Easy, Homemade Nut Butter

       Making your own homemade nut butter isn’t as hard as you might think. And it can save you money, and save you in a pinch when you run out and need a small amount.

It only requires two things: nuts and a food processor. I have this one and bought it at Wal-mart for $8. I use it for everything. And it’s never caused me an issue and it doesn’t take up much space. I’ve had it for 3+ years.

    1. Take nuts, (almonds in this case) and start chopping them. You can use whole nuts/pieces. This picture was taken after a few pluses on the food processer.

  2. Keep processing…it will get finer and finer. If you get to here, you’re almost at almond flour stage.

 

 

3. You’ve made it! (almond butter)

 

3. You’ve made it (peanut butter!)

   

 

Enjoy! If you have any tips on how to make nut butter, let me know…I’m wondereding why the almond butter didn’t get as creamy and was more dough like…maybe because it was unroasted.

Recipe Review: Fluffy Nut Butter

 

Fluffy peanut butter and carrot sticks…yum! :)

This is a great way to make nut butter less calories and also make it last longer…doubling the amount of nut butter…so it’s frugal too.

 

I’m going to quote Chef Rachel’s recipe here but feel free to see it on her site here:

“Fluffy Nut Butter  
Prep: 10 minutes/ Yield: 1 cup; 8 servings

To make almond butter, peanut butter, and other nut butters more spreadable and less calorie-dense, you can emulsify them with warm water and add a little sea salt. After the mixture chills, it thickens and fluffs up making a delicious spread for bread, waffles, baked sweet potatoes, winter squash, cooked apple compote, or sliced fresh or frozen bananas. For a sweeter taste, see variations below.

Notes: Select a bottled brand of nut butter that doesn’t contain added salt, sugar, hydrogenated oil, or soybeans, or use homemade nut butter.Although it may be tempting to dilute an entire jar of nut butter––don’t do it, unless you plan to freeze most of it. Diluted nut butter will sour in the refrigerator after about 5 days if unsalted; 7 to 10 days if salted. It keeps well frozen.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup roasted, unsalted, unsweetened almond, cashew, or peanut butter  
1/2 cup warm filtered water
1/4 teaspoon finely ground, unrefined sea salt (Celtic, Lima, or Real Salt…)

See sweetener suggestion below if using this with frozen bananas

1. Don’t discard the oil on top of a new jar of nut butter. Process the contents of the jar in a food processor, a Vita-Mix, orin a bowl with a sturdy spoon until smooth. Return nut butter to the original jar and refrigerate what you don’t plan to use immediately.

2. Dissolve the sea salt in warm water. Add the almond butter and mix or blend until smooth. Scrape the mixture into a wide-mouth jar or small bowl. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours (or freeze for 1 to 2 hours) until thick, before serving. Use within 4 days if unsalted, within 1 week if salted, or freeze for up to 6 months in covered glass jars with 1-inch of headspace at the top for expansion.

2 tablespoons: 109 calories, 4 g protein, 3 g carbohydrate (3 g fiber), 9 g fat, 89 mg calcium

Variations:

*  Sweet, Fluffy Nut Butter: To the recipes above add 2 to 3 tablespoons honey or agave nectar, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, and 1/4 teaspoon pure stevia extract powder or clear or vanilla flavored stevia extract liquid.”

 

This is really good! :) Give it a shot! :) I haven’t tried it sweetened yet…but I want to try again soon without salt/less salt. :)

Strawberry Jam

   Don’t you just love strawberries? I do. This is a picture I took of a few of the lovely jewels from the pick-it-yourself farm. Sweet. Vibrant. Little. Jewels. Delicious.

Mom was making freezer jam with most of these.  I wanted to make some that I could have……..

And I’m so glad I did.

      

The finished product. The lighting was a little weird on my camera, but anyways, the jam came out amazing. Never mind the fact that it’s gluten-free, dairy-free, and refined sugar-free, AND it doesn’t use honey/agave etc. Only a little fruit juice and stevia. That’s it, sweetie!

Plus, this jam is approved by my sister who thinks all my food is disgusting. Mom, is slightly less picky, liked it too.

