Foot and Fire

One of our guilty pleasures is grabbing salted nuts and those whole grain thingies from the grocery aisle but what I really can't accept is that it is laden with msg, nature-identical flavors and artificial flavor. But out of sheer laziness and often, out of mere conveniece of just grabbing it, I buy.  If I am in my element, I order toasted nuts and dried fruits online and make my own trailmix. From the times I do this up to now, I got some preferences. I am sharing to you my favorites that I am having now: Almonds, toasted whole or slivered (choose unbleached please) Cashew nuts Golden raisins (dark ones tend to moisten) Cranberries, nice sour tones and good to add to stirfries and chao fan Apricot, love it in my moroccan dish and as snacks as it is so filling Some others which I tried with my notes: Walnut (not much as the peel has aftertaste and the Chinese use this as their brainfood. Look at the shape of wanut, it sure looks like brain) Hazelnut (pricey and overrat...

My friend in Paris sent me Pine nuts when she saw me posted pesto using almond s as the base nut of the pesto. Since the original pesto uses Pine Nuts, she wanted me to create the real thing. So when I had the chance to get fresh sweet basil leaves, I immediately used it. Pine nuts is quite expensive if found in our grocery stores, so I also recommend the almonds in lieu of this rare one. Almonds in the pesto is dry while pine nuts is much more nutty and blends well. At any rate, the aromatic sweet basil is the base of it all and I loved both ways! 4 cups sweet basil 3-4 cloves garlic 1/2 cup Pine Nuts Salt and pepper to taste 1/2 cup olive oil and 1/4 cup reserve 1/2 cup grated Parmessan In a food processor, place the first four ingredients. Blend well while slowly adding the half cup Olive oil. Transfer in a glass bottle and Add Parmessan Cheese. Put the remaining 1/4 cup of Olive oil on top of the mixture. Best served as as sauce for pasta. Also serve on top of crackers as appet...

By GERLIE M. UY My banana muffin sprinkled with chopped almonds...   I have already featured the Banana muffins with glazed pili nut  here  in my blog. That try did not gave me a fluffy muffin as it was loaded with banana and so I noted what I should do the next time. So, I am pretty satisfied with the turn out of my recent banana muffin. In the past I have made banana cake with peanuts too . I made changes this time for my muffin. I used canola oil instead of butter, omitted the salt and baking soda (used to avoid discoloration of the banana) and used vanilla. I made 29 medium-sized muffins all in all for this recipe. Fluffy banana muffin with chopped almonds on top. 1 cup canola oil 2 cups brown sugar (add 1/2 cup more if desired) 3 large eggs, beaten 4 cups flour, sifted 2 t baking powder 1 1/2 c evaporated milk 1/2 t vanilla  6 cups of mashed over ripe banana (balangon or the green variety) a handful of almonds Pre-heat oven to 350F. Grease a medium muffin...