Hey guys! I hope everyone is enjoying the week so far! It is quite toasty here in Atlanta this week, but I'm not complaining (yet) because it has still been lovely in the morning and the evenings. I enjoyed time with friends yesterday evening. One of them I had not seen in about a year and a half since she moved back up home to New Hampshire. We met up at one of the restaurants that I went to back for my birthday (Flower Child), and it was so perfect outside that we just sat and ate the meal on the patio. Such a wonderful time with dear friends!
Enjoying food really is such a comforting way to share a memorable experience with loved ones. In the #powerhousecreatives Discord chat room (and most others I am a part of) it is a common theme that transcends any cultural borders. Though we might all have different regional cuisines, most of us share those with gusto! Of course as a food-lover myself I couldn't help but jump on this latest community contest put out by @zord189 which requests that we share our own daily or staple comfort food. My mind went straight to one of my childhood favorites: Peanut Butter and Jelly!
Though I can't say that I eat PB & J daily, I have not outgrown the pure joy that the combination of creamy (no crunchy in my house) nut butter, sweet and slightly tart jelly and a few slices of good bread can give me. I think I did eat them daily as a child, though the quality of my components has much improved since then. 😉
After picking fresh strawberries, I made a batch of homemade strawberry chia seed jam last week as just one of the many ways we are enjoying the seasonal treat. I think my mom mostly used Smuckers on our sandwiches as childrend, but now I love getting the chance to make my own. It still tastes amazing, however I have much more control over the sugar and other ingredients when putting it together in my own kitchen. When you have really ripe berries you hardly need any added sweetener!
I have also tried to get in the habit of making my own nut butters more often. The sandwich above had one of my personal favorites--walnut butter! It is so easy to make because the walnuts break down so quickly in the food processor into a creamy, delicious spread. I adore this in dates for a quick pre- or post-workout snack, but found it was dreamy with the strawberry jam on sprouted grain toast.
Speaking of bread, I need to look back to find the yummy English muffins that @birdsinparadise shared last year. They were a wonderful vehicle for both of my toppings when the berries were in season last year. No highly processed white bread in my house anymore. I often keep sprouted grain/legume bread in the freezer to pull out a few pieces as I like or always love the organic sourdough from the farmers market. I keep saying I'm going to try my hand at making more of my own, and those English muffins were easy as can be!
So there you have it! One of my all-time favorites. Though I probably enjoy avocado toast more often these days, sometimes nothing will suffice other than PB & J. Or perhaps now it's NB & J? Nut Butter & Jam to not leave out any of the wonderful nuts that turn into scrumptious nut butters. Surprisingly there's no green in this post @zord189. Don't worry I have plenty in my other meals to balance it out...😉
I also promised a little recap of my recent event that I was so busy preparing for last week, so instead of forgetting to get around to it here's a link to where I shared it on my website to make sure all of the attendees had access to a few of the local resources where I bought some of the recipe ingredients. Perhaps I'll take the time at some point to do a more thorough write up on here, but just in case I don't and anyone is interested they can still go check it out. I had a blast sharing my love of healthy food (though no sandwiches were served) with everyone in an engaging face-to-face setting!
Now I can't wait to see what some of the other @steemitbloggers bring to the communal table...
That looks amazing @plantstoplanks. I still have a fondness for a good PB&J. Thanks for sharing 😊
Thanks @tryskele! I'm glad there's a few other PB&J lovers in the crowd. :)
PJ & jam sandwiches are sure tasty but I have not done it with homemade PJ & jam yet.
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Dang, you’re doin it girl. Love the event you held and the importance of the message/knowledge is getting so much more pertinent everyday. If people don’t start changing their diets we will are suffer the catastrophic consequences. Great job @plantstoplanks.
Oh yeah, and your strawberry chia jelly made from freshly picked strawberries looks horrible. I don’t want a PB&J at all right now… nope, not at all :)
Aww, thanks my friend! It really was a great event, and now I've got lots of ideas to keep it moving forward. I just saw one of my co-workers who is a marketing queen (the one hosting the retreat down there) and she and I seem to be on the same page in making it sustainable to keep it a regular event!
