Cinnamon Honey Almond Spread

While I was at Whole Foods the other day, I was trying to find a decent almond butter that wouldn't cost me an arm and a leg. No such luck. So, I decided to make my own, which meant I got to control the flavor and ingredients while saving money. The cheapest almond butter I saw there was $13 for a jar. I made two jars for the price of a bag of almonds (just under $12) and some stuff I already had in my kitchen. In about half an hour, I had my own delicious almond spread that I can't wait to use in as many ways as possible!

INGREDIENTS

(this recipe is done per cup-to make enough to fill a medium mason jar, you're going to want to double the recipe below)
1 cup almonds
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
1-1 1/2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp vanilla
almond milk (this get drizzled in, so there's not an exact measurement)

EQUIPMENT

baking sheet
food processor
rubber tipped spatula
mason jar (or any jar with a lid)

DIRECTIONS
Start by preheating your oven to 350F and spreading the almonds out evenly on the baking sheet.
Bake for 3-5 minutes. You don't need the almonds to be super toasted, you're basically just "waking them up."
Place the almonds, cinnamon, salt, honey, and vanilla in your food processor and puree for about five minutes, stopping to scrape the sides with your spatula once or twice.
The mixture will be grainy at first, and almost powder-like. Don't worry, this is normal.
Scrape the sides of the food processor again and then turn it back on.
Slowly drizzle in the almond milk, about a tbs at a time, until the mixture is spreadable without being runny. Make sure to add the almond milk very slowly to avoid making the mixture too runny.
Store the spread in a mason jar and refrigerate in between uses.

What would you pair with almond butter besides cinnamon honey?

Until next time...
Stay Stellar,
Paige Elise

Garlic Pinto Beans

When I was in 7th grade my dad married my now-stepmom who is half Mexican and half Native American. I remember being really excited about the possibility of her teaching me authentic recipes from both sides of her family only to find out that the only thing she could really cook was garlic pinto beans. But if you're only going to be good at cooking one thing, you're probably really good at it, right? Right.


When I was at their house one time, she was making the beans for dinner (they're so good that we would just eat them with tortillas and call it a meal) and said she would teach me how. Let me start by saying this recipe is so easy that a monkey could do it. Once you do it once, it's stuck in your head forever, because it's literally THAT easy, which makes the result even more surprising. Let's do this thing!

All you need for this recipe is dry Pinto beans, fresh garlic, salt, and pepper. That's literally it. You can add peppers if you want, but they're just as amazing without.



The first thing you're going to do is soak the beans overnight. Get a bowl, pour the bag of beans in, and cover with water. Depending on how wide the bowl is, you're going to want at least an inch of after over the beans, but I usually just fill the bowl up most of the way to be safe. The beans will soak up some of the water and expand overnight, and if you don't add enough water they'll soak up different amounts and cook unevenly, so when in doubt-add more water.

You can either use a crockpot or a large pot to cook the beans in the next day. I prefer using a crockpot even though my stepmom uses a stove top pot because I don't have to worry about checking the beans as often. You're going to drain and rinse the beans and then place them in your cooking vessel followed by about twice as much water as beans. I was taught to just eyeball it and that once again more water is better than less, so that's what I do.

You're then going to peel and smash anywhere from a half a bulb to a full bulb of garlic depending on how much you like garlic and how big your bag of beans is. I almost always use the whole bulb no matter what, because garlic is one of my favorite kitchen smells and tastes.

Pop the garlic in with the beans and add salt and pepper to taste. I actually normally use garlic salt when making these because I'm a garlic freak, but you can use whichever salt you like best.

And that's really it! If you're using a crockpot, the beans should take about 6-8 hours on low and around 4 hours on high, but if you're using a stove top pot they should only take 2-3 hours. Make sure to keep the temperature on low if you're making them on the stove.

When the beans are done, they should be soft to the bite and have created their own sort of soup, which is why I like adding extra water. Everyone I know loves the soupy water with the beans, but you can use a slotted spoon to serve them if you just want regular beans. I chose to leave the garlic bulbs in because I like the way the bulbs taste when they're cooked, but you can take them out as well.

Like I said, this recipe is so easy a monkey could do it. I really only made this post because every time I make these beans for people they ask for the recipe, so I figured I'd share it with all of you too!




Until next time...


Stay Stellar,

Paige Elise

Green & Yellow Salsa

Having grown up in San Diego, I've had my fair share of salsas. This is one I came up with when thinking of ingredients that I like in salsa. I wanted to include avocado, green pepper, and corn, and decided to go with an all green and yellow theme. This recipe can easily be altered if you want to substitute any ingredients (ie: a purple onion or red pepper instead). What's great about salsas is that almost anything goes. Let's get started!

