Spicy Mixed Nuts

I needed something to take to a party. It was a "30 Days till Call Day" party held at the seminary for the students expecting their first call in April. I thought about spicing up some kind of party nuts. I found a recipe for "Hot and Spicy Pecans." I don't especially like eating pecans, so I thought I would make it with almonds instead. I went to the store to get the ingredients and discovered that almonds were too expensive. I was going to double the recipe, and therefore needed 4 cups of nuts. It would have been almost $15 to get that many almonds. So I ended up getting mixed nuts ("with less than 50% peanuts!") I didn't have ground red pepper, so I substituted a few drops of hot sauce. After I coated the nuts in the butter/spice mixture, I thought they needed a little something. They weren't that spicy. So I liberally sprinkled on some of Penzey's Old World Seasoning. This seasoning is really great. I love it on grilled pork chops. Putting it on the nuts helped a lot. This is how they turned out.

As you can see, some of them got a little "done." I did have the problem of the spices burning on the bottom of the pan. They had to be stirred every 8 minutes. So I set my timer for 8 minutes and stirred them. But then I forgot to keep track of how many times I had stirred and I think they were in for 8 minutes too long. Anyway, when they first came out of the oven, they tasted a little chewy, but they crisped up after cooling.

The people at the party liked them. (Yay!) Some changes I would make next time include using less butter, omitting the Worcestershire sauce (I just don't see what that did for it), using less chili powder, and using a lot of Old World Seasoning. Here is my amended recipe:

Spicy Mixed Nuts

Ingredients:

4 cups mixed nuts

2 tbsp melted butter

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp chili powder

2 tbsp Old World Seasoning (?)

Directions:

Bake at 275 for 30 minutes, stirring every 8 minutes (and keeping track of how long they've been in!) Please note: I have not tried this recipe as I have written it. I would prob start with less OWS and taste it before adding more. And it may be that with the OWS, you would need less salt and garlic powder, since it contains these things. So, I would start with just the OWS and then add things to taste.

If I try this again, I will add a comment about how it turned out. Please comment if you try it or have made a similar recipe.

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Welcome to Edesia's Notebook

The other day I was trying to recall a meal I made for a dinner party over a year ago. I know that it had some kind of Greek element, that I made a Greek salad to go along with it, and that everyone loved it. But what was the main dish? No matter how hard I tried to remember, it wouldn't come back to me.

That's when I thought, "Hey, I should keep some sort of cooking journal of what I have made and how it turned out." I have notebooks scattered around with recipes jotted down and ingredients crossed out and stuff written in the margins about how I would do it differently next time. Why not go electronic?



Viola, Edesia's Notebook was born. Here I will post what I have been cooking. Messes, successes, interesting food finds, and recipes for my homemade concotions (that I never seem to remember later.) It's to help me in my cooking journey.

I consider myself to be a beginner cook. I really got into cooking about a year and a half ago. I don't cook anything too fancy, just simple dishes with few ingredients. I like to cook things that are fast and easy, but lend themselves to creativity.



"So, what's with the name?" you ask. Edesia is the Roman Goddess of the Feast who presides over banquets. She ensured that the feast went well and the food was excellent. Her name comes from the Latin verb edes, "to eat" or "to consume." Feasting was considered a magical and important act by the Romans deserving of its own goddess. {This information was taken from the Obscure Goddess Online Dictionary.}


I hope you find something interesting here. Please feel free to comment; I'd love to hear what you have been cooking as well.



Happy cooking!

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