From the Weekend

Happy Monday, all.

I thought about doing a post on Saturday, but just got busy. I was at my mom's to use her food processor to make this almond butter recipe that I found on Delighted Momma (The recipe calls for a little unsweetened coconut but I couldn't find unsweetened anywhere. The sweetened worked fine and you can't even taste the coconut.). It looked so easy, I knew I had to try it. Plus, it was good timing. I needed to go grocery shopping so I just picked up some extra almonds at Aldi's.

It turned out REALLY good! J could not keep his finger out of it. He told me to hide it from him as he scooped out more and slathered it on his animal cracker. We may start making that instead of buying regular peanut butter although I may have to figure out something to use besides a food processor. Maybe grind the almonds up pretty fine in a coffee grinder, then use the blender? We'll see.

I made the almond butter in part because I wanted to use it in this recipe for paleo brownies (actually originating from here). They're really good, but they taste more like a cross between gingerbread and zucchini bread. I wouldn't have called them brownies, although they can give you a healthier chocolate fix than, say, eating an entire hershey bar. Ahem. Next time, I think I might cut back on the allspice and the zucchini. I'd add more chocolate chips (I put in the exact amount for once and mine weren't as....chocolate looking as the pic) but then it would be less healthy (I did grab organic chocolate though....that counts as healthier, right?).

Finally, I attempted some sweet potato chips. Attempted is the key word there. I bought a mandolin that had three different types of blades. Plus, the entire thing was red, which affected my purchasing decision. It took me a couple tries to get the right thickness I needed. Slapped them on a parchment-covered cookie sheet and stuck them in the oven. Tried 8 minutes first, but they were still soggy. Left them in and they started to burn. I tasted one unburned one and it wasn't bad...but there weren't enough of them to justify keeping. Luckily the sweet potatoes were cheap. I'll try again only 1. slicing the sweet potatoes by width instead of length, 2. maybe "fry" them in coconut oil. Not sure how those will be, but I have about 8 sweet potatoes left in the bag I bought so I need to use them up one way or another!

So 2 out of 3 ain't bad!

I'm excited to keep using my mandolin, so next up I'll use it for the leftover zucchini from the brownie recipe and then maybe try some sweet potato fries.

Otherwise, a fairly uneventful weekend. Got a little cleaned up around the house, did some laundry, and sat out on the front porch and enjoyed the quiet neighborhood on Sunday morning before J got up. Quiet until the crows started up and then some baby squirrels or birds needed their breakfast (maybe baby hawks? The squawking got louder when a hawk flew over so possibly.).

How was YOUR weekend?