1. In a food processor, add your almonds (the little brown skin is totally fine! Why make more work for ourselves?) and process for 45 seconds or until starts to form a ball.

2. Stop processor and scrape down. Next add coconut oil and process again for 1 1/2-2 minutes or until the almonds liquify and start to look like butter.

3. Stop and scrape, again. Finally, add honey (or maple if you’re making a vegan version) and salt, and process another 30 or so seconds, or until your butter is creamy and smooth!

Boom. Done.

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks! If any oil raises to the top, simply stir before use!

Note: Some vegans consider honey to be “un-vegan”, so you can definitely leave it out, and replace with a sweetener of your choice. The amount of honey being added is not for sweetness, but rather to balance and marry all the flavors together (as does the amount of salt).

In the bowl of your food processor add in garlic and the cooled, toasted almonds and pulse until coarsely chopped.

Add in the cilantro, cotija cheese, salt and lime juice. Pulse until coarsely ground. With the food processor running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil.

Remove and refrigerate until ready to use.

This pesto also can be spooned into ice cube trays and frozen. Once frozen, store in a freezer safe bag/container until ready to use!

1. In a food processor, add peanuts. Process until peanuts start to form into a ball (almost like a ball of dough), about 1 1/2 minutes.

2. Once the ball forms, stop processor and scrape down sides. Next, add melted and cooled coconut oil, salt, and honey (if using, see note below). Process for another minute, until it liquifies. It’s so neat—you’ll see your ball slowly turn into creamy, delicious peanut butter! If you want a sweet version of this peanut butter, I suggest doubling or tripling even, the amount of honey!

3. Once done, transfer to an airtight container and store in the fridge. Can be stored this way for up to 2 weeks (if it lasts that long). Make sure to stir before each use if you notice oil collecting at the surface. This is natural peanut butter, after all.

Notes:
Some vegans consider honey to be “un-vegan”, so you can definitely leave it out, and replace with a sweetener of your choice. The amount of honey being added is not for sweetness, but rather to balance and marry all the flavors together, as does the amount of salt.
If you aren’t a fan of creamy peanut butter, you can take an additional 1/4-1/3 cup of peanuts, chop them up by hand, and hand mix into your peanut butter. Viola, instant crunchy peanut butter!

Blend the pine nuts, cheese and garlic in a food processor until you reach a fine texture. Add the zest, juice, basil leaves and olive oil and blend into a pesto. Season with salt and pepper.

Adapted from Baked Explorations.

Over high heat, bring almost to a boil then reduce heat and simmer 4-6 hours. Remove pot from stove and strain all of the solids out of the stock. Taste and add salt and pepper as desired. Cool stock in refrigerator overnight then remove the fat from the surface and discard. Ladle stock into freezer containers and freeze till needed.

I use this for making all kinds of soups, in stuffing, and even to make rice. It’s also great to drink when you are sick and don’t feel like eating anything.

After 10 minutes, remove the honey from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Pour the cooled honey through a mesh strainer into a glass container or jar with an airtight lid. Seal and store at room temperature.

2. In another bowl, whisk together the egg, salt and the 1/4 cup of cold water. Reserve.

3. Make a hole in the middle of your flour and pour the egg/water mixture in the middle before mixing it gently. Add the other 1/2 cup of cold water, mix well and form a big ball of dough

4. Knead the dough by hand for 5-6 minutes on a lightly floured surface. The dough will start sticky but will become less and less sticky as you knead so don’t cheap out on this step. Make sure you do the full 5-6 minutes. The final texture should be soft, silky and obviously a bit less sticky.

5. Once the kneading is done, wrap your ball of dough in plastic wrap and let the gluten relax for 30 minutes before rolling it out.

6. Roll your dough on a floured surface as thinly as you can. Make them paper thin if you’re able to do it by hand. If not, I strongly suggest you invest in a pasta maker because it will make this step so much easier and you’ll end up with better quality wrappers in the end. No worries if you don’t have one, I made my wrappers by hand for years before buying a machine and everybody liked what I made with them. It’s just now that I do have a pasta machine, I can tell you that it does make a difference because the dough gets so flat and so perfect that it doesn’t shrink back on itself. I usually get to the setting 5 (that’s how thin the dough is) on my lasagna attachment for the pasta machine and add flour at each step of the way.

7. Cut the dough into the shape and size of wrapper you want (it’s usually small circles or squares, you can use a cookie cutter, a glass, a pasta cutter, knife etc…). Toss them in a lot of cornstarch (this will help control the moisture and make sure your wrappers don’t merge in to one big ball of dough). Then stack them in mini piles, cover each in plastic wrap and then freeze them. Once you’re ready to use them, let them thaw in the fridge for 1 hour or so. Then use them in your favorite recipe that requires wonton wrappers.

Wash, peel, and shred the carrots (use any color you’d like). Then, add those to the pot.

Peel and finely dice the ginger. This will help brighten the flavor and remove some of the bitterness inherent to the lemon and orange peels. This is totally optional.

Put the pot on the stove top. Turn the heat on to medium, and stir to integrate the sugar with the water. Then, heat the mixture up to a full boil, and allow to cook for at least 30 minutes. Stir very often (or you can end up with a messy, hardened, candied blob). Keep an eye on the mixture. You want it to be thick and for the carrots to start looking glazed (like glass), and you don’t want a watery dish.

Once the mixture is thick (you’ll know), remove pot from the heat and set it on the counter to cool a bit.

You can preserve this marmalade by canning according to standard and approved safe canning practices. Since I don’t have canning equipment, I store mine in plastic containers, which I freeze and refrigerate.