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.Healthier Snacks: Sweet Potato Chips and Crunchy Chickpeas.


Being allergic to wheat and other cereals means that I have to check very carefully every ingredient list in every product I buy from the grocery store. Most of the items including wheat are clear: no bread, no biscuits, no pasta, and so on, but even many of the candies, ice creams and yoghurts have it in their ingredient lists. I once bought a jar of jam and got really bad stomach cramps after eating it: wheat! I never thought they would but wheat in jam but apparently they do.



Checking the ingredients has made me realize how many e-codes, preservatives and other additives our food contains. It is quite unappealing and unappetizing. If the only thing in candy I can recognize is sugar and the rest of the list is different codes and chemical names (thickening agents, colors, man-made flavors, citric acids and carnauba wax) I’m not quite sure if I want to put it in my mouth.




The same applies to potato chips and other snacks. For example Pringles has only 42% potatoes in them, and even that is just “potato flakes” and potato starch. The rest is wheat or rice starch (wheat again!) and other ingredients I can’t even pronounce: maltodextrin and dextrose, monosodium glutamate (MSG), disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, sodium caseinate, modified food starch, monoglyceride and diglyceride, autolyzed yeast extract, natural and artificial flavors, and the list goes on.



So we got the idea to make our own snacks. They were unbelievably easy to make and tasted amazing.  Even my husband who loves chips and everything I consider too greasy and salty made a wow to never buy store-bought chips again, because the homemade version tasted so much better (and is xillion times healthier). Here are two recipes for snacks we made last Saturday; we will surely make these again!



HOMEMADE SWEET POTATO CHIPS



1 sweet potato (or two if you want more) the size doesn’t really matter, you just get more or less of chips depending on the size of your root

3 Tbsp. olive oil

salt



Preheat your oven to 225 °C.



Slice the sweet potato into as thin slices as you can. You can use food processor if you have one, or a mandolin slicer, or do as we did: the old-fashioned way using a sharp kitchen knife. You can peel the sweet potato first if you want, but we didn’t: we just washed it well.



Put the slices into a bowl and add the oil. Toss the pieces around so that they are evenly coated with oil.

Spread the chips over a lined baking tray or more if you need. I recommend you put the thinner and smaller slices on one tray and bigger and thicker ones on another. This was the thinnest parts don’t burn while the thickest are still uncooked.



Put the tray(s) in the oven. We have fan-circulated oven so I put all the trays at the same time but if you have a normal oven, bake each tray separately. Baking time varies between 10-15 minutes depending on the thickness of your chips so keep checking your oven at least a few times. The chips are ready when they become crispy with slightly browned edges.



Add the salt after taking them out of the oven. Just spread it lightly over the chips. Let them cool for a short while and enjoy!



CAYENNE ROASTED CHICKPEAS

300g can of organic chickpeas  

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp salt



Drain the chickpeas and put them in a bowl. You can use the same bowl you used for the chips. Add the rest of the ingredients and toss them around. Spread the chickpeas over a lined baking tray and bake similarly to the chips (225°C) for about 15 minutes or until the outer shell of the chickpeas starts to dry and crack. Let them cool for a while as well before serving.

 

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