PB has enormous fat content, there are other sources of protein and vitamin out there, tablespoon is OK but when we are talking about sandwich it sounds petty bad to me.

Yeah, I meant to say that about peanut butter, too.

We buy an organic, natural brand----no sugar added, the kind with the oil on top that you have to mix in. It's healthy in moderation.

As for PB& J, I buy the Simply Fruit jelly---no sugar added.

Natural peanut butter, simply fruit jelly on whole wheat bread = a healthy sandwich IMO.

We're going to have to agree to disagree. Peanut butter is high in fat, but it's GOOD fat, fat that is necessary for brain development.

Harvard Health, and Livestrong as well as CNN agree that it's a healthy part of a good diet.

It provides fiber, is good for the heart, and has been shown to lower cholesterol. It has vitamin E and niacin and those who are into working out know that a banana and peanut butter after a workout help rebuild muscles and provide important nutrients. It's pretty close to a superfood, and for picky kids it's a great source of fiber and vitamins. Combined with whole grain bread, there's not many snacks a person can eat that would be better for them.

A tablespoon or two is the serving size, there should be no reason to put more on a sandwich.

"A tablespoon or two is the serving size, there should be no reason to put more on a sandwich."

Exactly.

There are of course worse foods than peanut butter, but since it has such high calories and fat content, I would be very careful in serving it to kids on a regular basis especially taking in consideration number of overweight children/adults. As any processed food with high calorie and fat content it is something to be careful about.

Lovehadley, you are right organic kind sounds way better.

I buy organic too, the kind you have to mix.

Peanut butter is a whole food. I don't think anyone is obese from eating too much of it. More likely that comes from eating white bread, sugar jelly, etc etc.

Cheese is also processed, has high calories and fat.

I doubt there is any kid who would eat so much peanut butter they'd be overweight as a result. It's a good part of a healthy diet. Nuts are great for kids in moderation, as anything. I see no need to be careful with peanut butter unless there is an allergy.

Dr. Sears actually recommends parents feed children peanut butter on toast for breakfast as an alternative for picky eaters who don't prefer cereal. It's better nutritionally, and longer lasting, than oatmeal.

I

My kids don't like jelly because they are texture kids... Certain foods make them gag, jelly being one. But... They love pb.. Dd likes to get a spoon full and eat on it. Grosses me out but it doesn't keep her from eating dinner. If I had problems with her, I would probably not allow such a filling snack. But I do agree pb on celery or with sliced apples is a good snack.
My dad has a pb sandwich every day. Very healthy man... He eats JIFF extra creamy lol Whoever said that people who work out know to eat bananas and pb after a work out. That is exactly when he has his pb, after his daily work out.

"But I do agree pb on celery or with sliced apples is a good snack"

Yep. SS is a picky eater and finding fruits he likes is a difficult task. He will eat oranges, sometimes bananas, but that's about it.

One thing he has always enjoyed snacking on is apple slices with peanut butter. I'm not a big fan (love each separately, just not together!) but SS and DD both eat that sometimes.

I think PB gets a bad rap, as do nuts in general, just because of the high fat content. What some people don't understand is that it's a good fat. Same as the fat in avocados or salmon.

Fat isn't a *bad word* nor is the word calories, either. I just had a conversation with DD about this. She had heard somewhere that calories are bad, and I tried to explain that calories are actually ENERGY. Our bodies need a certain amount of calories a day to live and be healthy. I explained that as long as we are burning----via excercise or just moving around---more calories than we're taking in, it's fine.

My dad always says if you run five miles a day, you can eat whatever you want.

Pretty true within reason!

I am also a big believer in the more active/healthy we are, the less our bodies CRAVE junk.

But even junk *on occasion* is not a bad thing. There is a Mexican restaurant DH and the kids and I LOVE, and every other Saturday or so, we will go there and ENJOY---chips, salsa, tacos, burriots, quesadillas, oodles of sour cream and sauces and all that.

Or sometimes instead we'll go out on a Sat or Sun morning for a big breakfast---I actually prefer THAT because I a) know that I'll burn off most of that throughout the day and b) if I eat a big meal early, I find I'm not hungry for the rest of the day.

