This Post Should Be Titled "How Many Foods Can Hannah Describe As 'Thick'"

In light of National Peanut Butter Month, I decided to write out my top 10 Favorite Ways to Consume Peanut Butter. I could probably write more…But I would hate to bore you. Or if this is the first post of mine you’re reading, weird you out so much you choose not to come back. Hopefully, that won’t be the case.

My 10 Favorite Ways to Consume Peanut Butter:

#10 - Out of the Jar

Pure peanut butter, nothing gets in its way, nothing violates it, just peanut butter. My dessert is often one or two (or three) scoops of peanut butter. And since I often have much more than one type in the house, I have a wonderfully varied dessert.

#9 - Peanut Butter and Yogurt

I love Greek yogurt. Being lactose intolerant, it gets difficult to eat it. There are some brands that sell alternatives, however, there aren’t many stores reasonably near me that sell it. So I made my own. Using So Delicious yogurt and PB2 (powdered peanut butter) plus a vast amount of peanut butter, I’ve created (what I think) is an even better version. Leaving the mixture in the fridge for as long as possible allows it to thicken up to mimic the texture of Greek yogurt.

#8 - Oatmeal

Oatmeal is one of my first choice bases to work off of, while it has a flavor it’s not overbearing and goes with pretty much anything. Adding peanut butter helps to make it thicker (I like thick foods, haha). Oatmeal, even Old Fashioned, can have a big impact on my blood sugar, so having some protein in there helps balance things out. Plus, not only thick, the oatmeal gets gooey; gooey oatmeal is never a bad thing.

#7 - Instead of Milk

It started out with just Cheerios. It was an improvisation on dinner at work. I had planned yogurt and peanut butter, but upon opening my yogurt I found a nice blot of mold. Figured that would be bad to eat. It then spread of Honey Nut Cheerios, then an organic version. Then, one of the best choices I’ve ever made came into existence: Peanut Butter and Honey Bunches of Oats. If you follow my Twitter or Tumbler account, you realize just how obsessed I am with this dish. I use a 50/50 mix of Honey Roasted and With Almonds flavors, and then coat them in excessive amounts of peanut butter.

#6 - Peanut Butter Pasta

Peanut Butter Pasta is my version of Mac and Cheese. Don’t get grossed out, I don’t use cheese. The sauce that coats the pasta is water, peanut butter, PB2 (seriously, if you haven’t already, look it up. You need to.), and spices. I tend to like my food with flavor but hot. I add cumin, curry, red pepper, cinnamon, and sometimes a little nutmeg (minuscule amounts); besides the nutmeg, I usually add a good dosage of each. The sauce, as it cools, tightens and thickens around the pasta (again, with the thickening, what can I say?).

#5 - Between the Bread

Classic. No way to get past it. Toasted, roasted, grilled, refrigerated, or even as is. Not much else to say, honestly. It’s a sandwich, who doesn’t love a sandwich?

#4 - With Rice

Please believe me. Please, please believe me. It tastes good. It really does. Make a good batch of rice throw in just enough peanut butter to flavor and bring the rice all together but not enough to be obnoxious. Peanut butter and rice is sticky, silky, good warm or cold, and mushy. (Mushy in my book is a good thing, if a food is supposed to be mushy.) Like, not soupy mushy, but not grainy or crunchy (less you prefer crunchy peanut butter, in that case it should be crunchy).

#3 - Ants on a Log

You know how all different things can bring a person back to a memory? Well, I’m extremely sensitive to tastes. Apple juice and Pringles bring me back to sleepovers at my Grandparent’s. Ants on a Log brings me back to my childhood. I think of my mother, when she shared her favorite treats with my brother and I. Besides the way that celery’s watery, crunch and the chewy sweetness of raisins mixes heavenly with Jif peanut butter, my love for Ants on a Log is almost completely about the sensory experience.

#2 - In Sweet Potato

I thought I was weird for this one. Then I joined Tumblr. Apparently, it’s not so weird. So you should try it. Because frankly, it’s number two on this list. Which should say a lot. In sweet potato soup, sweet potato mash, just on a sweet potato, or any other way you can think of. The distinct sweet potato flavor plus the nuttiness of peanut butter…I’m sort of at a loss for words with it.

