Peanut Butter Kick

Apparently I'm on a HUGE peanut butter kick. I have been eating it every day. It's amazing I haven't gained a million pounds. I don't recommend this diet by any means, however, if you are looking to put a little peanut butter into your diet in some interesting ways, I have some recipes to share!

All of these recipes are made using my grains from my grain share, in case you were wondering (I know you were).

"1927 PB Bread"
from "As the Mill Wheel Turns: Tasty, Traditional Biscuits & Breads" by Patricia B. Mitchell (I picked this up in Lexington, MA at one of the historic homes gift shop).


Yeah, that's peanut butter in bread. Yes, it's as amazing as it sounds. It makes an awesome breakfast bread. The milk adds makes it taste creamy, like eating a peanut butter cookie with milk all in a bread. I didn't even put anything on it, but my housemate tried it with jelly and reported it was worth doing.

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt (I omitted this since my PB is salted)
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter (I used chunky which gave it some interesting texture)
1 2/3 cup milk

Mix the dry ingredients. In a different bowl combine thoroughly the remaining ingredients. Stir together the two mixtures. Spoon into a loaf pan, the inside bottom of which has been greased, and bake at 350F for around 45 minutes, or until firm (a knife inserted doesn't really ever come out clean because of the PB).

This bread does get a little dry and crumbly (at least it did for me) the longer it sits.

Chunky Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1.5 cups all-purpose flour (this was not from my farm share)
1/4 cup oats (this was!)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt (again, I didn't include this because of my salted PB)
8 oz (1 cup) chunky peanut butter
6 fl ounces mild honey
4 ounces unsalted butter (at room temperature)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 Tbsp. vanilla
6 ounces semi or bitter sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F.
Mix 1st 4 ingredients in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Beat PB, honey, butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla in large bowl until well blended.
Add dry ingredients into PB mixture and beat on low speed until well blended
Add in chocolate chips and mix.
Portion out cookie dough 3 inches apart onto parchment lined or buttered cookie sheet.
Bake for 12-15 minutes until tops are golden brown.

These are the moisest, most delicious PB chocolate chip cookies you will ever find. I think I'll try using my whole wheat next time. They were gone in no time.

Finally, there's this: from my own recipe arsenal:

Peanut Butter and Raspberry Hot Cereal
This is my go-to breakfast these days

1/2 cup flaked wheat berries
1 cup of milk and/or water (or any combination of the two, milk substitutes also work fine)

Cook these on high in the microwave in an individual-sized bowl for 4 minutes. Since all microwaves are a little different, I would suggest keeping an eye on it the first time to make sure it doesn't boil over because who wants to clean up the microwave first thing in the morning? It the oats are too chewy/hard for you, cook it a little longer.

After it's cooked, add about 1-2 Tbsp (or whatever you want) of chunky peanut butter, raspberries/blueberries/whatever fruit is in season or in your freezer, honey/maple syrup (to taste), chia seeds, nuts, raisins, whatever else you want! It's super fun to play around with ingredients. I recently made some applesauce and added that along with my peanut butter instead of raspberries and it was Amazing. My housemate adds an entire chopped apple to the grain before she puts it in the microwave along with some cinnamon. Unsweetened cocoa powder along with some honey or brown sugar and your favorite nuts is a great dessert-like way to enjoy these grains.

Yeah, I think that about covers all the PB-related things I've been eating. I've been eating more grains in the last few weeks than I have in the last couple months I think. Some of those recipes will be up here shortly...