I think a big thing is teaching kids to enjoy meals as a way we socialize and spend time with loved ones. Teaching them to eat slowly and enjoy the food rather than just shoveling it in and waiting for the next one is important, too.

I think so often----I notice this allll the time with my own kids----we eat out of boredom.

"I'm hungryyyyyy" in between meals is often code for "I'm booooooored" in our house.

LH said ""I'm hungryyyyyy" in between meals is often code for "I'm booooooored" in our house."

Absolutely!

We like junk food. Chips are enjoyed about once a week in our house. A few gummy candies or some chocolate covered peanuts are enjoyed almost daily.
But we share the bag of chips and it's a small handful of candies.

Junk food is out there. Junk food is advertised in print, on the radio, on TV, and on the internet.
I think my job is to teach the kids moderation and balance about food, not to demonize or revere any one food or group of foods.

I'm also very cautious about my language about food. Junk food is not called a "treat." It isn't spoken of as special, nor is it forbidden. It's just another food, but one that isn't good for you, so you should only have a little.

I limit SS's junk intake, because it can make him pretty squirrelly, but it's allowed in moderation.
Caffeine is the exception. We don't let him have caffeine with us because it's a DISASTER for him.

ohhh Love, that's a hard one. How to tell our daughters that calories and fat are *good* for us, how to make sure they have a good relationship with food.

Nothing wrong with fat, and *they* are actually revising the findings that low-fat is better than full fat. Fat is so important. It's the fillers that are killing us and making us fat, not the fat.

It seems that people on this forum often complain about their kids eating unhealthy or snacking nonstop or overeating or being very picky eaters or just simply have issues with food. I think it must be a common problem.

Fats, proteins, carbs are all needed for proper nutrition and chips/candy is not a big deal either IF there is no see above issues. Other than that I don't think it is wise to stuff one's pantry with whatever is there and then complain about kids having food issues, or feed your kids everything that Internet says is good.

If a child stuffs himself daily with peanut butter sandwiches all afternoon and then refuses to eat anything else I don't think it is wise to keep doing it just because Internet says it is good.

I think too many people do not give much thought to what they eat and especially what they feed their children. Food is a nutrition and a social thing as well as cultural but too often food becomes a problem, an issue, a struggle..And I believe parents are to blame.

PO1, I have to say, when I posted links stating the nutritional benefits of peanut butter it wasn't "Internet" saying that PB is good. It's respected, reputable nutritionists and doctors. For a lot of kids who are picky eaters PB is a really important part of their diet.

The reason I'm continuing with this is I feel you are misinformed and I'd hate for a mother to read your post and stop feeding her child peanut butter as a result. There have been tests that show when PB is incorporated in a healthy diet it can actually lead to weight loss, and nuts help to prevent Alzheimers.

That doesn't mean allowing a child to "stuff himself daily with peanut butter sandwiches" is good. There is a middle ground here.

silvers I think you misunderstood what was the issue discussed. Child/children overeat on snacks including making themselves peanut butter sandwiches right before dinner and then not being hungry. That's the issue addressed. The issue was not health benefits or picky eaters or nutritional content of anything. I think you misread. "But dh has been letting them have whatever they want (hot dogs, PB&J sandwiches, chips, etc) and I am having problems with nobody being hungry at dinner. I have asked dh to stop doing this and go back to fruits and veggies."

I personally offered a solution. I could also post about nutritional content of various products but it would not address or solve the issue at hand. I would hate for a mother to read your posts and assume that it is OK to overeat on whatever easy to make or grab from a pantry and then not eat dinner just because peanut butter has nutritional value. So I think you misunderstood the whole point.

no PO1 you just "blamed the parents"

PB is better than nothing

if they are eating PB they don't need dinner it has enough nutrients in it.

I am extremely hypoglycemic and have been told by my endocrinologist to have peanut butter on hand with me. It's high enough in protein to pick me up. There are times when my blood sugar is sooooo low that I simply grab a spoon and eat some peanut butter. This is not necessarily what I LIKE to do, it's what I have to do. AND.... this was told to me by my Dr. And No.... I don't eat spoonfull after spoonfull. I eat enough to not pass out then I eat a good dinner. My husband is usually the cook at my house and sometimes I get dreadfully low right as he's getting it ready but not soon enough.

