Peanut Butter Balls >B<

 

>B< (pronounced "Bee") is Betty's e-mail signature, and my name for her.  Placed in the title, it indicates a jointly authored post. 

PEANUT BUTTER BALLS

A SIX X SIX INCH FREEZER CONTAINER WHICH CAN HOLD

48 ONE-AND A-HALF INCH PEANUT BUTTER BALLS

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS	Cups	Calories	Fat g	Carbs g	Protein g
Quick Oatmeal *	1	150	3	27	5
Non-Fat Dry Milk	1	320	0	52	36
Peanut Butter +	0.5	760	64	28	32
Honey	0.5	515	0	140	1
TOTAL Balls	48	1745	67	247	74
Per Serving 1 ball		36	1.4	5.1	1.5
Per Serving 2 balls		73	2.8	10.3	3.1
Per Serving  3 balls		109	4.2	15.4	4.6
Per Serving 4 balls		145	5.6	20.6	6.2
*QUICK Oatmeal, NOT instant, NOT Old-Fashioned; +Creamy No Sugar Added

Combine in a large bowl until dry ingredients are all incorporated, and dough forms a large ball.

Pinch off dough and form into 1 and 1/2 inch balls. 

Place balls in a refrigerator container with an airtight cover.  Refrigerate or freeze.

Original recipe from La Lech League Cookbook. Easily doubles.

Is Peanut Butter good for you?

"Peanut butter is one of the most popular foods in the United States, and one of the least expensive sources of plant protein. 

Peanut butter is relatively low in carbohydrates. Most of the carbohydrates in peanuts are complex, the type that the body breaks down gradually. Peanut butter has few of the simple carbohydrates that trigger spikes in blood sugar.

Although 16 grams of fat per serving may seem like a lot, most are 'healthy' monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat. Only around 4% is from "unhealthy" saturated fat, the type that can clog your arteries.

However, some commercial brands contain hydrogenated oils that stabilize the peanut butter and prevent the natural oils from separating and rising to the top. Unlike monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, hydrogenated oil does affect blood lipid levels, causing 'bad' LDL cholesterol to rise and 'good' HDL cholesterol to fall.

But the good news is that peanut butter packs a lot of nutrition into a small amount of food. And, because peanut butter can make you feel fuller faster, you don't tend to eat a lot. What you do consume can support health."

WebMD: Health Benefits of Oatmeal

"Oatmeal, a favorite food of many nutritionists, is an important world crop as it grows in cool and moist climates and doesn't require as many nutrients as wheat. Still, most of the world's supply is used for livestock feed.

Oatmeal is nutritionally rich. It has more protein than most grains and also contains numerous vitamins and minerals. It contains antioxidants and a soluble fiber called beta-glucan, which aids several systems of the body.

Eating fiber-rich foods like oatmeal produces a feeling of satisfaction, which can make it less likely that you will overeat. The particular fiber in oatmeal, beta-glucan, makes the contents of the intestines very viscous and may make you feel full longer."

GENERAL USE OF PEANUT BUTTER BALLS

The two-ball serving is an excellent energy and nutrition source. When I want to exercise on the treadmill or work in the garden but have not eaten recently, I simply have a serving. 

Usually, I drink my coffee with three spoons of sugar. However, I can drink it black by dipping two of these into the coffee briefly to soften them.

LENTEN USAGE

Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are obligatory days of fasting and abstinence for Catholics. In addition, Fridays during Lent are obligatory days of abstinence. For members of the Latin Catholic Church, the norms on fasting are obligatory from age 18 until age 59. When fasting, a person is permitted to eat one full meal, as well as two smaller meals that together are not equal to a full meal.  - from USCCB site.

Before Vatican II all the weekdays of Lent were days of fast with only one full meal and two smaller meals. One might attempt to observe the fast on Lenten weekdays by having one of the three allowed meals to consist of a serving of peanut butter balls. Begin with the two-ball serving size, increase if necessary.  

Television, Time Use, Lent and the Divine Office

Back in March 2011 I wrote the above post for PrayTell Blog. It focused upon "time use" as the key to fasting, prayer and almsgiving during Lent. Whereas food production and processing once consumed a huge amount of human activity, today we don't divert much time usage by ourselves or by producers when fasting from food. 

Fasting by using less Television provides us much more time for the other activities of Lent, namely giving time to prayer and almsgiving (e.g.by giving our time to needy people). 

Peanut butter balls are a very efficient way to prepare and consume nutritious food. By doubling the recipe, we can have a two peanut ball serving for each day of Lent plus Sundays. Put one container in the refrigerator and one in the freezer. 

Use the food preparation time and energy provided by each peanut ball serving either to spend time in prayer or give attention to others. 

Each morning and evening I spend about thirty to forty minutes walking on my treadmill downstairs in front of a computer screen where I pray morning and evening prayer.  

Each of two websites that I post each day takes about fifteen to twenty minutes. I have additional hymns and the readings from the Office of Readings and daily Mass to provide a small menu of choices.

 >B< has extremely good hearing so she does not have to come downstairs to join me.

SAINT GABRIEL HOURS

THIS IS OUR LENT - VALENTINE DAY POST FOR YOU

WE CELEBRATED VALENTINES DAY YESTERDAY