DIY Mondays~Make Your Own Almond Butter!

Making your own almond, peanut, cashew or pumpkin, sunflower, coconut butter is SO easy, you'll wonder why you ever bought the jar stuff!

Back in the day, I was really anti-appliance. I still have some amount of guilt when I use my blender or food processor 4-5 times a day. It's for my health though! Right? Ah. This debate is for a different day. I'm conflicted.

So, we had an old recycled, re-used way to many times espresso machine for a few years. And no other appliances. No Juicer, blender or food processor; all of which we now have, now minus the espresso machine. We use a glass french press for coffee now, but have 2 largish appliances. I'm glad we still don't have a mixer, toaster oven, toaster, coffee machine etc. etc. But sometimes, when all three of our appliances are on the counter, I feel gluttonous and ridiculous. Healthy eating can be as simple as and apple and nut/seed butter! Oh yeah, the recipe!

Aren't You Cool Butter
It's this easy:
Plug in your food processor.
Pour in some nuts (or seeds).
Process, scraping fairly often (this will be ultra loud at first).
And you have your own, homemade, rebel butter.

Fun Add Ins: Honey, Cinnamon, Maple, Cocoa powder, dried fruit..salt as needed..

Here is a photo log of Almond-Pumpkin Butter so you can see what you are looking for:

After 1-2 Minutes

Close Up-see lil chunks

After another 1-2 minutes

Starting to release oils after another 2 minutes

Another 3 minutes

Another 3 minutes..

From here, it's preference. The butter becomes fairly warm from friction and will just get smoother as the oils warm up.
From this point you can add a handful of whatever nut you are using and pulse it in for 'chunky.'
Or, add in whatever flavor/spices/salt you want.

From here I added in a small handful of pumpkin seeds and a touch of salt.

Using raw nuts and seeds may be more beneficial to your health versus roasted. Read here and here.

Although, I believe raw peanuts may be a no-no.

So easy! Oh yeah, and healthy, protein packed too.

What is your favorite rebel homemade food?

Do you have any crazy delicious combination ideas?

Breakfast Blueberry Smoothie

I change up smoothie recipes every few days.  Usually I can't get enough of one particular combo for two or three days, then I'm ready to change. Right now I'm making one I happened to make a lot last Spring. It's loaded with carbs, fiber and protein, so it makes an awesome post run meal. Oh yeah, and it's YUMMY!

Breakfast Blueberry Smoothie
1 cup of Blueberries (frozen)
1/4 cup Raspberries (frozen)
1 Heaping Tbs Flax Seed (ground into meal first)
1 Heaping Tsp Wheat Germ
1 Tsp Chia Seed
3/4 cup (or more) Almond Milk (homemade recipe on this blog!)
1 Tbs of your favorite protein powder (optional)

Blend and Enjoy! Nothing too special, just lots of blueberry love.

Back in school I was really into Spirutein. I still like it, I'd just rather have straight Spirulina. However,  I get tired of everything tasting like Spirulina, so sometimes I leave it out and use Vega or pea protein powder. But you can always just double up on the Wheat Germ, which is 28% protein.

Goji-Blueberry Porridge

I started a batch of raw cocoa 'puffs' (buckwheat crispies). They are inspired by Ani Phyo's plain buckwheat crispies. I did a few things differently. Post to follow~

This made me hungry for something that could be eaten right now and I invented a little 'porridge' cereal.

Magic Berry Porridge (1 serving)
1 handful (total) of the following mix: almonds, pecans (you can substitute and play)
1 tsp dried blueberries (trader joes for example)
1/8 cup of Goji berries (soaked overnight then drained)
2 pinches shredded coconut
1/2 tsp of flaxseed
1/2 apple chopped large
1 tsp agave nectar

Pulse all ingredients in food processor at once, then add apple last. Pulse to chunky or mushy consistency. I like something in the middle. Place in bowl and you can add an extra drizzle of agave!

Easy! And you can soak the goji's for much less time if you want, or sub cranberries. Enjoy!

Today is a run rest day... grrrr.. I hate saying that.. because I might still run later. I get itchy when I don't. I'm having a swollen/bruised foot issue. Not sure of the cause.