Go Nuts about nuts!

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

I just read in a health magazing that pistachios and sunfower seeds are very high in a substance that helps lower bad cholesterol, and increase good cholesterol in the body. Walnuts and Brazil nuts were the next highest group, nutritionally speaking. So, extrapolating a bit, sunflower oil, walnut oil, and sesame oil (the sesame seeds are even better than the pistachio and sunflower seeds, but aren't readily available to put in your salads, or much on) contain the same substances and are far better for us than canola or vegatable oils.

Eating a tbs. or two of these nuts on a daily basis, either by munching on in place of a candy bar, or by incorporating into our meals, can help make us healthier, and reduce the risk of heart attacks caused by blood cholesterol imballances. And that's a good thing.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

[bethzaring]

This is interesting.

Yesterday I made a rather large fresh spinach salad and made my own bacon bits for it from some home grown, smoked bacon. After I carefully drained and refrigerated the bacon grease, I proceeded to saute some raw sunflower seeds in the cast iron skillet, to get a bit more of the bacon flavor. I wonder if I negated the beneficial effects of the sunflower seeds by sauting them in bacon grease? Any way, I would do it again in an instant, they were the best sunflower seeds. And the raspberry vinegaret didn't hurt either.

[buckytom]

good advice gw.

i cannot sleep some nights without a snack, and often i don't know if i'm craving salty or chocolatey. so upon hearing some of the same info as you've posted, i started keeping a large bag of the kirkland signature (costco brand) trail mix in the house for those 3am raids.
it consists of salted nuts (peanuts, cashews, almonds), raisins, and m&m's. kinda covers all of the bases - chocolatey, sweet, and salty.

don't forget the other health benefits from nuts such as fiber and proteins.

[Andy M.]

Is going nuts about nuts anything like being cookoo for Coco Puffs?

[Trip]

lovin that, I'm currently addicted to sunflower seeds.

[kimbaby]

thanks,I love to snack on almonds,cashews, and already shelled sunflower seeds.

[Little Miss J]

i love nuts, the problem is i cant stop at a tablespoon or two. before i know it the whole lot are gone!

[urmaniac13]

Hey that's good to know... I have always been nuts about nuts, at least I am doing one thing right!!

Btw Scrat wonders about the benefit of his acorn....

[Jikoni]

Originally Posted by Little Miss J

i love nuts, the problem is i cant stop at a tablespoon or two. before i know it the whole lot are gone!

Neither can I. Nuts about nuts. Someone once said you are what you eat...what am I in this case

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Snacking on nuts is great. But you can also use them in your meals. Think about adding sunflower seeds to your salads and stir-fries. Use peanuts, or peanut butter in Asian cuisine. Add walnut or pecan pieces to your stuffings or dressings. They are also great in jello salds. Mix nuts into some cottage cheese and serve with crisp, iceburgh lettuce leaves.

And though deserts aren't always the healthiest foods, nuts go so well with ice cream, cookies, fudge, candies, in icings or frostings, in fruit preserves, etc. I don't see why they can't be put into pies (and that's other pies besides pecan pies), coblers, in crunch or crisp toppings, such as apple crisp. I would think that the right kinds of nuts would add textural appeal to bread puddings, rice puddings, and regular puddings as well, especially nuts such as brazil nuts, macadamias, wallnuts, and pecans. Chopped peanuts would also work, and maybe cashews.

You can think of as many different ways to incorporate them into your cooking as I can. So, let's see what ways you can think of to use nuts. Then we can all go nuts about nuts.

Cashew chicken anyone?

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

[bethzaring]

A product I discovered a number of years ago that I find quite useful is pecan meal. I originally purchased it for a standard sour cream coffee cake my family made at Christmas time, it has a filling/topping of brown sugar, butter, cinnamon and pecans. I have since used it for cookies that call for ground pecans, Mexican Wedding cookies?, coating for chicken, added to granola and pancake batter, muffins. It probably is just the dregs from a pecan factory but it is wonderful stuff, and considerably cheaper than pecans.

[Banana Brain]

Yeah for PayDay bars!