Coconut Almond Butter

About a month ago I found a new food blogger that I totally have a blog crush on. Her blog name is Delighted Momma. I made her Flourless Zucchini Brownies. Twice. During the brownie party, stumbled upon her recipe for almond butter (with coconut!)

I have attempted nut butters before but always quit at the paste stage and figured homemade nut butters weren't possible. I read her instructions and realized I never ran my food processor long enough and maybe there was hope for me. You can see her recipe here.

I've made several batches of this stuff and will probably never buy store bought almond butter again. It's hard describe how delicious it is homemade.

Some have told me that soaking your almonds makes them even more nutritious. I used raw almonds for this last batch and unsweetened coconut shreds and it is delicious.

*Warning!! This is a loud and obnoxious process. Don't do it at midnight...or when your kids are napping. You'll regret it.

**WARNING!! This almond butter gets HOT. You'll see condensation on my food processor and it's for realsies hot.

Coconut Almond Butter from Delighted Momma

Ingredients:

•  2 Cups dry roasted almonds 
• 1/3 C unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1/2 tsp sea salt

Instructions:

1. Place all ingredients in a food processor. I have also made this using a Ninja.
2. Turn your food processor to high and plug your ears and shut yourself in the closet while this processes for 10 minutes. If you watch, you'll noticed different stages- almond meal to almond chunks, to almond paste, and finally almond butter!
3. After 10 minutes, check your almond butter. If you like it chunky, stop processing it. If you let it run longer, you'll get smooth and creamy almond butter.
4. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the almond butter into an airtight container and store. 

Zucchini Ribbon Salad with Sweet Corn and Avocado

What's up with the ode to Zucchini here? I was graciously given dozens of zucchini and if I don't eat them, they will rot and my house will stink. The only solution is to eat them.

I pinned this recipe after one of my favorite food bloggers, Maria at Two Peas & Their Pod posted it. The pictures were gorgeous and I wanted to have her exact salad special delivered to my house.

I admit I was a little nervous to commit to making this recipe myself because I've never had raw zucchini and I didn't want to be left with the whole salad to eat by myself if I didn't like the zucchini ribbons. I made it anyway and was so happy with the results!

I've eaten it by the bowl-full ever since I made it. Dan refers to it as my "free" salad...meaning I can gorge myself on it and not feel guilty! Don't worry, the gorging has ensued :)

 The only alteration I made was using a can of sweet corn because the grocery store didn't have any ears of corn to buy. LAME. I'm sure the addition of fresh corn would make this even more delicious.

You can check out the original recipe Here on Maria's blog, and the recipe below is her original recipe.

Zucchini Ribbon Salad with Sweet Corn and Avocado

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 medium zucchini
• 2 medium yellow squash
• 2 ears cooked sweet corn
• ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 red onion, sliced
• 2 medium ripe avocados, peeled, pitted, and sliced
• 1/2 cup queso fresco (Mexican cheese)

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk the olive oil and lime juice together. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
2. Trim the ends of the zucchini and yellow squash. With a vegetable peeler, shave lengthwise into long, wide strips about 1/16 inch thick. When you get to the center of the zucchini, turn the squash over and slice from the other side until you get to the center again.
3. Put the zucchini and yellow squash ribbons in a large bowl. Cut the sweet corn kernels off of the cob, cutting close to the cob. Discard cobs. Add sweet corn, cilantro, red onion, and avocado slices to the squash ribbons. Pour olive oil and lime dressing over salad and toss until coated.
4. Crumble queso fresco over the top of the salad and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Serve and enjoy!

*I found my queso fresco by the cream cheese at my grocery store. I also used whole milk queso fresco 

Printable Version

Curried Cauliflower Zucchini Soup

Do you have Zucchini taking over your kitchen? I have a zucchini the size of a baseball bat and I'm not sure what to do with it. Another problem I have is buying produce when I know full well I have no plans to use it, I just know that it should come home with me.

I pride myself on filling my shopping cart with healthy food and sometimes I buy produce just because some voice inside me tells me my body needs it.

Whenever my produce hoarding problem gets out of control, I end up juicing it all so I don't experience produce-guilt. My green cabbage almost ALWAYS ends up in the produce-guilt juice.