 

 

Simply Sweet Strawberry Jam

• This recipe is for freezer jam but can be altered slightly for canned jam. :)

Ingredients:

• 5+ c. mashed strawberries
• 3 c. white grape raspberry 100% fruit juice (or 6 oz. concentrate and 18 oz water)
• 6 t. stevia
• 1 T. lemon juice
• 1 package of No/Low Sugar Added Pectin

Directions:

• Mash berries by hand one cup at a time. (It is easier to mash by hand about one cup at a time then all together.)
• Bring the juice to a boil. Add in pectin. Stir until dissolved. Remove the pan from the stove. Add in strawberries, lemon juice, and stevia. Stir well
• Pour into glass jars being sure to leave 1/2+ inch room at the top for expansion. Let cool for an hour+ on the counter or until cool enough to place in the fridge. 
• After about 24 hours, remove all but the jar(s) you are going to use for the near-future to the freezer.
• Take your “fridge jar” and enjoy it :) It’s great for….

                                

Bananas with Peanut Butter and Jam                               Dried Pineapple Dipped in Jam

 

                               

Strawberry Surprise Chicken (Recipe coming soon)         PB & J Energy Bites (recipe to come soon)

 

And, best of all, on a spoon! :)

Recipe Review: Ali and Tom’s Thai Coconut Fish Sticks and Peanut Dipping Sauce

I’m sure most of you are familiar with Ali and Tom from The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen. They always have the greatest recipes for those with food allergies and I love reading their posts. I’d been dying to make these since the day I saw the recipe here and finally did. They were so good! Of course, these aren’t made exactly the same (but pretty close) as I used what I had on hand (ie. the frugally rich way, of course! :))



Thai Coconut Fish Sticks à la Ari :)

1.5-2 lbs skin-less fish (I used cod)

1/4 c. cornstarch/tapioca flour/arrowroot starch

1 t. sea salt

2 eggs

2 T. milk (or dairy-free alternative)

2 c. unsweetened coconut flakes

Organic Spectrum Palm Shortening Oil (used since I was out of coconut oil) or Coconut Oil (prefer)

If your fish is frozen, defrost them first carefully in the microwave. Next, cut up the fish into sticks. In a small bowl, mix the starch and salt together. Roll each stick in the starch and then into an egg wash (I used 2 eggs and 2 T. milk). After that, roll the stick in shredded coconut. Place each stick in a warm frying pan (medium heat) with plenty of melted oil (you can start with a few tablespoons). Cook thoroughly on both sides. If your fish falls apart easy, you know it’s done! :)  ***FOR MORE BREADING IDEAS, SCROLL DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST :) ********



Peanut Sauce à la Ari

1/4 c. natural peanut butter or other nut butter or sunbutter

2 T. lime juice

water (the original recipe calls for 1/2 c.)

garlic and salt as desired (I omitted the garlic as I’m intolerant)



First off, I am going to recommend doing this a little different then the original recipe suggests because of what happened when I followed the directions (really liquid/watery  sauce.) So, I suggest that you make this with the 1/4 c. peanut butter as stated in the original recipe, BUT then add the water and lime juice one tablespoon at a time until you get your desired consistency. Also, you might want to add the lime juice in teaspoonful amounts as I found the lime flavor a little overbearing, but maybe that’s just me. Add garlic and salt to taste. Dip your fish sticks in and enjoy every little bite!

Looking for more breading ideas??? Look no further......:)



I also experimented with using crushed corn flakes (first picture) and oat flour* with curry powder.

To do so yourself, follow the same directions as above, except omit coconut and roll in crushed corn flakes (or oat flour* with your desired ratio of curry powder.) Tada. Easy. :) And more variety for you to boot! :) I do have to admit though, my favorites were the coconut ones! But I also shared these with a neighbor (who follows SAD-standard american diet ;)) and she loved all of them, but especially the curry ones. :) So I'm sure it is just your personal preference! :)

*Use GF oat flour if needed.

PS. I tried some of these with flounder but thought that cod was much tastier! :) (again, probably personal preference...)

Ice-Cold Lemonade (Healthy and Calorie-Free!)+ (That doesn’t mean artificial sweeteners)

Here’s the simple, really frugal, recipe:

2 T. lemon juice

1/4 t. stevia (or to taste)

1 c. water

2 ice cubes

Mix. Sip. Enjoy.

Recipe Review: Really Really Quick Single Serving Bun/Bread/Roll! :)

Wow! These beauties are really! as quick as this digital “instant photo” is! I don’t know how I found the link to this recipe, but man, this recipe is certainly a “wonder”!

I played around with it a little bit and here’s what I found:

The seeds really will help the appearance and probably texture too!

