We continue our talks on how to start your own self-sufficient food supply. Last time we talked about how to grow your own peanuts at home. This week we will walk you through some of the ways you can use those peanuts you grew at home. We will give you some DIY recipes for homegrown peanuts.

Of course, as we keep saying, you do not have to grow your own produce to be able to make homemade stuff. If you are not in a position to grow your own, you can still make homemade by buying in bulk and starting from there. Do not let the lack of growing space stop you from making homemade peanut butter or anything else that you might want to make. Yes, you will have to buy the ingrediants but if you buy organic, and in bulk, you are still ahead of the game, by not buying process foods.

Peanuts are very similar in use to almonds. Both can be used to replace other flours as well as each other. We did a talk a couple of weeks ago on easy almond recipes.

Peanuts are a very versatile legume. You can make all kinds of recipes with peanuts. You can start with basic peanut butter, peanut brittle, peanut butter balls, or you can move on to cakes and pies, whatever takes your fancy.

You can, of course, just eat your peanuts. We often eat our peanuts green or raw. Just take the homegrown peanut that you have stored in the shell, shell them and eat them.

Recipe One:
You can shell them and roast them in the oven. You can add salt or any other spice or herb you like to make gourmet peanuts.

Recipe Two:
We have tried homemade peanut butter and it has worked well. Do not be fooled, homemade will not be the same as the stuff you buy at the store. But most of the time, homemade is better. Some people take time to get used to the homemade texture and different flavors but we like ours better. This process is very similar to the talk we did on how to make your own almond butter.

To make homemade peanut butter you will need:

a food processor
2 cups of peanuts
2 teaspoons oil

Put the peanuts and oil into the food processor.

Mix in a food processor for a few minutes till the consistency you want. The longer you process the creamier it will become. If you like your peanut butter thick, process it less.

This is the most basic homemade peanut butter recipe. Everything you do differently will alter the flavor of your peanut butter a bit. Roasted peanuts give a different final flavor than raw peanuts. The same goes for if you have plain peanuts or salted peanuts. If you add honey or not, and even which veg oil you use. All of these things will change the flavor just a bit. You can experiment with different combinations and see which ones you like best.

Recipe Three:
If you can chunky peanut butter you can easily alter the recipe to do that.
Use the 2 cups of peanuts and 2 ts oil and blend.
Take 1/2 cup peanuts and chop. Set these aside for later.
Once you have your peanut butter, add the chopped peanuts, blend to mix. Do not over blend or you will make it creamy again and have to add more chopped.
You can make these to whatever level of chunky you want by how much you chop your 1/2 cup of peanuts.

Recipe Four:
We have made peanut butter balls also. It is a bit of an odd process but the results are good. In truth, we first made these by accident. We were making homemade peanut butter and left the processor too long. We came up with this dough mix and rather than throw it out, we altered it to make a dessert instead. Another way to use what you have even if it is not exactly right. The end results were good.

You follow the basic peanut butter recipe but you go a few steps further.
2cups peanuts
2 teaspoons oil
salt to taste

Put your ingrediants into your food processor and mix. Once you have the basic peanut butter as the above recipe makes, stop.

Here you add 1 cup of honey to your mix and process again.

This is where things get odd. You will process “too much” and the peanut butter will start to separate. This is very similar to how the butter and whey separate when making homemade butter.

You will need to watch carefully at this stage. If you overdo it, you will separate too much and have peanut butter cement. What you want is peanut butter the consistency of playdough.

Once you are there, stop processing and start making balls. We roll ours by hand but you can make shapes or whatever form you want.

The “dough” will be warm and workable. You will want to make your peanut butter balls with some, if you wait too long the “dough” gets cold and hard.

Just roll your peanut butter balls and set them aside to finish cooling.

We know, it may look odd and is not a very flashy dessert but these homemade peanut butter balls are quick and easy to make.

The kids like them and so do the dogs. If your family will not eat them, your pets surely will. We did a talk on making homemade pill pockets for your pets a while back. This is a good alternative to that recipe.

Recipe Five:
Of course, being from the south, we like boiled peanuts. Homemade boiled peanuts are easy to do, although they do take a good bit of boiling. It does depend on the size of pot you have and how many peanuts you are using as to how long it takes to boil. You will need to use raw or fresh dug peanuts for boiling.

The amount depends on you but a general rule is:
1 pound of raw peanuts
4 cups of water
1/4 to 1/2 cup of salt
The amount of water depends on the size of the pot.
The amount of salt depends on your preference.

Boil your peanuts for 3 to 4 hours, again depending on the amount you are boiling at one time.

Do note, for those of us with high blood pressure, boil peanuts are not good for you to eat too often, too much salt.
We do not have pics of boiling peanuts as we do not do it often and have not done so for a good while. But the process is easy, just follow the directions.

There are other ways you can use your homegrown peanuts but these are the ones that are most common. If you want to expand your cooking, do so research and see what new things you can find to make with your peanuts, whether homegrown or bought.

As we said, if you are not growing peanuts yourself yet, that is ok. You can still buy the peanuts, we recommend organic and raw. You can make the same things with the peanuts you buy and it will still be homemade and better for you.

Remember, one step at a time. If you are not growing peanuts, buy fresh to make your peanut butter, or whatever it is you are working at. If you can grow your own, that is even better. Do not stress over how much of it is homegrown, or how much you can grow at once. Every little bit helps. Every step you can make is one step you do not have to buy. Do a little at a time as you can manage it.

We hope you have enjoyed this talk and we hope you will try your hand at homemade peanut butter, and any other peanut recipe you might like.

Thank you for visiting and please come again for another edition of Out Standing in the Field.