Today I spent my entire afternoon working on a Hazelnut Fiesta!!!! I decided to get some hazelnuts the other day in order to try making some homemade Nutella. I absolutely LOVE Nutella, but I also know it's full of refined sugar, so I absolutely never buy it! :(
Lucky for me I found this recipe here on Pintrest that I decided to give a try...although I modified it a little. But instead of just soaking 1 cup of hazelnut last night, I decided to soak 3, so I could also make some hazelnut milk with it as well! Hazelnut milk also happens to be my favorite non-dairy milk out there, but it also happens to be the only one that DOES NOT come in the "unsweetened" variety at the store. :(
So one more reason to go "homemade" with these little fellas!
Lucky for me I found this recipe here on Pintrest that I decided to give a try...although I modified it a little. But instead of just soaking 1 cup of hazelnut last night, I decided to soak 3, so I could also make some hazelnut milk with it as well! Hazelnut milk also happens to be my favorite non-dairy milk out there, but it also happens to be the only one that DOES NOT come in the "unsweetened" variety at the store. :(
So one more reason to go "homemade" with these little fellas!
I had actually never tried raw hazelnuts before! Since my childhood, chocolate with hazelnuts have always been my favorite, but I had never actually seen a hazelnut before.
They are a little different than I expected. They are pretty crunchy, even after being soaked all night, but they have a light feel to it once you chew and eat it. It doesn't seem to give you that "fill you up" feeling you get from cashews or peanuts. But don't let that fool you, 1 cup of these little fellas carry on a whooping 70g of fat and 11g of fiber!
Don't let that scare you either...because they also happen to be pretty potent anti-inflammatory and packed with nutrition as well, such as vitamin C (12% DV), Iron (30% DV), Calcium (13%), Protein (34% DV), Vitamin E (86% DV), K, Thiamin (49% DV), Niacin (10% DV), B6 (32% DV), Folate (32% DV), Magnesium (47% DV), Manganese (355% DV), Copper (99% DV), Zinc (19% DV), Phosphorus (33% DV), Potassium (22% DV)...among others. (You can find out more about hazelnut -->here<--).
One great thing about eating an almost vegan diet is that you can load up on fats that come packed with great nutrition, but none of the cholesterol and harmful/toxic bi-products of animal consumption!
They are a little different than I expected. They are pretty crunchy, even after being soaked all night, but they have a light feel to it once you chew and eat it. It doesn't seem to give you that "fill you up" feeling you get from cashews or peanuts. But don't let that fool you, 1 cup of these little fellas carry on a whooping 70g of fat and 11g of fiber!
Don't let that scare you either...because they also happen to be pretty potent anti-inflammatory and packed with nutrition as well, such as vitamin C (12% DV), Iron (30% DV), Calcium (13%), Protein (34% DV), Vitamin E (86% DV), K, Thiamin (49% DV), Niacin (10% DV), B6 (32% DV), Folate (32% DV), Magnesium (47% DV), Manganese (355% DV), Copper (99% DV), Zinc (19% DV), Phosphorus (33% DV), Potassium (22% DV)...among others. (You can find out more about hazelnut -->here<--).
One great thing about eating an almost vegan diet is that you can load up on fats that come packed with great nutrition, but none of the cholesterol and harmful/toxic bi-products of animal consumption!
No guilty conscious after eating this homemade Nutella!!! These not only taste good (not like the original, like most healthy alternatives, they taste like REAL foods!), but they actually benefit your body, they "add" to your body, instead of "remove" from it! Not talking about calories or fat here, but actual nutrients.
Most junk we eat leave our bodies depleted of nutrients. Empty calories, filled with chemicals and toxins like sugar, places a heavy load on our bodies in order to process them. So not only are we not "adding" any nutrition to our bodies when we consume these products, but we're actually depleting ourselves from the nutrients we already have! Not good.
But let not your heart be troubled! Our Creator has left us with plenty of good food that will not only give us the energy we need, but give the nutrition that we need as well. :)
As stated above, you can find the recipe for this Nutella -->here<--
Most junk we eat leave our bodies depleted of nutrients. Empty calories, filled with chemicals and toxins like sugar, places a heavy load on our bodies in order to process them. So not only are we not "adding" any nutrition to our bodies when we consume these products, but we're actually depleting ourselves from the nutrients we already have! Not good.
But let not your heart be troubled! Our Creator has left us with plenty of good food that will not only give us the energy we need, but give the nutrition that we need as well. :)
As stated above, you can find the recipe for this Nutella -->here<--
Alterations I've made to the Nutella recipe:
-Instead of Maple Syrup, I used 1 cup of dates soaked and blended in a little bit of the water it was being soaked in, until it turned into a nice paste.
-Did not use coconut oil, instead added a bit less than 1/4 cup of dark chocolate chips melted.
-Did not use almond milk, used hazelnut milk that I had made today as well.
-Instead of Maple Syrup, I used 1 cup of dates soaked and blended in a little bit of the water it was being soaked in, until it turned into a nice paste.
-Did not use coconut oil, instead added a bit less than 1/4 cup of dark chocolate chips melted.
-Did not use almond milk, used hazelnut milk that I had made today as well.
Hazelnut milk was VERY easy to do! Here follows the recipe/directions:
One thing I'll add to the nut milk recipe is: WORK THOSE PULP!!! After I had finished two bottles of nut milk, I was able to get a third one going, just by re-blending the leftover pulp with some more water! I re-blended (if you can say such a thing) the leftover pulp twice! I just made sure to not add much water, so that it would really get the milk out. It turned out creamier than the previous two I had made!
Once I was done with the milk, what to do with all that leftover pulp??? That's when I looked at my big bucket of dates and thought...uhmmm....why not some hazelnut date truffles???
Once I was done with the milk, what to do with all that leftover pulp??? That's when I looked at my big bucket of dates and thought...uhmmm....why not some hazelnut date truffles???
These can't be any easier to make! I didn't really follow any recipe, and unfortunately eyeballed everything, so I won't be able to give specifics here. But basically I soaked about 2 cups of date...I tried to have as much dates as I had the leftover pulp. Then I blended the dates with the pulp. Added some vanilla extract. And because the "dough" was a little liquidy, probably from the milk still in the pulp (wish I had a cheese cloth to get it all out!), I decided to add some oat flour and unsweetened shredded coconut to the mixture. I mixed by hand these final ingredients. Then once it was solid enough to form into balls, I did that, and covered some with shredded coconut, and the other I blended some of my dark chocolate chips and covered with those! :)
YUM!!! I later froze both into ziplock bags, so we can just eat them as little treats. My daughter already had one and was asking fore more! ;)
YUM!!! I later froze both into ziplock bags, so we can just eat them as little treats. My daughter already had one and was asking fore more! ;)
There you have it! A Hazelnut Fiesta!!! Left me with my legs hurting and lots of dishes to clean, but we'll be enjoying our hazelnut goodies for a while :)
Cheers!
Cheers!