PB2 vs Peanut Flour

Peanuts are an economical high source of protein.  A few days ago I wrote about a long time staple in our pantry, PB2 (powdered peanut butter).  This product is simply mixed with water to make traditional peanut butter for spreading but because it is made with peanut flour, it is lower in calories due to the lower fat content.  As a result, although PB2 was intended as a high protein food for camping and survival, it has become extremely popular with the weight loss crowd. 

Both PB2 and peanut flour can be difficult to find.  I have yet to find a local source.  I have found PB2 in Michigan but not the peanut flour.  In fairness, I haven't checked a lot of stores there as I can easily order online.  So, which is the better value?

Peanut flour is made from dry roasted peanuts that are partially de-fatted then ground into flour.  It is gluten free and high in protein.  Peanut flour can be used as a thickener for soups, a flavourful and aromatic ingredients for baked goods, a creative coating for meats and fish, a tasty protein boosting addition for smoothies and it can simply be mixed with water for a low calorie spread.  PB2 is made from peanut flour, sugar and salt. 

Peanut flour is slightly higher in calories at 110 cal/4 tbsp verses PB2 that is 90 cal/4 tbsp and it is just slightly higher in fat (35 g vs 26 g).  However, peanut flour is considerably lower in sodium with 0 mg sodium verses the 118 mg sodium in PB2.  It is slightly lower in carbohydrates than PB2 (8 g verses 10 g) and higher in protein at 16 g verses 10 g protein in PB2.  Peanut flour works out to 1¢/g (31¢/oz) while PB2 is double that (2¢/gr [61¢/oz]).  I found the peanut flour in a 907 g (32 oz) package which is a bit more convenient size for baking than the PB2 that comes in a 184 g (6.5 oz) container.  In my opinion, peanut flour is the better choice in terms of value for your food dollar.  It is more versatile without the added sugar and sodium that PB2 has. 

Alternative Flours

In my early teenage years eons ago, I was enthralled with a local hippie couple who occasionally drove their 'flower power bug' into town.  That was a time in our lives where my Mom had a small black and white television complete with rabbit ears that gave us three channels to enjoy.  By enjoy I really mean that the television came on Sunday nights to watch Lawrence Welk, sometimes on the weekend to watch Bill Kennedy at the Movies and few times during the holidays.  That's it!  There were commercials back then and I can recall Euell Gibbons promoting grape nuts in what my Mom referred to as 'hippy food'.  It really didn't matter because unless we went to the city, we wouldn't be able to get any kind of 'hippy food' in our tiny village!  In fairness Euell Gibbons was a proponent of natural diets in the 1960's.  Many of his ideals have simply been refined and tweaked but the focus for many of today's diet trends is on healthy, natural foods.  Fast forward to today's diet trends and honestly, I have no problem finding any food products they endorse.

Three current culinary trends are influencing the products offered by the food industry.  They are Paleo and Primal diets and gluten-free eating.  The Paleo and Primal diets have received a lot of attention in the culinary world.  The Paleo diet (aka cavemaan diet) is based on eating wholesome, existing foods that can only be foraged.  This included grass fed meats, poultry, fish, greens, seeds, regional fruits and vegetables, fungi, nuts, oils made from fresh produce and flours made from fresh produce (eg. nuts, fruits).  Foods not to be consumed on the Paleo diet are: cereal grains, legumes, dairy products, refined sugar, potatoes, table salt and refined vegetable oils.  The Primal diet is similar to Paleo but makes no restriction on saturated fats so butter, lard, full fat milk, cream, sour cream, cheese and chocolate are allowed. Gluten is a protein found in cereal grains.  It is responsible for the elasticity in doughs made with wheat, barley and rye.  True gluten is restricted to certain members of the grass family however those avoiding gluten will also not consume corn and rice which has a gluten-like protein.  About 1 in 133 in developed nations have a gluten intolerance or sensitivity (not allergy) however, many have restricted gluten from their diets on the basis of antidotal reports of the alleviation of certain gastrointestinal problems as a result of eliminating gluten.   As a result, the food industry has responded with a wide range of gluten free products and other products to meet the needs of Paleo and Primal diets.

You do not have to be on a Paleo or Primal diet, or eat gluten free or even be one of the multitude of various forms of vegetarianism to enjoy using these products.  Unlike some foods, products directed especially to the Paleo and Primal diets tend to be organic, preservative and additive free.  It is still possible to enjoy a wide range of baked goods simply by substituting white or whole wheat flour which is not permitted on either diet with another flour.

