The Peanut Butter Boy

Peanut Butter Pumpkin Mousse

By popular demand, I've decided to post my favorite mousse recipe. I've actually promised this recipe to several people for a while now, but never got around to making it myself. My best excuse is that the store that sells my favorite cheese to use in this recipe is the furthest of the 3 local grocery stores I frequent (about a 10 minute drive) - a terrible excuse, I realize. That cheese by the way, is "Calabra" fat-free ricotta. It was never in the store until recently, but it is so rich and decadent, the only thing I can compare it to is queso fresco. I've had plenty of full-fat ricotta cheeses that aren't nearly as good. Otherwise I usually go for Polly-o because it has the highest protein to carb ratio.

I want to thank everyone for the kind words, my back is feeling a little better. It feels different than when I pulled it the other few times. It seems like a more concentrated pain in my lower back, but it seems to be disappearing faster and I only notice it when I make certain movements. I was prepared to go to the gym today but was dissuaded by my girlfriend when she called me outside the gym. I don't want to pull it again, but I want to work out! I suppose it's good that I have an addiction to the gym in some respects, but it's aggravating when I can't satisfy that addiction! At least I'll always be able to feed my peanut butter addiction barring any future food intolerances (knock on wood/cross my fingers/salt over the shoulder).

I don't know if it's warm where you are, but here in Davis, CA it's been about 80 degrees every day for the past week and there is no end in sight. So to me, this is a nice cool and refreshing dessert (or afternoon snack) that perfectly compliments the weather. This recipe couldn't be simpler and is a great base recipe to play with. I know what most of you are thinking, "what about chocolate peanut butter mousse?". Well I originally found a similar recipe somewhere that suggested the addition of 1/4 cup cocoa it was not good - I think it just wasn't sweet enough. If you try it, add the 1/4 cup cocoa, omit the cinnamon and an additional 2-4T honey or other sweetener. I'll experiment with it soon (maybe a year from now?).

Ingredients:

15-16oz (~2 cups) nonfat ricotta cheese (Calabra)
1 1/3 cups cooked pumpkin puree (canned is fine)
1/4 cup honey
3-4T peanut butter
1t vanilla
2t cinnamon

Instructions:

Throw it all in a blender and process until super creamy. Add extra honey to sweeten to taste. Chill and serve in small dishes. Top with whipped cream (I forgot to).

Additional Info:

I love this dish, it's so easy and it tastes great. Depending on the brand of ricotta, the taste and texture can vary, so try several different ones until you find your favorite. It also tastes great without the peanut butter but I don't recommend it =). Although every time I make it, I make it in two batches: one plain, one experimental. This peanut butter one was the latest experiment that went over well. By the way, this would make a wonderful pie filling. In fact, if you used a healthy pie crust like from my Triple Chocolate & Peanut Butter Pie, you'd have a mighty healthy and tasty pie on your hands.

To veganize it, perhaps you can use a nice silken tofu or tofu cream cheese? Anyone wanna try it?

Labels: dessert, peanut butter, protein, snack

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Posted by Nick on May 7, 2008 | Post a Comment | Comments | Permalink | Links to this post

Napa...awesome...pain....busy... little time

So I just spent an amazing weekend in Napa. My parents, my sister and her boyfriend, my girlfriend and her parents all came out to visit me and we headed up to Napa for a long weekend. It was a great weekend - the wine, the food, the views. Everything was awesome except that I pulled my back....twice. The first time was at the gym right before Napa and it just got worse on the drive there. The second time was washing my friggin' hands over the sink. I blame that one on the "ergonomics" of this country and everything being built for people under 5'10". Sinks, counters, cabinets, door handles...everything is just a bit too low for a 6'3" kinda guy and frankly I'm a little sick of it. When I have a house of my own it's going to have insanely high cabinets so that it makes me feel like a little kid.

My back has been healing since I first pulled it on Dec. 29th, 2007 and it's never fully healed. It technically isn't a pull but a slipped disk which I think is a lot worse. I remember the day because it was 2 days before New Years and luckily I was visiting home and had nothing to do so I could just relax. I now fully understand the meaning of frustration. It's so hard for me NOT to go to the gym. When I don't go, I lose 5-10 lbs of weight and I can't stand it. I'll take off for a little bit and I'll take it real easy when I go back but I can't just stop altogether! I do remember sorta overdoing it at the gym this last time and could see where I may have pulled it, so I'll certainly avoid what I was doing last time.

Anyways, I'm busy for the next few days, but I have a few recipes on hand that I've been meaning to post and want to propose a question of which recipe you guys would like to see next: homemade refried beans, vegetarian tacos, double-decker loaded peanut butter sandwich, BBQ chicken & ricotta pizza, or a peanut butter pumpkin mousse? All of them are healthy, as usual, but what appeals the most to you guys?

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Posted by Nick on May 5, 2008 | Post a Comment | Comments | Permalink | Links to this post

Roundup: Peanut Butter Exhibition #1 - Cookies

Update: I completely forgot to include someone in the roundup, my good friend Naomi from Straight Into Bed Cakefree and Dried. I think it was because she informally submitted it and it just blew past me when it came to judging time, but it was completely my fault! I apologize! You've been added to the listing/collage and if anyone else is missing, let me know!

This was tough. Tougher than I thought. Kristina from The Chocolate Peanut Butter Gallery, e from Foodaphilia and I put on our chef hats and deliberated long and hard. We each voted on our favorites and compiled an overall top 3.

How did I choose? Well, the only recipe I actually made was Daphne's delicious Peanut Butter Pistachio Chocolate Chip Cookies, so I couldn't rely on my tongue in that sense. My method was to stare at the picture (if there was one) and imagine biting into the cookie while tasting each ingredient. In a way, I did follow my tongue: I voted for the recipes that made my tongue water the most (and I mean this literally, now I know how dogs feel). To be honest, it was torture. I meditated, separated myself from my surroundings and focused on those pictures until I could taste them, only to realize shortly after that there was no cookie stimulating my taste buds, only a strong imagination touched by a hint of crazy. Each time I got disappointed and a little more depressed. By the end, I had to brush my teeth for two reasons: 1. So the fictitious cookies wouldn't taste good anymore and 2. To prevent me from raiding the kitchen and polishing off my peanut butter collection - speaking of which, last night I had a 10:00 craving and ate the remaining 1/4 of a jar of the apple pie peanut butter I made in that post. And not with a spoon, with a knife (that's where the touch of crazy comes in).

In truth, we loved them all. Every recipe offered something different and unique. We received 17 entries in total - 15 of which were eligible to win since e and I participated for fun. We loved the choices offered by Marie-Lies, the peanutty presentation by Boscoe, Amanda's and Gregg's health factor, the fruit-sweetened vegan-ness of Rosie-Anne's cookies, the multi-layered depth of Natalie's and Naomi's cookies, and the dark chocolate combinations of Dee's and Monica's cookies. I could go on and on about each recipe, but I think it's about time we announce the winner of the First Peanut Butter Exhibition!

Congratulations to the winners! Your recipes dazzled our senses and knocked us of our feet. You'll be receiving special badges to place on your site and declare you success! Let me just point out that the true winners are you and I because we now have 17 outstanding peanut butter recipes to try!

1st Place. Holycraptheseareamazing Cookies from Susan over at Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy.