OmniVeggie

Peanut butter sandwiches hardly seem blogworthy. I am pretty sure I made my first one all by myself right after I swore off bologna at age 4. I used to get teased in elementary, middle, and high school because I always had a vegetable, a fruit, and some variation on peanut butter (usually in a pita, on wheat bread, or with strawberry jam) instead of a conglomerated meat sandwich and an industrial snack cake. In those days, it was crunchy Jif and Smucker's strawberry jam. For a brief interlude I convinced myself that reduced fat Jif just tasted so much better. But, that is just crazy talk.

So, when Matthias decided on Monday that taking 4 hours to roast a baby sheep would be a good idea, I thought something simple, or better yet, elemental would be in order for lunch. I am a plain girl. My mom calls me her 'Plain Jane' (I get it honestly. This is her old nickname). I own 4 gray T-shirts, leaving 3 days a week to wear something else. I like food that tastes wholesome and simple. I don't need my tastebuds to be dazzled, or confused, or overwhelmed. I want my life to be honest, genuine, fair, and just. Begin political tirade:



That said....I highly recommend that you use all natural, unsalted peanut butter to make your sandwich. Get this, it actually tastes like peanuts (aherm, Matthias...not corn syrup, hydrogenated oil, salt, and peanuts). If you choose to augment your sandwich with fruit or some other sweetness, please make sure your jam does not have high fructorse corn syrup, or any other unidentifiable ingredients. We like St. Dalfour jam (we know, it's not local, and we're sorry, Earth. We have plans to jam our own when we have more than one refrigerator/freezer/counter shelf between the two of us) or raw honey. Matthias loves his sandwich with bananas. Now, we should talk about bananas.

To accompany our sandwiches, we decided to make smoothies. Matthias is of the opinion that smoothies cannot be made without bananas. I am of the opinion that bananas are one of those things that people can and absolutely should do without unless they are organic and fairly traded. Without further soapboxing, I give you:




Bananas-Are-Not-Negotiable smoothie
Serves 2

1 small apple, diced
1 orange, peeled and sectioned
¾ medium banana
½ cup unsweetened soymilk
½ cup Greek yogurt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp agave nectar
3 ice cubes

Blend until combined.

Author's note: Use fruit that looks good to you. Please do not buy blueberries from Chile in March just because they are full of antioxidants. Please do not buy Driscoll’s strawberries, I don’t care how big and juicy they look. Their workers have not been fairly compensated, and their farming practices are partially culpable for the thick central California air (try breathing it from May-October with asthma). And for pity’s sake, try unrelentingly to petition for and purchase fairly traded bananas, because banana farmers are truly some of the worst worker’s rights offenders and some of the most vibrant vestiges of Cold War politics. And trust me, you don’t want to eat your smoothie with a guilty conscience on the side. You want to eat it with a peanut butter sandwich.

End tirade.

Further reading: Co-op America, New York, I'm looking at you, Fair Trade Federation, Banana Wars