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Homemade Peanut Butter! OMG! Why Did I Wait?!

We love peanut butter in my house, and why shouldn't we?  It's nutritious AND delicious!  This homemade peanut butter may be responsible for a name change to our food processor; it will now be called OUR NUT BUTTER MAKER!

Nut Butters are Neat-O! (some ideas of what to do with your PB!)

Crunchy Homemade Peanut Butter

Crunchy Homemade Peanut Butter

1 pound peanuts (I used salted, "fancy" from Costco)
2 tsp coconut oil (optional....adds a bit of creaminess)
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, lead 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 it.

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)!

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 (which while omitting hydrogenated oils, adds in 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 me a lot of motivation to try something new!  I guess we really are creatures of habit :)

COMMENTS: Cooler weather this week, love it or hate it?

Dig into Dark Chocolate (Homemade) in a Dash!

Aaah, TOTALLY amazing!!!

Thank you Chocolate Covered Katie for her brilliance :)  
She got me started with yummy chocolate from home!  

Here is what I do!

Here is all you need for Healthy Dark Raisinets Hearts!


Raisins (make sure they are unsweetened; no sugar in the ingredients list)
Unsweetened cocoa
Coconut oil (Awesome Organic Coconut Oil that I got from Amazon)
Agave nectar (we get this item from Costco, but you can find anything on amazon!)
Dash of salt (optional)

Melt 1/2 c oil for a short time (maybe 30 sec in a microwave (or on a candle warmer, another Chocolate Covered Katie trick), then stir in 1/2 c cocoa, and 1/4 c agave (it's still sugar, so try going with even less for an even healthier treat) until smooth.  Then mix in 1.25 c raisins, fill plastic bag, plastic container, or candy molds (I often use silicone bakeware as shown below), and freeze for a little while (15 min should be plenty of time).  

So easy you're kids can definitely make the recipe ...
with no strange ingredients or stove top worries!

Then sink your teeth into a delightful treat! 
 Click here for the Health and Happiness Benefits of Chocolate!

The chocolates shown are pretty huge and just part of one is super-satisfying!
The chewy raisins, frozen, almost give the texture of chocolate-covered caramels!

 

COMING SOON: Benefits of Coconut oil

You might also ENJOY: Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge

Other TASTY ADDITIONS to Dark Chocolate (many work for Chocolate Fudge too!): mint extract, cashews, dried cherries, natural peanut butter, Low-Fat Triscuits or other healthy crackers, healthy pretzels, cereal, combos, shredded coconut, Laraballs, grapes, strawberries, bananas (eaten whole or sliced when frozen), banana slices dipped, ....

COMMENTS: what would you do with your own MELTY HOMEMADE DARK CHOCOLATE that can get around anything?
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