Nutritious Nut-Butter Alternatives for your Daily Diet

By Ani Phyo

Recipes created by Ani Phyo, author of Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen and executive chef of SmartMonkey Foods (www.aniphyo.com)

Thai Spring Rolls With Dipping Sauce
Makes 4 servings

Basil, cilantro, and mint are the key herbs making this flavor authentic Thai.

Thai Dipping Sauce
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
4 kaffir lime leaves
1 tablespoon Nama Shoyu
2 Thai red chilies
½ cup raw almond butter
Juice of one lemon, about 2 tablespoons
1 cup filtered water

Fillings
1 zucchini, julienned
1 cup mung bean sprouts
½ bunch basil leaves
½ bunch cilantro leaves
¼ bunch mint leaves
1 to 2 Thai chilies, finely chopped

Wrapper
2 large collard green leaves, ribs removed, and leaves halved

To make dipping sauce, blend olive oil, lime, leaves, Nama Shoyu, red chilies, almond butter, lemon juice, and water until smooth. Set aside.

To fill wrapper, lay a collard leaf flat, darker green side down, and layer filling ingredients along the bottom edge of each leaf.

To serve, roll up each collard leaf from the bottom into a tight cylinder. You can choose to make more rolls with less filling, or just four rolls with more filling. Serve with Thai Dipping Sauce.

Rolls will keep for one day. Store dipping sauce separately; it’ll keep for four days in the fridge.

Cinnamon Banana Buttermylk
Makes 4 servings

3 ripe bananas
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ cup cashew butter
Pinch sea salt
4 cups water

Put the bananas, cinnamon, cashew butter, salt, and water in the blender and blend until smooth.

Will keep for two days in the fridge.

Optional: You can swap cashew butter for the same amount of almond butter.

Black Olive Hummus (Bean-Free)
Makes 4 servings

1/3 cup sunflower seeds, dried
2 cups zucchini, chopped
2 cloves garlic
Juice of 1 lemon, about 2 tablespoons
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
½ cup tahini
¼ cup kalamata black olives, pitted and chopped
Pinch paprika

Process sunflower seeds into a powder. Set aside. Process zucchini, garlic, lemon juice, ¼ cup olive oil, and tahini until smooth. Slowly add sunflower powder back into food processor. Process until mixture reaches a smooth hummus consistency.

Pour mixture into a bowl and stir in chopped black olives. Sprinkle with paprika and drizzle with remaining olive oil.

Will keep for three days in the fridge.

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