I don't have a recipe for cabbage, but my cauliflower almost ended up in the juice until I remembered a recipe I have had marked for years in one of my favorite cookbooks called Volumetrics. This particular recipe was perfect- it called for zucchini AND cauliflower which means I'm in the negative for having produce guilt.

This soup is so amazing and I have eaten the entire recipe in less than 24 hours. It's thick and creamy and the hint of curry is divine.

Curried Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients:

• 4 Cups of cauliflower, chopped
• 2 medium zucchini, shredded (About 2 cups)
• 1 1/2 Cups chopped onions
• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Cups chicken stock (or vegetable broth for a vegetarian variation)
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp minced garlic

Instructions:

1. Heat the oil in a 4-5 quart pot over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, and curry powder. Cover and cook 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Add the chicken stock, cauliflower, zucchini, and salt to the pot. Bring the soup to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Cover the pot and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Puree the soup in a blender or food processor and return to the pot.

4. Enjoy!

Printable Version

Kitty Litter Surprise

No better way to make a come back than to make people want to exit out of my blog because of pure disgust.

My excuse for not blogging started with not having a camera that takes pictures anymore...then it was being too busy...then it was feeling my blog was read by me and my husband so why try? (I usually force him to read it and then give me compliments)

I bought a new camera, am making time for food and blogging, and will soon be teaming up with one of my FAVORITE foodies of all time. She will make her grand entrance soon and I can't wait to introduce her to you.

We were out picking fruit from my friend's fruit trees when she told me how much she wanted to have a food blog. She may have been on my shoulders picking pears out of the tree when we came up with the idea, but I said, "BECOME A CONTRIBUTOR ON MY DYING BLOG!!!"

We've made it official and soon will be documenting our foodie adventures. She is one of the best cooks I know. She is also by far, hands down, the healthiest person I know. Aren't you all so excited to meet her now?? Plus, she's one of my best friends on the planet and she would definitely be on the list of people I would choose to join me on a deserted island if it ever got to that point.

Get excited if you like healthy and delicious food because this blog's about to get crazy.

Now that I've got your attention, I realize it's been awhile since I've added to the "eat your feelings category." I know, you're probably thinking, "I always eat cat litter when I'm eating my feelings!"

DUH! That's why I finally put it on the food blog! Kitty Litter Surprise. I credit my long lost cousin Amy for this recipe. I haven't seen Amy in a long time, but I'll never forget when she showed up at a family party with this awesome kitty littler dessert.

Dan got REALLY excited about the idea of a kitty litter dessert and we decided to bring it to our monthly family dinner. Since I can't keep cake in the house, I put the leftovers down the garbage disposal right after taking one last giant spoonful (and by spoonful I mean shovel full of course)

You should definitely make this. Even if there is no special occasion. People will be really grossed out and it will be awesome!

Ingredients:

• White cake mix
• Chocolate cake mix
• 2 packages of vanilla pudding (4 servings/pkg size)
• 4 Cups of milk
• 1 package vanilla sandwich cookies
• 2 large Tootsie Roll sticks
• Green food coloring
• 1 cat litter box
• 1 cat litter scoop 

Directions:

1. Make the white cake according to directions. Make the chocolate cake according to directions.  Bake the cakes and then let them cool.
2. Mix the 2 packages of pudding with 4 cups of milk and beat until smooth. Allow to chill for 20 minutes.
3. Using your hands, crumble the white and chocolate cakes in the kitty litter pan. Mix until well combined. Add the chilled pudding to the crumbled cake mixture and stir until combined.
4. In the food processor, process the entire package of vanilla sandwich cookies until it looks like creamy dirt. Add several drops of green food coloring and process again until greenish-yellowsh.
5. Spread the cookie mix on top of the cake and pudding layer.
6. Cut the tootsie rolls into small sections and microwave for 5 seconds. Using your hands, manipulate the tootsie rolls into poop-like shapes.
7. Strategically place rolled tootsie rolls around in the cookie litter until it looks disgusting. Add the Scoop and dangle a few pieces of tootsie poop to make it even more unappetizing. Serve!

One of these

Some of those

A little of this

BAM! You get this lovely dessert.

Printable Version