Sweet (and ever-so-slightly spicy) Honey Glazed Mixed Nuts (Vegetarian)

First off - Happy Halloween!

As I mentioned in a previous post, a co-worker and friend of mine, Kathy, is having a baby really soon, and we had a baby shower for her at work this week. For a gift, I got her a locally made "baby sling" to carry her "little Hulk" around town in. The "baby slings" are really neat - we've seen women around town with them and their babies are never crying. When Brett and I were discussing what to get her, we liked that with the baby sling, the baby was able to stay close to Mom in transit and that probably helps to ease a lot of their anxiety. I also know the woman who makes these and sells them at The Peace Nook. I was very happy being able to get Kathy something that was not only useful, but also locally made - you can't beat that! I hope she and "the Hulk" make lots of good use out of it. (In case you are wondering "the Hulk" is the tentative name her husband gave the baby :-)).

I also needed to make a food contribution to her party and since the cake and other little nibblies were covered, I decided I would bring in nuts. I then decided to go beyond that and glaze the nuts, because I would rather, of course, have made something a little more extravagant for the occasion, but a purchased cake was already in the works. So this was my compromise - why buy something from the store when I could (happily) make something homemade?

A little note: These nuts are vegetarian as they contain honey and I know a lot of vegans don't eat honey. I am not sure whether this would work with agave or not. I can tell you that, at the very least, it wouldn't taste the same as this. Also, since I was making these for other people, I toned down the cayenne. The small addition of the cayenne in this recipe gave the nuts a smoky and savory flavor to complement the sweet flavors. If I had been making these for myself, I would have upped the cayenne and made this into "spicy-sweet" nuts, but I'm a freak like that and that is just how I roll. :-)

The local booty legend:
no asterisk = grocery store
+ = The Root Cellar
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden
**** = the non-profit buying club, Blue Planet or Purcell Mountain Farms

















Sweet (and ever-so-slightly spicy) Honey Glazed Mixed Nuts (Vegetarian)

3 cups of mixed nuts (I used 1 cup of peanuts, 1/2 cup of hazelnuts, 1 cup of cashews, and a 1/2 cup of walnuts)
1/3 cup of honey *
1 tbsp raw organic sugar
1 tbsp safflower oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cayenne (or MORE! I was taking these into a baby shower so I had to keep them mild and sweet)

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine honey, sugar, oil, salt, cinnamon, and cayenne in a medium bowl.

Slowly stir in nuts and make sure to get the nuts evenly coated.

Place on a baking sheet and roast for 8-10 minutes - watching very carefully. You'll need to shake the pan a few times during the cooking process to keep the nuts from sticking.

Once removed from the oven, place in a single layer on parchment paper to dry for at least a few hours.

Store in a container for up to 3 days.

These were a pretty big hit at the party. And nobody was none-the-wiser that these nuts were homemade, not store bought. ;-)

'Til next time!

Pasta, Sprouts, and Pretentious Rice Crispies

For dinner tonight was simple baked tofu and spinach pasta. I adapted this from a Vegetarian Times recipe for Garlicky Tofu. The original recipe called for much too much garlic for my taste (and I like garlic!), prebaked tofu (I can bake the tofu myself, thank you, it takes 20 minutes), and not enough spinach. This recipe was very simple and very filling. I used a different pasta this time, an organic whole grain pasta with flax, and neither of us were particularly sent by it. But the rest was good, so I’ll do this again, but with a different pasta.

I used the Veganomicon recipe for Italian Marinated Tofu and baked it, the above stated not-anything-to-write-home-about pasta, an entire bag of fresh baby spinach steamed, and store bought mushroom onion marinara. It only took about a half hour to cook, and it was healthy and so-so (we mostly ate around the noodles and there was plenty of spinach to allow for it).

I also tried Lizzy’s Roasted Mustard Brussels Sprouts again and they turned out much better. I made a lot more mustard sauce, and it had too much zip, so I added a little agave and that smoothed it out. I basted the sprouts again about half way through cooking time, and I think that helped with the flavor as well. Yum!

I felt like baking tonight, but not really baking. Anyone else ever feel that way? What to do, eh? I decided to make vegan rice crispy treats, as, well, this is ‘baking’ without baking. I made what I like to call a ‘Pretentious Rice Crispy Treat’ as I added chopped hazelnuts, diced dried apricots, and shredded coconut to them. Brett and I discovered this lovely flavor combination from a box of organic granola bars we bought a bit back. Both of us had been wondering where else we could use this flavor combination. We came up with two ideas, a rice crispy treat or oatmeal (super creative I know).

I found a product called ‘Ricemellow Cream’ at the store and it’s vegan with no hydrogenated oils or sugars added. So I decided to try it out, and it’s pretty good and makes a mean crispy treat.

J’s Pretentious ‘Not Your Momma’s’ Rice Crispy Treat
1 10 oz box organic puffed brown rice cereal
1-2 tubs Suzanne’s Ricemellow Cream (or other marshmallow substitute)
1-2 tbsp Earth Balance (I like the organic whipped variety)
handful of chopped hazelnuts
lots of organic dried apricots, diced
1 cup (or more) shredded coconut (I used organic reduced fat)

Pour cereal in a large bowl.

Heat Earth Balance and ricemellow cream in a sauce pan until they begin to melt. Add the hazelnuts, apricots, and coconut and stir well.

Once melted, pour over puffed brown rice and stir.

Spread mixture into a 9x13 pan and let sit until cooled. Cut into squares.

Yum!

These were really easy and quick, between dinner and these treats I was in the kitchen for less than an hour. Nice.

So, before I close, I had to let people know that Brett finally started a blog! I am so happy he did. I can tell you, it definitely has nothing to do with food (though I’m sure he [or I as I may post on his blog from time to time] may broach the topic of veg*nism at least once). His points of view are – well, different, but not far out there or unreasonable (as are, I believe, my own). I have always thought Brett has a great way of articulating his opinions on things, so I am happy others get to enjoy (or fume at) his musings as well. If anyone dares, they can pop over and check it out. That is my plug, but seriously, I’m stoked, I love a good debate as much as the next person and hope to see some lively discussion going on around some important and touchy issues. Sometimes you have to get uncomfortable and really rethink some fundamental things to really get somewhere. These are just, of course, my humble opinions, but I thought I’d share.

Well, anyways.

‘Til next time!