Almond Paste

Almonds are high in monounsaturated fats, the same type of health-promoting fats as are found in olive oil, which have been associated with reduced risk of heart disease.  In addition to healthy fats and vitamin E, a quarter-cup of almonds contains almost 99 mg of magnesium.  Here is a way to make your own mild but tasty almond paste that can be spread on bread, apples, carrots or added to stir fries.

What you'll need: one food processor, two tablespoons of Safflower Oil = $ 0.17, one 12 ounce package of almonds = $ 4.99.  I like to use the slivered almonds to make quicker work of the chopping, but you can also use whole nuts.  You'll want to use safflower oil for its very light flavor.

Place your almonds in the food processor and start chopping, while it is running remove the stopper on the lid and slowly add two tablespoons of oil.  Now let it run until smooth.  You may need to stop and scrap down the contents then continue the mixing.  Depending on your preference you could add another tablespoon of oil to and continue until a creamy consistency is reached.

This gives me 12 ounces of almond paste for $ 4.16 [$ 0.347 /ounce].

Now here is a cost comparison difficulty because I did not get organic almonds and the only store bought option was Nature's Promise Organics Almond Butter16 ounce for $ 11.79 [$ 0.737 /ounce].  If I bought the small 9.5 ounce container of organic almonds there would not have been any savings.