Sweet and Spicy Roasted chickpeas

 

When I was in Maui, there were roasted chickpeas everywhere I looked.. at the grocery store or served as a complimentary appetizer at two of the restaurants we went to.. I was hooked. However, I have a feeling they either had a lot of salt or may have been fried. Ignorance is bliss on vacation.

So once I got back, I started researching how to roast chickpeas. The biggest issue seemed to be getting the all of the moisture out of the chickpeas before baking. Therefore, I decided to a) skip the oil 2) try drying the chickpeas with a salad spinner then placing them on a paper towels to absorb any excess moisture.  It actually worked really well.

 

 

 

Sweet and Spicy Roasted Chickpeas

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne chili powder
• 1/2 packet of Truvia (stevia)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Dry the chickpeas thoroughly with salad spinner and/ or paper towels.
3. Gently toss chickpeas in a bowl with cinnamon, chili powder, and truvia.
4. Place into the oven for 40 minutes or until golden brown and crispy.
5. Transfer to a serving bowl
6. Enjoy!

Still Hungry After Dinner?

You know the feeling, a little while after dinner, you are still craving something sweet before you call it a night.  This is one my absolute favorite treats.   It only has two ingredients and protein packed: trader joe’s nonfat plan greek yogurt and sugar free jello mix.  Even if you are not a fan of greek yogurt or never tried it.. I promise you will be hooked.










Take a 1/4-1/3 of greek yogurt, a pinch of sugar free jello and mix it all together. Then place it in the freezer for 10 minutes and enjoy. I have played around with this recipe and added a 1/2 tsp. of almond meal and it tastes more like a healthy cheesecake.




What is your go-to snack at night?

A great way to start your day: Wheatgrass

 

One of my favorite ways to start my day is go to the local juice place after my morning workout and get a shot of wheatgrass. It gives me such an amazing feeling over all well-being. I can barely articulate the feeling it gives me (kind of like a yoga high).

 

What is Wheatgrass?

Wheatgrass is grown from the wheat seed (wheat berries), which is the whole kernel of the wheat grain. Wheatgrass provides a concentrated amount of nutrients, including iron, calcium, magnesium, amino acids, chlorophyll, and vitamins A, C and E.

 

 

Benefits of wheatgrass

+ Increases red blood-cell count and lowers blood pressure.

+Cleanses the blood, organs and gastrointestinal tract of debris

+Stimulates metabolism and the body’s enzyme systems by enriching the blood.

+Stimulates the thyroid gland, correcting obesity, indigestion, and a host of other complaints.

+Restores alkalinity to the blood. The juice’s abundance of alkaline minerals helps reduce over-acidity in the blood. It can be used to relieve many internal pains, and has been used successfully to treat peptic ulcers, ulcerative colitis, constipation, diarrhea, and other complaints of the gastrointestinal tract.

+Is a powerful detoxifier, and liver and blood protector. The enzymes and amino acids found in wheatgrass can protect us from carcinogens like no other food or medicine. It strengthens our cells, detoxifies the liver and bloodstream, and chemically neutralizes environmental pollutants.

Today is a new day

As most of us are still with heavy hearts as the details of the Boston
Marathon unfold, we must take this as an opportunity to not only be
grateful, but to really think about how we live our lives each day. Are we
living life to fullest? Are we making the most of who we are? Have we told
our family and our friends that we have loved them lately?  These are some
of the questions on my mind.  


Unfortunately this tragedy hit really close to home as I not only had
friends and friends of friends running in the race, but my cousin was also in
the race. He was only a half a mile from the finish line when the two bombs
went off. What is even more unsettling is that my only uncle was waiting at
the finish line to see his son finish his first marathon.






Thankfully, he was not hit nor injured. What is even more remarkable is that
he jumped to help nearly a dozen of the victims as soon as the incident
occurred.  He was a TRUE first responder and is a HERO (he was watching as
civilian, but is  both a firefighter and a nurse). 






What are the chances of that? How many people would not think twice
about risking their lives to help other?  I cannot imagine what he must have
seen (meanwhile not knowing if his son was alive or dead). Why were others
spared and and others not? While we can not make sense of these tragic
events, we can take what we can from it and live each day like it’s our last.





This made me think of the Steve Jobs when he addressed Stanford in 2005.




“When i was seventeen i read a quote that when something like if you live each day
  
as if it was your last someday you'll most certainly be right

It made an impression on me and since then for the past thirty three years

I've looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself yesterday were the last day

of my life what i want to do what I'm about to do today

and whenever the answer is been known for too many days in a row

I know i need to change something

remembering that all be dead soon is the most important role I've ever encountered to help me make the big

choices in life because almost everything

all external expectations all private all fear of embarrassment of fail

these things just fall away in the face of death

leaving only what is truly important

remembering that you are going to die is the best way i know to avoid the

trap of thinking you have something to lose

you are already naked

there is no reason not to follow your heart”






What are you waiting for?

Current Obsessions: Spring cleaning edition

I hope everyone had another long weekend. The month of February always flies by. I feel like March is definitely the longest month of winter in Oregon. I am sooo ready for it to be  spring. 

1. Clarisonic Mia: Thanks to the recommendation of my bf Liz, I got this little gem this Christmas. I use it about 3-4 times a week and it is life changing! My skin feel so clean and smooth. Plus, it gets rid of all of the dead winter skin and helps provide that healthy glow. I use this along with the Skinceuticals Retexturing Activator.

2. Kombucha Mama: I’ve talked about the many benefits of K before, but this local brand is my absolute favorite. I buy it by the growler and my favorite is pomegranate lemonade for sure.

3. Shark® Steam Mop – S3101: Macy’s had a great sale this weekend and I couldn't resist. I was so over the Swiffer and semi-clean floors. This was also recommended to me by a friend and it is amaze. Sadly enough, I was so excited to use this puppy, I broke it out as soon as I got home. It plugs into the wall and requires for you to just add water.. no cleaner. I couldn't believe how clean my floors looked.

4. Yogi Berry Detox Tea: Some detox tea can literally taste like you are drinking twigs.. this stuff rocks.

Chocolate Covered Pretzel Slims TJ's style

I hope everyone is having a nice Valentine’s Day!  Why not show my appreciation with a super messy, but super easy salty sweet homemade gift.

The ingredients: Trader Joes Pretzel Slims & Belgium dark chocolate, festive sprinkles, wax paper, and cute Target boxes to put them in

If you don’t have a double boiler like do, then go ghetto style like me with two different size pots… water on the bottom and chocolate on the top.

Dip the pretzels in the chocolate, shake off the excess chocolate, and put down on wax paper and use sprinkles. Then let them cool for about an hour.

Yum…..

Enjoy the leftovers 

MIA & Little Bro’s 30th celebration

I am still so tired from being gone for 2 weeks. I was in Salt Lake City, Utah the first week for work and then flew home to Boston to see the fam. It was great, but it went by way too fast as usual. Too many loved ones to catch up with and not enough time.  It’s definitely not a bad problem  to have in life. Each time I go home, it reminds me how fortunate I truly am.

I will do a full recap later on this week, but I want to share this..  

Honestly, how cute is she? She may or may not have gotten her cheeks from her Auntie Nicole.

I was so excited as my “little” bro and his family Amy and little Emma. They were able to come down from NY to celebrate his 30th early.

I think he was a little upset he didn’t have toy trucks on his cake like back in the day.

One of many cannolis consumed on this trip. I really should have named this blog spinning and cannolis.