My wild side

I have a confession to make.  I'm a rule breaker.  We went to a movie last night and I brought the diaper bag, even though we didn't bring the kids.  Why?  Because it's roomy enough to fit a couple bottles of water and some candy.  We bring our own snacks to the movies, just for the thrill of it.  It's a high that you can only get by combining saving money and knowing that you might get busted by some 16 year old kids.  Seriously, you should try it sometime.

We were given a suite a hockey game last week.  If you have ever brought children to a sporting event, or any public event for that matter, you'll know that having your own enclosed space for them to run around is a true luxury.  It makes the game more enjoyable for you.   And everybody else in the arena.  Again, you should try it sometime.  So anyway, in preparation for the game, I found this recipe for cinnamon-roasted almonds, which I tweaked based on reading several reviews.  One small package at the game costs about as much as all the ingredients for a large batch made at home.  Hadley calls them "sugar almonds" and she would eat them everyday if we let her.  In fact, between the two of us (with a little help from our friends), we polished off the entire batch in about 3 days.  I did bring some to the game, although Hadley and Blake were too busy eating popcorn off the floor to notice the contraband snacks that I had so bravely smuggled into the arena.
 
For the past few days Hadley has been saying, "Mom, I need sugar almonds."  I put another batch in the oven tonight and I can't even describe how good they smell.  Yummm...  I think the house will still smell awesome when I come downstairs in the morning- a perk of late night baking (roasting?).  A lot of you are probably reading this on a cold Sunday afternoon.  Trust me, you should make these.  Your house will smell so delicious.


Cinnamon-Roasted Almonds
recipe adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
  1 egg white
  1 tsp vanilla
  3 cups whole almonds
  1/2 cup white sugar
  1/2 cup brown sugar
  1/4 tsp salt
  1 tsp cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Lightly grease a 10x15 inch jellyroll pan.
2. Lightly beat the egg white; add vanilla, and beat until frothy but not stiff. Add the nuts, and stir until well coated. Mix the sugar, salt, and cinnamon, and sprinkle over the nuts. Toss to coat, and spread evenly on the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, stirring occasionally, until golden. Allow to cool, then store nuts in airtight containers.