Crispy Parmesan Chickpeas (Healthy Cooking from the Texture Magazine App)

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These easy Crispy Parmesan Chickpeas make a great snack or appetizer! Simple, easy and delicious!

 

When I first got married, I was addicted to cooking magazines. I had little experience cooking beyond the basics that my roommates and I survived on in college, and I was marrying a man who came from a family of amazing cooks. 

I learned how to cook through cooking magazines and cookbooks, as well as watching my in-laws. I stopped buying cookbooks years ago, but my love affair with cooking magazines has persisted through the years. I’ve gone from having various subscriptions to buying whatever catches my eye at the grocery store. The bottom line is though, I usually have a stack laying around. All those yummy looking pictures appeal to the foodie in me!

But all those magazines add up in money spent, not to mention the impact on the environment. 

What ends up happening with me, and I suspect with many others as well, is my stack of magazines grows and grows until I decide to rip all the pages out with recipes on them that I wanted to try. Then the recipes end up in a file folder or in a stack.  It becomes a big mess, and I never look at it again.

It doesn’t sound very efficient, does it? But there is a better way. 

WHY THE TEXTURE MAGAZINE APP WILL CHANGE THE WAY YOU READ MAGAZINES

I recently discovered the Texture app, a revolutionary new magazine subscription app that gives you unlimited digital access to hundreds of the best magazines, including back issues and digital content, on your smartphone or tablet. You’ll have access to magazines like Real Simple, People, Better Homes and Gardens, and Martha Stewart Living, among others.  It’s kind of like the Netflix of magazines! 

Today we’re going to talk about the food and cooking magazines the Texture Magazine app offers. The Texture membership includes 26 food and cooking magazines that you know and love, like Cooking Light, Food & Wine, Clean Eating, and many more…all available to you digitally. That means no more clutter and no more file folders filled with ripped out magazine pages!

I found many of my favorites, but I also discovered a number of magazines that were new to me that offer special diet options, like Vegetarian Times and Gluten-Free Living. My family doesn’t have special dietary needs; however, I tend to cook on the healthy side. We belong to a local vegetable CSA and shop the farmer’s market on the weekends. I cook a lot of vegetarian dishes. Because my son was extremely allergic to wheat when he was younger, we ate a gluten-free diet for two years. Even today, I often cook gluten free recipes, simply because I liked many of the recipes I discovered.  So having easy access to magazines with great vegetarian and gluten free recipes is a big plus! 

I’ve only been using the Texture app for a short time, but I am already addicted to it. You can try out their magazine subscription service completely risk free to see if you like it too!

USING THE TEXTURE MAGAZINE APP

I found the Texture Magazine app very easy to use.  

First, I created a list of my favorites for easy access. You can easily highlight your favorites by clicking on the star. Then click on “My Library” at the bottom to see all of your favorite magazines in one place. 

Then you’re ready to start reading and “clipping!”

You can read as many stories as you like, but you also have the option to save the recipes you’d like to keep for future reference into collections in the “Saved Stories” section in “My Library.”  You decide what type of collections to create so it’s easy for you to find what you need, when you need it! 

I started a general recipe collection at first, but then I realized how much more efficient it would be if I had my recipes organized by type! So I now have a Vegetarian collection, as well as a few others, and I am sure I will be adding to them.

You can also use the search bar to look for something specific as well, which is really helpful when you have dietary restrictions or simply have something special in mind. 

And did I mention, you can also download whole magazines to read later?!

As you can see, I’ve downloaded a few magazines so far. 

 

CRISPY PARMESAN CHICKPEAS

As I mentioned before, my family doesn’t follow a strict diet, but one thing I am always looking for is healthy snack options.  

When I was looking through the most recent Cooking Light magazine on the app, I saw a Crispy Parmesan Chickpeas recipe I wanted to try. 

I didn’t grow up eating a lot of chickpeas. In fact, before meeting my husband, my experience with chickpeas was limited to three bean salad. But my husband comes from a Lebanese and Italian background, and chickpeas are used in many popular Middle Eastern and Italian recipes. I cook with them all the time now. 

They’re rich in nutrients important for your health and high in fiber, and they may play a role in reducing the risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer.  What’s better than a snack that helps keep you healthy?!

I actually quadrupled this recipe…a 15 oz can doesn’t go very far in this house, plus we have company from out of town right now. 

I want to share a couple of important tips with you before we get started with the recipe. The recipe calls for draining and rinsing the chickpeas, then patting them dry with a paper towel. DO NOT overlook this step. You need those chickpeas dry or they will not get crispy. If you’ll be packing them up for an on-the-go snack, then let them cool completely on parchment paper on a baking sheet first. 

This Crispy Parmesan Chickpeas recipe only takes about 20 minutes to make, which is perfect if you have a busy schedule.