Spiced roasted chick peas

after finally managing to buy AND soak 2kg of chickpeas without mishap (!!) i decided to make roast chick peas - these are soooo yum!!

so this is the recipe i had found previously. i'd found it when bloglines was down and so had saved it to my bookmarks rather than here on this blog, so it took me a while to find it (i never use my bookmarks lol). in the meantime i found this recipe which sounds yum, i love spices! (in case you didn't guess ;p)

so i've made them, i used some:
paprika
cumin
coriander
turmeric
salt
olive oil that had been on my minced garlic in the fridge

after a comment from kristen i turned the temperature on my oven down so they would cook slower and not burn! in the end i turned the oven off and left them in there. i've just tried them and they taste ok (needed more salt) but the texture is not great - they are chewy rather than crunchy. will this change when they cool or do they need longer cooking? (i've put them back in the still-warm-but-cooling oven even though there were a few just burnt peas in there)

i'm really hoping these are yummy and end up crunchy as they will be a great ww core snack for me (and ryan and rora love chick peas too)

just updating this post to report back on how they were - i had a few crispy ones in the batch but on the whole they were kind of soggy. after being put in an air tight storage container they all went soggier and soggier. tasted good still but really chewy to eat :( very disappointing.

Bruschetta

i love fresh homemade bruschetta! i'm not so keen on restaurant versions as they're never fresh enough and garlicky enough for my liking.

here is how i learned to make it when i lived in Italy (albeit from my english boss lol) oh and by the way the 'sch' sound in italian is actaully a hard sound so you say it like "broosketta" not (NOT NOT NOT) "brooshetta" (pet hate in case you didn't notice lol)

1 loaf firm italian bread, a day or 2 old is great, sliced about 1.5cm thick
a number of garlic cloves, peeled and halved lengthwise. larger ones are easier
good olive oil to drizzle

optional -
roma / plum tomatoes diced (removing the seeds is better but not when you're lazy like me lol), mixed with chopped fresh herbs of your choice
freshly ground salt and pepper

toast the bread on one (or both if you prefer or if it's really quite stale) side
rub the toasted side with the cut side of the garlic - be carefu not to do too much as too garlicky is hard to eat! you should get a few slices per half clove

if you're having the tomato mix put that on now (a single layer) and drizzle the lot with a little oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper

YUM!

we are still sick ("just" colds this time!) but i haven't been motivated or inspired to do much good cooking yet again. a lot of the organic express order from last week just went into the compost tonight :(

anyway, i have decided a meal plan of easy meals is called for. it's hard balancing the fact you obviously need healthier food when you're unwell but it's harder to actually DO it.

at least last night we had a good (delicious) meal - mum cooked! we always have a family meal to celebrate birthdays and last night's was a roast chicken dinner with a ton of vegies - mmmmm

tonight was quick and simple (otherwise it would have been a choice between takeaway or baked beans on toast for the second time in a week LOL)

spaghetti aglio, olio and - not pepperoncini (the traditional) - parmigiana
spaghetti, we use one packet
olive oil, ummm maybe 1/4 cup?
garlic, finely chopped - i used about 12-15 small cloves, you do need quite a bit though as it provides most of the flavour!
parmesan, grated / shaved / chopped whatever, maybe about 1/3 cup *
parsley, finely chopped, optional

cook spaghetti, drain
heat oil over lowish heat while you chop garlic
gently cook garlic until translucent (you do not want to brown it! if you were using chilli you'd cook it now too)
mix all ingredients and serve :)

* if you want the chilli (it's really really good!) just leave out the parmesan, finely chop one small red chilli and add with the garlic, don't breathe the fumes!!!

to follow we are having homemade (thermomix-made) chocolate custard :)

Dips and garlic overload!

last night's dips and breads were yummy though a bit garlic overloaded - ooops! ryan was complaining about them being spicy and i thought he was crazy as i had put nothing spicy in but it was the garlic...

i still have garlic breath this morning LOL

i made
beetroot dip - beetroot, garlic, S&P, yoghurt, sumac
bean dip - mixed beans, olive oil, lemon juice, water, parsley, salt, garlic
spinach dip - english spinach, yoghurt, S&P, garlic
carrot - carrot (lol), cumin, coriander, yoghurt, salt

all 4 dips took about 20 minutes (inlcuding cooking the carrot one) in the thermomix, including washing it between each dip! i love my thermomix lol