Cinnamon-Sugar Almonds

This is another recipe I've been wanting to try for a while - thank you Pinterest... again. I found this recipe from the Recipe Critic blog (sometimes I feel like a recipe critic... because I always use other people's recipes), however, I think she found it elsewhere.

I took some of her suggestions and made some minor changes to the original recipe - below is what I did:

Ingredients:
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Brown Sugar
3 T Cinnamon
1/8 t Salt
1 Egg White
2 t vanilla
3 cups Almonds
1/8 to 1/4 C. Water

Instructions:
Mix together in a large bowl sugars, cinnamon, and salt.

In another bowl with a whisk, mix together the egg white and vanilla until it is frothy. Add the almonds and coat thoroughly. This will help the mixture stick to the almonds during the cooking process.

Prepare your slow cooker by spraying it with cooking spray (although you'll still have to soak it afterwards...). I used a 4 quart. Add the cinnamon almond mixture to the almonds and turn it to low. Stir until the cinnamon sugar mixture is coated well on the almonds. Be prepared for your house to smell amazing!

You want to cook for about 3-4 hours. Mine took about 3. Stirring every 20 minutes. In the very last hour, add between 1/8 and 1/4 cup water and stir well. This will ensure a crunchy coating and help the mixture to harden.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the almonds onto the sheet to cool. The almonds should be pretty sticky so be sure to separate them the best that you can and let them cool!


My Notes:
*She suggested less water (1/8c), so I tried that, and I think that may be why mine didn't have quite the hard coating that I was expecting. I started with 1/8, then added more later - which helped a lot. I would stick with the 1/4c next time.
*Be careful of the HOT crock-pot as you stir. Just sayin'. (ouch)
*It made... well basically 3 cups of almonds... makes sense right? I have not yet calculated the calories, but I probably will, so I'll try to update that later.
*These are super tasty. Y-U-M.

Reheating Rice {microwave-less}

I can't remember if I've posted about this... but I've been without a microwave for almost 2 weeks. For the most part, I have not missed it much, but there have been a few things...

Tonight, I wanted to reheat some rice that I'd made earlier in the week. I always reheat my rice in the microwave. I had to stop and really think about what I could do... I decided that I would probably reheat it on the stove, but that I should probably check with all of the experts on the internet.

I found this set of suggestions, and this is what I decided to do:

*Boil some water on the stove (enough to cover the rice)
*Add the rice, and let it continue to boil.
*Stir occasionally as it boils for 2-3 minutes
*Drain as much of the water as possible.

It was not as good as fresh, but it has potential to be better than the microwave. I didn't get quite enough of the water out, so it was more like sticky rice than regular white rice. However, without my microwave, I would say that this first attempt at reheating rice was a success!

Microwave-less??

Yesterday, and I was facing the reality that my microwave had seen it's last day, my immediate thought was: Well, I'm going to have to go buy a microwave now... Then, I went to look at them, and I really don't feel like spending that much money on an appliance right now.

Then I got to thinking... what if I didn't have a microwave? I have never lived in a home without a working microwave for more than a couple of days. And I'm curious about how my eating and cooking habits would change if the microwave was not an option. I'm thinking about trying it for a week or two to see if I can handle it, and then possibly making it a longer-term experiment.

{Disclaimer: I wouldn't be going completely microwave-less. I have a microwave to use at work, but I eat most of my meals during the week at home, so I still think it would be a challenge}

That cozy little nook could hold my cook books or... something, I don't know. But my cookbooks would fit really nicely in there... So here's to thinking outside the box, trying something new, and seeing how it goes!