A super easy, tasty and nutritious recipe for nut butter.

Nuts can make a significant contribution to your food pyramid in the winter. With this easy nut butter you can have something special on your bread in just a few minutes. Be careful - Chances are you'll never want peanut butter from the supermarket again! The recipe is at the bottom of the page.

Healthy eating in winter according to Ayurveda.

According to Ayurveda, your body needs extra nutrition in the winter season. Because it is colder in the winter, your "agni" (the digestive power) is stronger than in the other seasons. That is why you can eat a little heavier and more now. If you eat a lot of light food, the agni, the strong digestive power, can decrease and Vata becomes unbalanced. Wind and cold also cause an increase in the Vata dosha. If you consider that the most important characteristics of the Vata dosha are 'airy', 'dry', 'cold' and 'irregular', then the circle is complete. What can you do to reduce Vata in the fall and winter:

What do you eat in the winter? Warm and nutritious dishes, such as stews, pastas and casseroles, dairy products, such as cream and rice pudding, nuts and almonds, soaked dried fruits, such as dates, raisins and figs.

What do you prefer not to eat or eat less in the winter? Raw vegetables, salads, cabbage and dry food, such as uncooked oatmeal, crispbread and cornflakes with (cold) milk. Give preference to the flavours 'sweet', 'sour' and 'salty'

Always use a little ghee when cooking. Ghee is clarified butter and is very healthy. It tastes different than butter and is also often better tolerated by people with cow's milk allergy. Want to read more about ghee & making it yourself? Read it here.

Nuts: The facts in a row.

Nuts have a high content of vitamins and minerals. They contain valuable, polyunsaturated fatty acids, which have a positive effect on cholesterol. In this way, they contribute to the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, among other things. Omega-3 fatty acids have a positive effect on rheumatic complaints. Nuts also contain valuable vegetable proteins.

Nuts help against winter depression?! Nuts stimulate the production of serotonin (the so-called happiness hormone) and that leads to more peace and inner peace. (Aha, that's why I like to eat a bag of cashew nuts :) It almost seems too good to be true, those nuts. --> The recipe is below the image.

Nut butter recipe.

100 grams of peanuts
100 grams of hazelnuts
100 grams of almonds
(or a mix of other nuts, such as sunflower seeds or cashews)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of salt
1-2 soaked plums or dates
1 dl sunflower oil
cane sugar (to taste)
pinch of chili powder (to taste)

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth, adding a little more oil if the mixture is too dry. You can store the nut butter in a clean glass jar in the fridge for weeks. The flavour will improve if you let the butter sit for a while.

Personal note: I make this recipe even easier myself; I get a big bag of mixed nuts, remove the walnuts (they are delicious in other dishes, not as nut butter) and sometimes I add a few peanuts. Not too many because peanuts quickly dominate the taste and then you only taste peanuts and ... that is of course a shame for those creamy cashews and almonds. My favorite is with cinnamon and a touch of chili powder. The cane sugar gives a nice crunchy bite but it is and remains sugar of course. If you feel like a slow day, you can also buy the nuts with the shell as in the photo and crack them. Seems wonderful to do by an open fire and with some nice music on!

Did you make the nut butter? Let me know what you think in the comments below! - ^ Jagat Prem