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What to do with 15 Pounds of Almonds

When Mr. Smith’s sister asked if we liked almonds and we said yes, little did we know that she had a 15-pound bag in her truck. Apparently, they were a gift she got somewhere out on the rodeo circuit.

Now a teeny little 4 oz. bag at the grocery store can easily cost around $5. In bulk they run about $10/lbs. That would put the street value of this bag between $150-$300. Obviously, we had to put these nuts to good use, which is pretty easy to do. Almonds are rich in vitamin E, calcium, magnesium and potassium. Additionally, almonds are a significant source of protein and fiber, while being naturally low in sugar. They are good to eat on their own or, as we found, in a variety of other ways.

The first thing that came to mind was almond milk. We had often bought it from the store, but never made our own. The first attempt was a little – let’s say – chalky. So, we purchased a nut milk bag (who knew such a thing existed?) from Ellie’s Best. With the help of the bag and their recipe we’ve now made several batches of silky smooth, delicious almond milk. And that milk nut bag has become the best strainer we have.

With milk, you’ve got to have some cake. So, we found a rhubarb-almond cake from Bon Appetit. Not only does it look cool with ribbons of rhubarb running through it, but it’s one of the best tasting cakes we’ve ever made!

Almonds can also be good on their own, so we made two different kinds of snacking almonds. For a savory version, we made Nigella Lawson’s Union Square Cafe's bar nuts. They are so addictive that we made them as part of our guests’ wedding welcome basket last year.

For a sweet snack, we love the glazed almonds they sell at football games and looked to recreate those. We found a recipe for cinnamon almonds. The best part is the cook in the crockpot, which means they’re easy to make and delicious.

One of our recurring uses of the almonds has been to make homemade granola. It so happens that one of our Fare Trade boxes included Falling Bark Farm’s hickory syrup and Brittanny Anderson’s recipe for granola that she uses at her Metzger Bar & Butchery in Richmond, VA. We’ve since tried a variety of different seeds and nuts to mix with the oats and syrup. It always makes a healthy and scrumptious breakfast or dessert topping.

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