for the love of peanut butter

Looking for an easy (but tasty!) dessert to throw together for after dinner or a small party? Here's one you'll love if you're a peanut butter fan like me -- Peanut butter pie!

I recently whipped up a peanut butter pie using a recipe my mom gave me. It's so easy that even those of you who hate working in the kitchen can handle this. Plus, I'm including lots of pictures because blogs are always more fun with photos!

Here's all the ingredients you need, and chances are, you have all of these on hand if you're like me. I try to always keep a pack of cream cheese in the fridge, and I usually keep at least one cool whip (or "whipped topping" as the Wal-Mart brand is called) frozen in the freezer since it's used in a few of my favorite desserts.

First, you'll need to soften the cream cheese. I'm usually doing everything at the last minute, so I always put the cream cheese in a microwave safe bowl (the one I'll use to make the pie mix) and pop it into the microwave long enough to soften it.

Add in the sugar. Mine was lumpy because when we bought the bag of sugar, it was as hard as a brick. I have to bang it first with something sharp to break it up. Hey, this pie relieves stress since you get to beat up the sugar! Added bonus if your sugar is hard like mine.

Now you're ready to mix the cream cheese and sugar. My mixer recently tore up in the middle of using it. Some part broke inside of it, and I could hear it rattling around. Fortunately, I had a back-up mixer to keep me going. You will probably want to use a deeper bowl than what I used because the cream cheese splatters a lot.

Time for the best ingredient (other than the cream cheese) ... peanut butter! The recipe calls for 1 cup, but I never measure it. It's too much trouble to scoop it out of the measuring cup. I usually like mine a little heavier on the peanut butter. It makes the pie a little thicker and denser, and of course, adds more peanut buttery goodness. I added more PB after I took this picture.

Mix mix mix again! Also, a word about the choice of peanut butter. It's expensive, so don't waste the good stuff (Jif) on mixing it into a pie. Save that for the good ol' PBJs for the kids.

I had a big container of cool whip, but you really just need the standard size. My pie crust was a 10-serving one, so it was bigger than the standard 8-serving size. So I added in more cool whip than necessary to stretch the mixture out a little further. On a side note, even though it's officially "whipped topping," we always refer to it by its brand name in my family. Kind of like how we'll ask for a kleenex instead of a tissue, or vasoline instead of petroleum jelly.

Mix again until it's all nice and smooth. Yum!

 Dump it into your pie crust. Use a spatula so you don't waste any.

Smooth it all out. Don't worry -- it doesn't have to look pretty. A layer of cool whip will go on top! It's ok if the mixture doesn't reach the top of the pie crust edges. You need room for the cool whip.

It's ready, so pile the rest on top and smooth it out.

Done! Oh wait, one last step. Lick the remaining pie mixture off of the beaters! This IS a requirement when making desserts that my mom taught me at an early age. (One of the best things I learned from her!) Yes, you'll want to be sure and thoroughly wash your beaters afterward. And for you non-beater licking people (I'm looking at you, Matt), these are safe to lick since there weren't any raw eggs in the mix.

... Not that raw eggs have stopped me before. 

Anyway, here's the actual recipe:

1 Graham cracker pie crust shell

1 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese (softened)

¾ cup sugar

1 cup peanut butter

1 regular size Cool Whip

With a mixer, mix cream cheese and sugar.  Add peanut butter and mix.  Add half the Cool Whip and mix.  Put mixture in pie shell and top with remainder of Cool Whip.  Refrigerate.

Now get off of the internet and make this pie!

a lousy bucket list

I'll be honest with you. I never liked reading as an adolescent. I didn't have the slightest interest in reading and only did so when required to for school. During the second semester of my freshman English class, I was exposed to free verse poetry -- basically, poetry without rhyme and meter. Poetry that wasn't written by Emily Dickinson or Robert Frost ... who knew that existed?

Sometimes I still consider reading a chore, but some how, I fell in love with poetry. I think mostly due to the fact that it tends to be short. (And that's the reason I stay away from epic poetry, which is a lengthy narrative style poem.) I came to the realization that reading and analyzing poetry was actually fun and engaging, which ultimately led to my major in creative writing. I had always been interested in writing, just not reading. The two tend to go hand and hand, so I'll never wrap my brain around why I liked one so much but not the other.

So anyway, I went on to develop my skills as a poet. My favorite college classes were those that involved a lot of writing, and particularly my poetry classes. We were repeatedly told to write every day. Every single day. This was the best way to improve as a poet and writer. I was all about writing poetry during my college years until I had to neglect it during a demanding graduate program I was in for teacher education.

During college, I decided I wanted to publish a book of poems some time before I die. I guess you could say this started my "bucket list" -- a list that is pretty short (it's the only thing on my list, other than to have a family, which I've already obtained). I guess I'm not that ambitious? I'd rather just consider myself content with the simplicity of everyday life.

This year will mark six years since I wanted to make my mark on the world as a poet. I can't tell you the last time I wrote a poem. I received two poetry books for Christmas, and they were written by two of the contemporary poets who first drew my interest to poetry and remain two of my favorites today. I guess these books have brought back the memories of my poetry writing days and the goal I had (still have?) of publishing a poetry book some day.

I think my poetry well is definitely dried up, but I can't help but wonder if I could revive it. Does it really matter though? I think the poem below puts things into perspective. It's called "Invitation" and is in one of the books I received entitled Red Bird by poet Mary Oliver.

Oh do you have time
to linger
for just a little while
out of your busy

and very important day
for the goldfinches
that have gathered
in a field of thistles

for a musical battle,
to see who can sing
the highest note,
or the lowest,

or the most expressive of mirth,
or the most tender?
Their strong, blunt beaks
drink the air

as they strive
melodiously
not for your sake
and not for mine

and not for the sake of winning
but for sheer delight and gratitude --
believe us, they say,
it is a serious thing

just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in this broken world.
I beg of you,

do not walk by
without pausing
to attend to this
rather ridiculous performance.

It could mean something.
It could mean everything.
It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
You must change your life.

-------

Maybe I need to throw my little bucket list out the window and start a new one that includes things like what the poem describes. After all, what better things are there to experience than to soak in the mysterious beauty God created for us?

One final note -- my husband asked what I was blogging about, and I told him, "poetry". He asked if I posted the poem I wrote about a dead possum. Yes, in college, I even wrote a poem about a dead possum.