Every year my fiancé and I go to Kai Iwi Lakes up North. It’s magical up there, a tropical looking fresh water lake. Shallow for ages then a huge drop off which dramatically changes the colour of the water.
We’ve been going since we met, before kids it was beach by day, booze by night and camping. When heavily pregnant with our first child, we upgraded to a cabin and I was a whale wallowing in the water.
Then we took my son as a one year old with our second pregnancy in the early stages only 6 weeks old in the womb (in the picture above). It was on this valentine’s day trip that my fiancé proposed on the beach. He wrote “marry me” using sicks on the white sand. Fueled by pregnancy hormones, I cried and cried and barely managed a response.
This year, we are going again as a family of four and renting a wee house. I am spending this week organizing for the annual trip away! I cant wait to go, i dont even care if it rains.
This has lead me to today’s recipe, sunflower seed butter. I have been searching for the perfect, vegan but but free banana bread to bake and take. This accomodates my son’s allergies (anaphylaxis to nuts and allergies to dairy and egg) as well as my own dietary requirements being on an elimination diet to figure out what my daughter is allergic to – which means cutting out wheat, gluten, soy and nightshades. The banana loafs I have found all contain nut butter, so here is a sub for nut butter – sunflower seed butter.
This is also handy for my son’s crèche. He won’t let me leave him alone there, cue hysterical screaming when I head to the door, but they have a no nut policy too. Sunflower butter will be the perfect spread for his brown rice cakes. So full of goodness too and cost effective at about $4 🙂
Sunflower Seed Butter
Ingredients
3 cups sunflower seeds
Olive oil
Yields
1.5 – 2 standard jars full
Method
1. Roast sunflower seeds for 15 – 20 minutes at 180C/350F
2. Whizz in food processor for 8 or so minutes, scraping down the sides as you go. Pour in olive oil to help the mixture along in the first 1 – 2 minutes. It should be smooth and silky when finished. Like a pantene hair commercial.
Optional: Sub for other oils and add vanilla, honey or stevia to sweeten the batch. Sunflower seed butter can be bitter in comparison to nut butters.
Enjoy xx
Dearlove Health 