Roasted spicy nuts

My lapse in posting is being lifted by my need to save this Ottolenghi recipe!! These are delicious, and seem perfect for holiday gifting or snacking. The honey in there is very subtle, they don't taste sweet. The nigella seeds (aka black cumin seeds) and rosemary combo, with the heat from the cayenne, is delicious. Nigella seeds have lots of medicinal properties, good for treating inflammation and lung stuff, so are an extra bonus. I wonder about even adding a little turmeric too, which I'll try next time. 

*I actually was out of cayenne, so I used Ethiopian mitmita spice, which was great.

Ingredients

• 100g cashew nuts
• 100g macadamia nuts
• 120g pecan nuts
• 60g whole almonds (skin on)
• 80g pumpkin seeds
• 1 tbsp sunflower seeds
• 2 tbsp nigella seeds 
• 3 tbsp sunflower oil (I used avocado oil)
  
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp fine salt
• 2 sprigs rosemary, leaves picked
• 2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
• 2 tsp cayenne

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325F. Scatter all the ingredients except the pepper and cayenne in a roasting tray. Roast for 15-17 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the nuts turn dark brown. Remove, stir in the pepper and cayenne, and taste. Add salt if you like. Leave to cool in the tray, stirring from time to time. Once cool, transfer to an air-tight container.
   

Frozen coconut macadamia bars

I came across this recipe somehow or other - it is a "Mark's Daily Apple" post. I was intrigued because I wanted to find something to eat that is sort of like eating dark chocolate, but without the sugar. This definitely gives the same crunch, and it is really filling. I found that when I made it, I expected it to be sweeter - maybe more hopeful thinking on my part since the only "sweet" ingredients are coconut oil and coconut flakes. (It occurs to me now I could try putting chocolate powder and stevia in the mix too....hmmm.)

The final bars turned out nice, even without any sweet flavor. The chia seeds give a nice crunch, and they are cool and nice in the heat. It seems like a great snack or way to get some extra fat in, which fills me up since sometimes I could eat A LOT of veggies and meat before getting full. It's actually a little like eating a chilled bar of coconut manna. I did do some smearing of honey over the finished bar and it was super delicious, but you know, no longer without sugar! ha.

One thing is that these bars pretty much need to be eaten directly out of the freezer or they will start to melt. You could bring them on a cold weather camping trip I think, but coconut oil has a melting point of 74 degrees, so these bars need to be somewhere below that to ensure a solid bar. I found myself wishing I could bring them for part of my work lunch, but alas.

1 cup unsweetened flaked coconut (60 g)
1 1/2 cups raw, unsalted macadamia nuts (150 to 160 g)
3/4 cup melted coconut oil (180 ml)
1 tablespoon chia seeds (15 ml)
Pinch of sea salt (I used maldon flakes and it was so good!)

Preheat oven to 350 ºF.
Put the coconut flakes in a pan and toast in the oven until lightly browned, about five minutes.
Line an 8×8 pan with parchment paper. (I had a 9" circular glass pie plate that I used and did not line with parchment - it worked out just fine.)
Process the macadamia nuts and coconut oil in a food processor until very smooth. Add the coconut flakes and chia seeds and pulse a few times.
Pour the batter into the 8×8 pan. Sprinkle a pinch of sea salt on top.
Cut into bars and store in the freezer - or if you are like me, just keep that glass pie plate in there and carve out a piece now and again!

Paleo Snack Mix

I got inspired by a post from The Clothes Make the Girl blog to make her snack mix for my mini-vacation up north last week. And, wow. It is very delicious, and like no taste combo I would have ever come up with (it's based on an Indonesian condiment). I had to restrain myself from consuming the entire batch while it was cooling. My Charming Companion and I made bets as to how long the snack mix would last once we got in the car: 20 minutes, an hour...?

