Who doesn’t like Emerald Cocoa Roast Almonds? Maybe you haven’t read the nutrition label, maybe you have. Let me inform you these babies are sweetened with sucralose–the ambiguous name for Splenda. Like we posted on Crash Course on Sugar, Splenda is a calorie-free sweetener BECAUSE we cannot digest it–read diarrhea and the likes. So yes, we’ve added sugar to this recipe. But please understand these are not overwhelmingly sweet, in fact, I think the sweetness is quite subtle and find the cocoa “crust” on the outside of the almonds to be the most addictive part of this snack—not the sweetness. Also–this is a great recipe for your kiddies to help out with!

Ingredients

• 2 c raw almonds
• 1 egg white
• 1/4 c water
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1/2 c cocoa powder
• 1/2 c powdered sugar

Method

Preheat your oven to 350ºF.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg white, vanilla extract and water.

In a zip-top bag, add the powdered sugar and cocoa powder. Seal the bag and shake it around to get everything incorporated.

Add 1 cup of almonds to the egg whites and use a slotted spoon or fork (or nature’s fork–your hands ) to coat all the almonds. Then using your “fork” put all the almonds in the cocoa/sugar zip-top bag. Seal it well and shake it around to coat all the almonds.

Place the almonds on a baking sheet and repeat the steps above with the other cup of almonds. Don’t worry if you get the cocoa powder on the baking sheet–it won’t do any harm.

Bake for about 20 minutes.

If you’d like them a bit sweeter, you can add the cooled, roasted almonds to a zip-top bag along with a few tablespoons of powdered sugar and toss them around.

Keep the almonds stored in a zip-top bag.

Brandon competed in the NC/ SC CrossFit Sectionals this past March (and did REALLY well, I am extremely proud of him). At the event, they were selling sweet potato shakes to the crowd. We didn’t try one simply because they only took cash and I had zero dollars in my pockets. Who carries cash anymore? So, this is how I imagine it would have tasted (Maybe a little better than theirs?).

Ingredients

• Sweet potato mash* from this recipe
• 2 1/2 c carton vanilla coconut milk
• 1 scoop vanilla egg white protein powder
• 1 t vanilla extract

Method

In a blender add all ingredients. Blend until smooth. Add more coconut milk if the mixture isn’t coming together.

*Preheat your oven to 425°F. Cut 3 sweet potatoes in half lengthwise. Roast in the oven until the skins have slightly charred and the insides are soft, about 30 minutes. Scoop out the insides and use for the shake. Reserve the skins for our Chili Cheese Dogs.

Boy do I ever get bored with trail mix. Yeah, it’s easy to throw together, but if I’m tired of it, I’m not going to eat it. That’s our entire philosophy behind this website anyway, Paleo chili, every night, is no way to sustain this way of eating. It just gets boring.

Hopefully, these nuts will reinvigorate your trail mix and inspire you to try new combos.