Garlicky Chick Peas

Before I give you the recipe for these crock pot garlicky chick peas let me explain to you how this even got started.
I don’t know if I’ve ever shared with y’all that my daughter has some lactose sensitivities. For some reason she can eat anything that regular milk/ dairy has been cooked in with no problems. When she tries to eat anything containing lactose in the raw state it makes her violently ill.
Over the last couple of years we’ve had to change the way we all eat because of this. At birthday parties and get togethers we can’t let her have chips and dip or ice cream like the other children. I have to either make a homemade sorbet or find a lactose free ice cream (which has caused the cooler to have a permanent place in the back of my vehicle).
As far as dips, we’ve been through lots of bean based dips that she is fine using for chips and raw veggies, except for hummus. I wanted her to like hummus, REALLY BAD. I love it and am constantly snacking on it. I have to give her credit because she tries it every time I offer it to her, but she kind of snarls her nose and has been choking it down.
For the first time she told me that it was “stinging” her tongue. Of course I wanted to know what in the world was stinging her tongue and when I asked her she said: “Your dip mama, it’s hot and stinging my tongue!” After much thought and discussion with the hubs, I decided it had to be the raw garlic that was doing this.
I wanted to keep the garlic flavor in the hummus, but eliminate the “sting” that was making it undesirable to her. That’s when I decided to cook my own chick peas and infuse them with the garlic flavor.
Oh My Gosh! Not only did it work perfectly for making hummus, but I’ve added the chickpeas to salads, toasted them up for snacking and “refried” them to use in place of pinto beans for burritos. The undernote of the garlic was the perfect little “Hey, what was that?” that gives these dishes great flavor.

Here is how I did it:

• (1) 16 ounce bag of dried chick peas (otherwise known as garbonzo beans)
• (1 1/2) Tablespoons of dried chopped garlic
• water

It’s very important to rinse the chick peas and soak them overnight. After soaking, make sure you rinse them well before adding to your crock pot.

Put the drained and rinsed chick peas into a crock pot.  I used a 2 1/2 quart crock pot for this. Now add the garlic.

Cover the chick peas and garlic with water. I made sure the water was about an inch to an inch and a half above the chick peas. Cook on low for 8 – 10 hours or on high for 5 – 6 hours. Make sure you keep an eye on them and that there is always water over the chick peas. They don’t have to swim in water, but you want them to be covered completely during the entire cooking process.

We ate some of these over the crock pot basmati rice for lunch. They were perfect for using in the hummus AND my daughter ate it gladly and excitedly. I’ve also used these garlicky chick peas as a layer of my seven layer salad. I love it when something works out according to plan, don’t you?

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