National Almond Day (And The Topic of GF Flours)

Posted on by Hattush

I was bored out of my mind and trying to figure out if there are any “National [whatever] Day” today. Turns out, today is, in fact…. *long dramatic pause* NATIONAL ALMOND DAY! Exciting, no? No. Who makes up these days anyway?? *shrugs*

food healthy almond almonds
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*ignores the wails of my siblings about how bored they are*

Almonds have been in my life for quite a while. A few years ago, on one of our various diets, we were gluten free for a while and almonds/almond flour was a big part of our diet. It’s amazing how sweet almonds taste (especially if you cut out all sugar from your diet XD)

We are getting ready to go dairy, sugar and gluten free again (*sobs because I will miss my beloved cheese cake and other dairy-based desserts*) so I’ve started thinking about GF flours again. For the most part, there are three main GF flours that I’ve used:

  • Cassava Flour
  • Almond Flour
  • Coconut Flour
  • (We also used buckwheat occasionally but *gags* it has a VERY distinct taste that doesn’t go well with a lot of the stuff I like to bake)

My favorite is cassava flour. It’s pretty easy to use and tastes relatively like “normal” flour.

Almond flour is good, too. It has a nutty flavor and is kind of “chunky” sometimes, but I don’t hate using it.

I wish I could like coconut flour. But I’ve had a bad experience with coconut in the past. XD (I won’t gross you out with the details, but part of it did include a younger me drinking like AT LEAST a half cup of melted coconut oil in an attempt to reach the homemade chocolate that was swimming below). If I eat very much coconut-anything, I get a sore throat. :/ Tragic. Besides that, I really don’t like working with coconut flour in baking. It soaks up liquid VERY quickly and has a really rough texture. *nods*

almonds pistachios cashews dried nuts
Photo by Mehran B on Pexels.com

Well, I gotta go be bored, people. XD Maybe stare out at the grey sky or glare at my blank computer screen or *gasps because I have a brilliant idea* have Yoveil or Dovid scream right into my ear to destroy the boredom that is killing me. Of course, if I had them do that, it would probably kill my sanity before it destroyed the boredom. XD 😛 Hopefully you’re having a lot more fun than I am. XD Happy National Almond Day! Eat ’em for me! 😉

~Hattush

What are YOUR thoughts on almonds? What GF flours do you use? Any suggestions on good dairy, sugar and gluten free desserts? 😛

Published by Hattush

Christian| Writer| Glider Slave| Runner| Blogger| Baker| Greek Myth Nerd| Photographer| Sister| Someone who believes in hope and seeks to spread it|

49 thoughts on “National Almond Day (And The Topic of GF Flours)”

  1. XD Yeah, who makes these up? BTW May 4th is Star Wars day. May the fourth be with you!!! XD I’m not even a fan of Star Wars. XD I’m kinda bored too. But I think I’ll go play I can’t draw please laugh at me so I can laugh at myself. *sighs* I can’t really draw well.

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    1. Lol. XD Yeah, I’ve heard about May 4th. XD The radio people (great terminology, self) always talk about it. XD XD
      Hey, I like your drawings. Keep working on them. *thumbs up* If it’s any comfort, though, I CANNOT draw. At all. My drawings are tragities….

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  3. I’m eat free of gluten, dairy, and sugar.
    Because It’s so hard to find a dessert free of those things, I just don’t eat sweets. My dad recently made me a banana type bread using coconut flour. It was pretty good!

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    1. Wow. That is so hard! I could not live without sweets. XD Well, I could, but……have you heard of monk fruit? It’s like stevia but it’s made from the fruit instead of the leaf so it doesn’t get bitter as fast.

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  4. Are you talking about sugar as in white, brown, AND honey, and fruits? ‘Cause I just might have a dessert (or two) you could try IF you aren’t going off the last 2 in the list. 😜

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      1. Alright! Well, this is the first recipe. It’s one that I made up. You really could just mix the peanut butter and banana together, and it would be good in and of itself, but the other stuff adds. The oatmeal is not a very critical part if you don’t have gluten free oatmeal. I’ll put the next recipe into a comment right below.

        Banana Snack Bar

        ½ mashed banana
        1 tbsp peanut (or) almond butter
        ½ tbsp oatmeal
        ½ tsp coconut oil
        1 tbsp raisins
        3 tsp honey

        1. Mix the mashed banana and peanut/almond butter together.
        2. Put oatmeal into a small container and pour a small amount of hot water in to soften it. Once softened, add it to the mix.
        3. Add coconut oil and mix thoroughly.
        4. Put the raisins and honey in and mix.
        5. Pour into a rectangular container 4 ½ in x 2 ¾ in and at least 1 inch deep.
        6. Place in freezer for about 2 hours, or until completely frozen.
        7. Take out of the freezer approx. 5 minutes before serving. Then either carve out of the form and put on a plate or eat it directly out of the form.

