A Week of Thanksgiving : Wednesday

Yesterday I was so thankful for my wonderful husband and daughter that I didn't get around to writing about it! We cooked, and cleaned and cuddled and it was a lovely pre-Thanksgiving day.
We are a great team! The simple family unit of ours, three people (punctuated by 3 cats of course), trudging sometimes, or dancing mostly through the days of our lives, well, it's the best darn thing to ever happen to me! I can't say it's all luck, because we do a lot of work to make things go here, but I do feel lucky that a) I met a man with a temperament that suits mine, and b) we managed to have a kid with a sense of humor and a heart of gold! When you get right down to it, the simple fact that we love each other makes life worth living, and I am truly thankful for that unconditional love! Yes you can call me sentimental and sappy, and you would be right! The fact remains though, that I wouldn't be the person I am today without them, and I think the world is a better place because of them.


Delia and I worked together to make some tasty Thanksgiving treats. She helped me make a pan of Baklava, this one is flavored with her favorite ingredient, Cocoa Powder (but just a touch). We also mixed up a batch of Curried Nuts, which is my new favorite substitute for Chex Mix. Here is the recipe.

3 cups of mixed nuts, we used a mixture of cashews, macadamias, almonds, pecans, pistachios and walnuts. We are a nut loving house here!
For the spice mix: 1 tsp coarsely ground salt
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp garlic powder

• Melt 2 Tablespoons butter with a pinch of salt in a saucepan (over low heat, you don't want the butter to brown).
• Add 2 Tablespoons of honey and stir to combine.
• Remove the pan from heat, and toss in the nuts, stirring to cover them all with the buttery goodness.
• Sprinkle the spice mixture over the nuts, and toss to distribute.
• Spread the nuts on a baking sheet (mine is lined with a silpat, but you can use buttered foil or parchment or just spray it with nonstick spray if you like) and bake at 250 for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the nuts are mostly dry but not burned.
• If you have some you could sprinkle the warm nuts with turbinado sugar before they cool, but I didn't have any this time so I just gave them a light sprinkle with regular sugar.
• When they are cool enough to touch, break apart any clusters of nuts.
• Store in an airtight container, if they last long enough to store!