{"id":46123,"date":"2025-03-14T01:39:53","date_gmt":"2025-03-14T08:39:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=46123"},"modified":"2025-03-13T17:05:48","modified_gmt":"2025-03-14T00:05:48","slug":"popeye-and-peanut-butter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2025\/03\/14\/popeye-and-peanut-butter\/","title":{"rendered":"Popeye and peanut butter"},"content":{"rendered":"

The teeny size of these peanut butter banana bites makes you think you\u2019re not eating much, so be careful. (photo from adasheofmegnut.com<\/a>)<\/i><\/p>\n

I\u2019m long overdue to share a new recipe or two. With our recent move to a new condo, I\u2019ve been preoccupied with exploring the neighbourhood, trying new-to-us restaurants and caf\u00e9s, and doing a few renos here and there. Despite the excitement of it all, sleep is still elusive to me. Plus, I\u2019ve been feeling a little tired lately (iron-deficient?), so I figured some iron-rich soup might just hit the spot. I whipped up some creamy spinach soup and immediately felt like Popeye. Or Popeye\u2019s favourite sister. Perfect soup for a cold day, of which we\u2019ve had so many over the last few weeks. You\u2019re welcome.<\/p>\n

EASY CREAMY SPINACH SOUP
\n<\/b>(from the Spruce Eats)<\/i><\/p>\n

2-3 tsp olive oil
\n<\/b>2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cubed
\n<\/b>1\/2 medium onion, finely chopped
\n<\/b>1 stalk celery, finely chopped
\n<\/b>2 cloves minced garlic
\n<\/b>2 cups chicken broth
\n<\/b>2 cups milk (or 1 cup milk and 1 cup coconut milk)
\n<\/b>1 large bunch of fresh spinach, stems removed
\n<\/b>ground black pepper, to taste
\n<\/b>kosher salt, to taste<\/b><\/p>\n

In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil. Saut\u00e9 the cubed potato, the onion, celery and garlic for about five minutes. Add the chicken broth and milk. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer on low for 10 minutes. Stir in all the spinach, cover, and simmer for 10 more minutes. Cool slightly, then transfer the soup to a blender, 1working in batches. Blend until smooth. Taste for seasoning and serve.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t use any onion, since onions don\u2019t particularly like me, and I ended up using four cups of chicken broth, since I didn\u2019t have enough regular or coconut milk. The consistency was a bit thin but it was still yummy. And I got a month\u2019s worth of non-heme iron in one go. I\u2019ve learned that potatoes are a nice way to thicken soups, especially if you\u2019re going for something dairy-free.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I had intended to bake challah to go with the soup, but time got away from me and I just couldn\u2019t swing it. At the last minute, the understudy sourdough bread came to the dunking rescue and we had a satisfying meal. Harvey declared the soup a solid success, so who can argue with that? I was worried that the simplicity of the recipe might spell bland, but it was surprisingly tasty.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Skipping right to dessert, I discovered a fun little recipe for Peanut Butter Banana Bites on adashofmegnut.com. It\u2019s crazy easy and can be jazzed up with chocolate chips or melted chocolate. It was billed as a kid-friendly snack but I would never presume to declare something a \u201ctoddler snack,\u201d since who among us doesn\u2019t like peanut butter, or chocolate?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

PEANUT BUTTER BANANA BITES
\n<\/b>(from A Dash of Megnut)<\/i><\/p>\n

one banana, sliced 1\/4\u201d to 1\/2\u201d pieces
\n<\/b>3 tbsp peanut butter (or almond butter), melted slightly
\n<\/b>6 oz mini chocolate chips or melted chocolate (optional)<\/b><\/p>\n

Line a mini muffin tin with 12 liners or use a silicone mini muffin tin. Put a slice of banana into each muffin liner. Pour one to two teaspoons of peanut butter on top of each banana slice. Top with a few mini chocolate chips or melted chocolate (optional, but, seriously, who would say no to chocolate?). Freeze for a few hours to harden the peanut butter. Then enjoy!<\/p>\n

These keep well in the freezer and make for a quick and easy snack. And if you substitute hemp hearts for mini chocolate chips you get an even healthier snack (don\u2019t hate me). I haven\u2019t tried it, but you could probably add some cooked quinoa to the melted peanut butter to jack it up to a superfood (again, don\u2019t hate me). The teeny size of these peanut butter banana bites makes you think you\u2019re not eating much, so be careful.<\/p>\n

As for main courses, I\u2019m in a bit of a rut right at the moment. It seems like we have an endless loop of chicken, fish and meat every week. We\u2019re not huge pasta eaters (well, Harvey would eat it every day if I let him), so I feel kind of limited in my repertoire. I can\u2019t eat a lot of roughage and high-fibre foods, so huge salads are out. I think I just need a holiday in the sun, where someone else does the cooking for a couple of weeks and I can recharge.<\/p>\n

On the home front, our new condo has an induction stove, which I love. There\u2019s one glitch though. Harvey recently had a pacemaker and defibrillator implanted in his chest, which means he\u2019s not allowed to get within two feet of our induction stove or he might get shocked from the electromagnetic field. This presents a problem for a man who regularly makes omelettes, crepes and other stovetop foods. A natural born problem solver, Harvey immediately went out and bought a single-burner countertop hotplate. And, to my surprise, he\u2019s produced some pretty darn good omelettes. But there are only so many eggs you can eat. I hinted that the hotplate might work well for crepes, but he hasn\u2019t taken the bait so far. I guess we\u2019ll be ordering in sushi and Chinese food until I get my groove back.<\/p>\n

For now, I\u2019ll just keep trying new marinades for our weekly chicken, fish and meat. As they say: You can put lipstick on a chicken thigh \u2026 but it\u2019s still a chicken thigh. I suppose I could go full-bore Cher (from the movie Mermaids) and feed my husband fun finger foods (read: hors d\u2019oeuvres) for all our meals. That could be a lot of fun. Or not.<\/p>\n

Harvey<\/b>: \u201cWhat\u2019s for dinner tonight, sweetie?\u201d<\/p>\n

Shelley<\/b>: \u201cCocktail weiners in grape jelly sauce, and melted brie with walnuts and honey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harvey<\/b>: \u201cYou\u2019re fired.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shelley<\/b>: \u201cWho do you think you are \u2013 Trump? You can\u2019t fire me. I\u2019m your wife.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harvey<\/b>: \u201cSo, will it be sushi or pizza?\u201d<\/p>\n

Bon appetit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Shelley Civkin<\/b>, aka the Accidental Balabusta, is a happily retired librarian and communications officer. For 17 years, she wrote a weekly book review column for the <\/i>Richmond Review. She\u2019s currently a freelance writer and volunteer.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The teeny size of these peanut butter banana bites makes you think you\u2019re not eating much, so be careful. (photo from adasheofmegnut.com) I\u2019m long overdue to share a new recipe or two. With our recent move to a new condo, I\u2019ve been preoccupied with exploring the neighbourhood, trying new-to-us restaurants and caf\u00e9s, and doing a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46125,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[8729,3797,3584,3456],"class_list":["post-46123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life","tag-accidental-balabusta","tag-baking","tag-cooking","tag-recipes"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}