Peanut Butter Snack Attack!

I am a serious fan of peanut butter.

Always have been.

Thankfully, I’m not allergic to peanut butter or anything peanut related.  I truly feel sorry for those who are allergic and are unable to enjoy the incredible satisfaction of this fantastic food!

Honestly, if I were forced to choose between chocolate and peanut butter it would be a real struggle to decide…

While watching a children’s television show when I was fairly young, they suggested the following “recipe” as a snack:

Peanut Butter Apples

1 appled halved and cored (Red Delicious is the best!)
2 Tbsp peanut butter
1 ounce processed American or cheddar cheese
cinnamon & raisins (optional)

Directions:
Fill each half of the empty cored out apple with 1 Tbsp of peanut butter each.
Cover each with 1/2 ounce of cheese.
Optional: Sprinkle peanut butter with cinnamon. If you like raisins, you can dot the peanut butter with raisins before covering with cheese.

Although it may sound like an odd combination of flavors, this provides both fruit and protein for a satisfying snack, and if you let your kids “build” their snack with toppings, they may be more inclined to eat it!

Quick Combinations

Peanut Butter is great with a lot of snacking goodies:   crackers, pretzels,
graham crackers and raisins or marshmallows, and bananas.  It’s a perfect companion for celery, and even carrots!  It can be microwaved until just pourable and poured over ice cream as an occasional sweet treat.  Spread on bread or toast (with jelly, honey, and even mayo) for a quick snack is so comforting & satisfying (especially if this was common food fare during childhood!)

Another one of our favorite “snacks” growing up was caramel popcorn.  My mom didn’t make it very often because we didn’t need to eat so many sweets.

But as we kids got older, we began having more “Movie Nights” as a family, and we would BEG my mom to make caramel popcorn as our snack.  Somewhere along the way, she got a recipe for Peanut Butter popcorn, and to this day, it is my favorite comfort food of all time! The addition of peanut butter gives the caramel a richness that also cuts some of the sugary sweeetness while dramatically kicking the flavor up a notch!

Peanut Butter Popcorn

¼ cup margarine
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup Karo syrup (light)
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup peanut butter

Combine margarine, Karo, & brown sugar. Melt together.  Stir over medium high and cook until hot & bubbly.  Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and add peanut butter.  Blend and pour over 6-8 quarts of popped corn.  Allow to  cool for several minutes (or you WILL burn your tongue!).  Enjoy!

Another recipe that includes peanut butter, but is more nutritious and healthy for calorie-conscious or dieting readers, my mom found this recipe for protein bars that rivals anything you can buy prepackaged in the stores!

Yummy Protein Bars

1 cup honey
1 cup peanut butter (reduced fat)
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup water

Melt over low heat just til it boils. Remove from heat and stir in:

2 cups low-fat shake powder (chocolate is a great flavor)
1 cup protein powder
2 cups quick oatmeal
4 cups crisp rice cereal

Pat into 9×13 pan sprayed with fat free cooking spray. Yields 16 bars.
Each bar = 180 calories and 20 grams protein.

Of course there’s always peanut butter cookies, peanut butter pie, peanut butter ice cream…  but I’d better stop here!

Although I must warn you, once you try the Peanut Butter Popcorn, you may become addicted!!!

So, what are YOUR favorite peanut butter snacks?
photo credit: Dano, photo credit: glitter feet, photo credit: hellosputnik