(as always, click on the images if you'd like to see them larger)

Here's all of the ingredients that you'll need:

*1 green pepper
*2 small avocados(or 1 large)
*fresh cilantro
*1/2 of a yellow onion
*1 jalapeno
1 lime
1 can of corn

*not pictured: salt, pepper, a knife, a bowl, a cutting board, and gloves for cutting the jalapeno (recommended)

To start, drain the corn and pour it into the bowl

Dice the green pepper and put that into the bowl as well.

Dice the jalapeno into tiny pieces (they pack more punch than the pepper, and you don't want it to overwhelm the rest of the salsa).

Dice the onion into pieces about the same size as the pepper.

Cut the avocado into pieces about twice as large as the pepper and onion.

Finely chop about a handful of the cilantro.

Add the juice of the entire lime (I recommend rolling the lime on the cutting board before slicing it and sticking a fork in the center while squeezing-doing both of these things will help you get more juice out) and salt and pepper to taste.

Mix it gently (you don't want the avocados to turn into mush), cover, and chill for a few hours before serving. This last step gives the salsa time to absorb the flavors of the salt, pepper, and lime better.

This salsa goes great on top of tacos (or even just chicken), with tortilla chips, or even just as a side dish!

I hope you've all enjoyed this recipe, and until next time...

Stay Stellar,
Paige Elise

Super Simple & Versatile Spaghetti Sauce

In the break room at my work a few months ago I was having a conversation with another woman who loved to cook about our favorite things to make. The conversation then turned into foods that are much better when made from scratch. She said spaghetti sauce was her favorite considering how easy it was to make and told me the basics to how she prepares hers. So thank you Kay for giving me the basics to spaghetti sauce making and inspiring me to come up with my own recipe!

What I love about spaghetti sauce is how versatile this is. When you make this, I encourage you to play around with different spices or add ins (like meat). I'll try to explain it the best I can through text and pictures, but let me know if you have any questions!

Ingredients:
*Two large cans of crushed tomatoes-I've used diced tomatoes before, but prefer the smooth texture of the crushed tomatoes. You can definitely use diced if you want it to be chunkier though!
*Two small cans of tomato sauce
*A head of garlic-I only used a couple pieces, which was more than enough.
*Red Wine-I use Livingston Chianti, which is only about $8. My boyfriend works in the Wine & Spirits department at our local grocery store and everyone there said it's the best to cook with at a decent price.
*Olive Oil-forgot to include it in the picture, but it's important if you're using fresh garlic!

Spices/Herbs:
*Kosher salt-if you don't have it, just use regular salt. I do prefer kosher for cooking though.
*Pepper
*Basil
*Thyme
*Parsley
*Morton's Nature's Seasonings-if you don't have this, I recommend getting it. It's only $2-3 and it's AWESOME.
*Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute-not necessary if you don't have it, I just like adding it to my sauce since I always have it on hand.

Tools:
*A big soup pot-my roommate, Kelley, is nice enough to always let me use hers since I don't have my own yet.
*A cutting board and large knife (to crush the garlic on/with)
*A wooden spoon
*A can opener

Step one: crush the garlic by placing as many pieces as you want on your cutting board, placing the large knife flat on top of each piece, and smacking it (carefully) with your hand to make it burst open.
Step two heat a tiny bit of the olive oil in the pan on medium heat and add the crushed garlic chunks. Cook until the garlic starts to slightly brown and you can smell it. Make sure to move it around so it doesn't burn.

Step three: Add the wine! If you don't like wine or want the sauce to be thicker, only add a little bit of wine. If you like the taste of wine or want it to be thinner, add more wine. I just add enough to make the large pot about an eighth of an inch full. Let the wine and garlic cook on low heat for about 15-30 minutes.

Step four: add both cans of crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce to the pot and mix it all together.

Step five: add the spices. I always add a basically equal amount of everything and then taste the sauce every hour to see if it needs more of anything. If you don't like one of the spices I used or want to add something I didn't picture, go for it! This recipe is super versatile.
Step six: keep the sauce cooking on low and mix every half hour or so. Taste it here and there to see if you want to add anything to it. I recommend cooking it for at least six hours to allow the flavors to really meld together nicely.
*Sidenote: this is the part where you'd add any meat. I did last time I made this recipe, but I wanted to keep it simple this time for the sake of the blog.

Step seven: serve or store in freezer bags (make sure to let it cool if you plan on putting it in freezer bags first).

*This recipe makes about 6-10 servings depending on serving size by the way

Let me know if you found this helpful and how your sauce turned out if you make it!
Stay Stellar,
Paige Elise