The Most Creative "Peanut Butter"

HeHeHeHe. I can't stop giggling over this. Butter-colored clay shaped to look like a peanut, then wrapped in a (margarine and butter-ish spreads count, right?) butter wrapper. You could have so much fun with this sitting on your desk! It functions as a desk toy, paperweight, conversation piece, or object d'art, and it would make a terrific gift for a co-worker or fellow peanut butter lover.

This hand-crafted original piece of art is from Amanda's Shop of Random Things. Check out her shop, you're sure to find something to get your giggles jump-started.

Peanut Butter. HeHeHeHe.

A GIVEAWAY! My New Favorite Gadget: The Van Vacter PBJ Bagel Knife

The Peanut Butter Man and I have a long-standing disagreement about the best way to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He uses a butter knife to spread the jelly on one slice of bread, then cleans the knife on the other slice of bread before dipping it in the peanut butter. I spread the peanut butter first, then stick the knife back into the peanut butter to get a little snack to tide me over until my sandwich is ready. Then I tip the jelly jar and usually it drips some out on top of the peanut butter, or if it needs a bit of help I'll grab a spoon. I'll smear the jelly around with my freshly-licked knife, cut the sandwich in half, and enjoy my little bit of heaven.

I have to admit, when I first saw this knife I was skeptical. Let's face it, there are new gadgets and gizmos every day, all proclaiming to be the most awesome things since sliced bread, and most of them end up either in the trash or forgotten in the junk drawer.

After just one use I was hooked. This knife is amazing! Its wavy blade makes it the perfect tool with runny peanut butter--no more drips all over the outside of the jar or on my plate. It works great with cold, stiff peanut butter from the fridge, too. No need for jelly spoons--it holds the jelly just as well as it holds the runny peanut butter.

I love the tip of the knife because it's the perfect shape for scraping the last bits of goodness from the bottom of the jar. The serrated edge cut through soft white bread as neatly and easily as it cut through a bagel. And the handle is perfect: not slippery, not heavy, not too skinny. This knife is also awesome for cream cheese, mayonnaise, or just about anything else you might want to spread on bread.

You can see more about this knife and the complete line of Van Vacter products on their website. If I've convinced you that you can't make it through another PB&J without one of these knives, you can get them from Sur La Table, Williams-Sonoma, and Broadway Panhandler.

I'm very excited because Van Vacter gave me a knife to give away to one of you! Here's how to enter:

1. Leave a comment on this post telling how you make a PBJ
2. You must have a mailing address in the U.S.
3. Earn a second entry by blogging about this giveaway, including a link back to this post; and leave a second comment here with the URL of your post
4. Comments can be posted through October 5, 2008. On October 6 I'll use the randomizer thingie and select a winner.

And the Winners Are . . .

Today's the big day: two of you lucky readers will be receiving a batch of delicious peanut butter cup shortbread, compliments of Cookies by Kristin. The randomizer thingie chose numbers 8 and 17. Congratulations to Fringies and Beaded Tail!

For those of you who weren't so lucky this time, head on over to Cookies by Kristin and order some shortbread. You won't be sorry! (And if by chance you are, please feel free to send the shortbread along to me and I will be more than happy to enjoy it on your behalf!)

Award Time

I am embarrassingly behind on acknowledging rewards. The Brillante Weblog Premio 2008 Award was given to us by Three Fates Design. If you haven't visited this blog, you're missing out on some amazing eye candy!

Fringies also passed this award along to us! The photos of her kids are adorable. And she has a delicious peanut butter cookie recipe posted--it's worth clicking and copying!




Zip 'n' Tizzy was kind enough to bestow this award on us. There's always something there to make me smile, so click on over and have a look. I love the header photo with kids playing in boxes!

I am honored, thrilled, and totally tickled to receive these awards! Thank you!

Peanut Butter and . . . Greeting Cards

Partial to marshmallow with your PB? Or is bacon more your style? This unique set of 4 greeting cards let you choose the right PB combo for your recipient. The set includes one card each of grapes, banana, marshmallow, and bacon. Printed from original art by Wind Up Bird Studios, the cards come with envelopes suitable for mailing. The cards are 100% mouldmade alpha-cellulose paper and have a soft felt finish, ideal for pen, ink, watercolor and other mediums. They're deckled on four sides, giving each card a soft and sophisticated look. Each card is left blank inside for you to personalize your message. What a delicious way to say "Hello!", "I Miss You," or whatever might be on your mind.

