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Some Peanut Butter-Based Bars Are Safe, Others Are Not

FitSugar — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 03:30:00 -0800

When it comes to pre-workout snacking, energy bars are up there on my list of favorite quick fixes that get me through my workout. After hearing that some bars have been recalled because they could be tainted with salmonella, I was paranoid to touch any of the bars I had previously purchased. Ignoring the products isn't getting me anywhere, so I've been looking into which ones are safe for me to eat and which should go in the trash, once and for all. Now I can feel OK snacking on certain bars without any sense of salmonella doom.

The FDA developed a handy widget that allows you to scan by product group, and in my case I was interested in snack bars. I was bummed when I first saw LaraBar on the list, but after clicking on the brand name I saw that only one of its products has been affected (Peanut Butter Blisscrisp snack bars). Check out the widget for the items that you should avoid; you'll see familiar names like Clif, Luna, and Zone on the list. See the rundown when you read more.

Source

More Peanut Butter Involved in Salmonella Scare

FitSugar — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 10:00:00 -0800

Last week we learned that peanut butter might be the culprit in the latest salmonella scare. First, King Nut and Parnell's Pride peanut butter were recalled, but now the list grows as more companies pull their products from the shelves. The FDA has traced the tainted peanut butter to a Georgia plant owned by Peanut Corporation of America, which distributes peanut butter and peanut flavor to numerous companies. Since six people have died from salmonella poisoning, the FDA is taking no chances and advising everyone to stay away from all products containing peanut butter including cookies, crackers, cakes, energy bars, and ice cream.

Some known foods to avoid are Little Debbie snacks, Kellogg Keebler crackers, and some Luna, Clif, and ZonePerfect bars. The companies who make Jif, Smuckers, Eagle Brand, and Peter Pan peanut butter said their products are safe.

For a complete list of products involved in the recall, check out the FDA's website.

Introducing the One and Only

YumSugar — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 07:03:51 -0700

A little while ago, I was browsing the candy aisle at Circuit City - I know, weird place to look for candy, but I was there waiting for someone else to make a purchase - when I came across a candy I had never seen before. Called 1&Only, it was a monstrous offering of Chocolate Chip Cookies, Peanut Butter Cups, Oreos, M&Ms, white chocolate chips, and more chocolate. It sounded a bit awful, so naturally I had to buy one.

So how was it? To find out and see close-up pictures, read more.

Well for starters, there are two individual stacks inside. One is a piece of chocolate, stacked with a peanut butter cup, stacked with a chocolate chip cookie and then dotted with some M&Ms. The other is chocolate, stacked with a peanut butter cup, an Oreo, and the sprinkled with white chocolate chips. And based on the description, it should have been delicious. Yet somehow it was just not. It was more gluttonous than anything else. One big sugar bomb, no individual flavors. The calories (240 for both pieces) were comparable to several other candy bars, but personally I'd rather eat a regular Reese's Peanut Butter Cup than this one.

However, if you want to give it a try, here are some retailers that stock the products. Or, you could buy your own, and sandwich them together yourself. Check out what they look like by clicking on the photos below.

View 13 Photos ›

Come Party With Me: Graduation - Menu (Dessert)

partysugar — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 14:32:18 -0700

I know it's traditional to serve a large sheet cake that says Congratulations, but I love to surprise guests by breaking the usual party rules. Besides I'm all caked out right now and want to serve an extraordinary dessert that's summer appropriate. Make a dessert that will please your grad by asking them what they want. My sister's favorite dessert combination is chocolate and peanut butter, so I'll make frozen choco peanut butter bars with a hot fudge sauce. Sounds decadently delicious doesn't it? Well, take a look at the recipe and start drooling, just read more

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars With Hot Fudge Sauce
From Gourmet magazine

For chocolate layer
Vegetable oil for greasing pan
7 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), chopped
1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup salted dry-roasted peanuts (4 oz)
For peanut butter layer
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (not "natural")
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chilled heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
For hot fudge sauce
1/3 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons Dutch-process unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), chopped
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Make chocolate layer: put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with foil, allowing 2 inches of foil to hang over 2 opposite ends of pan, and lightly brush foil (except overhang) with oil.
Melt chocolate with butter, sugar, and salt in a double boiler or a large metal bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, whisking occasionally, until smooth.
Remove top of double boiler or bowl from heat and whisk in eggs and vanilla, then stir in peanuts.
Pour batter into baking pan and bake until set and edges are slightly puffed, about 15 minutes. Transfer cake in pan to a rack to cool completely.
Make peanut butter layer: beat cream cheese, peanut butter, confectioners sugar, and salt in a bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until combined well, about 4 minutes.
Beat cream with vanilla in a bowl with cleaned beaters at medium-high speed until it just holds stiff peaks, then gently fold into peanut butter mixture until just combined.
Spread mixture evenly on top of chocolate layer and freeze, pan covered with foil, until firm, about 2 hours.
Make hot fudge sauce: bring cream, syrup, sugar, cocoa, salt, and chocolate to a boil in a 1-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring until chocolate is melted.
Reduce heat and simmer, stirring frequently, until thickened, about 3 minutes, then remove from heat.
Stir in vanilla until incorporated. Cool sauce to warm.
To serve: carefully lift cake from pan by grasping overhang. Trim 1/4 inch from edges of cake and discard, then cut into 8 bars. Peel off foil and serve bars with sauce.

