I was afraid I was going to burn the house down!), they were soggy.  Some of them were crunchy but they didn't have much flavor.   

I alerted Facebook to my troubles and was told by one friend (hi, Pam!) that they probably started popping when the steam built up in them.  And that I should have drained and dried them better.  (In my defense, the recipe said nothing about drying them!)

I have done some research on the internet and found many recipes for roasted chickpeas and I currently have two cans of them in the pantry.  If I find a good one, I'll let you know.  And if any of you have a good one, please share and I'll be sure to try it!