Easy Peanut Butter Cake

This is recipe I got off of Annie´s Recipes, which is a hit with the kids, and it is perfect to add to your easy Crockpot recipes list. It is only four ingredients, and prep time is about 5-10 minutes. You need a large crockpot to do this recipe, that can fit a 2 pound coffee can.

2 c. chocolate cake mix
1/2 c. water
1/3 c. creamy peanut butter
1/2 c. chopped nuts

All you need to do is combine all the ingredients, and beat them together for a few minutes till well blended. Pour this mix into a creased, 2lb coffee can. Place the can in the crockpot. Cover with about 10 papertowels. Then bake on high for 2 to 3 hours. I find it takes about 2 hours and 45 min. You may want to check it after 2 hours, it is different with each crockpot. However, do not remove the lid before two hours.

Enjoy! Decorate if you feel like it, but it is decadent as is.

Ants on a Log and Other Tasty Kids Treats

If you have kids, making food fun always makes it easier to eat. Try these healthy treats to get them eating properly!

Ants on a Log
You need celery, peanut butter, and raisins

Cut and clean the celery. Make sure it is dry, and then fill the celery with peanut butter. Place raisings on tops, and voila! Ants on a log. Kids love the name, and they usually like to play with the raisins, pretending they are ants. Its often a good idea to have the kids help you making the Ants on a Log.

Happy Face Sandwich
Kids love to help with these. You will need sliced bread (try to make it whole wheat, you can cut off the ends if you need to), peanut butter, raisins, bananas, and some sprinkles.
Take the bread and spread it with peanut butter. Use the banana slices and raisins to make a face, and then use the sprinkle to give the happy face some hair. Of course, there are all kinds of substitues you can use for this recipe, so get creative and have some fun with your kids!

Peanut Butter Soup
This is another fun recipe that the kids can help with. You will need peanut butter, milk, raisins, and a few chocolate chips. If you don’t mind a little more sugar, some colored marshmallows as well.

Take one cup of peanut butter and mix it with one cup of milk. Put it in a saucepan, and on medium heat, keep stirring the peanut butter and milk until the peanut butter is liquidy and completely mixed with the milk. Let it cool until it is luke warm. Add some raisins, chocolate chips, and marshmallows. Serve and enjoy! This is always a hit on a cold rainy day, or a long winters night.

How to Make Your Own Peanut Butter

There are a few ways to make peanut butter. To make the healthiest kind of peanut butter, all you need are plain roasted peanuts without salt. You should do at least 4 cups of peanuts, depending on the size of your food processor, because if you do too few, it won´t mix well. Place them in the blender, blend on high speed. You will have to stop a few times to scrape the sides and mix everything up a little. Of course the longer you blend, the smoother the peanut butter will be.

Homemade peanut butter is a little easier to make if you add some oil, because a food processor doesn´t work as well as a grinder. Adding oil helps it mix. I don´t like to do this, cause you are adding extra fat. If you do add oil, add peanut or olive oil (although olive oil does change the flavor a bit). Other things you can add to change the flavor are salt, and brown sugar, molasses, honey, or maple syrup. Just add them to the peanuts after they are mostly blended. When finished, place peanut butter in the fridge. It will last 2 weeks easily. Enjoy!!

Peanut Butter and Pickle Sandwiches

Ok, I know this sounds like a weird peanut butter recipe.  And it is a weird recipes.  But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try it, it is delicious, and unique!!  It is actually a fairly well known recipe, so it is not as bizarre as you may think.  It is super easy to make, and definitely worth trying once….if for nothing more than the wow factor of telling your friends what you ate

Take two slices of bread.  Spread any kind of peanut butter on both sides.   On one layer, place slices of sweet bread and butter pickles to cover the bread.  Put the two pieces together, and voila!!!   Very easy, and I think it will be a nice surprise, if you can get passed the weird factor.

What Makes Peanut Butter the Best Food Available?

This is a simple answer: flexibility. Peanut butter can be used in so many ways, probably in more ways than any other food I can think of. It is used for snacks, desserts, sauces, main courses, appetizers, and even some household uses (such as removing gum from clothing). I think you’d be hard pressed to name any other food that can be used in any so many ways. Chocolate? Vegetables? Meat? Not even close. For this reason, (apart from the fact that it is delicious, cheap, healthy, easily available, and easy to use) peanut butter is the best food you can buy!!

Peanut Butter

I am a huge peanut butter fan, I think I probably became an addict as a little boy when I ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches over and over and over.  I think that is probably one of the best kids foods available!   My dad actually hates peanut butter, so I definitely didn´t get it from him.  As a kid I loved it because you can do a lot of fun things with it.  Celery sticks with peanut butter and raisins on top.  Or just a banana with peanut butter on top.  Peanut butter milkshakes.  And of course, peanut butter cookies, also one of my favorites.  As I´ve become older, I have discovered the health benefits of peanut butter, and have learned many new ways to use it, in desserts, appetizers, main courses, snacks, etc.  For some reason, it is one of the few foods I never get tired of, I even still like making peanut butter cookies.  If truth be told, i do prefer kraft peanut butter, even with all the unhealthy partially hydrogenated oils and added sugars.  However, I do really enjoy the natural stuff as well, and have pretty much switched over to it completely.

This site is somewhat of a random site about peanut butter, from one peanut butter lover to another.  I plan on adding quite a few recipes, talking a little bit about the health benefits of peanut butter, as well as some rather random peanut butter musings.  If you happen to have any suggestions or questions, I would love to hear from you, and certainly welcome comments.  At the very least, I hope I have you leaving here with some new information, and a renewed desire to eat more peanut butter!

Introduction

My site will involve all kinds of things about Peanut Butter….whether you are already a fan or want to eat more peanut butter, this site will have great content for you!  More coming very soon…