Is your mind blown yet?

I have been meaning to try my hand at making nut butters from scratch for so long now. Sure, I could have started with something simple like a honey roasted nut butter or simply salted, but I’ve been dreaming up nut butters for months without actually making them so I’ve kind of already skipped those first steps in my head.

I’ve had this container of red curry paste sitting in my fridge for several months now and it’s on the verge of reaching the end of its shelf life, so I’ve been racing to find uses for it before it’s too late.

I tried making a curry with it last week that ended up unblogworthy. I used to make curry at least once a week for dinner but just kind of fell out of the habit of it. I’ve been craving peanut noodles recently too and then it hit me, why not put the flavors of the sauce into the peanut butter itself?!

Here’s what I used:

• 2 cups unsalted roasted peanuts
• 1/4 cup desiccated coconut
• up to a half cup of coconut milk
• 2-3 tbsp. agave nectar
• up to 4 tsp. red curry paste (depending on how spicy you want it)
• pinch of salt

The nuts I bought said they were roasted but they tasted pretty raw to me, so I roasted them on a sheet pan for about 1o minutes at 375 degrees until I could see a bit of color on them. Those got obliterated in the food processor for a good 5 minutes. Then I added everything else and let it whir away for another few minutes.

I’m pretty sure that the blades on my old food processor are too dull to ever make a smooth and drippy nut butter, so I stopped after about 10 minutes when it became apparent that I wasn’t gonna get anything thinner than peanut pate.

I thought that would be disappointing but the texture is part of what makes it wonderful. It’s spreadable but still thick and creamy, like the texture of peanut butter frosting.

If your food processor will get it completely smooth though, go for it!

I was eating this on everything yesterday. I could not get enough of the full peanut flavor tinged with a fruity creeping heat and balanced with a subtle sweetness. Amazing!

I’m totally hooked on making crazy nut butters now.

Thai red curry coconut peanut butter

Home made peanut butter with the exotic flavors of Thai red curry and coconut.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Yield: about 2 and a half cups

Ingredients

• 2 cups roasted unsalted peanuts
• 1/4 cup desiccated coconut
• up to a 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 2 to 3 tbsp. agave nectar
• up to 4 tsp. red curry paste (adjust for spice tolerance)
• a pinch of salt

Cooking Directions

1. Grind peanuts in food processor until smooth (about 10 minutes.)
2. Add other ingredients and pulse to combine.

Help me out: What’s the most interesting nut butter flavor you can come up with? If I see one that I think I could create I’ll make it!

March 31, 2011 Alayna Discussion, Recipes 6 comments

Hey bloggers: Do you ever go days at a time where nothing blog-worthy happens to you?

I do.

It’s so rainy and gross this week that I’ve been mostly in my house endlessly washing and folding clothes, washing and putting away dishes, making the bed after sleeping in the bed. You know, exciting stuff like that.

I did get around to testing out some new recipes though….only to have one of them fail utterly…twice.

I’ve seen socca crackers all over the blog world lately and I thought I’d be really clever and make a Japanese version because I just can’t help myself.

I used soba (buckwheat) flour instead of chickpea flour and topped it with toasted sesame seeds and nori seaweed flakes.

I baked it and cut it up into cute little crackers and was so proud of it…

They turned out perfect in every way except for one thing….they tasted terrible. Seriously, I had to throw them all out.

I don’t know how to explain it. Nothing went wrong, they just tasted like sesame cardboard.

So, I figured it must be the soba flour and decided to try again with the more traditional chickpea flour.

::Sigh::

Edible this time, but still not very enjoyable. Dangit!

I’m not even going to post the recipe for either of these until I work on it some more. I did, however, create one mind-blowing recipe this week that I’ll share with you tomorrow. I’m so proud of it.

Have you ever had a double recipe flop?

March 30, 2011 Alayna Discussion 5 comments

35:45!

I did it again. I beat my previous time of 37:38!

I am so proud of how it all went down today. Here’s the details…

I got up before Jeff this morning and did some quick rinsing off in the shower before grabbing breakfast and chugging a bottle of water. Jeff joined me shortly thereafter and we got ready at a leisurely pace.

The original plan was to walk to the starting line from home today, but because we had rain in the forecast, we decided to drive instead. Because we were planning to drive instead of walk, I figured we could leave at ten til 9 and be there by 9am, just enough time to grab my race number and line up for the start at 9:15. Well…I forgot that there was a “tot trot” type race going on before the 5k for Moms with strollers and young children, so the roads we were planning to take were blocked off already. We could not figure out where to park so Jeff ended up dropping me off behind the high school just after 9am while he went to look for parking.

The email I got for the event said to meet in the football stadium, but after sorting through the crowds and asking around, no one seemed to know where packet pick-up was, I guess they all got theirs the day before like I meant to. I finally found it inside the school lobby and got my number just in time.

As we lined up for the race I still didn’t see Jeff anywhere. It was probably 10 minutes before he made it to where I was at the starting line.

I pawned off my jacket on him and wiggled into the group somewhere in the middle.

Not a minute after I got in line, the race was on!

Most of the hills in this course were in the first mile, and I told myself that if I thought I needed to that I could allow myself to walk those first hills so as not to wear myself out too early. I was feelin’ good though so I trudged right up them with little extra effort.

I still haven’t been able to run a solid no-walking 5k distance in training runs yet, my lungs don’t seem to be getting stronger as fast as my legs are, but today I nearly ran the entire thing! I stopped for water only to find out they were out, and I walked up part of the very last hill so that I would have the energy to sprint to the finish, but that was really it!

The soft bouncy astroturf of the high school football stadium felt so good as I bolted to the finish line. I flashed Jeff a peace sign as I passed him!

I wasn’t nearly as tired after this race as I was for my first 5k. I sure was hungry though!

Decatur’s outdoor farmer’s market was set up near by so we stopped in for the second half of our breakfasts for today. There is an awesome stand with fresh pastries and coffee that we stopped at.

I got a baked donut with salted caramel frosting, and Jeff grabbed a sausage biscuit. Both were spectacular!

Jeff is making his classic “why are you taking a picture of me?” face.

Anyway, we made the walk back to the car which Jeff had to park pretty far away. The clouds were getting darker and darker and the thunder was starting to make a fuss. As soon as we got home the rain started coming down, that was my cue to take a nap! I crashed out for an hour or so with Jeff on his computer at the end of the couch and both kittens snorgling my butt. It was pure heaven.

All I wanted for lunch was eggs. I made avocado toast with a fried egg on top and ate it with some tomato soup.

Mmmmm….just what I needed.

The rest of the day will be spent in my pajamas, I’ve earned it!

March 26, 2011 Alayna Discussion, Fitness 14 comments