Anyway - I pasted her recipe below. I will note that I have been consuming more nuts than usual over the recent holiday time (as nuts themselves, but also as almond flour in baking). I primarily eat macadamia nuts due to their 1:1 balance of omega 3 and 6 and generally regard other nuts/flours as more occasional things. I am doing some "cold training" right now (cold baths) though, and one of the effects is that you get hives if you have too much omega 6. I recently had some hive-like spots, which made me want to lay off the nut feast of late. And have some fish oil. I don't notice any other physical effects of this - but as someone who gets intense inflammation from a crumb of gluten, I feel extra cautious. So. Moderation for me with the nuts. (The mini hives appeared right before departing for said trip, which I think contributed to the snack mix making it all the way til day 3 - far longer than the earlier estimated consumption time!) 

Savory Paleo Granola - makes 1 1/2 cups
1/2 tablespoon coconut oil
1/2 medium onion, very finely diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
3/4 cup coconut flakes
1/2 cup dry-roasted almonds
1/3 cup dry-roasted cashews

1. Preheat oven to 300F and cover a large baking sheet/cake pan with parchment paper.
2. Heat coconut oil in a large skillet over medium heat until melted, then add onion, garlic, and ginger. Cook 2-3 minutes until the onions begin to soften and are fragrant.
3. In a small bowl, mix the cumin, coriander, salt, and turmeric. Add to the onions, stir to combine, and cook an additional 5-7 minutes until the onions are very soft. Add the lemon juice and cook until the mixture forms a paste, about 2 minutes.
4. Add the coconut chips to the pan and stir until they’re coated with the onions and spices. Transfer to the baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes. Stir with a wooden spoon and add the nuts to the baking pan (the mixture will already be fairly dark here - that is good!) Roast an additional 10-15 minutes until the coconut/onion flakes are very brown and the nuts are toasted.
5. Allow to cool completely, then mix together and store in an air-tight container. Eat as-is or chop in a food processor until it’s the texture of coarse sand and use as a flavoring condiment on cooked vegetables, meats, soups, and salads.

Paleo Crackers and Escargots

I had a lovely dinner last night that included oyster stew (post forthcoming), herring roe, crackers, and escargots. I had not made any of these things before (or eaten roe, except one time at my uncle's sprinkled on a bit of deviled egg.) The herring roe was from lake superior, and was $10, and was really fishy and lovely and pink! It felt like such a treat (though really the whole meal did).

Some time recently I became curious about making escargots. Do you buy live snails I wondered? I remembered the escargots from the french restaurant I used to work at, and how they were served in a bubbling garlic, parsely butter that smelled amazing. Upon looking it up, I learned that you actually buy snails in cans (though you can cook them in their shell too - this is just the way most snails are sold). I also learned that all snails with shells are edible - just not the slug like things without a shell. So if you live somewhere where snails are plentiful, you can just go harvest your own after a rain storm (they will be much smaller and do require a "cleansing" step and some longer pre-cooking).

Anyway, I bought some snails at Coastal Seafoods - they were $5 for 2 dozen, though there was another kind that were $15 for 2 dozen (I have been trying to learn about escargots farming, and it seems that the practices are pretty sustainable just by nature of how snails live). I am not sure the difference between the two prices - I will ask next time. In any case, the cheaper ones were delicious. Having no fancy escargots dish, I made them in a muffin tin. I will totally make them again because they tasted so good.

Snails in an escargots dish - not muffin tin

Escargots
2 dozen snails
6 T butter
1 T minced onion
(garlic is de rigueur, but I skipped it)
1 T minced parsley
1 t lemon rind
1 t sea salt
fresh pepper

1. Mix everything but the snails together to form a buttery-paste. I used a large wooden spoon to spread the butter and get the herbs mixed in evenly.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
3. Put 4 snails in each muffin cup, then divide the butter mix evenly between the 6 cups to top the snails. You want the snails to sort of marinate under the butter as it melts.
4. Put in oven until butter is bubbling - about 5 minutes.
5. Serve with rosemary almond crackers out of the tin, or you can pile them all in a bowl for a slightly more aesthetic experience. : )

*I was sad to leave any of the buttery goodness at the bottom of each muffin cup (usually french bread would dip this up), so I moved all remaining butter to 4 muffin cups and the next morning I cracked an egg into each one. I topped each egg with a splash of cream, and then baked them at 350 degrees until the yolk set. I didn't time them (and mine got a bit overdone) - but remove them when just set and still a little jiggly. Eat with any remaining crackers or a bit of ham or bacon. Yum!

