DIY Peanut Butter (1st Guest Post by Kylie Wolf, a.k.a. Zippaloo)

A staple in many families, perfectly paired with jelly, honey, or chocolate is the one and only PEANUT BUTTER.

Peanut butter is and has been a pivotal ingredient in my life.  Here are some classic ways to enjoy peanut butter:

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (PB&J) - I personally don’t like jelly but the majority of this country does, I just eat it plain, though some of my relatives and my siblings would eat a peanut butter and butter sandwich coined the “butter butter” sandwich.

All the Reeses products – Growing up, Reeses Peanut Butter Cups would get shipped in from the US to the Commissary in Dhahran. My friends and I would beg our parents to buy many more than we needed because we didn’t know the next time they would be available. Sometimes they would be out of stock for months!

Peanut Butter Cookies -  I enjoy these the most right out of the oven, and with a Hershey’s kiss in the center.  YUM!

The list can go on and on and on… with snacks and even more gourmet options like restaurants using peanut sauces on entrees (grilled chicken skewers with a thai peanut sauce is one of my favorites).

But growing up in Dhahran I loved Peter Pan creamy peanut butter (with the yellow cap) it was super smooth, sweet, and would get stuck to the roof of my mouth.

Which is all great except for the ingredients!

Peter Pan Creamy Peanut Butter’s INGREDIENTS:

Roasted Peanuts, Sugar, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils (Cottonseed and Rapeseed), Salt, Partially Hydrogenated Cottonseed Oil.

YIKES!

I care a lot about the food that I put into my body.  I changed my ways and now (thanks to being educated about food) I only buy and eat all natural, organic peanut butter.

Making sure the only ingredient is: Dry Roasted Peanuts.

Over the holidays in Dhahran there was no all-natural peanut butter at the store, so I convinced my dad to do something I had wanted to do for a while:  make my own peanut butter.

If true peanut butter is just ground up peanuts it had to be simple enough and with looking on the Internet and in the Cuisinart cookbook, it was true!

Recipe for Peanut Butter:

Ingredients:

• dry roasted peanuts

(we used raw white peanuts, but I would now recommend buying dry roasted peanuts)

Directions:

• Place peanuts in food processor.
• Process the peanuts for 3-5 mins. Enjoy watching the peanuts turn to powder then form a dough-like ball and roll around the processor. (Dad and I were so amazed I forgot to take pictures!)
• Let the paste sit for about 3 mins for the oils to separate from the peanuts. (You should see the oil bead).
• Process again for as long as you want. The more you process the creamier your peanut butter will be.

With all the excitement and the intensity of the peanut butter (it had a pure peanuts punch!) we skyped Sam to include her on the fun.

The three of us had lots of laughs, oohs and ahhs, and bounced around ideas:

• To decrease the intensity, add honey to the recipe or drizzle honey on the saltines with the PB.

• Try it with ice cream -
  • Vanilla Ice Cream, homemade PB, Hershey’s chocolate sauce.

• Try it with banana slices -
  • Here is an elaborate but delicious snack. Banana sliced, topped with a little PB, sprinkle with cinnamon and coconut flakes.

• Bake it into brownies.

• Try it with oatmeal.
  • I eat oatmeal almost ever day of the week.
    • Cook ½ cup rolled oats with ¾ cup water and a dash of salt in the microwave for 3 mins.
    • Add PB, raisins, generous amounts of cinnamon, and a splash of soy milk.

Health Facts about Peanut butter:

PB should NOT include sugar, HFCS (high fructose corn syrup), salt, or partially hydrogenated vegetable oil.

Good, healthy, pure peanut butter is JUST ground up dry roasted peanuts.  No need for extra oil, or extra anything.  Make sure you check the ingredients because even Peanut Butter’s that claim to be “Natural” are still made with some of these intruders.

Sugar and HFCS get put in because the US loves sugar and it enhances the flavor. HFCS is incredibly cheap to produce (it’s made from Corn) and is found in thousands of products. It is really just another form of sugar.  Unfortunately adding these ingredients increases your sugar intake, your calorie intake, and your insulin levels.
Hydrogenated vegetable oils are added to stabilize the peanut butter, make it easier to spread, and to prevent oil separation.  I don’t think any of those things is worth the risks that Trans Fats (trans fatty acids) can cause: atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease, or a stroke.
Salt is added to prevent spoilage.

Benefits:

Peanut butter does contain mostly fats, but these fats are monounsatuarated fats and they help protect against the risk of cardiovascular disease and lower levels of LDL (“bad” cholesterol).

