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Wednesday, March 1, 2023

Helping Each Other With Ideas for Stockpiled Excesses (Need Your Input)

As I was working in the pantry organizing this morning, I noticed I have a lot of peanut butter, like a whole lot of peanut butter. It seemed like we were eating a lot of peanut butter on a regular basis . . . until we weren't. Counting up my jars of peanut butter reminded me of Laura's comment the other day about getting a great deal on canned tuna in EVOO, good enough deal to really stock up. I think we all do this from time to time, find such a great deal we really stock up. Laura's tuna has an expiration date pretty far into the future, so she should be good to use her tuna supply before expiry. Some of my peanut butter, however, has already passed the sell-by date.

So here are some ways I'm cooking with peanut butter to use up my excess.

I'm looking for ideas, recipes and links for using peanut butter, if anyone here has suggestions.

And here's how we can help each other. If you have an ingredient or food in excess, mention it in the comments and those of us who have ideas that we've tried, can chime in.

My ideas for Laura and her bonus supply of canned tuna:

  • Laura, you already mentioned tuna salad -- one of my childhood favorites was tuna melt, basically an open-faced tuna sandwich, topped with cheese and broiled until the cheese was melty
  • tuna cooked with tomato, caper, olives, and garlic, tossed with pasta, similar to this recipe on Food Network 
  • my mother's 1950s and 60s favorite way to serve tuna --Mexican tuna salad with avocado dressing -- canned tuna, lettuce, tomatoes, olives, shredded cheese, Fritos-type corn chips, avocado salad dressing (mashed avocado, oil, lemon juice, chili powder, salt)
What are some of your favorite ways to use either peanut butter or canned tuna fish?


10 comments:

  1. I have to admit I'm not a big seafood fan so no tuna ideas but I've got a few good peanut butter recipes!
    Laine's Peanut Butter Cookies
    2 cups each natural peanut butter and honey
    2 eggs
    3 tsp. vanilla
    Mix together and add in:
    1 tsp. each salt and baking soda
    4 cups flour
    Form into large size cookies and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or till done (slightly browned)..... these are very good and make a hearty cookie, almost like a muffin. They make a great grab and go breakfast with some fruit or yogurt. I like to cook mine on my pizza stone (it seems to make for a softer cookie).
    Peanut Butter Frosting
    1/4 cup each honey and butter (softened)
    3/4 cup natural peanut butter
    1 tsp. vanilla
    Beat together and use to frost cakes, cupcakes etc..... makes a very yummy but healthier alternative to store bought frostings.
    Peanut Butter Bars
    1/2 cup honey
    2 3/4 cups oats
    1 cup peanut butter
    Mix and spread into a parchment lined pan and refrigerate till set.... this one has a lot of add in alternatives with chocolate chips, raisins etc.

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  2. Peanut allergy here, so I'm no help with the PB, sorry. But for tuna, my mom always made tuna patties with it when we were growing up, the way many people use salmon. I still occasionally do that.

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  3. If you make overnight oats, try adding 1 to 2 tablespoons of peanut butter to the mix. I'll occasionally stir a tablespoon of peanut butter into hot oatmeal for the added protein.

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  4. I eat dollops of peanut butter on vanilla ice cream.

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  5. Peanut butter fudge is a holiday family favorite. -Kathryn

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  6. Lili, I have your back on this! My suggestion would be to use PB in savory meal recipes as well as in desserts. This is a great recipe, and the PB in it increases the protein in the dish so you can scale back on the amount of chicken that you use. https://www.averiecooks.com/slow-cooker-thai-peanut-chicken/

    Averiecooks.com has a plethora of PB recipes and they are all good. I like PB muffins for breakfast/snacks.

    I can't find this recipe online so I'll write it out here. I serve it over polenta, although you could use a different grain. It's originally from a Canadian cookbook, The Best of Bridge, but I wasn't able to locate it on their site.

    Thai-style chicken thighs

    1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs (bone-in works just fine and you can use breast, wing, or leg meat)
    1/3 cup peanut butter
    1 cup salsa
    2 TBSP soy sauce
    1 TBSP lime juice
    2 tsp grated fresh ginger (can substitute powdered ginger--I would use about 1 tsp)

    Combine all ingredients in a 4 to 6 quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours (with my crockpot, 3 hours on low generally is enough) until juices run clear when chicken is pierced. Serves 4-6.

