Peanut Butter is the new black

Every Wednesday we get together with friends to watch the latest episode of Lost. (Any Lost fans out there? Time travel is getting cra-zy. Leave theories in the comments!) Each week it's someone's turn to host the group and make dinner, usually something like Mac'n'cheese or chili or burritos, something relatively inexpensive to feed a group. But last week was the cheapest of them all: PB&J. Entertain a crowd while watching your budget? Yes.

I wasn't so sure about this at first. But peanut butter is pretty good for you, right? It was a good fit for our group of combined meat eaters and vegetarians. And then it got really interesting because of all the Fixins. That's right: Fixins. This is a new term in American language, appealing to children and adults who act like children. So it was perfect. My contribution was a spread to accompany or replace peanut butter in the sandwiches – I also think it works well as a dip for fruit slices. Here's the recipe:

Sweet Potato Apple Spread
1 can sweet potato
(the only ingredient on the can should be "sweet potatoes")
8 oz. tofu
2 Tbl. maple syrup
1 granny smith apple
4 Tbl. olive oil
1/8 tsp. each: cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves

Chop apple into tiny pieces and cook in a pan over medium heat until soft and fragrant. Combine all ingredient in food processor and blend.

We filled our sandwiches with things like apple slices, celery sticks, honey, Fluff, bacon, pickles, jalepenos, etc...most things tasted surprisingly good, though I did not try the jalepenos... The nicest part was the homemade whole wheat bread that we piled it all on. Or maybe the nicest part was how we grilled 'em up after we were done constructing our masterpieces.



All in all a fun time. And I think we may have all learned a few good lessons. Like, peanut butter and pickles is a delicious combination. And, food combining is an important science that should be taken seriously to avoid stomach upset for the next 4 days. Don't look at me...my somewhat healthy sandwich is the one pictured up above with fruit and 1 experimental piece of bacon. But Max's...he even included the non-fixin items like rice krispie treats that were meant for dessert. You've been warned.