Standing Guard

Ava and her friends frequently play a game that involves creating a pretend castle.  They lay out blankets, lawn chairs and weave elaborate fantasies about their pretend kingdom. Orbit simply adores playing with them and has been christened the palace guard. He takes his role very seriously, protecting these girls, standing guard.  At times it almost looks like he understands it is a game. Today the girls made him a crown... A promotion of sorts to the palace prince dog. There's very little dignity, but I still think he enjoys playing with the girls!

Tonight we are going to dinner at some friend's house.  I wanted to bring a clever hostess gift, but nothing was really coming to mind.  I was surfing around on the computer looking for dinner ideas this week and stumbled on a recipe for spiced nuts.  Huummm....  A quick check of the freezer revealed several bags of nuts (Costco, Boy Scouts etc....) and our rosemary is still going bonkers so I decided this was just the thing to bring.  This recipe is mostly from Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, although I did make some adaptations to incorporate a couple of other recipes I found. Oh my goodness these are good - sweet, a little spicy, salty - I am totally making these again!

Spiced Rosemary Mixed Nuts

3 cups of whole cashews (many recipes say unsalted,  I used salted because that's what I had)
3 cups whole pecan halves
2 cups whole almonds
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup light brown sugar
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
2 teaspoons ground chipotle powder (this is the spicy - it may seem like a lot, but it just gives the nuts a nice heat, it doesn't blow you away)
3-4 tablespoons rosemary finely minced
2 teaspoons worescheshire
Salt

Preheat the oven to 350.

Rub a large sheet pan with vegetable oil.

In a large bowl combine the nuts, 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, the syrup, brown sugar, orange juice, 2 teaspoons (or so) of salt, 2 tablespoons (or so) of rosemary (reserving some), woreschesire and chipotle powder.  Stir gently, but combine well.  Pour out onto the sheet pan  and spread out in a single layer.  Roast for approximately 25 minutes, stirring two or three times during cooking. After you remove them from the oven, taste and add more salt if you want and sprinkle with a little bit more of the fresh rosemary.

Serve warm or cool completely and store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Note: Many recipes called for walnuts - I didn't have any, so I didn't use them and adjusted accordingly. Use any combination you would like.

I packed them up in a quart sized mason jar to bring to our guests tonight.  I am really glad there's still a bunch left for us to eat!