I don't know about you, but with all of the holiday eating in the past week I feel as if I have gained a good 10 pounds (I just hope I don't look that way!). I am sure most of us, including myself, are thinking about our healthy start to 2015 and eating clean. But let's not rush the holidays! There is still New Years and plenty of "YOLO" food to eat!
New Year's is all about finger food, champagne, and cocktails. Sure you may have an actual dinner at dinner time, but at all those parties happening it's all about the finger food until midnight and beyond! This recipe is 3 simple ingredients, very easy to put together (even fun for the family to make), and it's a guarantee that there will be zero leftovers. Ah, yes. The week of Christmas is finally here! Which means being with family and...cooking in slightly unfamiliar kitchens. Sure - I grew up in this house! But unlike the awesome kids on, say, Masterchef Junior, I was not cooking as a 12 year old and therefore my parents' kitchen is slightly foreign to me. The food in the fridge, however, is not foreign. In fact, it is comforting to see the foods I have come to expect to be in their fridge.
My mom has always been a fan of Mexican flavors - salsa, sour cream, cilantro, red peppers, and so on. These 4 items are practically a guarantee to be in that fridge. It may not sound very festive, but think about it! You have the red of the salsa and peppers, the green of the cilantro, the white of the sour cream...the colors of Christmas! Throw a couple eggs into the mix and you have one festively colored, absolutely delicious way to start the day! With it being holiday party season, chances are you have have been asked to bring something to a party you've been invited to. Buying something totally pre-made just doesn't seem special enough, yet making something from scratch just seems so time consuming - especially for this time of year when you have gifts to buy and wrap and work to finish up before the actual holiday. The solution? Meet in the middle and bring something semi-homemade!
I originally had planned on making puff pastry for this recipe from scratch. But then I started thinking about the day ahead of me - I had Christmas cards to make, presents to finish crocheting, grocery shopping to do...and not enough time to do all of it! Buying pre-made, frozen puff pastry sheets makes a world of difference in time management! With just a few other ingredients you'll be ready to make THE holiday appetizer people can't stop raving about. I've been having some trouble lately coming up with new lunches to bring to work. Switching between sandwiches and salads day in and day out can get repetitive and, well, boring. Buying lunch out every day can get costly (not to mention it isn't always the healthiest option). I wanted something healthy, filling, easy to eat, and most of all something that incorporated the flavors of winter.
Sage always comes to mind when I think of winter flavors - that's a given. But I can't just eat sage for lunch. I decided on quinoa since it's great to eat hot or cold and adding garlic and mushrooms to the dish just seemed right since they offer warm flavors - perfect for a cold winter's day. At any given time, there is an obscene amount of canned beans in my kitchen cabinets. Sometimes it's a nice assortment, other times it's seemingly all the same. Right now is one of those seemingly all the same times, with the "featured item" so-to-speak being chickpeas (or garbanzo beans, if you prefer). At this point, I've just about had all I can take of chickpea salads and hummus!
Luckily, I've been facing an unrelated dilemma that my giant bean collection ended up being the cure for. I've been on the move a lot lately and really lacking in the on-the-go snack department. Honestly, there are only so many times I can buy little bags of chips or packaged sweets from the deli before I start not feeling good about myself. "Chickpeas are small and finger-food friendly," I thought, "all I need to add is crunch!" And so became these crispy spiced chickpeas. |
AuthorAli is a Brooklyn based blogger and Certified Health Coach with the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, providing you with recipes to inspire you to cook more at home! She is a firm believer in knowing that eating healthy can be made easy and inexpensive if you simply know how to cook and understands that for the average person there needs to be balance between "healthy" and "unhealthy". Whether you are looking for easy weeknight recipes, delicious snacks, or want to try something new, Ali's recipes are easy to follow at all skill levels! For more info about Ali and her offerings, check out the About page. Categories
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