I absolutely love caramelized onions. This spread is super fast to make- that is- once you spend the 40 minutes or so caramelizing an onion. If you’ve never caramelized an onion, refer to my caramelized cipollini onion recipe for the basics. For this particular spread, I used peanut oil rather than butter or olive oil.

First, caramelize one yellow onion. Put half of the golden goodness into a food processor with 1/2 avocado, juice from 1/2 lime, 1.5 TB German mustard, 2 TB honey, and a pinch of sea salt. Puree until smooth.

I spread this on my Sweet Potato Black Bean Burger. Yum. Enjoy!

I finally did it. I bought fava beans at the market. I’ve been in Boulder for 5 years, which means I’ve been going to the market for five years, and every summer those big, thick fava beans frightened me. I don’t know why. They are now a new favorite of mine.

I did some research on these beans because I brought some home and had no idea what to do with them. It turns out that they are a very old bean that had been a staple in Europe way back in the day. Europeans brought them to America, but they were not necessarily a food that caught on with the mainstream. Basically, we don’t eat them as often as we eat black beans, pinto beans, etc.

But, in my humble foodie opinion… we should. Just take the time to do the following steps:

1. Slice open the pods as seen in the photo above. Remove the beans.

2. Par-boil the beans for a couple minutes. Then drain them and remove the outer waxy coating to get to the real bean.

3. Bring them back to a boil for a few minutes to make sure they are cooked.

I took my beans, put them in a food processor with some olive oil, 2 garlic cloves that I had peeled and boiled for a few minutes with the beans, and a little freshly grated parmesan.

Puree it and generously spread these green legumes on toasted bread. (My bread here was grilled, which is even better!)

The finishing touch here was some Red Alae Hawaiian Kai Sea Salt from nowhere else than my favorite place: Savory Spice Shop.

Here is the almond butter I made in my Vita-Mix. It is really easy and takes just a few minutes. I used unsalted dry roasted almonds, and this works out to cost a lot less than pre-made almond butter in the store. I am really loving my Vita-Mix!

There is no recipe to post here because Vita-Mix provides specific instructions on making nut-butters. If you have a Vita-Mix, you have that info. Go make some nut butter!

I make this quite frequently because it is easy and delicious.

Preheat oven to 375. Take off the excess outer skin of one bulb of garlic and chop off the very top. Place in an oven-safe bowl/dish, pour in 1/4-1/3 cup olive oil, cover (I use foil), and bake for 45 minutes.

It will be sizzling hot, so let it cool completely.