You Have to Roast the Nuts
😉
Hi friends 🙂 How are ya doin’? Thanks for all of the lovely comments this morning- I enjoyed reading about all of the things you’re loving. Expect a Clarisonic review per your requests within the next couple of days 🙂
So I’ve been on a roll over here with trying new things! First the abomination muffins from yesterday, and today I made THREE things that I rarely or almost never make.
1. Fresh toast. FT is right up there with muffins for me. If it’s breakfast, I want eggs, oats or pancakes. Not some eggy toast that I could eat twelve of and be hungry again 5 minutes later.
I found an awesome savory-sweet combo that kept me full for the standard amount of breakfast time (3-4 hours until snack) AND tasted foodgasmic
Goat cream cheese and strawberry stuffed brown rice French toast <— there’s a lot going on there 😀
First, I spread some goat cream cheese on each piece of brown rice toast and topped with defrosted organic strawberries
Dipped in a mixture of egg, 1 T almond milk, cinnamon and nutmeg
and fried up in a little organic butterrrrr
Ka pow!
So stanking good. I ate it like a sandwich- no need for syrup 🙂
2. Homemade almond butter
I’ve made homemade almond butter maybe 3 times, and every time I finish, I’m left with mediocre almond butter that’s super chunky. Even so, I tell myself I’ll never buy almond butter again, because it’s inexpensive and *in theory* easy to make. To be realistic, since I go through at least a jar a week, I keep buying it 😉
This time I was wise and checked the expert for a recipe before attempting to get my almond butter action on.
The secret? Roasting the nuts! I had no idea.
It started to look hopeless because I had held down the grind butter for at least 10 minutes and had packed my mini food chopper to the brim.
(Patience is not my virtue)
But then,
THIS happened!
Creamy, cinnamon-y, almond butter glory.
I did the Almond Butter Success dance 😉
Half of it is gone already.
3. Soup.
To be real, I hate soup- it’s the section I skip in all of my cookbooks. I prefer to chew my food like a savage beast and soup really doesn’t do it for me 😉 It’s healthy, I might enjoy it when we go out for dinner every blue moon, but it’s really not a fave.
In the spirit of being adventurous, I decided to make some for dinner, but since I’m not a soup expert and wasn’t about to wing a recipe, I consulted my cooking Bible.
Dreena knows best 😀
I made big pot of the White Bean Rosemary soup:
The verdict?
Deeeelicious.
Next time, I’ll probably add in some brown rice noodles, more beans (chickpeas, more white beans) and sun dried tomatoes, just to get a little more texture.
What foods do you rarely or never make? I challenge you this week to make one of them- you may change your mind 🙂
Any awesome French toast, almond butter or soup recipes that I should try? (Feel free to link away!)
Have a great night and I’ll see ya in the morning <3
xoxo
Gina
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i’ve only made almond butter a few times because i can NEVER stop myself from indulging all the time! it’s so good 🙂
Your re-vamped french toast looks awesome! I thought soups were difficult to make, until I actually gave it a shot, and now they are my favorite thing to cook (and eat!)
Your almond butter looks so tasty!! I never make bread, but would really like to try… it can’t be THAT hard, right? 😉
it’s totally easy. making breads used to freak me out, then i decided to give it a try and was so shocked with how much easier it was (and how fresh it tasted!)
I looove making soup! But french toast I don’t make very often, and I also don’t make my own hummus/almond butter often enough- which is why I am “making it homemade” this year! I did hummus & granola bars, next up is nut butters & nut milk 🙂
xo
i am on SUCH A soup kick and the rosemary there sounds SO good!
Holy crap! That soup sounds amazing! Is this the recipe? http://wegottaeat.com/mrhb114/recipes/white-bean-rosemary-soup-with-croutons-and-fresh-basil-eat-drink-be-vegan
I MUST make that for dinner TONIGHT~ And I have a delicious roll to pair it with too! And I have rosemary AND white beans in the house woohoo!
yep that’s the recipe! 🙂
woohooo!!!
Now I have an awesome dinner plan!!!!! I can’t wait- thanks Gina!
oh and I think you meant it’s
Dreenalicious hahahah!
hahaha! amazing
I’m with you on not usually liking soup as a meal, but you should try this: campbell’s and V8 make a butternut squash soup that is amazing. I add a laughing cow swiss cheese wedge in, it thickens it up a little!
I’m surprised that you are not a big soup fan – considering you like smoothies so much. I have a stick blender I use for making soup – when I first got it, I was blending everything I could get my hands on. Try using silken tofu as a thickener with peas – season to taste and blend away. Pretty good if you like peas – and the color is gorgeous.
I never make soup, but started to experiment with stews in my crock pot. I love potato soup, so I think that will be my first attempt. 🙂 I’d love to read the clarisonic review! I’ve been thinking about getting one for awhile.