SS loves peanut butter sandwiches (but not with jelly), and he's very thin. SS has always had food issues; for him, it's a control thing. When he is anxious, unhappy or stressed he seems to insist upon his "safe" foods - otherwise he simply won't eat. At all. A PB sandwich on wheat bread with a glass of milk is a lot better than nothing. No, it's not as "good" as what we serve for dinner - but at least it's something reasonably healthy which he'll eat.

Pediatrician says he's perfectly healthy, weight-wise - but every year we get form letters from the school nurse about how he's outside the "average" BMI. This year irked me particularly because it said he was in the lowest 5% BMI average for kids his age. Um, so? Perhaps the nurse is unfamiliar with how percentiles work, and that since almost one-third of kids his age are now obese or overweight, the percentiles for kids who are at a non-overweight weight are skewed.

(If you remove the top-third [overweight and obese] percentiles of kids, a child who is in the "60th percentile" of average BMI's, which sounds perfectly reasonable and, well, close to "average", suddenly jumps to the 90th percentile of non-overweight kids, and thus their parents might want to keep a casual eye on their weight. Although my math may be wrong so please correct me if it is.)

No, PO1, I didn't "misread" or "misunderstand". The issue was not health benefits until you started bashing peanut butter.

When I corrected you based on generally accepted nutritional standards you continued your personal opinion about peanut butter and insinuated that parents shouldn't believe what I am saying (or "Internet" is saying) because Peanut Butter is "not that good for you"... "enormous fat content... pretty bad"... "high calories...considering obesity...something to be careful about".

You are entitled to your opinion about peanut butter but it is nutritionally incorrect. I think it is you who does not understand.

Posted by parent_of_one (My Page) on Sat, Jun 4, 11 at 11:28
"I have never bought Peanut Butter, it is not even that good for you. "

Posted by parent_of_one (My Page) on Sat, Jun 4, 11 at 14:54
"PB has enormous fat content, there are other sources of protein and vitamin out there, tablespoon is OK but when we are talking about sandwich it sounds petty bad to me."

Posted by parent_of_one (My Page) on Sat, Jun 4, 11 at 15:43
"There are of course worse foods than peanut butter, but since it has such high calories and fat content, I would be very careful in serving it to kids on a regular basis especially taking in consideration number of overweight children/adults. As any processed food with high calorie and fat content it is something to be careful about."

Hi Mattie,
My DD is also off the charts for BMI HT/WT. And by off the charts, I mean, not on the charts. She's too little :) I've had doctors and strangers, etc. accuse me of not feeding her, not giving her enough nutrients, offering hormone therapy, etc. It's really absurd to me when people say "DD, you're so little and they're standing by their freakishly large 9 year old chomping on a McMeal.

DD's perfectly normal (at least for our family, we're petite) and when compared to some of the children in her class (who are almost as tall as me and weigh just as much) I just have to shake my head.

DD enjoys peanut butter, almond butter, nuts, etc. on a semi-regular basis although she doesn't particularly like PBJ. She prefers PBH, as do I.

And a PBJ sandwich with a glass of milk is a very wholesome, nutritious lunch. Add some banana and it's practically perfect. Not what I'd want to eat every day, but nutritionally it's pretty sound. It's just as good as a turkey sandwich with cheese(lettuce doesn't have many nutrients to speak of and DD won't eat tomato), especially when you take into account the mayonnaise (fat without much reason).

Last night DD ate a cheeseburger and fries, and three quesadillas from our neighbor (full fat cheddar and queso fresco cheese and homemade corn tortillas). Not the most nutritious meal ever, but the night before she had homemade beef brisket and a big helping of green beans. It all evens out.

