Yes, you CAN have Peanut Butter!

Guilt-free peanut butter.  I have my friend Gloria to thank for this one (THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU).  This is a same girl who introduced me to Arctic Zero and Amy’s organic frozen foods – both very tasty, very healthy, foodie revelations.

This is the best one yet.

PB2 is literally powdered peanut butter.  Roasted peanuts get pressed until almost all the fat and oil squishes away.  You then take the remaining fluffy powder and add water, watching as it magically reconstitutes into the exact same creamy consistency as normal peanut butter.  It has a great roasted peanut flavor and is lightly sweet.  It’s a little bit texturally grainy but not in a bad way, it just tastes like it’s got tiny peanut pieces in it – which, it does.  Think of crunchy PB with a very fine grain.

Allow me to point out the important differences though, comparing it to the brand I normally buy: Jif Reduced Fat Creamy PB.

Jif Serving Size:   Two tablespoons

PB2 Serving Size:   Two tablespoons

Jif Calories Per Serving:   190

PB2 Calories Per Serving:   45

Jif Fat Per Serving:   12 grams

PB2 Fat Per Serving:   1.5 grams

Jif Sugar Per Serving:   4 grams

PB2 Sugar Per Serving:   1 gram

Jif Sodium Per Serving:   220 mg.

PB2 Sodium Per Serving:   94 mg.

Jif Protein Per Serving:   7 grams

PB2 Protein Per Serving:   5 grams

The only place where you lose something good is the protein factor, it’s slightly less than what’s in normal peanut butter – other than that this stuff is made of win on every level.

There’s also the ingredient list: roasted peanuts, sugar and salt.  Three ingredients.  Done.  Regular peanut butter contains things like corn syrup solids, magnesium oxide, nicinamide, ferric orthophosphate, zinc oxide, copper sulfate… should I go on?  That stuff we all love from childhood is basically a chem lab experiment.

I haven’t located a local store carrying it yet, I ordered it from Amazon here.  It seems like the sort of thing that Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods would pick up, but I haven’t had the chance to check so far.  Here’s hoping because paying shipping is the only down side.

I’ve always loved peanut butter, but recently I’ve been barely brushing the tiniest taste of it over my bread because I knew what a fatty disaster it was.  Today, I whipped up an entire serving of this stuff and smeared it decadently all over my toast.  I felt not even the slightest twinge of hesitation in eating it, I simply enjoyed.

Bliss!

Recipe For the Day (Courtesy of Weight Watchers and my friend Jen):

Frozen Peanut Butter Cups

1/4 cup peanut butter
1-8oz. tub fat free cool whip
chocolate syrup to drizzle

Thaw cool whip half way. Mix peanut butter and cool whip together and place in muffin cups. Drizzle with chocolate syrup and freeze 6-8 hours to harden. Enjoy!

Number of Servings: 8

WW Points: 1 per cup

Assuming you substitute regular peanut butter in this recipe with BP2, the point value will probably drop to around ½ each.