Peanut butter (and peanuts) also provide proteins, vitamin B3, folate, vitamin E, magnesium, and fiber.

If you have a peanut allergy:

First, I’m sorry, I have a serious love for peanut butter and can’t imagine a life without it.

Second, please be very be very careful – a reaction to peanut allergy is anaphylactic shock and many factories use the same machinery for peanuts as other things, check labels. Better to be safe than sorry.

I hope this post will make all you readers more excited and aware of America’s simple and classic snack, peanut butter. And be sure to check the ingredients of the peanut butters you now purchase!

If you have a food processor I recommend that you buy 1/4 kilogram of peanuts and try this recipe out!

Its easy and delicious.

Kylie (a.k.a. Zippaloo)

*** Check out Kylie’s new blog here! ***

Perfect Day For a Banana Tree

I’m still using up the large bag of Pamela’s Baking and Pancake Mix. I was sad to find out that it has cultured buttermilk in it as I’m trying not to eat dairy. It makes the best tasting pancakes I’ve ever had though. SIGH. I replaced the eggs with “flax eggs”, making this a gluten free, refined sugar free, and ALMOST vegan breakfast. So good!

Can you see what I’m pointing to? Bananas! In my own backyard! One of my dreams has come true (without any effort on my part)! Oh nature, you are awesome!

Jim was the one who spotted the bananas. See how cute he is?! He’s getting so buff from all the surfing he’s been doing. 10 minutes after this photo was taken, he was reading in our hammock. Nice life, huh?!

The Bananas! I had always wondered if the banana trees I see when I sit up in bed and stretch would ever produce bananas. Both trees have fruit too! I just hope we can find a way to get one when they’re ripe enough.

Ok, so I found these glasses while we were standing in line at Mas x Menos the other day. Orange is my least favorite color (except when found in nature), but these are just so rad I had to get them. Who cares if they make my hair look orange, I got them for $5 and I look like a bad ass.

Best of 2009 Blog Challenge: Resolution You Wish You’d Stuck With

Ever since I started making new year’s resolutions I’ve set to lose weight/get buff and every one of those years I did not and often put on weight instead.

My resolution for 2009 was not to get fit, but instead to write more letters and send them via snail mail to all my friends and family around the world. I don’t think I wrote/sent any more than any other year. I did however lose 25 pounds. (The whole diet and exercise thing works. I know right?!)

So it seems safe to say that whatever I want for the new year I should just not make it my resolution or better yet make a resolution for something I don’t want to happen. That makes sense right?

I’ve Got A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts…

There are many benefits to consuming Coconuts….

Coconut Water: Here they call it “agua de pipa” but did you know that it has more electrolytes than Gatorade?! It is also low in sugar, carbohydrates and it fat.

Coconut Oil: Your body doesn’t process it the same way it does other fats. It actually aids in weight loss, helps lower cholesterol levels, increases immunity, as well as aids in digestion and metabolism.

Coconut Meat: It has one of the highest percentages of fiber among all plant foods at 75%.

Coconut Milk: Helps fight off illness and disease.

Best of 2009 Blog Challenge: Best Project

I had some of my photography printed by my good friend Paul and  Lafayette’s art market pARTiculars liked my work so much they chose it to join their collection. I also opened my own etsy shop.

I picked my meditation practice back up.

Jim and I sold our house, simplified our belongings, packed up our dogs, and moved to Costa Rica.

I participated (and won) NaNoWriMo by writing 50,000 words in the month of November. I now have the beginnings of a collection of short stories based on my life.

I’ve started my exploration of vegan, gluten free, and refined sugar free baking.

I began a regular habit of exercising, often walking four miles a day on our wonderful beach here in Bejuco.

I started SamAhern.com and even when I take a break (like in the month of November) I just keep coming back. I love this medium for keeping track of and sharing what I’m up to. I am so grateful for the response it has had.

Notice how I don’t really choose one thing to be THE BEST? Yeah, I’m just not willing to do it. I’m already forgetting or omitting many things due to my not wanting to blog so much that I don’t have a life. There is no such thing as “the best” anyway. (Even though I have a habit of being overly dramatic and proclaiming that something is indeed “the best” at times.) My fact is that my life is overflowing full of good stuff (which I might add is awesome to be reminded of when the earlier part of this year was a whole pile of suck).

Also, I haven’t been doing the prompts for this challenge in order or on the days suggested. I may keep this thing going into 2010. (Woah. Is that allowed?! Hahaha.) As I often say: “I do what I want!” So be it.

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