Almond Rosemary Crackers (from Elena's Pantry)
1 3/4 c almond flour
1/2 t sea salt
2 T fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1 T olive oil
1 egg

1. Mix flour, salt and rosemary together - make sure almond flour is nut clumped up. (My rosemary is miraculously still doing just fine in its garden bed outside - it is a little green tree surrounded by snow!)
2. Whisk oil and egg in a small bowl, then add to almond flour mix and stir until combined. The mixture will be wet and quite thick.
3. Roll the dough into a ball and press it between two sheets of parchment paper (this is very useful - I am not sure you can get the crackers thin enough without the parchment without tearing things up). Roll to about 1/8" thick.
4. Remove top parchment layer and cut crackers with a pizza roller or knife into desired size. Transfer the bottom piece of parchment (with cracker dough) to a baking sheet, and bake 12-15 minutes at 350. Let cool for about 30 minutes before serving.
*These are relatively unsalty. You may want to up the salt a bit, or sprinkle salt on before baking. I splurged and got a bit of Herring Roe to eat on these along with the snails - so they were perfect with the low salt crackers.

Coconut chips!

I came across this little snack chip on The Clothes Make the Girl blog, and tried it this morning to bring as a treat with my lunch. It's like a salty/sweet coconut flavor that is really good and so easy. (I could just make these and the seaweed chips non-stop, eating them as they are ready!)

From Clothes Make the Girl blog

All you need is large coconut flakes/chips (they sell them in bulk at the Seward), salt, and cinnamon. I also added in a little chipotle to mine, and that was tasty too. There are lots of variation options: some vanilla for something more sweet, some slivered nuts, paprika for a savory snack, etc.

1 c. coconut chips
1/4 t salt
1/4 t cinnamon
pinch chipotle

Mix salt and spices together in a small bowl. Put a dry cast iron skillet (or non-stick pan) on medium heat. Lay coconut flakes evenly across the pan, stir frequently. It just takes a few minutes for the flakes to brown, so stay nearby. Remove from heat when browned, transfer to a bowl. Sprinkle/shake with the spicy salt. Let cool, then store in an airtight container. Or just eat em all up!

Paleo Energy Bars

I am going camping again - including some expected canoeing and portaging and traveling, so I have been on the hunt for a good granola/energy bar recipe to fuel my travel.

I settled on a slightly modified recipe from Paleo magazine that includes macadamia nuts, dates, coconut and dried fruit.  Really, it seems as though dates are THE ingredient for paleo energy bars - they bind the nuts and whatever else together. My second fave recipe was for chocolate date nut balls. Yum. These bars turned out super tasty - very granola-bar-ish. They do fall apart more easily than baked granola bars, but that seems minor compared to the tastiness!

Paleo Energy Bars

• 8 Medjool dates, sliced in half, pits removed
• 1/2 cup finely shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup organic currants
• 3/4 cup macadamia nuts
• 3/4 cup other nuts (I used almonds and brazil nuts)
• 1/2 cup dried cherries
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp honey
• pinch of salt

1. Add all ingredients to a food processor and blend for about 1 minute or until everything is chopped into small pieces and starts to stick together.
2. Place mixture on a large piece of wax paper.  With your hands, shape into a rectangle, pressing and patting it until very dense and it sticks together nicely. I actually pressed mine into a wax-paper lined rectangular tupperware - whatever works.
3. Refrigerate for a few hours, until very firm.  Slice into bars and enjoy!
4. Store at room temperature for up to 1 week; in the fridge for up to 2 weeks; or wrap bars individually and freeze until needed.  To thaw, simply set on counter for about 30 minutes to bring to room temperature before eating.

*I wrapped these in wax paper and packed them in a ziplock baggie for my canoe trip. They are currently in the freezer until I leave!

