If it were not for the peanut, my two youngest children would be withering away. Peanut butter is Nirvana lifeblood. Ewww...I am not sure peanut butter and blood should be mentioned in the same sentence.

Reid (5) is a pb&j man. He has one for every breakfast. Sometimes he asks for an additional one. Sometimes he has a side of breakfast cereal. Every once in awhile he mixes it up and has peanut butter and honey. He would then have pb&j for lunch and dinner, but I have a one pb&j-based-meal per day rule.

Rhett (2 1/2) is more of a peanut butter renaissance man. There are no rules when it comes to peanut butter. If a little is good, a lot is better. If something tastes good. If you dip it in peanut butter it will be much better.

Lately Rhett has become a picky eater. He requests "cinnamon bread with raisins, toasted, with peanut butter and raisins on top" for every meal. He is also a fan of the raisin. My one cinnamon-bread-with-raisins-toasted-with-peanut-butter-and-raisins-on-top-based-meal per day rule really cramps his style.

A few nights ago I had the audacity to make the boys grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. You would have thought I was requesting Rhett to ingest dirt. I suggested dipping the sandwich in ketchup. That wasn't good enough.

Then I remembered my favorite lunch at a little restaurant in Vail. It is a 3 cheese grilled cheese sandwich with microgreens and a side of cherry chutney. HEAVEN. The cheeses are creamy and white, almost brie-like and it tastes amazing dipped in the cherries.

Let's try dipping your grilled cheese in jam!

Then I want peanut butter!

And that is how Rhett dipped his grilled cheese in peanut butter and jelly.

And that is how Rhett dipped his chicken nuggets the next day in peanut butter and jelly.

And that is how everything I serve the boy from this day forth shall be dipped in peanut butter and jelly.

Spaghetti and meatballs anyone?

41 comments:

InTheFastLane said...

so icky...but if it gets the kids to eat...

My 9 YO hates peanut butter. Who does that?

My 3 YO, on the other hand, could live on Peanut Butter and Honey. And I just remembered that we are out of Honey...

WeaselMomma said...

How is it that your boys don't have their own cooking show and off the charts popular restaurant? The pork industry would surely sponsor it.

Jennifer S said...

That may be one of the best real-life examples of get-'er-done that I've ever heard.

Seriously, I am such a believer in whatever works.

Jenn @ Juggling Life said...

I'm a huge peanut butter fan myself. Next time you make them pancakes with horrendously expensive WS maple syrup, make sure you put peanut butter on the pancakes. Delish!

Debbie said...

I have worried for years that our schools will say no peanut butter because of allergies and I will have to watch my kiddos wither up before my eyes.

T with Honey said...

My kid likes to dip her chicken nuggets in the caramel sauce that comes with the apple slices so why not peanut butter and jelly? If the kid is willing to eat it then let him go.

Eternal Sunshine said...

I suppose I will have to say "Don't know it until you've tried it" (I haven't, but will pass no judgements on this particular culinary delight.)

At least they're eating, so whatever works, I say!!

Besides, I like Fritos and bananas, so I can't say a thing.

Courtney said...

how gross, but whatever works right?

Threeundertwo said...

If you split open my 12 year old daughter, nothing but peanut butter would pour out. I'm just saying.

Unknown said...

Sounds like My Two Ethans - especially my 3 year old Ethan. He has to have *something* to dip his food into. And then he goes the extra mile and licks the plate clean of the dipping sauce (ketchup, PB, ranch... there are no limits)

Thanks for stopping by and commenting my page! Always looking forward to your posts.

Beth Cotell said...

If my son wasn't allergic to peanuts I would be dipping his vegetables in it!

Rachel said...

That is officially adorable. I love the pic of that picture! Too cute ;-)
Dipping in pb&j, huh? Interesting.

Personally, I love peanut butter mixed iwth a little cinnamon and honey and then spread on apple slices. num. num. num.

;-)

Jennifer said...

isn't it hilarious what kids will and won't eat and how you can get them to eat almost anything by letting them "dip" it?? my girls love ranch dressing ... and my boy is a ketchup kid... but they all LOVE pb&j... amazing.

have a great day!!
xoxoxo

Anonymous said...

Great post. My Indians like peanut butter and Mrs. Butterworth's syrup.
As Marie Antoinette would say, "Let them eat...peanut butter!"

Nanny Goats In Panties said...

At least the grilled cheese AND the PB&J are relatively healthy.

I get grossed out when I see kids take carrots or french fries and merely use them as a vehicle for the ketchup or ranch dressing. Repeatedly. The carrot is essentially a spoon with which to scoop ketchup into their mouths.

Ick!

Misty said...

i don't know... you could probably open an ecclectic little Bistro in Manhattan and call it "dipped". People would come...

