When people say they eat a lot of 'nuts', which nuts are they talking about? And when are they eating them?

[freedom494]

Nuts are good for you so I keep hearing.

But what nuts? And when? Do you just grab a handful and munch away? How many do you have to eat for them to be 'good for you'?

Chocolate coated almonds.
Oh and loads of them

Chopped up in my breakfast cereal mostly.

Almonds, walnuts, cashews, pecans to name a few that I love. I love ground almonds in cakes and cereal or curry. Pecans with maple syrup and green yoghurt. Walnut and date cake or just mixed with dried fruit as a trail mix.

Greek yoghurt...

I eat them in the evening, as a snack with a glass of wine, rather than stuffing my face with crap.

I buy plain mixed nuts and then roast them in the oven with my own mix of spices (so there's very little salt and no crap on them either).

At the moment, I've got a gorgeous mix of walnuts and cashews with a moroccan-type spice mix on them. Really gorgeous with a glass of chilled white!

So gorgeous, in fact, I had to mention the gorgeousness twice :o

Mixed in with my muesli, baked into cakes and puddings and, yes, I do enjoy just a handful of nuts or salted peanuts, several times a week. Also enjoy peanut butter, once in a while. I enjoy seeds, too, especially in bread.

Oh - and peanuts or cashews are delicious chucked onto stir fries.

This is really intresting.

its a whole nutty world I knew nothing of.

Would you advise eating them if you were trying to lose weight by learning to eat better?

I have usually got a little pot of almonds and hazelnuts in my handbag somewhere...

Like KitchenWitch's post - once you get into it you can get quite creative with making your own nutty snack mixes. I look at ones that are sold in the supermarkets, or in graze boxes, and then have a go at making my own. Chilli & lemon cashews are my current fave.

I will also snack on plain almonds or brazil nuts, I'll use ground almonds when baking, flaked almonds in porridge, walnuts go in salads, cashews end up in stir fries, crushed roasted peanuts on thai dishes (after living in Thailand I always have a little pot of home-roasted crushed peanuts especially for this purpose!), toasted pine nuts on pasta dishes or salads (although are they technically a seed?). Don't forget peanut butter for a quick nutty fix :-) you can also get cashew and almond butters too, or make your own, although I've not had a got at that yet! Also seen a recipe for cashew 'cheese'

I buy my plain nuts in bulk online as it's cheaper.

I like cashew nuts lightly toasted and then stirred into rice or cous cous dishes.

Sounds gorgeous Kitchen!

They are not a weight loss type food. But I find muesli with nuts and seeds far more long-lasting than any other type of cereal breakfast. So I don't need a snack or lunch as soon.

I also think shelling nuts as you go (which I mostly do at Christmas really!) is a good way to eat more mindfully.

They are very good at filling you - but people get their portions badly wrong, and forget how calorific they are. When I have 'a portion' of nuts, I mean no more than 6-8 almonds, for example. I love them.

thekitchenwitch and oneday-do you have any recipes of spice mixes you use, they sound delish

I tend to make mine up as i go along - basing them on favourite curries etc. But i started off by looking it up on the internet.
I buy plain nuts from Lidl, in whatever combination i fancy - cashews, walnuts, pecans, almonds, hazenuts, macadamia etc

Then toss in a little bit of oil (sometimes olive oil, sometimes a chili oil, depending on what spice mix I'm doing) until just lightly covered. I mix them together with spices and salt, spread them out on a baking tray with parchment and bake at about 180° for 15mins or so, until they are just lightly roasted.
Then let them cool (they will be hot and sort of "soft" when they come out and not too nice). Once cool, I transfer them into lidded plastic pots. They last for ages (if you don't eat them all in one sitting).
I did them for Christmas presents last year (I go on about them quite a bit on the homemade-christmas-presents threads as they went down SO WELL).

Also nice to drizzle some maple syrup or honey on them before roasting if you like the sweet-and-salty taste.

I find I don't eat as many of them as I would of eg crisps, so they help me to snack less. A little bowl of nuts, a few olives, a glass of wine and a good book = perfect evening :o

Same as KitchenWitch - kinda making it up as I go along in terms of which spice/flavour combinations are used! Look up graze snack boxes, they have some good inspiration for mixes.

I do nuts (and seeds) the following ways -

• almonds whizzed up with banana and skimmed milk to make a smoothie for breakfast
• almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts (and sunflower and pumpkin seeds) in muesli/granola/on plain yogurt
• cashew nuts in stir fries
• a few almonds or walnuts and a couple of fried figs as a snack instead of chocolate
• walnuts make the fabulous Greek dip Skordalia
• almonds and pumpkin seeds roasted with tamari/soy sauce, makes a tasty snack
• ground almonds in cakes etc on the rare occasion I make them

I'm guessing that people who eat a lot of nuts don't eat a lot of honey roasted cashews. I love them, but they are so more-ish and very calorific. I could eat two packets at one sitting and not think twice about it.

On granola - less granola them add walnuts and pecans and flaked almonds

In cakes in reduce flour and add ground almonds

Kids snack on them

Walnut and goats cheese goes really well

Yes you have to steer clear of nuts that are coated in salt or sugar, or cooked in lots of oil (eg roasted peanuts). Go for plain unroasted nuts and you can roast/toast them yourself if you want to.

I eat roasted cashews and eat nuts coated in salt and sugar if I feel like them. I tend to not overeat things anyway so for me it wouldn't be a problem but for some people I know it can be.

Chopped almonds are lovely on fruit and yogurt for breakfast, and very good for your skin.
My favourite nut is the pistachio though, can happily munch through those.

You do have to be mindful that you don't go overboard though.