Category Archives: How-To

Summer Vacation Snacking with Blue Diamond Almonds

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Almonds make a good travel snack

Whoohoo, I’m a little bit nutty! When I jump in front of national monuments or execute yoga poses in public places, my kids always roll their eyes, hide and later say “sheeze, mom! Aren’t you embarrassed to do that?” Absolutely not, no way, nope! That’s one of the freeing things about being an adult and no longer caring what people think! I’ve done the Chicken Dance in the grocery store, cartwheeled down the sidewalk and wear my pajamas during early morning carpooling while singing along to music with the windows rolled down (the horror!)

almonds healthy travel snack

But on a recent vacation to Washington, D.C., I had selfish motives for embarrassing my 3 ‘tween and teen children – I was greedily keeping those human vacuum cleaners away from my Blue Diamond Almonds!  As a Blue Diamond Tastemaker , I was sent a couple of cans of healthy, yummy almonds to incorporate into my summer entertaining plans. However, we don’t entertain much in the summer because the family is too busy attending family reunions, heading off to camp or exploring new cities on vacation.  Instead, we let our adventures entertain us!

In my opinion, there is no better healthy snack to take on a trip than almonds. Nutritionally dense, they don’t take up a lot of space in a purse, backpack or airline carry-on. Almonds are also loaded with protein and heart-healthy fats that keep the hunger pangs away longer than carbohydrate-heavy food.  One of my favorite quick travel “recipes” is to set a whole natural almond on top of a dried apricot and top it with a chocolate chip – only 20 calories and totally delicious!

blue diamond natural almond and apricot snack

Blue Diamond’s Whole Natural Almonds are very versatile -you can eat them plain, put them in trail mix or even whip up into your smoothie.  They can also be easily toasted at home and incorporated into so many breakfast, lunch and dinner recipes. Toasting whole natural almonds only takes about 10 minutes and makes them super fragrant and crunchy – Cooking Light has a great tutorial on how to toast nuts.

toast almond video tutorial

The other almond flavor I sampled was the Rosemary & Black Pepper. These little guys pack a bold punch without being too overwhelming. While I gobbled mine straight from the can, these salted, herbed nuts would be great on a salad, alongside a cheese board, or crushed up and used as a topping for salmon.

Blue Diamond provided me with compensation and product for this post. However, the opinions and nuttiness are completely my own!

Best Watermelon Tips – Day 7 #LivingOnTheWedge

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#LivingOnTheWedge Watermelon Tips

Did you know the average person eats 16 pounds of watermelon per year?  That’s pretty close to the weight of a typical medium watermelon – but I’m not typical nor am I average when it comes to most things and I could eat another person’s annual allotment in two days – now that’s #LivingOnTheWedge!  My friends and family will agree that I often like to take moderation in moderation — sometimes over-the-top is under rated!  There’s that time I tried to set a Guinness World Record in 6th grade for “Sitting on the Wall.” I held the hideous, quad-burning position for 1 hour and 37 minutes before the school nurse made me stop. Or, when I decided to run an out-of-town, 50 mile ultra-marathon race on a whim literally, on the morning of the event with no training or preparation other than serendipitously having packed my running shoes   . . . . or, that time I won a beer drinking competition on my honeymoon.  I don’t really even like beer.

But I do love watermelon! Here are some tips you should know about picking out, storing and serving watermelon:

good watermelon picking tips

Storing watermelon:  The general rule of thumb is to keep your melons chilled between 32 and 55 degrees. Watermelons won’t ripen any further once they’ve been picked from the vine. However, a watermelon will stay fresh for around a week at room temperature. Freezing doesn’t work well for watermelon, except in the case where you want to use it in a smoothie or frozen treat recipe.

Cutting watermelon: As with any fruit or vegetable, you should wash the exterior before slicing into the flesh. You don’t want your knife to cross-contaminate the inside with any germs that were lurking on the outside.  There are many ways to cut up and serve a watermelon – if you have the patience, you can even use a melon baller for a nice presentation. However, I like to cut my watermelon in half and cross-hatch it into spears for the quickest, most convenient way to serve.

watermelon cutting tip

If you have a watermelon tip to share, please post it in the comments. Or, better yet, join the group at my #LivingOnTheWedge Pinterest board.

watermelon prize pack

If you haven’t already, enter my giveaway for a great Watermelon Prize Pack.

This is the last post in my #LivingOnTheWedge week but please go back and visit all the other the other watermelon love I’ve been sharing since July 1st, the start of National Watermelon Month.

 

 

The National Watermelon Promotion Board is providing me with compensation to share my love of watermelon. However, the opinions and content (unless otherwise noted) shared are my own and NWPB did not tell me what to say or how to say it.