RSSPeanut Butter and Banana Sandwich
October 3rd, 2008 by Dawn, Co-founder of Rouxbe
The other day we were on set and we were talking about sandwiches. I was talking about peanut butter and banana sandwiches for some reason, and Daniela (one of our camera people/editor/super woman) said she had never had, or even heard of a peanut butter and banana sandwich.
This could be because she is originally from Mexico. Instead she grew-up eating things like fresh corn tortillas with chorizo and avocado. Even though now-a-days, I would much rather have those tortillas and chorizo, there is still something about a peanut butter and banana sandwich. I may eat them only once a year, but that first bit sure is good. My version is a bit different than it was when I was a kid, as I use fresh whole grain bread instead of white bread. I also use organic fresh peanut butter (or sometimes almond butter), but the feeling I get sure does take me back to being a kid. I even eat it the same way…around the edges first…saving the very center for the last bite.
Since that day on set, I made a peanut butter and banana sandwich for Daniela, she said it was good…better than she thought even. But I am pretty sure she hasn’t had one since then :-)
Are you a peanut butter and banana sandwich lover? My brother-in-law likes his with cheese instead of the bananas…I never did get used to that one. My mom used to eat, thick sliced raw onions and jam sandwiches…yuck!
What takes you back to your “after school snack”, maybe it’s a bologne sandwich on wonderbread with French’s mustard? Come on share…we won’t judge you.
Ciao for now, dawn
P.S. - After much talk about sandwiches, I couldn’t help but think (and make and eat) of one of my favorite “after school” sandwiches. For about a year, I used to eat this sandwich everyday after school. The pickles are what made it, of course back then they were not petite cornichon, they were Bicks!
Peanut butter and Nutella on Ritz crackers. Yum!
I might have to try the onions & jam one, though.
I am intrigued. As for the cheese and PB sandwiches,
are we talking sharp-as-a-knife New England Cheddar
or Velveeta? I can’t quite imagine either. Bleu Cheese?
Ah, Baloney & mustard on white bread. It has been too
long. I feel the desire to go deliver some newspapers!
Chris
Ritz crackers, I haven’t thought of those in years. I used to like them with cheese whiz.
The PB and cheese was with cheese slices…I still can’t quite get it.
I guess we all of our unique palates, and what makes one person happy, makes another person cringe.
Yes! Cheeze Whiz - if you’ll allow my fun with spelling. My vegetarian daughter (aged 15) won’t touch either Cheese Whiz or Velveeta because they apparently contain Worcestershire Sauce. Well, at least they used to. Worcestershire Sauce contains anchovies. I’m pretty sure neither one still does, but I haven’t been able to prove it to her to her satisfaction.
Anyone on this list with an inside connection to Kraft Foods who can assure me that both are vegetarian friendly?
I love great food well-made (which is why I’m here) but if the occasion calls for Velveeta - so be it. Bring it on.
I’m still trying to screw up the courage to try an onion and
jam sandwich. Toasted? Butter? Hmmmmm.
Chris
Okay, I did a bit of research. The Kraft site was not the most helpful, as I could find no information about the ingredients of Cheez Whiz.
I did however read in a few places that it does indeed contain worcestershire sauce…they even went so far as to say…vegetarians beware!
Apparently Cheez Whiz brings up a lot of memories/issues for people.
http://exurbanpedestrian.wordpress.com/2008/09/18/cheez-whiz/
As for if a recipe calls for Velveeta or processed cheese, I am totally with you on that. There are times when substituting “processed” with the “real thing” just isn’t the same.
Like Joe’s Aunt Mary Bea’s cheese bread, we tried it with real swiss cheese and it was not nearly as good as the eeewwwyyy gooey… processed slices.
And as for the onion and jam sandwich…go on I dare ya! I think it was just on white bread, not toasted…and I know there was no butter, as sadly I grew up on margarine.
Thank goodness I can now afford my own butter.
Thanks for the research. I didn’t get very far at the Kraft site either.
Excellent Cheez Whiz blog! Talk about cosmic convergence. When I was in college in the ’70’s working as the sound guy for several bar bands I lived with a woman named Cindy. Like, Cosmic, Dude.
I’ll digress a bit from the thread, but I’m still in the “comfort zone” here. We’re talking butter now.
A friend of mine has a great family story from the Depression. A six or seven year old girl (his mother, I think) was having dinner at her uncle’s house. She slathered butter on her biscuits like nobody’s business. Her uncle (a true tight-fisted Yankee) said “Do you know how much that butter costs, young lady?”
She smiled ear to ear and answered, “Yes! And it’s WORF it!”
Amen!
We’ve shared many a meal with these good friends and when the spectacular bill comes, at least one of us will lean back with deep satisfaction and say, “Oh, yes. It’s worf it!”
Life is good… so is butter.
Chris
nice story Chris.
