Minnie Mouse Smash Cake & Cupcakes

Peanut Butter & Oat {Recovery} Bites and Pacific Beach Peanut Butter Review

Well, I made it through another tax season and now I am all wrapped up in my wedding planning, so I apologize for the scarcity.  Plus, we are in the process of selling our house and searching for a new one, so cooking time has been a bit lacking.  Race season is (well, has already been) upon us, as well as trying to get back into shape for summer/honeymoon/just in general.  So I love coming up with little recipes to help your body recover after lots of exertion, whether from racing your motorcycle, cycling at the gym or even just running after your little ones.

Not only is this a recipe, but also a review of this wonderful little organic peanut butter company named Pacific Beach Peanut Butter. 

You can find them on Facebook, Twitter, and of courseeee Pinterest

https://www.facebook.com/PBPeanutButter?fref=ts

https://twitter.com/PBPeanutButters

http://pinterest.com/pbpeanutbutter/ 

And not only is this a review of these wonderful (and did i mention, cute and unique) jars full of peanut butter but all my wonderful loyal readers get:

One FREE jar with any purchase from their website!

*Limit 1 FREE jar per customer.*

Just use this code: blogger4 

(Reader Code valid through May 16, 2013)

They have so many amazing flavor combos- but I will review three: 

Organic Unsalted, Chocolate, and Chocolate Raspberry

I'll start with my least fav, the Chocolate.  Don't get me wrong, it was good, but I guess not what I expected.  Really didn't do anything for me just straight out of the jar.  But I did think it would be a great addition to recipes (which I did use in my bites).

Chocolate Raspberry was very decadent, it was almost like a fruity nutella- um, yea, delicious! Eat with fruit or crackers or anything. 

I am a real basic type of person, so when it came to the unsalted regular peanut butter- I could have eaten the whole jar with just a spoon.  My fiance said it was different because the texture was in between chunky and smooth peanut butter.  Personally, I am a chunky fan, but this was definitely a nice switch up.  The taste was fresh and clean.  You really taste the amazingness of these peanuts (which by the way was the ONLY ingredient! Another amazing perk)  

Wanna Spoon? haha I LOVE IT!

I recently switched from those "less fat" peanut butters to all organic natural peanut butters, because even though it is full fat, you are eating natural ingredients you can pronounce- the only thing in your peanut butter should be peanuts! (and salt)  So when PB PB (haha cute right?) contacted me about their peanuts butters, I was definitely in! And I am so glad I was because now I can pass along this amazing find to all you guys! AND you can get a free jar with a purchase! Score!

Now, here is a recipe using their great peanut butter, if you don't eat it all right out of the jar first ;)

Ingredients

• 1/3 c. or peanut butter (I used half organic unsalted and half chocolate)
• 1/4 c. brown sugar, packed
• 2-3 tbsp of honey
• 2-3 tbsp of canola oil
• 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce
• 1 3/4 c. oats (I used rolled organic)
• 1 c. flour (I used AP flour, but you can use whole wheat if you want)
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• 4 tsp of flax seeds
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 tbsp of cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Line baking sheet with tinfoil or parchment paper and spray with non stick cooking spray
3. Mix peanut butter, sugar, honey, oil and applesauce in one bowl.
4. Mix oats, flour, baking soda, flax seeds, salt and cinnamon in another bowl.
5. Mix the dry into the wet in two or three batches
6. Drop about tbsp (or big tsp) sized balls onto the sheet.
7. These are not going to spread out, they will cook exactly the shape and size you drop them onto the sheet as.
8. Bake about 10 minutes until brown slightly on the edges and bottom.
9. Let cool, then enjoy!

This makes about 28 bites (tbsp sized)

I take them in a little baggie for a snack right after the gym.

Filet Mignon w/ Horseradish Cream Sauce

This dinner is super easy. Hardest part will probably be cleaning and prepping the meat. If you don't feel all that adventurous you can buy pre-prepped filet's.  But the whole beef tenderloin was on sale for $6.99/lb- that is a great deal. I was able to get 5 thick small medallion sized steaks, plus left overs that I froze and will deal with another time (fajitas maybe?).

And mashed potatoes and a roasted veggie of your choice makes this a super easy (and pretty quick cooking) meal.  I would have loved asparagus, but they didn't look good at the store and I didn't want buy a sub par veggie with such a high cut of meat.

Here is a great video for how to Trim Beef Tenderloin. But obviously instead of tying and roasting, we will cut little steaks of equal size and tie to help keep their shape when cooking.

Then I put back into the fridge for a couple hours (you don't have to put in for that long, maybe just an hour or so).  Then before cooking you want to pull the meat out of the fridge and let come to room temp before cooking.  

When the meat is ready I heated my cast iron skillet with a little canola oil.  All I seasoned the meat with was salt and pepper. I cooked these (because they are so small) about 5 minutes on each side (not even that long) for medium.  

ALWAYS let the meat rest.  When the meat is resting it will continue to cook because of the carry-over cooking time, so don't be afraid to pull them out of the pan early. You can always heat them up a little more in the oven if too rare for you-but once they are over cooked, they are ruined.

Let rest five minutes. Meanwhile make your sauce.

Horseradish Cream Sauce

For every 1/2 cup of fat free plain yogurt I used about 2-3 tbsp of horseradish.  We like it spicy. Then just a pinch of salt and lots of fresh cracked pepper. I also added a couple scallion bits.  Done!

Mashed Potatoes and Roasted Broccoli

Mashed potatoes: I used about 10-15 small russet potatoes. Peel, (I also like to cut mine into small chucks for quicker cooking time) put in a pot, and cover in cold water.  I added 5 smashed garlic cloves, salt and pepper to the water.  Bring to a boil and boil until the potatoes are soft and a fork goes in and out of them cleanly.  

Drain, return to the pot and then you can pick out the garlic cloves if you desire.  Add 2 huge tablespoons of butter and about 1-2 cups of milk, then mash away! It will depend on on how you like your potatoes.  (Not exactly healthy, but it tastes good and it is a special occasion).

Taste them before you add more salt and pepper, if it needs- add more.  I cover mine and let sit until everything else is ready.  I topped with scallions for garnish (you could use chives too)



Broccoli: Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F.  Fill a baking sheet with broccoli florets, drizzle with oil, salt and pepper.  Toss broccoli and roast for about 20 mins.  Just keep an eye out, when they start looking burnt on the edges- that's when you can remove from the oven. Don't worry they will taste amazing.

Then just pour some wine (we had our fav Cabernet Sauvignon) and enjoy with your hunny!