Crispy Garlic Chickpeas

"Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man." 

~Benjamin Franklin

Whoa.....I'm having a hard time getting back in the swing of things.  The holidays were an awesome sprint of family,  friends, food and celebrations, culminating with the beautiful wedding of my son Curtis and his sweet and gorgeous bride, Noelle.  We had an amazing  time in Milwaukee with his new in-laws.  I saw wee hours on the clock I haven't seen since my college days and kept going  on  pure adrenaline for  the last few days of 2011!  

Excuse my absence, but WOOOO! I needed a couple days to recover before jumping back on the blog-horse. Here's a quick recipe that I've wanted to try for months now.  It was perfect to ease back into things.  Yes, I'm late to this party, having spotted these on half  a dozen other blogs, but they were still worth sharing because most of the people I know haven't gotten into them yet.  YET being the operative word.  I wish I hadn't waited so long.  SO EASY - SO GOOD - SO GOOD FOR YOU!  Okay, I'll stop yelling now....but this is a snack to get excited about.  Put down the cookie and pick up the chickpea.  You won't regret it.  

Thanks to Jaden Hair of the blog, Steamy Kitchen for my introduction to them.  My first guinea-pig to try them, Audrey, loved  them and she and I polished off 2/3 of the batch in about 5 mins.  They shrink when you roast them, so one 15-ounce can of beans yielded a bowl-full that would be a good snack for 2 or 3 people.  You could roast 30 ounces of beans on a cookie sheet.  They would make a great snack for the Super-bowl and your guests would appreciate the healthy alternative.

Crispy Garlic Chickpeas

1 15.5-ounce can of chickpeas

1 tablespoon olive oil

Garlic salt

garlic powder

onion powder

black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Pour can of beans into a colander and rinse with cold water.  Pour beans onto a double layer of paper towels.  Use another paper towel to roll over the beans, drying them well.  Pour beans onto a cookie sheet.  Drizzle olive oil over them and roll them all over with your hand.  Sprinkle with garlic powder, onion powder and black pepper, about 1/4 teaspoon each.

Bake for 30-40 minutes until they have shrunken and browned.  Keep an eye on them at the end to make sure they don't burn.  Let cool for 10 minutes, then watch them disappear!