#date syrup

What’s better than peanut butter and jelly? How about an Israeli twist on this classic combo!

I’m sharing one of my all-time favorite snacks—a sandwich made with creamy tahini and sweet date syrup. It’s simple, delicious, and packed with the flavors of the Middle East.

Join me in the kitchen and learn how to create this delightful treat. It’s a little taste of Israel you can make right at home!

Whole grain toast with homemade peanut butter, bananas, hemp seeds, and date syrup

Gone are the days when I bought my peanut butter from a shelf at a store.  Now I buy raw peanuts and make my own peanut butter!  People will say it’s a waste of time but it can be ecofriendly and a fun project.

I would never tell a person to make this if they lead a very busy life.  Scratch that, I would never tell someone to do anything.  But I will suggest, if you have some spare time and don’t know what to do with it, to try making peanut butter at home.  Just for kicks and giggles.

I made this peanut butter exactly how I wanted it.  I used maple syrup to sweeten it, added the perfect amount of salt for myself (not overly salty, but just enough salt to make the peanut taste really pop), and added a pinch of cinnamon.  I love cinnamon and will go out of my way to add it to everything.  Cinnamon is very versatile and can go in sweet, savory, and spicy dishes.  It’s the miracle spice, if you ask me.  But no one did so I digress.

The key to making peanut butter at home is buying deshelled raw peanuts and roasting them in the oven slowly so they become uniformly brown.  The darker they get, the more easily oil is released when you grind it.  I never add extra oil to my peanut butter because there’s enough in the peanuts themselves if you roast it well.

Let that cool and remove that skin that’s probably falling everywhere in your kitchen and creating a mess.  You can easily get that off buy taking a handful of peanuts and rubbing them between your hands.  This is definitely a messy task but it can be really fun when you’re in the zone or you’ve got the family together doing nothing (which seems like COVID, so, you know... make that peanut butter.)

Now that you have your peanuts roasted and de-skinned you’re going to pour them into a grinder/blender/food processor/whathaveyou and grind away!  I love this part but my sister hated it.  When you start grinding everything becomes this powdery mess that settles at the bottom and you think, “Hey!  This is happening pretty fast!  I’ll just keep it on and it’ll become peanut butter!” That’s a fat no.

I’m so sorry to be the bearer of bad news but the part of the powder is a little difficult.  See, that powdery stuff settles down and gets repeatedly crushed by the blades.  This will eventually cause it to release oils and the oils mix with the rest of the peanuts and form a paste.  But where does this paste go?  No where.  It will stay at the bottom preventing the rest of the powder to come down.

You’re going to have to unplug your blender (safety, people!) and scrape out some of the peanut paste at the bottom and move some of the powder down.  This might happen a few times and you’ll just have to deal with that.  But have faith!  Because eventually it’ll all start coming together.  The whole thing will become a flowing paste.

At this step you will want to add in your salt and sweetener of your choice.  Add the sweeter in slowly because that will cause the peanut butter to thicken and get stuck again.  If you want this to be a little easier you can use regular sugar.  But where’s the fun in that?  I prefer maple syrup but you do you.

And there you have it!  Homemade peanut butter!  Add in whatever mix ins you want to get your favorite flavors and enjoy on toast, crackers, celery, etc.  I’ve had this work well with peanut butter cookies, too.  As long as you know what consistency you need the batter to become.  I do hope you try making pb at home because it's fun and easy and something to brag about when you talk to your mother/motherinlaw.

CHILE PALOMAS !

INGREDIENTS :

2 cups freshly squeezed ruby red grapefruit juice (juiced then strained) - about 4 grapefruits

juice of 1 lime

1/3 cup agave nectar (or honey, date syrup, coconut nectar)

1 tablespoon chile lime seasonings + extra for the rim of each glass

~6 ounces silver tequila (four 1.5 ounce shots)

DIRECTIONS :

Juice grapefruits and lime then strain to remove any excess pulp.

In a small saucepan, add the grapefruit juice mixture along with the agave and chile lime seasonings. Whisk together and bring to a low bowl. Remove from heat, pour in small pitcher and place in the fridge to cool completely, about 30 minutes depending on the container it's cooling in.

Once cool, squeeze lime juice on the rim of 4 highball glasses and coat in chile lime seasonings. Add ice to the very top of the glass, then pour in a shot of tequila into each glass. Top off the glass with the cool grapefruit mixture then add a metal straw to mix up before drinking it down!