In pursuit of low-fat treats - I'm sticking to my resolve to reduce my cholesterol by eating less saturated fat.  We've been having great meals with lots of flavor, color and variety, but, I am a snacker. I need more than three meals a day.  In the past I've relied on a handful of nuts here and there, or a rice cake with almond butter to get me by.  Now that I'm trying to avoid the additional fat I've reduced my intake of nuts.  I do eat a lot of fruit, but would like to add more protein to my snacks.

I've discovered that a tall glass of freshly made carrot juice, with a few of these crisp and spicy Chickpeas is just the thing.  Crunchy, with a little salt and Middle Eastern style spice, these make a great nutritious snack.

I make a lot of hummus, and have always used canned chickpeas.  For some reason I thought that it took an inordinate amount of time to cook dry chickpeas.  Not the case.  I parboiled, then cooked these beans in far less time than I imagined, I think it was about an hour.  If you don't want to bother with dry beans, I'm sure that canned would work just as well.

Crunchy Chickpeas

2 cups of cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
1 TBS olive oil

1/2 tsp each of salt, pepper, ground cumin, and ground coriander
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Drain well and blot the chickpeas dry.  Toss with the oil, salt, and spices.  Spread on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until golden brown and crisp.

The next time I make these, which will be later today, I'm going to add whole cumin seed.  A nice healthy addition to the snack table.