Let’s talk about nuts. It’s about time since I told you a while ago I would explain why I took them out of my diet. I’m an assh*le. Good spot to put an asterisk huh?
Anywho, nuts. So I cut out nuts lately. If you’ve read my blog before, you know I’m super down for nuts. Like, love nuts. Almond butter sings to me. I make homemade nut butters to calm my nerves. Or make me smile. BUT, my body doesn’t really like nuts. As I’ve talked about in past posts, my body has changed drastically within the last year. Along with how my body reacts to different foods. You see, when I first started eating almond butter, I lost a balls ton of weight and had a crap ton of energy. Now, when I eat almond butter, I’m bloated like nobody’s business, I don’t feel very good and I almost feel fatigued or weighed down. I wasn’t sure if nuts were the main culprit so I just decided to cut them out completely to test out the theory. I’ve also been told by many people that cutting out nuts can help with acne. Well, it’s been almost 3 weeks without nuts and feel awesome. I don’t feel like I’ve lost any weight nor do I feel like my skin looks better, but I’ve had compliments from a couple people saying I look leaner and my skin looks better. I think they are liars, but whatever. Laura cut out nuts with me and she says the same thing, she feels better and her body is working better. To say the least, our digestive tracts are working awesome. You’re welcome Laura, I’m sure you appreciate me telling the world wide web that.
I’ve still had a random nut tastes here and there. Making some nut butter for my crush last week and making sure it didn’t taste like crap was one of the times. He’s real good lookin. Then yesterday, I filmed some cooking videos with my wonderful friends Ian and Patrick from Again Faster, in hopes of making it onto the CrossFit Journal, fingers crossed!! But I cooked up some of my favorite paleo desserts and still didn’t even eat much of them. I didn’t even crave them that much. Very impressive for me because they were my favorite desserts. Ian even said my Sticky Apple Bars were the best thing he’s ever eaten. Badass. So I just left the rest of the desserts in the fridge for Rj of CrossFit Deco…since it was his kitchen. Thank you Rj, we would have literally died of suffocation or heat exhaustion in my little dink of a kitchen space.
So here is what I think about nuts. I’m not against them, I’m really not. I think they are great for some people. And almond butter was one of the things that helped me eat paleo in the first place. But I honestly do think I have an allergy to nuts. I don’t think my body processes them very well. Hopefully this f*cking acne clears up soon and nuts were the whole reason behind having adolescent zits. Fingers crossed twice!!
So since I just bashed nuts, I made a recipe with them today. Sorry no nut people, but it had to be done for this recipe. Somethings gotta give. I just wanted to say that. But I do give you guys TWO different options for this dip. A paleo-fied version and a cheese version. I eat cheese once in a while because it’s delicious and I don’t feel like poo poo after I eat it, so I thought I’d make a second dip version for you people out there that still eat dairy. Paleo purists, stop hatin’.
OH, omg I almost forgot to tell you…my buddy Jon will be providing you all with a wonderful celebrity guest post on Friday! Jon is pretty cool. He’s funny. And has abs that go for days. You will not find any lovey dovey sh*t on his post. Jon doesn’t love me. He loves CrossFit. And paleo. So he’s gonna get science-y on us. How cool is that? He’s going to talk about post workout nutrition. And make you all understand why you eat healthy. I don’t get that stuff. Nor care. Thank you Jon.
4th of July Spinach and Artichoke Dip (two ways!)
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 2-4 1x
Ingredients
Version 1 (no cheese)
- 2 (14oz) cans artichoke hearts (mine were in brine), chopped
- 16oz frozen spinach
- 1 cup cashews, roasted and unsalted
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Version 2 (with cheese)
- all of the ingredients above
- 2 ounces goat cheese at room temperature
Instructions
For Version 1:
- Add frozen spinach and artichokes to large saucepan over medium heat and sprinkle with just a bit of salt.
- While your spinach thaws and artichokes warm up, pull out your handy dandy food processor.
- Place cashews in food processor and turn on. Grind until your cashews become a flour then begin to pour in your olive oil until you get a creamy consistency. Kind of like a super creamy cashew butter.
