March 29, 2014
The new Olmsted scholar list is out for the class of 2015 and we were excited to learn that a scholar will be coming to Gdansk next year!
Since they have 3 kids, I bet they go through a lot of peanut butter.
So...here is our Polish adventure regarding the American pantry staple: peanut butter.
Peanut butter has been a bit of a problem here in Gdansk. It does exist but not in the form that I prefer. The two types that we have tried here are both packed with sugar and palm oil. One I tried at my student's house was the worst and palm oil was the FIRST ingredient! Both types had a metallic after-taste to them. I tried them both before I got pregnant so that's not to blame! Yuck!
There is an international foods store at Galeria Baltycka that sometimes has Skippy brand peanut butter imported from the UK. Again, too much sugar and well, I'm a Jif girl. I recently gave our last jar of Jif to our Polish friend Olek (he spent his childhood on the upper east side of Manhattan) and he instantly said: "Choosy Moms Choose Jif!"
Jif is my fave but it is also loaded with sugar and oils. I have been a Smucker's All-Natural fan for many years and especially since we don't eat 'processed' foods anymore. We were warned by the previous scholar (who was here 6 years ago) that there was no peanut butter to be found, so we brought some of the Smucker's All-Natural Peanut Butter with us in our household goods shipment. However, since it is nothing but peanuts and salt, the shelf life is relatively short....so no way to stockpile 2 years worth.
When we ran out I started investigating how to make peanut butter at home. It is quite easy and we FINALLY, after many many moons of searching numerous grocery stores in Gdansk, found unsalted, roasted peanuts. I figured that the peanuts would be in the bulk bin section of the TESCO, Carrefour, Bomi or Piotr i Pawel, but no, no, no. Only salted, wasabi and caramel versions are located there. The unsalted peanuts are in the BAKING section, right next to the giant bags of poppy seeds. Yep. Because that product placement makes perfect sense.
So, here is a great video on how to use your Vita-Mix to make peanut butter. Years ago I tried to make peanut butter at home using my KitchenAid food processor. Sadly, the blade doesn't seem to be able to make the right consistency and the motor isn't strong enough. Mine got really hot and started smelling funny. End of experiment.
Before you move it into the jar, taste it and add some salt or a little local honey if you want.
Put the spurs to it for another minute to mix well.
I don't know how prices are on shelled peanuts or peanut butter in the States right now but we paid about $4.50 a jar for the Smucker's at the commissary at Ramstein back in September. Can't beat cheaper, fresher and it is dead simple.
The new Scholar's family may not be as picky as me, so my advice to them....if you don't want to make your own peanut butter or pay a fortune for imported Skippy......bring enough Jif for two years.
I think that I am in love with a kitchen appliance. It does everything and is a million times more easy to clean than our food processor. Most of the time I just skip the food processor and use the Vita-Mix. I might just give away the stupid food processor because now we never use it!
We decided to put the Vita-Mix blender on our wedding registry after seeing a chef friend on Hilton Head use one. They are heavy-duty, laboratory and/or professional chef-grade and have amazing motors. They also cost about $400. I thought, well, I'm going to put a $400 blender on our registry and see what happens. Sure enough, one of our Dual Income No Kids family members (who are massive foodies and taught me how to make a lamb crown roast in high school) bought it for us. Yippee!
Considering how many things we use the Vita-Mix for, if we had spent the money ourselves it would have totally been worth it.
Here we are 4 years on and it is still going strong. We have to use the "Step up Step Down" electricity transformer box of course for all our American kitchen appliances here in Poland. I use the Vita-Mix at least twice a week for creamy soups, smoothies, falafel, hummus, making baby food for Daria and making nut butters. We've made pecan butter, raw almond butter and will try our hand at making low-sugar Nutella with raw hazelnuts very soon.
What should Daria's first nut butter be? Hmmm....we'll see!
The new Olmsted scholar list is out for the class of 2015 and we were excited to learn that a scholar will be coming to Gdansk next year!
