So, a few weeks ago I started doing some serious thinking about how I could start eliminating processed sugar from my kid's diets. I don't fit into the "crunchy mom" category by any means, so do not get the idea that I am pretending to. However, I think that it's important that my kids don't get in the habit of having sugar three times a day, because I've now learned so much about the negative effects of overconsumption. If I can set them up for nutritional success, then I want to do that. So I started thinking about things they eat regularly, and trying to find healthier alternatives. We've replaced pop tarts with organic toast and fruit, we've replaced frozen pizzas with homemade keto pizzas (they LOVE them too, you can find a great recipe for those here!) and we've swapped sugary peanut butter for homemade and keto-friendly peanut butter.
Though my kids were the inspiration for me starting to make my own peanut butter, it is a delicious swap that everyone in our household enjoys. Also, it's a lot cheaper. All natural peanut butters can get pretty pricey and often times still have added sugars and weird chemicals. There are companies that make sugar free nut butters with fun flavorings to satisfy a sweet tooth, but those usually run about $12.99-15.99 for a small container! Yikes! We are peanut butter lovers in our house, so paying that much for something that will be gone in a few days just doesn't fly. Making them homemade costs about $2-3 a jar and you can add in your own flavors with ingredients that you either have in your pantry already, or are super cheap to buy. I bought a large container of salted peanuts at Costco, but you can also buy plain ole peanuts from any grocery store. I've also used unsalted peanuts that I bought at Aldi. My only caution? It attracts really cute little peanut butter thieves.
For storage, I use old pickle jars that I have [thoroughly] washed out.
So far, I've made plain peanut butter, chocolate peanut butter and snicker-doodle peanut butter. As you can see, the snicker-doodle is a popular choice in our house. :) Each recipe yields about 1 1/2 cups of peanut butter.
Recipe for Plain Peanut Butter:
- 2 cups salted peanuts
- 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
- 2 tbs stevia or erithritol (optional)
Place all ingredients in food processor. Set processor to "puree" and blend until smooth.
Recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter:
- 2 cups salted peanuts
- 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1/8 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)
- 1/2 cup of stevia or erithritol
- 2 tbs honey
Place all ingredients in food processor. Set processor to "puree" and blend until smooth.
Snickerdoodle Peanut Butter:
- 2 cups unsalted peanuts
- 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
- 2 tbs cinnamon
- 1 tbs apple pie spice blend (pumpkin works as well)
- 1/2 cup stevia or erithritol
- pinch of salt
Place all ingredients in food processor. Set processor to "puree" and blend until smooth.
In the future, I will definitely be experimenting some more with different nuts and different flavors. If you have any flavor ideas that you'd like to see, please let me know! Until then, enjoy!
Comments
Post a Comment