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!
Hi. I found Cashew Meal at Trader Joe’s and wondered if that could be used instead of processing my own cashews. If so, how would I go about that? Just add olive oil? Thank you!
i honestly don’t know how it would work. i haven’t tried that
Did you try it, Laurie?
OH! God Bless you, Juli!!! I’m right there with you about the nuts! For whatever reason, my body (and skin) responds wonderfully to grass-fed and raw dairy, but nuts (in any form…with the exception of macademias now and then) give my body and skin much grief! There are so many great looking paleo recipes I would love to try, but sadly I must always seek ways to replace the nuts! 🙁 I can’t wait to try the “dairy” version of this favorite dip of mine!!! 😀 Thank you!!!
HOLY CRAP-OLY! I made this tonight, and my 7 year old daughter who is a spinach and artichoke dip guru, ate the fadoodle out of it. She said it tastes better than what she gets in the restaurants. I adamantly agree! She is usually so picky with everything and wow! She scarfed this stuff down.
Can I make this a day in advance?
yep!! just reheat it back up
WOW!!!! This amazing! Spinach Artichoke dip was always our go to appetizer at restaurants pre-Paleo days. So glad to find a recipe that fits in our new lifestyle. This beats the pants off of the “regular” type.
Actually, cashews may be fine for people who can’t tolerate nuts. Cashews are not nuts, but legumes. My son-in-law is deathly allergic to tree nuts but is fine with cashews–again, they’re legumes! 😉
Have you tried using homemade mayo or coconut cream instead of the cashews?
no i haven’t
You glorious gorgeous She-Warrior. I made this tonight and it ROCKED my life. I love spinach artichoke dip but my ass-blasting dairy intolerance does NOT.
I couldn’t get my POS processor to do the cashews right, but I had a ton of thick cashew cream so I used that and it worked beautifully – it really gave it that super creamy texture I love In a good dip. And I housed like, half the bowl.
Ohmigod holy crap! I never comment on blogs but I am so frickin’ pleased with this recipe I HAD too. I did a different paleo spinach/art dip last weekend(testing for Super Bowl , GO HAWKS!) and was very disappointed. Another commenter on that blog mentioned yours so I decided to check it out. You are amazing! I’m doing whole 30 right, but I can’t wait to try it with cheese. So delicious as is I can only imagine the cheese makes it pure heaven:)
I’m a paleo wannabe, but am heavily leaning in that direction bc of food intolerances, mainly dairy.
This is fan-freakin-tastic!!
Since I learned of the food intolerances cow, goat & sheeps milk!), I’ve been craving a savory, creamy, cheesy something. Well this fit the bill! So creamy and yummy! I actually prefer it now to the mayo based dip.
Love your site and all it’s recipes!! My iphone won’t let me give you 5 stars.