Vanilla-Cinnamon Almond Butter
Homemade nut butters are so easy and you can flavor them however you like! I love making my own food, even almond butter, because then I know EXACTLY what goes into it (yes, sometimes I’m even skeptical of the organic, raw labels in grocery stores). This recipe adds a little sweetness to almond butter to make it the perfect treat (or, ya know, part of your daily meal plan 😉 ).
I’ll be posting a full LDI update in the upcoming weeks so be on the lookout for that. In the meantime things have been a bit up and down. I had about 3 VERY rough weeks both physically and emotionally. I hadn’t changed anything treatment wise so I don’t know if it was the weather, a flare, or some weird moon cycle but I felt absolutely miserable. I was in horrible pain on many days (widespread body pain which I really never deal with), severe headaches (which I’m still dealing with), horrible cravings for non-lyme diet approved foods (that, yes, I gave into and we all know that didn’t help my symptoms), and pretty bad anxiety and depression. I’m not afraid to admit it, I deal with some pretty bad mood swings associated with Lyme and any little thing can set me off sometimes (I don’t even mean to go off!)… does anyone else deal with this? I also go in and out of a depression and generally deal with bad anxiety 24/7 (that one is just part of my personality!) but this past month was some of the worst it has been in the last 6 months. Hoping the worst has passed for now and I do get to see my doctor in two weeks.
Anyway, on to the good stuff.
Vanilla-Cinnamon Almond Butter
Ingredients:
3 cups organic, raw sprouted almonds (this is what I used but you can use roasted or raw or whatever works for you)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/8-1/4 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt
Place the almonds into a food processor and turn it on. Let it run (it will be VERY loud at first) until the almonds are broken down. Before it becomes creamy, it will form this ball that just whirls around inside the processor, but don’t worry that will pass! As soon as the ball passes and it starts to become creamy, pause the processor and add in the vanilla, salt, and cinnamon. Continue to process until nice and smooth and it looks like the below picture.
Scoop out and store in a glass container… or do it the right way and eat spoonfuls of it straight out of the food processor praying that there will be some left for tomorrow. Yes, I have an almond butter addiction. We don’t need to discuss it.