Parmesan Roasted Chickpeas

Ever have those stressful weeks when all you want to do is drown your emotions in whatever junk food you can get your hands on? 

Yupp, that's me this week. And my weakness is potatoes. For the sake of getting married in 5 months I have cut as much carbs and starchy foods as possible. 

So instead of diving into french fries or a baked potato, I decided to make baked chickpeas. I LOVE hummus and I know you can bake the whole chickpeas and they turn out with crunchy outside and soft on the inside. Just like a french fry! But chickpeas have more nutrition to them then potatoes. So they are a healthy, but very filling snack. 

Chickpeas are full of protein so they will fill you up and you won't feel guilty like you would if you indulged in a bag of potato chips that have no nutritional value at all. 

I wanted to add more flavor to them, and since I have tried Go Veggie's Grated Parmesan, I've wanted to find different uses for it. 

This snack is the perfect combination of texture and flavor. How can you not love something that is cheesy? Plus, it only takes a small handful to fill you up, so you won't be eating and eating. These defiantly cured my cravings for fries. 

Parmesan Roasted Chickpeas

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil 

1 tsp Sea Salt

1 tsp Black Pepper

1/4 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese (I used Go Veggie brand) 

2 Cans Chickpeas 

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit   

Drain chickpeas and set aside. 

In a medium size mixing bowl, combine olive oil, salt, black pepper, and cheese until well combined. Add in chickpeas and stir until they are all coated. 

On a baking sheet, spread chickpeas out in a single layer. **Add more cheese on top if you want it even more cheesy. 

Bake for 45 min. 

Enjoy!! 

Maggie Sottero Summer in Love Photo Contest

Okay, normally I'm not one of those people who is all for entering sweepstakes and getting people to vote for certain things of mine. I just usually have the worst luck with stuff like that and I don't even bother.

(Picture from Maggie Sottero website) 

But, I follow a wedding dress designer Maggie Sottero on Facebook and they're having a sweepstakes, that is pretty sweet. It's called Summer in Love Photo Contest. When you enter you get a chance to win a wedding dress and $2,000! Pretty crazy. I do have a wedding dress, but the extra money would be such a big help. So I entered, but you have to get people to vote for your picture...if you could so kindly just take a minute of your time to vote for Caleb and I! :) Here's the link https://www.facebook.com/Maggie.Sottero?sk=app_451684954848385&brandloc=DISABLE&app_data=view-vote%2Cfor-4235957 

It would be amazing if I won. But I know it's all about chance, and there is many people that have entered and have a lot of votes. Chances are slim, but I just want to try! 

Also, if you are engaged. You can enter as well! Everyone deserves a chance and I believe that whoever wins than they really needed it :) No hard feelings! 

Tips to Avoid Guest List and Invitation Stress (Plus we've reached the halfway mark!)

Wedding Countdown!

Since when did we reach the halfway point?! Time is flying by. I thought time would drag on because this has been a day I've been waiting on, for forever..excuse my dramatic side. But that's how I feel. Have you ever heard of the saying, 

"When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible"

Of course we have been living life together. But being married is completely different and it's something we have both talked about since the first year we started dating. So I'm quite eager to begin our married life together. 

I know I haven't updated lately, story of my life. But wedding planning is going really well. I'm so proud of myself that I haven't gotten really stressed or have had a complete meltdown. But I pray that it doesn't happen at all. 

I have checklists that Caleb and I look at before each month to see what we have to do. We don't have anything for July, but probably will work on stuff for August, just to be ahead of things. I think that's why I haven't lost my mind, because we are working on things ahead and keeping organized. 

Right now we have been working on our guest list and invitations. 

Some tips for invitations and guest list stress:

1. If you are making your own invites, make sure you have a program that is gong to work with your printer to print them correctly.

2. Buy extra ink! 

3. Before starting the invites, make sure you collect addresses.

4. Enlist in help. Seriously. You will want a few people double check everything! 

5. You will want return labels on the invites AND the RSVP envelopes. 

6. You and your Fiancé will make the guest list, and then it'll grow.

7. Take a deep breath when parents want to add more people, it's a big moment for them and they are proud. 

8. Always plan on the bigger amount of guests so you don't freak out.

9. Check spelling of guests names, 100x.

10. When making the guest list, count children just to get an exact amount of people who will be there. It'll help in the long run. 

It may seem early to be doing invites. But since we are having a holiday wedding, it's recommend the earlier the better. Plus we didn't send out save the dates on purpose. We knew we would send out invites early. I won't say when we are, because I want our guests to be surprised ^_^

Earth Balance Vegan Aged White Cheddar Cheese Puffs

I can't even begin to explain how excited I was when I found these. The last time I had cheesy puffs, was probably when I was 13. It's been YEARS! 

I have used Earth Balance products before and was never disappointed. So my excitement when I saw these sitting on the shelf was probably like a little kids when they see their favorite candy. No shame here. I follow Earth Balance so I saw they were coming out with these cheese puffs, but they didn't come to my store as soon as they were released. So I have been patiently waiting. I really can't say enough good things about this brand because they live up to their name. Plant based products, but they are Non-GMO which is hard to find.

These cheesy puffs are defiantly cheesy. Where I live we have a local company that makes what everyone calls the best white cheddar cheese puffs. To compare, Caleb tried these along with the local brand. He said they were EXACTLY the same! Crazy! These puffs would defiantly be a hit for the younger kids and kids at heart who suffer from food allergies.  I do notice they kind of leave an after taste, but what cheese doesn't leave a weird after taste? 

I would recommend these puffs to anyone because they are gluten free and vegan. So no animal products are used!  

Ian's French Bread Pizza

At my local grocery store, there is a small gluten free section but it's nothing to go crazy over. A lot of times there's always the same stuff, but sometimes I'll stumble across something new. I've tried a few gluten and dairy free frozen pizzas before...but wasn't impressed at all. Also it's kind of rare to find a pizza that is free of both, let alone allergy friendly. 

I haven't had many products from Ian's, so I didn't know how their products were. But in a rush because Caleb and I had plans for a pizza and movie night I needed something quick. Spotted this and was so excited to try it. I've been careful about products containing soy since I don't want soy in my diet either. This was amazing to find! 

I don't have the best pictures because 1. I forgot to take pictures the first time I had it 2. Bought again, almost forgot and 3. Now I can't find it at the grocery store. So this is the best one I have. It doesn't look like the product on the box, but that's because all the cheese has melted. I actually think the cheese amount is perfect because I don't prefer a lot of cheese anymore. The french bread, is exactly what you would think french bread to be. A crunchy outside while the inside is soft. A box contains two pizzas, which is fantastic because I get two meals out of it! 

I would defiantly recommend this to anyone. Especially if you're in a hurry for a quick meal or just can't get rid of that pizza craving. Caleb confirmed that it was pretty close to a "normal" french bread pizza. Ian's has more products on their site which I defiantly want to try since this pizza was really good.