Baked Pita Chips

One of my other sort of resolutions for 2010 is to stop wasting so much food.  I have a terrible habit of buying stuff with every intention of using it, then I’ll forget about it or wind up eating out or whatever, and then it goes to waste.  So this week’s effort toward using up something was focused on pita pockets.  I keep them in the fridge because they tend to stay fresh longer, but this pack got hidden behind ingredients for Christmas dinner and assorted leftovers.  They were stale.  So very stale.  No way could I make sandwiches out of those.  But when a co-worker sent home some fabulous homemade hummus, I immediately thought of making pita chips.  I love these things, and I have no idea why it didn’t occur to me before because I often have a pocket or two go stale before they get used up in lunches.  The variations you could try with seasonings and spices are endless, but this is my favorite.  A spicy, savory combination that, if memory serves, originated in Southern Living’s Healthy, Hearty Cookbook.  Or was it Hearty, Healthy Cookbook? I forget.  Anyway, these are great with dip and on their own.  As you can see, we tried them out with chili (a strangely fabulous combination).  Each 16 wedges is worth 160 calories and 2 grams of fat.

Ingredients:

1 package of whole wheat pita pockets
buttery flavored cooking spray
garlic powder
paprika
kosher salt
cayenne pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Cut each pita into 8 wedges.
Split the wedges into their two halves.
Spray a large cookie sheet with cooking spray.
Layer the pieces over the cookie sheet and mist with more cooking spray.
Sprinkle the wedges with desired spices (equal parts on the garlic powder and paprika, less on the salt and light on the cayenne pepper).
Bake for 20 minutes.
Allow chips to cool before storing in a plastic bag or container.  They should stay good for up to a week–if they last that long.

Printable version.