Party Nuts

Here are a couple of recipes for various nuts that are really good.  When you are having parties it's nice to have a couple of little dishes of nuts sitting around for your guests to snack on.  These are really good.

This is one I recently got from a dear friend.  It's healthy and it has essential oils in it.

16 oz. raw cashews  (she had made hers with pecans)
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 sprigs of fresh rosemary
zest of one lemon
4 drops rosemary essential oil
2 drops lemon essential oil
3/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Place nuts on baking sheet and roast 8-10 minutes until warm and lightly golden.  While nuts are roasting, warm the olive oil, fresh rosemary and lemon zest over medium heat until it begins to sizzle and smell fragrant.  Add roasted nuts and stir to coat completely.
Remove from heat and stir in rosemary and lemon essential oils and salt.  Toss well and serve.
You could use a mixture of nuts (almonds, pecans, walnuts and cashews).  Store in an airtight container.

Spicy Sweet Pecan

3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 large egg white
4 cups of pecan halves
Vegetable cooking spray
wax paper

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.  Stir together first 8 ingredients in a medium bowl.
Whisk together egg white and 1 tablespoon of water in a separate medium bowl until foamy. (No liquid should remain.) Add pecans, stirring to coat.
Add pecan mixture to sugar mixture, stirring until evenly coated.  Spread pecans in a single layer on a lightly greased (with cooking spray) foil lined half sheet pan.
Bake at 275 or 50 minutes to 55 minutes or until sugar mixture hardens and nuts are toasted, stirring every 15 minutes.  Spread immediately in a single layer on wax paper, cool completely (about 30 minutes).  Store in an airtight container up to 7 days.