Recipe #2 - Nut (Almond & Cashew) Butter

I ended up trying the Coconut Flax bread recipe again yesterday and adding more liquid. The result was a significantly more edible bread. I will probably wait a bit to post the recipe because I'm still going to work with it a bit.

In the meantime I decided that instead of putting regular butter on the bread (instead of Country Crock) I should probably make some different nut butter to use as a spread. I found a recipe online, and it was so easy, I was sure that I could not screw this up...

The first thing that you need are unsalted, roasted nuts. I was able to easily find raw, unsalted nuts, so I had to roast them myself. The nuts I chose were almonds and cashews.

Raw Almonds

Raw Cashews

To roast the nuts, preheat your oven to 375F and bake for 4 minutes, give a little stir and bake for 4 more minutes. Be careful not to let the nuts burn. The roasting time can vary depending on the moisture that was already in the nuts, so keep that in mind, and keep an eye on your nuts.

Roasted Almonds

Roasted Cashews

The next step is to let the nuts cool. I found that leaving them on the baking sheet on the kitchen table under the ceiling fan worked well to get them cooled quickly.

Once your nuts have cooled, the online recipe I found said to process them in your food processor, and add a little oil as necessary to get a creamy texture for the butter.

Either the internet lied, or I have a crap food processor. I kept grinding the roasted nuts, but all I got was nut powder. I ended up adding olive oil to the very granulated nut powder so that it would start to form the butter.

Cashew Butter

The cashew butter turned out better than the almond butter, but both have a very grainy texture. There is one redeeming quality though, the flavor is excellent. I have both in jars in my fridge waiting to be spread on something, probably the paleo pancakes that I'm going to try to make tomorrow.

Overall I would call this a 55% success. The thing it let me know is that I definitely need a good blender to make some of these paleo recipes, and I can't think of a better one then the Blendtec. I want that for my Christmas Present.

Of course if I do get the Blendtec, then I will have to make sure that my husband doesn't do something like this:

This is how the cashew butter turned out.

Recipe #1 - Paleo Bread (Coconut Flour and Flax)

My first attempt at Paleo cooking is to make some bread. I searched the internet for a bread recipe and quickly found that most of the recipes contained almond flour. Since the hubby has a 'sensitivity' to tree nuts, I looked for an alternative to almond flour, and found a recipe that used coconut flour and flax instead.

The reviews for the recipe were all very positive.

I think that I did something wrong.

The only thing I did differently is using flax meal instead of 'flax seeds, ground'. The recipe said that the 'batter will be thick" and that you should 'pour' the batter into the loaf pan. I found that the batter being thick was an understatement as the dough landed with a solid THUNK into the pan.

I patted the 'batter' out as best as I could, although it was thicker than any peanut butter cookie dough that I have ever seen.

I baked the bread, and the result was a dense loaf that looked just like what I had put into the oven, only dry.

I was going to wait until tomorrow to try the bread, but my husband encouraged me to try a slice, so I decided what the heck I should probably taste it.

One of the premises of Paleo cooking is that you don't use processed foods or dairy. If you had to put a spread on the bread, it could be some cashew butter, or at the very least real butter. What did my husband get out of the fridge? Country Crock... Since he was so excited to try this paleo bread, I let him take the first bite (sans any spread). He chewed and chewed and chewed, then he made some sound that indicated to me that his mouth was very dry, so he washed his paleo bread down with some Diet Coke and then put the country crock on the rest of his piece and choked it down. He is so supportive.

I took a bite sans spread with much the same result as my husband had, although I had the foresight to get a very tall glass of water to wash it down with. Then I put the country crock on my bread and choked it down.

Once my husband was able to speak again, he asked me if this was a recipe for lembas bread and if one bite of this could sustain a man for a week. I gave him a dirty look. Did I mention that I have a very supportive husband?

Then I cut a slice and broke it into 3 and gave a piece to each of our three dogs. They scarfed it down and they had tails wagging for more. I guess that this recipe is slightly moister than a dog biscuit. My first paleo bread is now in the fridge and will be used as dog treats and I will keep searching for a new recipe.

The Beginning...

I'm going to lay this out right now...

- I love carbohydrates.

- I love Starbucks (I have a Starbucks budget).

- I love chocolate, candy and cake.

- I love comfort foods.

- I eat when I'm stressed.

Now that those important things have been said, I am going to try to switch to a 'Paleo' Lifestyle.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the Paleo phenomenon going on the premise of the diet is fairly simple. You can eat meat, poultry, fish, fresh fruits and vegetables, some tree nuts and healthy fats. You should avoid dairy, grains (corn is considered a grain), legumes (all forms of beans and peanuts), starchy foods (white potatoes) and alcohol. Basically if a cave man could chuck a spear at it or find it growing as they traveled, you can eat it.

So with what I said above about being a carbohydrate lover and all that you may be asking "why is she going to make the switch?"

The answer is simple. I'm tired of feeling like crap all of the time. I should add to this that I have been experimenting with my diet over the past 6 months. Sometimes I take out carbohydrates and sometimes I eat more fresh fruits and vegetables. Sometimes I cut out processed foods, and other times I mow down on the unhealthiest stuff I can find. For instance ramen noodles, they are basically no better for your body than eating cardboard with sodium and a little beef or chicken flavor, and I absolutely love them. If I want to stop feeling like crap, I have to make a change. I have found that I feel the best when I have a diet with low processed foods, and high in foods that are close to their natural state. Paleo may not be perfect for me, but I'm going to give it a try.