Homemade Peanut Butter- Yum to the Tum!

May 20, 2008 by La Mama Naturale'
Filed under Uncategorized

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Last week, I did a Make Your Own Mayo recipe-

This week I’d like to share a MYO Peanut Butter recipe…done the old fashioned way!!!

After realizing and mulling over organic peanut butter labels and finding out that it’s more than just peanuts they’re packing..it dawned on me that I could make it. The cost of ORGANIC PB is getting expensive- Especially if you like the MaraNatha!! This stuff is the best Peanut Butter ever in a jar- in my opinion, that is!!!! But, it’s almost $8.00 a jar. At Costco you can get two jars for that price and it’s organic. The Costco PB is always a backup when I don’t feel like eco-splurging on Maranatha! I know I’m paying for “Quality not Quantity” but for crying out loud, I don’t own a home in France, people!!! How about something a little more cost effective than that!? So, my little wheels started to turn and I remembered that our KitchenAid mixer will grind up nuts and make PB, Almond butter- whatever nut butter!

Anyway, over the weekend I had the opportunity to grind some nuts- and remember if you don’t have a KitchenAid Mixer or food processor, you can always grind nuts at your local health food store or a Whole Foods. It’s still going to be cheaper, taste freshier, and yummier…in the long run if done at home!! My total cost was for the peanuts $1.39 a lb.!! Bargain!

Here’s a recipe I found @ KidsHealth -

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. unsalted roasted peanuts
1 tbsp. peanut oil

Utensils:

food processor (You’ll need help from your adult assistant.)
bowl
mixing spoon
storage container
measuring cups and spoons

Directions:

For smooth peanut butter:

Mix the peanuts with the peanut oil, and pour the mixture into the food processor.
Process the mixture until it’s very smooth.
Store your smooth peanut butter in a sealed container in the fridge. It will be good for 2 weeks.

For chunky peanut butter:

Take about 1/4 cup out of your 1 1/2 cups of peanuts and set them aside.
Mix the rest of the peanuts with the oil, and pour the mixture into the food processor.
Process the mixture until it’s very smooth, then stir in the peanuts that you had set aside.
Process a few seconds more to create the chunks in your chunky peanut butter.
Store your chunky peanut butter in a sealed container in the fridge. It will be good for 2 weeks.

www.kidshealth.org/kid/recipes/recipes/peanut_butter.html

Hope you will find this recipe enjoyable! Oh! and we used Coconut Oil instead of Peanut oil…it definitely helped give it some sweetness and a hint of coconut taste…delish! We love our homemade PB! It’s very smooth- just the way we like it and not really too oily!! This summer I hope to make jellies with strawberries and local fruits…so stay tuned for those recipes!!! Those will come from my grandmother’s recipe book!!

We love PB, Honey & Banana sandwiches!! What’s your favorite kind of Peanut Butter Sandwich…???

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Tags: coconut oil, Crunchy Tuesday, Make Your Own, peanut butter, recipes

Crunchy Tuesday

May 6, 2008 by La Mama Naturale'
Filed under all natural foods

1 Comment

When life brings you lemons- make lemonade, of course!!! Last week, when my grandparents (Oma & Opa) were up, they brought us lemons from their yard! Growing up we always had plenty of lemons around. We would make fresh lemonade or my sister and I would eat them plain with salt!!

I had more lemons than the ones pictured and filled up two pitcher’s worth!! I froze a few lemon rinds for a quick freshner in the garbage disposal and froze a portion for later use. I made lemonade with the leftover juice . Here’s a yummy recipe for a fruity lemonade drink! I must confess, I could’ve used the hand squisher for the lemons but I opted out for quick performance and used the electric juicer! Shame on me! Especially, since my mom insists the hand juicer works a lot faster- I’ll try it out next time! ; )

Mixed Berry Lemonade (using organic ingredients)- yields 2-3 glasses!

In a blender add:

3/4 cups of mixed berries- we used marrionberries, raspberries, and blueberries

Equal parts of lemon juice and H2O- 8 oz. total

1/4 cup of sugar- or more depending on your sweet tooth…you can always use Stevia!!

Whirl it up and take a drink. Yum!

I also made some butter (a whole pint) and a pot of beans (15 bean mix) for Tristan!! I gave some butter to my mom and saved some for us!! I also borrowed my mom’s bread machine…she’s had it for years and NEVER uses it. I planned on baking a loaf of bread…but realized I didn’t have any yeast!! I didn’t feel like making a special trip to the store for a packet. With the price of bread, milk. and eggs going up what’s a mom to do? Cook from scratch…go back to basics…make it happen!! I’m going to use the machine first then I want to try and actually do it by hand- so I’m planning to do a little trial experiment of my own.

Amongst other things- we celebrated Cinco De Mayo and my niece’s 9th birthday! Mom made enchilada’s. rice and beans, Dad actually made Chile Rellano’s, we BBQ’d some Carne Asada and I made vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting! All served with a fresh glass of lemonade! Mmm…

I was recently sent an email with great “crunchy tips” from a friend of mine, “Mamita Sarita” -

Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil.

It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!

Newspaper weeds away

Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers,

put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and for-

get about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not

get through wet newspapers.

Squirrel Away!

To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper.

The cayenne pepper doesn’t hurt the plant and the squirrels won’t come near it.

For Mother’s Day, I’m planning to make Chocolate dipped Strawberries- they’re taking orders at the Whole Foods Market right now for Mother’s Day- BUT- I think I’m going to make my own!! Stick around for that! : P

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Tags: Crunchy Tuesday, Homemade, lemonade