THIS JUST IN!

Peanut Butter & Co., the once cozy little sandwich shop in Greenwich Village, has introduced Mighty Nut – the delicious peanut butter taste people love, with added protein, less fat, and fewer calories. Peanut Butter & Co. is the first natural peanut butter brand to enter the powdered peanut butter segment, which is the fastest growing segment in the peanut butter category.

To create each batch of Mighty Nut, Peanut Butter & Co. starts with quality USA grown peanuts, roasts them, and presses them to remove most of the fat. What remains is protein, fiber, and delicious peanut buttery taste. Each serving of Mighty Nut has 85% fewer fat calories than traditional peanut butter, and with five to six grams of protein per serving, Mighty Nut powdered peanut butter is an easy and tasty way to add protein to any meal or snack. Mighty Nut can be rehydrated and used as a spread or dip, or as an ingredient in baking, cooking, or smoothies. It is available in four delightful varieties: Original, Chocolate, Vanilla, and Flax and Chia. Vanilla and Flax & Chia are both new flavors to the category. Mighty Nut products are Non-GMO Project verified, gluten free, certified vegan, and kosher.

“Peanut butter is a delicious food that is beloved by so many people,” said Lee Zalben, Founder & President of Peanut Butter & Co.  “We’re so glad to be able to offer the delicious flavor of peanut butter with a fraction of the calories.”

I have rehydrated the chocolate and spread on Dave’s Killer White Bread. Need to find some cherry preserves to compliment. Otherwise, it was fine as is. Kind of like having a Reese’s cup spread on bread. Was cooking up some chicken thighs with ginger and scallions. Rehydrated original to a more watery consistency and threw it in. Yummy! Smoothie time! Flax and chia used with Ronnybrook Farms yogurt and a bit of Ronnybrook Farms Creamline milk. I later tried the chocolate powdered peanut butter with some of the Ronnybrook Crème Fraiche as a dessert. Froze it!  OMG! Okay, I just mixed some of the chocolate one into their chocolate chip ice cream.  Hey, it’s vanilla ice cream with chocolate chips and I need my chocolate fix! www.ilovepeanutbutter.com 

I saw a few screeners, one of which was The Big Sky.  Hazel (Bella Thorne), a teenage girl, suffers from a crippling case of agoraphobia. Open spaces to be exact.  So much so that it causes a rift between her and her mother, Dee (Kyra Sedgwick). Hazel and her mother decide to go on a road trip to a desert located treatment facility to help Hazel deal with her fear.  On the way, masked gunmen and brothers Jesse (Frank Grillo) and Pru (Aaron Tveit) attack everyone in the van.  Jesse is donned in a Sheriff outfit.  However, Hazel has been riding in what appears to be a cage.  Hazel now has to battle her fears so she and her mother can survive.  

One of the other female passengers is kidnapped by the gunmen, who later realize that they have not killed everyone.  You now have a time battle between Hazel finding help and the gunmen finding Hazel. 

There certainly is a lot of action and mystery.  It probably does better on the big screen. I found that too many things were predictable.  Pru portrays a typical young brother taking cues and scolding from the elder brother.  Why is it that, in movies, every time a female runs, she trips and falls?  The kidnapping of the girl is being coordinated by someone who kept communicating with Jesse, although I was never clear at the end, who it was.  Although Kyra Sedgewick was great, I did not find her character to be believable with her being shot, heavily bleeding. The movie will not be out until next month. 

Another movie opening this month, the other screener, Frank the Bastard. Synopsis. The film centers around Clair Defina (Rachel Miner), a 33-year old New Yorker who returns to the childhood home she and her father fled after her mother’s tragic and mysterious death.  Arriving in the seemingly quaint town in Maine, Clair encounters and undercurrent of secrecy and hostility, most of it linked to the local bigwig, Cyrus Gast (William Sadler), whose latest land development scheme promises to revitalize the community but is not what it appears to be. 

