National Peanut Butter Day!

It’s National Peanut Butter Day!

I love me some peanut butter. Did you know that it is most excellent on vanilla ice cream? It’s true. When I was a kid there was a chubby little girl in my neighborhood who sometimes would play with me and my little brother. And one day my mum gave us ice cream. And Chubby Girl asked, “do you have any peanut butter?” And my mum was all, “yeah…?” and then Chubby Girl put it on her ice cream. My mother and I were appalled. How disgusting. Who the hell does that? But you know, Chubby Girl was right. She saw the future. And it tasted good. She was a goddamned visionary. Right on, Chubby Girl.

Of course, it’s this PB&IC that has made me Chubby Girl, too. But it is So. Damn. Good.

But I digress. In honor of this most special of days I am sharing 2 recipes from the archive that showcase both the best and the worst that can come out of a jar of Jif.

Enjoy!

I love peanut butter and I am a sucker for any recipe that has a superlative in its name: deluxe, luscious, spectacular, impossible, amazing–so it’s no surprise that I was drawn to Peanut Butter Special from Better Homes & Gardens Cooking for Two.

Also, the chapter was titled “Sandwiches–Good for a Twosome.” But we all know that sandwiches are best for a threesome (ba-da-dum ching! I’ll be here all week! Try the veal!).

Yeah, so Peanut Butter Special. It’s a peanut butter sandwich. So what is it that makes it so frickin’ special? Seems standard: an apple, and some applesauce and…

BACON. Frickin’ bacon. Who knew that in 1977 Better Homes & Gardens predicted that bacon would be so ubiquitous in highbrow and lowbrow cuisine come the second decade of the 21st century?

So I did as I was told and I mixed in some crunchy bacon bits to the peanut butter and applesauce and spread it on margarine-topped, Granny Smith apple-lined Wonder Bread.

Shit, this was insanely rich. I think the strongest flavor was margarine (it did say to butter bread generously). This sandwich was so wrong texturally, as well. It was soft bread, soft spread, apple crunch and bacon chew simultaneously. I’m a fan of crunchy peanut butter but the fact that the bacon was chewy yet charred was quite unnerving.

And none of the flavors really melded, so it was the same with the taste. It was like a carousel of flavors. Each chew went like this: Wonder Bread! Margarine! Peanut Butter! Apple! Bacon! The applesauce never screamed at me, however.

Anyway, this wasn’t good. I only got through 1/2 of the sandwich. And although this was a dinner designed for two, I’d never serve this to anyone. Unless I hated them.

Now, onto Frank Wrap-Ups and Nutty Pups from my 1963 first edition of Barbecues and Picnics from the Better Homes & Gardens Creative Cooking Library. Surprise! It’s a new favorite for all ages!

Yes, you read that right: hot dog + dill relish + bacon + peanut butter.

So I got my ingredients out. I made a back up set of Frank Wrap-Ups that were stuffed with American cheese. You know, just in case the Nutty Pups were as bad as the aforementioned Peanut Butter Special.

Survey says?

Shit. BH&G, you got me. You win. These were delicious.

I ate a hot dog with chunky peanut butter on it.

And liked it.

But of course, I never thought that peanut butter would be good on ice cream. So that proves that I know nothing about anything.

Happy National Peanut Butter Day, my darlings! Go get all Skippy n’ at.

*Editor’s note: My attorney has expressed concern that  you, gentle readers, may be offended by my liberal use of the phrase “Chubby Girl” in this post. If you are offended, my apologies. But really, if you are offended by such content, then I don’t know why you’d still be reading my blog. I know I’ve said a hell of a lot worse. XOXO