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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