Since they have 3 kids, I bet they go through a lot of peanut butter.
So...here is our Polish adventure regarding the American pantry staple: peanut butter.
Peanut butter has been a bit of a problem here in Gdansk. It does exist but not in the form that I prefer. The two types that we have tried here are both packed with sugar and palm oil. One I tried at my student's house was the worst and palm oil was the FIRST ingredient! Both types had a metallic after-taste to them. I tried them both before I got pregnant so that's not to blame! Yuck!
There is an international foods store at Galeria Baltycka that sometimes has Skippy brand peanut butter imported from the UK. Again, too much sugar and well, I'm a Jif girl. I recently gave our last jar of Jif to our Polish friend Olek (he spent his childhood on the upper east side of Manhattan) and he instantly said: "Choosy Moms Choose Jif!"
Jif is my fave but it is also loaded with sugar and oils. I have been a Smucker's All-Natural fan for many years and especially since we don't eat 'processed' foods anymore. We were warned by the previous scholar (who was here 6 years ago) that there was no peanut butter to be found, so we brought some of the Smucker's All-Natural Peanut Butter with us in our household goods shipment. However, since it is nothing but peanuts and salt, the shelf life is relatively short....so no way to stockpile 2 years worth.
When we ran out I started investigating how to make peanut butter at home. It is quite easy and we FINALLY, after many many moons of searching numerous grocery stores in Gdansk, found unsalted, roasted peanuts. I figured that the peanuts would be in the bulk bin section of the TESCO, Carrefour, Bomi or Piotr i Pawel, but no, no, no. Only salted, wasabi and caramel versions are located there. The unsalted peanuts are in the BAKING section, right next to the giant bags of poppy seeds. Yep. Because that product placement makes perfect sense.
So, here is a great video on how to use your Vita-Mix to make peanut butter. Years ago I tried to make peanut butter at home using my KitchenAid food processor. Sadly, the blade doesn't seem to be able to make the right consistency and the motor isn't strong enough. Mine got really hot and started smelling funny. End of experiment.
500g unsalted, roasted peanuts from TESCO = $3.40 or 10.88 PLN
+ 2 minutes in the Vita-Mix
Babies love the sound of the Vita-Mix "white noise"
= Enough peanut butter to fill an empty, sterilized old Smucker's peanut butter jar.
Before you move it into the jar, taste it and add some salt or a little local honey if you want.
Put the spurs to it for another minute to mix well.
I don't know how prices are on shelled peanuts or peanut butter in the States right now but we paid about $4.50 a jar for the Smucker's at the commissary at Ramstein back in September. Can't beat cheaper, fresher and it is dead simple.
The new Scholar's family may not be as picky as me, so my advice to them....if you don't want to make your own peanut butter or pay a fortune for imported Skippy......bring enough Jif for two years.
My Ode to the Vita-Mix
I think that I am in love with a kitchen appliance. It does everything and is a million times more easy to clean than our food processor. Most of the time I just skip the food processor and use the Vita-Mix. I might just give away the stupid food processor because now we never use it!
We decided to put the Vita-Mix blender on our wedding registry after seeing a chef friend on Hilton Head use one. They are heavy-duty, laboratory and/or professional chef-grade and have amazing motors. They also cost about $400. I thought, well, I'm going to put a $400 blender on our registry and see what happens. Sure enough, one of our Dual Income No Kids family members (who are massive foodies and taught me how to make a lamb crown roast in high school) bought it for us. Yippee!
Considering how many things we use the Vita-Mix for, if we had spent the money ourselves it would have totally been worth it.
Here we are 4 years on and it is still going strong. We have to use the "Step up Step Down" electricity transformer box of course for all our American kitchen appliances here in Poland. I use the Vita-Mix at least twice a week for creamy soups, smoothies, falafel, hummus, making baby food for Daria and making nut butters. We've made pecan butter, raw almond butter and will try our hand at making low-sugar Nutella with raw hazelnuts very soon.
What should Daria's first nut butter be? Hmmm....we'll see!
