In this bonus lesson for How to Cook Real Food, the online cooking class hosted at Nourished Kitchen, you’ll receive a quick, sneak-peak into the cooking class through this brief video covering how to properly prepare nuts and seeds including recipes for a basic pesto sauce and a basic fruit and nut snack bar. Please note that videos in the online cooking class will be more comprehensive than the brief look at nuts and seeds you see below here.
In this video and using these downloadable print materials.
Preparing Nuts and Seeds Traditionally
Nuts and seeds can be a powerfully nutritive food: rich in minerals, vitamins and antioxidants. However, as is the case with many foods, nuts and seeds are also potent sources of antinutrients: particularly food phytate which binds up minerals preventing their full absorption and enzyme inhibitors which makes them difficult to digest. Fortunately, the simple act of soaking nuts and seeds in slightly salty water overnight improves not only their digestibility but also the availability of minerals naturally found in these foods.
Combining unrefined sea salt with warm, filtered water and pouring this salty mixture over your nuts or seeds provides optimal conditions to help mitigate the effects of these two antinutrients. Leaving the nuts or seeds to soak overnight in warm, salty water, you’ll not only improve the nutrient profile of these foods, but also their texture. They become softer and, for this reason, are well-suited to cooking and using in sauces like classic pesto, fruit and nut bars, breads and other dishes. If you have a food dehydrator, you can even dry the nuts or seeds after soaking to make a delicious snack.
In this Bonus Lesson, you’ll learn:
- Why nuts and seeds prove valuable additions to a nourishing, healthy and wholesome diet.
- How to prepare nuts and seeds to maximize nutrition and digestibility.
- How to make a basic pesto using nuts or seeds, herbs and greens and an unrefined oil.
- How to save money making a basic dried fruit and nut bar featuring dates, dried fruit and soaked nuts.
Bonus Class Materials: Video & Printables
- Download the Recipes & Worksheets: Bonus Lesson: Nuts & Seeds
Lovage Soup for Spring
Moroccan Preserved Lemons
campfire roast chicken with flowering onion and dill
Our Daily Bread: No-knead Sourdough
A Story of Recovery (and a Recipe for Grain-free Carrot Cupcakes with Honey Cream Cheese Frosting)
A Recipe for Beet Kvass: A Deeply Cleansing Tonic
This is great! I’m getting super-excited about the class! My only question is where to look for the unrefined/unsulphured things. And, can you just use regular spices from the store (i.e. powdered cinnamon – like McCormick or bulk, etc.)
Thank you so much for this bonus lesson. There is one “oops” on the pdf printout. On the recipe worksheets, the ingredients lists are backwards. The one for pesto is on the recipe worksheet for snack bars and visa versa. Thanks for all the work that goes into this website!
Love the fruit/nut bar idea! Will have to make this at home for hubby who is always wanting something like this to munch on in the afternoons. Crispy nuts can get a little old – this will provide some variety!! Thanks for the great video!
Thanks so much! I’m really looking forward to this class. Lara Bars are always so expensive, and always seem to break my grocery budget. I’m so excited to try this recipe and make my own! You’re awesome!
This looks terrific. Thanks for sharing!
How long does the pesto keep?