Minimizing my Pantry: Snacks and Nuts

In downsizing our pantry, I am trying to cut back on snacks---especially sweet snacks.  I try to keep fruits and vegetables on hand in the fridge for snacking, but there are certain snacks that I won't eliminate.

I seem to be out of one of my favorite snacks, Cashew Clusters with almonds and pumpkin seeds from Costco.  They contain 50% cashews and are a good source of protein and fiber, and they are not too sweet but sweet enough to satisfy my sweet tooth.  I need to replenish our supply of these.

Cashew Clusters from Costco.

I tried the dark chocolate covered soybeans from Trader Joe's, but I didn't really like them so I won't be getting any more of those even though they are healthful. 

Chocolate covered soy beans.

I always try to have popcorn on hand.  Popcorn is a low calorie and very filling snack.  We like to have some if we are watching a Netflix movie.  We try to get the low sodium or no sodium brands. 

Popcorn is a low calorie snack.

But perhaps our favorite snack is nuts of all kinds. And nuts are such a good source of proteins particularly if you don't eat a lot of meat.   We usually have mixed nuts, walnuts, pecans, almonds and sometimes pine nuts, sunflower seeds (not really nuts I guess) and pistachios.  Costco carries a nice offering of unsalted nuts which we prefer since we try to reduce our sodium intake.  And buying in the large bulk sizes in much cheaper.

Our current nut collection in the pantry. 

Unsalted mixed nuts from Costco. 

Of course, sometimes we snack on chocolate, but chocolate will be covered in a separate blog.

Writing this blog has made me hungry, I think I'll go have a handful of nuts. 

Maple Walnut Upside-Down Cake

Maple-Walnut Upside-Down Cake.

I'm sharing Amy Traverso's Blog today.  It looked so appealing and her photos were so nice. 

Today’s weather is such an improvement over the past, oh, five months, that I want to fire up the grill and eat corn on the cob. But rather than get ahead of myself, I’m opting to share a terrific maple-pecan cake recipe that I discovered in a 1975 cookbook called Treasured Recipes from Early New England Kitchens.

Maple-pecan upside-down cake

The book was written by Marjorie Page Blanchard and published as a joint venture between Garden Way Publishing and Harrington’s, the longstanding purveyor of Vermont hams, Cheddar, maple syrup, and the like.
The recipe itself is simple: Pour maple syrup into a cake pan and sprinkle with nuts (the original calls for walnuts; I used pecans). Make a batter using the conventional creaming method, pour into the pan, spread carefully and bake. I made a few tweaks (increasing the nuts, decreasing the sugar and baking powder) and found the recipe to be a real charmer, perfect for an early spring dessert.
Maple-Nut Upside-Down Cake
The charm of this cake lies in its tender, buttery crumb and rich maple-nut flavor. Because it’s so similar to pineapple upside-down cake, we wondered if we’d miss the addition of the tart fruit, but it’s perfectly delicious on its own.
Total time: 1 hour, 10 minutes; hands-on time: 20 minutes
Yield: 8 servings

• 1 cup maple syrup
• 3/4 cup roughly chopped pecans or walnuts
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the pan
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 2/3 cup milk
• Garnish: whipped cream, maple syrup

Preheat your oven to 350° and set a rack to the middle position. Generously butter a 9-inch cake pan. Pour the maple syrup into the pan and sprinkle all over with the nuts.

Maple syrup and nuts in bottom of pan.

In the bowl of a standing mixer (or, if using hand-held beaters, in a large bowl), beat the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each. Add the vanilla and beat to combine.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk, and mixing after each.
Using a large spoon, add the batter to the prepared cake pan in large dollops.

Add dollops of batter to the prepared pan.

Use a spatula (preferably an offset spatula) to carefully spread the batter around the pan and over the syrup and nuts. It helps to dip the spatula in warm water so the batter doesn’t stick to it.

Spread batter over maple syrup and nuts.

Transfer the pan to the oven and bake until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let the cake stand for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pan and turn the cake out onto a serving plate. Serve topped with whipped cream and a drizzle of maple syrup.

Author:

Amy Traverso

Biography:

Senior lifestyle editor Amy Traverso oversees Yankee's Food and Home & Garden departments and contributes articles to the magazine. Amy's book, The Apple Lover's Cookbook (W.W. Norton), won an International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) cookbook award for the category American.  Photos by Amy Traverso.

I made the cake today.  I used walnuts instead of pecans. It was delicious as a coffee cake for breakfast, but it would be equally good as a dessert.

Here's my cake:

Maple Walnut-Upside Down Cake.

Trying to Replicate Sitti Goat Cheese Orange Salad at Home

Goat Cheese Orange Salad with Mixed Greens, Cabbage, Walnuts and Dates.

