Cinnamon Roasted Almonds

I don’t intend to sound crazy, but being unemployed is a hard job. To give myself some credit, I do spend a decent chunk of my time babysitting and volunteering. Between that and running errands (only important ones, of course… like putting the finishing touches on my Halloween costume), I feel like I am constantly running around. Since I spend a lot of mealtimes with young children, and one can only eat so much Kraft Mac & Cheese, I have been on the hunt for quick, easy snacks I can toss in my tote bag and munch on throughout the day. I think I found a winner in this easy almond recipe – I was inspired by some almonds I bought at a small roadside stand in the middle of nowhere in Michigan last summer that I have been trying to find ever since. I’ll save you the trouble – you can’t find them in any grocery store. But here is the recipe:

1. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees.

2. In a bowl, combine ½ cup sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt, and ¾ teaspoon cinnamon.

3. In another bowl, whisk together one egg white and a teaspoon of water until frothy. Stir in 3 1/2 cups of almonds.

4. Add dry ingredients to almonds and stir until coated.

5. Bake for 75 minutes on a greased pan, stirring every 20 minutes or so.

These almonds keep really well in airtight containers, and make a great snack/dessert.

A Seedy Halloweeny!

I promised myself that I wouldn't write anything else about pumpkins. I mean, Christina and I went through about 3 pounds of pumpkin puree. Overkill. BUT I had to make an exception when my cousin and I decided to carve pumpkins. One of my favorite things about Halloween is PUMPKIN SEEDS. They're healthy, tasty, and fun to remove from the gooey gourd. We used the seeds from two pumpkins, washed them in a colander to remove excess goo, and dried them on paper towels.

My pumpkin, a little lompsided. Think along the lines of "Sloth" from The Goonies.

Once the seeds were dry, we decided to make three batches of seeds: One with salt, one with cayenne pepper, and one with soy sauce.

1. Preheat the over to 300 degrees.
2. For the salt batch, drizzle olive oil and salt (to taste) on the seeds laid out on a baking sheet. Mix seeds with hands on the sheet for even coverage.
3. For the cayenne pepper batch, again drizzle olive oil on the seeds, and add a dusting of cayenne pepper. Also mix with hands to coat.
4. For the soy sauce batch, add seeds to a ziplock bag. Pour in a drizzle of olive oil along with a hefty amount of low sodium soy sauce. Mix seeds, and allow to sit (we only let it sit for about ten minutes and they still tasted delicious). Spread evenly along baking sheet.
5. Bake seeds 20-30 mins, until crispy.

These taste great on top of salads, especially the soy sauce seeds! The cayenne pepper had a really great kick, and the salt and olive oil is the classic favorite.

I would have posted a picture of the finished product, but I honestly ate them all. In a day. So much for a "light, healthy snack".

October Oatmeal!

So I’ve been complaining a lot to my friends lately about how I’m unemployed. But let’s face it. This economy is rough and I’ve really only been without a job for a two months. It’s time for me to be the optimist. Something will come along! At least that’s been my mood this week. Waking up a bit more chipper than usual, I decided to skip the raisin bran and make myself a proper fall breakfast. To tell you the truth, one of the best things about not having a job is taking my time in the morning. I can get up without an alarm, go on a run, read the paper, yada yada yada.
This morning was particularly glorious. The air was brisk, the lake was blue, and the trees were orange.



The day called for a great breakfast. The kind of breakfast that gives you the energy to make a few more calls about possible employment….
OATMEAL. Now, as a child I hated oatmeal. My mom tried to tell me it was healthy, and that instantly made me loathe the bowl of goo. But this oatmeal changed it all. It’s got everything: crunch, sweetness, tang, and than extra hot and filling feeling that makes your stomach feel like you just gave it a big warm hug. To make this recipe even better, it’s the easiest thing to make.




October Oatmeal
Adapted from The Craving Chronicles

1/3 cup oats
¼ of an apple, peeled and diced
2 tablespoons chopped pecans (or walnuts)
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon real maple syrup (though plain ol’ Log Cabin would probably taste just as good)
1/3 cup milk
¼ cup water
Pinch of salf
Golden raisins (dried cranberries would work, too)

1. Combine the oats, apples, pecans, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl.
2. Add the maple syrup, milk and water to the dried mixture and stir to coat.
3. Microwave for approx. 2 mins, microwaving in additional 20-second increments until most of the liquid is absorbed. But you don’t want a dried oatmeal cookie-like brick either.
4. Top with raisins or dried cranberries. Serve with a hot, strong cup of tea. Mmmmm……

A Chili Fall Day

I'll apologize now for my attempts to be as punny as Mary in her blog titles, and for the fact that we’ve been on a bit of a blogging hiatus. I’ve been prepping for a job interview, which means my nervous baking habit is in full force, but following cookie recipes from How to Cook Everything is hardly a work of culinary genius.

However, when we woke up yesterday morning and it was in the low 60s and pouring rain, Mary and I knew it was just the day for chili. We had a dinner date with one of our vegetarian friends, so we searched for a good veggie chili recipe, and selected a vegan/vegetarian/gluten-free one that looked good.

The recipe required a lot of prep work, as once you start adding things to the pot, you have a pretty fast paced 20ish minutes before you can let the soup simmer (or whatever you may think that means... Mary and I had a lengthy debate about the different stages of boiling). So we channeled all of our favorite Food Network stars that always seem to have everything perfectly washed, diced and measured out in cute little bowls within arm's reach and were on our way. As you can see, we decided to go for a mix of black beans and kidney beans. I was skeptical at first, but it worked out well.

Here's the recipe we used (adapted from the Curvy Carrot):

3 tablespoons canola oil

1 medium white onion, diced

1 large red pepper, seeded and de-ve

ined, and diced

6 large cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

3 tablespoons chili powder

1/4 tablespoon cayenne pepper

1/2 tablespoon curry powder

1 28oz. can crushed tomatoes

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 15 oz. cans of beans

1 cup corn kernels

1 1/2 teapsonns salt

1/4 cup coarsley chopped fresh cilantro

juice from 1/2 a lime

cheese and sour cream to top

1. Heat the oil in a large pot, add theonion and cook until translucent and softened. Add the red peppers and cook till onions begin to brown. Add the garlic and cook for about a minute.

2. Push the vegetables to the perimeter of the pot, leaving a clearing in the middle. Add the cumin and cook while stirring in the center of the pot.

3. Stir it all together and cook until you can smell the cumin, about a minute. Add the chili powder, cayenne pepper, and curry powder and stir, cooking for about another minute.

4. Add 2 cups of water and stir well. Bring the pot to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until slightly thickened.

5. Stir in the tomatoes, oregano, and brown sugar, and simmer for about 25 minutes.

(Mary using her mother's tried and true cilantro chopping method)

6. Stir in the the beans and corn, remove the pot from the heat and add salt, cilantro, and lime juice.

Serves 5.

We also supplemented our meal with perhaps the best corn muffins I have ever had. We found the recipe here: http://www.beckybakes.net/2010/01/10/sweet-corn-muffins/.