Ugly Hot Nuts

We had a nice time on Saturday night at the Ugly Sweater Party. There sure were some ugly sweaters, and various takes on what constitutes ugly. Mark and Danielle went with the tight look, which was hilarious/ugly; Chad's effort was borrowed from Dad's closet ugly, as were Mike's and Mike's (father-in-law's closet). Sarah sported a school teacher ugly sweater vest, with inappropriately placed apples, while Thomas countered with a babies are never ugly sweater. Wendy was resplendent in an 80's era, Shaker knit striped table runner style- 80's ugly. Candy showed up in a South American smelly/ugly flashback to the Guatemalan sweater tables set up every year in the student center at UMM. Eric, Katie, and Hope have no room in their wardrobes for ugly, but we're glad they came to the party anyway!




















As requested,

Ugly Hot Nuts

• 2 1/4 cups (18 ounces) assorted unsalted nuts, including peeled peanuts, cashews, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans and whole unpeeled almonds


• 2 Tbs coarsely chopped fresh rosemary


• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper


• 2 tsp dark brown sugar (I used light brown)


• 2 tsp Maldon or other sea salt


• 1 Tbs butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toss the nuts in a large bowl to combine and spread out on a baking sheet. Toast in the oven until they become light golden brown, about 10 minutes. In a large bowl, combine the rosemary, cayenne, sugar, sea salt ,and melted butter. Thoroughly toss the toasted nuts in the spiced butter and serve warm.