Got the munchies? Try this protein rich snack.

Are you noticing the changes with the fall season?  Leaves are changing colours, the evenings are cooler, it's time to layer and enjoy cozy nights. This recipe is perfect for this time of year.

This recipe holds a special place in my heart.  Years ago I had the amazing chance to go the Philippines (see my previous post about this experience) to work as a volunteer with a humanitarian aid organization.  I lived there among the people and culture for 3 months. One of the snacks I loved while I was there was cooked chick peas that were flavoured with curry and salt. You would buy them in a clear baggie and pop them in your mouth like popcorn. To this day I love chick peas and always remember the Philippines.

Chick peas are so good for you for many reasons. They are high in protein, low in fat, rich in zinc and folic acid and a healthy source of carbohydrates.

Protein Rich Snack Recipe

• 1 1/2 cups of raw chick peas (makes about 3 cups cooked) You can buy them in a can but they are so high sodium and honestly the raw taste so much better for this recipe. I tried them both with raw and cooked and the canned are more dense and mushier (still good just not the ultimate that they could be)
• 1 1/2 curry powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 2 TBSP of olive oil for your pan
• Cast Iron pan
• Salt to taste

1.  First you want to take your 1 1/2 cup of raw chick peas and put them in a pot and cover them with water (no heat needed you are not cooking them yet) and soak them overnight. This is the trick to plump them up. 

2.  After they've soaked overnight, rinse them thoroughly and put in a pot with water and cook  them until they are soft.

3.  After they are tender, rinse them again and put them in a clean towel for at least  10 minutes to get them as dry as possible (I wrapped them up like a mummy and kept batting them around to get them all dry.)  

4.  Get your pan (cast iron work really well) with oil heated up, once the oil is hot, toss the dried off chick peas in and keep shaking them in the pan.  It takes at least 10 minutes before they start crisping up.  

5.  Once they are crisped up, transfer them to a bowl. Now take your seasonings (be creative, use whatever you have on hand, I saw a recipe for blackening seasoning which would be so good but I didn't have on hand. Throw in hot sauce, whatever you want).  Sprinkle the seasoning over the chick peas tossing them to coat.  

6.  Once they cool, eat (although we can never wait until they cool down, we eat them hot:)

If you don't want to crisp them in a pan you could try (after step 3) putting your chick peas in a pan and baking them in the oven or a toaster oven. I'm planning to try that next.

What are your favourite snack recipes? Let me know in the comments below.

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Hi, I’m Michelle the founder of Two Blooms Design Studio Est. 2002. I’m in charge of production, designing all of our labels in house, photography, customer service, alchemist behind all of our scent blends, designer, creator and pretty much whatever else needs to be done.

Marvellous Matcha Superfood Shake Recipe

Photo Credit:  ohhowcivilized.com

Marvellous Matcha Superfood Shake Recipe

   

made a to cry for Matcha shake the other day on the spot. Truthfully I had been craving one the day before but was just too busy getting things done. The next day the thought came back and I knew I had to whip one up. Problem is it was so good I drank it all and forgot to take a photo. The great news is I found a great photo along with a recipe that I’ll include at the end.
Here is my recipe:

• 1-2 cups Eyeballed milk amount in a Vitamix blender (any blender will work)

• 1 TBSP of peanut butter (you can sub in almond butter or a sesame butter)

• 1 TBSP Lacuma powder (subtropical fruit of the Pouteria lucuma tree that provides 14 trace minerals and it has a caramel, maple like taste)

• 1 TBSP of Mesquite powder (ground from the pods of the mesquite plant and has a taste similar to Lacuma but it’s a bit sweeter with a slight smoky taste and it’s a superfood too)

• 1/2 tsp roughly of Stevia powder

• 1-2 tsp of Matcha powder (has 137 times more antioxidants than regularly brewed green tea)

• 2 tsp of raw cocoa powder (this is optional but wonderful if you want a nice chocolate taste)

• 1/4 cup of frozen or fresh blueberries (optional)

Take all the ingredients and blend it up well. You can add some matcha powder on top of your shake if you’d like.  To make it raw just sub in a raw nut or seed milk instead. The raw version is very good but I didn’t have raw nut milk made and was in a hurry to whip up something quick.  There are so many variations you can make with this recipe. Bananas would be really sweet and you could omit the stevia. You can add maple syrup or honey for sweetner. Strawberries would add a nice touch too.

This shake really put a zing in my step andmy craving was satisfied.

For more Matcha recipes try this page.

If you try this recipe let me know what you think?

A side note Marvelleous is spelled with one and two ll's. The Oxford dictionary uses 2 ll's and in America only one l is used. A lot of those in Europe and Australlia use 2 ll's and that is how I learned to spell it as I'm Canadian so I'm sticking with 2 ll's here.

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Hi, I’m Michelle the founder of Two Blooms Design Studio Est. 2002. I’m in charge of production, designing all of our labels in house, photography, customer service, alchemist behind all of our scent blends, designer, creator and pretty much whatever else needs to be done.

Matcha Tea Snack Bar Recipe

Photo Credit:  naturallivingideas.com

Matcha Tea Snack Bar Recipe

   

It's that time of year when summer is almost over and you are looking for healthy snacks to get you through Fall. These are perfect for on the go meals and we love to bring them to our local market where we sell as a quick snack. 

I love Matcha Green Tea lattes. We’ve even used matcha in our soap for a beautiful green colour.  There are days when I’m on the go ie. running errands and I don’t want order a meal because it takes extra time during my day (although sometimes that’s a good thing). Or maybe I’m hiking and want to pack light nutritious snacks to just munch while I'm enjoying the great outdoors. Maybe some of you have kids and want to pack them a healthy lunch snack. Or you are running out to a fitness class and want a snack after you are finished.