Serves 8.

Make ahead: hot fudge sauce can be made 1 week ahead and cooled completely, then chilled in an airtight container or jar. Reheat before using. Leftover bars can be frozen, individually wrapped in plastic wrap, up to 4 days.

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Food Review: thinkGreen Peanut Butter Chocolate Bar

FitSugar — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 05:50:40 -0700

When it comes to meeting my daily nutritional requirements, I like to eat my vitamins and minerals in whole foods. Occasionally, I fall short on this. I also often need a quick, easily digestible pre-workout snack. I thought I would attempt to satisfy these two needs with the thinkGreen bar, since the label reads "over one tablespoon of power greens."

The ingredient list contains some very green things: spirulina (green algae), spinach and broccoli powder, green tea powder, as well as powders from other veggies and fruits like beets, carrots, and apples.

To see how all these powders mix with chocolate and peanut butter and nutritional details for the bar, read more.

Here is the list of ingredients: Date paste, coating (evaporated cane juice, cocoa butter, chocolate liquor, whole milk powder, soy lecithin, pure natural vanilla), brown rice syrup, peanut butter chips (evaporated cane juice, palm kernel oil, whey powder, partially defatted peanut flour, peanut butter, whole milk solids, soya lecithin, salt), raisins, thinkgreen Superfood (apple pectin, lecithin, organic alfalfa grass juice powder, organic spirulina, chlorella (cracked cell), brown rice germ, spinach leaf powder, broccoli powder, carrot powder, acerola berry juice powder, beet juice powder, green tea extract, grape seed and skin extract, parsley leaf powder, pea powder), raisin paste, peanuts, soy protein isolate, ground peanuts, cocoa soy crisps (soy protein isolate, calcium carbonate, cocoa powder), peanut flour, cocoa powder, honey, chocolate liquor, natural flavors. Contains soy, peanuts and milk.

Serving Size	One bar (50 g)
Calories	200
Total Fat	8 g
Saturated Fat	3 g
Cholesterol	0 mg
Sodium	65 mg
Carbs	28 g
Fiber	2 g
Sugar	21 g
Protein	6 g
Potassium	170 mg
Calcium	10% RDI

The list of ingredients is super long, but similar to the simple Larabar, the base of the thinkGreen Bar is dates. The bar certainly tasted of chocolate and peanut butter, but it was very dry. I definitely needed water to get it down. The dryness factor would keep me from taking this bar on a long bike ride. I ate the bar in the late afternoon while carpooling children about town, and then ran an hour later. The thinkGreen bar kept me energized for a 50-minute pre-dinner run. In the end though, I think I will continue to work on eating my greens, actual spinach and broccoli rather than powdered versions of them. This bar will not become my mainstay energy bar, but I certainly won't avoid it either.

Have you tried this?

52 Weeks of Baking: Flourless Peanut Butter Bars

YumSugar — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 12:41:17 -0800

This weekend my friend April came over to watch the Oscars with me. Since the event goes on forever and ever, I thought it would be nice to have some baked treats to snack on. However there was one small catch, April is allergic to gluten and can't have anything made with regular wheat flour. So I went in search of something gluten-free and found a bunch of great looking recipes. However only one really stood out in my mind. It was ridiculously simple looking, required no unusual ingredients or different types of flour and contained peanut butter and chocolate chips. Talk about a no-brainer. If you want to give these a try (hey, why not celebrate National Peanut Butter Lover's Day?), then check out the recipe for flourless peanut butter bars. To see full step by step pictures, read more

Flourless Peanut Butter Bars
From Celiac Chicks

I was a little dubious about this recipe, but they turned out tasty and were super-easy. They're so simple to whip up, they'd make a great treat for any gluten-free occasion.

16 oz natural peanut butter (the kind with peanuts only, no added sugar!)
2 eggs
2 tsp baking soda
1 cup spun honey (aka creme honey, but regular honey is okay too)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a stand mixer, combine all of the ingredients and mix until blended.
Note: If you do not have a stand mixer, a large bowl with hand mixer will work well. If you do not have either, you can mix by hand but it will be gooey and difficult.
Pour mixture onto ungreased cookie sheet, using a spatula to spread the batter to cover entire pan.
Note: Thinking a brownie like concoction would be better than a cookiebar, I ended up using a cake pan. However the middles were too gooey for my liking. People devoured them nonetheless, but if you don't want to fiddle with the cooking time/temp, then I recommend sticking with bars.
Top with chocolate chips if desired. You could also top with peanuts, or swirl in jam.
Bake for about 15 minutes or until bars are golden brown.

