I LOVE nuts! And no wonder, I just learned that almonds are a symbol of LOVE and happiness! The early Romans showered newlyweds with almonds as a fertility charm and the nut was a symbol of good luck for centuries throughout southern Europe. I once even heard that if you eat 6 raw almonds before drinking, you won’t get a hangover.
Do you think that could work?
Nuts in general got a really bad rap some years ago. We all knew that they were delicious and fatty but luckily, we’ve discovered that this fat is good for you and is even known to lower blood LDL cholesterol levels. An ounce of almonds gives you 35% of your daily allowance of vitamin E, which is a powerful antioxidant to keep you healthy all winter. They also have other vitamins and minerals, are cholesterol free and a good source of fiber – all good stuff!
Recently, I’ve been toasting raw almonds in peanut oil and fine sea salt. Everyone I serve them to is like, OMG – where’d you get these?
So I know this is a stupid simple thing to do, but I thought I’d share it as it has received such high praise from everyone. Now that the holiday season is coming upon us, a nice cute little jar of these roasted almonds would make an awesome hostess gift. After all, years and years ago, gifts of almonds represented happiness, romance, good health and fortune. Not bad, eh?
These are great during cocktail hour or chop some up and throw them on a salad or oatmeal. They don’t take long to make at all and you will LOVE them!
Just be sure to check you’ve toasted them all the way through by cutting them in half and seeing if the brownish roasting effort reach the center of the nut.
ROASTED WHOLE ALMONDS WITH SEA SALT
1.5 cups of raw whole almonds
2 tbs. peanut oil
Sea salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toss almonds with peanut oil and season with sea salt. Roast in the oven for a total of 13 minutes. Toss at 6 minutes so that browning is even. Check at 12 minutes by cutting an almond in half and making sure it is toasted inside. When done, remove pan from the oven and salt them again with the fine sea salt and let cool in the pan. Toss again and taste for the proper salt level. Store in a tightly covered container. Enjoy!!
