Peanut Butter

Thai Chicken Salad
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Thai Chicken Salad

Ingredients

It has been a long time since my last post! It has been so hot lately this seemed like a great idea for dinner. I could eat the dressing with a spoon out of the bowl!! I adapted it from a post from Creme de la Crumb. I did not know I was going to post until after it was all together so not many photos – but please try this.

Salad

  • 1 cup chopped green leaf lettuce
  • 1 cup chopped kale – or 1 additional cup other lettuce
  • 1 cup chopped green cabbage
  • 1 cup chopped red cabbage
  • ½ cup edamame (optional)
  • 1 carrot – grated
  • 2 bell peppers – I used red and yellow
  • 1 cup diced or shredded cooked chicken ( used left over grilled chicken, sliced)
  •  ½ cup wonton strips and/or crunchy noodles
  • 1/4 cup of chopped peanuts or sliced almonds (optional)

Peanut Dressing

  • ½ cup creamy peanut butter
  • 2 tablespoons lime juice
  • ¼ cup toasted sesame oil
  • ¼ cup rice vinegar ( I used Mirin)
  • ⅓ cup soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1 teaspoon grated ginger (I used a frozen cube)
  • splash of fish sauce 
  • 2-3 tablespoons water – as needed, to thin

Instructions

  • In a large bowl combine lettuce, kale, cabbage, green onions, edamame, cilantro, carrots, bell peppers, chicken, and wonton strips. 
  • In a food processor or blender combine all dressing ingredients and pulse 20-30 seconds. Add water 1 tablespoon at a time to thin, as needed. Pour over salad and toss just before serving. 

Notes

  • Don’t dress this salad until right before you’re going to eat it or it will run the risk of getting soggy too quickly. 
  • The dressing will keep in the mason jar for up to a week. Be sure to shake or whisk before using to combine any settled ingredients. 
  • Slice the cabbage into very thin pieces so that you can eat it without cutting your salad. 
  • Carrot matchsticks work well in this Thai salad but you could also use carrot dices or thin sliced rounds. 
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Peanut Butter Pie
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Peanut Butter Pie

My husband loves peanut butter (and so do I). We had guests coming last weekend and I knew they liked peanut butter. Right now it is like surface of the sun hot out there so I thought an after dinner treat of cool, sweet peanut butter pie might just be the ticket! This was so cool, smooth and delicious! This was adapted from a Southern Living recipe.

for the crust

  • 16 whole chocolate graham crackers (to make 2 cups crumbs)
  • 7 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

for the peanut butter filling

  • 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature (I used low fat)
  • 1 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 3/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/4 tsp salt (optional)
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup whipping cream

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350F.
  • In a food processor, blend the graham crackers until finely ground. 
  • Transfer the crumbs to a bowl and mix with the melted butter until uniform and clumpy.
  • Add the crumb mixture to an 9-inch deep dish pie plate. Press them into the bottom and up the sides to form a crust. I like to use a cup measure with a flat bottom to do this.
  • Bake the pie crust for 10 minutes, then remove and allow to cool completely.
  • To make the peanut butter filling, wipe out your food processor and add the cream cheese, peanut butter, powdered sugar, salt, and vanilla extract to the bowl. 
  • Process until uniform.
  • In a separate bowl, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. 
  • Add the peanut butter mixture, starting with a little bit, to the whipped cream and fold it together until there are no streaks.
  • Pour the peanut butter filling into the cooled pie crust, and chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours, or up to overnight.
  • Sprinkle with mini peanut butter cups cut in half

Peanut Butter Pie
by

Peanut Butter Pie

I have been baking. A lot. My husband had mentioned that his mom had tried to make a peanut butter pie once and it did not turn out quite right but that it tasted good so I made a mental note. He had one of THOSE days yesterday so I whipped this up because, you know, pie makes everything better. It is meant to be served cold but he could not wait and I have to admit it was really good warm out of the oven. I got the idea looking at different recipes and loosely followed a James McNair recipe. This has a very cheese cake type of texture. His recipe called for it not to be baked but I think this was an old recipe before raw eggs was a bad thing.

Ingredients

Crust

Use a food processor to make fast work of the cookie crumbs. Figure 8 ounces of cookies equals 2 cups.

2 Cups fine cookie crumbs, Chocolate Graham crackers
8 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350. in a medium sized bowl combine cookie crumbs and butter. Spread into a buttered 9 inch pie pan. Press crumbs to pack evenly on the sides and bottom of pan.

Bake for 10 minutes to set crumbs. Set aside to cool

Filling

Cookie crumb crust
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 Cup smooth peanut butter
6 tablespoons butter, room temperature
2 egg yolks
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

Directions

Prepare crust and cool.

Combine cream cheese, peanut butter, butter and egg yolks in large bowl and beat until fluffy. Drizzle in condensed milk and beat until smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour into the pie shell.

Cook for about 20 minutes at 350 or until inserted knife comes out clean.

Refrigerate until well chilled. You could serve this with warm chocolate sauce if you want to go over the top.

Quinoa with Swiss Chard and Pine Nuts with Honey Peanut Butter Dressing
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Quinoa with Swiss Chard and Pine Nuts with Honey Peanut Butter Dressing

I served this as a side dish with grilled chicken. My husband wants to eat greens but he does not actually LIKE greens… so I find ways to disguise them. This was perfect. I used Rainbow Swiss Chard but you could use spinach, too. This is a great way to use up leftover quinoa.

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Ingredients

1 cup of quinoa, cooked as directed
1/2 a bunch of Swiss Chard or other greens stems removed and roughly chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1/3 cup of dried cherries
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/4 cup pine nuts (peanuts or cashews are also good)

Dressing

3 Tbs peanut butter powder, combined with 1 1/2 Tbs water*
(or 3 Tbs creamy peanut butter)
1 Tsp honey

Directions

Combine peanut butter and water in a small bowl. You may need more water, should be a smooth paste. Add honey and stir to mix well. Microwave for about 15-30 seconds or until soft and easy to stir.

Heat the olive oil in a medium sized pan. Add the red pepper and sauté until tender. Add the greens and stir until wilted. Add pine nuts and quinoa, stir well.  Add the peanut butter and honey mixture to the mixture and mix well to coat. Remove from heat and serve warm or cold.

 

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bars
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Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bars

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When I heard about the terrorist attacks on Paris last night I felt sad, angry and most of all helpless to do anything meaningful. People who kill those who don’t believe in their religion must be stopped. One minute those people were breathing, living, enjoying the moment and the next gone. They never got to take that next breath, say good bye to loved ones, finish their lives. Someone else took that life from them. I got out my baking supplies and did what I do when I don’t know what else to do. I baked something. These are not healthy, not low calorie but when faced with living and dying celery just does not do it. This was adapted for an old recipe from “Taste Of Home” 1996.

  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 teaspoon Pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup oatmeal
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
  1. In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugars and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, oats, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture and mix well. Spread into a greased 13 x 9 inch baking pan. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. 
  2. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.