Going Nuts

I have an unnatural obsession with peanut butter. It is a major vice. I don't mean that I eat it all day, every day... but I could eat peanut butter with almost anything: fruit, celery, chocolate, even pickles (I can't take credit for that idea (Joe, Alicia, Elizabeth, Chris, John?), but it's a snack I've been known to eat since I was little).

I am slowly transitioning to all natural peanut butter, but it's been a rocky road. In my personal opinion, organic peanut butter is absolutely disgusting. How do you people do it? It's so oily and bland! Ugh.

I sat down with my good friend Common Sense and had an in depth discussion about this. Common Sense would tell us to simply pick items at the grocery store with the shortest list of ingredients. I'll follow that rule even when picking out peanut butter. I was a JIF girl (aren't we all?). I made a very SLOW transition to Natural Skippy. The Natural Skippy is a step up from the "Natural" JIF. To clear things up, The Skippy and JIF brands offer "natural" peanut butter varieties, but many would argue they are not all natural. The ingredients in Skippy's version do have natural ingredients (salt, molasses, and palm oil), but most would argue natural peanut butter should contain ONLY peanuts.

The problem with that is - 1) completely natural PB is incredibly oily and 2) the lack of sugar makes it rather unappealing!

With all natural peanut butter, one needs to refrigerate it. Is that not absurd? I can't deal. When you take it out of the fridge, it is completely separated (think oil on top, peanut gunk on bottom) and COLD. Cold peanut butter is completely unacceptable. Ew. A friend told me I can simply zap it into the microwave if I want it warmed up. Also, it must be stirred. So now, we've taken an incredibly quick and simple treat and turned it into a multi-step process with which even an Ivy League grad may need assistance. Like I said - ABSURD.

I stumbled upon MaraNatha peanut butter which does not have to be stirred. I think that will be my next step, but for now I'll stick with my Skippy "Natural." I told a vegan friend about my dilemma (yes, I do mingle with vegans, strange as they are). She recommended that I try almond butter. I excused myself to throw up. Give me a break.