Salty crunchy cravings

I’ve been craving salt lately.  That’s weird for me.  Molly and Sissy are the chip lovers.  I’m more of a “drown in a vat of brownie batter” kind of over indulger.  If it’s sweet, I’m in.  But the last week or so I’ve been wanting salt and crunch.  Possibly because when I was home I had a lot more salty foods than I’m used to.  Maybe my body is going through Cresco withdrawal in the form of sodium or something.  I’ve been doing some research and I found two recipes for healthy, salty and crunchy snacks to try this weekend on snack-girl.com.  (She's got some really great stuff so check out her page!) Resist the ruffles, people, these two fun finds look to be awesome.  What are they?  Kale and chickpeas, aka garbanzo beans.  Don’t go gagging out just yet.  Let me explain.  Kale is a super food.  It has over 300% of your daily value of vitamin A.  It is loaded with other nutrients as well.  Two cups of kale only has 39 calories.  That’s a LOT of snacking and happy tongue time.  I’m going to try making kale chips.  It sounds simple enough.  And cheap!  Did I mention healthy? 

Kale Chips Recipe

(2 servings)

1 bunch fresh kale (or 1/2 pound)

2 teaspoons olive oil or non-stick cooking spray

salt to taste

Heat oven to 500 F. Line rimmed cookie sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Tear the leaves off the thick stems into chip sized pieces. An easy way to do this is to fold the leaf in half and just rip toward the stem. Put in bowl and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle salt to taste.

Bake 5 minutes or until edges are brown and kale is crispy when moved in pan.

For one serving = 90 calories (if use olive oil), 5.2 g fat, 10.1 g carbohydrates, 3.3 g protein, 2.0 g fiber, 121 mg sodium, 1 PointsPlus

Spicy Roasted Chickpeas Recipe

(4 servings)

1-15.5 ounce can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Heat oven to 450 F and line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Drain chickpeas, rinse, and put them in a bowl. Mix oil, salt, and pepper with chickpeas and spread them on baking sheet.

Put them in the oven. After 15 minutes shake the pan to ensure that the chickpeas brown evenly. Roast another 15 minutes until brown and crunchy. Enjoy warm or at room temperature.

For one serving = 161 calories (again, cut down calories and fat by using spray instead of oil), 4.7 g fat, 25.0 g carbohydrates, 0 g sugar, 5.5 g protein, 4.9 g fiber, 329 mg sodium, 4 PointsPlus

If you don’t like spicy, leave off the cayenne pepper and use some garlic powder.  Or if you want sweet and crunchy, try a little sugar and cinnamon.  Does it get any easier than that to add some variety?  And again, cheap, easy and a much better alternative than chips. If you have any other ideas for salty substitutes or ways to spruce up kale or chickpeas, please share! I will definitely let you know how these turn out!