The other day when Marcia and I shared a delicious Goat Cheese Orange Salad at Sitti,  I thought perhaps I could replicate it at home.  I tried the other night, and it was close, but I didn't use lemon vinaigrette, an ingredient in Sitti's that makes it delightfully refreshing. I did add a few other ingredients as well. 

Lovely purple bowl, gift of Marcia. 

Purple Astrolemia in bowl for centerpiece on table.

As I was making the salad I noticed the purple leaves in the mixed greens and how they matched the lovely centerpiece bowl with purple flowers.  That prompted me to add a bit more purple to the salad---a bit of shredded purple cabbage and a few purple grapes.

Shredded purple cabbage and purple grapes added to salad.

Napking and napkin ring.

Napkin ring.

With all the purple, I brought out the napkins and napkin rings that I had bought on sale at Pier One Imports to match the purple bowl.  They are more of an eggplant color, but they blend very well with the other purples on the table.

Shades of purple on the dinner table. 

We relished  the colorful salad while enjoying the shades of purple in the table decorations. 

Banana Black Walnut Cake: Part One

Banana black walnut cake with chocolate glaze and garnished with black walnuts.

I was in Shelby recently and shopping at Ingles grocery where I bought some black walnuts.  I hadn't seen them for sale before.  The common English walnut is available everywhere.  I should explain the difference between the two walnuts.

Hammons Black Walnuts.

"So what kind of walnuts do we eat? Well, the Black Walnut was in fact part of many native American diets but most of the walnuts we eat today are actually English walnuts, which have a milder taste and broader appeal. They also have thinner, easier-to-crack shells. Black Walnuts on the other hand have a bolder, earthier flavor. Their shells are thick, tough to crack, and will likely stain your hands.
Black walnut trees are not really cultivated on the same scale of English walnuts. They mostly grow wild across central and eastern parts of the country. Hammons is a company that's dedicated to preserving the legacy and availability of the Black Walnut." (Serious Eats)

Black walnuts in husks.

Black walnuts are encased in a fleshy outer husk that can be used as a brown dye.  When shelling black walnuts this "dye" will stain your fingers.  Once you remove the outer fleshy husk it is difficult to crack the extremely hard shell of the black walnut.

Fleshy meats inside hard outer shell.

Then it is tedious to pick out the meats of the nut.

The Louisburg College Campus where I taught.

The black walnut tree is native to North Carolina, and the campus where I taught for many years had a big black walnut tree just in back of my office.  Occasionally I would gather some and harvest the fleshy meats, but usually it just wasn't worth the effort.  Black walnuts have a stronger, smokier flavor than the common English walnut.  I don't find them tasty except when used in baking cookies, bread, cakes or in ice cream. 

Black walnuts make a nice natural brown dye.  Check out this website for instructions.
Black Walnut Dye.

Yarn dyed with black walnut dye.

You can even use black walnuts as a  Natural Brown Hair Dye.

Hair dyed with black walnut dye.

Okay, I have digressed, and I know you are eager to see the recipe for the Banana Black Walnut Cake.  Stay tuned.  It is in Banana Black Walnut Cake Part Two. 

I Scream, You Scream, We all Scream for Ice Cream

Fresh Local Ice Cream on Glenwood Avenue.

Now that the weather is warming and it's almost summer, my attention turns to ice cream.  Oh who am I kidding, I love ice cream all season long.  There's no better place in Raleigh, NC to get ice cream than the Fresh Local Ice Cream Shop over on Glenwood Avenue.

Many different flavors.

They use local fresh dairy products.

This must be one of Raleigh's best kept secrets.  The Shop is in a little building that was formerly a bank in the Oak Park Shopping Center, and it is easily missed when cruising down Glenwood.  If you know where Taverna Agora, the Greek restaurant, is, Fresh Local is next door to the east.

Maple-walnut ice cream.

To my knowledge, this is the only place in Raleigh, that one can find maple-walnut ice cream.  I discovered this flavor many years ago in Nova Scotia.  There the flavor is readily available in cartons in Sobey's, but my favorite is down in Halifax at Cow's Ice Cream.  But in Raleigh, Fresh Local Ice Cream is my favorite place for any kind of ice cream, but especially maple-walnut.

They make ice cream cakes for special occasions.

They have fresh lemonade and strawberry lemonade too.

My friend, Marcia, and I have made a pact to limit the amount of sweets we eat in June---trying to lose a bit of weight---and ice cream is considered "a sweet".  Once a week, however, we have agreed that when we get together we will allow ourselves a trip over to Fresh Local Ice Cream, where I will surely have a maple-walnut ice cream milkshake.

Maple-walnut milkshake.

If you haven't discovered this little shop over on Glenwood, and if you like ice cream, you should hurry on over to Fresh Local Ice Cream.   You won't be disappointed.

 

Maple Glazed Walnuts

Walnuts glazed with maple syrup.

