Eating Dinner With My Family

My husband picked this off of pinterest.  Our plan for lunches when we have family in town for a big dinner, is to have some meats, cheeses, olives, nuts, hummus, etc... to graze on rather than a proper lunch.  I made these for us to snack on through the family visits.  They are almost gone today, the 26th :).  I adore these nuts!  They are not too hard to make too, but they are sweet and spicy and totally addictive! Sugar-and-Spice Nuts 3/4 cup sugar 1 tablespoon kosher salt 1 tablespoon chile powder 2 teaspoons cinnamon 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper 1 large egg white 2 cups raw cashews (9 ounces) 2 cups raw almonds (9 ounces) 1. Preheat the oven to 300°. Coat a rimmed baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. In a small bowl, whisk the sugar with the salt, chile powder, cinnamon and cayenne pepper. In a large bowl, beat the egg white until frothy. Add the cashews, almonds and spiced sugar and toss. Spread out the nuts on the prepared...

I got the most beautiful tagine as a gift from my MIL.  I have been wanting one for a long time.  Now I am not timid in the kitchen, but I was a little nervous about using the clay vessel with the glass top stove, so after a bit of poking around on the Internet, I ordered a heat diffuser and a cookbook about cooking in these clay vessels.   The heat diffuser was recommended by the makers of my tagine but didn't say required, but I figured for 12 dollars it was worth the insurance.  I should have checked to see if my tagine fit inside my cast iron skillet, but too late:).  This is my first recipe out of the cookbook I ordered Tagines & Couscous .  If this recipe is the only one we like, the book was worth it.  We had some wonderful friends over, who didn't mind being guinea pigs to our first attempt with the tagine as well as the recipe;).  The only ingredient that I couldn't find at my local publix was the ghee.  The cookbook ...

This week for meatless Monday, I used some of my Swiss chard from my Front Porch Pickings basket.  I really loved this recipe.  My husband, who hates chunks of tomato and olives, wasn't as impressed as I was.  I did slightly change how I made it.  First of all, I had huge onions, so I only used one.  It was most likely just shy of two onions.  I also only had one bunch of chard.  Next time, I will make sure I have two.  I missed having more.  I was doubly impressed that I not only liked it, but it was reasonably low calorie. I think the nutritional information at the end of the recipe said 1/4 of it was just under 400 calories.  It was pretty quick to throw together too.    Whole-Wheat Spaghetti With Swiss Chard And Pecorino Cheese 1 Tbl olive oil 2 onions thinly sliced 2 Bunch Swiss chard trimmed and chopped (about 14 cups) 3 garlic cloves minced 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes with juices 1/4 Cup dry white win...

I have an absolute addiction to the Blue Diamond Wasabi and Soy almonds!  I could eat them until my eyes water, and then eat some more.  They are not the cheapest snack, especially when you eat them like I do.  I need to limit myself to the one ounce portion size recommended for heart health;).  So, when I saw that blue diamond had a recipe for wasabi almonds, I couldn't wait to try them out.  (my previous attempts to recreate them have never lived up to the original!)  The first thing I saw was that I had been seriously under portioning the wasabi powder.  This recipe called for 2 whole tablespoons!  I liked the fact it called for an egg white; I individually freeze egg whites whenever I need just a yolk.  I am always looking to thin out the bulging pantry and fridge/freezer.  When I reached the stir part in the baking, I noticed that the almonds were stuck in a giant chunk.  So when I "gently stirred" I actually beat the almo...