Butter is the Best, yeah!!! When I was a kid it was my job to ‘mix’ the margarine in the bag. Does anyone remember the brand of margarine that had a kind of button in the bag filled with colour? You had to break that button to release the yellow/orange die and squeeze the margarine in the bag to distribute the colour so that the whole thing would look like natural butter. Long job. Sometimes the bag broke before it was fully mixed, spotted margarine. It usually ended up looking like dyed margarine and nothing like butter. I wonder what that “colour” consisted of… shudder.
Peanut butter & banana sandwiches? For me, it’s crunchy peanut butter with creamed honey on fresh baked, thick sliced white bread. The bread is first spread with butter though.
My dad’s favourite comfort food was cheese whiz and sliced tomato sandwiches (on that same white bread).
oh, the nostalgia of it all :)
I’m not sure if this qualifies as a sandwich, as I fold it, but a peanut butter and whipped cream chesse on a flax seed wrap. Don’t knock it til you’ve tried it AND it’s good and healthy for you. Protein, calcium and omega-3s! Sorry if I’mm too kooky for this board….
My first husband’s favorite peanut butter sandwich when he was in medical school in the late ’50s was ordinary store-bought white bread, peanut butter, mayonnaise (Hellman’s), and dill pickle slices. Not something for anyone with a queasy stomach to make before breakfast, I have to say, and whether there is any connection I doubt, although as noted I am no longer married to him.
Now my personal favorite going back to childhood is good white bread, preferably homemade, fresh out of the garden ripe tomato slices, crisply done bacon, and mayonnaise (again Hellman’s).
Okay everyone, thanks to this post we had one unhealthy, but frickin’ delicious brunch. See the “p.s.” at the end of the post for a picture of my brunch, which was served with yummy hashbrowns.
Chris, I love the “it’s worf it”…so cute, and yes I absolutely agree that “life is good…so is butter”.
Tara, I have never heard of mixing color into margarine. I thought it was bad enough just having to eat it as a kid, never mind having to “color it”.
I was always a bit of a “butter tramp”. Anywhere I could get my little paws on it, I would eat it. Whenever we went to someones house, or when I used to babysit. I remember one family in particular, they would always say, “help yourself to whatever, there are cookies, snacks, whatever.” I remember eating several slices of bread with about an inch of butter on them.
And Julie, as if you could be “too corny” the more corn, the better I say. Peanut butter and whipped cream cheese hey…well, I guess you are right, don’t knock it until you try it. So I suppose I will have to try it and get back to you on that one.
Julia, I love you that say “whether there is any connection I doubt, although as noted I am no longer married to him”. Made me think of how many couples have different tastes. I know many couples that do not eat alike at all, which does cause some “kerfuffle”.
As for the Hellman’s - LOVE IT!
Mixing the color into the margarine happened in the US probably in the 1940s, I’m thinking, which of course gives away a bit on my age. In 1940s during WW II along with many other things, foods including butter were rationed and oleo as we used to call it became a popular butter substitute. We used as kids, in fact, to play catch with the bags to hasten the mixing process as the warmth of our hands would soften the margarine and yes, they did occasionally break. The coloring capsule in my recollection reminds me vaguely of the color beads that we see at Eastertime for coloring eggs.
I remember as a child having the job of mixing the orange liquid dot of dye into the margarine and yes the end result was pretty tasteless, however, my mom used it mainly for baking with a lot of success. Butter was reserved for special occasions for us back then.
A comfort snack food from the past:
take one slice of bread or bun, top it with a (yes) kraft cheese slice, then a pineapple slice and a slice of bacon cut in half on top of the pineapple, put it under the broiler. I haven’t actually made this in a long time but I remember it being satisfying and tasty!
For some reason this is fascinating to me. It is crazy to think of the stuff that companies have sold to us as “food”.
I even phoned my mom to ask her about it. My mom who is 80 years old (bless her little heart), said indeed she knew what oleo was, and she remembered mixing it as a kid.
http://graphic-design.tjs-labs.com/show-picture?id=1091460972
http://www.old-time.com/commercials/1940%27s/Delrich%20E-Z%20Color%20Pak.htm
I bet the ads never showed kids playing catch with it…or seeing it explode. I love that visual!
Thanks for the education Julia, very interesting.
Julie— “too kooky?” not possible. Your PB and whipped cream cheese on a wrap sounds great. I think I actually have all of the ingredients on hand.
I was born in ‘54 so I don’t remember WW2 or mix-your-own-color margarine. I’d never heard of it. Strange concept. It is sort of like the white eggs vs brown eggs here in New England. I moved here from Nebraska in the early 1980s. No Hellmans in Nebraska, but I sure do love being able to have it here now.
And, thanks Julia — I’ll be having a BLT soon. But you raise an interesting point about “no longer married to him”
Dawn, perhaps you could start a new thread about who cooks the most often and why. I’m a guy and I’ve pretty much always done all the cooking and cleaning (Yes, my wife has envious friends)
I’m good at cooking (and cleaning) and I take the scientific approach. Harold McGee is always close at hand. But I’m also very much “decision impaired.” My wife comes up with the ideas for dinner and I make them happen.