Mattie and Silver -- DS is the same. He is under 5% so under they don't even give us a percentage. He is kind of tall for his age but super thin. He is 3 (almost 4) he has to wear size 4 tshirts to cover the top of his pants and look normal but he is still wearing 2T shorts and 3T pants with the waistband fully pulled tight to keep them up. He can't really wear pants because they are too short or too big around the waist.
The dr said she wasn't worried about him because he is sooo active which obviously proves he is getting what he needs to fuel his energy but we did begin vitamins just to make me feel better... He eats constantly. He is just one of those blessed to be super thin and have a high metabolism. Dd is built completely different. She lingers in the 60%. She is very short (the shortest kid in the entire 4th grade). Her short frame makes her look like she carries a lot of weight in her hips which she might but the dr said once she gets a growth spurt in a couple of years (cross fingers) that all should even out.

My doctor told me that if dd starts lingering in the 75 or higher we would need to get concerned about her future risk for obesity. So I do watch her and I enforce a little more outdoor activity than I normally would.

My 11 year old son has always been in the 90% for weight. He went from 25% to 90% for height. That's a very weird thing I think. I really think he'll start to head back down on height. His sperm donor is only 5'6" so I doubt he reaches 6'. Now my 16 year old son is about 6'3" and weighs 144lbs. This kid is in the high percentages for height but only 25% for weight. And that's only because his bones weight something. He looks soooooo thin. People always make comments about that. BUT he eats like a horse... so sometimes it's just how the kid is. Nothing you can do about it.

silvers, I understand you have preferences for peanut butter and it is fine by me, by no means I am implying you should stop feeding your child anything you want (it is funny you assumed some mothers would stop feeding their kids XYZ because PO1 says so here). Especially if your child is underweight you certainly might consider feeding her extra calories. I don't think you should get upset over this. It is really not the end of the world.

PO1, I'm not upset. I'm just correcting the erroneous information you are posting. Some people really have no clue about nutritional value and I think it's a disservice to post opinion as fact.

And I don't need to feed my DD extra calories, she's proportional height to weight and I'm not worried in the least.

momof3, yeah it is interesting, my nephew is also skinny like a stick, he looks undernourished, most certainly it is not the case. He is 6'4", he looks like if you push him, he will fall over so skinny he looks. But neither my brother not my SIL are that tall at all, I mean they aren't short, but certainly not 6'4". It is funny how it works. Who knows how tall your son is going to be? If he is 6'3" at 16, he might grow taller...Wow.

DD went to bed with out dinner last night. She took a look, decided she didn't like, I asked her to taste, she tried one tiny bite and spit it on her plate.

Sorry kid.

I think it was the first time. I felt a little guilty, but part of me knows if she was really hungry she'd eat (and she'd had a banana and peanut butter, at her request, as an afternoon snack) and she told me she ate crackers and ice cream at Hebrew School (weird combo to me... but whatever).

Silver! I almost posted the same thing this morning but didn't want to keep it going but since you did, I'll share also.

DS didn't want dinner last night either. He had three bites. I left his plate out until bath time and then threw it away. I told him that was dinner if he doesnt eat, that's it. He said he didn't want dinner. So when he was going to bed, he threw a fit that he wanted his dinner. I felt a little guilty but felt that I really should stick to my decision. He cried himself to sleep. Awww I felt bad but this Morning he said I am eating my dinner tonight. Lol

OMG more commotion with peanut butter! It has 190-200 calories per two spoons, it is outrageous. It is a meal (with something added to it). If a kid ate that for snack of course she is not eating dinner! And after sweet fatty peanut butter what kid wants to eat anything else, especially somehting healthy? Nutritional value or not, it is a very fatty high calorie food, kid is filled up. I bet you if a kid ate something less filling or fatty for a snack she'd be hungry by dinner time and wouldn't be spitting anything out. This stuff just amazes me!

A child the size of mine should eat around 2000 calories per day. She eats breakfast at 7am, snack at 9 am, lunch at 12pm and gets home at 2:15. Her banana and tablespoon of PB is 200 calories. And those aren't empty calories, they are readily available to her. She ate that at 2:30 pm. Then she went to Hebrew school and was active for two hours and had a small ice cream (100 calories) and some crackers. Dinner after Hebrew school isn't until 7:30pm.

My PB isn't sweet. It's organic, made with only peanuts and salt, and has 100 calories per TBS.

