Holiday Nuts the Healthy Way

Nuts are a holiday favorite, and there are a lot of ways to get your hands on them. You can buy premade nut mixes, roast them, or make your own spiced nuts.

The Right Portions
Nuts are brimming with healthy fat, protein and vitamin E, but along with all the good stuff comes a moderate to high calorie count. In order to enjoy your nuts without going overboard, keep portions in check. For nut and nut mixes, that’s 1/4 cup.

Store-Bought Nut Mixes:

Hope & Harmony Cajun Spiced Virginia Peanuts
Formerly known as Royal Oak Peanuts, these babies are grown on a family farm that’s been around since the 1800s. Each batch is cooked according to a family recipe in pure 100 percent oil with no additives or preservatives.

Lord Nut
Turn up the heat with these very flavorful peanuts. Flavors include Spicy Bloody Mary, Zesty Chili Lime, Hot Buffalo, and Thai Curry and Lemongrass. They’re sure to get everyone’s juices flowing!

Wonderful Sweet Chili Pistachios
If pistachios are more your style, check out Wonderful’s delicious Sweet Chili flavor. One serving (1/4 cup) is about 49 pistachios.

Blue Diamond Bold Almonds
The Bold flavors are perfect for the holidays and are available in three flavors: Wasabi & Soy Sauce, Habanero BBQ and Sriracha.

Make Your Own Spiced Nuts
If you’re looking to have more control over the ingredients, here are five recipes to try.

Slow-Cooker Spiced Nuts (pictured above)
Toss cashews and pecans in your slow cooker along with several spices and turn on your slow cooker. In two hours you’ll have perfectly spiced nuts.

Spiced Rosemary Nuts
Rosemary, cayenne and maple syrup spice up a mixture of cashews and sunflower seeds.

Spiced Cocktail Nuts
Flavor your favorite nuts with a combo of thyme, cumin, mustard, cayenne and allspice.

Spiced Nuts
Ellie Krieger combines four nuts — pecans, almonds, pistachios and cashews — giving you even more nutrition in every bite!

Roasted Peanuts
Alton Brown shows you how to roast the perfect peanut using three simple ingredients.

Toby Amidor, MS, RD, CDN, is a registered dietitian and consultant who specializes in food safety and culinary nutrition. She is the author of The Greek Yogurt Kitchen: More Than 130 Delicious, Healthy Recipes for Every Meal of the Day.

from Healthy Eats – Food Network Healthy Living Blog http://ift.tt/1lrgEbj