It's never a bad time for PB&J in my book, just sayin'. Though writing this up did make me crave one something hard. I had an avocado about to turn today that I used for avo toast, but it might be game on tomorrow for the other... ;)
Oh no… the all too familiar temperamental avocado. I’m always down for an avocado toast but Dandays and PB&Js are true homies 🤞(that’s how close they are).
Maybe you two should do an event down here 🤷🏼♀️ Where we are right now would be a brilliant location for it. There’s already a local organic vegan restaurant in town, and most of the coffee joints offer milk alternatives… I just copped some turmeric powder from the macrobiotica down the streeet where I snuck a gluten free granola in my bag too 😉. Dandays thinks I go a little crazy at the organic stores I find around here so I have to be sly :). 🤦🏼♀️
Anyway, my point is if you and your girl did an event here I’d help with getting locals to partake and we can all enjoy PB&Js while doing yoga and talking about sustainable living (by PB&Js I obviously mean avocado toast 😜). Think about it :)
Haha, oh how I would love to come down there! I think her retreat is only about a month away now. At least I'm getting busy enough again to start finally thinking about saving up and taking vacation at some point. 😜 This time last year we were just coming back from Punta Cana with his parents. Ahh, memories of the beach...
The good thing about doing open face sandwiches is I can have one slice of PB&J and one with avocado! A win-win situation for sure!! And I also totally put some peanut butter in with my strawberry oatmeal this morning. It was like gooey, spoonfuls of PB&J. 🤤
I often add a spoon of peanut or nut butter to my morning smoothie. Apparently I’m a eat a smoothie with a spoon person 🤷🏼♀️
It’s hard to imagine for us right now that we’ll be back at the sunny beach on Monday because we are currently in the stormy rain forest. I kind of like all of the wintery feels right now. Even though rains everyday here it still isn’t cold by any means. Haha… kinda neat.
Nut butter makes pretty much everything better. 😜
We just had a mega storm, but it was right while I was meditating so it was kind of perfect. It's nice to get a balance of the sun and the storms, otherwise you tend to get burnt out and don't appreciate what you've got! Though storms are a bit rough when you're trying to go grocery shopping...
That’s why I like how it rains here. It’ll pour for 4-5 minutes then nothing for a few hours and again, pour for a few minutes and then light to nothing… it’s great.
Please do not get upset and boycott me for saying this but I have never been into Peanutbutter and jelly Sandwiches, maybe because it wasnt a big think down under when I was growing up.
But that said with your homemade jam and peanut butter you do make it look so good
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Haha, that's it, we're kicking you out of the country! Just kidding, it definitely seems to be one of those things if you didn't grow up with it just doesn't sound appealing. I'm sure there's a few things that you grew up with that I might just turn my nose up at, too. ;)
LOL and relieved i know its almost a national dish here, ohh yes I am sure there are things i grew up with that you would find terrible, trying to think of what Pavlova which is a desert that NZ and Australia fight over who invented it, its like a huge meringue with a puffy Centre that you cut up into slices for people often with cream and fruit on the top, I loved it growing up but would probably not touch it now so mush sugar and sweetness in it.
Ohh yes I know what I love and most people not from down under hate, Marmite or Vegemite, its a yeast extract spread, and a Rey strong taste
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Very toasty weather here too... Never been a fan of peanut butter and jelly but then I never tried to eat it again since I started making my own peanut butter... I love crunchy though.
Oh yeah, I bet it's probably even warmer there. I actually don't mind crunchy peanut butter in some things, but I think it's the nostalgia factor that brings me back to the creamy. ;) I've been so hooked on the walnut butter, but I need to grab some peanuts and do my own peanut butter again soon. Or I haven't done the peanut milk yet, either! Yum, so many nutty options.
I know..... Walnut butter sounds amazing. Too many options indeed.
