Thursday, February 10, 2011

For the Love of PB&J

I'd always thought peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were a rite of everyone's childhood.  I mean, what else (besides a chocolate-covered pretzel, of course) could create the perfect combination of sweet and salty?  What else could withstand a half-a-day inside a sweltering sandwich bag in an un-air-conditioned cabin in the unparalleled heat of summer camp, and still be just as tempting and delicious as it was when your mother packed it that morning?

Little did I know, there are actually people out there that don't like peanut butter and jelly, or (gasp!) who have never even tried it!  Really?  My American-centric brain made me forget that peanuts are not native to many other countries (if any at all, actually, but I can't verify that right now), and, like cranberry sauce (weird comment, I know, but after searching high and low one Christmas in London for it, I finally found an exorbitantly-priced, imported bag of Ocean Spray whole berries to make the concoction myself) are not necessarily available in the abundance that we see them here.  My husband, being from England, is one of those that has never tried PB&J, and he has sworn to never let the combo pass his lips without a gun to his head first.  Not like it's not found in the UK, because it is, but again, it was not a rite of childhood for him.

My mother really surprised the heck out of me recently when she confessed to actually not liking PB&J.  I really have nothing to say about this.  There are no excuses for that, especially when she grew up in the "middle-America" small towns found in Pennsylvania and South Jersey.  Besides, she made it for me!  For that I am grateful, as I have always loved it.

PB&J is Samantha's favorite food.  The first time she tried it was when she was 2 1/2, and we were at our local DSA holiday party.  I had been holding off until she was 3 for her to try any nut products, as food allergies scare the crap out of me (even though we have absolutely no family history of any), but her pickiness made feeding her that afternoon a real challenge, and I was desperate for something simple.  And there it was.  Just begging me to say, oh, to hell with the American pediatric guidelines.  So I did.  And I watched her very carefully, but all I saw was pure love.  And then all I saw was the ability to keep and transport food that she actually liked, easily.  Hooray!!! 

Recently Sammi has decided she no longer wants her usual breakfast of toasted frozen pancakes, and only wants peanut butter and jelly toast, so I toast one slice of bread, cut it in half, and put the peanut butter on one side and jelly on the other.  I can't complain about the protein aspect of this, and it makes her happy.  And isn't that what it's all about?

15 comments:

Debbie @ Three Weddings said...

I know what you mean, but my little Peanut does not like PB&J either! I think for her it's the texture because she will eat some peanut butter flavored cereal and she loves peanuts, but no actual peanut butter! I'd swear she wasn't related to me if she hadn't actually come out of my belly!

Cathleen said...

Apparently Lilly is with your husband: she won't try pb&j! But it's one of my favorites! Glad Sammi is a fan, and cutie pictures today!

Cathy said...

Guess I'm an odd duck (well, I knew that already)...but PB & J is NOT something I eat. But I sure do love seeing your gorgeous girl eating it!!

P.S. So far Lily isn't a fan either, but I keep trying. I'm not one to say, "Oh she won't eat it because I think it's gross." Hence...Spaghetti O's...lol.

Rochelle said...

Ha ha ha, so funny! Ok my hubby is from England too and definitely won't eat PB & J! Where is your hubs from?

Amy Flege said...

that is sooo funny!! I lived on PB&J as a kid and mayson LOVEs it too! She too wakes up in the morning and says "sahhhwich?" thats her que for PB&J :)

Unknown said...

PB&J -home made jelly is the best! with a glass of white cold milk! really nothing better...maybe chocolate and carmel...but maybe not! made me laugh! and the pix are amazing!! cheers!

Tricia said...

I have several comments on your post. Neither of my children eats jelly. They both eat plain peanut butter sandwiches, that was Brandon's school lunch every day for years, but no jelly!!!

There are some children at the school where I teach who are allergic to the point where they cannot even sit at a table with children who have peanut products at all. We have a "peanut free" table in the cafeteria that is specially disinfected before and after each group of kids.

Finally, my nephew, who is autistic, had feeding issues, this is a very common issue with autistic children. After many sessions with an eating therapist, they finally got him to try peanut butter and jelly. And without pb&j his dad probably never would have lived! That was all he ate! It was such a big deal when he would finally take a bite of an actual sandwich!

P.S. I used to eat it all the time, but I am not all that crazy about jelly now either. Rob makes me peanut butter and nutella for breakfast every day!

Lacey said...

Oh man, my Tanner eats just peanut butter sandwiches. That seems so dry to me! I have to have that jelly. Mmm, I might have to go make me one right now!

Krista said...

THOSE EYES!!! I love those eyes!

Pallavi said...

I don't like peanut butter/jelly :(, but we do use coarse peanut powder in few of our dishes. Typical Indian meals don't include sandwiches/cakes, not we dont eat these items, it's just that we haven't had these during our childhood and so there is not much of interest. But these days as many moms are working sandwiches/cereals are convenient breakfasts here too.

I got to try peanut butter with Navya :)

Rob Monroe said...

Abby alternates between PB&J and granola bars for breakfast! So yummy!

Maybe if his dear, darling daughter brought him a freshly made PB&J hubs would be more inclined to try it...

Crazy Beautiful Love said...

My oldest would not eat PB and J until she was four. Only the PB ...no J.
Love the pics. Sammi is so cute. Her eyes!

Melissa said...

I don't eat PB&J either. Haven't in years and really it doesn't even sound good. I don't eat PB though, except for at Christmast in PB balls, so maybe that's why it doesn't sound good.

my life: said...

I LOVE me some PB&J...so I LOVED this post. It made me smile over and over again. You will understand then...when we found Jacob allergic to peanuts and I said..."what will I feed him???" I grew up on it *and love it* and my kiddos eat it as one of their first table foods! It's fast, easy, filling, full of protein, and just plain YUMMY. :0)

Anna said...

Your photos are so beautiful. And your daughter.... sigh.
Our special little one was adopted from Ecuador and had never had PB&J because PB is used as a condiment for sauces etc there. I was going to fix PB&Js for her going away party since I had heard that PB was such a treat. Thankfully the lady that we boarded with told us how crazy it would seem for us to put something like PB on bread WITH jelly... gasp! So thankful she gave us a heads up. We took tuna fish sandwiches instead! can you believe it?! ha ha!