Today marks my 200th Post on the Defiant Wellness blog. How accidentally appropriate that we would celebrate with Almond Butter.
When I “went Paleo” I turned my back on many sweets I was truly addicted to, such as cookies, brownies and pies. Of course now I know that what I was addicted to was the simple carbs contained in the sugar and flour.
I still have trigger foods, but I try to keep them on the healthier side. My challenge is that because I know a food may be good for me, I could easily justify eating the entire container.
Almond Butter is one of those foods. I love almond butter (AB) . There have been times when I’d eat two pounds a week. But in recent months I have limited my consumption to one pound a week.
When I was first introduced to AB it was typically Trader Joe’s raw creamy almond butter. Then for a period of several months my local TJ’s couldn’t get any. So I went to a local Farm Store to get AB that was made on the premises. It was far superior to TJ’s but then it should be, it’s $11.99 per pound!
Yesterday I decided I would try making my own at home. It was easy. Now here is a tip. If you like TJ’s AB, buy it, because 16 ounces of AB costs the same as their 16 ounce bag of almonds. But, if you prefer homemade, you can make it for half the price of the Idylwilde Farms of the world.
Here is the recipe:
Ingredients: 3 cups (1 pound) raw almonds
Instructions: toss almonds into a food processor and turn it on. When the almonds quit making noise and turn to almond butter, it’s done.
Yes, that was a little overly simplistic. The fact is that it took 20 minutes to make, but it was easy.
The first minute is noisy. Then the almonds are reduced to a “meal” consistency. Then about five minutes in, they begin to ball up in the bowl. About ten minutes in, they begin to look like dough.
Throughout the entire process, you will have to stop the machine every couple minutes to scrape down the sides of the bowl (and perhaps sample the goods).
After about 15 minutes the nuts start to exude their oil and it becomes more batter like. At the 18-20 minute mark, the mass will transform into the creamiest almond butter you have ever seen or tasted.
Since it was lunch time, I grabbed a ripe banana and sampled the warm almond butter on half-inch thick slices of the fruit. It was delicious. I had a fruit bowl with six more bananas in it, and I will admit I was tempted to grab another. But I behaved myself and sealed my cherished creation in a container and placed it in the fridge.
This story gets even better. My wife, Suzanne, doesn’t like almond butter. It’s mine, all mine!!
Leave a Reply