And we're back! Welcome to a whole new week ahead and I hope you enjoyed your weekend. Did you have any culinary adventures of your own? Here in Chicago, I'm always in search of some culinary adventure and this past weekend, I enjoyed the following events...
Restaurant Rewind - Olive Garden: Friends joined me in the kitchen to recreate some restaurant favorites of Olive Garden. Surprisingly, some of these homemade recipes were even better than their restaurant counterparts! Check back everyday this week for the recipes of the dishes we recreated.
Movable Feasts: Childhood Favorites, Reinvented! - My friends Jen and Wayne co-hosted this potluck dinner where we got together and brought a dish from our childhood with an updated twist. Dishes I prepared included a Pumpkin Bread Pudding with a Caramel Sauce and Cordon Bleu Croquettes.
Chicago Cupcake Crawl of 2009 - Probably the most exciting of my weekend culinary adventures, friends and I had a blast with our sugar high from all the cupcake shops around the city we visited. Check out where we went, what we thought and pics of some amazing cupcakes found here in Chicago!
This week's freebie is dedicated to all of us who are kids at heart. I'm sure there are quite a few of us that enjoyed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches throughout our childhood. Peanut butter was probably one of those ingredients solely purchased for sandwiches, if not cookies or other baked treats. Oddly enough, when there was peanut butter in our kitchen growing up, it wasn't really for sandwiches. Instead, it was a key ingredient for a Filipino dish called Kare-Kare, a peanut butter based stew. I'd often take the opportunity of snagging the peanut butter to make sandwiches when my mom wasn't looking.
Now in our house, my husband detests peanut butter. He won't go near it with a 10 foot pole and even the smell of it skeeves him out. He says that when he was eating Kare-Kare growing up, it wasn't a fond memory. So with a husband who can't stand peanut butter, I don't usually have it as part of my kitchen staples. Sad, isn't it?!
So for those that have a love of peanut butter or enjoy peanut butter sandwiches as I do even as adults, this week's freebie is just for you. A company called PB Loco is one I had a chance to meet in person a couple years ago and I was sold on their unique line of peanut butters. Move over Skippy and Jif, PB Loco is here and incorporates fun flavors into their peanut butter! For the freebie this week, a lucky reader will get their choice of any of the three following gourmet peanut butters from PB Loco:
Peanut Butter with Caramel Apple: "Delicious, tart apples. Sweet, yummy caramel. Remember this delicious combo? Enjoy it every day now in our smooth PB on a bagel, English muffin, toast, sandwich -- or eat it right off the spoon!"
Peanut Butter with Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough: "Remember loving chocolate-chip cookie dough more than the actual cookies? You'll be in dough heaven when you dig your spoon into this superbilicious fusion of childhood delights."
Peanut Butter with Dark Chocolate Duo: "Made with European chocolate. Dark. Rich. Decadent. What this has to do with Europe we're not sure. But we do know this: Imported chocolate and premium peanut butter make your tongue do gymnastics."
Peanut Butter with Jungle Banana: "Deep in the heart of the dark jungle stalk the tasty treats now held in a jar of Jungle Banana premium peanut butter. The untamed flavor of bananas are now caged with the fiercest peanuts. They practically pounce into your mouth. Grrr!"
Peanut Butter with Sumatra Cinnamon & Raisin: "Here is some very special cinnamon in this peanut butter. It is called Korintje and it is from Sumatra. The raisins swimming with the cinnamon in the premium peanut butter are plump and scrumptious. You may want to sit down to eat this one."
I hope a lucky reader will be able to enjoy peanut butter with a twist upon receiving this delicious freebie! So how do you get in on the peanut butter action? Read on...
Some guidelines:
- Giveaway is only for those who live in the United States - my apologies to my international readers!
- You must check back on my blog on Friday to see if you've won so you can claim your prize!
- Giveaway is only for those who live in the United States - my apologies to my international readers!
- You must check back on my blog on Friday to see if you've won so you can claim your prize!
To enter the giveaway, leave a comment answering:
- What is your favorite way to enjoy peanut butter? Sandwiches? Cupcakes? Cookies? Something else?
Deadline: Thursday, September 24, 2009 at 12 midnight CST.
ONE WINNER will be randomly chosen by Random. Org's Interger Generator based on the number of your comment and will be announced on Friday, September 25, 2009. Good luck!
