Peanut Butter Bandwagon

I've been reading about Peanut Butter Finger's flourless peanut butter cookies all over the place as of late. I read about them so much, that I couldn't resist trying the recipe out for myself...I do love the peanut butters after all.

Easiest Peanut Butter Cookies Ever (a la Julie at Peanut Butter Fingers)

Ingredients:

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg

Mix the three ingredients together, dollop onto a cookie sheet, and bake at 350 for about 10 minutes. How easy is that?

The cookies are sweet, greasy and peanut buttery. Highly addictive, so beware: prep and baking take about 12 minutes, so it's super easy to make these whenever you want...there is absolutely nothing to it. For me, the quick prep time makes these a dangerous treat--when I want them, I can basically have them in less than 15 minutes.

Because I've become a chocolate and peanut butter freak thanks to HEAB, I had to add some chocolate to this recipe. I just melted M's leftover Easter bunny, with his permission of course, using my ghetto double boiler method.

I put the melty chocolate into a Ziploc freezer bag and cut off the tip to create a cookie decorating tool.

Using my non-decorating skills, I drew chocolate worms.

And personalized a cookie for M and for me

I don't typically eat peanut butter, but for some reason I've been craving it the past two weeks. I usually stick to the almond butter or sunflower seed butter, but the thought of cheap, salty peanut butter has been irresistible for some reason.

I'm working through my cravings-- trying to figure out what nutrient or emotion my body is lacking that's making me crave nutty fats. I've attempted to add other sources of fat into my diet from coconut and avocado in order to quell the need for pb, and so far, it seems to be working. It could be worse: I could be craving chocolate cake...at least peanut butter has some nutritional value. Everything in moderation.

For more on why peanut butter is not-so-good for you, see Whole9's Peanut Manifesto

Drooling for Days

Ever since I started reading Mindless Eating, I can't stop thinking about peanut butter cups. Well, actually, I came across Heather Eats Almond Butter's post about the "World's Most Brilliant Combo" and my mouth hasn't stopped watering since. I've been trying to be good lately, aka keeping the sweet, chocolaty goodness to a minimum, but yesterday afternoon I broke down and made my own version of that delectable Reese's favorite.

Almond Butter Coconut Cups

Ingredients:

85% Cocoa Dark Chocolate
Almond Butter
Coconut Butter (grind unsweetened coconut in the food processor until buttery, about 8 minutes)

Paper Muffin Tin Liners
(I used enough chocolate to make two massive candies: I made a limited quantity, one for me, one for M, to keep my chocolate habits in check)

I melted the chocolate over medium heat using a ghetto double boiler method (a metal bowl floating in a small frying pan), and poured the melted chocolate into the muffin liners. The first pour should be enough to cover the bottom of the liner, and to coat the sides.

After freezing the muffin liners for about 30 minutes, I mixed together about one Tbsp of almond butter and one Tbsp of coconut butter and put a dollop of this mixture into each chocolate cup, and covered with the rest of the melted chocolate.

After an hour, I had the biggest peanut butter cups EVER. I might have gotten carried away with the chocolate...


They were about the size of the muffin liners...huge. The sweetness of the almond butter coconut mix was essential to balance the bitterness of the chocolate (I mean bitterness in the most delicious way possible). The almond butter cups were so rich that M and I could only eat half of a half each! Maybe I'll make a pact with myself to only eat chocolate candy that I make-- that way I know what's in it, and I have to go through the "trouble" of preparing it myself. That should keep my peanut butter chocolate peanut butter craving in check.

On another note...Chester and Jack look kind of like dark chocolate and peanut butter...no?

Please pardon Chester's alien eyes...

No chocolate for Chester!

Whil Wheber Strikes Again

A few days ago I was spending my entire paycheck...err...visiting my favorite grocery store, and I decided on a carnivorous impulse to buy a family sized package of steak tips. One million dollars later, I was at home marinating steak. I'd actually never prepared red meat before! I was a vegetarian during and after college, so basically my Mama made the red meats before college, and M usually makes them now. There wasn't really much to the steak tip prep, but I was still nervous that I was forgetting something...It turns out you can't go wrong with steak tips!

I marinated them in some Organicville Sesame Teriyaki, and let them steep for a day or so. We chopped up one red pepper, a yellow pepper and a large red onion to go along with the tips.

Oh Whil, you do such a great job grilling stuff...You put delicious meats in my belly and a smile on my face.

We ended up with a great big pile o'meats/vegetables

The steak was sooooo good! I think grilled steak tips might be my new favorite food! The sesame teriyaki marinade was just right-- you could taste the teriyaki, but it wasn't overpowering. The tips were a bit chewy, maybe next time I'll tenderize them...or something...

For dessert, I made some chocolate covered bananas. I had a bunch of these ripe bananas that I didn't want to go to waste. I don't eat bananas very often, and when I do, I only eat them if they're a little bit green...I usually make banana bread, but this time, I tried something new.

Ingredients: Green & Black's 85% dark chocolate, almond butter, bananas, unsweetened coconut flakes.

I melted the chocolate and almond butter in a pan over low heat, and rolled the banana pieces around until they were covered.

I put them on a tray and drizzled the remaining chocolate over them along with some coconut flakes.

I put them in the freezer for about an hour and then served.

mmMMMMmmmm...chocolate bananas. A match made in Heaven. The dark chocolate balanced the sweetness of the ripe bananas perfectly.