Ice Cream, Margaritas, and Blue Diamond Honey Roasted Almonds

August 15, 2014

This post is sponsored by Blue Diamond as a part of the Tastemakers program. I received free almonds but wasn’t compensated in any other way. All thoughts/opinions are, as always, my own.

I’m going to be honest here (mostly because I don’t know to not be honest), before taking part in the Tastemakers program, I didn’t give almonds much thought. They were a tasty snack, especially the flavored ones, and I loved topping desserts with slivered almonds. When I got the whole natural and rosemary almonds is when I first started thinking about pairings. When I got the new honey flavors in the mail, I knew I had to broaden my horizons and try them a couple other ways.

@bluediamond Honey Vanilla almonds over ice cream

First up, the Honey Roasted Vanilla. Honey + vanilla? No brainer — put `em on ice cream! It was like having the candied almonds they sell at sporting events, but obviously much healthier. Paired with low fat ice cream, they made for a crazy indulgent tasting snack (without the crazy indulgent level of calories 😉 ). Somehow, I managed to NOT put the can in the photo, but you’ll find `em with the other Blue Diamond almonds.

@bluediamond Honey Chipotle Almonds pair perfectly with a margarita!

I shared the Honey Roasted Chipotle almonds at Josh’s birthday fiesta. First of all, everyone FREAKED about how delicious they are. I thought I was going to have physically stop our friend Michael from licking the bottom of the bowl. They made a great pairing with a margarita — the little bit of spice and sweetness + the extra tart margaritas = genius combo. They also played nicely with the taco pinwheels, veggie taco dip, and chips with salsa. Plus, how easy it is to open up a can and have a snack people raved about? I’m 99% certain I could’ve pretended I made these myself and everyone would’ve asked for the recipe 😉 P.S., is it weird that my margarita turned out so yellow? I spent like 2 hours juicing a billion limes, and it basically looked like I made a pitcher of lemonade. But no worries, it was perfect, tart, and very alcoholic. If you’re not in the mood for a traditional margarita, try Julia’s naturally sweetened lemonade marg. Yum!