Road Trip! (I wish! -- I mean cross country airline trip with LOTS of baggage)

We travel. A lot. When your husband works on the opposite side of the country from which you live and you refuse to give up something you love that pays you in hugs and kisses (and not really your pocketbook,) maintaining a relationship is left to skype, phone calls and lots of air travel.

Now that I am obsessed with not eating things like GMO's and food that isn't "real," it puts a whole new spin on how hard it is to travel. Especially when you tend to pack heavy and your entorauge through the airport includes a toddler and two dogs.

While we have perfected getting through ticketing and security (we can totally beat any well traveled businessman, toddler & carry on terrier included - which I think is hilarious because everyone avoids getting behind us in line. Ha! Jokes on you. I rock security. I also have similar feelings to the nasty looks I get when boarding a plane with my child. I get all my kid has probably traveled more than you dude save your looks for the rookie parent travelers.)

One thing I know about air travel is it is unpredictable. Just when you get used to everything being delayed and running to try and catch your connecting flight, everything is on time or early and you actually have extra time to seek out something yummy (and as healthy as you can find in an airport- good luck!) to eat.

Either way, when we stop I have two priorities - a potty break for B (which is sometimes a change as we are in the middle moving to the end *fingers crossed* of potty training) and a potty break for the little dog. (She will chews holes in her carrier if she doesn't get a potty break. Keeping her claws and teeth of of the mesh that holds her in the bag for the entirety of a 4+ hour flight - not fun for my back or my scratched up hands or the drunk lady on the 9 a.m. flight who accused me of abusing and suffocating my dog since I had my hand in her bag the entire time. But that is another-get-me-fired-up-story.)

I have found these two potty breaks take presidence and whatever we have time for after is great. In case there is no time left at all, I have a nice list of go to airplane (or car) friendly snacks I love to pack.

Quartered strawberries in a few small tupperware containers
Blueberries in small tupperware containers
An apple or two
Clementines
Sugar snap peas
Carrot chips or sticks (B still needs them small) or baby carrots

And small baggies of:

Almonds
Cashews
Raisins
Dried Apple Rings (make sure all fruit is no sugar added)
Shakeology packets

All super easy and nothing requires cooking or baking on top of trying to get your life packed into a suitcase (or 6. Okay, maybe 8.) That is what I need when we are making our yearly trek to wherever John is working. I have enough to worry about with trying to get the dogs' healthy travel certificates and making sure I don't forget whatever stuffed animal has the coveted favorite-B-can't-sleep-without-it spot. (Forgetting that is a melt down on a plane stuffed with angry travelers waiting to happen.) I try to keep it simple with things I can partition into snack size baggies or small tupperware containers. I can just pass out the snacks when we are on the plane and not get sucked into buying one of those overpriced snack boxes full of processed goodies. I also vary the fruit to what is in season (or on sale.) If it is a winter trip, you will not find me buying strawberries and blueberries.

Happy Travels!

The next best thing to salt and vinegar chips (and how I handle those crunchy, salty cravings)

I've never been a huge chip girl. I am more of a chocolate or artificial cheese flavored popcorn kind of girl. But every once in a while I get a hankering for some greasy, crunchy chips, preferably salt and vinegar flavored. The stronger, the better. I could eat them until it feels like there is a hole being burned in the center of my tongue from the vinegar-ness. They were the one snack food my mom would cave and buy if I was having friends over. (Typically we lived in a no junk food house.) So eating salt and vinegar chips not only gives me a party in my tummy but there is that deep seeded association that they are for super fun times. (Yay sleepovers!)

I am trying to avoid processed foods and really commit to clean eating, I knew I had to find another way. And since I don't really eat meat, I knew if I could get some more protein in my diet, it would be killing two birds with one stone. I turned to my friend the garbanzo bean. I knew they could be roasted and get super crunchy but I always found that I burnt them before I could get them good and crunchy. They were often burned on the outside and still soft on the inside.

So I channeled a much more patient person and tried to get them to take over my body to cook these
babies for me, because I knew what I had to do. Lower the temp and lengthen the time. (I am so not patient. At all.) I picked a time when I knew I would be home and I knew I would be preoccupied (like sitting at the dining room table and writing a blog post.)

I set the oven temp to 250 and let the oven preheat while I rinsed the garbanzo beans (Typically I use dried beans - it's super easy as long as you think ahead. I had some cans on hand for dinner emergencies and since we are moving across the country again I figured it would be smart to use them up.)

Make sure to dry the beans after they are rinsed. This really helps. I like to cook mine on parchment paper so if the paper gets wet from the beans it takes even longer for them to roast (and for this impatient chick right here, it takes long enough as it is. I don't need to add any extra time to this recipe.)

And I set the timer for 25 minutes. And I stirred them. And I set the timer for 25 minutes. And I stirred them. And I set the timer for 25 minutes and I stirred them (you get the idea.)

They roasted for probably 2 1/2 to 3 hours. This will vary based on your oven temp too. It is pretty easy to tell when they are done. They shrink up really small and sometimes crack in the middle. Once they aren't so hot they will burn a hole in your mouth, test one. If it is crunchy, they are done. If it crunches on the outside and is still soft in the middle, give 'em another stir and stick them back in the oven.

I have also had better luck getting them crunchy dry roasting them instead of tossing them in olive oil. I just rinse, dry and throw them in the oven. When they are done and it is flavor adding time, I can toss in olive oil and any seasoning I am feeling like. Plus I like the idea that I don't have to commit to making a whole batch one flavor. I can flavor them before I eat so I have lots of options depending on what I feel like (and anyone who has traveled with me knows I need lots of options, hence the entourage of suitcases I typically travel with.)

So for the salt and vinegar chip goodness, all I do is toss them with a little malt vinegar and some salt
and whala I have crunchy salty burn a hole in my tongue vinegary goodness. A really great, protein packed crunchy snack that is even good thrown on top of salads.

These babies, although they have lots of good for you nutrients, do have calories. All legumes pack a lot of calories (think along the lines of almonds and other nuts.) I like to have about a 1/4 or 1/3 of a cup of crunchy chickpeas with half an apple as a snack. The apple combined with the protein really helps fill me up.

Happy Eats!