Almond Joy

I was recently asked for almond recipes or ideas for different ways to incorporate almonds into the daily diet.

I admit that I don't eat almonds. I don't really care for them. I'm more of a walnutty kinda gal. (Insert joke/pun about being nuts or going nuts here.)

But I have enjoyed them in a few dishes and I do have some good food resources at my fingertips (cookbooks, websites, other RDs, and fellow foodie friends.) So I did some searching and came up with these suggestions:

• Add them to oatmeal for a hearty and filling breakfast. You can add some dried fruit too.
  
• Mix them into a trail mix. Put almonds, other nuts if you like, seeds, pretzels, dried fruit, chocolate bits, etc into a bowl and shake thoroughly (with a lid please). This makes a great afternoon snack to get you over the 3 o'clock hump.
  
• A friend recommended adding them to couscous with dried cranberries. This sounds good and since he generally knows his food, I'll take his word for it that it is. Thanks for the suggestion!
  
• Toss them into a salad.
• Eat them plain.
• Put them into muffins. You can even use a pre-made mix and just toss some into the batter.
  
• Homemade almond ice cream, if you were wondering what to do with that ice cream maker you got at your wedding. (No, we didn't get one, nor did we get a waffle iron.)
  

Finally, I found the following recipe from one of my favorite healthy food websites, eatingwell.com. I haven't made it or tried it. But I generally like their recipes and I have had almonds with green beans quite a few times and it's a good pairing.

Orange and Almond Green Beans

Ingredients

* 1 pound green beans, trimmed
* 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
* 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated orange zest
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* Freshly ground pepper, to taste
* 1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Preparation

Place a steamer basket in a large saucepan, add 1 inch of water and bring to a boil. Put green beans in the basket and steam until tender, about 6 minutes. Toss the green beans in a large bowl with oil, orange zest, salt, pepper and almonds.

Note: To toast sliced almonds, place in a small dry skillet and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until fragrant and lightly browned, 2 to 4 minutes.




Now, can anyone tell me how big a serving of nuts is? Hold our your hand flat, palm up like your asking for money. Imagine you had nuts in your palm. You can't cup your hand, you can only hold as many nuts as you can in your palm with your hand flat. That's about a serving. So beware of this if you find yourself mindlessly munchin on some nuts or trail mix. Yes, they are good for you. But they do contain a good deal of calories, so keep your portions in check.