nutso for nuts

My favorite food to this day is peanut butter. hands down. not the crappy over-sweetened kind with a cartoon character on the label, but good old natural, chunky peanut butter with the layer of oil on top that has to be manually (and sometimes forcefully) combined, and then stored in the fridge.

Now that you know where I stand on that important issue, I discovered something that might be better, if that's possible. It happened because I ran out on my lunch break yesterday to grab some healthy snacks for my desk drawer at work – scored a big bag of peanut, cashew and dried cranberry trail mix, too – and i came across the aisle of nut butters. i took my time, reading each of the glorious labels with care: almond, almond honey, cinnamon peanut, dark chocolate peanut and cashew. And then, stuck behind a jar of standard peanut, I saw it. Cashew-almond-peanut butter. A triple threat.

At risk of looking like a five year old, I'm sharing with you a frequent weekend breakfast for me: whole-wheat waffles toasted with peanut butter and then topped with banana slices. And maybe a sprinkle of cinnamon if I'm feeling frisky. Mmmmmm. But this time with the triple threat, it was over the top. And it may become my new favorite.

Changing subjects, I went to a ladies-night-in party last night where Southern Caviar was served. This is the third time in several months that I have seen this at a party – and it's so addicting! It's a black-eyed pea salsa – love, love, love black-eyes peas – that also has corn, tomatoes, bell peppers, onion, and garlic, mixed with Italian dressing. I think I might make some today with a homemade Italian dressing. I'll post the recipe after I get it tweaked.

Also wanted to share the pics of our yummy grass-fed, locally and humanely raised steaks. They were humanely eaten and enjoyed with a portabella steak seasoning (yes, another Christmas present!), as well. :) The produce box provided the potatoes and our trip to the natural foods store left us with some asparagus, so it was a good meal.

The last thing I'll mention is that I have also decided that the more veg you throw into marinara sauce, the better it is. This week I also made a quick post-work/work-out dinner of marinara (from the jar, I did say it was a quick dinner ... ) and fresh whole-wheat, sun-dried tomato and smoked mozzarella ravioli. In making the sauce, I first sauteed some leftover spinach, chopped onion, garlic, mushrooms and bell pepper from the produce box, and then added the red and some of the remaining frost-resistant herbs (hello, rosemary and oregano!) in my garden. We didn't even need a side item it was so chocked full of veggies. And it was quite tasty, but – alas – I have no photo to share, so I'll post this week's produce box bounty (some of it) instead.

Have a great Saturday!