Honey Roasted Almond Butter

April 3, 2015April 3, 2015 / ktbuchs87

You guys. This almond butter. When I found out that I would have access to a Vitamix for a few days the first thing I knew that I wanted to make was some kind of nut butter. I am a nut/seed butter junkie and I have some form of it everyday. The down side to this addiction is that it can get a little pricey. For some reason people seem to think that you need to add a bunch of ingredients to nut butter when in reality all you need is nuts and a little salt. You would think that the versions with less ingredients would in turn cost less but alas they are more expensive. Now I can still find peanut butter and almond butter for a decent price, but I can’t indulge in all the other awesome nut and seed butters out there unless there is a big sale.

It a lot more cost-effective to make your own nut butter, but I sadly do not have the proper equipment to do this. I tried once to do it with my food processor and I’m pretty sure I almost blew it up. That wasn’t the case with the Vitamix. In less than five minutes I had wonderfully creamy almond butter. It was magical.

I didn’t want to just do a regular nut butter for you today, I wanted to make it a little special. Celebrate high-powered blenders, ya know? So with just a few easy steps you can have this tasty honey (or maple) roasted almond butter to put on everything. And if you’re like me, you WILL put it on everything. Toast, oatmeal, celery, spoons, fingers…. Anywho, onto the recipe!

Honey Roasted Almond Butter

2 cups raw almonds
1/3 cup honey or maple syrup to make vegan
sea salt

1. Pre-heat oven to 375. Place almonds in a large bowl. In a small saucepan over medium heat, warm the honey or maple syrup for a few minutes. Constantly stir and make sure that you don’t let it boil. You just want to heat it up to a nice pourable consistency.

2. Pour honey/maple syrup over your almonds and stir to coat. On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, spread out the almonds into an even layer. Sprinkle with a little sea salt and place into the oven.

3. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove and shake the almonds a little to move around and place back in the oven for 5 to 10 minutes. Make sure you watch the almonds carefully so they don’t burn. You want them to be a nice golden brown not black.

4. Once done remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes. Once cooled, place all the almonds into your blender or food processor. Depending on the kind of blender you have this could take a few minutes and you might have to stop and scrape down the sides a few times. Just be patient and soon you’ll have a smooth and creamy nut butter.

That’s it! A few simple ingredients, a few easy steps, and you have yourself a nice treat! Make sure you store it in an airtight container and it should last you a week if kept in the fridge. Now go find things to eat with your almond butter. Remember fingers work just as well!

Weekend Fun and “Country” Livin

April 1, 2015 / ktbuchs87

Whew! What a difference a good night’s sleep makes! Monday I felt like I was a zombie. I told Adam that it felt like I had never adulted before. Yup, grammar went out the window after running on like 5 hours of sleep. But it was such a good weekend that lack of sleep was quite alright. Let’s get to this past weekend shall we?

Adam’s mom and stepdad came into Chicago for the weekend. They hadn’t seen our apartment yet and they wanted to spend some time with us in the city. On Saturday we met them downtown and took them to the Maggie Daley Park and Millenium Park so they could see the bean.

We then walked down to Columbia College to look at a photography exhibit featuring photos from local high school students. I love looking at photography mostly because I wish I could take pictures as well as some of those artists! I’ll just keep practicing. We then hopped on the red line for a quick trip to Chinatown so Adam’s mom could get some green tea.

Then we took them to Eataly. I love Eataly and like taking people there so they can see the awesomeness. If you don’t know what Eataly is, then come to Chicago and I will take you there! It is a store/grocery store/restaurants/gelato/beer/nutella bar that was started by an Italian business man, Oscar Farinetti, and is more popularly owned in New York by chef Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich. It’s kind of like a grocery store with tasting tables. Each part of the store is broken up into sections like cheese, meat, fish, pasta, bread, etc. At each spot you can by those things but also order food to eat from those sections. After walking around the boys got some sandwiches and declared them the best turkey sandwiches they had eaten. Eataly was definitely a hit because food is awesome.

We then headed over to Old Town because we were going to a show at Second City and we wanted to take them to our spice shop before hand. The Spice House is another place that I love and I have talked about them before. We heard about them a few years ago on Alton Brown’s podcast and that is now where I go to get the majority of our spices. Karyn had a hard time picking out which spices she wanted to buy but managed to find a handful she wanted, and now I get to bring her both fresh bread from Eataly and spices when I go visit!

After a brief rest at Starbucks we headed to the theater and saw the Best of Second City. It was a great show and this improv troupe were on top of their game. Anyone who can write a jazz song about a stethoscope on the fly gets major points in my book. After the show we went to the Italian restaurant, Topo Gigio, for dinner. Again the food won the day and everyone loved their meals. I had a really good salad with walnuts, raisins, olives, cucumbers, and tomatoes. It was drizzled lightly with olive oil and was delightful. After dinner everyone went home to rest after our big day.

