Jiff's Nutella aka Chocolate Peanut Butter

Has anyone tried chocolate hazelnut butter? I know I've been trying to eat better and when I found out our grocery store is out of their homemade peanut butter, I figured we would do without. I completely forgot about buying plain unsalted peanuts since I was in a hurry.

Walking through the grocery store looking for something in particular, we walked by the peanut butter. Might as well get some since we were out. Oh... nutella. I've never tried it. Instead of buying the expensive Nutella brand, we bought Jif, saving $3.

Once at home, we opened the jar to see a chocolate looking glob. Yuck. Not sure if my kids should eat it, I lick the edge of the butter knife. Oh my goodness. Why haven't I bought it before? I spread it on my kid's bread (for PB & J), and they ate it faster than their regular PB & J. "Mommy, I love our new chocolate peanut butter!"

No wonder. It was so good. I thought my sweet tooth was going to fall out and beg for more. Then I realized how healthy it must be, since all those tv commercials about Nutella said it was. Wow. All those "mother" actresses spreading it on bananas, waffles, toast, etc. "It's a healthy nut butter that my kids can't get enough of." To put it plainly, it's another unhealthy preservative loaded with sugar and oil. Another item on the "no" list. I should have realized this since its packaged, and no doubt, processed.

Looking for an alternative to this sugar nut butter, I googled "homemade oil-free Nutella". Google results: 155,000. After going through seven websites and blogs, the eighth result actually came up with a recipe that has no oil. Their website: http://www.realfoodkosher.com/quick-homemade-nutella/. It looks natural, without the coconut or palm oil. I can't wait to try it!

Bakersfield. No A/C until 4:30pm. Day 3

Well, its been three days of no a/c until 4:30pm. You know what? It's actually not that bad! I didn't get too much done today, but it was worth it.

The kids and I took hubby to work (went out of town), came home, and pretty much did arts and crafts this morning. See- totally worth skipping the chores! ;) They love doing that stuff. It's not that I don't like doing those things with them, I'm just not that creative. The extent of my art skills is cutting out construction paper and gluing stuff on like confetti or yarn. They love using scissors even though it makes a big mess. As long as they clean it up, it's great practice for them.

On Tuesday, the kids got to see a water tender aka a fire truck at hubby's work, so I cut out a little fire truck shape out of construction paper and the kids had a blast decorating them. What a way to say thank you! Plus, they are complaining the kids haven't made them any art work since October. Oops!

They got to watch their usual hour of tv in exchange of their clean room. Lately, it's been Barney and Bob the Builder. I guess its an okay show for them to watch. Apparently the messages on the Barney show are getting to my 4 year old daughter. She keeps singing "Stay Away from Fire" in the Row Row Your Boat tune. Catchy for her. Not that she's usually around fires, but is it a young version of Smokey the Bear?

Kids had PB & J since they ate all their dinner from the night before (no leftovers). I had a small piece of toast. I just can't seem to give up carbs. It's darn hard when I'm tempted to make it. I want to be good at something!

I cooked hamburger helper on the stove inside today and it wasn't too hot. By the time I got done cooking, it was around 4:30 and the air turned on. We ate and then actually went outside to play baseball, soccer, and swing. The kids didn't care that the air turned on. They just wanted to play. Anything. I didn't get to check the temperatures...maybe around 95 degrees? It's at least in the 90s right now, so it's not too horrible and the humidity is almost non-existent anymore. Double score!

Why haven't I done this before? I guess as long as the crayons don't melt in the house, then we aren't too hot I guess. Friday is suppose to be triple digit weather. At least we do have the air if we really do need it. Another successful day of no a/c until 4:30. It's been a huge success so far.

Homemade Wheat Bread

Mmmmm. As hubby walks through the door, his stomach rumbles. "The house smells wonderful" he usually comments. There's apparently no need for us to buy candles to make our house aromatic. I just throw some flour, yeast, and a few easy ingredients into our wonderful bread machine. I love my bread machine so much I could sing about it! I promise I won't though.

In my house, my kids eat PB&Js every day for lunch so bread is a necessary staple. Do I feed them $1 store bought white bread/fish bait? No! Number 1. If they are going to eat that much bread, they need whole wheat. 2. As I am trying to simplify my pantry/life and get rid of the preservatives, homemade is the only way to go. Plus, it's just a few simple ingredients other than flour and yeast. You don't even need bread flour for most recipes (this recipe does call for bread flour though). After searching for a good recipe online, I finally gave up the search because all I have in the pantry is white whole wheat flour.

There is a difference between whole wheat and white whole wheat. The white whole wheat flour does have the same fiber and nutrition as wheat, it's just not as "whole" as whole wheat. White whole wheat is a little more grounded for a lighter/whiter taste. Some people use half white whole wheat flour and half whole wheat when making bread, but I had no problem with white whole wheat + the bread flour in this recipe. I didn't expect this bread to turn out the way it did and I will experiment with the white whole wheat more so I can convert hubby to eating more whole grains.

Off the computer, I took Betty Crocker's Cookbook out of my cabinet and turned to the whole wheat bread recipe on page 88. It's not a new recipe, but I really wanted to experiment with my white whole wheat flour. Maybe I could trick him into thinking its white bread.
  
Here is the Betty Crocker Recipe on Page 88: I couldn't find it on their website

Whole Wheat Bread

1 C + 2 T water
3 T Honey
2 T butter
1 1/2 C bread flour
1 1/2 C whole wheat flour (I used white whole wheat and it came out perfect!)
1/4 C walnuts (optional)

White Whole Wheat Bread

1 t salt
1 1/2 t bread machine yeast

Put ingredients in bread making pan as ordered (wet always goes first).
Use whole wheat or white setting on bread machine.
Medium or Light cyle.
DO NOT use rapid cycle!
Remove from rack to cool and cover with a towel to keep moist. (I left the bread in the machine overnight and it turned out moist as a cake)

Good luck and let me know how yours turns out!