Rosemary Chipotle Roasted Almonds

These Chipotle Rosemary Almond recipe is part of the My Clean Kitchen – 7 Day Eat Clean Challenge. Click here to learn more.

Breakfast: Turkey Bacon Egg Muffins

Lunch: Nut Butter Apple and Honey Sandwiches with Cheese Sticks and Bananas

Snack: Chipotle Rosemary Roasted Almonds

Dinner: Turkey Meatloaf, Whipped Cauliflower

So, we have a snow day here in central Virginia. I wish I could say that our beautiful town is covered with a blanket of white snow and the kids are out building snow men. But, alas, its just icy and crunchy outside. I’m trying hard to get into the holiday spirit, so I’ll be decorating and cooking today.  I usually do a food gift for the neighbors and friends in town. In the past I’ve made candied pecans. But, this year I did a cleaned up version of the “nut” gift.  The rosemary and chipotle flavors marry so well with the maple syrup.  These almonds are so yummy, I had to force myself to stop eating them so I had enough to package up for gifts. I’ll be making a few more clean eating food gifts this week.

First, I infused the olive oil with the rosemary. I simply added the chopped rosemary to the oil which was in a saute pan over medium heat. Then I added all the remaining ingredients to a medium bowl, except the maple syrup. Just before removing the oil from the stove, I added the maple syrup to the nut mixture. I  immediately added the infused oil to the nuts and stirred well to coat. Then I spread the nuts on a parchment lined baking sheet and baked them for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. I stirred them about 3 time while baking to make sure they didn’t stick and also add a little more salt. Once they dried, I stored them in an  airtight container until I was ready to put them in a pretty jar or gift bag for a beautiful and delicious holiday gift.

 Local Ingredient: I cut the rosemary from my own herb garden. Doesn’t get any more local than that!