15 days of sandwiches: Day 7 – 253 calorie peanut butter banana and jelly sandwich

Peanut butter and jelly is the quintessential lunch time sandwich. I can remember eating this from when I was in elementary school, and I still eat it for lunch today. It’s so easy to prepare and because of the protein in the peanut butter, it keeps me full for hours!

Only problem is, peanut butter is super high in fat and calories. One regular peanut butter and jelly sandwich is about 500 calories! Personally, I feel like that is way too many calories to eat for such a small amount of food.

I have tallied up all the calories for this version and it is almost HALF of what a regular PB&J is! Plus, you get to add banana to this one which makes it so much better!! At only 253 calories, this is a super easy and really healthy lunchtime sandwich that I know you all will love.

Ingredients

1 Tbls prepared PB2 (you can find this in some Whole Foods grocery stores or some specialty health food storess)
2 tsp. raspberry preserves (you can use reduced sugar jam and it would be even less cals!)
1/2 banana, sliced
1 slice of 10 grain bread
1 1/2 tsp flax meal

Spread PB2 and preserves down on bread. Top with banana slices and flax meal.

Skinny peanut butter and chocolate cheesecakes

Cheesecake!!

My guilty pleasure just got a little less guilty and whole lot more pleasurable! These little suckers are super low calorie (only 110 calories each!!) but taste like they could be made with all full fat ingredients!

This recipe is so versatile too! If you don’t like peanut butter, you can definitely substitute lemon juice or melted chocolate (or whatever!!) to make it to your liking.

Ingredients
11 chocolate wafer cookies, crushed
8 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese
6 oz non-fat Greek yogurt (I used plain, but vanilla will work too)
1/4 cup sugar (I used Truvia, but any sugar you like will be fine)
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 Tbl flour
3 Tbl PB2 (if you can’t find this, regular peanut butter will work – just use 2 Tbl)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners and add 1 Tablespoon of the crushed cookies to each cupcake liner. With a spoon or your fingers, pack crumbs down to form a crust.

In a bowl, mix together cream cheese and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. Add in yogurt, vanilla and egg and blend until combined. Mix in flour and PB2 just until combined. Be careful not to over mix at this point. Spoon mixture into cupcake pan. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Refrigerate for a few hours.

Enjoy!

3 Ingredient peanut butter

Most of you who have been following this blog for a while know about my obsession with peanut butter. I literally eat it every single day, in a multitude of different applications. Needless to say, I go through a lot of peanut butter.

I have recently discovered PB2 and if you aren’t familiar with it, its a powdered form of peanut butter that has like 80% less fat in it than the regular stuff. All you have to do is add a small amount of water to it and it becomes the consistency of peanut butter and you can use it exactly the same way. I also just add the powder to protein or milk shakes to get the peanut butter flavor without all the fat and calories.

A few days back, I was at the grocery store and roasted unsalted peanuts were on sale. I decided to buy some and give making my own peanut butter a go.

This process was so easy. It took me less than ten minutes to make and I used nothing but peanuts, salt, and a small amount of coconut oil. You can omit the oil all together, but I really like the flavor that the coconut oil gave the butter. Peanuts and coconut oil are extremely high in fat – but this is all “good” fat which we should try to consume a small amount of each day.

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Ingredients

2 cups roasted unsalted peanuts
1 -2 tsp salt (depending on your taste)
3 Tbl coconut oil

In a food processor, add in all ingredients and blend until smooth. This took me about five minutes, but it could take you a little longer/shorter depending on your food processor.

Chocolate peanut butter cookies with dark chocolate chips

So, I have a problem.

Normally, I would use a little restraint when eating sweets. I try to really limit the amount of refined sugar I eat, and whenever possible I eat whole grains. But, oh man. These cookies. You literally cannot have just one. This is where my problem is. It’s not only that I can’t eat just one. I don’t want to eat just one. I have little to no self control when it comes to these cookies.

They are super soft (I tend to under bake them just a little) and gooey – just the way I like my cookies. And, how can you not love peanut butter and chocolate together? It’s like a sin if you don’t love it.

Ingredients
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 cup Whole Wheat flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter
1 1/4 cup peanut butter
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 Tbl milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk until thoroughly combined. Set aside.

In another bowl, beat together butter and peanut butter with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Mix in both sugars and beat until combined. Add egg, milk, and vanilla and beat until all ingredients are combined.

Gently mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Once flour mixture is well incorporated, fold in chocolate chips.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper and with an ice cream scoop, scoop dough onto the baking sheets. Leave about two inches of space between each cookie.

Back for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting

Why?

Why did I make these?

I now have 12 cupcakes sitting on my counter that need to be consumed. 12 amazingly delicious, totally guilty, rich and decadent chocolate peanut butter cupcakes.

Well, actually now that I am writing this, there are three left. Oops.

I should feel bad. But I don’t. I feel awesome. These are awesome. You are awesome if you make them.

What a great way to start off your weekend. Had a good week at work? Treat yourself to cupcakes. Graduating soon? Cupcakes. Need a chocolate fix? These are for you.

You’re welcome.

Ingredients

Cupcakes
from Chocolate Covered Katie

1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 Tbls corn starch
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup yogurt (I used Greek)
3 Tbls canola oil
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Combine all dry ingredients. Add all of the wet ingredients to the dry. Be careful not to over mix. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.

Peanut butter frosting

1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 stick butter at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar

In a bowl, combine all ingredients and blend with a electric hand mixer until light and fluffy.

Enjoy!!!