Category: food

Marmite Redux

Ashley BischoffLeave a comment

I wrote about Marmite the other day. And, through reading over the FAQ, they suggested that, in addition to Marmite-on-bread, Marmite could also function well as a sandwich enhancer.

So, just now, I was ready for lunch (yeah, 2:40 is a bit late for lunch, but I had pancakes earlier). Anyhow, as usual, I decided to have a tuna sandwich (with tomatoes). And, I figured on trying it with some Marmite this time — ooh, it was good. You wouldn’t think that Marmite would make much difference, but it was very tasty. Of course, if you don’t like Marmite in the first place, then there’s not much point in trying it as a sandwich enhancer ;).

Reduced Fat Peanut Butter

Ashley BischoffLeave a comment

In a comment to yesterday’s entry on peanut butter and banana sandwiches, Adrian asks:

The important details! Did you get creamy or crunchy?

Also how does the low fat peanut butter compare to the regular in taste, texture, etc?

As it turns out, I got the creamy variety of Skippy’s Reduced Fat peanut butter (though crunchy is also available). Actually, it’s labeled as “Peanut Spread”, so I'm guessing that it doesn’t meet some legal definition of “peanut butter”. In smaller print, it also says “60% peanuts”. Ordinarily, I’d wonder what the remaining 40% was, but Skippy’s FAQ answers that:

Skippy Reduced Fat peanut butter spread uses maltodextrin (a type of corn starch) to replace some of the fat in peanuts. It also contains soy protein, and mineral supplements in addition to the standard peanut butter ingredients. For additional information on ingredients in Skippy products visit our Nutritional Facts section.

Still this is only a “reduced fat” product, not a low-fat one. After all, a serving of this “reduced fat” peanut butter still has almost as much fat as a Snickers bar (12g vs 14g, respectively). Of course, the peanut butter also has about 100 fewer calories than the Snickers bar (190 vs 280, respectively).

Ok, on to the taste and texture, the important parts. It spreads just like normal peanut butter, and its texture is identical (as far as I can tell). And, the taste is good, too. Of course, I only ate some in the context of a peanut butter and banana sandwich (so maybe I wasn’t getting the full-on peanut effect), but I definitely enjoyed it. That, and I'm not exactly a peanut butter connoisseur, as I probably haven't had real peanut butter in about 5 or 6 years (and, no, Resse’s products don’t count as real peanut butter).

But, all in all, I was very satisfied. And, I’d buy it again. The key here, I think, is that this is only a “reduced fat” product, as opposed to an actual “low fat” product. Due to government food-labeling laws, “low fat” has specific legal meaning (that is, the food must actually be low in fat). But, with “reduced fat”, that merely means that the reduced-fat version has less fat than the full-fat version. So, as is usually the case, reduced-fat foods are healthier, while still tasting good.

Looking over the rest of Skippy’s FAQ, I saw this entry on giving peanut butter to children and infants:

[...] Young children, especially 2 to 3-year olds, can be at risk of choking on foods. When serving peanut butter to young children spread it thinly. For easier eating, peanut butter can also be thinned by mixing with mashed banana, apple sauce or yogurt.

Of course, I have no infants to deal with, but that excerpt did give me an idea that I could use those very techniques to thin my own peanut butter. So, perhaps by adding yogurt to my already reduced-fat peanut butter, I might be able to achieve truly low-fat peanut butter. Perhaps I’ll try a peanut-butter-yogurt-banana sandwich sometime.

Peanut Butter (and Banana)

Ashley Bischoff5 Comments

I went to take my car for an oil change this afternoon, since my site was down for a little while anyway. On the way back, I figured I could pick up some peanut butter, for use in peanut butter and banana sandwiches.

Jason mentioned the other day that he preferred the peanut butter from Whole Foods. On the other hand, I would have preferred some low-fat peanut butter (16g fat is a lot to swallow, so to speak). And, I figured that Whole Foods probably would just have regular peanut butter :-/.

So, my plan was to get the best of both worlds by buying some low-fat peanut butter and some Whole Foods peanut butter. I stopped by Target and found some reduced fat peanut butter — actually they had several reduced-fat brands, which surprised me: Jif ($1.99), Skippy ($1.89), and Peter Pan ($1.79). They were all the same weight (18 oz) and all fairly close in price. So, in the end, I ended up choosing Skippy just because it had a better form-factor: its container was most cylindrical, which I figured would prevent peanut butter getting lost in crevices.

