A Peanut Butter Life

It's really no wonder that I love peanut butter as much as I do. One thing that all of my aunts, uncles and cousins remind me of when we meet or talk is that my dad always ate a piece of bread with peanut butter with each meal. Really! Our photo album boasts pictures of a Thanksgiving table with friends and family around it, with the peanut butter jar sitting proudly in the midst of turkey, dressing and cranberry sauce. Even on Thanksgiving, my father ate a piece of bread with peanut butter!

Personally, I took a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to school for lunch almost every day from first grade through ninth grade. Occasionally, I didn't have a peanut butter sandwich because someone interrupted mom in the middle of her assembly line ritual of sandwich making for her spouse and kids.

Mom wasn't much of an early morning person, and made our sandwiches in a half-awake state each morning. If she was interrupted in the middle of the sandwich making process, she'd really mess up our lunches. I probably opened my lunch and found something really gross like chipped ham and mustard. (To my Pittsburgh friends: I really loved chipped ham. But not in my lunch, which would be stored in a hot locker with smelly rubber boots of my locker mate. He never took them home. I loved chipped ham sandwiches at night or on weekends and with mayonnaise, not mustard. I also loved chipped ham made as a barbecue sandwich.)

Packed in my lunch, I wanted a normal peanut butter and jelly sandwich. But, as an afternoon snack, my peanut butter sandwich was more creative, joined by bananas or pickles (sweet or dill).

I once told someone that I'd probably try anything on my peanut butter sandwich. That's probably true. I've eaten apple wedges on my sandwich, potato chips, Fritos, and even pretzels. Peanut butter topped with fresh strawberries, or any fruit (even kiwi!) is yummy.

Peanut butter is great spread on celery sticks. And as an adult in Michigan, I discovered a restaurant that served salads with the choice of a peanut butter salad dressing. It was fantastic! A dollop of peanut butter in the middle of a hot fudge sundae was another wonderful discovery I made as a grown up.

So, that's my story and I'm sticking to it! Now it's your turn. What food do you love? What food can you not live without?