Nut Butters are Neat-O! (some ideas of what to do with your PB!)
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| Crunchy Homemade Peanut Butter |
1 pound peanuts
3 dates (optional...adds a bit of sweetness)
Puree in food processor for three minutes or so, until you have peanut butter! That's it!
I am going to give a big thank you to Melissa of My Whole Food Life (here is a link to some awesome blueberry jam with chia!) for her comments about just how easy this is! As I shared with her, I tried making peanut butter several years ago with a Vitamix and it didn't go well. This one experience, along with lots of time, led me to feel that making peanut (or almond, or cashew, or probably any kind of nut) butter would be so much more difficult than buying.
When I finally decided to go for it, I was astounded at how quickly I had MADE my own delicious peanut butter! It's just like (even MUCH better!) the kind you get from Whole Foods or Heinen's or at a Farmer's Market (we get Sirina's Almond Butter at Crocker Park in Westlake, OH)!
On the other hand, like LARABARS, I was reassured of the value of fresh-ground nut butters at most of these stores...it takes a lot (around a pound) of nuts to fill a pint-sized container. P.S. Our container IS ALREADY just about gone!
So, I will buy NO more peanut butter from Costco! The evolution of peanut butter from Costco has been disappointing :( Over the last 5 years, Costco has gone from offering Kirkland Organic Natural Peanut Butter (basically, nuts and salt, awesome!), to a non-organic Kirkland natural variety (such a bummer not to have organic!), to Skippy Natural (omits hydrogenated oils, adds sugar!), and yesterday, there was only traditional peanut butter (made with hydrogenated oils, i.e. TRANS FAT, and probably sugar!, and WHY is it even still on the market?!). YUCK!
Other simple food tasks that took me a while to try:
a) making bread (from a bread maker, for me!), and
b) using dried beans! Lucky Seven Sweet Things about Dried Beans, and More!
Sometimes, even though I KNOW how easy doing it may be, it still takes takes motivation to try something new! I guess we really are creatures of habit :)
COMMENTS: What food habit do you do now, but it took you a while to start?
4 comments:
I just may take a crack at making my own once our new Whole Foods jar is gone. I bet the addition of coconut oil would be divine!! As for the weather, I love it when it is a bit cooler. It makes planting our garden this week a little more inviting:)
Good luck, Melissa! I actually put my Whole Foods container back in the fridge empty this last time to keep reminding me to try making my own, until I actually did it -- and it finally worked! I admiring your gardening motivation -- I am signed up for a CSA again this year, and haven't planted anything since before I started doing CSA pick-ups!
We're the dates fresh, dried or soaked? I wonder how much salt to add for another variation? I make my own PB, but am keen to try yours. Thanks!
Hey Leah! Sorry to just reply now! The dates were dried; I've never had them fresh! I wouldn't add much salt, maybe a 1/2 teaspoon? Let me know what works (or worked!) for you! Happy weekend!
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