These will work probably with any flour you choose…whole grain even! (and that is whether you are GF or not!)

Don’t be intimidated by the almond flour (if you don’t have it on hand.) I didn’t and I just subbed for it with another tablespoon  of flour.

Here’s the recipe with some little alterations/ suggestions:

Ingredients:

1 egg

¾ teaspoon molasses (or try honey or agave)

2 tablespoons flour (try any whole grain flour like teff, sorghum, brown rice, whole wheat, etc)

1 tablespoon almond meal(or another tablespoon of flour)

1 tablespoon ground flax seeds (or try chia seeds)

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon cocoa powder (for a darker color, not taste. Sub with the same amount of flour if you don’t want the color).

a pinch of salt, if you want

1 teaspoon sesame seeds (or cornmeal or finely ground nuts or poppy seeds, etc) Ohhh! I can envision a lemon bun! with poppy seeds! :)

In a cereal bowl, beat the egg and molasses (sweetener) with a fork, for about a minute. Now, add the flour, almond meal, ground flax seed, baking powder, and cocoa powder (if you so choose). Add in the salt (if you are adding it.) Add the egg, stir until smooth. Oil a 10 oz Pyrex custard cup (glass)  and sprinkle seeds (if you like) on the bottom and sides.

Pour the batter into the cup. Top with more seeds if you like.

Microwave for 90 seconds. That’s it! 90 seconds to having bread in your hands! It’s so amazing! I only wish I had thought of it! :)

Slice in half and serve! (Topped with “butter” dairy-free/not, jam, etc!)

 

Mini Grain-Free, GF, Dairy-Free, Sugar-Free, Vegan Chocolate Brownie Bites

I wanted to make something…..a brownie but way healthier…and while I was at it, why not make it grain-free, sugar-free, gf, dairy-free, etc? Why not? I know, I’m a little crazy. :) I like challenges though. :) So I used this fabulous recipe as a reference and then made changes as I needed/wanted. And these beautiful brownie bites (who look just like those heavy calorie and overpriced and over refined ones from your local grocery store are the result. The one with orange on top is a  mini brownie bite with “orange sorbet” (or, better known as a “scoop” (or teaspoon) of frozen orange juice concentrate.  They came out well, my only complaint was that they took a long time to cook and weren’t really very sweet (even for me.) Next time, I’d add in stevia or more agave and reduce some of the milk. Let me know if you try this and what you do. For now, I will include the changes you can make to make it better, too. :) (And next time I feel up to a challenge will experiment some more…and update you if I get better results.) Don’t let this discourage you from trying or experimenting with these though…..they are so close to perfect…especially since they are almost free of everything. but still full of goodness and of course, chocolate. :) Are you ready for the recipe? Ok, here it goes:

Mini Grain-Free, GF, Dairy-Free, Sugar-Free, Vegan Chocolate Brownie Bites

Ingredients:

1/2 c. +  sweet milk or dairy free sweet milk (Reduce to 1/4 c. if wanting a sweet brownie, and add 1/4. c. agave in it’s place)

1/8 t. xanthum gum

1/4 t. baking powder (Kelly’s recipe is grain-free)

1/4 t. baking soda

3.5 T. cocoa

1/2 c. peanut butter or other nut butter or seed butter (tip: if you want a peanut buttery taste, use peanut butter or sunflower seed butter. If you want something that will blend in better and not overwhelm the chocolate flavor, try almond butter or a seed butter etc.)

1/8 t. salt

1 T. agave (or eliminate and add 1/4 t. stevia extract if you want a sweeter brownie)

Combine the above ingredients. Grease mini muffin tins and spoon dough/batter into tin. Baked it at 350 for about 20-30 minutes. Time will vary depending on your oven and if you use the alterations or not.  Also, these are best cold or right out of the the freezer (just be sure to remove them from the pan first because it’s harder to get them out frozen!) You can also try with them with a sweeter ice-cream or something...like I mentioned I used orange fruit concentrate for sorbet…but for most people, I’m guessing another flavor of fruit juice concentrate would be sweeter and more complimentary…like…raspberry. Yum! :) Anyways, whatever wahy you make it, be sure to comment here or email me and let me know how you did it…I’d sure love to know! (even if it doesn’t work out for you…let me know and we’ll see what we can do.) I decided that this recipe had too much of a potential to not post!!! Enjoy and Experiment and let me know all about it! :)