Vitamix RAW nut butter tip

So, many of you probably know this, but wow, that Vitamix can sure heat food up! Last entry I posted about my pistachio yum bars. Well, I had used nuts right from the freezer for that recipe. Today I tried it again with room temperature nuts (so like 85 degrees!) and they got quite HOT in there. I didn't even blend them down all the way to nut butter.

So, the tip is: FREEZE the nuts first before attempting nut butter in the vitamix, especially if you're trying to keep the nut butter raw.

Love and light,

~ Melissa

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chocolate pistachio yum bars

Well, today is my third day all raw, and my total and complete energy crash didn't happen until 6:30 pm (and I got up much more easily this morning), so I'm moving in a good direction. The only reason I'm not sleeping now is that Dave was working and Ella wouldn't nap. She's going to sleep now, but I have an update phone call for energy mirrors (at 10 pm!), which is a kind of energy work I do. I actually haven't done it in a while, which may be part of my problem: I do feel much better when I do. But in general I like listening to the woman (Mary Lynch) who does the calls...it's interesting to just let my mind go and become more aware of possibilities......

But anyway. Do you remember (or did you have) those peanut butter bars in high school with the chocolate on top? They were little squares (brownie size) of a layer of peanut butter and a layer of chocolate. I've been thinking about them for a while, and today I created:

Chocolate Pistachio Yum Bars! (the piece in the picture is a bit heavy on the chocolate layer...but isn't it neat how the pistachio nut butter is green?)

• I put raw pistachio nut meat in the vitamix to make nut butter.
  
  
• I mixed the smallest bits of salt and honey into it (when I make again, I may make this layer a tad sweeter, but maybe not.)
  
  
• I pushed the nut butter into the bottom of a glass pan, about 1/4 inch thick.
  
  
• Chocolate layer: I mixed softened coconut butter/oil with cacao powder, lucuma powder, maca powder, raw honey, salt, vanilla.
  
  
• I poured it on top of the nut butter and put in the fridge to chill/harden.
  

Voila! Instant yumminess. I've actually been only eating tiny pieces of it - it's very rich. I just cut that big piece for the picture, then I put it away.

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And, if you haven't seen it, I wrote about raw foods from a traditional Chinese medicine perspective on my Birch Center blog. I'm actually working on another entry about it for today, but I may be too tired to finish.