Healthy and Delicious Roasted Garbanzos

Okay, so this one isn't going to be much of a fancy recipe, but still totally delicious.

With the holidays fast-approaching, it's easy to go overboard with all the baking.  Unfortunately, many holiday treats aren't exactly the healthiest goodies out there, and if you're like me and have to watch what you're eating, sometimes you want a healthy snack that doesn't sacrifice flavor.  One of my favorites is roasted garbanzo beans.

The recipe itself is pretty simple, and only requires a small handful of ingredients.  Garbanzos are a great source of fiber, protein, and helpful antioxidants.  Roasted garbanzos are a great healthy snack when you're craving something in between meals and also easy to take along with you if you're on the go (just toss in a zip top baggie and toss in your bag).

I used all spice and a few dashes of salt this time, but one of the great things about this recipe is the fact that you can switch things up with an endless combination of spices.  Also, I tossed mine in some olive oil, but if you'd prefer to leave that out, you can also dry roast these and sprinkle the seasonings on as soon as you pull them out of the oven.

Roasted Garbanzo Beans

1 can garbanzo beans, drained
2 TBS Olive Oil
All Spice seasoning (to taste)
Large pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 375ºF and line a baking sheet with foil (for easy cleanup).

Drain, rinse, and pat the garbanzos dry with a paper towel and transfer to baking sheet in a single layer.  Drizzle olive oil over the garbanzo beans and toss (don't be afraid to get messy and use your hands!) to coat evenly.  Next, sprinkle all spice and salt (or your choice of spices) evenly over garbanzos and toss again.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, giving the pan a shake about halfway through to rotate the beans around.

Treat Day Wednesday!

I absolutely love to bake.  I also absolutely love to eat.  I personally believe that the best treats come from chubby bakers.  The problem with that is, I'm also in the military where we have to be "fit to fight" at all times.  Unfortunately, I wasn't born with those magical "skinny genes" that would allow me to eat anything and everything without gaining a pound.  With my wonderful husband (who is also in the military, by the way) stationed 450 miles away, you can see my dilemma.

Who's gonna eat all these goodies?! 

Co-workers, of course!  My colleagues and I have established an unofficial weekly holiday we like to call Treat Day Wednesday.  Every Wednesday, treats are shared between our group of 16.  With most of us being on some sort of diet to maintain weight, what's one small bite of indulgence amongst friends?  After all, there are no calories if you share, right?

Being right in the midst of pumpkin season, what better way to kick off my blog, and Halloween a little early, than with oreo-crust mini pumpkin cheesecakes?!

Black Bottom Pumpkin Cheesecake
makes 24 individual cheesecakes (with some batter left over while you're waiting)

Ingredients:
24 Oreos
1-8 oz. package full fat cream cheese, softened
1-8 oz. package reduced fat cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup pureed pumpkin
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice*
salt (just a pinch)

*If you don't have pumpkin pie spice on hand, you can also use a mixture of nutmeg and cinnamon (equal parts, or to taste)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350ºF

Line a regular sized muffin tin with paper liners, and put one Oreo cookie in each up. 

In a large mixing bowl, beat both packages of cream cheese along with both brown and granulated sugar with a hand mixer until smooth.  Add remaining ingredients to the bowl and mix on medium speed until batter is smooth and fully combined.

Spoon batter evenly into muffin tins (I used about heaping tablespoons for each well).

Bake at 350º for about 20 minutes or until cheesecake mixture no longer jiggles and appears to have set.  Let cheesecakes cool on the countertop for a bit, before placing in the fridge to cool overnight. 

If you want, you can top each mini-cake with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprink of cinnamon, but they're definitely good enough to enjoy without.

Store any uneaten cheesecakes in the refrigerator (these also store well in the freezer, just stack cheesecakes in a plactic tupperware container with a sheet of parchment paper separating the layers)

                                      Please excuse the terrible photo...I'm new at this :)