View 15 Photos ›

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Come Party With Me: Ugly Sweater - Menu (Sweet)

partysugar — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 15:27:31 -0800

Fill a table at your Ugly Sweater party with sweet treats for guests to snack on throughout the night. Stay away from serving anything too complicated or showy that will require more than a cocktail napkin for eating. Choose your favorite classic, holiday candies - red and green M&Ms, peppermint bark, candy canes, etc. - and serve along side one homemade dessert. These chocolate-peanut bars are a no-bake, delicious dessert. The combination of chocolate and peanut is always a crowd pleaser. For the recipe, read more

Chocolate Peanut Bars
From Southern Living magazine

1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 (16-oz.) box powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups vanilla wafers, crushed (about 45 cookies)
1 (12-oz.) package semisweet chocolate morsels
1/2 cup whipping cream

Beat butter and peanut butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until blended.
Add powdered sugar and vanilla wafer crumbs; beat until blended. Press mixture evenly into a lightly greased 13-x-9-inch baking pan lined with wax paper.
Stir together chocolate morsels and whipping cream in a medium saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth. Spread evenly on top of peanut-butter mixture. Chill 1 hour or until firm.
Remove from refrigerator, and let stand at room temperature 10 minutes or until slightly softened. Cut into 48 bars.

Makes about 4 dozen.

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Your Healthy Food Swaps

FitSugar — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:00:27 -0800

Since decadent foods like ice cream, baked treats, and fried foods tend to be high in the calorie department, it's good to have a few healthy food swap ideas up your sleeve. Here are some shared by fellow FitSugar readers.

"Avocado instead of mayo . . . sure it may have fat in it but it's healthy fat and tastes delicious. Hummus instead of cream in sauces and soups . . . adds a ton of flavor and protein." - mamasitamalita
"I use balsamic vinegar (not vinaigrette) on my salads without any oil. It gives the same powerful flavor kick but for a lot less calories." - laellavita
"Replace ranch dressing on my salad with cottage cheese." - genipher85

For more great ideas, keep reading

Snickers Energy Bars?

FitSugar — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:30:06 -0700

Clif, Balance, and Luna are a few of my favorite brands when choosing energy bars, but the popular packed-with-peanuts candy bar company wants to get in on the action too with their Snickers Marathon bars. I know what you're thinking. Snickers? Making energy bars? Yep. They were designed to give good tasting energy to active, healthy people, and they come in three varieties - Energy, Nutrition, and Protein.

I find it ironic that the ingredients couldn't be found anywhere on the entire website. Wouldn't health-minded people want to know what they're eating? Seems a little sneaky. Then when I did some research, I discovered these bars contain corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup - just what I expected from a food that has Snickers on the label. The website did include the nutritional labels, so to see how these bars measure up, read more.

	Calories	Sat. Fat (g)	Chol. (mg)	Sodium (mg)	Carbs (g)	Fiber (g)	Sugars (g)	Protein (g)
Energy: Multigrain Crunch	220	2.5	5	210	31	3	17	10
Energy: Chewy Chocolate Peanut	210	3	5	200	26	5	15	13
Energy: Chewy Peanut Butter	210	3	5	240	25	4	15	14
Nutrition: Dark Chocolate Crunch	150	2.5	5	140	22	7	9	11
Nutrition: Honey & Toasted Almond	150	2	5	125	22	7	10	10
Protein: Caramel Nut Rush	290	5	5	190	40	10	22	20
Protein: Chocolate Nut Burst	280	3	5	340	37	11	18	21

I was wondering, have any of you tried these Snickers Energy bars?

Halloween Candy Breakdown

FitSugar — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:00:54 -0700

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Snickers were my favorites when it came to Halloween as a kid. After a night of trick-or-treating, I loved to sprawl my goods on the kitchen table and count how many I got of each. Now I would never eat as much candy as I could fit in a pillowcase, since many of them are high in calories and contain trans fat, but I still like to enjoy a couple pieces this time of year. Just what is that candy doing to your waistline? Check out the nutritional info below.

1 treat size (fun size)	Calories	Fat (g)	Sugar (g)
Snickers	71	3.6	7.6
Reese's Peanut Butter Cup	90	5	8
Reese's Caramel Cup	100	5	11
Reese's Nutrageous	95	5.5	7.5

If you don't see the candy you crave, read more.

1 treat size (fun size)	Calories	Fat (g)	Sugar (g)
Milky Way	75	3	10
Butterfinger	85	3.5	8.5
Butterfinger Crisp	105	5.5	9
Milk Duds	40	2	6.3
M&M's	90	4	11.5
Peanut M&M's	93	4.7	9.1
Nestle Crunch	51.3	2.7	5.6
Peppermint Pattie	47	1	8.6
Kit Kat	73	3.7	.67
Dots	70	0	11
Skittles	80	.8	15
Jelly Belly Jellybeans	35	0	7
3 Musketeers	63.3	2	10
Milky Way Dark	81	3	11
Hershey's Bar	66.7	4	7.7
Take 5	105	5.5	9
100 Grand	95	4	11
Nerds	50	0	12
Whoppers	100	4	13
Mike & Ike	50	0	9
SweeTarts	10	0	2.4
Charleston Chew Minis (13 pieces)	180	5	22
Babe Ruth	85	4	10
Health Bar	77	4.7	8.7
Almond Joy	91	5.1	9.2