Homemade deluxe nut butter

So, child and I embarked on our first nut butter adventure in a hand-me-down food processor with a cute French name.

I had roasted my raw almonds after a hearty soak. The cashews came roasted but unsalted.

This yielded almost a quart of nut butter. I was surprised at how much it made!

Child and I ground everything in stages, constantly scraping down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula when the blade began to struggle.

- one cup cashews
- one cup almonds
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla
- 2 tablespoons local raw honey
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- about four tablespoons water (toward the end)

Scrumptious. Perhaps to heavy on the honey. Texture reminiscent of Cream of Wheat.

Nut Butter

I haven't cooked much or cleaned much or faced the fact that there's a major food-themed holiday tomorrow. I have enough trouble remembering to put on my socks.

Today's breakfast was fresh strawberries, Bolthouse farms blue (berry) smoothie, and wheat toast with almond-cashew-peanut butter.

The nut butter came from Target, the Archer Farm store brand. I love almond butter, but my daughter hates it. She prefers cashew butter. So this seemed like a good compromise.

What's weird is I can distinctly taste all three flavors.

I like Target's selection of nut butters. The jars are small, but that makes them a reasonable splurge and makes it fun to try new flavors. Like this one.

Nut butters are a quick, fun protein.

Cashew butter and raspberry jam

So, yesterday I didn't have any brainstorms as to what to serve for lunch. I thought I'd take the standard American route and go peanut butter and jelly on storebought wheat.

But then I found seedless red raspberry jam in the back of the fridge and the remnants of a jar of cashew butter. That's what we had with a big red delicious apple and a glass of chocolate soy milk.

The best breakfast I've had in weeks

A big glass of water.
Fresh raspberries, sliced banana.
A leftover pumpkin crêpe with cashew butter.

Yum.

My husband had a similar breakfast. My daughter got a crêpe with cashew butter and Nutella. I served her raspberries, banana and some canned fruit salad on the side.

And we hit Thursday...

So, our daughter solved our dinner dilemma last night by requesting nachos. We made them with mango salsa, black olives, cheddar cheese, beans, and tomatoes from the garden.

This morning for breakfast we each had half a cinnamon raisin bagel with cashew butter.

My daughter considered yesterday's yogurt with mix-ins a "deluxe" breakfast, so I upped the ante for lunch today: Vanilla yogurt with cinnamon grahams, peanut butter crunch, AND dark chocolate covered almonds, grapes, and now she's eating an apple. The kid never stops...

I have fresh French-style honey-wheat bread on its second rise. After my daughter gets out of school, I plan to run to Wegmans for some fancy cheese and some fruit for a pre-birthday dinner for my husband.