Ode to Peanut Butter

In case you didn’t know, March is proclaimed National Peanut Month. What better way to start a new month than to celebrate by eating, making, or buying something peanut butter flavored? Not only is it a dreamy, creamy, protein-packed powerhouse in a jar, it has numerous health benefits as well.

--Based on 2 Tbsp serving--

• Calories ---10% (190 calories)---Energy!
• Protein ---13% (8g)---Needed to repair body tissues and develop new ones, to maintain fluid levels and to make antibodies which ward off disease and infection.
• Fiber ---8% (2g)---Fiber reduces the risk of some types of cancer, helps control blood sugar levels and may help reduce the level of cholesterol in your blood.
• Vitamin E ---22% (2mg)---Vital antioxidant which protects Vitamin A and body's cells and tissues from damage. Important for the immune system. May aid in the prevention of tumor growth.
• Niacin ---24% (4mg)---Important in the release of energy from the food we eat and the maintenance of healthy skin, the nervous system and the digestive tract.
• Folate ---7.5% (30mcg)---Important for the development of new cells, particularly during growth and pregnancy.
• Magnesium ---15% (52mg)---Important in the building of bones and teeth, creation of protein, transmission of nerve impulses and maintenance of body temperature.
• Phosphorus ---13% (104mg)---Component of all soft tissues. Fundamental to growth and maintenance of bones and teeth.

The History of Peanut Butter

There are many claims about the origin of peanut butter. Africans ground peanuts into stews as early as the 15th century. The Chinese have crushed peanuts into creamy sauces for centuries. Civil War soldiers dined on 'peanut porridge.' These uses, however, bore little resemblance to peanut butter as it is known today.

In 1890, an unknown St. Louis physician supposedly encouraged the owner of a food products company, George A. Bayle Jr., to process and package ground peanut paste as a nutritious protein substitute for people with poor teeth who couldn't chew meat. The physician apparently had experimented by grinding peanuts in his hand-cranked meat grinder. Bayle mechanized the process and began selling peanut butter out of barrels for about 6¢ per pound.

Peanut Butter As We Know It Today

In 1922, Joseph L. Rosefield began selling a number of brands of peanut butter in California. These peanut butters were churned like butter so they were smoother than the gritty peanut butters of the day. He soon received the first patent for a shelf-stable peanut butter which would stay fresh for up to a year because the oil didn't separate from the peanut butter.

One of the first companies to adopt this new process was Swift & Company for its E.K. Pond peanut butter ~ renamed Peter Pan in 1928. In 1932, Rosefield had a dispute with Peter Pan and began producing peanut butter under the Skippy label the following year. Rosefield created the first crunchy style peanut butter two years later by adding chopped peanuts into creamy peanut butter at the end of the manufacturing process.

In 1955, Procter & Gamble entered the peanut butter business by acquiring W.T. Young Foods in Lexington, Kentucky, makers of Big Top Peanut Butter. They introduced Jif in 1958 and now operate the world's largest peanut butter plant ~ churning out 250,000 jars every day!

And Peanut Butter has recently made even more of mark in the food world..it’s no longer possible to just pick from crunchy or creamy, Skippy or Jiff, check out some of my favorite peanut butters!!

• PB & Co. peanut butters are out of this world—make sure to try the Double Chocolate Dreams, White Chocolate Wonderful, and the Cinnamon Raisin Swirl to name a few!
• PB2 is a peanut butter in powdered form—mix it with water and you get a creamy peanut butter ready for eating. This is perfect for travel since it takes up little space in powder form and only needs water to be mixed.
• FitNutz peanut butter is yet another powdered peanut butter mix—if you haven’t tried the powder, don’t shoot it down right away, it’s highly comparable to the stuff in a jar!
• Justin’s Nut Butter comes in convenient squeeze backs for on-the-go snacking or just to make sure you don’t go overboard with a whole jar! My favorite is definitely the Cinnamon Peanut Butter! =)

Do  I already have you craving some peanut butter flavor? How about satisfying it with one of my peanut butter recipes?

• Nut Over Nibbles cookies
• Peanut Butter Bombs
• German Chocolate PB Kisses
• Peanut Buttery Bars
• PB & J Cupcakes
• PB Cup Pie

What is your all-time favorite recipe containing peanut butter??

And of course I couldn’t start the month of March out without celebrating a bit early. Check out my new PB creation!!

Choco-PB Banana Roll

Serves: 8

Ingredients:

• 1 box of Angel Food Cake mix
• 1 1.4-oz box of instant sugar-free(or regular if you choose) chocolate pudding mix—half cup reserved for drizzling.
• 1/2 c cold milk—I used Almond Breeze
• 1 large banana
• 1/4 c powdered sugar, for sprinkling
• 2 Tbsp PB2 or 2 Tbsp creamy PB

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix cake mix and water until combined. Line a 15 x 10 x 1 in. pan with waxed paper or tinfoil and spray with cooking spray. Carefully pour batter evenly over pan. Let bake for 17-20 minutes until cakes springs back and is lightly browned on edges.

Meanwhile take a kitchen towel(or use a pillowcase like me)and sprinkle it evenly with the powdered sugar.

Take cake out and immediately invert on to prepared towel and roll up starting the long way. Carefully move to cooling rack and allow to completely cool, about 45 minutes.

Mix pudding and milk together with wire whisk for about two minutes—let sit for 5 minutes. Add PB2 powder, or if using real peanut butter, melt slightly in the microwave and incorporate into pudding mix..remember to reserve 1/2 c at this point. Slice banana into small slices.

Carefully unroll the cake leaving the towel below it. Spread pudding evenly over inside of the rolled cake, topping with bananas. Re-roll the cake without the towel and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing. Drizzle pudding over individual slices right before serving.

