I Love Peanut Butter

When I was in college I had a part-time job at a local natural foods store and that’s where I met my favorite peanut butter ever. They had a grinder that looked kind of like a gumball machine full of peanuts. You flipped a switch and held out a bowl and got fresh pure PB. No sugar, very little salt, just peanut-y goodness. I loved it.

Last month I shared one of my go-to products with you, PB2, which is peanut butter with 85% of the fat removed. It’s definitely not the same as the fresh, pure peanut butter from the gumball-grinder but I like it. It doesn’t have additives either; I don’t know the process they use to remove the fat but the ingredients are peanuts, salt and sugar. Pretty basic.

I’ve been working out alot more than usual the last week or so and have found myself pretty hungry. Not growly-stomach cranky-hungry, but I-tried-to-unlock-the-front-door-with-the-car-remote hungry. I’ve also been tracking my points faithfully since my Wednesday night weigh-in. Admittedly I hosed myself by eating a cheeseburger early on this week, but I’m still tracking. And I’m trying to incorporate more protein and sufficient fat. It’s helped some. But I’ve been questioning the recommended daily points allowance from Weight Watchers; I’ve found it insufficient even when allowing for exercise (you earn more points that way). I’m finding if I include two to four more points than recommended, I feel better. I’m not binging and for the most part I’m trying to make good choices. I’m curious to see what tomorrow night’s weigh-in will reveal as far as results. I think I may start allowing myself two to four more points every day. And maybe that will help me avoid future cheeseburger derailments and the like.

So in keeping with this interest in increasing protein and (reasonable) fat in my diet and allowing a few more points, I tried a new peanut butter today. I haven’t found a local store with a peanut grinder, boo! But I found Naturally More at the grocery store. It's advertised as as “Higher in protein, higher in fiber, no trans fat.”

The ingredients are roasted peanuts, wheat germ, flax seed, cane sugar, egg whites, honey, and flaxseed oil. Hmph. No “x’s” or “ides” anywhere. But egg whites? Really?!

There was a good deal of oil on top. I haven’t bought PB you had to mix in years. I started mixing.

A minute or so later I was still mixing.

Still mixing.

Ok, it looks ready.

Straight out of the container it tasted different than I’m used to, but it was good. The flax seeds must have been toasted. Nice. I could not tell if the slightly gritty texture was just a coarse grind of the nuts, or maybe it was the cane sugar? It made me feel like I was eating homemade peanut butter. I was in. And it was kinda sweet; I could live without that. But I still liked it.

On toast it was great. J said “it tastes like peanut butter.” He’s not as interested in the subtle nuances of different PB’s as I am. But if you’ve read this far, you might be! So the verdict: I like it. I might buy another jar when this one’s empty. Or I might try one with less sugar.  I'm a complicated woman.

This review was unsolicited and I was not compensated by the product’s company.