Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches

Well, I guess it had to happen sooner or later. If you came here today expecting to see something fancy, you're out of luck. Because, for today's lunch, after several days in a row of cooking, I resorted to what I like to refer to as the "Old Faithful" lunch of vegans and non-vegans alike, and that's the Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich. It all started last night when I was reading through a back issue of Herbivore Magazine (a really cool magazine you need to subscribe to, by the way). I was re-reading the article where Isa interviewed rocker Joan Jett and came upon the part where Isa asked her how she managed to eat vegan all the time when she was on tour and her response was, "I eat a lot of peanut butter & jelly sandwiches." A little bell went off in my mind... ding! LUNCH!

I have actually been meaning to bring this one day, especially since I figured out how I could squeeze up to three sandwiches (if they're nice & skinny) into my lunchbox. And I didn't just bring them because I wanted a break from cooking something new, I also like the things. In fact, if I weren't trying to display an abnormal amount of variety in my lunches for a blog, I would probably bring PB&J sandwiches for lunch about 60-70% of the time. I do eat them a lot at home, and sometimes I even eat them for dessert because I'll eat dinner and want something sweet, only to discover that there's nothing sweet in the house. PB&J to the rescue. They're also handy if you find yourself in a dining emergency at someone else's home and you didn't have time to arrange what you would eat ahead of time or bring your own food. Almost EVERYBODY has peanut butter & jelly at their house, unless they're allergic to peanuts, of course.

I just slapped some peanut butter and grape jelly on some whole wheat bread and into the lunchbox it went. I was tempted to add some "traditional" lunchbox items that might go with a PB&J sandwich, like potato chips, cookies, etc. But I clenched my teeth and tried to do a little better by including some steamed broccoli and some raw baby carrots instead.

There's actually a lot you can talk about when you are talking about peanut butter & jelly. Take peanut butter, for example, crunchy or smooth? For sandwiches, I am a 100% CRUNCHY kind of person. I think it tastes so much better, and it makes it so much more interesting with all of those crunchy pieces of peanuts in there. When I'm making something where peanut butter is an ingredient though, like those peanut butter & chocolate bars I made a week or so ago, then I do use smooth.

Another thing I always insist on now is that it be NATURAL peanut butter. I just think it's sick to squeeze all of the peanut oil out of the peanuts and replace it with some other, less healthy oil and then load the whole mess down with sugar. Who needs THAT?!?! My favorite brand of peanut butter is actually the Kroger store brand natural peanut butter. It comes in both smooth & chunky varieties and there are only two ingredients; peanuts & salt. I have also tried the Smucker's brand of natural peanut butter, but I really didn't care for it too much. I thought it was kinda' dry and it seemed really gritty to me.

I think it's cool how the peanut oil rises to the top and you have to stir it back in. Plus, if you've ever spread natural peanut butter on a cracker and eaten it, then you know that it normally takes a LOT LESS natural peanut butter to give you the same kick as that highly processed sugar stuff. I didn't know that the first time I tried natural peanut butter, so I just spread what I thought was a normal amount on a cracker and popped it in my mouth. It nearly sealed my jaw shut. Hahahaha

There was an episode of "Unwrapped" on The Food Network a few weeks ago that also gave me an idea for the lunchbox that I never would have dreamed of. Strangely enough, it was a show all about pizza, and they were showing all of these different restaurants across the country that make really distinctive pizzas. Well, they showed this one restaurant that actually made a peanut butter & jelly pizza! It was just pizza crust with peanut butter spread on it and then jelly spread on top of that and baked in the oven. It showed actual customers eating it and they loved it. I never would have thought of doing that, but I guess it would be good. I do like peanut butter on hot toasted English Muffins. So I guess I could see that. It would just be bread, peanut butter & jelly. Really no different than a sandwich. How could that be bad?

So that does it for today's lunch. An easy one, I know, but a yummy one for when you don't have the time, or don't feel like cooking.

Thanks for reading my blog today and I'll see you on Wednesday!