Cooking with Blue Diamond: Blueberry and Salted Caramel Almonds (sponsored)

 

Earlier this month I got the opportunity to participate in another project with Blue Diamonds Tastemakers. I was sent two kinds of almonds for testing and review purposes-Blueberry and Salted Caramel. We decided to use them in our favorite granola recipe. They worked well in the granola and add a nice flavor and crunch to it. Here's the original recipe from Alton Brown with the changes we made on this batch noted.

Granola
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown

Ingredients:
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup slivered almond (we used 1 cup of chopped blueberry almonds)
1 cup cashews (we used 1 cup of chopped salted caramel almonds)
3/4 cup shredded sweet coconut
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup raisins (we didn't use any)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.  In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, coconut, and brown sugar. In a separate bowl, combine maple syrup, oil, and salt. Combine both mixtures and pour onto 2 sheet pans. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to achieve an even color. Remove from oven and transfer into a large bowl. Add raisins and mix until evenly distributed.

We made parfaits with the granola, blueberries, nectarines, and vanilla yogurt. They were pretty tasty.

Blue Diamond Artisan Nut Thins Review and Pairings (Sponsored)

Recently I was given the opportunity to try a couple new varieties of Blue Diamond Nut Thins. This time from their new artisan nut thins line-one with flax seeds and a multi-seed one too. Even though I was sent two boxes of nut thins to test and review for free threw Blue Diamond Tastemakers-the following review is my own honest thoughts about the products.

As I mentioned previously these are a great cracker for people who can't tolerate wheat and/or gluten in their diet. They have a nice crispy texture to them and I enjoyed the addition of seeds. I like both the flax seed and multi seed crackers. They both have a nice overall flavor to them. And they pair well with a variety of cheeses, meats, dips, ect.

One dip that pairs well with the Artisan Nut Thins is this pan fried onion dip I found on The Brown-eyed Baker's blog. I did modify it a little because I didn't have all the ingredients on hand and don't like cayenne pepper. I think I will try it sometime as written and use garlic instead of cayenne. I also really liked these crackers with chocolate fondue and cookie butter.

Blue Diamond Nut Thins Review and Pairings (Sponsored)

Recently I got the opportunity to try Blue Diamonds Nut Thins since I am a Blue Diamond Taste Maker I was sent two boxes of Nut Thins for free for testing and review purposes. The following review is my own honest thoughts. I decided it would also be great to share a couple pairings.

 

I like the crispy texture of these crackers and the slightly nutty taste. They are made with nuts and rice and they are gluten free. So, they are great for anyone with a gluten allergy. I also like that they don't contain anything artificial. 16 crackers contain 130 calories. I would definitely recommend them. While they are tasty straight out of the box, they also tasty nice paired with a variety of other foods. I thought I would share two pairings with you- one sweet and one savory.

Nut Thins with Strawberries, Cream Cheese, and Honey

Nut Thins with Blue Cheese, Baby Arugula, and Balsamic Glaze

Cooking with Blue Diamond -New Honey Roasted Flavors (Sponsored)

*We received 2 free cans of Blue Diamond Almonds because I am a Blue Diamond Taste Maker. The following thoughts and opinions are my own honest ones.*

 Recently we had the opportunity to sample some more Blue Diamond almonds from their honey roasted line-honey roasted vanilla almonds and honey roasted chipotle almonds.  I was most excited to try the honey roasted vanilla ones because I don't generally care for spicy flavored nuts. That being said all 4 of us enjoyed both the honey roasted vanilla flavor and the  roasted chipotle flavor. They aren't nearly as spicy as I thought they would be. I think adding honey to these flavors really gives them a great overall flavor. They are definitely quite tasty on there own for snacking.

Next we decided to get creative with them and try them in some recipes. For the honey roasted chipotle flavor we decided to use them as part of a coating for chicken tenders. So we took panko breadcrumbs, flour, salt and almonds and then coated chicken tenders with it. It was pretty good but it would have worked out better if we used an egg wash. I also think it needed a bit more salt. One other thing we would have done different ones used half seasoned bread crumbs and half plain breadcrumbs.