I bought a few alternative flours.  With the exception of the black bean flour, all are permitted on a Paleo or Primal diet and are gluten free.  These flours are a great way to boost the protein content in your home baked goods.  The protein content of unbleached white flour is 10 g/100g and whole wheat is 14 g/100g but they are not allowed if following a Paleo or Primal diet and they are not gluten free.  Almond flour is available as unblanched and blanched with a protein content of 21 g/100 g.  It is used for cookies, cakes and pancakes.  Chickpea flour has a protein content of 22 g/100g, black bean flour 22 g/100 g, coconut flour 20 g/100 g, quinoa flour 14 g/100 g and peanut flour 53 g/100 g.  Coconut flour is a dense flour so is substituted with 1/4 c for every 3/4c of grain flour and a little extra liquid is needed.  Quinoa flour is extremely popular for those on a Paleo diet due to its versatility.   I will discuss each of these in greater detail in future posts along with a few ways to use them.   

These flours as well as arrowroot flour and tapioca starch can be found at most health food stores, some larger grocery stores and online from sources like Vitacost.  Bob's Red Mill is a very popular brand of specialty foods like these alternative flours.  Be warned, if buying this way, the flours are expensive at $13 or more for 623 g (1 lb 6 oz).  Bulk Barn is selling the alternative flours at a more reasonable prices.  Our smaller Mom & Pop bulk food store and local health food store also has reasonable prices for some of these flours.  Most of the alternative flours can be made at home from the whole foods as well.

Kitchen Updating Continues

If you have followed this blog for any length of time, you are likely wondering what the heck has been up.  Posting has been considerably less than it usually is.  There is a reason for that...kitchen renovations!  We bought this house in August of 2011, moving in just before heading down to our vacation home in Florida for the fall.  Upon our return, just after the holidays I started on the kitchen.  January of 2012 saw a fresh coat of paint that lead to a massive snowball effect.  Our friend who does custom woodworking made a couple of suggestions and the kitchen has been in an uproar since.  The snowball effect did not stop at the kitchen though as he had done custom work for the upper bathroom, custom wall unit for the games room and other finish work.  He will be doing the crown molding and trim on the main level as well.

Our kitchen is small so we are adding custom features to increase the functionality while giving it the custom look.  The marble tile floor and ceramic tile counter and backsplash were installed by the previous owner.  Aside of those two features and the layout, the kitchen bears little resemblance to what it was when we bought the house.

We arrived home from our vacation home just in time to celebrate Christmas with our kids.  We had a few days to settle in then on January 3 our friend was out to take my cabinet doors for refinishing.  When he installed the custom bulkhead, the stains did not match.  We liked the darker cooler tone so opted to have the cabinets refinished to get rid of the yellow tones.  Once again the kitchen was being pulled apart.

Pictured is the kitchen as it was the morning he came out to take the upper cabinet doors for refinishing.  Aside of the cabinets, we still have the microwave oven, sink and faucet to replace.  The under cabinet lighting on the custom built shelf was added in 2012.  We have decided to update that to LED lighting along with LED lights in the ceiling as well as adding a solar tube.

Little did I know when he took the doors on January 3 that the work would be dragged out until March!  Honestly, by that time my frustration was definitely showing.  I have refinished the cabinets in three of the homes we have owned so know the work that goes into it.  Yet, those kitchen cabinets were completely refinished in under two weeks.  I was quite surprised that he was taking so long.  In hindsight, I should have done them myself but my husband felt this was the easier route to go.  And so the kitchen sat, and sat!

We hosted our monthly games night in January and February with the kitchen looking like this.  I had to keep the patio panels closed in the morning to prevent the strong sunlight damaging the contents of the spice cabinet.  We tried to minimize any cooking that would create a lot of steam or grease being released into the air.  The worst part though was as things dragged on, my mood sunk deeper and deeper. 

Finally, in March he came out to take the base cabinet doors for refinishing.  He sanded down the cabinet trim the same day.  Talk about a mess!  Even with taping a plastic sheet over the kitchen entrance and opening the patio door, there was still a fine layer of dust on many surfaces.   The stain went on the cabinet trim the same day.  A couple of days later, our friend installed the custom built drawers in the short end of the base cabinets.  We lost a bit of space but gained in usable space.  The drawers are on soft close runners.  My husband took one look at the drawers and said we needed to do the same with the other smaller cabinet.

That night, I heard a dripping noise in the utility room.  The refrigerator was leaking!  My husband shut off the water supply then did some troubleshooting.  It was the dual valve intake so we ordered the part and he fixed it the following Monday.  This was the second water leak we had dealt with that week!  In the meantime, that Saturday night we hosted our monthly games night with fifteen in attendance and a kitchen with minimal functionality.