(but gross...)

Manic Mommy said...

Hey, it it was good enough for Elvis...

Peanut butter on a spoon is our go-to snack. We go through 2-3 jars of Jif Reduced Fat PB here a week. Whatever works.

Brittany said...

Oh. Wow. Um. Wow. My kid won't touch the stuff, even though I envision it making my life so much easier...must try pushing the PB with chicken nuggets...

carmen said...

Atta boy! I thought I was the only person in the whole world that put jam on their grilled cheese sammies! I usually get a "GROSS!" whenever I mention it.

Anonymous said...

That's interesting, because I've never even had peanut butter in the house. I hate it, hubby hates it, and when the kid was offered, he hated it. If you can get them to eat something, who cares HOW it's done.

Ron Davison said...

Chicken in peanut butter? How do you think that Thai cuisine got started? (Only when you add it to chicken you are supposed to call it peanut sauce instead of peanut butter.)

♥.Trish.♥ Drumboys said...

they serve chicken in peanut butter (well call it stay) and other meat too ...

and I had deep fried crumbed(maybe you call it breaded) camembetr and brie dipped in cranberry sauce ...oh I have to stop I am drooling.

My boys like BBq sauce ..the teen eats it on sandwiches.

♥.Trish.♥ Drumboys said...

okay I meant Satay and I didn't read Ron's comment till after I wrote mine - I had the screen open for a while ... great minds you know.

Miss Lisa said...

There's protein in peanut butter ;)

Petra a.k.a The Wise (*Young*) Mommy said...

I would just like you to know that I just creamed my pants thinking about that effing grilled cheese sandwich dipped in cherry whatever because I am starving and on a diet and you suck.

But you don't really suck. I love you. I am just fat and cranky.

Dennis and Leslie said...

Ewwww,gross! Kids are so unique....can't wait to have dozen...

Unknown said...

Rhett and I are kindred souls. I could eat it every day too. Although I just like to dip my chocolate in it...

Jenni said...

Peanut butter on a cheeseburger is SURPRISINGLY tasty. I am just saying.

EatPlayLove said...

I just bought a jar of chunky peanut butter to switch things up and it's just peanut heaven! BTW..what's the restaurant in Vail, do tell! Sounds like the Larkspur to me.. yum...

Nora said...

My boy is also a PB fanatic. There is a coffee shop in Seattle with a toast bar, they have a cheese and jam toast that is to die for. Maybe they have PB for it too.

the planet of janet said...

drama king is allergic to peanuts and i spent many many years using different knives for the peanut butter and the jam so there was no cross-contamination.

it's funny that i still do the same thing today, even though he hasn't lived at home for more than 2 years!

JCK said...

You may soon be the author of "The Nutty Cookbook."

Anonymous said...

Amy isn't a fan of the peanut butter. Actually, she's more of an 'occasional taste maybe possibly' type girl.

But sultanas (rasins)? She would eat them ALL day if I let her. She is also a big fan of mayonnaise (not with anything to dip in it, just alone), honey on anything and everything and olives.

I wonder what plain cooked spaghetti would be like with PB&J...

Anonymous said...

OMG, that is too funny! I'm glad that my kids never got to the "dip everything in pb&j" phase, even though pb&j remains one of our fav things to eat too.

Valarie Lea said...

Little Logan eats what we call a fluffanator sandwich. Its Peanut Butter with Marshmellow Fluff. I personally to not partake of the fluffanator. :)

Anonymous said...

I have a mutant toddler. She HATES peanut butter with a passion. The commenter above me calls what the New England locals call the same thing, fluffernutters...it's the same thing but Imp even hates those, and in fact, they're kinda tasty in a *once a year* type way.

I really wish I could get Imp to at least give peanut butter a try!

Unknown said...

Peanut butter is the only way the girl will eat fruit. Apples, pears, bananas, coated with PB.

Please take photos of spaghetti and meatballs and PB and J - it can't be worse than the spaghetti and syrup from ELF!

Anonymous said...

Well, now I know what's up with your coccyx. Peanut butter.

Melissa R said...

It is always interesting how kids are so different from each other. My son, age 6, will not eat PB at all. No way, yuck. And no to jelly as well. If I ask him to eat a PB&J he acts like it's a fate worse than anything!

Anonymous said...

I love peanut butter, too. I don't feed it to the kids in the morning (except on weekends) because I'm afraid they'll have stray peanut residue on them and cause some other child to have an allergic reaction. What do you give your peanut butter kids for school lunches? PB and nuts and, I think, eggs are all banned from school lunches here.

Anonymous said...

If my kids had a peanut allergy they'd waste away, especially the oldest one. And if you haven't tried the pb from PB Loco, you haven't lived.

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