B Nutty Peanut Butter B Good

Can peanut butter be improved? Surprisingly yes. A new company out of Indiana has come up with gourmet peanut butter.that not only honey roasted peanuts but such yummy addins such as blueberry, chocolate, caramel and even pretzels.

I decided to try B Nutty since I like crunchy all natural peanut butter. 

The first was the blueberry flavored one, made wit real berries and has a PB &J flavor.

This is the blueberry which also has milk chocolate added. It's good on a sweet bread or bun like a brioche roll. The blueberry flavor is strong and it makes for a good lunch.

I also ordered pretzels and white chocolate

This has large bits of gluten free pretzels mixed in along with white chocolate.It's good on a sweet bread but even better as a dip for pretzels and Social Tea cookies.

These are the bits of  pretzels. Imagine dipping pretzel rods in this.

Then there is toffee, milk chocolate and almonds.

Again, it's good slathered on brioche bread, but also good on pretzels too. It would be a great layer in brownies too. B Nutty also has plain and one loaded with cranberries. There are seasonal ones too such as Cinnamon sugar cookie and Peppermint Brownie ???.

BNutty amps up peanut butter a few notches. It's a neat spin on an American classic. It will also make you never want just plain old peanut butter again.

An Indiana Barbecue

The heartland has given us some amazing and rib sticking dishes. It comes as no surprise that one Midwestern state, Indiana, has created some hearty ones that combine the state's farm bounty married to the different indigenous and immigrant recipes.It is a tasty and varied cuisine.


The state is known for its' endless cornfields so it's no wonder that barbecues  feature platters of roasted ears with plenty of melted butter on the side. Hoosiers also like a bowl of grits or corn mush, a simple to make dish using only corn  meal and water. Honey and cream can be added for a breakfast or cheese can mixed in for a side  - or even an easy Sunday supper.Southern Indianians are influenced by Kentucky it's no wonder that they enjoy burgoo and barbecue. Burgoo, is a tasty stew . a take on Brunswick stew and it's loaded with chicken, beef, pork, and at times, squirrel(!)Lamb and/or veal is also  thrown in for extra flavor .It is also a mélange of veggies and beans with tomatoes, okra and carrots along with lima beans mixed in.Sometimes Worcester or steak sauce is used in the recipe for dash. Barbecue is also another Kentucky import, and there are several famed barbecue joints in the state's southernmost city , Evansville where there is even a barbecue festival in September. Many German immigrants settled through out the state in the 1800s and many  have grown up with spaetzles, sauerkrauts and various wursts and beers


The state is also known for its' relatively substantial Amish population. They contribute the dessert cream pie which is somewhat similar to the Kentuckian chess pie. These are rich  yet simple pies, that are made with whole cream, brown sugar and butterscotch. It's kind of a butterscotch  pudding kind of pie that has made its' way to a holiday and picnic tables alike. Indiana farm country is full of fruit trees such as the peach and it also figures prominently in desserts. Cobblers are big throughout the Hoosier State, and again they are simple and delicious.It's just a deep dish pie with a rich scratch  biscuit crust The peaches have to be fresh and just picked  for a more intensive flavor and fresh whipped cream has to be served with it. Farms also produce strawberries and rhubarb and there is also and always fresh strawberry pies and jams along with rhubarb pie too. Persimmon pie is another famed dessert, a blend of the exotic with the familiar. It's basically a cream pie with the addition of a cup of persimmon pulp added for color and zing.

Heartland cooking is always the best.It is rib sticking and hearty, tasty, full of the harvests from local family run farms. This is Indiana cuisine at its' best.

Welcome The June Harvests

June is here and with it comes the first of the summer harvests.  t's an exciting time for foodies and home chefs.. New and healthy dishes can be made. Main meals and desserts can have a nice fresh from the garden taste to them.

If you're in the Garden State, New Jersey, like I am , then then you should be on tenterhooks.This is the month  when first harvests of blueberries and cherries will be ripening. They'll be perfect for pies, crisps and parfait as well as just eaten fresh for a healthy dessert or snack.Cucumbers  come later in the month, think of all those refreshing salad made with them, mixed with sour cream and fresh picked dill. Jersey farms also yield up beets broccoli and cabbage too. Nothing beats a yummy beet salad with just the boiled ones dressed in a simple vinaigrette. With the cabbage, think slaws that will go perfectly with all   that barbecue fare. Broccoli means salads and sides  - and the added benefit of an extra green in the diet. Our  neighbors New York and Pennsylvania have similar harvests with Pennsylvania has the extra bonus of early onion, squash and snap bean harvests. Take a trip out to Pennsylvania farm country for a weekend and come back with a car or van loaded with good stuff. Head to Varick New York annual cherry festival in the Cayuga Lake- Finger Lakes district.

For those Marylanders,crabs aren't   the only good food on their June menu. The state is bursting with all sorts of produce thanks to them ripening right now.They already have Spring's best with their asparagus, spinach and strawberries.There are also green peas,snap beans and that perfect dessert ingredient, red and black raspberries.Lettuce and  summer squash are also blooming righ now.Nearby Delaware has all these harvests too plus tomatoes and potatoes . Whether you're there for a weekend  or for a week,take advantage of the farmer's markets there.Midwesterners  will enjoy similar harvests,If you;'re in Illinois get the pie crusts and Ice    cream ready because it's rhubarb season there now. neighboring states, Indiana and Wisconsin  also have similar harvests with  Wisconsin   bursting with peaches. Imagine them with the fresh cream from America's Dairy State.Washington State gives us luscious cherries and currents along with the unusual hybrid tayberry. This is a cross between a  blackberry  and a raspberry  and can be used in sorts of dishes form salads to pies.It's also zucchini season there as well so think about zucchini Parmesan or sautéed with garlic.