If I put a bowl of pasta or something she really likes in front of her she'd eat a couple of bowls. She had said she was hungry less than an hour before dinner. SO hungry she wanted to stop at In N Out on the way home.

Nope, she wasn't full. She was being picky. She had zero fat with breakfast (oatmeal with fruit), a snack of pretzels (again, no fat), chicken and salad for lunch with cheese (a little fat). I doubt my kid is getting too much fat :)

Sounds pretty damn healthy to me, Silver!

This one time...

I let DD and SS each take a bowl with two spoonfuls of PB (same kind you are talking about---all natural, no sugar, the kind you have to mix up) and they stirred in some jelly. And ate it with a spoon! HA. A PB&J without the bread.

And nobody's fat.

I prefer mine with honey :) I like to stir it all together until it's kind of 'whipped' and then spread a very thin layer on... well... just about anything bread-ish. That sounds pretty good though. Did you eat it before or after dinner?

Today we went to the beach after work. DD brought a friend. I packed veggie straws (from Costco), graham crackers, Capri Sun, pretzels filled with peanut butter. We played hard, ate all of the snacks and the friend had some Cheese-its so they started in on those before I took them away.

When we got back DH asked if we wanted to try the new Chinese place... We had orange chicken, lo-mein with beef, bbq pork with green onions, egg flower soup, sweet and spicy tofu, rice.

DD ate good.

And, I must add, FAT is good. The thought that fat is bad for a person is outdated and incorrect.

Fat supplies essential fatty acids (EFAs). "Your body is incapable of producing the EFAs, known as linoleic acid and alpha-linolenic acid, so it must derive them from food," explains Wahida Karmally DrPH, RD, professor of nutrition at Columbia University and director of nutrition at The Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research. In addition, fat ferries vitamins A, D, E, and K -- known as the fat-soluble vitamins -- into and around the body. "Fat is also necessary for maintaining healthy skin, and it plays a central role in promoting proper eyesight and brain development in babies and children."

Dietary fat is categorized as saturated or unsaturated. Unsaturated fats -- monounsaturated and polyunsaturated -- should be the dominant type of fat in a balanced diet, because they reduce the risk of clogged arteries.

While foods tend to contain a mixture of fats, monounsaturated fat is the primary fat found in:
olive, canola, and sesame oils
avocado
nuts, such as almonds, cashews, and pistachios; peanuts and peanut butter

Polyunsaturated fat is prevalent in:
corn, cottonseed, and safflower oils
sunflower seeds and sunflower oil
flaxseed and flaxseed oil
soybeans and soybean oil
seafood

I don't claim to be a nutritionist but I am fairly careful what goes in my DD's body without being a food nazi like my mother was. She gets small portions of snack food (100-200 calories per day) and that's it. Everything else is non-processed and mostly organic.

As an aside, has anyone read Botany of Desire, Food Rules, or In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan? He is a very engaging writer about food and the symbiotic relationship between plants and the animals/humans who eat them.

I see we're beating the horse again...

Anyone try Better N Peanut Butter Chocolate? Good stuff. Have not tried the banana one but the niece tells me she loves it on celery.

I think idea of P&B sandwiches as snacks lose favor when one only takes the tradional image into thought. Yeah, big difference between the traditional with two slices of bread which can be as high as 200 calories a slice with added jelly/jams and who really measure the items being added. Thinking along those lines...high calorie/fat snack an hour before dinner and really not even filling. Wasted calories, along with worthless bad habits.

As to the original points in thread...my teen's eating times and habits changed as they entered high school and sports and activities. I usually checked calendar (and with kids) as to who would be home when and actually eating family dinners. DH and I had the traditional sit down and the kids rarely joined us except a few times a week. No wasted food, no fighting with kids and no junk pre/post dinner. I also got grocery list from the older kids as to what they needed for their weeks menus. Sure would not work for everybody but for my home with three active teens (one was preteen) it was what worked. Kids made their own meals when they were not sitting down with Dh and myself. Times change, we had to change with them. Now that it's just basically DD, DH and me we're back to the three of us doing traditional family dinners...it will change as DD11 ages and gets more involved in activities, friends, blah blah.

