Latex-Fruit Syndrome...Wahoo...

I find a lot of recipes offline. I spend tons of time Googling different ingredients to find oddball creations.

Usually, I substitute. However, I was simply too excited about a certain recipe I found to exchange anything.

Dark Chocolate Avocado Mousse.

I found the recipe at pbfingers.com (I wonder what attracted me to this website?)

PBFingers: Dark Chocolate Avocado Mousse

Follow the link.

Do it.

Follow the link. Go to the store. Buy the three ingredients. Go home. Make and eat the deliciousness.

I love chocolate. But with not being able to consume sugar or dairy, my craving is rarely fulfilled.

So when I found this recipe of only an avocado, cocoa powder, and honey…I was ecstatic. But THEN I tasted the mousse.

Truly, I was speechless about how heavenly the three ingredients tasted together. The richness, the thickness, the pure yummy chocolate-y-ness silenced my words and satisfied my tastebuds beyond belief. In those few moments of chewing I experienced unadulterated bliss.

Then, latex-fruit syndrome came around. On the good side, I found out why I cannot eat bananas, sadly this led to realizing avocados aren’t too great either.

You know, on one hand I’m thankful to know what’s going on… On the other, did it really have to avocados?

Well, at least it also explains why my stomach hurts after eating avocado sushi and the strange fact that I can eat almost all apples without a stomach ache except red apples. 

Comments From The Boy

Monday will be 9 months for me and The Boy, though we’ve both stated how it feels like much longer (in a good way). Considering he says quite a few entertaining things, and I’m sort of strapped for a blog post this week (been lazy lately)… I figure I’ll take all of his wonderful little one-liners I’ve written down and post them to share. I hope you find as much entertainment in them as I have!

“Actually Sounds Appetizing”

A while back I made myself some oatmeal for dinner (surprise, surprise).

I started with my usual base (oatmeal and peanut butter) and then chopped up and threw in two golden delicious apples, along with just a little cinnamon. When I told him what I made, The Boy replied, “Actually sounds appetizing”

I simply replied with, “Everything else I cook is appetizing too. You’re just a whimp.”

Another time he asked me what I was doing, I told him cooking dinner. Before he even knew what I was making, he responded, “Ew.”

My Mango Sorbet

For a while during last summer, The Boy would get out of school around 11:15 then come to my house and we’d go off to find adventures.

It took him about half an hour to get to my house, so by the time he got there I would be eating lunch or in the process of making lunch.

The most memorable time was when I made my favorable mango sorbet.

This particular time, I chose to crush up some Peanut Butter Captain Crunch on top.

His reaction…

“Looks like a clump of butter with stuff crushed on top.”

Seriously?

Peanut Butter Jars

I was looking around on Amazon for kitchen things the other night, and I sent this link to The Boy and Pyro: Amazon: Rubbermaid Commercial Products

I sent a caption “I found the peanut butter containers.”

The Boy’s reply? “32. oz per meal?”

Isn’t he sweet?

Though…I guess it’s a valid question.

He may make a lot of jokes…But he’s pretty awesome sometimes too.

While my boyfriend is one of the first to make fun of me and has one of the biggest aversions to my food, he is exceedingly sweet.

The Washington County Fair comes around once a year for a week in August. Both of us had taken the day off from work so we could go enjoy a full day of fair funness. Plus, I wanted to see Casey James who wasn’t playing till 8:30.

This meant I’d be away from Hannah-friendly food for the majority of the day.

Let’s face it, think of fair food, what there could possibly be labeled healthy let alone fit my diet?

I only had to worry about my afternoon snack and my dinner, but dinner is kind of a major meal. I had packed a couple bars and also a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich for dinner. I had also figured I’d sneak a bowl of ice cream at some point during the trip (I was right, it was delicious).

We also decided to share some Dells. That big container was gone in...15 minutes? Yea about that.

Not being used to other people remembering my food issues, I found it incredibly charming when my boyfriend opened his lunchbox. He had packed accordingly:

A pack of raisins. A bag of peanuts. A peanut butter sandwich on Hannah-safe bread. And since he remembered that I like horseradish mustard on my peanut butter sandwiches, he brought along a small jar of dijon mustard. He said he hadn’t put it on the sandwich because he wasn’t sure if I liked that type, but brought it just in case.

His preparation came in handy. Trying to leave the fair we sat in his car for a good hour to an hour and a half with traffic not moving. The pack of peanuts worked as a good late night snack.

“I ran into some Hannah Problems”

On a random trip to Wal-Mart, The Boy bought me two jars of peanut butter. One was a large plastic jar of Planters all natural. The second happened to be a jar of Smucker’s Goobers. A glass jar.

