I love them cooked in stews, ground and turned in a flour for flatbread, whole chickpeas served alongside tomatoes and mozzarella cheese as a protein source for my salads, as well as blended up and mixed with tahini as hummus. And there are SO many other ways to enjoy chickpeas!
I also like them dry roasted. If you've never had chickpeas like this, they are a great healthy snack that provides lots of crunch without a lot of salt or fat. We first started eating chickpeas this way after we moved to Genesee county. The local Middle Eastern market had them, and my husband and I would often pick them up when we were looking for a filling snack before spending the evening at church.
So I was SUPER happy when I discovered The Good Bean. They are just as in love with chickpeas as I am! I was first introduced to their company when I picked up one of their bars at a food co-op. Their Apricot Coconut Fruit & No-Nut bar was a pleasant surprise. I think the addition of the white chocolate is what tied everything together.
On a recent trip to TJ Maxx I was overjoyed to know that they sold bags of flavored, dried chickpeas as well. There were so many flavors to choose from- I was torn to pick just one flavor. I settled on the Cinnamon Vanilla. But shortly after purchasing these I attended the Grand Rapids Gluten Free Fair, and they had some of their other flavors! It was there that I was able to try the Regular Sea Salt, the Chocolate, and the Mesquite BBQ.
FYI- I stink as a photographer. This and all other photos are taken from The Good Bean website.
Cinnamon Vanilla - These lightly sweetened chickpea snacks are full of flavor without weighing you down. They taste wonderful with Chobani black cherry yogurt. I also enjoyed them as a topping on my cottage cheese and fresh blueberries for breakfast. They're really great eaten plain as well. They vaguely remind me of the cinnamon twists I used to purchase at Taco Bell, before diagnosis. These are obviously MUCH better for you though!
Regular Sea Salt- I could eat these all day. Seriously. Straight out of the bag, they are just SO good. They're a great substitute for croutons on a salad as well.
Chocolate- At first I wasn't sure about dry roasted chickpeas and chocolate mixed together. But these are SHUT THE FRONT DOOR AMAZING! They remind me of cocoa puffs, only full of fiber and not full of chemicals you can't pronounce. And to satisfy curiosity, they are great with a little milk as a breakfast cereal.Just FYI, if you're going to buy these, you might want to buy 2, because they're so good you may not want to share!
Mesquite BBQ- Of the flavors I tried, these are good but lowest on my list. I LOVE barbecue sauce and flavor, and wish these had a stronger barbecue flavor. I'm trying to think of a creative way to use them... I wonder if they would be good ground up like bread crumbs and used as a coating for chicken....thoughts?
The Good Bean is more than just a great tasting snack- they're great for you too! A serving, which is 1 oz., has 120 calories, 5 grams of fiber and 5 grams of protein. That's as much fiber as 2 cups of broccoli and as much protein as an egg.
On top of that, they are a "free-from" food- free of gluten, nuts, soy and dairy- as well as free of gmo's and hexanes. They are also Fair Trade Certified. What is Fair Trade? Fair Trade is a global movement to alleviate poverty in ways that are economically, socially and environmentally sustainable.
You can also find a plethora of recipes on their Pinterest page for roasting your own chickpeas as well as other dishes you can make with chickpeas.
But you don't have to take my word for it. The Good Bean is willing to share 4 bags of their chickpeas, OF YOUR CHOICE, with You! Outside of the above 4 flavors, they also have Cracked Pepper, Smoky Chili & Lime, and Thai Coconut. (I bet the Thai Coconut would be great on Tom Yum Soup!)
All you have to do is enter the giveaway below. Entries will be taken until Thursday June 12th, 2014. a Rafflecopter giveaway