    My husband makes a recipe similar to this: https://www.food.com/recipe/turkey-and-noodles-with-peanut-sauce-341752

    Hope I didn't overwhelm you with ideas. Using PB in dinner recipes is always a hit with my family. I think it adds nice variety to your meal plan and many of the recipes are simple to whip together.

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  7. 192 cans of tuna must sound daunting lol. Yes I hope we don't let that go to waste. The pop top can makes it even more convenient and inviting to use on the spur. It is literally eaten out of the can, not wasting the EVOO either. If you see it next time at Costco, I highly recommend trying it. Compared to tuna chunks in vegetable oil, this Portofino brand tuna is a fillet section and tastes like fish should, not like the scrap pieces from unknown sections as I suspect is the more familiar chunk style. I believe Genova is a similar brand that is sold at markets.
    Thank you for your suggestions and favorite ways of serving canned tuna. I made a quick easy pasta salad with similar ingredients but didn't add caper, may try that ingredient next time. The Mexican salad sounds wonderful, with the corn chips and avocado dressing. My husband makes an egg dish like a frittata with tuna and tomatoes as the main ingredients. Tuna and tomatoes go pretty well together, even as pizza topping or in tacos. Tuna patties is another way to transform canned tuna, thanks Cat!
    I love peanut butter also and pretty much have it daily on toast with thawed banana slices. I like the suggestions above of adding to hot oatmeal. Never thought of that or adding to ice cream. Also adding to savory dishes, which I have not done much in the past since my husband once disliked a peanut sauce long ago, but Kris's Thai chicken recipe sounds like a recipe that could change his aversion to savory peanut sauces. I'm not much of a baker, so I couldn't suggest much here. But have you considered freezing the jars? Or freeze in portions or dollops IQF?

    Have a nice day,
    Laura

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  8. Yum, peanut butter :-). My family has always liked African-style "Ground Nut" (peanut) stews, much like this one (with tons of similar recipes on the internet, typically featuring tomatoes of some kind (canned, paste, sauce, juice), peanut butter, potatoes/sweet potatoes, veggies such as carrots/pumpkin/butternut, greens of some kind (spinach/chard,kale/collard), seasoned with onions/garlic/ginger etc). I like serving African Groundnut/Peanut Stew with rice or homemade bread...:

    https://www.marthastewart.com/1546900/west-african-peanut-stew

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  9. Hi Lili,
    I've been a long time reader of your blog and have found so many of your posts to be really helpful. Thank you for taking the time to write them. You mentioned recently that you have some dietary restrictions right now, so I thought I'd include some ideas for treats you might enjoy that do not include the items you are trying to avoid. These also happen to be low sugar, but the sugar can easily be increased to suit your family's tastes. Also, these use a lot of peanut butter, so would make a good dent in your stash! Here you go:
    https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/super-moist-flourless-peanut-butter-brownies
    https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/low-sugar-flourless-chocolate-peanut-butter-cookies
    https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/simple-snack-recipe-honey-sweetened-flourless-peanut-butter-bars
    https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/low-sugar-flourless-peanut-butter-cookie-recipe
    Also, a great use of tuna is to make patties, similar to salmon patties. We serve ours with a yogurt dill sauce and the whole family enjoys them. They could also be used as a filling for sandwiches or burgers. Hope this helps.
    Take care,
    Marie

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  10. Wow! Thank you all for the great ideas, links and recipes. I'm going to have to print out this comment section and the links and read through all of the recipes to see what will work for us. Thank you!

    Laura, I didn't mean to suggest you wouldn't use all of the tuna. I know you're rather exceptional at using everything up. I'm glad the cans make it even easier to use on the spur of the moment. I offered some of the ways we use tuna for when you want to switch things up. I never would have thought of combining tuna and tomato until I had a sample at a market one day. For folks like me who aren't as keen on fish, the tomato had a way of covering some of the fishiness. I once had tuna on pizza, too. Surprisingly good. I'll have to remember tacos as a possibility. One of my family members really likes fish tacos. Thanks for the suggestion for freezing the peanut butter. I thought about that and may try freezing a little bit to see if we the texture changes.

    Thanks again, everyone!

    ReplyDelete

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