At 6:30 this morning I was on a mission to try to toast up some almonds with various seasonings.  All spurred by a comment on my blog yesterday about how to make cinnamon sugar dusted almonds.  Thanks for the inspiration Liz!

What I love most about a blog is when people comment and talk to each other.  It’s a nice low key way to connect with people going through perhaps the same thing.

So I have to say, the toasted almonds came out really tasty!

I first tried a cocoa-sugar dusting—ammmmmazing!!

{FODMAPs peeps keep almond portion to 10 per sitting and since cocoa hasn’t been officially tested –monitor symptoms.  I don’t believe the small amount of cocoa in this recipe would be a problem…but everyone is different}

Then tried a cinnamon-sugar coating…yummmmy.  And lastly, I dipped some almonds into my maple sugar–these were my favorite but they didn’t look as pretty.

First whisk some egg whites to a frothy mixture–not so frothed that stiff peaks form but just until lightly foamy.

Dip almonds in for a bath–I did this in batches.

Then dip in your favorite mixtures.

I used the superfine domino sugar so it would be a light dusting.

Bake on the top rack in the oven and turn once during cooking.  When you start to smell the fragrant nuts –they are likely ready to come out of the oven!

I love food gifts, so the nuts inspired me to paint up a little gift bag.

The small burlap bags–I purchased at the Paper Source and added a bit of acrylic paint.  I will add the nuts to a cellophane bag and place in my little cute burlap bag.  Fun, right?

Here’s a little sampler of the three flavors…

These nuts make a great kid’s school snack.

As a side note, a group of about 2000 dietitians from around the globe are meeting right now in Sydney, Australia at  the International Congress of Dietetics {I so….wish I could be there!}  One of the educational sessions was on the benefit of the Mediterranean diet.  And nuts, received high marks!  Eating a handful of nuts 3 times per week was associated with a decrease risk of diabetes, decreased inflammatory markers associated with heart disease, decreased risk of obesity and they help keep the brain healthy {Kinda important!} too! Learn more from my colleague Emma Stirling, a Melbourne, Australia based dietitian who I had the pleasure to meet a year ago when I visited Australia.

So…get healthy….eat nuts.

And MOST importantly, A BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST HUSBAND IN THE WORLD, RUSSELL T.  HAVE A GREAT DAY!!