The Good Bean Review

Have you ever tried roasted chickpeas? Have you tried baking them for yourself and failed? I have, and for that reason I am excited to share some new products with you. The Good Bean is a company that started by selling all-natural roasted chickpea snacks in 4 flavors in 2010. These are an excellent alternative to standard snacks like chips, nuts, pretzels and popcorn because they're gluten-free, nut-free, high protein, high fiber, and low fat. In 2012, the Good Bean Fruit & No-Nut Bar was released. These are wholesome snack bars in which nuts are replaced with high-fiber, high-protein chickpeas for a bar that has 40-60% less fat than the competition. Learn more here!

Below are the products I was sent to review:

Smoky Chili and Lime: 9.5 of 10. Both flavors come through and are strong and delicious. This snack is satisfying, and the beans are quite crunchy... these are much better than the ones I attempted to make awhile ago.

Sweet Cinnamon: 9 of 10. Love that this tastes like a dessert and yet it's healthy and good for me.

Cracked Pepper: 9.5 of 10. These are fiery! They made my mouth hot, but it was a pleasant heat.

Sea Salt: 9.5 of 10. These were a great salty, crunchy snack. I added raisins to them for a tasty salty and sweet snack.

Fruit and Seeds Trail Mix Bar: 9 of 10. The chickpeas had a thick texture and reminded me of nuts - go figure! This bar had a lovely sweet, fruity flavor and I enjoyed the seeds too!

Apricot Coconut Bar: 11 of 10! This was so surprisingly delicious!! Sweet coconut, apricot, cinnamon and other wonderful flavors. This bar had a great texture and was like a fabulous dessert.

Chocolate Berry Bar: 10 of 10. A sweet, dessert-like bar with great-tasting chocolate. Yum!

I definitely encourage you to try some of The Good Bean products, especially the Apricot Coconut Bar. You won't be disappointed!

Egg drop soup and roasted chickpeas for the first time!

Wow - I've been missing out!  Roasted chickpeas are such a great snack and so versatile too!  I've made two batches already.  Here's the first batch:

I used 1c. dried chickpeas and soaked them overnight.  In the morning I rinsed and dried them and then tossed them with 1/2 tbsp olive oil and about 1/2 tsp. Mrs. Dash Original Blend.  I baked them at 400 degrees for about 35 min. and some burnt and a few even popped out of the pan :-(. The next time I turned the oven down to 325 degrees and baked them a bit longer - none burnt this time.  I think it's a bit tricky to cook them the right amount of time so that they're not too soft or overly crispy and burnt. 

Have any of you tried making roasted chickpeas?  How'd they turn out?  Any tips?

I also finally made some homemade eggdrop soup!  It was remarkably simple and fun :-).  I used this recipe more or less, and here is the final product topped with Mrs. Dash (yep, I like this seasoning):

I'm still enjoying my Chobani oatgurt too!  Here are some recent ones:

In the bowl above, I used chia seed gel (I soaked 1 tbsp chia seeds in .5c water overnight), and it was definitely thicker than using chia seeds straight from the bag.

Now for some exercise news!  I am trying to get in tip-top shape by July 25 to bike the first day of RAGBRAI: The Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa.  The first day is 68.5 miles!  I know it will be a lot of fun though, so I'm really hoping to do it (and maybe convince my dad to join me!).  Right now I can bike about 9 miles in an hour.

That's all for now folks ;-).

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