Spicy Ranch Roasted Almonds

Warning: These almonds may lead to addiction because Holy Crap! They. Are. Good.

Let’s talk snacks. I have always been a compulsive snacker and in an upcoming post I’m working on I’ll explain how I began to understand that I was reaching for snacks out of habit vs hunger. In my journey to food freedom, I have had a lot to learn about conscious eating and snacking is not an easy habit to kick.

Working from home has made it easy for me to make constant trips to the pantry. If I’m not careful I can find myself filled to the brim with snacks by the end of the day.  The fact is, I am human and some times I just want an afternoon treat but given my past relationship with binge snacking I had to create a solution. Filling my pantry with clean eating snacks is my only option. I keep things like beef jerky, mixed nuts, dried fruit and apples with nut butter because I’m less likely to grab one of these items unless I really want it. This may sound like torture to some, but this tactic has shaped my mentality towards food, and prevented me from eating a bag of chips in one sitting- so to each their own.

 

When I was in college, I lived in a sorority (stereotypes aside, please). My roommate’s mom would send her these care packages with her homemade spicy pretzels. She would send them by the gallon and we would go crazy. We could easily eat an entire gallon ziplock (or 2) in less than 48 hours, and we did- plenty of times. Eventually most of our friends had experienced the famous pretzels and after graduation we begged Libby to share the recipe so we could all go out into the world and spread the love that is the spicy pretzel.

Even though pretzels do not fall into my snack cabinet often, that doesn’t mean I don’t crave my favorite college snack. Eating a handful of nuts, isn’t all that exciting. I’ve tried buying some store bought brands of flavored nuts but they are expensive, bland, or full of a bunch of additives which defeats the purpose of me eating nuts in the first place.  (I’m sorry, my mind keeps going to the gutter with all the nut comments, so forgive me for lack of a better word).

So here it is: after a few tweaks I have finally curbed my spicy pretzel craving with these roasted almonds. They are covered in a homemade ranch seasoning, extra garlic powder & a little cayenne for kick.  My boyfriend was eating these by the handful this weekend and I’m not ashamed to say that so was I.  These are great to toss in some snack bags for on the go, or a replacement to Chex Mix at your next party. I dare you to try not to enjoy them all in one sitting because they are just that good.