Shoyu Almonds
Every family has their holiday traditions. Over the years, traditions can change – families grow, shrink, divide, come together. Some traditions fade and new ones take their place, others only grow stronger over the years. Just like any other family, my family has their traditions. We decorate the Christmas tree with ornaments that have been in the family longer than I have, we decorate sugar cookies with brightly colored sprinkles. On Christmas morning, there are cinnamon rolls (traditionally from Cinnabon, though nowadays I bake them from scratch), on New Year’s morning breakfast fried rice (simply rice, shoyu, and bacon) while we watch the Rose Parade. And of course the holiday goodies, including (but not limited to) shoyu almonds.
Salty, savory…
Every year for as long as I can remember, my mother has made these shoyu almonds. All her friends and coworkers love them, and us kids would always snitch some from the bag whenever we could get away with it. Of course now that I’m all grown up and moved out of the house, it’s a little more difficult to sneak some almonds whenever I want. So instead, I’ve started my own tradition – making almonds (along with other goodies) to give to my close friends, (and keeping half a batch all for myself).
…crunchy shoyu almonds.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs raw almonds
- 1/2 cup shoyu (soy sauce)
Cooking Directions
- Roast almonds on a cookie sheet at 350° for 25 minutes, stirring once or twice.
- Turn off the oven.
- Pour the almonds into a large bowl.
- Add shoyu, stir until all shoyu has been absorbed by the almonds.
- Pour back onto cookie sheet.
- Place back into the turned-off oven until dry, about one hour.
- Store in an airtight container.
The yummiest roasted broccoli!
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I am not a vegetable fan. I was the girl who would never eat her vegetables, and everyone knew it.
Now that I’m older, things are changing. Lucky for me (well, for my health) Son won’t take any nonsense when it comes to me eating healthy, so I don’t have much of a choice. To make life a little more enjoyable for myself, I’ve tried to find vegetable recipes that I actually enjoy, rather than having to force them down.
The credit for finding this recipe goes to my sister. She’ll randomly send me links to recipes that she wants me to make for her, and this was one of the better ones… in fact, just plain amazing! Sure, broccoli used to be one of the only vegetables I’d eat, but I certainly wouldn’t go out of my way to eat some when I was younger. Who would’ve ever known I’d crave broccoli?
Recipe adapted from Amateur Gourmet.
Ingredients
- 4-5 lbs broccoli
- 5 tbsp olive oil
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
Cooking Directions
- Preheat oven to 425°.
- Wash broccoli and dry extremely well (or don’t wash it and hope the heat kills any germs.)
- Cut broccoli into florets.
- Toss all ingredients together.
- Spread the broccoli evenly on a cookie sheet.
- Roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the tips of the broccoli are browned.
More beautiful virtual flowers…
One hug is never enough. Especially when times are difficult, you can always use another hug. So though I already gave Barbara from Winos and Foodies a hug over on Sushi Day, I felt that I should do what little I can, and give her another virtual hug (and several more virtual flowers) here on Fridgg.
… from Son’s dad’s garden…
Barbara is currently battling cancer. Though I am lucky to have never had to go through the trials of having cancer, and I can’t possibly know how it feels, I do know that it sucks. A lot. I have two immediate family members who have dealt with three separate occurrences of cancer, and I know that calling life with cancer “unpleasant” is a grave understatement. Thus food bloggers from all over the world have come together to give Barbara a HUGE virtual hug, all brought together by the genius of Bron and Ilva.
… just for you, Barbara!
Even if sushi is too much effort with the way your body feels from the effects of both cancer and chemotherapy, these tuna cakes are much, much easier. For me these are the perfect comfort food – easy to make, warm and filling, delicious and even good for you. For you Barbara, many, many hugs from Southern California!
Tuna cake sandwich…
Ingredients
- 1 can tuna
- 1 medium zucchini
- 1 large egg
- a handful of breadcrumbs
- vegetable oil
Cooking Directions
- Wash the zucchini.
- Cut off the ends of the zucchini, then shred.
- Pat zucchini dry with several paper towels.
- Drain the can of tuna well, then scoop tuna into a bowl.
- Mix with zucchini, egg, and breadcrumbs.
- Form into two disks.
- Heat oil in a frying pan.
- Once the oil is hot, fry the tuna cakes until browned on both sides.
- Drain on paper towels.
- Enjoy by themselves, or in a sandwich with mustard and mayonnaise.
… on roasted garlic bread wheat rolls.
Linzer Sables
This week, I’m a little late posting, but I *did* make the Linzer Sables picked by Dennis from Living the Life.
Though I left out the nuts in the cookies, I made up for that by doubling the filling – chocolate plus strawberry jam! Yum.
Yummy chocolate-strawberry filling.
Will I be making these again? Probably not. Too dry and hard for my preferences, and there are so many other cookies that I prefer. But still, they were definitely yummy.
Linzer Sables
Happy Thanksgiving!
I love pumpkin pie. I love pecan pie. So why not both in one?
Even though she isn’t from the US, Vibi of La Casserole Carreé chose the Thanksgiving Twofer Pie for this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe. Very thoughtful of her, because this is perfect for those of us in the US who needed a pie to bring to our Thanksgiving celebrations… like me! (I hope my family likes it as much as Son and I do!)
I know a lot of people had problems with this pie – although I had to bake the pie at 300° for twice as long as the recipe called for, there was no burning and the pie tastes wonderful. Very festive.
Oh, and there were also complaints about having too much filling. I doubled the recipe to make two pies, and with what was left over I made a mini pie in a custard cup… perfect!
Erm, and then there was that issue of rum. Yeah… I don’t drink alcohol. Son doesn’t drink alcohol. So spending that much for a huge bottle of rum that we’ll never use? Definitely not. However… over the summer, we were lucky enough to be invited to an awesome dinner party held by Diane and Todd of White on Rice Couple. There was a gift exchange, and we got a bottle of walnut liqueur from Brooke of Food Woolf. For a while we were scratching our heads, not quite sure what to do with it, but now we’ve finally found a solution! The subtle walnut liqueur works amazingly with the pumpkin pie filling and nutty pecan pie topping.
Here, have a slice of pie.
Plus, I have another reason to love this pie. Before this pie, I have never, ever had a pie turn out well. Either the pie ends up looking more like a turkey, or the filling never sets… it’s never a very pretty pie. Until now!
Pumpkin AND Pecan in one pie… yum!