- Once your spinach is completely thawed and it’s all good and warm, drain the excess water from your saucepan and add spinach and artichoke to a large bowl.
- Add your creamy cashews and seasons to the bowl and mix thoroughly.
- Serve with sweet potato chips or veggies!
For Version 2:
- Follow all steps above.
- Add goat cheese to your cashews and spinach and artichoke mixture. Mix well to combine.
- Serve with sweet potato chips or veggies!
This recipe looks delicious – my parents are visiting next week and I may need to make this for the 4th! I have to ask though – No more chocolate covered walnuts!?
No more 🙁 life is sad
well it might not be chocolate and fully replace your love of chocolate covered walnuts, but lately when I want a “sweet treat” a little almond butter (but you could used sunbutter) on a few dried dates is delicious. Gives you that “sweet and salty” fix!
What kind of chips(sweet potato I assume) are those that you are using with the dip
Those are ‘Food Should Taste Good’ sweet potato chips. they are awesome, only sweet potato, sunflower oil, and salt are the ingredients! I also eat Terra Chips sometimes.
i’m glad that cutting out nuts is working for you! Personally, I’ve found that I can tolerate medium amounts of nuts just fine if I soak them first… for those of you out there questioning your nut consumption, it’s something that’s worth trying if you don’t want a life with zero almond butter.
p.s. re: your skin. obviously it’s best to fix whatever diet/lifestyle issues are causing acne, but in the meantime I’ve had TONS of success using oil cleansing + manuka honey as a spot treatment. The only problem is putting the honey on my face, not in my mouth.
Hey sarah, what site do you look at for oil cleansing info?
JB – Here’s the oil cleansing site info I’ve used. After years of overspending on the useless ProActiv products, this is working sooooo much better. You will def need to give it a few weeks for your skin to adjust, but living here in our dry climate of CO, it really helps!!
http://cavegirleats.com/2010/12/29/cleansing-redefined/
Skin: I’m gonna throw it out there again because I’ve been doing it now for over a month with awesome results – Pantothenic Acid supplements. I also started the benz peroxide regimen from acne.org (after supplementing – started with a megadose but have tapered down), and my skin hasn’t looked this good since before adolescence (which was, uh, more than 20 years ago). I have had one or two spots but it is like a miracle. Happy to tell you more about it if you email me.
Hi Juli, I just started following you a few weeks ago and I love your recipes. So, I just wanted to share that I used to eat nuts like they were going out of style. Then I had a boyfriend allergic to tree nuts and I stopped buying them all together (did you know kissing someone who just ate nuts can still cause an allergic reaction:) Well after we broke up I discovered nuts again, and I discovered how bloated they make me feel too. So I’ve struggled with having them in my diet as well. The one thing I’ve found is that some nuts seem to affect me differently and most importantly, I cannot have nuts more than once eery few days. I don’t believe in cutting anything out of my diet, but I do believe in moderation.
Also, for you skin. I’m a native CO girl too and also had horrible acne for most of my life. In CO, even if your skin feels oily, it probably is actually dry (skin over compensates for being dry by producing more oils). So the best thing I’ve found is to use the most sensitive face washes (Aveeno daily detox is good) and a really good, mostly natural moisturizer (Clinique moisturizing gel or Alba is good). And up your vitamin A intake (keep eating those sweet potatos!). I swear it will help.
Oh, I can’t wait to make this dip!
I am so with you there on the nuts. I love them, but they don’t love me. A few bits of almond butter and my stomach is in major pain. My digestion is like 10929848363 times better without them too! And sadly coconut butter/oil is out for me too 🙁 What is a paleo girl to do?!
This looks amazing!! I’m definitely putting it on the menu for next week. You are awesome Juli!
Just made this and omg was it amazing, but I’m now out of sweet potato chips. Any other ideas for dippage?
Veggies!
WOW just made this! Mine looks slightly less creamy but is seriously awesome!! Love this!
This looks super yummy! I am moving in a few weeks and have some frozen artichokes and raw cashews to use up and a Paleo potluck coming soon.