Tag Archives: nuts

Sweet ‘n’ Salty Trail Mix Recipe

Sweet and salty trail mixIn preparation of our Florida road trip (we leave Friday!) I’ve been gathering snacks like a mama bear preparing for winter. One of the ways I hope to save money on this trip is by eating our own food for two out of three meals per day. George and I also like a night-time snack, so I’m preparing all kinds of treats to take with us on the road.

Healthy Trail MixThis weekend I made a giant bag of trail mix. I’m never satisfied with the trail mixes you can find in the store. Those mixes are often full of added sugar. Why do people feel the need to make fruit sweeter? It’s sweet enough on it’s own, people.

Ingredients
1 cup of pecans
1 cup of cashews
1 cup of dehydrated fruit
3/4 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

For this trail mix, I toasted up 1 cup of cashews and 1 cup of pecans in butter on a low stove top for about 10 minutes. I used unsalted nuts, so I also salted them. I had been drying out strawberries and bananas in our dehydrator, so I threw about a cup of those in the mix. For George, I also threw in 3/4 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips, after the nuts had cooled, of course. The man complains like a baby if there is no chocolate in trail mix.

The best thing about trail mix is that you can throw in the things that you like or have on hand and boom, you’ve got trail mix! I’ll do a total snack breakdown later this week. I am so pumped for this trip, ya’ll.

What’s your favorite way to do trail mix? Let me know in the comments!

love,
melanie

Nuts About You: Valentine’s Day Recipe and Free Printable

Nuts about you

I secretly love Valentine’s Day. I know it’s not cool to like the lovey-dovey holiday, but George and I had our first date on Valentine’s Day and I can’t help but be nostalgic about it. This year instead of the heart-shaped cookies, candy and cakes, I wanted to do something a bit different.  Who comes to the rescue once again? Our beloved friend, nuts!

Ingredients:

  • 1 tbsp coconut oil
  • 1/2 cup of walnuts
  • 1/2 cup of pecans
  • 1/2 cup of cashews
  • 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips
  • Sea salt for sprinkling

Melt the coconut oil in a skillet over low heat. Throw in the nuts and toast until slightly brown. Remove from heat and spread nuts on a cookie sheet lined in wax paper. Melt chocolate in a double boiler or impromptu double boiler (a larger pot over a slightly smaller pot 1/4 full of water.) Stir chocolate constantly and when smooth drizzle over nuts. Sprinkle with sea salt. Chill nuts in fridge until chocolate sets.

Chocolate covered nuts

To make the bags, I took a Ziplock bag and cut off the resealable edge. Then, I added the nuts. To make the printable, I drew a little peanut cartoon (then George told me it sucked and re-drew it) and scanned it in Photoshop. But you don’t have to do that because I created a downloadable one for you right here! Just click on it for the full image!

Nuts about you printable

Finally, I cut out the image, punched a hole and tied it to the bag. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. Make them for anyone and everyone you are nuts about!

love,
melanie

 

 

 

Low Sugar Holiday Nuts

Maple, Holiday Nuts

Hello, my name is Melanie and I’m a snacker. I feel like there should be a support group for people like me. If I don’t have a little nosh, I’m completely ravenous during the next meal and I’ll eat everything in sight. Snacks are essential.

But snacks aren’t as easy as they might be for the glutinous. I can’t just grab a granola bar and call it a day. But that’s where nature comes in, nature’s granola bar is nuts! And I eat a lot of ’em. But lately I’ve been wanting a way to spice things up. The old, raw nut routine wasn’t cutting it anymore. I’ve also been on a low sugar kick lately, so I didn’t want to just douse them in cinnamon sugar like most holiday nuts and call it a day. Although, that would probably be delicious. And yes, I’m already talking about the holidays. Don’t act like you haven’t been mentally adding everything in Target to your wish list already. WE ALL DO IT.

Holiday Mixed Nuts

Here’s the recipe for Low Sugar, Holiday Nuts 

1 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 cup raw, unsalted cashews
3/4 cup raw, unsalted pecans
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cardamom
1 tsp maple syrup
Sea salt

Melt the coconut oil over low heat. I used a cast iron skillet, but you could probably get away with any kind of skillet. I just think cast iron makes everything taste better. Ok, so once you’ve got the coconut oil melted, toss in the cashews and pecans, cinnamon and cardamon. Stir frequently and toast until tan. I always like toasting cashews because they’re light in color and you can tell when they are done. It’s nature’s timer. When everything looks nice and toasty, add the maple syrup, give it a good stir and just a little more toast to caramelize the syrup. Finish with a healthy dose of sea salt.

Confession: I ate this whole plate. Worth it.

love,
melanie