Foodie Resolution Week #9 of 52: Peanut Butter

How is it possible that we're nearly 20% done with this year? Crazy.

My creations for this foodie resolution project have been a little simplistic and I fully intend to step things up after we get back from our vacation to St. Kitts. I do cook a lot and make a lot of my own recipes, but none of them are recipes I planned to make from pinterest... which was the whole point of these posts. This weekend I did make veggie enchiladas using a bunch of veggies/ingredients I had on hand: carrots, potato, bell pepper, jalapeno, green chilies, chipotle peppers in adobo, mushrooms, olives, 1/2 cup of sprouted pinto beans, corn tortillas, store-bought enchilada sauce, and cheddar cheese served with lime rice, homemade salsa & homemade guacamole. And last night, butternut squash ravioli... I'll blog about that next week.

This week is just another 1-ingredient recipe. Simple, but man have we been eating some delish peanut butter this week. Benjamin's first taste of peanut butter ever was from this batch... and the whole batch was about $1.99, yielding about 2 cups of butter! B has been eating peanut butter everyday since and has loved it. Just after whipping up this batch, I made my favorite peanut-lime pasta with veggies for dinner. I make this a few times a month with whatever veggies I have on hand and love it every time. If you make it, double the water... otherwise the sauce is too thick.

Now onto the peanut butter.

I used lightly salted dry roasted peanuts and roasted them again for about 12 minutes at 350 degrees. They didn't change color much, but I could tell they roasted just by scent. Similar to the almonds, they were poured into the Blendtec blender, started on speed 1 for about 45 seconds, then speed 5 in intervals until they were smooth to my standards. If you have a good food processor, it's worth a shot in there if you don't own a Blendtec or Vitamix. And if it doesn't work? Add the grounds into cookies or some of those popular no-bake energy bites (still on my list) my friend Caroline likes to make. Nothing will be wasted.

I don't know if any of you watch Shark Tank, but last Friday they featured a peanut butter company that adds extras into their butters, like flaxseed for extra protein. I'm thinking of adding that to my next batch so Benjamin can have even more protein packed in this superfood. Anyone ever made a fun combination with nut butters? I'm a little hesitant to get too crazy because I feel peanut butter is one of the most perfect foods on the planet. But, I might be a little adventurous if there's a good combo out there I've never tried!

Also, I just went down to the basement and took photos. Now it's just to organize them and figure out how to write the post. A few days and it's coming.