Using The Presidential Election to Sell Candy

The L.A. Burdick Company is marketing two collections of chocolate candies with a presidential campaign theme. Their McCain Campaign Chocolates include peanut butter half moons covered in milk chocolate--the only peanut butter candy in either collection. As I write this, the McCain candy is running a distant second to the Obama Campaign Collection (which of course contains no peanut butter). You gotta wonder, are peanut butter lovers that severely outnumbered, or are shoppers trying to make a political statement? Hmmm.

Peanut Butter Cup Shortbread Giveaway

Cookies by Kristin is a new shop on Etsy--just about one month old--but I'm hooked already! These peanut butter cup shortbread cookies are baked fresh when you place your order and then shipped Priority Mail so you get them quickly. Melt-in-your-mouth delicious, I could easily down half an order with my morning coffee. At $6/dozen, that makes this the best $3 breakfast I've ever had. And for that matter, the best shortbread cookies I've ever had. They're good for late night snacks, too. And mid-afternoon snacks. And dessert.

Kristin is not only an awesome baker, she's also very generous. She's giving away a dozen fabulous peanut butter cup shortbread cookies to two separate winners! Here's how to enter:

1. You must have a U.S. mailing address.
2. Have a look at Cookies by Kristin, then come back here and leave a comment telling what flavor of shortbread cookie you'd love to see in her shop next. (I'm hoping for a peanut butter and strawberry combo, sort of a PBJ flavor!)
3. Earn an extra entry by posting about this giveaway on your blog, with links to both this post and to Cookies by Kristin; then leave a second comment on this post letting us know where to find your post.
4. Earn a third entry by making a purchase from Cookies by Kristin, and comment here with your transaction number.
5. Make sure there is a link to your blog or an email address accompanying your comment so that I can contact you if you're a winner.
6. September 25, 2008, is the last date to comment. On September 26 I'll use that randomizer thingie to select the winners.

I've been busy lining up more terrific giveaways, so come back soon and see what else I'm giving away!

Grow Your Own Peanut Butter

I always thought of peanuts as warm-climate plants that need a huge amount of growing space. Seems I wasn't exactly right--good news for all of you! They've been found growing high in the Andes mountains, and they're even grown commercially in Canada. You can grow them in a child's plastic wading pool and even in a deep plastic dishpan on your patio or balcony.

The Mother Earth News has a terrific article on growing peanut plants, complete with resources for seeds. I've got to measure my back yard now to see how many peanut plants I can fit there next spring. It's never too early to start planning, right?

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Peanut Butter

I tried PB Loco's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Peanut Butter today. WOW.

This stuff is so rich I had to take my sandwich apart and spread some of the peanut butter onto a new piece of bread. It's delicious. The ultimate comfort food. And it would be amazing over vanilla ice cream.

I could go on and on about how much I love this peanut butter, but I'm going to make another Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Peanut Butter sandwich now.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Hairpins

Handcrafted with love from polymer clay, two PBJ sandwich halves adorn 2" silver-toned hairpins. With creamy peanut butter on one slice of white bread and grape jelly on the other, these hair accessories are simply sweet! Get yours at mack on Etsy, $6.
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Perfect Peanut Butter Journal

If you've been hunting for the perfect thing to chronicle your peanut butter experiences, search no more! This 6.5" x 8.5", 50-sheet/100-page recycled notebook is practically calling for your peanut butter notes. Recipes, flavors, doodles--it can handle them all. Get it at Ivy Lane Designs.

Win a Jar of P.B. Loco

Kristle at Stir-Crazy! is giving away 3 jars of P.B. Loco peanut butter. I love every flavor I've tried so far, but they make so many different flavors there are plenty I haven't been able to check out yet. I really want to get my hands on a jar of their Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and the new Sun-Ripened Apricot flavors. Check out her giveaway post and enter--you'll be glad you did! Giveaway ends September 18, 2008 @ 12 Noon, CST.

Guest Post by Christine from Best HomeSchool Place

I've never been a guest blogger before, so I wanted to make sure this was good. I've always been a big peanut butter fan, so I'm going to share some of my more unusual peanut butter things, a couple of recipes and a great how to video AI found on one of my other favorite blogs. But to start this post off right, I'd thought I'd share a photo from one of my favorite tv shows.

From Project Runway season 4
This great dress, although not as exciting or innovative as some of the other dresses, was made completely out of Reece's Peanut Butter Cup wrappers. I don't think this picture does it justice, but it is a cute and wearable party dress. Does it look like it was made from candy wrappers? I don't think it does. Although it wasn't the winner of that episode, it wasn't the loser either.

My favorite Peanut Butter Recipes

This is something my mom always made me when I was a kid. One of the few things in my lunch box that I wouldn't trade or give away. Mostly because the other kids thought it would taste gross, and wouldn't even TRY it. Which was fine with me, because I loved it, and knew that if someone else wanted it, I'd probably give it to them. LOL! What is it, you ask? It's a peanut butter & sweet pickle sandwich.

