Almond Flour 101

Questions are raised all of the time about the cost of almond flour and where to purchase it. It is significantly more expensive than regular flour and when you're replacing a cheaper staple item with a more expensive one, it's important to find ways to cut costs. Well... the best price I have found is in bulk online. You may want to make sure you like almond flour and know you're going to use it all the time before going this route. 

The first time I purchased it was just to try it, and I bought a 5lb bag for what seemed like a good deal. Once I found out I LOVED it and knew I would use a ton of it, I moved on to a 25 pound box.

                                   

Oh yes. That's right. 25 pounds... Crazy, I know. BUT when I added up how much I would be saving with less shipping costs, plus the savings of buying in bulk, it was worth it. Like $13 per 5lb bag savings worth it! 

I ordered it through Honeyville and even read in the reviews that someone with celiac disease (absolutely can not have any sort of products when gluten at all) checked to make sure nothing else could possibly be in it, and they assured her that it was 100% natural almonds. Nothing else was processed on that machinery. 

Side note: Around holidays, Honeyville runs a sale that usually offers a 15% or 20% off any product on their website. This is when I purchased our almond flour. Also, shipping is always $4.49 no matter how much your order weighs! 

Other side note: I promise I am not advertising for Honeyville. I found this product on my own and have reviewed and tested it on my own. No one paid me or sent me product to write this. ;)

                                   

You might be thinking... What on earth does someone do with 25 pounds of almond flour??? Good question! You store it in ziplock bags and freeze most of it for use later on!

Here's how I do it...

I get out my trusty scale, a big bowl, and label a freezer safe ziplock bag with the date, Almond Flour, and # of lbs. (I do 3lbs per bag because...well... it just seemed to work best.)

Then I ZERO my scale! I don't ever forget, because I NEVER make mistakes and wouldn't want to have a random 2.47# bag. ;)

Then I scoop out my 3# into the bag of my ZEROED scale. ;) 

I try to get as much air out of the bag as possible because I want to take every precaution possible to preserve the $ I spent. (Air in freezer bag= higher chance of freezer burn. Yuck.) I use the fancy shmancy straw method. (Yes, I know. I know. Shmancy is not actually a word.) You put the straw in the corner of the bag, zip the bag up with the straw in the corner, and suck the air out. Then pull the straw out and close the bag the rest of the way. 

It may take a couple tries... I even had to go back and reseal bags and get more air out of them.

It will be worth it in the end when your freezer is stocked and you don't have to worry about almond flour for several months!

So, if your willing to take maybe 30 minutes to bag your own flour, it's totally worth the $ saved if you want to start using almond flour! 

Here's the link to where I purchased mine... Honeyville Blanched Almond Flour

(Ends up being roughly $19 per 5lb bag shipped to your door if you buy it on a sale day. If you go to the grocery store, it's around $10 per 1 pound bag. That's not a typo. $10 for ONE pound.)

Almond flour is my new best friend

I am not certain I had even heard of almond flour until I started researching the Paleo "Diet." Now I feel shameful. Almond flour is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Even if you don't want to change your diet, please do yourself a favor and bake with it a little. You have to have the right recipes and you have to give yourself a chance to get used to a slightly different texture than a "normal" baked good, but it's SO worth it.

 The possibilities are endless. I've made moist chocolate cookies, cinnamon streusel muffins, peach and blueberry scones, and pancakes. You can also make breads, and well pretty much anything really. It's not exactly the same as flour, but I'm starting to think it's better and not just because it's better for you. The almond flour adds flavor to baked goods. Mmmmm! Who would have thought that every element to your baked goods would play such a critical role in flavor?

 And also? You can use it to "bread" things like, chicken, eggplant, and fish. I just add seasoning and pretend the almond flour is breadcrumbs. I really don't miss the breadcrumbs.

Paleo

Paleo... When I first heard about the "Paleo Diet," I was intrigued. I had heard that it was a different way of eating and a different way of looking at food, but I wanted to know more. What was so different about it? Why was it supposedly a better way of eating? I had so many questions and the more I researched the more I wanted to know. The basic concept is that we should be eating more like people during the Paleolithic Period. Meat, fruits, veggies, nuts, and eggs.

There is a ton of research and background that I won't get into, but one thing I read in Robb Wolf's, "The Paleo Solution," talked about the skeletons of people prior to farming. The farmer's teeth were terrible, broken, brittle, rotten, while those prior to that era had nice, strong teeth. The foods they were eating contributed greatly to the strength of their teeth, and other areas of their bodies, I'm sure.

 My main beef with this whole thing? Flour and corn. Everything that they say we should be eating is natural. What is so bad about flour and corn? God made wheat, just like he made berries. Why can't we eat it? Well, it's been genetically altered by us, to the point that it is nothing like original wheat. We have been mass producing wheat and corn for decades. Agriculture has found ways to make it grow faster, more efficiently, and bigger. It's to the point where many of our bodies can not properly process it correctly.

Once again, if you want the science behind all of this, please read Robb Wolf's book. The proof that I have is the fact that when we altered our diet and did "hardcore Paleo" for 30 days, I noticed significant changes. I had more energy, felt better, lost weight in areas that I have never been able to lose weight in, and had clear skin for the first time since I was 6 (that might be a slight exaggeration, but I can't remember the last time I had clear skin.) When we had a "cheat meal" to celebrate making it through our 30 days, my husband and I felt awful; bloated, sleepy, our stomachs hurt, and we just wanted to eat and eat and eat. Not fun.

 We try to eat at least 90% Paleo. Sometimes we have "cheat meals" and sometimes I need a scoop of ice cream. I'd like to transition to eating closer to 100%, but we're just doing the best we can. There are a million more things I can say about Paleo and what it's done for us and why I was skeptical, but I'll save some of that for future posts.

This style of eating has been known to REVERSE diabetes and other autoimmune diseases, and at minimum, make them better. Robb Wolf himself was in the doctor's office and hospital often with varying stomach issues. He ate "healthy" as a vegetarian and he just couldn't understand why his body was failing. They wanted him to take all kinds of medicine and basically told him he would have to deal with this for the rest of his life. Well? After doing some research, he decided to change his diet. His issues? Completely resolved. The doctors couldn't believe it and most of them even denied the fact that eating meat, fruits, and veggies without whole wheats and such could have possibly cured him. I think the "proof is in the pudding."

 If you're intrigued, I encourage you to do more research or just try eating this way for 30 days. 30 days is not very long and I promise you will notice changes. I don't want to beat anyone over the head with this, but I want you to know that it really has made a difference for us.

It's been a while

That moment when you have a million things on your mind that you want to write and then as soon as you sit down and try to put your thoughts into words, you draw a complete blank... That just happened.

It's been a while. I miss blogging. But having 2 kiddos, visitors, a husband who just started a new job, and you know, daily tasks like cooking and cleaning makes it difficult to sit down and write about it all. I plan to write some more personal(ish) blogs here, but I am also going to add something new to this page.

Our family has made a lot of changes to our eating style and a lot of my friends have been asking about it. So, I'm going to start posting some of our recipes and tips for eating Paleo. In those blogs, I'll talk about what "Paleo" is exactly and why we decided to change our diet completely. These recipes are delicious, and I think you will enjoy them whether you are eating 100% or 1% Paleo.

 Also? I make no promises. Any time I get all bushy tailed and bright eyed about blogging again, life happens and I give up within a week. I make no guarantees to the number or frequencies of posts. I hope to eventually move all my "Paleo posts" to separate blog, but I'm going to see how it goes here first.