Clean Snacking: Roasted Red Pepper and Almond Dip

I love to snack. One of the most difficult things about eating healthily is finding something that will satisfy that after-school catharsis of an easy-to-reach for, satisfying snack. Unfortunately, normally some of my go-to snacks are chips and salsa or cheese dip, cheese quesadillas, tortillas with peanut butter (or all of the above). Fortunately, once you figure out some better stuff to put in your body, snacking can actually be a good thing as it keeps your metabolism going throughout the day.

Some easy and tasty snacks that are working for me are nuts, rice or nut crackers with almond butter, fruit smoothies, and veggies with hummus. I found a container of romain hearts this weekend, and I have really enjoyed making little lettuce boats with hummus and veggies to spice up the old hummus and veggies a bit.

This weekend I was called on to make a veggie tray for a baby shower and I made a huge batch of roasted red pepper  and almond dip so we could enjoy some ourselves at home too. This is one of my all-time favorite dips and it was a huge hit at the party. The first time I tasted it (thanks Steph) I couldn't believe it was made out of such simple, healthy ingredients. The sum of its parts so creamy and satisfying. I've been loving it this weekend on nut crackers, rice cakes, or veggies.

Roasted Red Pepper and Almond Dip
(Recipe from epicurious)

1/2 cup whole natural almonds (about 3 ounces), toasted (I chose skinless slivered almonds)
1 cup drained roasted red peppers from jar (or roast your own by broiling them in the oven until the skin is charred then removing the skin with clean towel.)
2 teaspoons red wine or sherry vinegar
1 large garlic clove, peeled (you could also roast the garlic if you don't prefer raw garlic)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil


Very finely chop almonds in processor. Add roasted peppers, vinegar, and garlic; process to coarse puree. With machine running, pour olive oil through feed tube and process until puree thickens slightly. Season dip to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to small bowl. (Dip can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before serving.)

Homemade Peanut Butter

We go through a large container of Whole Foods freshly ground honey roasted peanutbutter a week. Seriously. When I'm craving something sweet, I grab a spoon and feel pretty good about the indulgence because I know that it's essentially the same as eating a handful of honey roasted peanuts.

I help cook with the kids at Nehemiah's Quest, the biweekly work day that Keith runs for the kids in Rosedale, and this week we decided to make homemade peanut butter for lunch. I was really surprised by how easy it was to make at home! I'm not sure how it works that there is no oil added to the Whole Foods version. We had to add a little peanut oil to get the consistency right, but other than that, I think this version tastes at least as good.

We used it to make peanut butter sandwiches with apple (we got local apples in our CSA today!) and honey. Personally I like to keep it simple and eat my peanut butter with a spoon.

HOMEMADE HONEY ROASTED PEANUT BUTTER

1 cup plain, roasted peanuts
1 cup honey roasted peanuts
1 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp peanut oil

Combine in a food processor, adding in the order listed until smooth. Adjust the amount of honey to your taste. You could also get crazy and add chocolate, try it with other nuts, etc.

Also, I need to let you know that the child pictured below is one of my favorite children on the face of this earth.

This out-of-focus picture taken by his sister really makes me happy. He LOVES Paul.