When someone insists on propagating misinformation I take umbrage. I never said a PBJ was a snack or that it would be acceptable for DD to eat that right before dinner. I agree with OP completely on that one.

I get it that when people think of PBJ they think sugar-laden PB, sugar-laden jelly, sugar-laden white bread. That puts it almost in the "sweet treat" arena rather than the "sustenance" ring.

But even wonder bread only has 130 calories for two slices and 4g of sugar. Compare that to Oroweat Oatnut bread at 130 calories and 4g for one slice. One needs to read labels and compare carefully. Appearances can be deceiving. I'd say the bread is probably worse than the PB on most occasions.

****One could also, using PO1's logic, say that chicken is bad for a person. After all, it's full of antibiotics, fried, served with mashed potatoes from a box which are smothered with gravy from a packet and a white roll with margarine on the side.***

Eating anything an hour before dinner, besides a very small, 100 calorie-tide-you-over snack is a bad idea. I rarely give DD anything in the hours before dinner.

So that's not the point. The point is PO1 making unsubstantiated claims against peanut butter and continuing to do so even in the face of logic and nutrition. I think I made it pretty clear on what grounds I was stating PB is not a bad food choice. Continuing to obscure that is ridiculous.

PS - I haven't tried that but I just googled it and it looks fantastic- both nutritionally and taste-wise. Thanks for the tip!

Just to make sure the horse is really down...

A yummy alternative to PB that we also enjoy is Nutella. YUM. I spread a little bit on toast or even a bagel and mmmmmm.....

If everyone is so familiar with what's good and what kids need to eat, then why so many complains here about kids having food issues?

I think if children are very picky or develop a taste for only particular foods or refuse to eat dinner due to excessive snacking, then I believe something needs to be done. Sure fats, carbs, proteins etc all needed for nutrition, yet if excessive or inappropriate consumption causes problems then something needs to be done about it. It is like insisting that a bottle of wine a day is great because wine has some value or hamburgers need to be eaten daily just because meat has nutritional value. If a child eats snacks all the time, I don't care how healthy small amounts of that snacks are, they develop distaste for a normal food.

If kids eat peanut butter once in awhile in a combination with something and have no food issue, then it is fine. But from what people describe they feed their kids peanut butter daily and then complain kids have food issues: too picky or refuse to eat or aren't hungry. Something just isn't working.

Heck if I eat fries few days in a row, trust me salad does not taste good anymore.

and it staggers on...

PO1, I agree with what you just posted. Do you understand that I am not disagreeing that snacks right before dinner, or PBJ for every meal is not a good nutritional plan?

Do you understand that you made erroneous claims as to the nutritional value of peanut butter and that is what I am discounting?

As an aside, you must be a very good dancer. Your box-step is amazing.

"PBJ for every meal is not a good nutritional plan?"

It's not??? Shoot.

;-)

Love, of course PBJ for every meal is not nutritional! That's just silly. It's very important to serve a variety of meals. That's why my menu is as follows:

Monday: PB & Jelly
Tuesday: PB & Honey
Wednesday: PB & Bacon (My mom used to make us this; actually pretty tasty!)
Thursday: PB & Bananas (Elvis' favorite)
Friday: PB alone
Saturday: PB & applesauce
Sunday: Take out pizza because I'm tired of having "cooked" all week.

See how it works? :-)

Actually, I think I should have been serving PB&J for dinner the last few nights. It's been hot as a blast furnace here, and even worse in the kitchen. I've been trying to make something (like fish, rice and salad) that there's any chance we can eat in this heat. DH and SS have just been picking at it and not wanting to eat much at all because of the heat. Well, I completely understand that - but how about I don't have to stand in the kitchen cooking it when no one (including me) really wants to eat it!? (Just for the record, SS has not been having any snacks this week - just lots of milk. Can't blame him for that....)

Chinese chicken salad is so yummy when it's hot. I have a hard time eating when it gets hot too. You could try switching up breakfast and dinner (we love breakfast for dinner at my house).

Mattie, you forgot PB and dill pickles.
It's surprisingly delicious.

