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Peanut butter is an excellent way to add protein to the vegetarian diet. However, a large percentage of the calories come from fat and, in many popular brands, have hydrogenated oils added. These are still better fats than the saturated fat found in meats. Routinely, body weight is not an issue for vegetarians; however, in the cases of those where weight is a concern or a health issue requires a reduction in total fat, there is now an alternative.
Bell Plantation, Inc., an agricultural research company helping farmers, is now providing powdered peanut butter (PB2).
Nutrition Facts: (6.5 oz./184g) Ingredients: Roasted Peanuts, salt, and sugar
Serving Size: 2 tablespoons (12 grams)
Servings Per Container: 16
Amount Per 2 Tablespoon Serving (*when mixed with water):
Calories 50 (My note: Regular PNB 190 calories/2 Tbsp)
Calories from Fat 15 (My note: Regular PNB 140 calories from fat / 2 Tbsp)
Recipes Order InformationFor your PBJ, mix your jam/jelly of choice with the PB2 powder. You determine the consistency of the PNB by how much liquid you add. Too thin? Add more powder. Too thick? Add more liquid.
For a cracker topping, mix the powder with water to your preferred consistency.
Yesterday, I used PB2 in everything I could that wouldn't result in a major grocery store run.
Ingredients
I used some free bamboo skewers I had for fruit kabobs.
Recipe: I "eye-balled it", as some cooks say, and used:
Ingredients:1/2 cup mini chocolate chips, melted
1/4 cup PB2
1 Tbsp milk
Few drops of vegetable oil for glisten
Cashews, crushed
Directions:I melted the chocolate chips in the microwave, added the other ingredients, and stirred until mixed thoroughly. Refrigerate until chocolate mixture hardens.
On four kabobs, I dipped the kabobs in the chocolate mixture then the crushed cashews.
On the other four, I (badly) drizzled the chocolate mixture over the fruit kabobs without adding the extra fat/calories from the crushed cashews.
With the leftover chocolate/PB2 mixture, I rolled into balls for candy and used for sliced apple dip.
Assessment: Nice indulgence without as many calories or fat grams as it could have been. Tasty. Although the chocolate overpowered the peanut butter flavor, protein was in it.
Dinner
Ingredients
Chinese SaladRecipe adapted from
Barefoot Contessa's Chinese Chicken Salad (the recipe is shown but the picture is incorrect)
Ingredients:1/2 pound asparagus spears (if using whole, remove ends and slice in thirds diagonally)
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and sliced into strips
2 scallions, white and green, sliced diagonally
1 Tbsp white sesame seeds, toasted
For the dressing:1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 Tbsp dark sesame oil
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 Tbsp honey
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp fresh ginger, minced or grated
1/2 cup PB2
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Kosher salt to taste (it was already salty enough for me so I did not add)
Directions: 1. Blanch the asparagus in a pot of boiling water, salted if preferred, until crisp-tender (about 3 minutes). Plunge into ice water to stop the cooking then drain.
2. Cut the red pepper into strips.
3. Cut the scallions (white and green) diagonally.
4. Whisk together all the ingredients for the dressing.
5. Add toasted sesame seeds.
6. Season to taste.Notes:- Add a small amount of the oil to the PB2 and hydrate before adding to the other ingredients so it will blend better.
- In lieu of sesame seeds, I added some leftover corn kernels.
Assessment:Did it taste like peanut butter? No, but there was the peanut butter flavor.
Was it still good? Yes.
What's missing in PB2? The mouthfeel of peanut butter and the visual lusciousness of creamy peanut butter, but most importantly in these test recipes, THE FAT and THE CALORIES!
Tonight's test recipes: PB2 cookies
I would love to see what the "real cooks" in the blogosphere could do with this product.
Meatless Monday is a non-profit initiative of The Monday Campaigns, in association with the Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health. Our goal is to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.
