Oh my goodness. The state of nutrition in this household is DIRE. With Daddy gone it is rather hard to be motivated to make an entire meal. I try to make sure that there are at least fruits and veggies on the plate... even if they are seated next to a sad little shriveled up microwaved hot dog. I am currently keeping a food journal of everything Finn eats in an attempt to get to the root of his on going tum tum issues and let me tell you after the doctor sees it she will surely report me for child malnutrition. Alright it is not that bad. We have gone through 2 bunches of bananas in 3 days so at least we are all getting calcium right ha! What there has been plenty of is deserts! I can't help myself. The blogosphere is bursting at the seams with yummy recipes at the moment and I had to share my favorite so far. But first a little background. Is it just me or has the world outside of the US failed to catch on to the deliciousness that is chocolate and peanut butter? Now maybe you don't care for this combination yourself (coughcrazycough) but it is my favorite treat. Peanut butter itself is hard enough to acquire here in Timor so I can forget any sort of PB/Choc combo. I started thinking about easter candy yesterday when one of my friends in London bragged on Facebook that she was devouring a cadbury creme egg-- so mean-- and I got to thinking about how much I love those Reeses eggs that come out around Easter. You know the ones? With a TON of extra peanut butter? ;lakdfjalks;djfl;kasdjfl;kajsdflk sorry my fingers slipped on the drool that had covered my keyboard. Well I knew I couldn't have them mailed here, they would get to me a waxy yucky puddle so it was nothing but serendipity that when I clicked over to one of my fav party blogs, One Charming Party, I saw these:
Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh. Home made peanut butter cups? I totally know this idea is not new and there are probably TONS of recipes out there, but what I loved about this particular recipe is the in depth instructions from the bloggers Mom. You know it works if it has been passed down! Now shockingly enough I do not own a kitchen aide. Yeah I know, I am like the only baker on earth who doesn't own one. Every time I bake with friends the conversation drifts to why in the world I still use a hand mixer. To be honest I always feel like there is something more important to spend the money on... you know like shipping peanut butter in from the states ha! Anyway I had to bum my friends kitchen aid off her so I could use the "paddle" attachment mentioned in the tutorial
Photo: Nicole Hill Gerulat via One Charming Party
Photo: Nicole Hill Gerulat via One Charming Party
Let me just say being able to make these bad boys might be reason enough to buy a kitchen aid. I didn't make any of the white chocolate ones, I am not a white chocolate fan (I know blasphemous) but the chocolate ones were so good I ate them all while sitting and sewing. Holy a million calories, but totally worth it. It is funny because when I am feeling homesick I bake. I want something that tastes like it should, something that tastes like home. While these don't taste like Reese's peanut butter cups (because they are 100 times better) eating something so good was like taking a mini vacation. So if you need a respite whip yourself up a batch of these, and don't feel like you have to share, I totally didn't :)
Have you ever tried making homemade peanut butter? I found a recipe that includes a video. http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Peanut-Butter
ReplyDeleteI hope that this heps :)
Hilarious post. Got a total visual. Miss you!
ReplyDeleteFunny post; I don't mean to be a downer but I don't think bananas have much calcium--the main "vitamin" is potassium, plus a good source of fiber. Calcium is acquired more from dairy products and green veggies-I think.
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way about meals myself--we get crackers and cheese a lot. : )
A comment on Finn's tum... as a child I suffered from lots of stomach pain. My parents shrugged it off but it turned out to be severe heartburn which ended up eating through my stomach and causing an ulcer. It never felt burning or the typical acid in the throat feeling. The cure was to follow up meals with a tablespoon of antacid and not eat a single thing after dinner.
ReplyDeletewe have a very similar peanut butter cup recipe in my family, but we add a package of crumbled gram cracker to the peanut butter powder sugar mix. this way, there is a little less sugar, and a little smidge of crunch in the peanut butter filling. they are the only thing i craved when i was pregnant the first time around. so good!
ReplyDeleteHa, I still used a old school hand mixer since I never wanted to spend the money either. The only reason I have one is because my mother in law got a really fancy new one, passed hers down to my grandmother in law who in turn passed her very old one down to me....yay! It works great! Too bad you dont have any inlaws who'd like to pass one down to you cause honestly, beaters work just fine ;)
ReplyDeleteSounds like our house when my hubby is gone. Sandwiches and snacky meals. I also have only a hand mixer. So far I've survived....
ReplyDeleteI love pb/chocolate combo. I think I ate a pb chocolate chip sandwich every day for years... Now i love melting a handful of chips and a spoonful of pb in the microwave and pouring over ice cream (or eating straight out of the bowl).
ReplyDeleteHope Finn's tummy feels better soon.
Totally cracking up throughout this post. You are hilarious. Yeah, we totally eat our homesickness too!
ReplyDeleteI don't own a food processor, but I do own a Kitchen Aid mixer, and it is really wonderful. We inherited my husband's grandfather's Kitchen Aid! We use the grater to make homemade hashbrowns, grated cheese, and to grate soap for homemade laundry soap!
ReplyDeleteI love using it for cookies, and it is somuch easier than a hand mixer for makng merengue (I can walk away while doing that, and it is on the highest speed--super nice!
That said, I lived in a kitchen in Switzerland where the oven door opened right to the wall--you had to stand next to the oven to get thing in and out (our bathroom was bigger than the kitchen) and I didn't even have a hand mixer there. Somehow we made do.
dude...i hear you on the rest of the world being ignorant to the pb/choc combo...i do not understand why that is?...then you go to japan and see some pretty gnarly flavors of kit kats (green tea? soy sauce? grilled corn????) and i just realize they must have different taste buds!
ReplyDeleteluckily here in guam we get the best of both worlds! - american and asian treats!