Positive Vibration Food - Honey Cinnamon Roasted Nuts (homemade!)

Well, it all comes upon so fast doesn't it? The holidays are practically here and for the most part, ready or not, we are going to dive into this season and make the most of whatever comes our way. Except the food - you can't make the most of bad food....

Food in general is one of those things that is vibration specific, if it's of a low or poor quality then it's essence is low or already gone. You simply cannot breathe new life into dead food. And I for one would never expect my body to eat something that doesn't have a positive frequency.

With this in mind it's always best to make as much of your holiday fare as possible - one of our favourites around here is nuts. Of course nuts are usually very good for you - however when heavily  processed they end up on the dark side of junk.

I enjoy salted as well as sweet or honeyed nuts - and they are so easy to make at home. I have mentioned here a few months ago the details of making your own roasted salted cashews - which are yummy and can be made in a few minutes or a few hours if soaking in brine.

And then there are Honey Roasted Cinnamon Nuts.....this is what makes the ultimate Yule time snack for us here and no holiday season would be complete without them. I kept myself busy yesterday making these and then enjoying the aroma of deliciousness!

To make this type of nuts get 2 cups of almonds or my favourites, pecans, walnuts and almonds - but keep them all separate from each other in different bowls. As long as you have 2 cups in total of all these nuts together.

You will need 2 tablespoons honey, 1 tablespoon oil (I use olive oil), 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, dash pepper. Preheat your oven to about 170C and prepare a baking sheet by covering with parchment paper. 

Mix all these ingredients (not the nuts) in a small saucepan and gently heat while stirring constantly until runny. Then spoon out evenly over each batch of nuts and toss the nuts into the sticky mixture, but still keep them separate because they require different cooking times. 

On the baking sheet, spoon out the nuts in different batches - the almonds will take the longest at about 15-17 minutes while other softer nuts take about 12-14 minutes. Watch them carefully once in the oven and take them out if they start to burn or darken too much. 

When ready, take out the softer nuts first and using a wooden spoon, lift them onto a piece of tin foil to cool. Separate them while you do this. After a few minutes all of the nuts will be cooling on the foil. Once cool you can mix them together in an air tight jar, add a tiny bit more salt if desired and they will keep for about a week or so.

These are so tasty, we can't stop eating them!

Enjoy,

April

Honey Roasted Cinnamon Nuts

Maple Pecan Steamed Pudding

My first adventure in pudding making was a great success... and I had every excuse in the book as to why I wouldn't be able to make one, why it wouldn't turn out right and whatever... but I surprised myself here...

On the weekend I made a Maple Pecan Pudding and it was lovely! I was a bit concerned that it would not turn out right, because well, it is steamed and not baked and for the life of me I could not figure out how that would be an advantage.

And it's not really - however it is a completely different taste, texture and the process involved in making a pudding is quite interesting in itself. First of all not many people would have a pudding steamer and I certainly don't.

So, you have to improvise and that's not difficult at all. I used a glass bowl for the pudding, placed an upside down measuring cup on the bottom of the saucepan, then made a cover for the pudding using tin foil and parchment paper. It was all fastened with string and even a little handle...

To make the pudding I used 1 cup of chopped pecans, 4 tablespoons oats and 1/4 cup of maple syrup. I mixed these up and placed them into the buttered glass bowl at the bottom. Then to make the pudding I used 2 cups of spelt flour, grated orange rind, 1/4 agave syrup, 2 eggs beaten, 1/2 cup goat's milk, cloves and a pinch of salt.

I mixed all of these other ingredients together in a mixing bowl until it resembled a batter and then spooned it carefully onto the pecans. This would form the bottom part of the pudding. I covered the glass bowl with the foil and string and then carefully placed it into the saucepan (on it's perch) and turned up the heat.

This steamed for 2 hours with me checking to make sure there was enough water. I kept it up about half way around the bowl. 

To be honest I was not at all certain it would steam and cook - so was pleasantly surprised when I opened it and it was cooked. Nicely. To serve, this type of pudding is great with homemade custard and  drizzled with more maple syrup...

April

Maple Pecan Pudding... already sampled!