healthy {ier} deliciousness

we made lots of yummy goodies for the holidays this year, including this cranberry orange loaf, this lemon poppy seed bread, this cinnamon bread, these delicious cookies and these yummy sugar cookies, and martha stewarts homemade snowflake marshmallows (which actually tasted delicious. not too much work, but very sticky. would be fun to do with kids). the cookies were perfect. the cranberry orange loaf was excellent-extremely tart from the fresh cranberries and super moist from the orange glaze. as always, my family loved the lemon poppy seed (the glaze kept that one nice and moist too) and my husband and his family loved the cinnamon bread. i added a thinned-out version of buttercream frosting to the cinnamon bread. it was almost like the glaze you would find on a cinnamon roll. i liked that addition to the bread a lot. i liked the cinnamon bread but it seemed a bit dry. the recipe calls for a cup of buttermilk, which got me really excited thinking it would be moist like red velvet cake. but it wasn't, so we need to fix that. i have some ideas on how to make it a little better next year.

however, the thing i really want to share with you is two other snackies we made this year. and boy were they a hit. i have a new favorite foodie blog (i will share with you later) and i came across this delicious recipe for candied nuts. i swear i could smell the nuts baking as i read her post. i then read it to my husband who said, we are definitely making those this year. both our families loved the recipe (especially our grandparents. i guess grandparents really like candied nuts). because the recipe was so good, i am gonna give it an entire post for you to drool over.

for now, i will share the second nuts recipe. we actually didn't make these for christmas this year... i wanted to make them last year and never did and then i forgot about it this year. with all the unpacking i have been doing, i came across the recipe this week and decided to make them for my husband after his first big night in the academy. the recipe is SO easy and such a yummy treat (if you like nuts). it is much healthier than a cookie or ice cream sandwich for that matter.

i got the recipe from here (these little magazines actually have really good and easy recipes.)





HONEY-GLAZED MIXED NUTS

1 can (11.5 oz.) mixed nuts (you can do unsalted but we prefer the salted in our house)
2 Tbs. honey
1/4 tsp. ground red pepper (cayenne)

combine the above ingredients in skillet; cook on medium-high heat 2 to 3 minutes more like 6 or 7 for me) or until glaze starts to simmer and turns foamy. Spread onto greased baking sheet, separating slightly with fork; cool completely. *makes 12 servings, 2 Tbs. each.

since i made this recipe just for hubby and i, i kept it all on one dish. (as you can see, much of the 11.5 oz of nuts is already gone). if you like nuts, you need to try this. my husband and i don't sit around and eat plain nuts, but we went through this serving fast!





the nuts are pretty sticky even when cooled... i was kind of expecting them to harden over but they dont. it doesnt matter though, because the combination of the salty nuts with the sweet honey and hot cayenne pepper is worth having sticky fingers. trust me.