Snacking Beyond Peanut Butter

While peanut butter is a household name (especially if you have small children), you may not realize that there are all sorts of nut butters available. These days, you can find anything from plain almond to some fancy-flavored cashew butter in even the most basic of grocery stores. Have you expanded your repertoire of nut butters yet?

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Maple Banana Nut Butter Toast

Easy as pie! Or toast, as the case may be.

You can read the post about it here.

Ingredients:

-one slice whole-grain bread, toasted

-half a banana

-1 tbsp maple spread/butter or real maple syrup

-1 tbsp nut butter (almond, peanut, sunflower seed, etc…)

Spread your maple butter on the warm toast and let melt a little. Slice your banana half into three lengths vertically and lay on top of toast. Drizzle with your nut butter of choice. If you’re using maple syrup instead, spread your nut butter on the toast first, then top with banana and drizzle the syrup. YUM!

Almond Butter Bars

(from Ancient Grains for Modern Meals)

Andrew’s sister, Abigail, gave me this cookbook for Christmas one year and I discovered these bars while on a quest to find something to make with oatmeal. I’m an almond butter fan, but wasn’t sure Andrew would be as taken with the flavor, so I was surprised to hear he loved them! I’ve been making them in bulk ever since… You don’t even need the sugar; they’re plenty sweet on their own. Also, I decreased the puffed rice cereal from 1 C to 1/2 C.

1 C old-fashioned oats

¼ C slivered almonds

¼ C sunflower seeds

1 tbsp flax seeds

1 tbsp sesame seeds

1/2 C unsweetened puffed whole grain/rice cereal

¼ C currants

¼ C dried apricots

¼ C golden raisins

¼ C almond butter

¼ turbinado sugar (optional)

¼ C honey

½ tsp vanilla extract

¼ tsp sea salt

Toast oats, nuts and seeds (not cereal) on a baking sheet in the oven at 350 for 5-7 minutes, stirring once. Let cool.
Mix toasted oats and nuts, cereal and dried fruit in a large bowl.
Combine almond butter, sugar (if using), honey, vanilla and salt in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until mixture starts to bubble.
Immediately pour the warm sauce over the dry ingredients and, using an oiled hand, press into an 8 x 8 square pan.
Allow to chill for about 30 minutes. Cut into 12 bars. Store at room temp for one week, or in the freezer.

125 cal each (without sugar)