in 2018, i’m partnering with pompeian to bring you the latest recipes that are currently #trendinginthekitchen with this year’s trendy ingredients and their olive oils and vinegars. thank you for supporting the partnerships that allow brewing happiness to grow and exist. xoxo.
When the holidays come around we are inundated with cookies, brownies, truffles, candy canes – you name it. At the office party. At school. At home. In your stocking. So I decided it was time to add something savory into the mix! Enter this Savory Herbed Holiday Baked Brie.
This recipe isn’t just savory, and packed with protein and healthy fats, it’s also fully keto (if that matters to you!) If not, just know that it’s a really delicious savory, rich appetizer that people will go crazy for at your next holiday party. I mean, who doesn’t love melty cheese and salty, crunchy nuts with tons of herbs?
If you aren’t familiar with keto, it’s a low-carb, high-fat diet, that people are going nuts for these days. It all hinges on your body fueling itself on fats instead of carbs, therefore kicking your body into ketosis. I’m not big on labels, and generally I’m pretty hesitant to even label a recipe with a specific diet, but I am big on including everyone’s definition of healthier here. So I decided it was time for my inaugural keto recipe.
So let’s talk about all of the healthy fats packed in this little holiday snack – from hazelnuts to pecans to pistachios to brazil nuts to Pompeian Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil – there is an abundance for your body to enjoy. If you want to swap out some of the nuts for other nuts like walnuts or cashews or almonds, be my guest! It can be totally customizable to your taste preferences.
The crackers are an adaptation of Eating Bird Food’s 3 Ingredient Homemade Almond Crackers, which are VERY delicious as is. Mine just have the addition of slivered almonds (which are great texture) and finely chopped rosemary (which is great flavor). However, you can feel free to use whatever kind of crackers you want! Buy some at the store if you’d rather. I’m not gonna stop you.
Enjoy this nice antidote to the sweet-overload this holiday season! xo.
More healthyish holiday ideas: Cranberry-Pomegranate Spinach and Kale Dip + Healthyish Cheese Fondue Party + Toasted Sesame Pumpkin Dip w/ Holiday Crudités Platter
Savory Herbed Holiday Baked Brie with Almond-Rosemary Crackers
This Savory Herbed Holiday Baked Brie with Almond-Rosemary Crackers is the perfect savory antidote to all of those holiday sweets. (Plus it's keto!)
Ingredients
For the Savory Herbed Holiday Baked Brie
- 1 wheel brie
- 2 tbsp raw pistachios
- 2 tbsp raw pecan halves
- 2 tbsp raw hazelnuts
- 2 tbsp raw brazil nuts
- 1 tbsp + 1 tsp Pompeian Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil , divided
- 1 tbsp fresh sage, chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme
- salt and pepper, to taste
For the Almond-Rosemary Crackers
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1 tbsp flaxseed meal
- 1/4 cup slivered almonds
- 1/2 tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
- 3 tbsp water
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 350.
For the Almond-Rosemary Crackers
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Add all ingredients, excluding water, to a small bowl and mix well. Add water, and use a spatula to mix until it forms a "batter" and sticks together.
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Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and transfer the batter to the baking sheet. Form the batter into a rectangle with your hands, then place a second piece of parchment paper over it. Use a rolling pin to roll out the crackers into a 1/8" thin rectangle.
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Use a knife to cut your large rectangle into square cracker shapes. No need to break apart, you'll do this after you bake them. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the crackers are dry and crispy.
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Let them cool while you prepare the brie, then break them apart.
For the Savory Herbed Holiday Baked Brie
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Remove your wheel of brie from its packaging. Use a serrated knife to slice off the top rind (leave the rest of the rind on.)
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Add brie to a parchment paper lined baking sheet and drizzle with 1 tsp Pompeian Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Season with a small amount of salt and pepper.
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Bake for 7-9 minutes, or until melty inside.
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Meanwhile, heat a skillet over medium heat with 1 tbsp Pompeian Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Add all of your nuts and herbs, and season with salt and pepper. Toss constantly for 5-7 minutes, or until toasty and aromatic.
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When the brie comes out of the oven, top it with herbed nuts. Serve with Almond-Rosemary Crackers.
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EAT UP.
Recipe Notes
Almond-Rosemary Crackers are adapted from these 3 Ingredient Homemade Almond Crackers.
Perhaps every year around this time I end up saying the same thing. But perhaps every year, it’s needed. There is a pattern of speech when talking about food that irks me (triggers me even), and usually it goes like this…
“Oh I’m being *naughty* right now.” “I’ll atone for this in January.” “I’m being so bad this week/month!”
Usually these statements are said with a laugh that indicates levity, but followed by a sigh that indicates something much darker lurking behind those statements. So let me say this now and let me make it very clear: YOUR BODY WAS CREATED FOR SO MUCH MORE THAN BEING SKINNY.
The minute we start to extricate the “guilt” words from our food vocabulary the better off we will all be. The kinder we can be to ourselves, and the kinder we can be as a society. Food is food – meant to nourish, comfort, excite, but mostly nourish. And applying guilty feelings to that life necessity only causes a repetitive cyclical motion of eating – feeling bad, wanting to deal with that guilt, and then usually turning to food to cope. (At least if you’re like me that’s how it goes.)
Or the opposite – we pride ourselves on what we don’t eat. We pride ourselves on the purity of our food. We assign value to our bodies based on what we put in it.
I’m calling BS on all of that.
Your body already has value. That value is not based on your own personal feelings towards it or the societal judgements on it. Intrinsically there is value.
Your job as a human being is not to loose weight. (I’m not saying some people’s weight loss isn’t healthy or isn’t right, but what I am saying is that there are some WAY more important things to hang our hats on as humans.) If you want more inspiration around this check out the I Weigh instagram page.
This journey to healthier shouldn’t begin in January and end some time in November to make room for holiday food. All food is acceptable on this journey. That’s why it’s a journey. No path is fully upward, and it should’t be. So the minute you stop judging the hills you climb, the easier they will be to climb. You feel me?
The whole idea of my tagline – celebrate healthier – is the idea that we should endlessly, joyously celebrate the high points in the journey. Positive reinforcement will always keep us afloat. You know what won’t help? Endless guilt. Beating yourself up. Judgement.
So this holiday season let’s work to replace those negative connotations with a simple understanding that this whole big life is just a journey, that journey will have hills. No need to fight them. Celebrate when you get to each peak, and keep on climbing to the next. xo.
