Yea, yea, yea... Nice of you to be so stereotypical. I started this topic because I wanted some information and got it! The thread turned into a very informative, useful and entertaining piece. Your post is part of the "entertainment!" LOL. And, BTW, here is "the rest of the story;" The squirrels you love kept raiding my bird feeder. I peppered their backsides with BBs hoping they would get the message and stay away. I guess squirrels are not one of the brightest creatures on the planet! So... I got the pellet gun out, gave it 15 pumps and terminated one squirrel. I left his lousy carcass lie in its tracks for a couple of days and haven't had a squirrel problem since. End of story and "no SHAME" on me. As James Brown sang, "I feel good!" BTW, Never did use the POP/PB balls =(

I do so love these cookalongs! I wasn't able to participate this time, due to being sick as a dog during most of it. I had the flu and now a bunch of fluid has taken up residence in my lungs and refuses to leave. Anyway, here's my two peanut butter contributions, neither of which I was able to make this time, but both of which I have tried and are good, and relatively healthy. Peanut sauce for pasta (from the Smuckers Peanut Butter jar lid) 1 cup natural peanut butter (not the hydrogenated kind with added sugar) 1/2 cup warm water 1/2 cup ketchup 1 TBLSP soy sauce (I use low salt) 1 tsp. garlic powder (or 2 cloves garlic, minced) 1 1/2 tsp. rice wine vinegar (or cider vinegar, but rice is great!) Can add some ginger, hot pepper and lime juice if you want it with more kick. Combine to for a smooth sauce. Pour over pasta and sauteed vegetables. Saute an onion and a green or red pepper at the very least for this pasta. You could add broccoli and many other veggies if you are a veggie lover like me. Can also add pork, chicken or tofu. Serve over pasta--lo mein noodles, or any other shape of pasta you like, or rice pasta or buckwheat pasta. Garnish with chopped roasted peanuts and cilantro or parsley if you like it. Frozen Banana Treats (these are GREAT to make with kids, and are at least a little bit on the healthy side with milk and peanut butter providing protein) 1 large banana 3/4 cup chunky peanut butter 1 1/2 cups milk 1 TBLSP sugar 5 oz. chocolate chips Blend banana, peanut butter, milk and sugar in blender. Put chocolate chips in the bottom of 6 oz. wax cups, pour banana mixture into cups and freeze. Add popsicle sticks after about 1 hour so they will stand upright. Yummy!

Oh Jimminy! Must be in the air, the muffin thang. :D PB and Banana muffins? The thought give me the heebie jeebies, but my husband would likely LOVE them. Maybe I'll be nice to him this week and give them a try!This isn't one of the requested recipes, but a very good muffin recipe which I developed as a (relatively) healthy muffin alternative to bran muffins when those were really popular...never found a bran muffin I liked. These contain enough fiber from the veggies & fruit to compete, and filling enough to work as a quick breakfast. Muffin Meals 2 c flour (white or a 2 to 1 mix of white & wheat...I've played with oat flour, millet flour, rice flour and barley flour with mixed results) 1 1/4 c sugar (white, brown or a mix) 1 T cinnamon 2 t baking soda 1/1/2 t grated orange peel 1 t vanilla 1/2 t salt 3 large eggs 1 c vegetable oil 2 c shredded carrots* 1 c shredded zucchini* 1 Golden Delicious apple, chopped* 3/4 c raisins* 3/4 c shredded, sweetened coconut* 1/4 c chopped nuts* Now, the thing about this recipe, is that as long as you keep overall amounts the same, you can play quite a bit. All of the ingredients followed by a * are substitutable or interchangeable. As long as you end up with appx 6 cups of ingredients, you can pick and choose...1 c carrots + 2 c zucchini? 1 c carrots + 1 c zucchini + 2 apples? 3/4 c nuts +1/4 c raisins? See what I mean? You can also sub mashed banana for a cup or so of the carrots, zucchini or apple, if you have an overripe one hanging about. Now, naturally, if you do something like substitute 2 c of nuts for the carrots, you'll probably have trouble, but I think you get the pic. I like using different dried fruits as I'm not really a raisin fan (except for just eating them as a snack). Dried cranberries, mango, pineapple, cherries etc work fine, cut in raisin sized pieces. Sometimes I use cardamom instead of cinnamon (1 1/2 t or so instead of a T, as cardamom is quite pungent), or pumpkin pie seasonings (1 T), once I even used Chinese 5 spice, which was interesting. Likewise, the orange peel can be lemon or lime or even grapefruit. The vanilla can be almond or citrus or whatever. You can substitute unsweetened coconut, if you can find some that is moist. Anyhow... Grease muffin tins & set the oven for 375 degrees F. Mix all the ingredients together except for the eggs, oil & vanilla. In a separate bowl, blend the eggs, oil & vanilla and then fold into the other ingredients. These muffins don't rise very much...too much stuff in them I guess...so fill the muffin cups to only slightly under the top. Bake for 25 minutes, and do the clean toothpick thing to make sure they're done. Cool a bit, and then gently remove them to a rack to cool completely...you might have to sort of pry them up by sliding a fork down one side to the bottom and using it as a lever, they're very tender and break easily if you try to just lift them out.

Actually, peanut butter sits in a jar for a year and more without refrigeration and doesn't spoil, so why clean it out at all? Eventually, it will dry up and just fall out. Probably not the answer some people would want, but I coat the insides of large bones with peanut butter and never worry that our dog can't get to the middle. Eventually, it just isn't there any more. Same goes with velveeta cheese.