Good Day,
Let me begin by telling you that I have my apology ready. In my last post I said that I would give you the recipe and the play by play of making Chocolate Coconut Macaroons. But stuff happened- was out latish last nite at my husband’s after Xmas, Xmas company party and I woke up feeling lazy. I would have to get dressed, do the groceries, make the cookies, take the pictures, clean up and write the post. It is just not happening today. So, note to self: ” Never promise something that you may not be able to deliver on time.” What I can promise is that I will get to it-sooner than later, I hope.
But I do have something interesting and I hope, new for you. I woke up feeling like having some toast for breakfast. Now, I do not often do this because the jury is still out for me about bread and whether or not it belongs in a whole food, plant based diet. Some say yes, and some say no. Flour, whether it is whole grain or not, is not a whole food, because it has been processed. That is without taking into consideration the other processed ingredients in the bread. A possible exception to this might be stone ground, but I say that cautiously, because I am not one percent sure. I will check it out and let you know.
Because my current emphasis in my daily life is to consume more fruits and vegetables, along with grains, bean, nuts and seeds, eating bread regularly would take up too much space on the menu. But I occasionally do eat bread.. So, sitting on the counter this morning was some fresh, bakery baked bread that came in my box from Lufa http://lufa.com/en/–a Kamut bread to be exact, with no preservatives and no questionable ingredients.
I said to myself, this bread would be so good toasted with a little bit of vegan butter and then topped with crunchy peanut butter.
So I sliced two thin pieces and popped them in the toaster, got out a plate and a knife and proceeded to the fridge to find the vegan butter and the crunchy peanut butter I love crunchy peanut butter). This is what I found in the fridge- Grrr!
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| Exhibit A-empty jar of crunchy peanut butter
Now there are two jobs in my kitchen that everybody hates. One is stirring up the natural peanut butter, two is cleaning out the empty natural peanut butter jar. So this is why the jar was sitting in the fridge with less than a tablespoon of peanut butter in it. I am not pointing fingers. I just know that I am not responsible for the dearth of peanut butter in the bottom of the peanut butter jar.
So, here is my dilemma. My toast is almost toasted. How can the butter and peanut butter melt a bit if the toast is now stone cold because I have had to see to one of the most hated jobs in the kitchen? This is where necessity being the mother of invention comes in. While I am fuming away about my predicament,
 I see out of the corner of my eye a little brown paper bag of goodies that was also in my Lufa Box. http://lufa.com/en/
 Exhibit BThis cute little paper bad holds a melange of organic seeds, coconut, dried fruit with a few chocolate chips mixed in for good measure. So I am thinking, what can I do with this?
I hear the sound of “Toast Pop Up” as we used to say in my childhood home. From this sound a new breakfast idea is born.
 The recipe is simple, take all of these ingredients, toast the bread, top with the rest and you get…
this…And believe you, me it was delicious!!! So I had my happy ending first(a delicious and new “breakie”), after which I decided to tackle the issue of the empty peanut butter jar.
We use natural peanut butter at home, which means it has no extra ingredients in it like sugar and salt and funny sounding chemicals. It also is not homogenised, so when you buy it, the oil is sitting on the top, like so…
 This is how I handle the icky, messy job of stirring up the peanut butter.
First I take one of my handy, dandy steel mixing bowls and carefully spoon the contents of the jar into the bowl. Put an apron on if you have one. I start with a tablespoon (make sure it is strong or this may happen)
 and then switch to a table knife when the mixture gets too thick, because the oil from the peanuts has risen to the top leaving a very stiff, sticky mess at the bottom.  Once I have managed to transfer the butter to the bowl, hopefully without making a big, big mess, I take the strong, strong tablespoon, hold it upright, and start stirring slowly and carefully, until I get this.
 And then, if I am very, very careful, I get this and…
 Voila, the job is done.
I store these natural nut butters in the fridge because they have no preservatives in them and, as such, as not shelf stable. The great news is that once this pesky job is done, the butters do not separate again. Yay!!!
Why, do you ask, do I buy and use natural nut butters if they are such a pain to deal with? For several reasons-there are no added ingredients, they are not homogenised, and sometimes are made from raw nuts (this is a pricier purchase, though, so I don’t often do it. The best method, I think would be too buy my own raw nuts and process them myself. but this takes a very strong and reliable food processor and I do not have that at the moment.
GRAMMIE ANNIE’S VEGAN VIEW
From a health perspective, vegans and non vegans alike might benefit from a more whole food,plant based diet. It does seem like more work, but I believe that it is worth the effort. That is why I am sharing with you some of my handy dandy vegan kitchen tips.
Sometimes it is rewarding to have the happy ending first and the work after. So, as in today’s case, the yummy breakfast first and the messy work later.
Until next time,
May all beings be happy and free.
Anne
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A VEGAN BREAKFAST SURPRISE
It always surprises me when I eat breakfast out at restaurants (which is rare, because usually my ONLY option is peanut butter with toast) how different “regular” (i.e., sugary) peanut butter tastes to me ever since making the shift to natural. The restaurant stuff (which my little bear calls the bear peanut butter) tastes like dessert… which isn’t a bad thing, but doesn’t seem like a very healthy everyday thing 🙂
I hear you about the breakfast out in a restaurant thing. I have the same issue. I usually take my own peanut butter though. As you know, we have been a natural peanut butter household for many years and the peanut butter with the bear on it just does not cut it..