Most of the town is intimidated by Cyrus, and when Clair starts delving into events, both present and past, she finds herself in jeopardy. As she comes face to face with a dark legacy that has been buried, literally and figuratively, for decades, she also has a series of strange encounters with the enigmatic Frank Byron (Andy Comeau), Cyrus’ bastard son.  In Frank, Clair ultimately finds her only ally in a battle to redeem the crimes of the past.

I found that it took a great deal for me to figure out who is who and who did what to whom.  Gripping, mysterious, and full of action.  OMG…Clair is running through the woods and guess what?  I went hysterical!  The movie is written and directed by Brad Coley. Get a grip, Brad!  This is becoming more than a cliché.  Good ending.  See it on the big screen. 

THE PEANUT PRINCIPLE

Shannon and Joe Campagna had delved into a wholesale candy business, when they suddenly went nuts.   Healthy nut butters, that is.  Mostly butters using peanuts.  In fact their  new company is called, The Peanut Principle.

Don’t expect these delicious butters to taste like the bottled stuff you usually buy at your supermarket.  The closest you can come to just their basic peanut butter is by doing into a health food store and getting some dry roasted ground up.  Even then, it may not be the same since Shannon and Joe have some special equipment for grinding.

You may be able to find this brand of nut butters in some supermarkets, but it’s best to simply go to the website.  Oh, btw, there are no dairy products used.  I ordered a bunch to taste and not one to spread on bread but eating a few spoonfuls from the jar that would amount to what I would have spread on bread.  Here are the ones that I sampled.

Keep It Smooth : Dry Roasted Organic Peanuts ground to perfection in our 1950's Nut Grinder.   I happened to have some of the low sugar blueberry spread from my trip to the Poconos and combined this. 

Beat Me To The Crunch: Dry Roasted Organic Peanuts ground leaving crunchy chunks for that great flavor.   I did the same as above.

Almond The Mood For Chocolate: Dairy free Belgian Dark Chocolate, raw coconut and our signature almond butter mashed together.   Okay, this is not a peanut butter.   I didn’t really think I’d love this one, but after getting hooked on Greater’s Ice Cream flavor of Coconut Chip, I had a difficult time eating just the “spread” amount.  

The Dark Side of Peanut (Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter):  60% Dry Roasted Peanuts ground 40% Pure Dark Chocolate.  The Dark chocolate comes from a company in the Adirondacks called Barkeater Chocolates.   In fact, you can purchase the butter at their locations.

Raisin The Roof (Cinnamon Raisin Peanut Butter):  A Blend of Organic Peanuts, Ground Cinnamon, Currents and a touch of sugar.   Now this is great on French Toast. 

Razz It Up (Chocolate Raspberry Peanut Butter):  Chocolate peanut butter blended with raspberry puree.  A few spoonfuls for dessert or mixed in a smoothie.

Healthy Brain Blend: A blend of peanuts ,almonds, sunflower seeds, pistachios, brazil nuts, pine nuts, chia seeds, hemp seeds, sprouted broccoli seeds, goose berries, blueberries.  Healthy Heart Blend: A blend of peanuts, hazelnuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, pecans, chia seeds, hemp seeds, goji berries, banana chips, alfalfa seeds.  I didn’t think I would like these two having all that healthy stuff.   They both tasted great!  

I Think My Flax Are Sexy:  A marriage between Golden Flax Seeds and Dry Roasted Organic Peanuts!! If your need to get your Omega 3's on this is the JAR for You!!  This one is a good “smoothie” choice.

Very Berry: Peanut Butter packed with blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, acai berries, gogi berries, cherries, gooseberries and pomegranate.   What can I say about this one?   If you don’t have time for breakfast, at least have three spoonfuls of this one.  

Chocolate Haze: 30 percent dark chocolate and 70 percent hazelnut.   I didn’t really love this one due to my taste for the “nutella” type that has a lot more sugar. 

Open Sesame:  Asia Peanut Butter. This fantastic blend combines fresh ginger and garlic with dry roasted peanuts and sesame seeds.   This is the perfect one to use for cooking! 

The above are only the ones that I have sampled.   There are so many more and various nuts.   Smores fans...beware…this one is a dessert in a bottle.   www.peanutprinciple.com