Walking from the car to my house, I stuffed my arms to avoid making two trips.

I had seen how this was going to end once I’d stepped out of the car, but I chanced it anyways.

 

I shouldn’t have.

Bringing my key to the door, unlocking the door, opening the door, and down it goes.

My glass jar of peanut butter, gracefully fell met my stone step.

The Boy comforted me and then brought me upstairs (it had been a rough day and the broken jar was the last straw). As he left, I was left with the impression he went off to play airsoft with some of our friends. About an hour later he came back with a jar of Teddie all natural (unsalted because he remembered I don’t like salt) and a Welches Strawberry Jelly (because he also remembered I don’t like grape). As it turns out, he had drove to about 3 different stores around town looking for the Strawberry Smucker’s Goobers jar. Which, he couldn’t find.

His text to explain why he was going to be late to airsoft “I ran into some Hannah Problems.”

I could have been offended by it, but he’d worked to hard to being me what I’d wanted.

Somedays he makes up for all the jokes. :)

I swear, my blog is going to make my boyfriend famous.

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

You know how a lot of things taste better the next day?

All the flavors and spices have a chance to come together and marry in a beautiful harmony through a process that just can’t be rushed.

I’m beginning to believe this is true of almost everything.

Take for example my peanut butter sandwiches. Not something that immediately sounds better after having sat for a while. But… I’ve learned something vastly different.

I had to go to a friend’s graduation party (I hate other people’s outdoor parties, they’re usually the death of me. I ALWAYS pack my own food for these). So for my packable, on-the-go, just-in-case dinner, I made a BLT but minus the bacon and mayonnaise and plus peanut butter and horseradish mustard.

(Yea, so not really a BLT anymore I guess, but there was lettuce and tomato.)

To keep it fresh, I packed it in my lunchbox with an icepack. When I got to my friend’s house, I just stuck the whole thing in the fridge. Long story short, there wasn’t much I could/wanted to eat. I had some fruit and that held me over for a while. Since it started to downpour, I ended up going home before my wonderful sandwich could be consumed.

So I just ate it for dinner anyways.

…

…

Nope. Not ready for words yet.

…

Okay, this sandwich was FREEZING cold. The plastic wrap had compacted everything. The peanut butter united with the mustard, the lettuce was crisp, the tomatoes were cold and the juices ran with the peanut butter. Mmm…

If I had eaten it fresh, sure it would have been delicious. But letting it sit for a few hours (possibly overnight, I don’t remember) brought its deliciousness to near indescribable.

Another sandwich that has stood the test of time through the night in the fridge is the simple honey with peanut butter sandwich (I’ve written about this before: ….).

I’m not sure what happens exactly to the honey and peanut butter, so I’ve got no answer scientifically. Judging by taste and all around good, yumminess, the honey sort of infuses itself with the peanut butter while thickening it. Then together they begin to solidify (not completely or else it would probably be inedible, but to a nice tinker, sturdy texture).

The bread does stale a little bit from the cold, however, it’s not a bad thing, it kind of works with the rest of the sandwich. Almost creates a sort of crispiness on the outside.

I usually chill all my peanut butter sandwiches overnight just so I don’t have to rush to make them the next day, if they’re an on-the-go lunch. For all (including the two mentioned above) I tend to use my homemade peanut butter, which has no added oils, salt, or sugars. However, I have been branching out recently. I’m still not sure how regular peanut butter would work in those specific situations, but most taste beautiful (yes beautiful) when refrigerated overnight in a sandwich.

Two days ago I went to the grocery store to get a few things, bread being one of them. I found the normal choice, Sara Lee Light Whole Wheat (I tend to buy low-cal breads, this one only having 45 calories per slice, that way I can stuff it as much as I want to with peanut butter). However, I began to think/daydream about oatmeal bread. I love oatmeal bread. So the search resumed and shortly I found a 100% Whole Wheat Oatmeal bread (I don’t remember the brand off the top of my head, and I’m too lazy to walk downstairs to look in my cupboard at the moment).

Thus, a sandwich was made.

(A refrigerated sandwich at that.)

The refrigerated oatmeal bread was dense and wonderful. My lunch box smelled like peanut butter.

Left me craving another sandwich.

Which I may end up making later today…

Who knows what really makes these sandwiches so alluring. It's not like I'm against warm sandwiches. Toast is a staple for me. Melty peanut butter is practically it's own food group in my book. Maybe it's the anticipation. The waiting. The knowing it's made and awaiting a first bite. Maybe absence really does make the heart grow fonder. Though, in this case, it may be taste that's grown.