Hot And Spicy Nut Mix - Wheat Belly Style

This is our version of this wonderful snack recipe.

Have a glass of water nearby when you eat these nuts. Pack this Hot and Spicy Nut Mix from the Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox  in a resealable plastic bag or plastic container and take it along with you when you travel. It’s certainly tastier and a lot less expensive than the nuts sold at airports or other travel shops.  If making it for the kids, add cashew fragments to your choice of nuts. (Adult versions should avoid cashews or minimize them due to potentially excessive carbohydrate exposure.)

If you start with whole nuts, you can reduce them to smaller pieces in your food chopper, food processor, or coffee grinder by pulsing briefly. (We chose not to reduce size.)

Makes 16 (1/4-cup) servings:

• 1 cup raw pumpkin seeds (These did not turn out to be as desirable as first thought.  They were tough to chew, but maybe pre-roasting these separately would have made a difference.)
• 1 cup raw sunflower seeds (We omitted these.)
• 1 cup raw walnut pieces
• 1 cup raw pecan pieces
• 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 2 tablespoons hot-pepper sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 275°

In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts, pecans, coconut oil, chili powder, hot sauce, and salt.  Toss to mix thoroughly.

Spread the mixture on a large baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, stirring once (we actually baked a little longer for crispness).  Cool before serving.

Per 1/4-cup serving:

253 calories, 6g protein, 5g carbohydrates, 24g total fat, 8g saturated fat, 2g fiber, 97mg sodium.

NUT-ENCRUSTED GROUPER

Let me say right up front, that this is the best tasting fish I’ve had in ages. Not since my mother-in-law Ruth fried Crappie, have I enjoyed fish more!

We bought several packages of frozen fish, some grouper and flounder, the other day to see which we preferred. As it turned out, we like them both!

Coincidentally, just a day before going to the store, Judy read about a “nut breading” technique in her “Curves” magazine. So, that is what we tried.

We thawed a 3-piece package of the grouper out overnight in the refrigerator and cooked it the next day.

She chopped up a mixture of almonds and walnuts on a paper plate. She then whipped up a single egg in a shallow bowl, adding salt, pepper, and a little lemon juice. She then stepped back and handed the hot cooking to me!

All the while we were baking 2 small potatoes in the oven, which we planned to eat with the fish.

I separately rolled each piece of fish in the egg mixture, then rolled them in the nuts, and placed them into a hot skillet of EVOO, no garlic or hot sauce added!

I then pressed the timer for 3 minutes! When the timer went off I gently turned the fish and reset the timer for 3 minutes. So not cook it any longer! A hot skillet at 3 minutes is plenty. Even at 3 minutes, you’ll get a nice dark brown to blackened look, which is just perfect.

When the timer went off the second time, Judy had the potatoes opened, salt and peppered, and butter sprayed! I placed a piece on each plate, beside the lovely potato.

I tasted first and went into a swooning groan of pleasure! Man! The taste of the fish was heavenly. There was a crunchy outer shell with tender fish inside, and the combination of tastes is indescribable! You must try this at home!