Roasted Seaweed snack

I just re-watched Terri Wahl's "Mind your Mitochondria" Ted Talk - she is the doctor who basically "cured" her MS with a diet of tons of veggies, especially greens. Tons as in 10 cups a day or three dinner plates piled high. Woah. She also talks about the health benefits of seaweed. I have not eaten it much except in nori form: in sushi and in those little snack packages of Roasted Seaweed that are overly-pricey.  I want to explore some other options, but in the meantime, I stumbled across a way to make those little roasted snack sheets! I think they are so tasty and chip-like.

I have not tried storing these yet - my guess is you would have to keep them in a zip lock or tupperware type item to keep the crispness.

Make as many as you want, but for each sheet you need:
1 sheet of nori seaweed paper
1/2 tsp olive oil (or sesame or coconut oil)
sprinkle of salt

1. Brush olive oil on one side of the nori.
2. Sprinkle salt on the olive oil.
3. Turn your gas stove on medium heat and wave the nori over the flame. You will do several passes over the flame - each time you do the nori sheet will crinkle up a bit. It is done when the whole sheet is toasted and crispy - it only takes 20 seconds or so. You can toast either side this way - I did the oil side down, but it seems like either way works.
4. Eat as is in big bite-fulls, or cut them into squares with a scissors if you want a more refined experience.

After doing a quick search, it looks like you can also bake sheets of oiled nori and get a similar result. They just take 2 minutes, so this might yield higher quantities!

Kale Chips

I've been meaning to try making kale chips all winter I think, and it was only after my mom fed me hers (and reported that she makes them all the time) that I finally got to it. She suggested I turn the oven hotter than most recipes say, which worked great for me. These are super simple to make and really tasty. I have yet to find a good way to store them so they stay crispy though. You can stick em back in the oven a day or two later and they'll crisp up again, but when I put them in a baggie, they wilted. Freezing them might work...I want to look for something because it would be a nice way to store garden kale into the winter.

Kale Chips
1 head of kale (I used red russian)
2 T fat (I used coconut oil, my mom uses olive oil)
Salt

Wash and de-stem the kale leaves. Toss with oil to coat each side - I stirred for a nice long while to make sure that all the leaves were thoroughly covered. Bake on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes at 350 degrees, checking leaves midway through to check for brown-ness. Make sure the leaves are spread out in a single layer. You will know they are done when they are crispy to the touch and just turning brown on the edges. Sprinkle with (smoky) salt and eat!

cucumber town.

So, it was a Saturday afternoon and I was hungry. I had cucumbers, cucumbers and more cucumbers. And some tomatoes too. I turned to Heidi Swanson and said, "Heidi, what should I do with all these cucumbers." She said, "if I were you, I'd make raita and a cucumber lime cooler." So I did. She wasn't actually here but luckily I recently got her cookbook "Super Natural Every Day," so it was pretty much like she was here. So, I made the Cucumber Lime Cooler, which I realized, after making it, that it's basically like the drink that Megan posted earlier. It's delicious. Very refreshing, and also good with a shot of Hendrick's. If you want to make something very healthy just a little unhealthy.

Next, it was time to make the Raita:

1 1/2 small cucumbers, unpeeled, halved, and seeded

1 clove garlic, peeled

1/4 tsp fine-grain sea salt

1/2 cup walnut halves, toasted and coarsely chopped

grated zest of 1/2 lemon

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

big pinch of red pepper flakes

1/4 cup plain yogurt

Shred the cucumbers using the large holes of a box grater. Squeeze out excess water and put in small bowl.

Put the garlic on the cutting board, sprinkle it with the salt, and work the garlic into a paste by chopping and smashing with a knife. Add this to the cucumber, along with the walnuts, lemon zest, lemon juice and red pepper flakes. Stir until combined, then fold in the yogurt. Set aside for a few minutes to let the flavors meld before serving.

I added a little more yogurt than the recipe called for. And I made pita chips, also from the same cookbook, which were easy and really delicious.

Highly recommended. Thank you, Heidi.

Brazil Nut Stuffed Date

Soft Rye Pretzels

This recipe is, once again, from Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce. I've yet to be disappointed by anything I've made from her book.

