Nuts.

Today's lunch - Shrimp Ceviche Salad

So I am on day 9 of my 30 day Paleo challenge and I am still alive. In fact, I have loved everything I have eaten out of Diane Sanfilippo's Practical Paleo. Only once, when I was exhausted and irritated, have I wanted to gorge on cheesy pasta. Before you retort with "its only been 9 days, whoop-dee-doo," I had done a full week of Paleo before I started this particular 30 days and had been following Paleo about 80% of the time for a week before that. The good news for you is I have read two new nutrition books and am up to 27 hours of podcasts, So I have LOTS to share.

As I mentioned in my last post, when I decided to try Paleo, I had to first figure out what I was going to be able to eat (no grains, no dairy, no legumes, no refined sugars), but more importantly, with packaged foods out, what I was going to be able to snack on. The easiest, go to, indisputable, accessible snack? Nuts.

Quick Disclaimers: 

1. Pictures of nuts aren't very exciting, so you'll just have to put up with words and lame pictures. 
2. This post is free of all inappropriate jokes about nuts, but feel free to imagine in your mind all the jokes I wanted to make. 

Now, not all nuts are created equal. Before we talk recipes, lets talk about some fun nut facts.

• Peanuts are legumes not nuts and therefore are not Paleo
• I'll share more another time about legumes not being Paleo, but if you want a quick read from a reliable source here's a link to check out
• Coconuts are fruits, but you can use coconut much in the same way as nuts 
• Nuts contain fats - they are a great snack but if you are worried about your weight, you can't eat unlimited amounts of them and then be sad you aren't getting skinny. Nuts contain Omega 3 fats, which most of us know as the "healthy fats" and Omega 6 fats, which can be bad for you when eaten in far excess of Omega 3s. The key with these fats and how they are processed in your body is not the quantity of each, but the ratio of Omega 3s to Omega 6. So here is a partial list of nuts ranked from best ratio to worst ratio (Sourced from Dr. Loren Cordain's The Paleo Diet): 
• Walnuts
• Macadamia Nuts
• Pecans
• Pine Nuts
• Cashews
• Pistachios
• Hazelnuts
• Brazil Nuts
• Almonds
• The fun part: you can do endless things with nuts besides eating them raw: 



Lamb Dolmas with Almonds

• Nut Milk 
• Not just for drinking, use in smoothies, sauces (almond milk curry NOM)
• Nut Butter 
• When in doubt, eat with spoon.
• Nut Flour 
• Use almond flour to bake this delicious Chocolate Pumpkin Coffee Cake
• Nut Meal 
• Use in place of bread crumbs- my mom has been crusting black bean burgers in it!
• Crust meat, poultry and fish 



Lettuce Wraps with Walnuts

• Try Almond Crusted Salmon
• Use in Pestos
• Try cilantro, olive oil, garlic, macadamia nuts, and salt and pepper
• Add to salads, cooked veggies, casseroles, dishes
• Roasted with spices for "next-level" snacking
• Nut Roast - I have been dying to try this Jamie Oliver recipe and haven't gotten to it yet. If you beat me, please let me know how it goes
• Nut Oils
• Walnut and Macadamia Oils are particularly good for you (and on salads) - look for organic, first cold press

Maybe you're thinking - that's great, but nuts and nut products are soooo expensive. Yes, if you go to Publix and buy a 6 oz package of raw almonds for $8, you are sad. Luckily it only takes 2 steps to be happy and have your nuts too. Step 1: is to buy from places that will let you buy in bulk - on Amazon you can get bulk bags of nuts for great prices AND delivered to your door, Trader Joe's, Sams and Costco are great options, sometimes international markets also have prices similar to Amazon. Step 2: Make your own nut products. Maybe you've heard or seen recipes that tell you its easy to make nut milks and nut butters, but like I was, you are skeptical. I mean how does an average person take some almonds and make something magical like almond butter? I swear it is actually as easy as advertised and 10x better than store bought. We are making almond milk about twice a week at my house and almond butter is so easy that my grandparents even just "whipped some up" for use in a recipe.

So here is the play by play on three easy nut products

(Jar is blue not the Almond Milk)

1. Nut Milk - Basic Steps: Soak 1 cup nuts in water overnight, rinse and drain nuts, put nuts in blender w/  3-4 c water, blend together, strain through nutbag/cheese cloth, pour into containers, put in fridge. There are a billion ways to vary this recipe, cinnamon & vanilla is an awesome addition; add dates and cocoa powder to that and you've got an amazing chocolate almond milk for a treat. There a bazillions of recipes on the internet - do some googling for more info. 

• Milks are good for 3-4 days in the fridge. 
• For Macadamia Nuts, the nuts are so soft that you may not need to strain them at all after blending. 
• For Coconut Milk - you do not soak the shredded coconut over night. Instead, you add hot water with the shredded coconut. Follow this recipe
• When you are straining the liquid, SAVE WHAT REMAINS IN THE BAG for almond meal/flour

2. Nut Meal/Flour - Take leftover pulp from making nut milk and spread evenly on baking sheet. Set oven to lowest setting (170 degrees) and place baking sheet in oven. Stick something in the door so that it is cracked for 3 hours, or longer until dried out. Let cool. In this state, you have meal if you take the meal and run it through a food processor or blender, then you have flour. For more specific instructions check out this link. 

3. Nut Butter - Easy and magical. 1. Toast nuts or use raw (depends on the nut) in oven (the toastier they are, the toastier it tastes; aka if you burn them, your butter will taste burnt) 2. Let cool 75% 3. Run nuts through blender or food processor for 5- 20 minutes (depends on the nut), stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides. This takes time, if you are skeptical just keep on going because it will work. For more in depth instructions check out this link. 

One final point of irony to share - since, I started the 30 day meal plan I am on, I rarely snack.