After Target, I drove further down Skillman to get some Whole Foods peanut butter for Jason. Unfortunately, though, when I got there, I discovered that the Whole Foods on Skillman had apparently closed on June 9th (so says the sign on the front). So, I would have bought some Whole Foods peanut butter, but that location had closed (sorry, Jason!).

As far as natural peanut butters (aka Whole Foods style), I actually saw some at the Target, of all places. Apparently, in addition to their Jif brand, the Smucker’s corporation also has a line of Natural Peanut Butter under their Smucker’s brand. It was available in both “creamy” and “crunchy” — and it had the characteristic oil-floating-on-top, so it appeared to be authentic. In any case, I’ll stick with my reduced-fat peanut butter, so I’ll leave the natural peanut butter choices up to Jason.

Ok, on to the sandwich itself. I got home, and all this thinking about peanut butter really had me jonesing for a peanut butter and banana sandwich.

  • Peanut butter: check
  • Bread: check
  • Bananas: a little green, but do-able

So, I took out two slices of wheat bread and placed them on the plate. Then, I peanut-buttered one side of the bread (being a newbie at this sandwich-type, I wasn’t sure whether I should have peanut-buttered both sides). I then sliced the banana lengthwise. And, to be honest, I felt sorry for the banana for a split-second — I guess I just wasn’t used to seeing banana-guts from a lengthwise-perspective.

I closed the sandwich and elected not to cut it in half. I sat down at the couch futon and took a bite: tasty! In some ways, I was so psyched-up about this sandwich, that the first bite was every-so-slightly underwhelming. But, once I got in the sandwich-groove, I was digging it. Mmm.

In retrospect, I may try peanut-buttering both sides of the bread next time, as the peanut-butter-to-banana ratio seemed just a touch low. In any case, it was a good sandwich; I look forward to eating them more often.

Peanut Butter and Banana sandwich

Ashley Bischoff16 Comments

Jason was musing about a peanut butter and bannana sandwich that he had the other day. He seemed to quite enjoy it, so I asked him about it:

Alex: Seriously, are they any good? I’ve never tried peanut butter and banana together, so I have no idea :-/. Neither product is particularly sweet, though I imagine the slight saltiness of the peanut butter might act as a sort of “seasoning” to the banana?

Jason: Well… I like it. It’s probably just something you have to try and see if you like it yourself. Actually it’s pretty similar to the old stand-by of peanut butter and jelly, except the jelly part is a bit firmer and not quite as sweet ;-)

Alex: So, how much peanut butter do I apply? Just enough to cover the bread, or do I slather it on?

Jason: Um... somewhere in between, I guess :-/ …probably another “personal preference” thing.

Alex: And, about 1/4“ slices for the banana, eh?

Jason: I’ve found that slicing the banana once lengthwise, and then each of those pieces in half, gives you four pieces that fit nicely on a slice of bread, and is easier than cutting it into many coin-shaped slices. Not sure if that makes sense... wish I could do banana-slicing diagrams in ASCII.

Alex: I’m not used to typing “banana”, and you wouldn’t believe how many times I ran into the banana problem during this e-mail <g>.

So, that covers the exposition. Fast forward to the present: I’m jonesing for a peanut-butter-and-banana sandwich. And, I’m stoked because I see that there’s still a banana left on the countertop. So, I trod downstairs and open the fridge — but, there’ no peanut butter! Feh. My hopes are dashed. (Well, ok, there was a smidgen of peanut butter left, but still not enough to make a sandwich)

So, if I go to Kroger tomorrow or within the next few days, maybe I’ll buy some more peanut butter. I'll have to ask Jason which kind he prefers. Really, I haven’t had peanut butter since I was a kid, primarily because of its high fat content (16g/serving, yikes!). However, most of that (13g) is actually unsaturated fat (the less-bad fat) and peanut butter apparently has no trans fatty acids either (the hella-bad fat). So, maybe I’ll have to give peanut butter another chance.

Thinking it over, I recall Jason saying that I could add condiment x to make the peanut-butter-and-banana sandwich even better. Now, what was it? Salt? Sugar? Cinnamon, or something? Maybe I just have peanut butter on the brain, but I just can’t think of it at the moment. Hmm.

Update: In the comments, Jason mentions that condiment x == honey. Aha.