Granola bars have always been a fun treat to eat but adding Matcha Tea makes them extraspecial. Did you know that Matcha Green tea is full of antioxidants?  It has the nutritional benefits of 10 cups of regular green tea.  It’s rich in vitamins, chlorophyll and fiber.   It can boost metabolism and help burn calories (but you have to be watching what you are eating and exercising as I know some people think they can eat whatever they want and drink Matcha Tea (if only it were that simple).

We used to host International students at our house as we live near a university and one year a student from Japan brought us Matcha Green Tea and a ceremonial Japanese tea whisk with instructions. Every time I use it I think of her.

Here is the "Matcha Tea Go-Go Bars" in a handy recipe card. Click to read, then there is a little arrow type button on the bottom kinda pointing in one direction and if you click on that there is an option to download it.  

Tips for making this recipe. Really cut dried fruit finely or bars are harder to cut. If you leave it in the fridge too long before cutting it's crumblier. A lower bar height wise will produce a cleaner cut.

Have your tried Matcha Green Tea or used it in some special way?

See our blog posts as soon as they are published.

About Michelle

Michelle is one of the blooms and founder of Two Blooms Design Studio Est. 2002. She is in charge of production, designing all of our labels in house, photography, customer service, alchemist behind all of our scent blends, designer, creator and pretty much whatever else needs to be done.

Looking for a Wheat Free Vegan Snack?

Looking for a Wheat Free Vegan Snack?

   

We LOVE making our own flax seed crackers and you can control the amount of heat or salt you want to put in them.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 2 cups of whole flax seeds (try and get organic if possible)

• Approximately 2 cups of water

• ¼ cup tamari or Braggs or soy sauce (optional, we don’t use this but its yummy)

• Sea salt to taste (only add if you aren’t using the above)

• 1 TB fresh herbs or whatever you have in your pantry

In a large bowl cover the flax seeds with water and let them soap for at least 2 hours.  It will become quite gelatinous.  We sometimes put half the seeds in a high speed blender just to add some variety to the mix.

You want the seeds gooey and runny not a thick clump (ask me how I know this :)

Add seasonings, herbs or salt.  Feel free to add some lemon or lime juice, some heat (hot pepper sauce etc.)

Take a couple of spoonfuls and spread it thin (1/8”) on a pan or a dehydrator sheet.
Set your dehydrator or stove to 100 degree F for about 4-6 hours.

Check them after 4 hours and flip them over to get both sides crispy.  Break or slice into pieces, store in a plastic container.  Spread with humous, avocado or omit all the savoury flavourings and top with nut butter and jam. 


P.S. We are checking our comments so let us know if you try it.
  

 

Caron is one of the blooms of Two Blooms Design Studio Est. 2002. She is the dreamer, production manager and the social media wannabe. Caron is married to the word adventure and she will never stop dreaming.

Better then Junk Food Crispy Chick Peas Recipe

Raw Chick Peas Photo Credit:  ocinotes.wordpress.com

Today I'm sharing with you a chick pea recipe that I dearly love and it holds a special place in my heart.  Years ago I had the amazing chance to go the Philippines to work as a volunteer with a humanitarian aid organization.  I lived there among the people and culture for 3 months (I may chat about that experience in a future post). One of the snacks I loved while I was there was cooked chick peas that were flavoured with curry and salt. You would buy them in a clear baggie and pop them in your mouth like popcorn. To this day I love chick peas and always remember the Philippines.

Chick peas are so good for you for many reasons. They are high in protein, low in fat, rich in zinc and folic acid and a healthy source of carbohydrates.

Better then Junk Food Crispy Chick Peas

• 1 1/2 cups of raw chick peas (makes about 3 cups cooked) You can buy them in a can but they are so high sodium and honestly the raw taste so much better for this recipe. I tried them both with raw and cooked and the canned are more dense and mushier (still good just not the ultimate that they could be)
• 1 1/2 curry powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 2 TBSP of olive oil for your pan
• Cast Iron pan
• Salt to taste                                                                                                                                                               

1.  First you want to take your 1 1/2 cup of raw chick peas and put them in a pot and cover them with water (no heat needed you are not cooking them yet) and soak them overnight. This

is the trick to plump them up. 

Photo Credit:  onceuponachef.com My photo came out blurry.

2.  After they've soaked overnight, rinse them thoroughly and put in a pot with water and cook  them until they are soft.  

3.  After they are tender, rinse them again and put them in a clean towel for at least  10 minutes to get them as dry as possible (I wrapped them up like a mummy and kept batting them around to get them all dry.)  

Photo Credit:  Michelle Somers

4.  Get your pan (cast iron work really well) with oil heated up, once the oil is hot, toss the dried off chick peas in and keep shaking them in the pan.  It takes at least 10 minutes before they start crisping up.  

5.  Once they are crisped up, transfer them to a bowl. Now take your seasonings (be creative, use whatever you have on hand, I saw a recipe for blackening seasoning which would be so good but I didn't have on hand. Throw in hot sauce, whatever you want).  Sprinkle the seasoning over the chick peas tossing them to coat.  

6.  Once they cool, eat (although we can never wait until they cool down, we eat them hot:)

Photo Credit:  Michelle Somers

If you don't want to crisp them in a pan you could try (after step 3) putting your chick peas in a pan and baking them in the oven or a toaster oven. I'm planning to try that next.

I'd love to hear what snacks you enjoy whipping up in the comments below. #IBN30

To keep up with bloom worthy news. See our new blog home. 

About Michelle

Michelle is one of the blooms and founder of Two Blooms Design Studio Est. 2002. She is in charge of production, designing all of our labels in house, photography, customer service, alchemist behind all of our scent blends, designer, creator and pretty much whatever else needs to be done.