The Alternate Peanut Butter
I’ve got a pretty serious relationship going on with peanut butter these days. In my opinion, it pretty much makes anything better. (Particularly when it gets involved with bananas or chocolate.) The one problem? Um, I could pretty much eat the whole jar, and well, there ARE ~200 calories packed into each 2 tbsp serving. Which means that my beloved peanut butter is one of those “great in moderation” foods. Well what if I want peanut butter ALL the time? Hm? Behold… PB2.
Have you tried PB2?
PB2 is Bell Plantation‘s amazing creation, which is a powdered peanut butter that essential has the fat literally pressed out of the peanuts. It comes in a powder that you simply mix with water. It has the consistency, and it pretty much tastes like peanut butter. (It’s also worth clarifying that this really is just peanuts, it’s not a weird chemical concoction of various peanut “flavors”. This is all natural, baby.) It’s definitely not as oily as peanut butter (um, duh) so adjust your expectation accordingly. You can’t get a crunchy variety, for obvious reasons, but this still makes a great creamy pb swap.
Oh, and it’s only ~50 calories, per 2tbsp serving. That’s 1/4 the calories of traditional peanut butter! Yes, I’m kind of in love. I can now top pretty much anything I want with peanut butter 😉 They also have little single serving packets, so I can take it to work! I’m pretty excited. Of course, my homemade vitamix peanut butter will STILL hold a special place in my heart, and on my plate. So it’s not going away anytime soon 😉
Speaking of which, I made another kind of nut butter! This time, I made chocolate almond butter. But I cheated 🙂 Short cut! I used the Emerald Nut Cocoa Roasted Almonds!
I just threw 2 cups into the Vitamix, and blended as usual!
It turned out pretty well! It looks pretty much like regular almond butter, and it tastes similar, it just has a hint of cocoa. Not bad, but in the future, I’ll probably just stick to plain almond butter!
On a totally unrelated note (and I mean totally) are you a multi-tasker? I’m currently watching a PBS documentary about the “digital” age and about how my generation is connected all the time. Apparently multitaskers think they’re much more capable at doing it than they really are. Supposedly (according to this NASA study) we would be more effective if we just focused on one thing at a time. Yet, here I am, writing and watching a movie at the same time! I’m also realizing that I can’t go more than a few minutes without texting, checking facebook, tweeting, checking my e-mail. How short has my attention span become? Doing one thing doesn’t seem to be enough anymore…
Are you a multi-tasker? Do you think you’re more efficient doing one thing at a time or tackling multiple things at once?
Hope you’re all having a fantastic Monday!
<3 Liz
Love PB2…the chocoalte PB2 is even BETTER! It’s not super chocolately just more rich. It makes me smile =)
PB2 sounds awesome–I’ve never seen it in the grocery store before, but perhaps at our natural foods health store? I’m like you–pretty much a natural peanut butter addict 🙂 There are worse things to be addicted to though, right?!
That PB2 powder sounds great. I must investigate!
I need to try peanut flour, PB2, whatevs… I still haven’t jumped on that bandwagon! And yeah, I am super ADD from all the digitalness in my life! 🙂
Oh you and your PB2… I love it. Well… not so much the pb2, but definitely you! PB2, you’re alright.
When you come home to me, and bring your vita mix, and we make light boxes, and icecream… my life will feel complete again.
oh aaand red kale is exactly like the green stuff. Just has more colorful leaves 🙂 same texture, taste, smell, cost (i think?) and it’s lovely!
I LOVE the looks + sounds of that PB! I know all nut butters are amazing, and some people might think it’s silly to try and make something so healthy all… powdery. But I love that it’s just PB, no chemical concoctions like you mentioned. PB is healthy, all nut butters are w/o salt/sweeteners, but we’re all so in love with it that it’s so easy to take a few extra spoonfuls between snacks, and the body only needs so many healthy fats in a day! haha, so this is a perfect little invention that I might look into 🙂 THANK YOU!
My life is all about the multi-tasking.
Thank you for sharing the PB2! Adore.
oooh! and thanks for the silverware tip/trick on my post! <3
DUDE! I just saw this for the first time Sunday and Paul and I stared at it for a good 5 minutes before walking away confused! Thanks for the clarification on what the heck that stuff was!
I might actually try it now! You swear it tastes the same? 😉
Haha to be fair, it’s not EXACTLY the same, but it’s surprising how much it tastes like peanut butter. (You just have to make sure you don’t add too much water, or else it’s not a fun consistency.) Also, I think it needs a tad bit of salt, but that’s easy to add. It’s definitely pretty darn close to classic pb. 🙂 Let me know if you try it!
Will do! I’ll pick a jar up next time I’m at the grocery store. I originally imagined it was to be sprinkled onto cereal… hehe