That toast looks very good, I will def try it. I am addicted to good breads, not so much PB&J. Great post!
Haha, I can take them together or separately! ;) A good bread really is pure comfort food, especially right out of the oven!
I love my p, b, & J's with creamy too @plantstoplanks your jams look yummy. 👍👍
#powerhousecreatives
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Thanks! I was amazed when I realized how easy it is to make jam at home! Especially when you have delicious fresh berries. :)
strawberry and chia! wow * ___ * and nutbutter homemade! * ___ *
you are magical, @plantstoplanks :D :D :D
Haha, I just really love food. :) But I will happily take the title of kitchen wizard.
Looking really delicious and super organic too! Nothing can go wrong with peanut butter and jelly and these are made by yourself! I just had my Sourdough + bree + camembert + emmental + cheddar for brunch just because your post made me crave!
Were you surprised there wasn't anything green?? Haha. I love sourdough. I get it often from the German bakery at the farmers market.
Hahaha, I was! But I know you'll have ur greens sometime in the day :)
I love peanut butter and jam (as us Brits call it)! I like to add a slice of tasty cheddar too!
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Oh, good! I know a lot of my European friends used to laugh at how much I love peanut butter, but nice to know you Brits have good taste. ;)
Not had that for years, but do like it a lot
If there's nothing else in the house to eat, I've pretty much always got this. ;)
I just saw your post on IG, so I came to look for it here, but I found this instead and I am not disappointed one bit, lol. Only little bit jealous about the weather and all the strawberies. Not to mention this yummy treat! Your jam looks fabulous Katie; I am tempted to lick the screen 🍓😍🍓
Haha, thanks Lena! I'm all over the place what I'm posting where, but as long as it's yummy it's all good! ;) It's getting so hot so soon, I'm not sure how much longer the strawberries are going to last! I might try to pick at least once more, but then at least that means not too much longer until the blackberries pop up!
That's okay Katie, I am not complaining, lol. Always a pleasure to see what you are up to in your kitchen. More strawberries you say? Gosh where are you going to out them? And blackberries are coming up soon too? Awesome! 😍
Oooh, good point about the space. I need to make sure I don't have too many strawberries that I can't fit any blackberries! I'll have to look, but I think it's usually the end of May or beginning of June maybe when they pop up. It all depends on the weather, though, so I guess we'll see soon enough! :)
It's a serious dilemma Katie, lol.
wow, this looks so good!
Thank you my friend!
My husband makes wonderful seed cheeses.
He makes me a salad for lunch every day and adds them.
Your food looks wonderful ..
I am interested in finding out if there is a vegan bread I can make in a bread maker.. plan to google.. @plantstoplanks
I used to make white lol.. no more .. :)
Oooh yum! I've done a pumpkin seed cheesy sauce, but haven't experimented near enough yet. I bet they are delicious in a salad. That's a good thought on the bread. I'm sure there are some solid healthier recipes! I don't have a bread maker, and I tend to go for the no-knead ones but might need to expand my horizons a bit to experiment with more!
I got this one in a garage sell
One of those stuff that can't go wrong :) Although it's already quite some time since I last had one, I can still tell that I'll definitely want more!
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Definitely. It's never a bad time for a PB&J. 😉
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That homemade strawberry chia seed jam looks sooooo yummy!!
😍😋😋👍👍😊
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Thanks my friend! Almost out of the latest batch, so time to make some more! :)
That is also a popular staple here (although we call the jelly, jam). I have to say it's one that I never liked - I just don't like the texture of peanut butter. Perhaps I need to try other nuts and make my own... Like walnut...
I think jam probably is generally a more accurate term for what I usually make myself, but I think growing up it was always jelly so that's what seems to stick in my head. ;) I hope you give the walnut butter a try. I think it's fantastic. It would probably be excellent in a dessert with some figs. Hhmmm...
What a great idea. Now I have to go and do supper. Not all of it up your alley: it's pasta and 2 mushorrms mushroom, white wine, garlic, parsley and salad. Have a great day :D