Cooking Contest Central is celebrating an entire month of food celebration days. I chose Peanut Butter and Jelly on April 2, but that leaves 29 more great food celebrations. Check them out at www.cookingcontestcentral.com
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As old as I keep getting, and believe me, I just keep getting older, I still love Peanut Butter and Jelly. Almost nothing makes me feel like a kid again as easily as a PB&J sandwich.
When I was in pre-school at David Wick’s Episcopal School, Tuesday lunch was always peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, on crappy white bread, served with salty Fritos and some carrot and celery sticks on the side. It was my favorite meal of the week, and to this day, I still put Fritos on my sandwich, and serve it with carrot and celery sticks. And an 8 oz carton of white milk. DUHHHH.
The combined smells and tastes of that combination would give Marty McFly and his time travelling DeLorean whiplash.
If I could only find my Mickey Mouse in Space lunch box.
Although there is no real need to, sometimes it’s fun to just sass it up with the PB&J flavors, or the appearance of the dishes…The flavors go well together in both sweet and savory dishes, so the possibilities are truly vast.
Here are a few of my favorite, more grown-up takes on the childhood classic.
Toasted Peanut Butter Bacon & Jelly
Per serving:
- 2 thick slices of Challah or Hawaiian bread
- Butter, for toasting
- 2 tablespoons extra crunchy Peanut Butter
- 2 tablespoons orange marmalade
- 2 pieces of cooked bacon, crumbled
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh jalapeno (optional)
Brush both sides of bread with melted butter. Toast in a skillet on both sides until golden brown and crusty. Mix remaining ingredients together in a bowl, and spread between the two slices of toast. Enjoy!
The sandwich below also has marshmallow fluff on it, when it made an appearance on my White Trash Wednesday Post on Marshmallow Fluff.
PB and J Pork Skewers
Serves 6
For Meat:
- ¾ cup creamy peanut butter
- 3 smashed garlic cloves
- 1 cup soy sauce
- 1 cup rice wine
- 2 tablespoons sliced fresh ginger
- 2 pounds boneless pork tenderloin
Combine all ingredients except for pork in a mixing bowl, and mix well. Slice pork LENGTHWISE into thin strips, about ¼” thick and 1 inch wide. Place meat and marinade into a zip top bag. Push all air out, and seal tightly. Keep in refrigerator for 12-24 hours, massaging bag occasionally. Drain marinade and dispose of it. Thread meat onto skewers. Grill over hot coals until cooked through and nicely browned on both sides. Serve with dipping sauce.
For Dipping Sauce
- 1 cup apricot preserves
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup peanut butter
- ¼ cup apple or orange juice
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan, and heat over medium heat until warm.
PB&J Pork Skewers
mmmmmeat
PB&J Cups
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 t salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- ½ cup jelly, flavor of your choice
Mix together peanut butter, sugar salt, flour and egg in a mixing bowl until well combined. Place ¼ of mixture into each of 8 muffin tins lined with foil cupcake liners that have been sprayed. Press into bottom and ¾ up sides of the tins, leaving fairly thick on the sides. There should be a small indention in the middle. Place about 1 scant tablespoon of jelly into each indention. Bake at 350* for 2o minutes. Serve warm or room temp.
PB& Jelly Cups
Oh, I’m drooling for all of them! BTW – if you want to throw in a little chocolate (all right, a lot of chocolate), replace the jelly in the pbj cups with a Hershey’s kiss. Ambrosia!
Actually, I’ve made them with Nutella…..holy Lord. Yum.
Nutella?? I’m curled up in a little ball drooling.
I absolutely love this. I can’t wait to try the toasted peanut butter bacon and jelly!
Oooh such fancy pb&j’s!
Ah, thank you for devoting an entire post to peanut butter–the nectar of the gods. Mm.
I hope you’re happy with yourself. Robby has now requested that we participate in WIfe Swap. Or that he just move in with y’all. AND that sandwich looks particularly amazing and I can’t eat it! I’m very annoyed at the moment. That said, my PB&J childhood memory is the sandwich, putting cheetos on it, and having chocolate milk 🙂
These look yummy!
You’ve got several nice twists of peanut butter there.
What creative uses of PB&J. They all look outstanding. i don’t know which one I would pick first.
The pork….go for pork.
Love your sweet and savory creations using PB&J!!!
I love your sweet and savory creations using PB&J!