Welcome to this week's edition of ADSactly Food. This week we will be exploring the benefits of nuts, and in particular, almonds. I have prepared two recipes for you, both vegan, raw, sugar and dairy free.
Almonds are an amazing source of protein and are one of the best ways to get vitamin E into your body. A small handful provides 37% of the recommended daily intake of vitamin E. source. Vitamin E is important because it helps to beat cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer's disease. Almonds provide the body with energy, prevent heart disease and can even assist with weight loss.
Almonds are also full of protein which burns fat and can also increase your metabolism.
In my recipes this week, I fully utilize the magnificent power of the almond. These two recipes are super easy and they are good for you.
First up, is Almond Butter. Made from only almonds, this sure beats any shop bought version which may contain nasty hidden ingredients, and unwanted sugars.
🍃Almond Butter 🍃
Ingredients :
- 2 cups of almonds (that's it!)
Method:
Preheat the oven to 370'F/180'C and let it heat up. Place the almonds on the baking sheet, and roast for ten minutes. Be careful not to over roast the nuts. We are heating and roasting the nuts to coax out the miraculous oils, but roasting them too long will dry them out, and you will end up with almond cement, rather than butter!😋
Once done, place the almonds into the food processor, and blitz for ten to fifteen minutes. This is where you must have patience, as it does take some time. You will see the nuts turn to a crumble, then to fine dust, and finally, the magic natural oils will start to do their thing and turn the dust into a butter.
Scrape every last drop of this luscious butter into a jar, and store for later use on toast, in smoothies, in energy balls and wraps.
This will last for three weeks in the fridge.
Wondering what to do with your fabulous nut butter? There are so many recipes out there that use nut butter, but today I have chosen to show you how to make Vegan Almond, Pistachio and Sesame Seed Energy Balls. These little balls of energy are great as a snack in between meals, or a breakfast on the go. The roasted almond butter gives them a dark and nutty chocolatey flavour, and the pistachios coupled with the sesame seeds provide an unexpected crunch.
Here's How:
🌷Vegan Almond, Pistachio and Sesame Seed Energy Balls 🌷
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup almond butter
- 1/2 cup pistachios
- 1/2 cup sesame seeds
- 6 dates, pitted
- 2 t cranberries
- 1 T coconut oil
Method:
Once again, this is a super easy recipe, bursting with pure health and flavour
Add all the ingredients into a food processor, and blitz, until well blended. The pistachios should not be too chunky, rather blitzed until finely chopped.
Now you can begin to roll the balls. Measure out a heaped teaspoon of the mixture into your palm, and squeeze the mixture tightly, to compress and compact, and then roll between your palms to make a small ball.
Once complete, refrigerate for fifteen minutes before serving.
These little balls of goodness are perfect for when you are peckish, and are a fabulous accompaniment to coffee.
Thank you so much for reading along. I would love to hear some suggestions for recipe ideas in the comments.