June is the start of the summer harvest season. Jump right in and take advantage of the amazing bounty nationwide. Add fresh veggies and fruits to meals and desserts for a refreshing, just picked flavor.

The Heartiness of Indiana Cuisine

Mid western cooking,namely the cooking from Indiana, is one of the most heartiest and most interesting of American cuisine.This is what's called down home cooking, with plates laden with good old fashioned foods.They are hearty and served all year round ,whether they're for Christmas or a summer picnic.They reflect the different groups that settled in the area. The German population in this state was vast.There are even towns where only a 19th Century German dialect is spoken.One of the state's favorites is a pork tenderloin sandwich.This is a variation of weiner schnitzel, deep fried till crispy and then put on a roll.Another sandwich popular around the Southern city of Evansville is pulled pork or as it's locally called a soak. This is a heavenly mixture of shredded pork mixed with a sweet barbecue sauce served on a roll.The lower half of it is saturated hence the name.It is messy ,fun and beyond delicious.Soaks are always served with Coke, hence the famed dish Coke and a soak.Burgos, is another popular Southern Indiana dish.It originates from across the Ohio River, from Kentucky and is a variation of Brunswick stew.This was a pioneer dish and first had any kind of wild game added to it.Early recipes called for possum and skunk and they are used, even today. However restaurants and stands use everything from fowl to beef to pork.Some recipes call for all of these so you get a mélange of flavors.Burgoo needs to be cooked anywhere from four to six hours and should be cooked out doors.Corn bread or corn muffins usually accompany bowls of it to sop up the gravy.The drink of choice is a neat bourbon. Desserts figure hugely too in any Indiana meal.One of the most famous is the cream sugar pie, a variation of the French version.The filling is a flour based filling ,redolent with cream and butter.Maple syrup and /or brown sugar can also be added .Sometimes nutmeg or cinnamon is added instead for a different, more holiday version.Cobbler is another popular Hoosier dessert, thanks to the abundance of peach trees.This is an easy to make dessert, especially if home chefs use Bisquick.It's baked batter and sugar spoon dropped on top.Straight from the oven baked cobbler is wonderful with freshly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. There's also the different but flavorful soda cracker fudge, a yummy mix of peanut butter, and marshmallow fluff cooked with soda crackers ,milk and butter.The result is a sweet and salty after dinner snack.Another treat is persimmon pudding .This is similar to the English plum pudding, and cooked like it, with it steaming in a hot water bath.Persimmon pudding can be served with apple sauce, creme anglais or just simple ice cream or brandy butter. Midwestern cooking is a mélange of European recipes and American creativity.Thecdishes are interesting with unique. Ingredients such as soda crackers in fudge or bourbon in burgoo.It's tasty and different , but most of all from the heart and truly filling.

Lincoln's Foods

This week, February 12th , marks the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth. His family was very much like my father's ancestors, frontiersmen making do in a new Eden. Some dishes, popular in Lincoln's Indiana and Kentucky are still eaten today. There's the spicy stew burgoo and barbecue, a sweet mix of sauce and pulled pork. Squirrel and raccoon was eaten back then, as I'm sure , snake was. Thankfully, people have lost their taste for those meats.



Burgoo was a popular dish that everyone made. My great granny Roberts was an excellent cook and had her recipes for it. Burgoo came from 17th century English sailors and it was originally a thin gruel made of bulghur and cooked like a ragout. Say these two words quickly and it sounds like "burgoo." Another explanation is a slurring of "bird stew." Early burgoo recipes were great ways of getting rid of leftover game and vegetables. Most families and restaurants have their own recipes, with some using more beef and tomato or others using chicken and peppers. Originally cooked over a fire in a steel pot you can now make burgoo in a crock pot, letting it simmer for two hours. The tastiest ones have a mix of chicken, beef and pork cut along with veggies such as corn, tomato, okra along with red and green peppers. Seasoning is up to you. It usually has a sweet, spicy taste so you can add one or two tablespoons of brown sugar or molasses. A few shakes of cayenne and cracked black pepper won't go amiss here either. Burgoo can be frozen and microwaved for later meals.



Another dish, that was getting started in Lincoln's youth was barbecue. This was a passion of mine , pulled pork (and later soy meat) drenched in a spicy vinegar based sauce. In Lincoln's day cooks may have used mutton thanks to the extensive sheep farms in western Kentucky. The sauce was probably a mix of vinegar, water, molasses and spices and added to the meat. Carolinians and Virginians probably brought this dish with them when they claimed land s in the west. For th e last almost one hundred year barbecue has been served on a soft bun and eaten with a Coke . The dish was called "a soak and a Coke" as my dad and aunt would have said. Sadly enough you can't get it here in North Jersey although there are a few places in South NJ that do make it.

Basically Abraham Lincoln ate American foods; variations first brought over from his English and Colonial American ancestors. Foods like burgoo and barbecue are still being served today. Their taste is part of what makes America great, using traditions of the past for today's meals.