#1 - Out of the Jar

Honestly, who are we kidding? I mean, we can think up as many fancy ways to eat it as we can, but does anything really beat straight out of the jar?

Okay, there's one more. 

As I was promptly alerted, I forgot to mention one important way I love to consume peanut butter. When The Boy cooks for me!

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hannah-friendly Peanut Butter Donuts

Birthday Veggie Stir Fry with Haitian Hot Pepper Peanut Butter (with teriyaki mixed in the sauce)

Flourless Peanut Butter Muffins

I enjoy dating a cook.

Just Like Clockwork

Some people I know think that this whole hypoglycemia thing just sort of appeared out of the blue in my late teens. In truth, I’ve been dealing with it since I was a little kid. When I was younger, my mom looked after me; she made sure I didn’t eat too much sugar and ate regularly. As I got older, I took responsibility of it myself.

I wasn’t too good at it.

I was pretty moody. The kind of swings that’ll throw you over the top of the swing set.

My blood sugar dropped at random times because of what I ate. Because of what I didn’t eat (I wasn’t doing the vegetarian thing correctly) I had a rough go with anemia (it beat my butt for a while). And while I wasn’t fat by any standard, I wasn’t exactly happy with how my body was beginning to look.

So probably junior and senior year of high school, I worked to cut out all the things I’ve mentioned on this blog.

In doing so, I realized life was a lot more fun when I didn’t lose control of my emotions every other minute. I also enjoyed getting back to my regular, active, hyper self when I finally started overcoming my anemia. Also, I’ll definitely admit that I didn’t mind getting back in the gym and losing about 30 lbs.

I felt good going to the gym, even just playing outside wasn't so much of a chore anymore. I felt more muscle; I saw more muscle. 

But besides the physical changes, my mind was more active, I had more confidence. I also learned how to control and live with my hypoglycemia. No longer did I have to continually fight my body. 

However, my hypoglycemia became extremely sensitive. Every two hours on the dot, I HAD to eat again.

My doctor said it probably had to do with all the changes I’d put my body through and a lot to do with my age.

Annoyingly, my blood sugar had put me on a pretty strict schedule. While now, at 20 and a sophomore in college, it has loosened up a bit, it’s still pretty straightforward.

9:00am - Breakfast.

11:00am - Lunch

1:00pm - Snack

4:00pm - Dinner

(Usually with an after dinner snack or second dinner around 6pm.)

For an even better description, think of a hobbit.

Obnoxious as it was, I realized that it helped a lot. While sometimes hypoglycemia can be unpredictable and there are those days when it’s just a struggle to keep my blood sugar up, it’s basically always foreseeable.

Which, for me, is like the best gift God could give. I like to plan almost every detail and I was frustrated at it’s sensitivity. What if I’m somewhere and I can’t eat anything?

THEN! The light bulb went off.

(Typical Hannah moment.)

My hypoglycemia works like clockwork. Follow the pattern. Go wherever you want to. When your travels fall over a meal or snack, pack it.

It sounds so simple and upfront as I type it out. But believe me, in the middle of the situation, it was a dream come true to realize.

I Like This Whole Birthday Week Thing

An old Birthday Crown
I felt it was needed to get the point across.

So about a week ago, my friend Pyro and I were having a conversation about Valentine’s Day and birthdays. I was telling him about how I never liked Valentine’s Day because it distracted from my birthday and due to the fact of being single. Then recently I realized that I still don’t really have a big thing for Valentine’s Day, and I’m not single anymore. I figured out that I must just be that self-absorbed about my birthday.

As a kid, my Dad had his birthday on January 19^th, my brother had his on the 31^st. So once February hit, I knew it was all about me.

(I liked that.)

Every day would be one day closer.

Except for that one day.

That one day seemed to break all concentration from the all-important, most vital day in all of February.

Valentine’s day.

It was terrible.

(Believe me.)

Discussing my feelings with Pyro, he nonchalantly states that as he’s gotten older, he’s always felt that his birthday has become “just another year,” that it’s not as special.

I firmly disagreed. I told him flatly that that would never happen to me. My birthday has always been, still is, and always will be an awesome day. I told him that my birthday would never become “just another year.”

He made sure to make a mental note.

This year has been anything but just another year.