        Enjoy!

        Yields: 1 bar

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        1. This is the second one. I didn’t come up with it. It’s from “The Good Book Cookbook”.

          Pistachio Almond Cookies
          (from The Good Book Cookbook)

          • 2 cups (450g) shelled almonds
          • 1 cup (225g) shelled pistachio nuts
          • Grape or apple juice (enough to make the mix pasty)
          • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
          • 1 cup (225g) honey
          • 1 teaspoon salt

          Grind nuts to meal in a blender or food processor, a few at a time if necessary. Add juice to make a smooth paste. Add cinnamon, honey, and salt. Drop onto an oiled baking sheet and press into rounds. Bake in a preheated oven at 300℉ (150℃, Gas mark 2) for 10 minutes or until golden. These cookies burn easily, so watch them carefully.

          (Sorry! I don’t know how much this yields, BUT we are a family of seven, and this gives us PLENTY.) 😉

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                1. Yes! We’ve used a LOT of coconut/almond milk.
                  Coconut water is pretty good. 👍🏻 A while back, we got a whole coconut and drank the water fresh. That was SO good!!! 😋

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  6. I know how days like these get started. People wake up one morning and think it would be funny to have a National Pizza Day or National Hip Hop Music Day or National Whatever Day, and then they post something on Facebook, or their blog, or something, and boom! It’s official. That’s all it takes. So keep that in mind if you think it would be funny to have a National Corn Chip Day or National Sock Day . . . (BTW, I think almond butter is SO good! There’s times I would pick it over peanut butter!)

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    1. Lol. I would definitely do a National Chocolate Covered Chocolate Day. 🤣😂
      Do you like socks? (Random, yes.) I haaaaaate them. 😂 They make my feet feel soooo trapped and *screams* they are awful! 😜

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      1. Just do a post about it, and it’ll be a national day! Eh, socks are okay. I mean, they keep my feet warm, and since I get chilled WAY too easily, they help a lot. But whenever I can, my feet are FREE!!!!

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        1. Lol. Yup. I need to do that. XD XD
          Sometimes I’ll wear house shoes if I’m EXTREMELY chilled, but the only time I ever wear socks if I’m running ’cause my shoes are too big and I get blisters without socks. XD

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          1. Yup. When we go skating, I have to wear TWO pairs of socks, because otherwise, I’ll get blisters. It’s awful. But when you skate for like, three hours . . . with one pair of socks that’s not that thick . . . yeah. The end result isn’t pretty.

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              1. Well, at the skating rink, they have a Christian music nite the first Monday of every month. It’s always a treat when we get to go! We go to celebrate birthdays that month, or just for fun. We look forward to it every month. And when we’re there, we get in as much skating as we can. Because then we have to wait a whole month until we get to go again! And also . . . us kids love skating. We don’t stop!

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    1. You’re probably right. HEY. I just got a brilliant idea! You know what you should do??? YOU SHOULD DO A BLOG POST WHERE YOU CREATE YOUR OWN NATIONAL DAY! (Just like Lydia said!!) You could have….uh, National Duck Appreciation Day or National Skillet Day or National Flyleaf (that’s the right name, right?) Day! That would be fun. *nods wisely* As your loving (and bored) sister, I command you to take my advice and create your own national day. *grins* Stop shaking your head and laughing at me. I’m serious here!

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  8. I love chocolate covered almonds! * as she takes them off the top shelf opens the bag and puts one in her mouth* 😁
    Gluten-free and dairy-free desserts are already challenging enough without throwing sugar-free into the mix! I do the first two, but in order to do sugar free I would have to use a sugar substitute of some sort. I usually just don’t make desserts, and when I do, I use a GF brownie mix or GF chocolate chip cookie mix (which have sugar). I do make a really good Shake. I use Orgain organic protein plant-based protein powder, the creamy chocolate fudge flavor. It is sugar-free, gluten-free, and dairy free. I put about 2 cups of water into the blender, add one heaping scoop of the powder, then add a banana, 3 oz of strawberries, 3 oz of frozen Apples or grapes, 2 ounces of frozen blueberries or raspberries, and 2 oz of frozen cucumber. I know the Cucumber may sound kind of weird, but it gives a little twang that is actually really good with this chocolate fudge powder! I eat this for breakfast almost every day oh, and it’s really good! I freeze the apples and grapes (and sometimes the strawberries and blueberries when they’re cheaper fresh) ahead of time since they’re not usually available Frozen at the store.

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    1. OH YES! Chocolate covered almonds are SO GOOD! *happy sigh*
      I know! Last week I was trying to make a dairy free, sugar free and MOSTLY gluten free dessert. *dies* I was substituting all sorts of stuff and the end product turned out so weird. XD
      Oh yum! Thanks for sharing that! It sounds sooooo good!!!!

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