A rare picture where I look like a weirdo and Adam is normal. Ok not so rare.

Sunday we took them to one of our favorite local breakfast places, Ann Sathers Bakery. Surprise, surprise they loved it. It really is true, people who like food are the best people. Later that day Adam and the rest of them were going to go see Blue Man Group, but I was off to Sycamore.

My view for the next few weeks

That’s right, I’m coming to you from our former home town these next few weeks. I’m currently house/dog sitting for the family I used to nanny for while they are on vacation. It’s kind of nice being back out here and going to all the places I used to go when we lived here. Plus I get to play in a HUGE kitchen and I get to use their Vitamix.

My buddy here in Sycamore

Yes people, I get to pretend I have a fancy high powered blender for the next two weeks. It really doesn’t take much to get me excited. Just a $500 blender.

Do you see the clouds parting and hear the angels singing? I do.

So that was my weekend. It was fun and awesome and I’m glad I’m back into a semi normal routine! I will be bringing you some awesome new spring recipes plus whatever I decide to blend in the Vitamix, which let’s be real is going to be everything.

Have a great Wednesday and I’ll see you Friday!

A Few Tidbits

March 30, 2015 / ktbuchs87

This weekend has been an awesome whirlwind. Adam’s parents came into town and we spent the weekend with them giving them a little taste of Chicago. It was great.

I’m also coming to you from a “remote” location for the next few weeks. No, I’m not on some wonderfully tropical island sipping mai tai’s, but I am enjoying a massive kitchen so it’s pretty much the same thing.

This post has been super short on purpose. I have been awake since 1 am this morning and I don’t think that I will be nearly as productive today as I had hoped. Oh well, sometimes you just have to give in to multiple naps. I’m cool with that.

I will fill you in on all the details of my weekend and what’s going on these next few days in my Wednesday post. For now I will leave you with these funny memes and go sleep for a few hours…..

Chocolate Macadamia Milk

March 27, 2015March 27, 2015 / ktbuchs87

Who doesn’t like chocolate milk? It’s chocolate that you can drink! When I was younger, we had a glass of milk with every meal but chocolate milk was a special treat. We didn’t buy it often and when my mom did let us have it she would mix it with regular milk to make it last longer and cut down on the amount of sugar we were consuming. Pretty sneaky mom!

I haven’t had regular chocolate milk in years due to my lactose intolerance and the fact that there really is a lot of sugar in those drinks. But I had a hankering the other day and I decided to try my hand at making a nut milk version. Now I will say that I don’t have a fancy high powered blender like the Vitamix or Blendtec but I was still able to make a decent nut milk with my old Ninja blender. So those of you who are lucky enough to possess those amazing blenders this will be a breeze for you and to those of you like me it will just take a little extra time.

You will have to soak the nuts for at least 6 hours so make sure that you plan ahead a little. Otherwise this recipe comes together fairly quickly and will last for about a week if kept in the fridge. Let’s get to that chocolate milk!

Chocolate Macadamia Milk

1 cup raw macadamia nuts
3 1/2 cups water
2-3 tbsp honey or maple syrup (could also use 5-6 dates)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
4 oz dark chocolate (at least 70% or darker)
cheese cloth or nut milk bag

1. Soak the nuts for at least 6 hours. Drain them and place into blender and pulse a few times to break up the nuts.

2. Add in water, sweetener of choice, vanilla, and salt. Blend everything until it is smooth and creamy. High powered blenders will take less time, regular blenders will take a bit longer.

3. Place cheesecloth/nut milk bag over a large bowl and pour nut milk into the bowl. Carefully squeeze out all of the liquid until you just have pulp left in the cloth or bag. (Save the pulp to use in baking/cracker/smoothies/or as bread crumbs) Pour the milk into a medium saucepan.

4. Turn heat to medium low and add the dark chocolate to your milk. Constantly stirring the milk, melt the chocolate completely. It may look like the chocolate isn’t going to incorporate into the milk, but don’t worry. Just make sure there are no huge chunks left.

5. Once everything is melted, using either an immersion blender or blender, blend until the chocolate is fully combined. Your milk should turn brown like regular chocolate milk and there shouldn’t be any pieces left.

6. Pour your milk into a container and let it cool completely. Store in the fridge and it should keep for up to 5 days.

I love how thick and creamy this milk turned out and it really hit the spot. You could use this to dunk cookies or pour over cereal for an extra treat. You can also play with the amount of sweetener you use to fit your taste. I used the lower end because I didn’t want it super sweet but you can use more if you wanted.

I hope you have a great weekend and I will see you back on Monday!

Keep It Simple Series: A Brief Announcement

March 25, 2015March 25, 2015 / ktbuchs87

Just a very quick video for you guys today with a quick announcement about this video series.

So please give me your feedback on these videos and let me know what you would like to see next. I want to continue to grow this blog and bring you the content you want and need to be healthier and happier!

Have a great Wednesday and I will see you Friday with a brand new recipe!