Rhodeygirl tests has a delicious pureed butternut squash soup (I pureed mine in the Vitamix instead of using an immersion blendner) that is a-mazing. But I agree with you, soup never seems like enough of a meal to me due to the lack of a chew factor.
http://rhodeygirltests.com/2009/11/19/butternut-squash-soup/
I think you have inspired me to try to make my own nut butter…. Almond butter might be made in my kitchen this weekend…. Let’s just hope its as pretty looking as yours!
Good morning! I agree about the ‘eggy’ french toast~ blech! I found a recipe from Happy Herbivore that I altered to make gluten and soy free and it is sooooooo good! We had it Christmas morning and my daughter and husband love it too! http://fruitveggietales.blogspot.com/2011/01/breakfast-dinner-brinner.html Have a fantastic day!
I never make meat dishes, which is about to change because I recently decided to eat meat again. I honestly don’t know what to do with a chicken breast – I feel like I’ll be staring at it for 10 minutes with a blank look on my face. However, I will be cooking with it soon! Gotta get over those fears.
Goat brie and raspberry stuffed french toast is a MUST HAVE. Or blueberry lemon mascarpone stuffed.
I’m not a fan of soup either – I like to chew too! But I do have one I love which is tomato and red lentil! I want to make my own nut butter but doubt I’d be able to put down the spoon! 😀
girlfriend i surely do miss you being on east coast time, ha! it’s like 10:30 a.m and no post. you and mama pea were my morning cups of coffee. now your posts are more of my mid-morning or mid-day snack;-).
sn … congrats on the business venture … hehehe ;-).
awww! i’m sorry! i’m still trying to time it so that i post around the same time, but it’s been a little tricky!
I love making soup because it involves lots of chopping and spices and then it just simmers! But I usually make mine with tons of beans and veggies and whatnot, so it still feels like food. I know what you mean about prefering to chew your food though. Really simple soups make me bummed and I feel ripped off. haha.
I’m a meat eater, I really eat much besides chicken, and even that can be sort of rare. I do enjoy roasts and steaks and things with veggies, but I’m always paranoid I will cook it wrong, too much or not enough and ruin something that is expensive. This fear of wasting is what keeps me away from cooking red meat the most.
Oh, I’m with you.. I don’t like to chew my soup either! But I do like a good creamy vegan soup. Pumpkin, bean or chili.. yum yum 🙂
I am 100% with you on the soup thing, I would definitely rather chew my food…if I’m going to have soup I need something else with it.
Could you please post on how to make your own almond butter?
I’m trying to make more new recipes this year… its one of my goals (that I thought of after making my new years goals’ list!). Being in the kitchen is so much fun, it teaches you so much… how to deal with a flop, being proud of yourself when something turns out delicious, getting enough confidence to fiddle with the recipe…
My confidence in the kitchen has soared in the last 1 1/2 years.. when I first moved out with my fiance I couldnt, for the life of me, have everything be ready at the same time… so we would eat chicken, then 5 minutes later, garlic noodles, and so on! 🙂
I’ve grown up and learned so many lessons in my kitchen 🙂
all i did was follow ashley’s directions here:
http://edibleperspective.com/2010/04/nut-buttery-addiction/
🙂
that’s so awesome that your confidence is going up! it’s hard work to time everything so that it’s all ready at the same time- keep practicing, that’s the best way to get it.
xoxo
You know, i’ve never made myself a stuffed french toast before. what a great idea!!!!
I never make French toast, either, for the same reason. I also rarely make pancakes, since I’m not the biggest fan of them. Can you believe? Though I do like making pumpkin pancakes and the like. If I had my way, though, it’d be all waffles all the time, but I am without a waffle iron. Ah well.
I feel the same way about the soups most of the time.. but lately, with all this snow here in GA, that’s all I’ve wanted to eat!
Did your food processor start smoking when you made almond butter? Mine definitely did!
nope! did you roast the nuts, though? 🙂
i would have never known about the roasted nuts! good to know for future reference
You are so right, Dreena always knows best!
“I prefer to chew my food like a savage beast and soup really doesn’t do it for me ;)”
That made me laugh out loud! I am the same way- gotta get the most bang for my buck when it comes to food 🙂
I never really liked soup either. How is something you basically just drink supposed to fill me up for dinner!? But lately I’ve become a huge fan of hearty winter soups with beans and squash, which means they’re super filling.
Yours looks delicious too. I love rosemary! 😀
A Coconut butter question! Is it possible to use coconut butter *the raw stuff in the jar* in baking cookies? Maybe to replace some of the actual butter? I was hoping you would know 🙂
thank you,
Erica
Cinnamon almond butter delight! Yum Yum Yum! I love how we can make this good stuff ourselves!
http://www.onemessykitchen.com/red-lentils-in-red-curry
I always grind dry beans/grains and cook them life farina and add spices when I want soup XD 😀