Honey Mustard Roasted Cashews

Cashews + honey + mustard = yum

Don't believe me?  Try it for yourself...

It's quite easy, really.  Mix some honey, add some dried mustard (or if you are like me and don't have any, some dijon), and a little bit of vegetable oil together.  Toss in the cashews and mix until they are coated.  Then you just bake for about 15 minutes.

I told you it was easy.

And the good news?  Totally unprocessed.  (As long as that mustard you use is the real deal.)  This makes it a perfect snack for the month of October, and all of us doing October Unprocessed.  As a friend said, "It's like eating Lay's.  You just can't stop!"  Yes, like Lay's, but healthy.

Imagine that.

Thank you, Joy the Baker!  You have given me a wonderfully delicious treat.  And this is just one of many...

Recipe from the Joy the Baker Cookbook.

COST: $6.43 cents per batch

A Perfect Day... (Honey Mustard Salmon)

Today was one of those days...

No, not 'one of those days' said with an Eeyore voice.

It was truly a perfect day.  You know, one of those days.

Sometimes you sit down at the end of the day and you think, "Nothing too out of the ordinary happened today, but I am more than content."  The sun was out (which, as you know, is possibly my favorite thing), I spent some time at a job that suits me perfectly (and is filled with children who love to give hugs), and then came home to see my man.  Like I said, nothing out of the ordinary, no surprises or big news or adventures... but when I stop and look at it, I realize this is exactly where I want to be.

And then I got to eat honey mustard salmon tonight.  If my day wasn't great to begin with, this would have put it there.

I mean, really, how can life be bad when you have this food in front of you?  Yeah, that's what I thought... it's pretty much impossible.

Recipe adapted from Everyday Food, September 2012 (Not up on the website YET)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/2 Tablespoon honey
• 2 1/2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 Tablespoons champagne vinegar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1 medium yellow onion, sliced and rounds separated
• 1 lb. salmon, cut into 4 pieces
• 1 cup Panko bread crumbs
• 1 lb. green beans, ends trimmed off

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400F.  Line baking sheet with aluminum foil.
2. Mix honey, mustard, vinegar, olive oil, and some salt and pepper together to create a vinaigrette.  Mix 1/3 of the vinaigrette with the onions and spread on baking sheet.  Bake for 5 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, remove 1 Tablespoon of remaining vinaigrette and set aside in medium bowl (to mix with green beans later).  Mix bread crumbs with the rest of the vinaigrette.  
4. Pull onions out of oven when five minutes is up, and place salmon pieces on top of onions.  Then, cover with the breadcrumb mixture.  Place baking tray back into oven and bake for seven minutes until fish is cooked.  Bread crumbs should be lightly golden brown.
5. Meanwhile, boil salted water and drop green beans in, cooking for about four minutes.  Drain green beans and mix with the vinaigrette that was set aside in the medium bowl.
6. Serve onions and green beans together, and salmon on the side.  Enjoy!

COST: $11.55   Cost per serving (says 4, but we got 3): $3.85

Get yo' greens! (Banana and Kale Smoothie -- A 'Sundays with Joy' Post)

Let's talk kale, shall we?  I had no idea what this stuff was until I was 25 years old and I spent a summer in Brazil with my future-at-the-time-in-laws.  Every once in awhile my mother-in-law would make this dish of a kind of bitter, but very delicious, green stuff.  That man of mine loved it.  LOVED it.  When I asked what it was the answer came back as couve.  So then I asked what it was in English, and the answer came back the same, couve.  Interesting, I had never heard of couve before...

A few years later, after the wedding bells had rung and the thought of cooking didn't intimidate me so much, I set out to find couve.  Lo and behold, it was something so simple to find -- kale.  Once we figured out that we could find it here in the States, my husband practically begged and pleaded for me to make things with it, as it is no doubt his favorite vegetable.  Sauteed kale with garlic, kale and potato pancakes, chicken and kale casserole... I graciously gave him what he asked for.

I bet he never thought I would turn it into a smoothie, though!

Yes, that's right.  This weeks recipe as we are working our way through Joy the Baker's cookbook (which you should totally go buy!) is kale and banana (and other stuff) smoothies.  Yes, a little odd, I know... but odd is not always synonymous with "bad", right?  Sometimes odd is "just right".  In this case, it means the latter.

I had the privilege of watching Joy at the Sunset Magazine Celebration Weekend a few weeks ago, and guess which recipe she shared?  This one.  Along with two others that I will share with you when the time is right.  She made a great suggestion -- peel and freeze bananas to put in smoothies so you don't need ice.  Brilliant!  Later the night I went home and made this smoothie with soy milk and guess what?  Instant healthy goodness.  So good you actually don't even realize it is healthy... Actually, it just tasted like you were eating a banana with peanut butter.  All you moms out there, here you go -- time to be sneaky ;)

And that lover of kale that I am married to?  He liked it so much he even asked me to tell him how to do it so -- get this -- he could make it himself. 

WOW. 

That must mean it was good ;)

Cost: $1.70    Cost per glass (2): $0.85

PS - In Brazil they call smoothies just as "vitamins"  I could never figure out why, but today I put the ingredients into a nutrition counter and holy cow -- this thing is basically equivalent to a multivitamin!  221% of the daily recommended amount of Vitamin A?  Tons of other vitamins and minerals represented?  NOW I get it.  Drink your greens and live long and healthy!