Trying almond instead of peanut butter

Recently, we stopped buying peanut butter... for the time being. Almond butter, unlike peanut butter, tends to be *slightly* healthier for a number of reasons. But before just quoting them off the cuff, I'm looking for a great article to post in the comments for you so you can see for yourself. It's nothing diet shattering, just slight. Plus, we love that raw taste of almond butter. We're trying it out for now. We'll see how it goes:)

So, last night I wanted veggies and rice with peanut sauce. I took the typical peanut sauce recipe and changed up the ingredients a tad bit to work with what I had on-hand. And it came out GREAT! So here it is...
Byrdy's Steamed Veggies and Brown Rice with Almond Sauce

INGREDIENTS - makes 2 servings:
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Baby carrots (or large whole carrots sliced)
3 tablespoons almond butter
2.5-3 teaspoons sugar (adjust to taste)
2.5 teaspoons Minced Garlic (i usually used canned)
1 tablespoon water
1 Tablespoon Low Sodium Soy Sauce
1 1/4 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
Brown Rice

DIRECTIONS:
- steam chopped cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots just until slightly tender. I still like a decent crunch so I tend to go shorter on the steamer time.
- Cook brown rice according to directions on box.
- In a small bowl (or mini food processor), combine almond butter, garlic and sugar. Mix well.
- Add in the soy sauce, water, vinegar, and cilantro. Mix or pulse until smooth.

Layer rice, some sauce, veggies and more sauce over veggies. And there you have it! A heathy, colorful, very easy and tasty meal!