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 sounds amazing! I have a ton of artichokes I couldn’t figure out how to use, but now I know what to do with them. Do you think pine nuts could be subbed for the cashews? (I have a ton of those, too, and no cashews unless I hit the grocery store on Super Bowl Sunday – ew).
I’m not sure that it would create the cashew cheese texture or flavor
Just made this last night and wanted to love it. It was good but seemed to be missing something.. It wasn’t until my hubby said to add some mayo that it really kicked it up a notch! I didn’t have any paleo mayo on hand, so I used regular (gasp!), but that made all the difference in the world.
Love your cookbook and site, btw-can’t wait to discover all the gems in your book 🙂
Wow!! This was soooooo delicious! I LOVE the little kick the cayenne pepper adds to this recipe! I made Version 1 and absolutely love it! Plus it makes such a large amount so I will be munching for days! The only thing I think I did wrong is that I didn’t drain the artichokes when I put them in the pan. I could taste the solution the artichokes had been marinating in and it made me think I should probably have gotten a different brand or maybe just drained some of that juice. Any suggestions as far as brand or what not?? Thanks for such an awesome recipe!!! 5 stars!! (my phone won’t let me check the stars for some reason…)
i’m not totally sure what brand i used, I just found artichokes that were in some water and that seemed to work best!
Wow!!! Just made it. I could eat the whole bowl right now! Thanks!
Tried version one, delicious! I have a gastroenterology appt coming up to hopefully find some answers, thinking celiac disease or IBS. Love your recipes and they never hurt my stomach. Thank you 🙂
This. Is. Awesome. I am no cook but I’m taking this to the family get together and they will have no idea who this man who made something from scratch will be. Thank you 🙂
Today I made this as a snack for my sister who is vegetarian. .. except I ended up eating most of it because it was incredible! For dinner I made the salmon with dill and mayo, also incredibly. Not sure how you come up with so many amazing recipes but I love them! It became so much easier to eat healthy when everything I cooked tasted so good! So thank you 🙂
I am curious if anyone has tried this on non-paleo friends. Searching for Christmas party recipes…
Is there any other nut you can use for the 1st option, and any other cheese you can use for the 2nd option? (I am currently doing the 21DSD, and would love to try this recipe — but i can’t eat cashews on the detox, and i hate goat cheese 🙁
macadamia nuts and no. i would just wait until after the detox
Hi Juli, I know this is an older post but I’m going to try this recipe this weekend for a superbowl party, can’t wait!
I’m still new to paleo (proudly wearing my Week 3 badge like a dork) and I am suspicious that nuts may be leaving me bloated, too. I have definitely been eating more – not so much handfuls of nuts – but almond butter and also replacing flour in certain recipes with almond flour or almond meal. So my question is, do you generally cook with either of those and find that they bother you less than whole nuts? Or do you substitute with coconut flour or something else?
Thank you!! Love your site and will continue to visit regularly!
Substitutions depend on the recipe, but you can’t replace almond flour with coconut flour. Try eliminating nuts for a little bit to see if that’s really it. Could be your body just adjusting to your new way of eating.