In my house snacks are a REALLY big deal. Pre-kids I’m not sure if the word “snack” even existed in my vocabulary. I probably just ventured to say an entire sentence like “I need something to eat.” Or “I’m hungry, I’ll eat something small before dinner.” Now it’s “snack snack snack” every other word.
Brielle would eat crackers and cheerios all the day long if I let her. So I don’t. Instead I offer her a lot of other stuff. Red peppers, carrots, apples and peanut butter. And Viola! When she eats a handful of peppers at 4pm instead of a handful of crackers her little picky self will be much more likely to eat whatever dinner I put in front of her at 5pm. Now if I can just remember that when I’m weak and defenseless at the end of the day!!
So… this week we made ROASTED ALMONDS.
I put that in all caps because it really is that exciting. We eat a lot of almonds, (the kids love them) and I usually buy the Roasted and Salted kind from Trader Joes. Only they are WAAAY too salty, and a little too over-roasted.
So Brenden fixed our problem. He bought Raw almonds from Trader Joes, tossed them in Olive Oil and sea salt and baked them on a cookie sheet for 20 minutes at 250.
If they aren’t literally crackling he puts them back in for another 5-7 minutes. The end result should be a pan of crackling (audible from across the room) almonds that are crunchy and buttery and a little too delicious for words. (Not chewy at all! Put them back in if they are.)
On his second batch he added some seasoning which can be really fun to play with. Just put whatever amount of (already roasted) almonds you want to spice up into a pan and sprinkle with your version of heaven. Then toss toss toss for just a minute until they are all coated. They can go either way, spicy or sweet or a little in-between!
Enjoy!!