We frequently eat oatmeal for breakfast, and we like to garnish our oatmeal with maple syrup glazed walnuts which are quickly prepared.  Here's how:

Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon salt in heavy saucepan (I use cast iron pan.)

Sprinkle salt in pan.

Heat pan on medium heat and add 2 cups of walnut halves.

Two cups of walnuts halves.

Heat until you can smell the aroma of the toasted walnuts.

Add 1/4 cup of pure maple syrup.

Add 1/4 cup of pure maple syrup.

Cook until the walnuts are glazed and the syrup has caramelized.

Heat until walnuts are glazed and syrup has caramelized.

And here you have it, two cups of maple glazed walnuts.

Walnuts glazed with maple syrup.

These are great sprinkled over oatmeal or they are good for simple snacking.

Among my Fav-o-rite Things: Maple-Walnut Ice Cream

I like many different flavors of ice cream--chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, peach---but my very favorite is maple-walnut ice cream, a flavor that I can't seem to find back home.  So when we are here in Nova Scotia, I occasionally (okay frequently) indulge.

It's good plain.

Maple-walnut ice cream.

Or even better topped with a few walnuts and a bit of maple syrup.

Maple-walnut ice cream topped with walnuts and maple syrup.

Back home we have butter pecan ice cream, so why not maple-walnut?  Perhaps if I could have it whenever I want back home, it wouldn't seem so special up here in Nova Scotia.

Munch Madness

Maple-glazed walnuts and pecans.

Here are some suggestions for healthy munchies while watching tonight's basketball championship game.

Maple Glazed Walnuts/Pecans
2 cups walnut or pecan halves or mixture of both
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
1/8 teaspoon salt
Directions:  Place 1/8 teaspoon salt in a dry skillet and heat over medium-high heat.  Add the walnuts and syrup.  Cook, stirring often, until the syrup is absorbed and caramelized and nuts are toasted.  3 to 5 minutes.  (Recipe modified from one by Ellie Krieger of the Food Network)  These are good as munchies, but are also good in salads.

Another really healthy snack is cheese stuffed apricots.  Use the large dried apricots and be sure they are soft and supple and not hardened.  You can make a half moon slit entering the knife in the opening where the pit was removed.  Place about 1/2 teaspoon of cheese into the pocket and top with an almond.

Cheese stuffed apricots:
Dried apricots (large ones--the ones from Trader Joe's are very good) And as someone said if you don't have a Trader Joe's, then you need to move.
Softened cheese (Brie, Blue Cheese, or Mascarpone) I used Brie for these.
Almonds (I used Marcona almonds from Trader Joe's)

This is a healthy snack. Almonds are high in protein and fiber and rich in vitamin E.
Dried apricots are rich in carotenes and a number of minerals as well as vitamin C.

Dried apricots stuffed with Brie and topped with Marcona almonds.

We'll be snacking on these tonight as we watch the game.  Go Kentucky!

Cappuccino-Walnut Toffee

Photo: Beth Dreiling Hontzas; Styling: Buffy Hargett (Southern Living magazine).

I always make toffee at Christmas time using my recipe for traditional English toffee, but when I ran across this recipe in Southern Living, I thought I would give it a try.  I liked the idea of combining cappucino and walnuts.  I use pecans in my traditional recipe.  I also thought the swirled dark and white chocolate gave a nice effect.  Here's the recipe:

 YIELD: Makes about 2 lb.

Ingredients

• 2 cups chopped walnuts
• 1 1/4 cups butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon dark unsulphured molasses
• 2 teaspoons instant espresso
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk chocolate morsels
• 1 cup white chocolate morsels

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Butter a 15- x 10-inch jelly-roll pan.
2. Bake walnuts at 350° in a single layer in a shallow pan 8 to 10 minutes or until toasted and fragrant, stirring halfway through. Let cool 30 minutes.
3. Melt 1 1/4 cups butter in a 3 1/2-qt. heavy saucepan over medium heat; stir in granulated sugar, next 5 ingredients, and 1/3 cup water. Cook, stirring constantly, until a candy thermometer registers 290° (soft crack stage), about 20 minutes. Remove pan from heat, and stir in walnuts. Quickly pour mixture into prepared pan, and spread into an even layer. Immediately sprinkle milk chocolate and white chocolate morsels over top; let stand 5 minutes. Swirl chocolate using an off-set spatula. Cover and chill until firm (about 1 hour). Break toffee into pieces. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator up to 7 days. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Southern Living FEBRUARY 2011

Cappuccino-Walnut Toffee.

When I tried to swirl the white and chocolate morsels, the white just became incorporated into the dark chocolate or remained under the dark chocolate, and I didn't get the swirled effect.  I think perhaps I didn't wait the full 5 minutes to swirl the two.  While I do like the cappucino flavor for a change,  I think I'm going to stick with my traditional recipe which is virtually fail-proof.