Recipes

Add Crunch To Lunch

Posted: 9/21/2011

Walnut butter is very easy to make. Spread on crostini and garnish with fruit or fresh herbs for an elegant appetizer or use it as a dip for crisp vegetables.

(NAPSI)—While childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years, parents can get good advice on healthful meals for their children from cookbook author Mollie Katzen and from Dr. Brian Wansink, author of “Mindless Eating” and co-director of the Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition Programs.

Kids are more likely to eat nutritious foods that they help prepare. In fact, a study in the American Heart Journal found that students who brought lunch from home were less likely to be obese than those who had the school lunch.

Packing lunch can be a great opportunity to help children make food choices. “You want your kid to eat carrots?” Dr. Wansink says, “Give her a choice between carrots and celery. If you just offer carrots, she’ll feel you’re forcing a vegetable on her. If you offer carrots and celery, she’ll pick one.”

Katzen recommends homemade California Walnut Butter as a healthful and delicious sandwich spread or as a dip for vegetables.

CALIFORNIA WALNUT BUTTER

2 cups California walnuts

¼ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons walnut or vegetable oil (or as needed)

Optional, to taste:

A little honey

A little cinnamon

You can make walnut butter using raw, soaked or toasted walnuts. Here’s how to do all three.

Raw walnuts: Use raw walnuts for a very creamy and smooth texture that tastes like a just-shelled walnut.

Soaked walnuts: This method will remove some of the tannin from the walnut skin and offer a more textured walnut butter. Soak walnuts overnight, drain and discard the water. Then, toast the walnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet at 350° F for about 15 minutes to dry them out (don’t let them get dark!). Cool the walnuts before making them into butter.

Toasted walnuts: To enhance the sweet, nutty flavor of walnuts, toast them before making them into butter. Walnut butter with toasted walnuts will provide a coarse-textured finished product. Toast walnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet at 350° F for 8 to 10 minutes or until fragrant. Cool the walnuts before making them into butter.

To make the butter:

Make walnut butter by putting the walnuts into the bowl of a food processor and grinding them until they become sticky or paste-like. Add the salt. Add the oil, a little bit at a time, until the walnut butter binds together. If you like, add small touches of honey and/or cinnamon to taste.

Yields 1 cup, 8 servings

For more information and ways to add crunch to lunch, visit www.walnuts.org.