Pistachio Nut Butter

 

It’s not easy being green. And unfortunately, pistachios are extremely underrated! Pistachios are lower in fat content than most nuts, but they are still packed with protein! And this pistachio butter I made (inspired by Alyssia from mindovermunch.com) is probably the best butter I’ve ever made. It has that sweet and salty element that I just can’t resist. And, of course, it’s simple and healthy!

Ingredients-

• 2 cups shelled pistachios, salted if you want the kick ;D
• 3/4 cup almond milk
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• stevia to taste

Procedure:

   

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until smooth and creamy. It’ll take a while and it’ll go through various stages: bits of nuts, ball, then eventually it smooths out. Don’t worry if it takes you like 10 minutes. it’ll get there.

This recipe makes about 1 3/4 cups. Nutrition info is below! 1 serving=1 TBS

 

Homemade Nut&Seed Granola

So being home from school (and Colorado) has me in a munching mood. Like, a crazy munching mood. I’m just lazing around the house…trying to be productive…and eating. The problem is, eating peanut butter by the spoonful may SOUND appealing, but after a while…you need something different! So. I have adapted the original recipe from Alton Brown to my race recipe granola to this granola which is even yummier than before. It gives a kick of crunchiness, sweet seeds, rich peanut butter, and a subtle taste of vanilla to make an awesome granola for cereal, snacking, or pre-race fuel.

Gli ingredienti (even though this is totally not Italian)-

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 cups  mixed nuts
• ¼ cup pumpkin seeds
• 1/2 cup no sugar maple syrup
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 6 tbs better n peanut butter or 3 tbs of regular nut butter
• 2 scoops of vanilla soy protein powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Procedure:

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Spread the rolled oats on one baking sheet, and the mixed nuts and pumpkin seeds on another. Toast them in the oven for 15 minutes, tossing occasionally.

In the meantime, combined the maple syrup, brown sugar, and salt in a heavy bottom metal pan and heat on burner until brown sugar has completely dissolved. Transfer to a bigger bowl .

Once oat mix is done, immediately pour oats and nuts into the syrup mix and stir until oats are coated.

    

Add the nut butters and mix until even. Add the protein powder and mix until you can’t see traces on the mix.

   

Spread mix onto a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, making sure it doesnt burn along the way. Don’t get it too crispy in the oven because it will continue to solidify after you take it out.

I stole bits and pieces of this from http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/granola-bars-recipe/index.html – Alton Brown’s granola bar recipe 🙂

Yields: about 5 1/2 cups

Nutrition per 1/4 cup serving:

Kale Chips

So my best friend’s mom introduced me to these (or rather, the idea of these). I was over at her house working and she was like “oh here are some kale chips” and in my head I’m like “what the heck is kale?” Turns out, it’s a rather awesome green that has some great uses when cooked. In this case, it was a substitute for potato chips. And the recipe is SO EASY.

Ingredients:

• 1 rinsed head of kale. Make sure it’s dried all the way before using!
• 2-3 tbs olive oil
• spices! I personally used some salt, ground pepper, and cumin.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 275 F. After the kale has dried completely, remove the ribs of it and rip it into about 1.5 inch pieces. Don’t do any smaller than that, because otherwise it’ll burn to a crisp. And not in the good way.

Spread the pieces out on a good ol’ baking sheet and toss with the olive oil and spices. One thing I learned is that 2-3 tbs may not seem like a lot, but it is. If you use too much, then the kale will take FOREVER to roast….trust me on that one. Finally, roast the kale for 20 minutes, turning it halfway through. Honestly, it may take more or less time. Just keep a close eye on it to make sure it doesn’t burn black. After 20 minutes, I checked it at 5 minute intervals until it was done. Eventually, it all turned out, and I got out of it a wonderful little healthy snack for a dinner party 🙂

 

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