Now, I know that most of you are going "YAK!!", by now, but trust me, it is delicious! You have to use the best creamy peanut butter, Jif was always my favorite. Then you need the best Vlasic sweet pickles, the sweeter the better. Cut the pickles into thin slices. Make sure the peanut butter is on both slices of bread, with the pickles in the middle. It may take you a little bit to build up the courage to eat it, but once you do, you'll be hooked. Much like you'd be hooked on peanut butter & banana sandwiches. If you like those, then you'll like the sweet pickles too.

Brownies

The next recipe I just came up with. I was wanting some brownies during the Labor Day weekend. We only had a little bit of cocoa powder, and no chocolate chips. I was trying to figure out what else I could put in the brownies to give them that extra something. Of course, what else goes with chocolate better than good old peanut butter! Then all I had to do was find a good recipe. Easier said than done, evidently. I went all over the internet, my main source of information for everything, and couldn't find a simple, easy to make, good peanut butter chocolate brownie! So I decided to make one up myself . . . well, actually blend two recipes into one.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup butter softened
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In large bowl beat butter and peanut butter until smooth.
Mix all ingredients in order given.
Bake for 30 minutes in 9 x 13 in greased pan
Check with toothpick to see if it is done in the middle

Baking time may vary according to your oven. Mine is slow to heat up, so it took about 40 minutes to cook.

These are now my all time favorite brownies! They came out smooth, creamy, rich, and delictable . . . if I do say so myself! LOL It's a simple recipe, so feel free to add to it what you think would make it better. And if it comes out even better, let me know!!


Unusual Uses

Now for the two unusual uses for peanut butter. The first is one, that I have NO idea where I got it from. I think my sons heard of it on Mythbusters, or some other Discovery Channel show. I'm always amazed at what my sons get from that channel, it's great! Anyway, peanut butter can get rid of hiccups!!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the cure for hiccups is the amazing, ever useful, never leave home without it, PEANUT BUTTER! And it works every time!! Just take a spoonful of peanut butter and suck on it till the peanut butter is all gone. The hiccups should be gone before the peanut butter is, but that doesn't really matter, because you've got peanut butter!

And finally, the last thing I want to share with you is this fantastic "how to" video I found at Momspark . It's all about how to make Peanut Butter Play D@h (not the registered trademark stuff).







Momspark Video Blog Episode 1 "Peanut Butter Play Dough" from Mom Spark on Vimeo.


I hope you enjoyed my little post about all the interesting things you can do with Peanut Butter. I've enjoyed being a guest blogger here at the Peanut Butter Blog. If you'd like to read more of my stuff, you can find me at Wyndsong's Sacred Place, Best HomeSchool Place, and Type-A Mom

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cheesecake

Mr. Peanut Butter's birthday was last weekend, so the kids and I made him a peanut butter and chocolate cheesecake. I wish I could share a photo of it with you, but the cheesecake disappeared before I could get the camera set. Yes--it was that good! I'll share my recipe, but you may want to make two of them. Seriously. You've been warned.

Ingredients
2 8-oz pkg cream cheese
3/4 c granulated sugar
3 eggs
4 squares semisweet baking chocolate
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c peanut butter*
1-1/2 tbsp flour
1/4 c milk
1 prepared graham cracker or chocolate pie crust

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Mix one package of cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar, and vanilla until blended. Add 1 egg and mix. Melt chocolate squares and stir into batter. Spread evenly in bottom of prepared pie crust.
In a separate bowl, mix the other package of cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, the peanut butter, and the flour until blended. Add 2 eggs and mix well. Stir in milk. Pour evenly over chocolate layer.
Bake for about 40 minutes or until the center is set.
When cool, garnish with chopped peanut butter cups, bits of chocolate bars, chocolate syrup, or whatever strikes your fancy.

* I always use a bit more for extra peanut buttery goodness

Terry Bradshaw's Peanut Butter

I found this vintage jar on eBay today. I had no idea that former football player Terry Bradshaw had his own brand of peanut butter. From what I can find, it was only sold in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area during the late 70s and early 80s. I did find a funny quote from Bradshaw about it in his book, It's Only A Game:

The only thing that was wrong with our product was its taste. Apparently people didn't seem to like the taste very much. One newspaper arranged a taste test conducted by a panel of young people, and we won the top award for Least Desirable. Other than that it was a fine peanut butter. It had a real nice label.

The brand didn't last long so the jars are rare, making this one a collector's item.

News, War, and Peanut Butter Face?

Can you imagine if network TV news reporters gave us the news this way? Eeeeewwwww.