K so candied nuts are no joke.  Anything laden with maple syrup, butter and brown sugar is allowed in our apartment.  The issue is that we consume them in max no min 10 seconds. 

You probably think this is an issue because they are covered in all this gooey goodness.  Well it is.  But it is also an issue because the portion size for nuts is less than a handful (especially for me– my paws are huge– I mean look at my right one in this pic. It is like a claw hanging on Kelsey’s shoulder). 

This portion size doesn’t work out too well for us and in an effort to switch things up, slow our consumption down and not douse every nut in sugar we landed on Granola Crusted Walnuts. 

These taste good but do not trick yourself into thinking they will taste like the ones we used on the Brussels Sprout Salad that went with our Gnocchi recipe.  These are a “have around the apartment snack” not “give to your boyfriend snack”- they’re hardly sweetened and the primarily flavor revolves around oats and pumpkin seeds.

In OTHER VERY IMPORTANT NEWS: Kelsey has purchased a food processor for the apartment!!!! As you can imagine this has changed our lives forever so let the fun begin.

Adapted from the Smitten Kitchen:

In your FOOD PROCESSOR pulse 0.75 cups oats (not instant), 0.25 unsweetened coconut, 2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds, 0.25 teaspoons of cinnamon and a pinch of salt.  You want it to look processed but not flour-like.

In a bowl whisk 1 egg white with two teaspoons of water.  This is glue for the granola.  Put two cups of walnuts in this bowl and stir the shit out of it so every crevice has glue in it.  Add the mixture from the food processor to the bowl and stir until just combined.  Treat it like a lady but do try and get the nuts as coated as possible.  Dump onto a baking sheet and bake at 300 degrees for 20 minutes.  Healthy treat!

I was pretty annoyed making this sauce.  If someone asked me if there was a sauce I was jonesin to make this would be last next to Alex Garcia’s Ham Spread.  I mean it’s just a stuck-up tomato sauce that takes longer to cook and is more acidic.  Then I tasted it and shut myself up.  Turns out it’s really really good.  Even better when served on Homemade Gnocchi like we did. 

Here is the recipe we used.  Cook the gnocchi (if using) for a hot minute in the sauce before serving.  Then the butter/cheese at the end rounds out the flavor and you’ll be pissed if you skip it, so don’t . 

White Trash Option: Keep the ignorance going as I almost did by vetoing Pomodoro in your sauce portfolio