Peanut Butter Makes Life Palatable (See what I did there?)

This is a 5 Year Journal post. The goal is to answer a simple journal prompt each day of the year as a real record of daily life in this moment. 

January 9: What is your current favorite snack?
Apparently, this is turning into a food blog (see yesterday’s post). I do like food. A lot. And since I’m really trying to be healthy and actually take care of my body after a long neglectful period, I’m full of new food ideas. In fact, one of my goals for the year is to try one new recipe per week. One of my new favorite food combos is really good and really healthy and I’ve been using it as a snack and as a breakfast option. Please to enjoy:

Peanut Butter Apple Greek Yogurt Parfait

1/2 cup plain nonfat Greek Yogurt
1 granny smith apple
1 tbs natural peanut butter
Splenda or sugar to taste

1. Don’t be scared off by the word Greek before the word yogurt. DON’T. Its not scary. Its just regular yogurt which has been strained so that most of the whey (liquid carbs, basically) drain out, leaving you with a thicker, creamier, and best of all, much higher protein yogurt. Randy and I sing its praises often as it is so healthy and so versatile. It can be used as a virtually undetectable (at least to me) substitute for sour cream, so we use it in everything from baked potatoes to tacos to chili. We never use sour cream anymore. And with some sweetener, you can use it in desserts and sweet snacks. Ahhh....I love you, Greek Yogurt! You can also purchase it already sweetened in a variety of flavors, just like regular yogurt - if you’re not brave enough to start with the “hard stuff”.

Oikos is a good choice. Kroger brand is also great.

2. Now that you are on board with the awesomeness that is Greek Yogurt, you can begin constructing your snack. Mix the tablespoon of natural peanut butter into the yogurt. You can use regular peanut butter, but its much more difficult to blend it into the yogurt. If you are going to use regular, I’d suggest getting it just barely warm so that it loosens up a bit. But why not just go natural? Is soooo tasty and easy to spread.

3. If you’ve started with plain yogurt you will definitely need some sweetener - because that stuff is T.A.R.T. tart. Play around with it and keep adding until you feel comfortable with the tartness level. I use Splenda and I us a lot. You could also use sugar or honey.

4. Chop your apple into small pieces - I think I usually go for cubes that are about a half inch - and stir them into the yogurt/peanut butter mixture.

5. Enjoy!