It’s the night before the fourth of July & and all the roomies are gone… What do I do??
Hint: it involves a blender + cashews. Yeah… I made cashew butter.
Someone call the fun police!!
I have had an obsession with nut butter for as long as I remember. When I first became interested in nutrition, I ate the Jiff extra crunchy peanut butter like it was my friggin job – I still love that crunch in my nut butter… BUT now, I do my nut butters a little bit differently.
After discovering that my crunchy PB had hydrogenated oils in it, I dropped it!
Hydrogenated oils are man-made oils that add hydrogen molecules. This converts the unsaturated fats ( think “not saturated with hydrogen” ) to saturated fats. You’ve likely heard of this term from the news or from a health nut like me ( hah, pun intended 😉 ).
The conversion creates a trans fat which are fats you want to avoid! Trans fats raise LDL ( “bad” ) cholesterol levels, reduce HDL ( “good” ) cholesterol, and block production of chemicals that fight inflammation.
SOOOO…. What does one do in this horrible conundrum??
I started buying organic, natural nut butters. I swear by this kind because: (1) it tastes like real peanuts, (2) it has no nasty artificial ingredients, (3) it has no hydrogenated oils!
However, there’s not much fun in buying a nut butter… so why not make it?
**It is also a LOT cheaper !! **
My closest grocery store sells cashew butter for $12.19… no thx!
While I go through a constant rotation of my go-to nut butter, my current obsession is cashew butter. It’s simple, it’s delish.
Heres how ya do it:
Ingredients:
16 oz roasted cashews
1 T coconut oil
splash of vanilla extract
pinch of salt
cinnamon
Directions:
Blend cashews and coconut oil in a food processor for 5-10 minutes ( or until desired texture is reached ) . Add vanilla extract and salt to mixture. Blend for 30 seconds. Top with cinnamon and eat it by the spoon 😛
As I said, I L-O-V-E crunchy nut butters. If you want yours slightly crunchy, set aside some cashews and chop. Fold in after you completely blend all ingredients.
Enjoy!!
xx hails