Roasted Chickpea Tacos

Guys- posts 3 days in a ROW?! Woot! 

Let's just say I'm taking full advantage of the "scheduled" posting feature. That, and M is partaking in a fantasy football draft tonight and currently holed up in the office on a group-google-chat with 2 of his buddies... thus, I have had plenty of time to write multiple posts to schedule :) 

Recently M's been on my case about my "obsessive" cravings for cream cheese puffs (it's off the charts, really.. but COME ON, they're so tasty!) and in general, my propensity for eating out. I got off my cooking kick while studying for the bar, since most days I was at school for breakfast, lunch and dinner. That, combined with the fact that I think I was/am getting bored with my usual rotation of meals. Needless to say it's been slow going getting back into it.

Thankfully, I follow some blogs written by creative cookers! 

Roasted chickpeas (along with kale chips) seem to be all the rage on the interwebz. SO, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to try them out. I snagged a recipe for Roasted Chickpea Tacos from The Chronicles of Ruthie Hart. 

(Side story about the chickpeas: I saw a bunch of cans in the Mexican food, half were labeled "Garbanzo" and the other half labeled "Chickpeas" but they were all mixed up on the shelf. The photos of the contents looked similar so I presumed there was only a slight difference. Nevertheless, I made sure to grab the one labeled Chickpeas. I get home, pull it out of the bag, and see Garbanzo and SCREAMED in anger. I then picked up the can and saw one side read Garbanzo and the other side read Chickpea. Turns out they're the same thing. I'm so smart. ......)

I've lifted the recipe as she had it on her blog, since I followed it exactly (except I didn't realize until too late I didn't have lime juice, so I just used lemon juice), and inserted some photos! 

Ingredients- roasted chickpeas

2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp water
1 (15 oz.) can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

 

Ingredients- tacos

Olive oil

1 tsp minced garlic

1/2 onion

1/2 red bell pepper

Hard taco shells

Toppings- guac, sour cream, shredded cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a bowl, combine chili powder, garlic powder, 

onion powder, cumin, salt, lime juice and water. Stir in chickpeas

2. Placed seasoned chickpeas on a baking sheet covered in tin foil. Make sure they are lad out evenly and not on top of each other

3. Bake for 25 minutes, stirring once during cooking, until chickpeas are slightly crispy. (I turned them half way)

4. While baking, chop the onion and bell pepper finely

5. Heat olive oil in a medium skillet and saute garlic, onion and pepper 3-5 minutes. Set aside

6. When chickpeas are roasted, spoon into hard taco shells and top with the sauteed veggies and any additonal toppings

(above) Roasted chickpeas

(below) I bought flour tortillas because I am also using them for buffalo chicken wraps later this week, so, to get them a bit crispy, I used the hot pan from the onion/garlic/pepper and some olive oil, folded the shells in half, and seared them on each side on high for about 2 minutes each:

I also made a tomato/onion/cilantro "salsa" for M (I don't like tomatoes):

I have no photos of a put together taco because we INHALED them. The chickpeas were so flavorful, and to be honest M said something I totally agreed with: he said he felt like he was eating seasoned chicken tacos, and he was right! They were super tasty and a great vegetarian alternative!

-Kelly