Mini Vans and Chocolate-Peanut Butter Bars

Hello, my name is Meghan and I drive a mini van.

Wow. Getting that off my chest feels a lot better. Are we still friends? I hope. Because driving a mini van and spending a lot of my recent time washing baby clothes has made me feel like I need to do other Mom stuff, like, you know, bake.

Momma left me a couple of magazines she bought for her flight down here, and when I was going through my overwhelming stack of periodicals I found a what I thought looked like a pretty tasty recipe in a Health magazine she left.

Happy National Peanut Butter Day

The first spoonful from a brand-new container of natural p.b. is a bit runny, but still great!

Just in case you were wondering, my three favorite things in life are the husband, brown dogs and peanut butter.

OK, I kid. Surely our parents, grandparents and my Big Little Brother - and black and silver dogs - rank above p.b. But I'd be lying if I said this all-important food source isn't on my top 10 of must-haves. (That's right: I said food source. The fact that peanut butter can be sandwiched between slices of bread, blended into a smoothie, made into cookies, licked off a spoon, or eaten with fruit, chicken or chocolate and more proves my point. Silly you for thinking peanut butter is just a spread!)

So how did I not know it was National Peanut Butter Day until this afternoon? True story. I had no idea everyone was celebrating this beloved staple of mine until Momma emailed me the news.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Protein Balls

Happy end of fall, y'all! I know, I know, we have another 21 days until the first day of winter, but this is my most favorite time of year. I can now wear turtleneck sweaters and socks with snowflakes on them without feeling silly. The husband will let me listen to Christmas music (so long as I choose a Pandora station he doesn't mind, like Trans Siberian Orchestra). And spending afternoons in my craft room making gifts for our friends and family - or trolling the Internet for ideas for gifts I can make - is totally acceptable.

Oh the things I could do with unlimited funds for those Saturday morning runs to the hobby store. 

But funds aren't unlimited, and sometimes that means pinching a few pennies now and then so we can spend all the money we want on flat-rate boxes (so we can send my homemade goods north!). 

Perhaps that's why the husband and I have yet to go grocery shopping, even though we're down to one rotten banana on the counter, string cheese in the fridge and nothing but frozen fish in the freezer. 

Thank God for peanut butter.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

The husband is a known snacker. It doesn't matter how much I feed him for dinner, there's a good chance he's going to get up off the couch at about 8 pm, go into the kitchen and start looking for a snack. He tells me he gets it from his father. For the record, I don't know why he feels the need to blame his daddy. The husband should just admit he likes his snacks. I'll admit it: I like to snack.

I also like snacks in milk. And when the husband is in the kitchen poking around for his after-dinner snack, all I need to hear is a cupboard open and his hand rummaging around in the silverware drawer to know he's about to eat cereal. 

This never bothered me until about two months ago when the doctor put an end to my cereal eating. Now, I don't want to harp on the fact that I can't eat a lot of carbs these days, that's life. But I've just got to get this off my chest: I miss some of my old favorite snacks. I miss snacks in milk.

So I thought I needed to find a way to make myself a little something I could enjoy while the husband's eating his evening bowl of cereal. I found that little something in flourless peanut butter cookies - they're not exactly low-fat and they're a little crumbly, but they taste fab in almond milk. And I don't care how much I ate for dinner, it's 8 pm, and I have room for a little cookie. 

I Can Make Peanut Butter Cookies. I Can.

The husband always wins when we play rummy. I try to beat him, but I can't. I can shuffle the cards, though, and do that fancy bridge move, so that's what I do.

I can't hold my breath under water. I always have to plug my nose. If I don't, it isn't pretty.

I've always loved curly hair, but I have no idea how to use a curling iron. No matter what I do, I always end up with a curl and then a crimp on the end. I stick with the straightener.

When I grow up, I'd like to be one of those football mommas who can whistle really loud with two fingers in her mouth. But I've tried; I just don't know how to do it. I guess I'll have to get a bullhorn or something.

What else can't I do?

I can't make blondies. 

Frozen Peanut Butter Pie - A Pie for Mikey

Some things in life just go together: Sunday mornings and a New York Times, summer and campfires, plaid shorts and golf, chocolate and peanut butter, me and the husband. 


I could tell you all about how I held my hand to my chest and fought back tears as I read Jennie's latest post and how much it made me stop and realize how very blessed I've been. Instead I'm just going to tell you to enjoy dessert tonight and forget about the two loads of laundry that are waiting to be folded and put away. And don't worry if you have little piles of brown dog hair resting against the woodwork in your living room.

Love one another; linger over dessert. Be thankful for the day you were just given - even if your dessert comes out looking like this.