Flavored Peanut Butter

I have been playing with my peanut butter recipe more and more lately.  I thought you might want to know what I have come up with! 

Honey Peanut Butter- 2 cups peanuts and 1/3 cup local honey

 Cinnamon Raisin Peanut Butter- 2 cups peanuts, 2 t vanilla, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 2 T cinnamon, 1/2 cup raisins

Chocolate Peanut Butter- 2 cups peanuts, 1 t vanilla, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 T cocoa powder

All measurements are SUPER estimates.  As in, I measured, and then added more without measuring.  Smart, I know.  But at least it’s something!  Experiment to your heart’s content!

(From top to bottom- Chocolate PB, Cinnamon Raisin PB, Honey PB)

This post was featured on the Healthy Kids Meal Carnival at Creating Nirvana and the Hearth and Soul Bloghop!

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Peanuty Popcorn

In addition to the Infused Oils shared yesterday, we also made some Peanuty Popcorn as a gift.  This was a gift for a certain honey-and-peanut butter addict.  We typically give him some of our home made peanut butter sweetened with honey, but it was time to change it up.  When I saw this recipe, I was sold.  We changed up the proportions a bit after the first batch.  

Yes.  We had to make a few batches because our “taste tests” somehow made the entire first batch disappear.  

I’ll let you check the recipe out yourself and make your own tweaks.  Here are the photos, though!

Assemble ingredients.

Melt ingredients.

Mix ingredients.

Pop popcorn.

Pour topping over popcorn.

Allow to dry and DEVOUR.  Or story.  Whatever.

This post was featured on Tuesday Twister at GNOWFGLINS!

Thai-ish Peanut Noodles

I love to make Asian food at home.  Fried rice, egg rolls, soups, you name it.  This past week I made some extra yummy peanut noodles, a nice spin on our traditional Macaroni Monday fare.  It is really quick to make, and can include all kinds of veggies, depending on what you have on hand.  Our produce bin was looking quite bare at this point, so I only used carrots and frozen peas.  No matter, it was still delish!

I gathered all the ingredients up first, to make sure I had enough of everything.

In a pan, I combined a few cloves of garlic, 1/4 t red pepper flakes, 1 T of brown sugar, and tons of ginger (I love ginger) with some butter and let the flavors heat up together.

When the pan smelled good, I added in 5 T soy sauce, 4 T rice wine vinegar, 4 T creamy peanut butter, and 1 T maple peanut butter.

As it heated up, it was all stirred together.

In the meantime, I cooked up a box of whole wheat spaghetti, and shredded up a few carrots.  They were added to the sauce, along with frozen peas.

I mixed it together and covered up the pan to defrost the peas.  When it was done?  YUM!

This post was featured at Meatless Mondays hosted by Midnight Maniac! 

Nut Butters

I pride myself on making many of our basic foods at home.  I enjoy it, it relaxes me, it saves money, and I know what we are eating.  Its a win-win-win-win!

Today we are making peanut butter.  I have also made almond butter in the past, but this time we just had peanuts. I buy them in bulk, roasting some for John to snack on, and turning the rest into peanut butter.  I have not yet explored soaking them first, but perhaps that will be in the future.  We shall see.

If you have a decent food processor, peanut butter is simple to make.  

1.  Toss the peanuts with sea salt and roast at 350 until browned, stirring occasionally. 

2.  Remove from oven and add to food processor while they are still warm.  Processing them while warm is the key to not having to add extra oil. 

3.  Process the heck out of them.  In the beginning it will seem like it is just chopping them, but if you are patient, the natural oils will release and it will begin to butter-ify.  When this starts to happen, add in your flavors.  I like salt and honey, but cinnamon and maple syrup are good, too.  Experiment and taste often. 

4.  When it is as creamy as you desire, eat it!

TA-DA.  That’s it!

This post was also featured on Vegetarian Foodie Fridays and Midnight Maniac’s Meatless Monday!

Maple Salmon, Carrots, Pecans, and Cauliflower

I have been wanting to make maple roasted carrots since we got a great deal on maple syrup late last month.  It was on the menu plan for this week, and I couldn’t have been more excited.  Maple roasted Carrots and Maple Glazed Wild Alaskan Salmon.  HEAVEN!

Until I started to cut the carrots.

Looks like lots of carrots, right?  WRONG!

THAT is the total amount of carrots we had in the house at that moment.  SOMEONE (me) didn’t plan very well.  I knew I was going to add pecans to the carrots, and I hoped that would make it enough to be a side for me and John, and then a full lunch tomorrow for him. 

HAHAHAHA. No.  Not enough.

 I tossed it with the sauce anyway (Butter and Maple Syrup).

I searched around to see what else we had, and found a head of cauliflower.  We love that roasted, so I thought it should work. 

Boy oh boy did it ever!  I added some more butter/maple sauce, along with some sea salt.

 

After baking at 425 until it was all cooked up, it was perfect in taste and amount.  Served with Wild Alaskan Salmon glazed with some maple syrup, balsamic vinegar, and butter, it was wonderful.

(Sorry, I forgot to take a photo before we dug in.  Bad blogger!)

This post is also featured at Tasty Tuesdays at A Beautiful Mess, Full Plate Thursday at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage, and Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop!