Salt and Vinegar Roasted Chickpeas

A couple people asked me to post the recipe for these chickpeas after I raved about their awesomeness on Facebook. I got the recipe from the blog Oh She Glows, which is awesome for really good and (vegan) and (gluten free) ideas if you're trying to go that route.

So, I love chickpeas. Love em. And I LOVE salt and vinegar chips. If I ever buy a bag, it'll be gone in one day. It's that serious. So since I've discovered this recipe a month ago, I've made these bad boys 3 times. (Granted, the first time I burnt them to a blackened crisp, and the second time they were too dry and chewy, but the third time they were *just* right). They kinda take awhile to make, so if you're like me and will eat one whole can in a matter of ten minutes...double the batch. Triple the batch.

Seriously.

Okay, so here's what you need:

2 cups canned chickpeas
3-4 cups white vinegar
1 tsp Coarse sea salt
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

And here's what you need to do:

-Line a baking sheet with tin foil or parchment paper.

-Bring chickpeas and vinegar to a boil in a medium sized pot, then remove from heat. The recipe I used says to let the chickpeas soak for 30 minutes in the vinegar...but I found that wasn't nearly vinegary enough for me. So I let them soak for two hours. I knew they'd be good when my eyes burned upon walking into the kitchen. They. Were. Incredible. If you don't like vinegary things, just stick to the original 30 minute window. Or, you know, don't make em at all.
-Preheat oven to 425F.
-Drain chickpeas.
-The original recipe says to place the chickpeas directly onto the parchment lined baking sheet, then add the oil and salt and massage. My experience? Peas go everywhere. Down the oven drip pan. On the floor. Into your dogs mouth. I put the chickpeas into a mixing bowl, added the salt and oil, mixed mixed mixed, THEN put them onto the baking sheet. Preeeetty simple. And I get to enjoy them more than my dogs. *Note--cover any cuts on your hands prior to doing this. Or you will soon be in worlds of pain.

- Roast for 45 minutes, flipping once half way through. Watch them carefully after 35 minutes to ensure they don't burn. (The goal is golden, crispy chickpeas). I try them at certain points beyond 30 minutes to make sure I don't go beyond the perfect level of crispiness...if they're still soft in the middle, they're not done.

But I love chickpeas. So I'd eat em anyway.

Grocery list for a newbie vegan

This is stuff I bought today. It's a LOT because it's all start up items...the extent of my cooking in the past has been warming some frozen mashed potatoes on the stove or frying bacon:) Every week I'll just need to buy more fresh fruits and maybe some pastas. Not much else. 

Shopping list for a newbie gluten-free vegan:

*Frozen blueberries

*frozen blackberries

*frozen peaches

*frozen cherries

*fresh pineapple

*bananas

*clementines

*dried cranberries

*lemons

*avocados

*unsweetened applesauce

*coconut milk

*cranberry juice

*almond milk

*spinach

*romaine

*carrots

*vegetable broth

*onions

*brown rice pasta

*chickpeas

*brown rice crisp cereal

*coconut milk

*sugar

*brown rice syrup

*brown sugar

*baking powder

*canola oil

*coconut oil

*unsweetened shredded coconut

*course sea salt

*white vinegar

*millet flour

*sorghum flour

*tapioca flour

*almond flour

*buckwheat flour

*oat flour

*almond extract

*vanilla extract

*ground cumin

*thyme

*cinnamon

*paprika

*garlic cloves

*basil

*almonds

*chunky almond butter

*pistachios

*ground flax

*chia seeds

*pumpkin seeds

*sesame seeds

*all natural peanut butter

* dark chocolate

Taking control

When I told my friend at work that I am going to be switching over to a vegan, gluten free diet this coming new year, he had some interesting things to say. 

"No. You're going to turn all hipster. Soon you'll think you know everything there is to know about art. You're going to get all pale--you already are pale. You'll get even paler. You'll hate it. The food is so gross. Have you ever had rice pasta? I have. It's gross. And you'll... become all hipster."

Haha well, I don't know about all that. And, in regards to me turning all 'hipster,' I retorted with the fact that I did just purchase some clothing from Anthropologie. He threw his hands in the air and said it was all over. I do believe I giggled. 

I digress. I guess I don't care much for all these stigmas that go along with being vegan. Truth is, people, I've been living a constant battle with my own body since before I was ten years old. I've had surgeries, steroid shots, joint aspirations, medicinal concoctions, bone scans, MRIs, weekly injections, monthly blood tests. My mouth erupts in canker sores from inflammation in my mucosal tissue. I suffer from headaches nearly every day, also due to inflammation. It's all connected to the auto-immune disease Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. Which, I have. A blood test confirmed the genetic marker for this disease when I was about twelve years old.

Inflammation in the body is the perfect set-up for cancers and lymphomas. And not only that, but the drug I received for years growing up as a weekly injection--methotrexate--has now been directly linked to certain lymphomas in patients.

