Recipe Tuesday: Green Pea Cilantro Spread

Today's recipe is green, in honor of St. Patrick's Day. I found it on Chocolate and Zucchini, an amazing foodie website.

Ingredients:
10.5 oz. shelled green peas, frozen or fresh but not canned
1 drop cilantro essential oil for cooking, or a small bunch fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons whole almond butter
1 clove garlic, minced (optional)
1 dash Tabasco sauce
Salt, black pepper

Steam the peas, then mix everything together in a food processor. You can add a bit of water if it's too thick. Store in the fridge, and serve on crackers or wheat crispbread.

My mods: I didn't want to shell out the $11 for a jar of almond butter, so I used peanut butter. It gave the spread a peanutty taste, which I tried to cover up by adding more of the other ingredients. I used a bit more Tabasco (I use the green sauce, which is milder than normal Tabasco) and some lime juice, in addition to more cilantro (which I LOVE, so I always over-use it anyway) and garlic (ditto). It actually made a pretty interesting spread. My roommate loved the bite from the Tabasco.

It's not my favorite thing I've ever made, but it makes a pretty decent appetizer.

Even if it does look like baby food...

Pie update: Mom loved it, but she's borderline diabetic and didn't want to keep the rest of it in the house. I took the leftovers (about 3/4) to work with me, which made my fellow teachers very happy. I did realize, though, that it needs to be refrigerated after it cools. I can't wait to bake another one!