Homemade Roasted Cashew Butter

I love nut butters, love them! Cashew butter is great but it's best roasted, and most of them at the store are raw, what's the deal? Same with almond butter, roasted and salted is oh so much better! 

The good stuff will set you back a pretty penny, that's for sure. The last jar of cashew butter I bought was $14.00. And, these days you cannot even trust anyone who makes it! Have you heard about the Sunland peanut butter recall? Sunland makes several different brands of peanut butter, in fact, I was eating one of the recalled butters! The latest report suggests that they even knew that they were shipping tainted products! 

Sundland manufactured many different brands and products, not just nut butters, in fact, here is a list of over 100 products that they had to recall.  I was ill from it myself, for two weeks I was not feeling up to my usual perky self, (I won't go into details, use your imagination here) but things just weren't right. I would eat a tablespoon of peanut butter every few days in a shake, and it was one of the recalled ones! It was the Trader Joe's Valencia Peanuts with Flax Seeds. 

David came home from shopping one day back in September and casually said "no peanut butter. They recalled yours" and left it at that. I ran to check the open container in the fridge and it was one of the bad ones....I started to feel better shortly after chucking it in the trash can.

I digress. I was chatting with my friend Ada Chan on Facebook and she said she made her own peanut butter, so I thought I would make my own cashew butter. Do you recall that I bought a Vitamix from the auction when Dave Draper's old gym in Santa Cruz closed? I have the espresso machine and grinder too, a veritable espresso and smoothie bar right in my own kitchen! I will flex when I make it for you too if you ask!

I got the roasted and salted nuts at Trader Joe's (hoping they were not tainted). I am sure you can get them cheaper at Costco, but I'm not a member there. Into my Vitamix they went, with nothing else. 

I followed the directions, turned on variable speed with the tamper in the center, then up to high speed and listened for the change in the sounds. From a low chug chug to a high speed whir, immediately turn it off or the machine could over heat.

Here is a short video of some unknown male making honey roasted peanut butter, but you can see how the tamper works, it's indispensable for this. 

Here is my finished cashew nut butter! I made a lot, I am bringing some to Roy on Wednesday, he loves roasted nut butters too. David is very good about trying everything I make but nut butters just don't thrill him like they do me and Roy.

Yum, yum! Gotta lick the tamper! Don't worry- I thoroughly washed it afterward. 

Oh, then I went down to Body Exotic and got my nose pierced. It was a day off and seemed like a good time to do it! Thank goodness Daniel was there, he did the last three (I did the other three myself) and I feel more comfortable with him. We had a good chuckle as we chatted about which jewelry to select and the pros and cons of each. I got the most expensive item they sold, but it's also the best, set in prongs, designed small and flush and it's secured inside, I cannot remove it or lose it, I have to go have Daniel take it out if I need to remove it.

Back home and here is one jar of roasted cashew nut butter. Next I am making roasted almond butter. And maybe some macadamia, I have several cans of roasted and salted ones that were given to me as a gift.

I just need to make sure I ration it out!

Belly Ring

I have a pierced navel, and actually I see many women who compete with piercings and tattoos. I have no tattoos, unless you count the small gray dot on my right butt cheek where my little sister stabbed me with a pencil when we were kids. At least my husband says it's still there, I take his word for it.

I have several piercings, my ears I pierced myself (sick, sick, sick, I know), the first two (one on each side) were with a self piercing hoop- I doubt they sell those nasty monsters any longer! You pry them open, snap 'em on and "gently" squeeze a couple times a day. In two weeks voila, pierced ears!


I guess I was a bit impatient and mine were pierced in two, painful days.


Then I decided to do a third hole in one ear, so that I did with a needle and a potato when I was a kid, about 12 years old I think. Dumb idea. That's how my athletic career really started, as soon as I got that needle jammed in there I ran and ran and ran around the neighborhood until I fell on the floor exhausted and pretty much forgot about the pain. I think all three ear piercings are somewhat crooked.  You cannot really tell unless I wear a nice dangly earring and I usually wear plain diamond posts my mother gave me before she died.

Fast forward many years and I am a grown woman. I decide to get a couple of piercings, done by a professional. As usual, I do my research and decide on Body Exotic on San Carlos Street and even chose my artist, I needed one who specialized in what I wanted.

If you have your ears pierced you probably went to a kiosk in the mall and they used a piercing gun, it was fast and almost painless. Well this is not how a piercing  artist pierces anything. They use clamps and metal rods.

Enough said there. My husband was in the waiting room with a  friend of mine, they heard me wail in pain, and it went on for eternity. It was worse than childbirth I think. Daniel asked if I was OK, and I just looked at him and said I was fine, there was no turning back, he best get on with the other one so I can go have a drink. He nodded and advised against any alcohol afterward. Great.

David said he just looked at my friend and wondered if he should go check on me, he knew that I still had another piercing left. I guess the sudden quiet changed his mind and then I started in again.

Many years later, I decide to go get my navel pierced, and saw Daniel again. He started to explain how it could be painful and I stopped him telling him that nothing could be as painful as what I have already endured, go on and get it done.

I have a favorite ring I wear in my navel, it is a sterling silver dumbbell, on a cubic zirconia crystal ring. Just like everything else in my life, it has a great story.

I got my original from Frances Frost of GymGems she makes beautiful jewelry for weight training enthusiasts and marathoners.  Here is a close up of my belly ring.

I purchased one without the crystals about three years ago, and one day I lost it! I emailed Fran and she said that the unique TummyToy clasp prevents that, it must have gotten damaged. She would give me half off a new one, and I may be interested in the new one with crystals.

Yes, I loved it and ordered one, you can see me wearing it in all my pictures. 

Recently two of the crystals came out and I purchased more to fix it, but they were too big. I emailed Fran and she contacted Melissa Tyler, owner of TummyToys, maker of the ring portion of my belly ring.

Melissa said she would fix it if I sent it to her. I packaged it up and sent it off. Just a couple days later I got a call from Melissa, she said "well this ring certainly has seen a lot of love!"..I laughed and explained that I wear it everyday, and I am on my stomach on a weight bench a lot.

She said the ring was crushed, she really couldn't repair it but she would give me credit for the old one, rebuild my jewelry, clean it all up and send it back. For a mere $22.00.

What a deal! I told her that was more than generous and I of course wanted her to take care of it immediately. I paid over PayPal and got my new belly ring back the next week.

Both of these wonderful women stand behind their jewelry and I encourage you to go to their sites, select something and wear it proudly.

And if you are ever in San Jose, California and want a body piercing, make an appointment to see Daniel at Body Exotic, he does great work!