Homemade Almond Butter

A couple weeks ago I made homemade cashew butter, today it's almond butter. I should have started with peanut butter as the ingredients are the least expensive!  I have learned quite a bit and still have some experimentation to do, but it's fun.

The jar above is for Roy, I THINK he likes eating my experiments, at least he never complains. David and Cooper are not into nut butters much, so they barely tried this one for me.

I started out with roasted, unsalted almonds from Whole Foods and salt. I wanted salt as the nut butters I like are all roasted and have salt. No oil!!! 

Something I learned from the cashew butter is make it in batches, using 3 cups of nuts at a time, otherwise it's too much for the Vitamix to handle and you risk overheating the motor.

3 cups of nuts in the Vitamix and I added 2 teaspoons of salt (this turned out to be too much). I used the tamper from the start and turned the Vitamix on, then moved the dial immediately to 10 and then the power over-ride and just kept tamping it all down until it was smooth.

As I said, it was too much salt so I made another batch with no salt, then I mixed them both together by hand in a bowl. I ended up using 6 cups almonds and 2 teaspoons salt, I think I would cut the salt in half next time.

The finished product! I think next time I would make it this way: 3 cups roasted almonds and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Then if I wanted more, I could mix it in by hand. 

Almond butter is very expensive, and the roasted almonds are not a great expense. It took me longer to clean the mixer out than it did to make it all, so I will definitely be making my own from now on. 

A hint for cleaning out the mixer, just add hot water and dish soap then turn the mixer on high and it will clean itself, just rinse it well.

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!

VitaMix

I make a smoothie almost everyday, it is my usual post training meal. I use 1 1/2 scoops whey protein, glutamine, BCAA's, creatine and a very small frozen banana (along with ice and water). 

I have cursed my regular blender for ages, it did the job but took forever and made a mess. I researched and decided I needed a Vitamix. It made sense, they are the best and can be used for many other things, but the cost was way too much. I mean $500.00? seriously folks, that's a lot of smoothies!

I looked on Ebay, I looked on Craigslist, nothing. 

Then the auction, remember - the gym in Santa Cruz that closed? I got the VitaMix! Many experts will say the best meal to ingest immediately post training is easily absorbed protein (whey) and fast acting carbs (the banana). I add the other things as these are regular supplements I take pre and post training.

I am struggling with the lid, it certainly seals well. David says "use those muscles!" This is my inaugural smoothie, David said to drink it straight out of the container. "Chug, Chug, Chug, Chug!"

I'm happy, this will make life so much easier. I no longer need to pick little red pieces of plastic out of my drink. Oh, I didn't mention that?  See, the ice and frozen banana kept getting stuck, so I would push them down with my spatula, and it would get stuck in the blade and every week it would look more and more cut up.

This even has a mark with permanent marker from Dave Draper's place! I know just where to fill it up with ice and water now. 

If you ever get a chance to get one of these at an auction, garage sale, estate sale, or you just happen to have an extra $500.00 burning a hole in your pocket, I would highly recommend buying one!