I told our friend that I would put the urethane on the cabinet trim.  I wanted three coats for good protection which would be faster if I did it than wait for him to come out three times.  Finally, he was able to get the refinished cabinet doors installed.  The kitchen was starting to come back together, once again.  He measured up the cabinet next to the sink for drawers before he left.  I set about putting things back into the cabinets knowing full well that I would have to pull everything out of the one cabinet for the new drawers.  He wasn't planning on coming out for a couple of weeks to install the drawers so it was better to have the items in the cabinet rather than in boxes on the floor.

Last week, our friend came out to install the new kick plate and drawers in the smaller base cabinet.  Surprisingly, this installation was quite disruptive.  We emptied the cabinet and cleared the counter the night before.  He had to build a spacer the width of the divider in the cabinet.  This holds the runners on one side of the drawers.  He also had to reinforce the inside of the cabinet sides to hold the runners on the other side of the drawers.  This actually took longer than I expected.  Once the divider and sides were installed, it was time for him to install the drawers.  He went for lunch while I mused about how I would organize the new drawers.

Finally the new drawers were installed and the cleanup finished.  We had discussed turning the original drawer to the left above the new drawers into a knife drawer with a custom built knife rack.  Unfortunately, there was only room for eight or nine of my chefs knives which wouldn't really free up that much space on the counter or other drawer so we decided against it.   We aren't sure what we are doing next although I did buy LED strip lighting to test out.  At least the cabinets are one step closer to being finished.  The planned lighting should only take a day for installation but it will once again disrupt the kitchen.  Still, the disruptions should be getting shorter.  I'm at least back to having a functional kitchen for the time being.

We really love our new kitchen drawers!  We knew we would lose the space behind the dividers but the drawers really add a lot of extra storage by making what was once unusable space usable.  We have a total of ten drawers.  The four drawers in the base cabinet on the short arm of the counter are home to pots, pans and miscellaneous kitchen equipment.  They hold everything that was in the original base cabinet as well as a few items from the upper cabinet, freeing up a bit of space there.  The six smaller drawers are home to various food items all neatly organized.  The upper right drawer has coffee supplies which is rather nice and I'm using the middle left drawer as a snack drawer.  Gone are the days of being able to open the cabinet and toss something in quickly.  Instead, everything is neat and tidy. 

While our cabinet drawers were custom made to fit our cabinets, there are stock drawers available.  If you are looking for ways to make your small kitchen more functional, definitely consider putting drawers in your cabinets.  Honestly, it is one of those little additions that makes a huge difference!

Black Bean Beer Bread

As a foodie, I love checking out the many little gift shops we come across in our travels.  Many of them offer locally baked goodies and locally produced foods.  Quite often I will buy something to bring home.  I am not a huge fan of boxed mixes simply because they tend to be overpriced and laden with food additives.   I have two rules when buying boxed mixes or any food at these types of gift shops.  First, it must be locally made.  This is a way of discovering and enjoying foods from that particular region.  Second, it has to be natural or very close to it.  That means no food additives or ingredients like HFCS.  I also consider the trip itself because given our plans it is not always possible to buy something fresh at the start of our trip and get it home safely four or five days later. 

I bought a box of Creekside Grains (Traverse City, Michigan) Black Bean Beer Bread when we were visiting the area.  Creekside Grains uses all natural ingredients without the addition of artificial food additives with the exception of a couple of ingredients (chocolate chips, mint chips, root beer and black cherry walnut extracts) used in a very small number of their products.  Essentially, they are using the very same flours and other ingredients that I would be using at home cooking from scratch.  The combination of black bean and beer sounded interesting.  I decided to make the bread for our special dinner last Wednesday. 

The instructions were simple.  Add 12 oz of your favourite beer, mix then place the dough in a mound in the centre of a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake.  My first instincts that the resulting bread would be more like a brick but it wasn't.  The ingredients were unbleached unbromated wheat and malted barley flour, black bean flour, sugar, multi spice blend, baking powder, corn starch and salt putting this bread in the quick bread category.  I used de-alcoholized beer rather than regular beer.  The rustic loaf of bread was quite tasty.  The rise was good with small pores and a crumbly texture. I served the bread with lightly seasoned extra virgin olive oil for dipping.

Surprisingly there was no nutritional value label for this bread on the box, however as explained on their website this is due to an FDA technicality not because they don't want to put it on.  I would make an educated guess that it came in at about 100 calories per 50 g serving, a half slice about a half inch thick cut across the loaf.  There was nothing in the list of ingredients that would drive the calories higher than that.  Regular white bread is about 190 calories per 75 g serving (2 slices).  This bread is quite dense so has a higher satiety level.  I liked this bread so I'm working on a homemade clone version!