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

Toasted Almond and Cherry Nougats

A few days ago I decided that I really wanted to try making homemade nougat. So, I started looking through some info and recipes online. I finally decided on Emeril's Toasted Almond and Cherry Nougats on food network's website. I couldn't wait to try out the recipe and I was excited when my mom brought all the ingredients home yesterday. Until we realized that she had forgotten the candy thermometer. lol! After we got that straightened out we were ready to make our nougats.
Pictures (top to bottom) : Sugar Mixture, Whipped Mixture, Killer Nougat, Finished Nougats

These are very tasty-although weird as it may seem I think I prefer nougat plain. We had a fun time making them even though we got pretty sticky. Since we have so much nougat, we will probably share some.