Toasted bread sandwich with melting peanut butter topped with sliced american cheese, dipped in ketsup...DS grossed me out with that one often during football season in high school. I think he still makes them occassionally as the GS asked me to make one for him last weekend when I asked what he's like to do for lunch. GS settled for a small chef salad instead that DD was making for her lunch. Summers DD makes her own lunch from a selected choice of items on her 'menu' list.

I have to admit, I hate American cheese, and I never eat white bread and I rarely eat ketsup, but an American grilled cheese sandwich with mayo, butter, and white bread and dipped in ketsup is AMAZING!

American (I'm in NJ) grilled cheese made with Mayo on the outside of the bread instead of butter and dipped in Tomato Soup!!!!

Ugh I want one right now!

Silver/Jens-- that sounds DISGUSTING lol!!!
Yuk! Mayo is so gross for me it makes me want to scratch my eyeballs out to think about lol

It's so hot here too we haven't been 'eating' right. We had cereal
Two nights in a row ... Lol of course whole grain and fat free milk.

Maybe the reason my DS is so thin is because he won't eat the jelly... Just the PB? Lol so kidding. Kill the thread lol

I like my milk with fat. Ummmm... full fat milk! But I usually have soy instead at my house.

What kind of cereal Myfam? How do you avoid the fruity/coco puffs?

OMG I'd rather eat peanut butter than whatever stuff people are talking about now...LOL Everything is relative.

Jen, I put mayo on the outside and brown. Then add cheese to the browned sides and put together. Then put butter in the pan, and put the sandwich back on the pan..... yummy!!

I've never been able to make a good grilled cheese sandwich if you want to pass over your recipes but leave out the mayo...

We actually have 6 different cereals right now... We like variety.
Dh- fruity pebbles
Me- kellogs vanilla and almonds
Dd- frosted mini wheats and froot loops (they have whole grain froot loops now!!!)
DS- frosted flakes and cheerios

We buy fat free milk, 1% and whole milk. We are all on different diets

I used to buy lactaid or whatever it's called because DS seemed to be allergic to milk, but he is over that now thank goodness..

OMG. None of those except for the Cheerios would make it in the door at my house. We get stuff like Barbara's and Kashi.

The best way, IMO, to make grilled cheese:

1. bread, sliced thin cheese or shredded cheese, and butter. These are the essential ingredients. I like to jazz it up if it's just me eating it and add things like:

Rosemary Sourdough bread, goat cheese, havarti cheese, tomato, arugula, prosciutto, etc...

Anyway, the basic method is this:

Butter both slices of bread, one side only. In a non-stick skillet on medium high place the bread butter-side down until it's melted and the bread is golden toasty and buttery. Turn the bread over, immediately add the cheese and top with the other slice. Both buttered sides are now on the inside of the sandwich (and melting the cheese).

Lower the heat on your pan and get a lid that just fits over the top of the sandwich, creating a little tent. Put the lid over it for 30 seconds, flip the sandwich, repeat. Remove the lid. This helps to flash-melt the cheese.

Take some more butter, pick the sandwich up with the spatula, and place the pat of butter in the pan and put the sandwich on top of the butter. Move the sandwich around, cook until that side is golden brown. Flip, repeat, serve.

I like to add thin sliced tomato after when I'm cooking a basic sandwich. I don't like cooked tomato. But you can add your other ingredients at any time.

The basic idea, for me, is to avoid soggy bread and have thoroughly melted cheese. The mayo, when I use it, is used on the outside of the bread in the first step, flipped to the inside. So the cheese is on the cooked mayo side when the sandwich is finished and the outside is buttered.

My DH hates cooked mayo, but I think it really adds good flavor. You don't need a lot, just a very thin layer, enough to turn golden on the bread.

Serve with really good mustard or ketsup or tomato soup.

DS loves tomato soup ... Yum

Thanks for the instructions. I'm going to try it this weekend.

Cereal is about the only way my kids will get sugary stuff. They don't eat cereal for breakfast. We are an oatmeal breakfast family but I tend to keep the cereal around for snacks. Cereal is my absolute weakness. I don't eat candy/sweets, chocolate, ice cream etc, I love cereal not sure why.