Wellness During Covid-19
- 3 min read

Change It Up With Chickpeas In Five Easy Steps

Chickpeas aka garbanzo beans and Egyptian peas are always in my pantry...even pre-Covid. My top 3 ways to eat them are flavored with Indian spices (chole), blended with tahini (hummus) or as the protein in my salads. Yesterday I tried two new chickpea recipes that are both super easy. 5 steps and the first step is to preheat the oven.:) The first was a flavorful and beautiful roasting of the chickpeas with an assortment of veggies and almonds. No doubt I was going to love this recommendation from Christy Halvorson Ross of Little Green. The second I was super hesitant to try. But I had spent 21 minutes the last 12 days with Bay Area trainer Katie Ring at 12 pm...so I figured I owed her to at least try these protein-packed cookies.

Thank you for the inspiration Christy and Katie!

What I love about the first recipe from Christy is that it is super adaptable. Like Jon Bon Jovi says, "Do What You Can." Put veggies in you have and love. We did cauliflower, chickpeas, finely chopped haricots verts, and corn. I also substituted extra virgin olive oil with white truffle oil. It was a hit! Thank you, Christy!

Moroccan Chickpea Sheet Pan

Ingredients:

2 cans chickpeas drained and rinsed

1 head cauliflower (purple or white) cut into small florets

1 onions cut into wedges

1 sweet potato diced

1 red bell pepper cut into strips

1/2 cup Brussells sprouts

1/2 cup dried apricots diced

1 lemon sliced into thin rounds

3/4 tsp. Salt

1/4 tsp. cumin

3/4 tsp. paprika

3/4 tsp. turmeric

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp. black pepper

3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

3 cloves garlic minced

1/4 cup Slivered almonds

1/2 cup oil cured black olives

cilantro

1 cup quinoa cooked as directed

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 425.

2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

3. Combine the first 8 ingredients in the pan.

4. Mix up the spices, olive oil, and garlic, and pour over the vegetables, mixing well.

5. Roast for about 25 minutes, stirring once in the middle, and add the almonds halfway through cooking.

Serve in large bowls over quinoa (if you're having for lunch), with olives and cilantro on top. Make sure to include at least one lemon slice with every serving!

This cookie recipe below from Katie Ring sounds like it would be healthy but taste terrible. They were super easy and actually good! I suggest you bake them, tell no one what is in them, and see what they think. They will not taste like your favorite chocolate chip cookie...but they were gone in minutes at my house. Thank you, Katie!

Protein-Packed Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups canned chickpeas, well-rinsed and patted dry with a paper towel

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (165 grams) natural peanut butter, room temperature

1/4 cup (80 grams) honey or maple syrup for vegan

1 teaspoon baking powder

A pinch of salt if your peanut butter doesn't have salt in it

1/2 cup (90 grams) chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F

2. Combine all the ingredients, except for the chocolate chips, in a food processor and process until very smooth. Make sure to scrape the sides and the top to get the little chunks of chickpeas and process again until they're combined.

3. Fold in the chocolate chips: the mixture will be very thick and sticky.

4. With wet hands, form into 1 1/2" balls.

5. Bake for about 10 minutes. The dough balls will still be very soft when you take them out of the oven. They will not set like normal cookies.

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