Stew of the Week

I'm trying out a new segment I like to call "Stew of the Week." Each week I'll post at least one tasty treat/healthy food substitution/recipe/etc to take your tummy from grumbling to yumbling!

Here's the treat of the day: Nut Butter Sandwiches - Who Knew How Awesome They Are?

(Well, besides kids, parents, camp counselors, and that store in SoHo that only sells PB sandwiches...)

1) PB is pretty much the easiest, cheapest, filling and one of the most delicious sandwiches out there.

2) PB sandwiches are surprisingly good for you so long as you don't slob the entire jar on there. A serving of pb is 2 tbs and usually contains 16 g of fat - 14 good fats and 2 bad fats, as well as 8 g of protein. Plus, it's low in sodium and sugar. Badass!

3) They're the best sandwich to take to work or on a plane ever. You just shove them in a plastic bag and the PB gooifys into the bread, keeping the bread soft and the PB delicious.

4) Almond butter is a super yummy swap for PB and is actually lower in bad fats (usually 1 g). If you get it made with raw almonds, it gets this nice sweet taste (no, there's no sugar, it just magically tastes sweet using almond power) so you don't need to add jam. Roasted almond butter tastes like roasted almonds, a great snack but a bit weird in butter form. Then again, I ain't judging nobody's tastes here, so try both if you can and see which you prefer.

5) So many variations! PB alone, PB and bananas, PB and apples, PB and carrots, PB and Fluff, Nutella (for dessert or breakfast if you're in France!) not to mention all the other nut butters out there (hazelnut, walnut, etc) - I noted almond because I find it super tasty and nutritious, but I'm sure the others are delicious, as well.

6) A PB sandwich goes well with any side dish: a small salad, mixed berries, a cup of yogurt, a nubbin of cheese, etc.

7) You can eat one every day without getting sick of them. How do I know? I can almost guarantee you that, pending availability of materials (i.e. not in Latin America), I have had at LEAST one nut butter sandwich a week for the past 21 years. And I'm awesome.

Doesn't get much better than that, does it?

Next Week: the mysterious propagation of arugula/goat cheese/pine nut/honey salads. They're everywhere! Spoiler Alert: it's because they're delicious.