For the honey roasted vanilla flavor we decided to make a peach crisp and add the nuts in with the crisp part. I think the nuts added a nice crunch to the topping. The peach turned out pretty tasty. Here's the recipe that we used.

Mom's Peach Crisp from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
4 cups slice fresh peaches
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of cold butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup rolled oats

Edited:
2 tablespoons of bourbon
1/4 cup of almonds

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Arrange peaches evenly in an 8x8-inch baking dish.
3. Mix flour, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl using a pastry cutter until evenly crumbled. Fold oats into flour mixture; sprinkle and press topping into peaches.
4. Bake in the preheated oven until topping is lightly browned, about 30 minutes.  

 Hope everyone had a great summer. There will be more great sponsored content and regular content soon. :)
 

Summer Fun with Blue Diamond

Recently I had the opportunity to join the Blue Diamond Taste Makers. While I received a can of almonds and a bag of almonds for free for testing and review purposes the following opinions are my own honest ones. Almonds are a great on the go snack and Blue Diamond offers a wide variety of flavor options.

I had a chance to try the toasted coconut almonds and the blueberry ones. We decided to try the toasted coconut almonds in an ambrosia salad. We have made ambrosia many times but never with an nuts in it. And I decided to add the blueberry almonds to some homemade granola and ate it on top of some strawberry yogurt. I really like the crunchy texture that the coconut almonds added to the ambrosia. I liked the coconut almonds more than the blueberry ones. The blueberry almonds did taste nice in my yogurt. I would definitely purchase the toasted coconut almonds but probably not the blueberry ones. Here our version of ambrosia salad with blue diamond toasted coconut almonds-You should definitely give it a try.

Ambrosia Fruit Salad with Blue Diamond Toasted Coconut Almonds

1/2 pint heavy whipping cream
2 T sugar
1 C sour cream
1 20oz can of pineapple tidbits - drained
1 10oz can of mandarin oranges - drained
1 10oz jar of maraschino cherries - drained and chopped
3/4 C shredded coconut
1 cup mini marshmallows
1/2 C chopped Blue Diamond Toasted Coconut Almonds

Whip the heavy cream and sugar until it forms stiff peaks - whisk in the sour cream.  Add the rest of the ingredients and stir together.  Put in the refrigerator and chill for a couple hours before serving.

Ambrosia with Blue Diamond Toasted Coconut Almonds

Strawberry Yogurt with Granola and Blue Diamond Blueberry Almonds

Flavors of The Season (Sponsored by Torani and SheSpeaks)

Recently I was sent two bottles of Torani syrup to test through the SheSpeaks panel blogger society. *Note: While this is a sponsored post the following oppinions are my own completely honest thoughts and I didn't recieve any compensation for them.* I recieved two bottles of syrup towards the end of last month and I was excited to see which seasonal flavors I would be sent. I decided to have Torani send me one sugar free and one regular. They sent me a bottle of sugar free salted caramel and a bottle of gingerbread syrup.

We decided to try them first in Italian sodas. I am not usually a fan of sugar free syrups but since my mom drinks them and so does my diabetic brother who was home for Thanksgiving I requested one sugar free bottle. After trying them in Italian soda we quickly decided these flavors are not well suited for this type of beverage.

After that we mulled over some more ideas in our head for a while and finally got the opportunity today to try out a couple of our ideas. We decided to try making a salted caramel whipped cream to top hot cocoa and other seasonal drinks. And we also added some gingerbread syrup to our sugar cookie batter. The hot cocoa with whipped cream as well as the gingerbread sugar cookies are quite tasty! I think if I was a coffee drinker I would enjoy these two syrup in lattes. I really enjoyed this program and can't wait to try out more recipes using the great syrup Torani sent us.