Spice up your Nuts!

Nuts and seeds have a lot of nutritional value and I tell clients to include them in their daily diet quite often. They contain a suite of minerals such as magnesium, selenium, manganese, calcium, zinc, and potassium.

However, not everyone enjoys eating plain nuts and seeds, especially since I am suggesting raw and unsalted. One way is to add them to smoothies, porridge, and salads or go one step further and spice them up!

This recipe adds spice and even more nutrition to your nuts and seeds! A light, low temp. roast keeps them just as nutritious and more delicious!

This recipes uses almond and pepitas/pumpkin seeds for their high levels of magnesium and zinc respectively. The recommended daily intake (RDI) of magnesium in adult females is 320 mg and 420 mg for adult males which supports normal muscle and bone growth and function as well as healthy nervous system function. Almonds are a great source of both magnesium, protein, and fibre!

Ingredients

2 cups raw almonds (organic or minimum spray where possible)

2 Tbsp raw pepitas

2 Tbsp fresh olive oil

1 tsp ginger powder

2 tsp whole fennel seeds (great to settle an upset and bloated tummy such as in IBS)

1 tsp reishi mushroom powdered extract. I use Superfeast Reishi

1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp rock salt (or any unrefined salt)

cracked pepper to taste

This recipe uses a blend of spices and reishi powder! Yep that's reishi the medicinal mushroom but you could easily experiment with your preferred spices. I also love to use ground coriander seed to settle the gut, mustard seed for a bit of a kick, and turmeric as an anti-inflammatory.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 100 degrees C.

2. Add spices, mushroom, and salt to a mortar and pestle and grind to a rough powder

3. Use a mixing bowl to combine nuts, oil, and freshly ground spice mix

4. Line a baking tray with baking paper or use a shallow glass dish. Add mix to tray and smooth out flat with minimal overlapping for better roasting

5. Place in heated oven for 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool and enjoy!