Yesterday I found out that March is National Peanut Month and because this is the last day of March, I thought I would do a post on peanuts. Most people who get to know me soon find out that I love, love, lub, lub lub, peanut butter. I actually prefer peanut butter to *gasp* chocolate, that is how much I love peanut butter. If I lived on a desert island with only fruit and grass to eat, the food I would miss the most would be peanut butter. I would have to bribe the fish to swim to the nearest inhabited area and bring me a jar before I went the way of most castaways: insane. Come on, I mean seriously peanut butter is like one of the most versatile things out there. You can have it with every single meal of the day without even feeling overly redundant. Like, for example: breakfast you can have pancakes with peanut butter and bananas, a piece of toast with peanut butter and honey on it, or a bowl of oatmeal with a spoonful of peanut butter mixed in with it. For lunch you could have the original peanut butter and jelly sandwich, an apple or celery dipped in peanut butter, or a peanut butter granola or energy bar. Now you might ask " Megan, your forgetting dinner. You can't have peanut butter with dinner!". Here you would be wrong. First off you could have a chicken wrap with peanut Thai sauce (my personal favorite), a Oriental salad with peanuts on top, an African peanut stew, peanut butter enchiladas, I've even found recipes for peanut butter fried chicken (I'm not sure how good that sounds to be honest though). Now lastly, desert. This is the easy one. you could do cookies, sundaes, smoothies, brownies, cheesecake, the list goes on. So there you go, you could live on a diet of peanut products without going completely mad in a few days. You might gain quite a few pounds, but I know I'd be happy. Lastly, I decided to leave you with one of my favorite peanut recipes. It's quite simple, low mess, and great if your short on time.
Peanut Butter Quick Fix
First make sure you have everything you'll need. It's really disappointing if you find your short on an ingredient after you start.
You will need:
1 Tb Peanut butter
Spoon
optional: sugar
First find the right sized spoon, not too big, not too small. I personally prefer our small spoons, but it really is up to your personal preference. Next find you jar of peanut butter. I like creamy, but crunchy would work just as well too. If you only have almond butter or another kind of peanut butter knock off, that can work too.
After opening the jar slowly scrape the spoon along the sides of the jar. I like to go in a counterclockwise motion, but again it is ultimately up to you.
The next step is the hardest. When you have your desired amount on the spoon you take it out and close the lid without setting the spoon down. It can be tricky to close the jar with one hand holding your spoon in the other without getting any on your hand*, but after some practise you'll have it.
If you really want a sweet treat you can sprinkle some sugar on the peanut butter. I personally don't really like that, but I've heard of some people who do.
No waiting, cooking, freezing or cooling off is necessary, your Peanut Butter Quick Fix is finished. You can slowly lick it, or eat it all at once. However you choose, enjoy!
*If you do get any on your hands, it's OK to lick it off.
