The other day I got a package from Maranatha – 2 jars of nut butter. They sent me one jar of no-stir peanut butter and one jar of no-stir almond butter.

Let me tell you – I thought I didn’t really like almond butter… I was so wrong. This almond butter is great. Both the almond butter and the peanut butter are slightly sweetened with organic cane sugar.

Thanks, Maranatha! I can’t wait to experiment with these. So far I’ve just had them plain, in oatmeal, and on rice cakes.

I work long hours so recently I have been going to Gourmet Park for dinner. My favorite thing to get is the unlimited topping salad for $6.95. You pick a base (I get romaine), one “meat’” (I get either bacon or shrimp, depending on my mood), and unlimited gourmet toppings.

This one had (I think I’m forgetting some): roasted oily eggplant, roasted oily Brussels sprouts, broccoli, roasted peppers, corn, peas, water chestnuts, baby corn, mandarin oranges, artichoke hearts, sprouts, and probably some other things. I always get the honey mustard dressing on the side.

Gourmet Park also has a sale on their prepared food after 6:00pm – it’s all half off. So I get prepared food for $4/pound (normally $4/half pound).

This one was some Asian-inspired cooked salad of broccoli, black sesame seeds (Coco likes these!), peppers, and some other unidentified veggies. Underneath (hiding) are a bunch of oily peppers. I’m really into oily veggies lately – they are so good. Fat is good.

Tonight I got a big dish of something with cauliflower. It was Indian-inspired, I think.

I topped it with some beef, salmon, and crab (salmon and crab are in that left corner). I also got some oily eggplant and some mashed potatoes. Very filling. Gourmet Park is helping me eat a variety of foods without having to worry about planning my meals.

In terms of exercise I’ve been sticking with my walking routine. Today I actually walked 4 miles instead of 2 because I walked home from work while chatting with my parents.

How often do you talk to your parents? Sometimes I talk to them every day and then other times I will go a week or even more.

I bought two jars of PB2 last week, and they are nearly gone.  The first was gone in 2.5 days.  I’m being a bit more conservative with the second jar because this stuff is expensive.  I got my PB2 at a small specialty food store called Lite for Life in Santa Clara, CA.  The damage: $6.49 per jar.

Oops – I ate this on my macrobiotic experiment even though it had sugar in it.  Justification – the sugar content was very minimal, and PB2 has no preservatives.

PB2 is powdered peanut butter. You add water and mix before eating.  You can also add the powder to other recipes – like oatmeal, pad thai, or salad dressing.  I used it in my Vegan Mac and Cheeze instead of nutritional yeast.  PB2 has some very cool nutritionals, and a stellar ingredient list.

Ingredients: Roasted peanuts, salt, sugar.

Per 2 Tablespoon serving: 53.2 calories, 1.87 grams fat, 3.4 grams carbohydrates, 0.48 grams fiber, 5.65 grams protein.

PB2 can be as creamy or thick as you like, because you control the amount of water added.  It spreads easily, and has a very pleasant taste.  It’s much less sweet than flavored nut butters (though still slightly sweet).  If you like natural peanut butter, you should try PB2.

When I reviewed Better’n Peanut Butter, people commented that it tasted too fake, sweet, or artificial.  I don’t think that’s the case with PB2 - it does lack the fat content, but the added sugar is minimal and it does retain some of that “natural” taste.

Here are some of my favorite ways to eat PB2:

• Dipping sauce for Ener-G’s Seattle Crackers (review to come) and in a creamy peanut buttery salad dressing



• With oranges



• With Asian pears



• With blueberries



• Vegan Mac and Cheeze (with wheat berries, cauliflower, and swiss chard)



• Plain, of course!  My most recent favorite dessert – 4 tablespoons of PB2 mixed with water and savored slowly.

How do YOU like your PB2?