Dough
1package (2 1/4t) active dry yeast
1T honey
1 c rye flour
2 1/2 c all purpose flour
1T kosher salt

Bath
1/2 c baking soda

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in 1 1/2 cups of warm water, add honey, then stir in the flours and salt.
2. Dump the dough onto a floured surface and kneadin up to 1/2c of all purpose flour until the dough is tacky, soft, and supple, about 10 min.
3. Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with a towel until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
4. While the dough is rising, heat your oven to 450 degrees and oil or butter 2 baking sheets. Place racks in oven so one is on the bottom third, the other onthe top third. (This is a trick I've learned from this book and it seems to make everything cook really evenly.)
5. Once the dough has risen, turn it out onto a lightly floured board and divide it into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a thin log with tapered edges about 17 inches long and then form into appropriate pretzel shape.6. Place the shaped pretzels on the oiled baking sheets and let them rise for 15-20 min.
7. Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Once the pretzels are proofed and the water is boiling, add the baking soda. (This will bring back memories of science class volcanoes of baking soda/vinegar.)
8. To prepare the pretzels,gently place them in the boiling water and cook for 30 seconds on each side. Pat off any excess water and transfer back to the baking sheets. Sprinkle liberally with sea salt.
9. Bake for 15-18 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through baking.
10. Transfer to a cooling rack.

11. Eat! They're best when warm (but you can heat them up in the toaster oven

the next day and they're still delicious). We ate them just plain but next time I think I'll try them with spicy mustard (Uncle Pete's Sweet Hot Mustard, perhaps) or potentially with some jalapenos and cheddar cheese in the dough...I'll keep you posted.

green chile sauce.

this was an attempt to recreate the chile cheese fries that m and i had when we went to santa fe a few years ago. i have to say that they turned out quite well. especially when paired with margaritas.

green chile sauce:
-4 peppers, i used a combination of anaheim and poblanos

-1 onion, diced

-1 clove garlic, minced

- 1 jalapeno, seeded and diced

-2 cups vegetable broth

roast the peppers whole over the flame of a gas stove until the skins are charred and blistered. put whole peppers in bowl and cover with plastic wrap. let sit for 10-15 minutes.

saute onion, garlic and jalapeno in a saucepan with olive oil.

peel skins off peppers and rinse. then, seed and dice the peppers and add to the onion/garlic/jalapeno mixture. add broth and let simmer for 20ish minutes. then blend until pureed but still chunky.

this is really good over homemade cheese fries (as pictured in that gloppy mess above) or on pretty much anything else...

Power Squares

I should be packing for my Duluth bike trip tomorrow - but instead I am thinking about the food we will be eating, the hazelnut no-need-to-refrigerate cream I discovered, homemade granola bars, and also these. They are kind of like the bird bars at the co-op, only better because there is dried fruit. They are also wheat-free, and there is no baking involved - which makes them especially nice to prepare in an un-air-conditioned house when it is 95 degrees or some such hotness. They are now wrapped up in wax paper, ready to supply some fuel for the hot biking days ahead!

This recipe is from rebar - a restaurant (and cookbook) that makes good, not so sweet, whole food types of recipes:
3/4 c. dried apricots, cut into pieces
3/4 c. dried apple
4 brown rice cakes
1 c. unsweetened coconut
1/2 c. sunflower seeds
1/2 c. pumpkin seeds
1/3 c. sesame seeds
1/2 c. rolled oats
1 1/4 c. fruit sweetener*
1/2 c. natural peanut butter, slightly warmed

*Fruit sweetener is hard to find - but it turns out apple juice concentrate works. I used a combo of barley malt syrup and honey to equal the same amount of fruit sweetener, and they taste great.

1. In food processor, pulse apricots, apples and rice cakes to a fine texture. Transfer to a large bowl and set aside.
2. Pulse coconut, seeds, and oats to roughly combine. Add to the fruit mixture, along with sweetener and peanut butter. Mix everything together until well combined. Cover and chill dough for at least 1 hour.
3. Roll/press the dough into balls or small squares. Press/roll in toasted sesame seeds to coat. *The recipe also says to refrigerate - but i wonder if that is due to the fruit sweetener. I think that with honey - you can leave it out. I have mine in the fridge until we leave- then they will be in the warm warm pannier until we eat them all!

Makes 14-15 bars.