No Joke, I Can’t Get Enough of the Roasted Nuts

Everywhere I seem to go these days it’s nuts, nuts, nuts. (And before you go thinking that I’m going to make yet another obvious nut joke, take heart: I’m so obsessed with nuts these days that I can’t even make a joke about them! Yes, it’s serious.) And not just any nuts — roasted nuts. So simple, so easy, so quick, so delicious!
I’ve always known that roasted nuts were good. But my recent healthy obsession took root in my brain a few weeks ago when we ran this roasted almonds recipe. It was just one of those “Oh, yeah, why don’t I make those more often?” kind of deals. And then, a week or so later, my husband and I were at one of our favorite places in Kansas City, Bier Station. Despite the fact that this place has an ah-mazing beer selection, since I’m off the gluten these days, I stick to the wine or cider, enjoy the cool atmosphere and do my best to not stare longingly at the soft pretzels they have specially brought in from Farm to Market Bread. But recently, I realized that Bier Station offers a Roasted Nut Trio — just walnuts, pecans and almonds, roasted to warm and toasty perfection with butter, salt and pepper. No gluten! And so we ordered them. And then went back the next night to do the same … and then again a few nights later. That’s when we realized we had a problem. Addiction to Roasted Nuts, party of two, please!
But instead of cutting back, we just vowed to make them at home more often. This way we weren’t known as the Roasted Nut Addicts at Bier Station and we were also flexing our own culinary muscles at home. Plus, we were saving a few bucks. Victory! Our first experiment into roasted nuts land was this Paleo recipe for Spiced Nuts from Elana’s Pantry. With just chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper and olive oil, it made for a quick and easy addictive snack. We didn’t happen to have the exact called for mix of nuts in our pantry, so we adapted this recipe to two cups of the nuts we did have. This ended up being a hodgepodge of almonds, hazelnuts, Brazil nuts and cashews. And the results? Healthy obsession worthy. Obviously.
First, we just toasted them in a cast-iron skillet. Is it just me or is any recipe about 10 times cooler when you bust out the heavy iron?

While the nuts were toasting, we mixed together the spice blend. So pretty!

The final step was just tossing the toasted nuts with a little olive oil and then mixing them with the spices. It makes for a bit of a messy snack — but it’s oh so worth it!

What snacks do you have a healthy obsession with? Do you make them at home? Or get them out? —Jenn