Mmmm.... Nut Butter

Ever since my amazing boyfriend, John, surprised me two weeks before Valentine's Day by buying me a Cuisinart, I haven't been able to stop dreaming up new recipes to use with it.

So far, I've been hooked on making nut butters.  They are so easy and extremely versatile.  The other week I made a big batch of chocolate almond butter- oh man, was that amazing.

This week I'm going for the ultimate combo of rich natural flavors.

Toasted Coconut Cashew Butter

First I used my toaster oven to toast about 1/3 cup of medium flaked unsweetened coconut.


I threw the coconut into the Cuisinart first.  Then came about 2 cups of raw cashews.  Blend for about 1 minute and scrape down the sides of the container.  It should look something like this after 1 minute:

Keep blending!
Another couple minutes it will start to ball up and look like this, but just keep going:

After a couple more minutes...

getting creamy!

Oh man!

Ta-da!  A thick and creamy nut butter made from scratch with only 2 ingredients!

I filled a small jar as a gift for my mama and the larger jar I'll have to have John hide from me so I don't eat it all with just a spoon.  If it sits on the kitchen counter, I find myself opening the jar and dipping my finger in every time I walk past.

Smoothie of the Week

Smoothie of the Week

Every week I seem to get into a rhythm of making some sort of smoothie after yoga or running.  It's usually just a combination of things I have on hand.  I make mine with a stick blender right in the measuring cup that it came with.  I don't have a blender, so this works best for me, but use whatever means of blending that you have.

During the late summer months, it's great to plan ahead for the winter and try to freeze lots of fresh fruit.  Around me I have several orchards that have U-pick areas for blueberries, strawberries, peaches, cherries, and raspberries.  As hard as it is to keep from eating all of the fruit right out of the picking basket, I know I'll appreciate the storage in the middle of winter.

This week I made this beautiful mixture:

Ingredients:
A handful of frozen blueberries
1/2 of a ripe banana (fresh or frozen)
1/2 of a ripe avocado
1/3-1/2 cup of coconut water (add more if you like it thinner)
2 spoonfuls of Greek yoghurt or a splash of almond milk to keep it vegan


Now blend, blend, blend!