German Chocolate Peanut Butter Kisses

Valentine’s Day 2010

♥    ♥   ♥

Spending♥

The holiday this year is expected to generate $14.1 billion in retail sales in the United States. The number is down from last year's $14.7 billion, because a number of consumers are choosing not to spend money on Valentine's Day this year.

The average U.S. consumer is expected to spend $103 on Valentine's Day gifts, meals, and entertainment, about 50 cents more per person than in 2009.

Spouses are spending less and plan to pay $63.34 on Valentine's Day gifts for their significant other, down from last year's $67.22 average.

Friends and co-workers will spend significantly more than they did last year, and more will be spent on pets.

Gifts♥

Spending for practical gifts, such as winter clothing and accessories, is up, while only 35.6 percent of those celebrating will plan an evening out. That's down from last year's 47 percent.

U.S. men will spend nearly twice as much on the holiday as U.S. women. In 2010, the average man will spend $135.35 on Valentine's Day gifts, while a typical woman will spend $72.28.

Cards♥

As usual, greeting cards will be the most common Valentine's Day gifts. Fifty-five percent of U.S. consumers plan to send at least one.

About 190 million cards are sent each year. That figure doesn't include the hundreds of millions of cards schoolchildren exchange.

Candy♥

• About 47 percent of U.S. consumers will exchange Valentine's Day candy, which will cost about $1 billion. About 75 percent of that billion is from sales of chocolate. Chocolate has been associated with romance at least since Mexico's 15th- and 16th-century Aztec Empire.
• About eight billion little candy hearts were made last year, with sayings such as "Be Mine.

What are you doing this Valentine’s Day? And what do you normally get/give for gifts?!

German Chocolate Peanut Butter Kisses

Makes approx. 28 cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 box German Chocolate cake mix
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 c vegetable oil
• 1 bag Reese’s PB hearts
• 1 c roasted peanuts

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix cake mix, eggs, and oil thoroughly. Set aside.
• Grind up peanuts in food processor and pour into a shallow bowl or plate.

• Start taking wrappers of a hearts.

• Roll cookies into 1-inch balls and follow by rolling them in the ground peanuts.
• Bake 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet for 9-12 minutes.
• Cool for 2 minutes then press Reese’s heart into the middle.

• Let cool completely—2 hours.

1 more day of Valentine’s treats tomorrow—save the best for last!

The Treat to Start Your Week Sweet

Yes, today is Monday—back to school, work, etc. However, Monday’s don’t have to be completely drab. If you bake a sweet treat, it can help make the day a little more pleasant. But not just any sweet treat, something that is easy to make, but tastes out-of-this-world—today’s recipe qualifies for a Monday sweet treat!

But first, I received a wonderful blog award, “One Lovely Blog” from Taylor!

I will be nominating 10 other bloggers on my next post :-)

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes

Yields: 24

Prep: 20 minutes

Cook: 25 minutes

Ingredients

Frosting:

• 1/2 c light cream cheese (block style)
• 1/4 c creamy peanut butter (I used PB&Co Dark Chocolate Dream)
• 1/4 c confectioner’s sugar

Cupcakes:

• 1 c cake flour
• 1 c granulated sugar or sugar substitute
• 1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 c low fat buttermilk (I used Almond Breeze and added 1/2 Tbsp vinegar and mixed)
• 1/3 c canola oil
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 oz semisweet chocolate, melted
• 1/2 c seedless jam (your preferred flavor—I used raspberry)
• 1/4 c honey roasted peanuts, chopped

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a mini 24-cup muffin pan with nonstick spray.
• To make frosting, with an electric mixer on low speed, beat the frosting ingredients in a small bowl until smooth, about 2 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap, set aside.
• To make the cupcakes, whisk together cake flour, granulated sugar, cocoa, baking powder and soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk together buttermilk, oil, egg, egg white, and vanilla in a larger bowl. Whisk in the melted chocolate. Add the flour mixture, stirring until just blended.
• Fill each muffin cup 2/3’s full with batter. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Let cool in the pan on rack for 10 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the pan.
• Meanwhile, fill pastry bag with seedless jam. Carefully insert the pastry tip into top of cupcake. Pipe in about 1 tsp jam. Repeat with remaining cupcakes and jam.

• With a small spatula, spread the frosting over the tops of the cupcakes, sprinkle with peanuts.

..Then you can lick the spoon! And the bowl if you must :-)

Today’s recipe adapted from Weight Watcher’s Best Ever Desserts.

Nuts Over Nuts Nibbles =)

To me, peanut butter is an ultimate comfort food. It's creamy, dreamy, and not to mention loaded with protein to keep you full for a long time! So when I had a coupon for Betty Crocker PB Cookie Mix, I knew I didn't want the boring old criss-cross peanut butter cookies that they show on the package--my goal was to make something gourmet looking and even better tasting! First I decided instead of rolling in a ball, I would roll it into a log shape. Then armed with a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips and a cup of crushed unsalted peanuts, I went to work. I love when creations turn into masterpieces! These cookies definitely shined on my cookie platters.

Nuts Over Nuts Nibbles

Ingredients:

1 package of Betty Crocker peanut butter cookie mix + ingredients stated on package

1/3 C unsalted peanuts, crushed

1/3 C semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted

Directions:

1]Preheat oven to 375 F. Mix cookie mix with ingredients stated on package. Take 1 Tbsp of dough and roll into a log shape, placing about 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

2]Place in the oven for 11-13 minutes. Take out and let cool completely. While waiting to cool, crush the peanuts until they a ground up pretty fine.

3]Once cool, melt the chocolate chips in 30 second intervals in microwave safe bowl. Dip a log into the chocolate and then into the cup of crushed peanuts. Lay on wax paper for about 2 hours, or until chocolate has completely hardened.