It’s been a busy week. With four papers and a project due, I’ve basically been permanently attached to my laptop since last Friday. Finding time to do anything other than work was a struggle. However, a girl’s got to eat at some point and in a week with this much going on, my meal plan was all about energy and efficiency.

One of my go-to snacks during times like this is chips and dip or trail mix. Both are easy and something I can take up to my room, put on my side table and reach over and grab as I work. But as busy as this semester has been, I’ve consumed more handfuls of trail mix and salty chips than I care to admit. I needed a change, but a small one.

Whenever my grandmother gets bored with serving Lays or Tostitos, she always switches over to pita chips or pretzels. I find pretzels too salty, so I decided to try the pita chips, and since I needed the calming ritual that comes with baking, I decided to make them as well.

I made potato chips a while back and the process is pretty similar, but these pita chips turned out a lot better. It’s a similar process. I got some pitas from Target, or flatbread pockets as the package called them, for 99 cents. Then I came home and cut each of them into sixteenths, put them in a bowl with some olive oil and garlic salt, shake it up and bake.

I could’ve left them cut into eighths but they just seemed to big to my chip size preference. So I decided to cut them in half. I cut some of the pitas into triangle shapes and some more squarish just to give a little variety.

It’s probably the cheapest thing I’ve made for this column all semester and quite possibly my favorite.

I made them up one night intending to snack on them as I worked on a paper the next day. But next day turned out to be one of those days where my room was just too small and too messy. I didn’t have class but I had to bring something by campus so I packed up the chips, some dip, my laptop and blanket and found a shady spot on the Quad. It was like a nice little picnic.

WHAT YOU NEED

3 pitas (or flatbread pockets)

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon of garlic salt (or other seasoning of your choice)

HOW TO MAKE

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut each pita into 16 pieces and place into a medium bowl (make sure it has a lid).

Add in the olive oil and give the bowl a little shake to spread it around.

Add in the garlic salt (or other seasoning). Close the bowl and shake vigorously.

Cover a cookie sheet with tin foil and spread pita chips in one layer

Bake for 15-18 minutes.

Let cool, grab some dip or hummus and enjoy!