Snack Plate Dinner with Zucchini Chips and Roasted Chickpeas

We continue to torture the girls with Snack Plate Dinners.  The first time they were "meh".  Attempt #2 got a "yeah, that's pretty good" from 1/3 of our munchkins (could it be the bacon-wrapped artichokes?!?).

Third time's the charm?

We decided to mix things up a bit, so the regular raw veggies, cheese & crackers, and sliced fruit shared the plate with...

Zucchini Chips (adapted from The Joy of Clean Eating)

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup Homemade Breadcrumbs (we used storebought breadcrumbs - Italian style - that we had sitting in the pantry)
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (optional - we opted)
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• heaping 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup cold milk (original recipe uses oat milk. I'm not sure what oat milk is!  used regular organic 1% milk instead)
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 1/2 cups sliced zucchini (about 2 small zucchinis)

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl combine breadcrumbs, cheese and black pepper.
3. In separate bowl add flour, milk and vinegar. Gently stir until combined.
4. Dip zucchini slices in flour mixture and then dredge in breadcrumb mixture.
5. Place coated zucchini slices on a baking sheet (We forgot to line ours with tin foil and they sticked like crazy! Make sure to either coat your baking sheet with cooking spray or line it with foil.)
6. Bake for 30 minutes, flipping the slices over once halfway through cooking, or until browned and crisp.

Our other addition, also found on Pinterest (such an addictive website!), was Roasted Chickpeas (adapted from Chef Pandita).

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked chickpeas (we used them straight out of the can, rinsed and drained)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoon of your spice of choice (we used sea salt and a little red pepper)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Dry the chickpeas - you want them as dry as possible for roasting.
3. Toss chickpeas in olive oil.
4. Place chickpeas on a baking sheet (cover with tin foil), roast for 30-40 minutes, tossing with a spatula occasionally for even roasting. 
5. Remove from oven, sprinkle with spices and let cool before serving. 

Sooo... did it his the mark?  Well, unlike Clean Eating's kids, ours girls didn't really like the Zucchini Chips.

Olivia:  I don't like it. (why don't you like it?) I just don't like zucchini, period! It tastes like dog poop. (no it doesn't!) It's one of the few vegetables I don't like.

For the record, Jason and I really liked the Zucchini Chips. Cleaned the whole plate and would have eaten more if we'd made more.

The Roasted Chickpeas? That's where we all, adults included, said "meh".  Which is a bummer because I so wanted these to be a tasty substitute for unhealthy potato chips.