National Peanut Butter Day - January 24th

Today is National Peanut Butter Day! Peanut butter is a staple in our home, and our daughter eats it in creative ways...

• Breakfast: Eggo® mini pancakes and waffles*, with peanut butter and mini chocolate chips -- waffle-pancake sandwiches!
• Lunch: Peanut butter and cheese sandwiches. (She prefers these with the cheese melted, which ends up being a mess when the PB melts, too.)
• Dinner: Cheese tacos... with peanut butter (and mini chips), fish sticks, and turkey breast. (bleh)

I keep a container of the peanut butter and mini chips mixed up all the time now. It saves time in the mornings when I'm fixing her breakfast. And because those are things she came up with, I'll probably add them to the next cookbook, even though they sound not-so-wonderful to me. Especially the tacos.

Personally, I prefer a simple PB&J, or peanut butter cookies (or variations on that theme!). Or peanut butter popcorn. I worked briefly at Karmelkorn when I was in college, and it inspired me later to make my own version. I was messing with the recipe and decided to try it with peanut butter. It's really delicious, but not as crunchy as typical caramel popcorn.

Perfectly Peanut Buttery Popcorn
Ingredients:
1 bag microwave popcorn

1/2 stick butter or margarine

1 C. sugar

1 C. peanut butter

1/4 C. light corn syrup

Directions: Pop the popcorn and remove any unpopped kernels. Place in large bowl, much bigger than you think you'll need – I use a 5-qt. metal bowl. In a small saucepan, over medium heat, melt the butter and add the sugar, syrup and peanut butter. Boil gently. Continue cooking until the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour over popcorn, and toss to coat. (Watch your fingers!) Keep any leftovers in an airtight container. This popcorn won’t be as crunchy as the caramel popcorn, and doesn’t store as well.

Available at Amazon.

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* Yes, she prefers store-bought to homemade to my complete confusion and dismay.