The birthday celebrations began on Friday night, (the 15^th). My Mom and I went out to our first pick restaurant, Celestial Cafe. It’s situated in a plaza; the outside fits the look of the normalcy around it, but once you’re inside, you kind of forget that right outside is a gas station, a Dunkin’ Donuts, and a Subway.

The atmosphere is so cozy, that even though for the most part it’s all one open room, when you’re seated, you feel like you’ve got the place to yourself.

I enjoyed my favorite (I keep trying to try something new…But it never works out.)

Portabella Peanut Thai.

My Mom (more adventurous than me that night) tried, for the first time, their Chicken Carbonara.

She also gave me a new book!

Saturday night (the 16^th), my Dad surprised me with Everything’s Eventual by Stephen King. Who’s name and books will never be absent from my bookshelf or Kindle. I was happy.

I also received a basket stuffed with goodies from my Grandma. 

Sunday (the 17^th, aka, my birthday) I woke up, excited and ready for my day. A little nervous due to the fact that I usually have one big break down on my birthday, but other than that, I was ready.

It started out as a normal Sunday morning. I headed to church thinking that The Boy wouldn’t be joining me; fortunately I was proven wrong. Standing in the lobby I watched as he walked in and began to look for me. After church, The Boy, Pyro, and I began the first stage of my birthday plan.

1. Go to store; buy lots of ingredients

2. Stop by my house to grab additives (peanut butter, BBQ and teriyaki sauce, mustard, fruit, etc.)

3. Head to The Boy’s

4. Have The Boy cook birthday dinner

The chips were mainly for snacking.
They did their job well.

Thankfully The Boy was gracious and willingly went along with my plan.

It worked for his favor.

The meal was delicious.

Steaks for the non-vegetarians (all marinated in a different marinade). Raspberry Vinaigrette for one, his own special marinade for another, one a honey balsamic vinaigrette (he thinks, haha), and one was done in a skillet in a white wine sauce. For all the vegetables and fruit I picked out, he made a stir-fry. It consisted of bell peppers (red, yellow, and orange), two onions, a can of pineapple chunks, and a mango. The sauce, chosen by The Boy, was teriyaki sauce and my Haitian hot pepper peanut butter. In to the leftover white wine sauce he decided to put the chopped up portabella mushrooms. He also boiled some brussel sprouts (I love them) then sauteed them in garlic butter. The feast (yes it was a feast) could not be matched. Definitely, positively one of the top birthday dinners I have ever had (that’s including my mother’s home cooked meals and my various first choice restaurants).

Desert couldn’t have been more fitting either. The Boy actually looked up a flourless peanut butter cake. Mmmmhm. Due to lack of springform or pie pans, the party indulged in flourless peanut butter muffin tops. The texture is actually quite surprising. You would think they contained more than just sugar, eggs, and peanut butter (lots of peanut butter).

Yesterday the celebration continued. It opened with getting to work have finding an absolutely lovely 20 dollar gift card to Marshalls. 

After work, to conclude my birthday festivities, my grandmother took my mother, my brother, and I out for dinner. (Dad was sadly gone to New Jersey to help out my Aunt and Uncle some more and my grandfather wasn’t feeling good.)

Where you may ask?

Where else?

Celestial Cafe.

My Mom and I couldn’t help but make the suggestion. It was all too tempting.

Trying hard to choose something else on the menu, I succeeded to temptation and fell in love with the Portabella Peanut Thai all over again. 

Side Note 1: I've been experimenting with sweet potato and soup. So far, success!

Sweet Potato, Spinach, Sautéed Onions & Mango. Spiced with my favorites,   curry, cumin, red pepper, and cinnamon.  

Sweet Potato Stew: Sweet Potato with Red & Yellow Bell Peppers,  Onions, Mango, and Celery. Spiced with the same as the last soup. 

Of course both of these had a decent amount of peanut butter added as well. The flavors were exquisite. 

Side Note 2: The Boy and I definitely have something special going on. These were our late night snackings on Wednesday.

This is not an accurate depiction of just how much ketchup was in that bowl.

Hehe...Peanut butter and rice.

Side Note 3: Got my birthday present from The Boy last night!! NO! It's not an engagement ring! It's my brand new beautiful promise ring. Promising he won't leave me because of how crazy I am (or in the words of his brother, how "broken" I am, hahaha).