Homemade Multi Nut Butter

Are you tired of the same ol' Peanut Butter, but don't really like the upgrade in cost to Almond or Cashew Butter? Well, AnyMonkeyCan make their own! This really is pretty simple if you have a Food Processor.

1/4 c Walnuts
1/4 c Cashews
1/4 c Natural Almonds
1/4 c Roasted & Salted Almonds
(Optional) Salt to taste
(Optional) Cinnamon or Honey or Maple Syrup etc. to taste

1. Turn on the Food Processor and slowly add ALL the Almonds down the Chute
2. As the FP continues to run, add the remaining nuts
3. The FP may need to run 10 min, but eventually you will get a consistency of Peanut Butter
4. Occasionally you may need to stop the FP & use a spatula to scrape the nuts from the edges
5. When the nuts begin to thicken add in the Optional ingredients

Tips:
I think Whole Almonds work better than Sliced Almonds. Maybe the Slicing dries them out a bit.

Also, Be creative in what you use. I think I'll try roasted Pumpkin Seeds next.

Don't overload your FP. Err on the low side at first.

Enjoy Your Homemade Butter!

Chef Point Cafe

I have wanted to eat at "Chef Point Cafe" for some time now. The problem? It is up in Watauga. That's not too far, but traffic can be brutal near that part of 820. Well, today was going to be the day! It's a Saturday, It's about 130 PM, It's been raining. Off we go up I35 in light traffic. There is a long back up on I35 SB. Mental Note: Back roads coming home. Everything was rolling well until we started east on North loop 820. Bam! A wall of traffic. No problem, we were only slightly hungry and knew the goal was near. We'll just exit early and hit the surface streets. We can do it! Until we saw the flashing red stop light WAAAYYYY up ahead on the service road. We had to be about 30-40 cars deep and it was barely moving. Our spirits were crushed and the mission was aborted and we headed to our Favorite Thai Restaurant. A good consolation prize, but we felt so close to a "Chef Point Cafe" experience!

Hummus "Foxymorons style"

Hummus is becoming quite the rage. Fresh, homemade hummus is a breeze to make. Today, this monkey will tell how to do it! I'll start with a basic recipe from the "Joy of Cooking" cook book, but you could really trick up your hummus however you want. If you have the time, use dried chickpeas and soak'em and boil'em. You probably will end up with excess that can be used in salads, pasta dishes, etc. Otherwise...



16 oz can of chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans)
1/3 c fresh lemon juice
3 T tahini
2 cloves of peeled garlic
Salt to taste
Food Processor
Paprika (optional)
Olive Oil
Parsley - finely chopped (optional)

1. Place peeled garlic into food processor and mince
2. Add chickpeas, lemon juice, tahini, and salt into food processor and puree until smooth adding 2-3T water (or cooking liquid if you boiled your own chick peas) at a time as needed to create a smooth, creamy dip.
3. Drizzle top of dip with Olive Oil
4. Sprinkle top of dip with the Parsley and a dusting of the Paprika
5. Eat with pita bread or crackers or vegetables or on a sandwich

As always, I encourage the use of fresh ingredients (garlic, lemon juice, chickpeas, parsley, etc.)

The above picture is a Hatch chile pepper (mild) Hummus. I added about 1/4 c of chopped peppers in step number 1. A Sweet potato or Roasted Red Pepper hummus version is always good. Try the basic recipe above and then be creative.

There you go, this really is a monkey friendly recipe that will easily impress!