This isn't some fad, some dire proclamation of animal rights. (Although, I do deeply support that issue, but that's a topic for another day). This is just a kid who is tired of being in pain. Tired of not being able to be the normal healthy college student I'd like to be, and tired of not being in control of my own body.

I want to do what I can to stay away from proven inflammatory triggers (dairy, beef, gluten, preservatives, etc) to better my quality of life...and if it makes me some pale, art enthused hipster in the process, so be it.

Anyway, I'm already pale. So this is me taking control!

The small things

At six years old, nothing was more magical then the glow of the multi-colored lights illuminating the artificial branches of our tree every December. Pink, blue, green, yellow. Glowing in a dark room, I’d imagine the tree was it’s own secret, magical world. How amazing would it be, to shrink down into a height of one inch and live in a forest of bright, sparkling colors everywhere you turned? How enchanting? I would gather a bunch of blankets from the linen closet upstairs, and make my own nest on the floor beneath the tree. A peaceful luminescence hovered even beneath my closed eyelids. I’d love to live there, I’d think, my thoughts getting blurry and faint until I fell into a comfortable sleep. That was just a part of the magic of Christmas to me as a small child. It isn’t about Santa Clause and a pile of gifts to everyone, it wasn’t for me. It was how my mom and dad seemed happier for a moment. How icy toes didn’t matter when a snowman was being built in the eerie gray of winter as intricate snowflakes drifted to the world around me. I remember wondering how odd it was that silence could be so deafening. How calm could be so exciting, and how comfort came from a pink, fleece blanket made for me by my mama.

But, anyway. That’s how I remember it. I hope I never forget the small things.

Merry Christmas everyone

What does it feel like?

What does it feel like to lose your innocence?
Dreaming, you're blanketed in ignorance. You stumble from the reverie unknowing; you drop the covers from your unscratched body, lift your eyelids to the blinding, painful knowledge, stifle your tears, stumble forward heavily, and fall into your life.
The realization blurs your eyes, washes in rays over your chest and shoulders. The unwanted truth falls over you and you feel it envelop your neck and spine, slipping down, down to the shaky bottom, full of electricity that numbs your fingers or unleashes pain at its very worst.
Can you recover here? Here where the electricity is crippling and only the will of your mind keeps the stinging force from your soul? Yes, you can recover even here. You could learn to block it out. And you can, if you try desperately, even hold on to the sweet memories where we all once lived and breathed.
Just maybe you could try to forget. How it grabs you firmly, how it shakes violently!
It is life that wakes you, life. Realizing what has happened is looking in from the outside at the end of the beginning, and forgetting what you've lost.

I wrote this 4 years ago. My heart still aches when I read it, remembering how I felt at that time. How I still feel today.

Second dog, second apartment, second break-up

Do you see a trend here? I'll try not to make a habit out of it. If I try to get back with Tom, someone smack me. Obviously it wasn't meant to be. 3 years in a row of breaking up every autumn should have told me that. What is it with autumn, anyway? Why do I get so restless? I break up with my boyfriend, I buzz my head, I stop paying attention to whatever chemistry class I'm currently attending. At this point I'll be in college a whole extra semester just learning about divalent cations, whatever the heck those are. Just kidding. I know what those are. And for the record, I'm doing just fine in college, despite my autumn acts of rebellion.

A new beginning...

All these years talking and thinking about moving out on my own, and it's finally happening! I picked an apartment, I paid my deposit, and I move in one month! I went back and forth trying to decide if I should live with a roommate, or live with my boyfriend, etc. I decided to go with what I've always wanted to experience--living on my own. I'll have my own little studio apartment (hey, it'll be just me, AND studio apartments are much more environment-friendly!) By choosing a studio apartment, it allowed me to live in an area I otherwise wouldn't have been able to afford. And all 450 square feet of it will be mine. 100% mine. After re-reading my last post from about a month ago, I kind of laughed and reminded myself that's WHY I'm moving out to begin with...families are great, but there comes a point when living with them just causes more harm than good. My college is all paid for with scholarships, my car was paid off all at once, and I have no other debts to stand in my way. I can do this! I'm just so relieved and so excited that things are looking better. I've downsized my pets by a lot...Got rid of my 55 gal. fish tank, my hermit crabs, and most of my mice (2 little girl mice still need a home!). Oh! And I found an awesome website, petfooddirect.com, where I can buy 40 lbs of high quality rat food for only 20 bucks. That saves me 60 dollars and feeds my ratlets the best food there is. Sweet! On yet another website I found a carefresh-like rat bedding a lot cheaper than in pet stores, and better quality as well. I wish I had known about this stuff sooner...But better late than never I suppose. I just can't wait to begin this new stage of my life...I feel like anything can happen. And I'm excited to see what does=]