Spiced Almonds (think Nut Hut)

I told you I'm Going Nuts! You know that wonderful smell you smell from the Nut Hut when you walk into a mall before the holidays?

Now your house can smell like that!

Here's the recipe...

egg white from one egg, slightly beaten
4 cups plain whole almonds*
1/2 cup evaporated cane juice crystals (or sugar)
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
1/2 teas. nutmeg
1/2 teas ground cloves

1. Heat oven to 300 degrees.

2. Mix egg white and almonds in large bowl until nuts are coated and sticky.

3. Mix remaining ingredients; sprinkle over nuts. Stir until nuts are completely coated.

4. Grease the bottom of a jelly roll pan and spread nuts evenly over the bottom. Bake about 30 minutes or until toasted. Cool completely, or serve warm.

*may also use pecan or walnut halves.

These sweet spiced nuts make great gifts packaged in a festive tin. They are a sweet snack or can be added to the top of salad with poppy seed dressing! Yum!

Hope you enjoy!

Refrigerated Dill Pickles

8 pickling cucumbers* sliced
1 medium onion sliced
2 cloves garlic
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vinegar
4 tsp. salt
3 tsp. fresh dill weed

Place onion, garlic, sugar, water, vinegar, and salt in sauce pan. Stir and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in dill weed. Put cucumber slices in a jar or other container with lid. Pour the hot syrup over cucumbers. Store in refrigerator. Will store for quite a while.

*if cucumbers are large and bitter, peel off the skin for best results.

Five Minute Salsa Guacamole

2 ripe, medium size avocados
1/2 cup salsa
1 green onion sliced
1/2 teas. lemon or lime juice
1/2 teas. Celtic sea salt
1/8 teas. garlic powder

Cut avocados in half. Remove pit and then scoop out avocado meat from the skin with a spoon. Place on a plate and mash until chunky/smooth. Put in a bowl and stir in remaining ingredient. Garnish with cut green tops of green onions. Enjoy with taco's, chips, quesadilla's, etc.

Bacon-Cheddar Deviled Eggs

Here is one of our favorite snacks! And it's fun for the kids to help make. First we hard-boil 12 eggs. It takes about 12 minutes on the stove.

Then the kids get to peel the eggs in the sink. How fun...

Little hands at work...

Eggs are easy to cut with just a table knife. The kids love cutting them in half and digging out the yellow yolk...

Then we add 1/2 cup mayonnaise, about 1/4 to 1/2 cup bacon bits, 2 tablespoons finely shredded cheddar cheese, 1 tablespoon mustard, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper (optional). Have the kids mash and mix the ingredients together...

Then place mixture in a ziplock bag, seal the top, cut a corner off and squeeze out the air. Now they can squeeze the yellow yolk mixture into the center of the egg whites...

I didn't say anything about it not being a little messy... ;)

Then I sprinkle a little paprika on the top for extra color and garnish with greens. Isn't it a pretty snack?...

Just in time for aftenoon snack when Big Sister gets home from school. Then we put the rest in the fridge for a snack tomorrow and the next day...

Try is today. It's not only good and fun, but it'll give you and them the protein and energy you need to get through the rest of your day!

Crunchy Granola

8 cups old-fashioned oats
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup wheat germ
1 cup all-bran cereal
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 cups flaked coconut, non sweetened
3/4 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup slivered almonds

3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups water
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups raisins

In a large bowl, combine oats, flour, wheat germ, cereal, brown sugar, coconut, pecans and almonds. In another bowl, mix oil, water, honey, vanilla and salt. Pour over oat mixture; toss to coat. Pour into two greased 15" x 10" x 1" baking pans. Bake at 275°F for 1 hour and 15-30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes until golden. Add raisins. Store cooled granola in an airtight container.

"Super Bowl" Popcorn

This recipe is from the 2002 Quick Cooking Annual Recipes Cookbook, only there it is called Pop Fly Popcorn. I changed the name in honor of today's game between the Patriots and the Giants. I usually only make it for a potluck or company, and LaRon likes for me to double the batch so there will be plenty left over.

10-12 cups popped popcorn
1 cup pecan halves
1 cup slivered almonds
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 cup butter (no substitutes)
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

In a large bowl, combine popcorn and nuts; set aside. In a large saucepan, bring sugar, butter and corn syrup to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; add vanilla, cream of tartar and baking soda. Drizzle over popcorn mixture; stir to coat. Immediately spread onto two greased baking sheets; let dry for about 1 hour. Store in an airtight container. Yield: 10-12 servings (If LaRon is there, 1-2 servings )

Ooh, but watch your teeth in this batch, I forgot to check for old maids (unpopped kernels). I need to add that step to the recipe…