My own little “PB & Co.”

I suppose this would be my first “real” post, other than my previous introduction earlier today. I was feeling nutty this afternoon and unfortunatley, I also realised that I’m now out of almond butter for my afternoon snack. I know a lot of you guys swear by Barney Butter, but I’ve yet to try it. I just can’t seem to find it here in the midwest, although my local Fresh Market said that they’d be carrying it within the next month! I’ll definatley try some to see what all the hubba is about.

Anyway, getting off topic here. So – I decided to make a DIFFERENT nut butter. A homemade one at that. I have had this package of raw shelled peanuts for a few months now in the back of my pantry and well, they were just begging to be eaten and turned into something delicious. What did I do with the little buggers? Peanut butter of course!

Just pre-heat the oven to 350.

Then place your raw peanuts on a parchment-lined jelly-roll pan…

And bake em’ for about 20-25 minutes, stirring every few minutes.

You don’t need much to make PB perfect – maybe just a little salt and peanut oil. I used a food processor for quick working.

And they’re ready!

After about 30 seconds they turn into a “peanut meal” like this.

And then after (quite a few) minutes of blending and pulsing, you should end up with something like this. I didn’t end up needing the oil since they were already oily enough on their own.

And enjoy!

 

Ah… sometimes the best things in life are the simple ones. I may end up adding in some whole roasted peanuts to make it “chunky-style”, or I may even add some raisins and cinnamon a la’ PB & Co. Possibilites are endless when you DIY with nut butters. You can either add oil and salt, or have them be pure and plain… and of course a little honey makes everything better. And since they aren’t packed with additives and lots of sugars, you can use them to make peanut sauces for Asian stir-fries or pad Thai. Expect to see something like that later this week!

Coming up for dinner – herbed pork meatballs in a tomato and white bean reduction served with whole wheat linguine with homemade walnut pesto (felt the urge to make some up since I had a boatload of basil and the food pro’ was out). To quote Veggie Girl, HOLY YUM. I am really looking forward to this dinner. Hope you can join me!