I haven’t had peanut butter, cashews, eggs, or coffee in about two months.

If you aren’t shocked, then you should know that those four things were main staples in my diet for a verrryyyy long time.  I had at least one egg a day, usually more.  Coffee was a part of my morning routine.  Cashews transformed so many dishes I made here on the blog.  And peanut butter?  Well, I’m pretty sure if you cut me open, I would bleed peanut butter.

Except now if you cut me I would just bleed blood.  Because that’s how it works.  But please don’t cut me. 

Why did I cut out things that were a major part of my diet?  It isn’t because I’m a masochist or a crazy person or following some weird anti-peanut butter, cashew, egg, coffee diet.  I cut them out because I’m working on having my best health and that means identifying things that might cause me problems.

When I first started eating better years ago, I experienced endless energy, glowing skin, better moods, and great digestion.  It was awesome and I loved it.  But I think I started to rely heavily on some foods and perhaps created some food intolerances.  For a while now I have been dealing with digestive upset, acne, and low energy. 

I looked to my food first and when I cleaned up some of my sugary indulgences (holidays happen ya’ll) and still had issues, I decided to do some elimination testing.  I’m also dealing with some medical things (nothing dire), but that will be a post for another day.

I’m telling you all this so you know why you might not see those things on the blog for awhile.  I’m still keeping them out of my diet for a little while and then I will reintroduce them one by one and see how I do.  I’m crossing my fingers that all goes well but if it doesn’t, I know that I can live without them.  I used to think that if I lost my daily peanut butter fix or couldn’t have an egg for breakfast I would be depressed, but that isn’t true.  I’m much more adaptable than I realized and that’s kind of an empowering feeling. 

So what does this have to do with Macadamia Chive Cream Cheese?  I wanted to recreate my Cashew Cream Cheese so I could enjoy it again.  Enter the macadamia nut.  It’s a little different than a cashew, but it works well in my dairy-free cream cheese.  I actually think it works a little better than my original recipe.  This cream cheese is spreadable, has the nice tang real cream cheese has, and hasn’t caused me any problems at all.

I call that a win.

Macadamia Chive Cream Cheese- serving size 2 tbsp (about 30-40 servings in the recipe) 

Calories: 35 Total Fat: 3.64g Carbs: .75g Fiber: .25g Protein: .35g

• 1 cup raw macadamia nuts
• 1/2 cup coconut cream*
• juice of one lemon
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 3 tbsp fresh chives, chopped

*I used Whole Food’s 365 brand of full-fat coconut milk.  Put it in the fridge overnight and drain off the liquid when you open it.  Use all the coconut cream leftover for the recipe.  You can also buy just coconut cream, but I find that it’s usually more expensive.*

1. Put the macadamia nuts and garlic in a food processor or blender.  Pulse a few times until the nuts and garlic are in coarse crumbs and mostly combined.
2. Add the coconut cream, lemon juice, and salt.  Blend well until everything is smooth.  The cream cheese will be a little runny at this point but it will firm up in the fridge.
3. Pour the cream cheese into a container and stir in the chives.  Taste and adjust salt and chives if needed.  Keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three weeks.