Frugal Snack: Roasted Chick Peas

Spicy Roast Chick Peas.
Crunchy. Savory. So Satisfying.





 


And easy. And so frugal, too.
A real crowd-pleaser.
 
They go SO fast every time I make them!

You'll need:
Chick Peas (already cooked and drained)
olive oil
Spices
Salt

Preheat Oven to 200 C

Pour cooked chick peas into a large baking pan (I usually make at least 2 cups of chick peas. Add spices to taste - for 2 cups chick peas I use about 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper, 1-2 tsp granulated garlic, and 1/8 tsp ground turmeric. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil. Gently mix the whole thing together till well mixed. Adjust the spices to your liking, use whatever combination of spices you like best. My kids like it this way, so that's what I do.

Place pan in oven and roast till everybody is demanding to know what you're making (check on them every so often, I think mine were in the oven about an hour but I'm drawing a blank on the times now! And my oven is cooking slowly right now. I should get that thermostat checked).

Serve when cool enough to eat. Even my pickiest eater literally gobbles them up!

("This is the only way I'll eat chick peas, and if you make them every day I will eat them every day." - picky eater quote.)

No camera, so no pictures...

My friend's freezer broke. She had a package of fish fillets in there, but her family won't eat that fish, so she didn't know what to do with it. I happily offered to help... With Pesach coming, I need to buy some shmura matza that costs more than most cuts of meat! I need to save my shekels. Who am I to turn down a package of free fish? (And she gave me some other things too! Thank you friend! You know who you are!)

She recommended grinding up and making gefilte fish with it, but after I drained off all the excess water, rinsed the fillets, patted them dry... I was about to set up my food processor.

But then I decided that if I wasn't an Ashkenazi Jew I would never dream of grinding up my fish, adding vegetables, eggs, sugar etc to it. If I lived somewhere where people fished, I would probably do something else with this fish. EVEN if it tastes a bit too fishy for sensitive pallets...

I've been reading a book about a family who lives on the Bayou (in Louisiana) and they eat lots of fish. Lots of fish fried up Cajun style in a cast iron pan. And I figured, why not? So I made some spicy fried fish. And that Cayenne Pepper really helps to cover up the fishiness of this particular type of fish.

I know fried fish is not the healthiest, and should really not be eaten often. Don't worry, we don't eat fried fish very often at all - Maybe two or three times a year! I should think we'll be ok.

Here's my batter recipe:

2 eggs was enough for the whole package of fish - beaten. in it's own bowl

breading: 1 c. cornmeal, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp granulated garlic, a generous amount of parsley, 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper. You can add more cayenne, or add ground black pepper (I ran out of black pepper and keep forgetting to put it on my shopping list. I would have used it had it been here in the house. Long story how I ran out of black pepper. It involves black pepper all over the kitchen counter and floor and LOTS of sneezing!)

I dipped the fillets in egg, then in the breading. Then I fried them in oil in my cast iron fry pan (already hot before adding the fish). Cook on both sides till golden and even some flecks of black from the pan are usually considered ok when using cast iron.

It tastes great, by the way!

Oh and I don't have my camera handy today. My husband took it to work. Or I totally would have posted pictures...

Mock Mashed Potato Follow Up

So, I tried to be creative and I don't have a very adventurous group around my table. Serving new foods to kids with GERD is really never easy. They are so wary of anything new, and afraid they will get heartburn...

So last night's dinner was not so successful. They loved the soup and ate tons of salad, but almost no one ate the polenta with veggies or the mock mashed potatoes... I actually thought they were quite tasty - but not spicy, because I know my customers - but they are all a little too suspicious of new things. Next time I think I will only hit them with ONE new thing at a time.

How do you get your family to try new foods?