I’d be curious how many guys there are on this blog who step up to the stove, even if it is just for mac ‘n cheese. How much “cuisine conflict” is there out there? Our daughter is vegetarian. We aren’t. But mostly we work it all out.
I’m off to find if I also have PB, Hellman’s, and pickles.
Chris
p.s. I’m making Irish Stew w/ Guinness and Cheddar Scones for dinner tonight. You? Is there a slot in this blog for “What are you cooking tonight?” Just a thought.
Chris
Thanks for the blog ideas Chris…they are great ideas.
As for the “what did you have for dinner idea” you can follow this link to the forum on that one.
http://rouxbe.com/community/forums/16/topics/244
Also I would (okay, we the Rouxbe community) would love your recipe for the Irish stew and Cheddar Scones. Those you can post on Rouxbe.
http://rouxbe.com/recipes/text - who knows it could become a Rouxbe recipe for everyone to share.
Enjoy your sandwich!
Another “historical” tidbit or two: We were not poor, but it was really wartime. Things were hard to get. So, when I feel put upon by hard times, I remember when a real dessert treat was a thick slice of homemade bread with a large splash of canned Hershey’s chocolate syrup on top.
For those who may never have had Hellmann’s (I see I mispelled it) mayo, West-of-the-Rockies people know it as Best Foods mayo.
An added note, the tomato sandwich does not contain lettuce and is not toasted, and so it is not actually a BLT. Just a BT: bacon and tomato.
Another addition: not mine, but this was my “baby” brother’s, and I disclaim this concoction: on a grilled potato bun (my contribution) coupled with either bologna [rah for mystery meat factor] or pepperoni oven (or toaster oven) fried with whole grain mustard and provolone cheese. Now, I loved my brother dearly and would make a ton of other border-line nasty things that tickled his palate, I mean he was my baby brother after all.
Another would be Chinese noodles with peanut sauce and Velveeta cheese, now go figure that one, but….c est la vie it was his stomach! Just too gross, but you really had to SEE it to believe it. My brother swore by it; I’d of sworn he was pregnant, if that were physically possible.
Me, I’d go for maple smoked (American) bacon, very crisp and thickly sliced, ripe avocado, definitely Hellman’s and NOT THE LIGHT STUFF, wrapped, again in a flax seed wrap. Between the mayo and the avocado the two become beautifully creamy with the crisp bacon, YUM-O. The flax for the omega-3s to balance out the mayo. OR, homemade chicken salad (with requisite celery, pepper and mayo), avocado, also on a flax seed wrap. If you’re feeling really decadent, add your favorite cheese! and go to the gym tomorrow….
Well, sleepy night now. Have a fab morning, day etc., etc. Jules
Chinese noodles and provolone cheese….it sounds like something from “culinary fear factor”.
I would like to see it, and maybe I would taste one bite.
However, the chicken salad sandwich…yum! I can actually already taste that one. The nice flecks of pepper…the tang of the mayo, the pieces of moist and tender chicken, balanced by the slightly crunchy celery.
Okay off to eat my porridge now! Have a super day. ciao for now, dawn
Dawn, the onion and jam sandwich got me thinking…one of my favorite things to make is “onion jam” it’s great with grilled meat, especially pork. Is that so far from an onion and jam sandwich? Not sure I’ll try onion and jam on bread, but it’s really not that strange if you think about it…well, not for me anyway!
Oh, and when I was a kid, my job was to mix the red dot thingy in the oleo. I don’t remember what it tasted like, or what my Mum did with it, I’ll have to ask!
?”red dot thingy” in oleo (?margarine?)? What is a red dot thingy? The only thing I can think of are those little candies one peels off paper, who know, when we were little? Or do you mean sprinkles? I’m confused. Long week.
Hey there…Julie, read comment #6 from Tara…this was margarine that had a dye that needed to be added to give the margarine a butter-like color.
I phoned my mom and she said she remembers having to “mix the margarine” as well.
Gross hey! Although some of the stuff “they” push off as food these days is also pretty pathetic.
And Linda…did you try the jam and onion sandwich? I thought that we almost had Chris convinced to try one. Did you do it Chris?
Okay, we didn’t have margarine that got colored in a bag and if it was available, mom was a health food nut ahead of her time, like 30 years. Margarine was a no no. Real honest to goodness, artery clogging butter was the only thing used in our household. Between that and the red meat, it’s no wonder half of my siblings won’t go near meat.
Anyway, so, the red dot thingy is the same as the yellow/orange dye that goes/went in the bag to be mixed?
I’ll opt for olive oil at least I can identify it. Sometimes the things people eat frighten me, and I will try anything once. Or twice depending how good it is!