The other day I read a meme that made me truly LOL (laugh out loud) as opposed to SALTS (smiled a little, then stopped). This meme said that if you ever wonder just how out of touch with reality you are, then try measuring out an actual serving size of peanut butter. I laughed because my food tracking/lifestyle app says that a serving size of peanut butter is two tablespoons, and I have purposely never stopped to ask what kind of tablespoon. In the olden days, our recipes would often differentiate between a “level” tablespoon and a “heaping” tablespoon. But what about a maxed-out, towering, supported-by-a-second-spoon tablespoon? ‘Cause that’s what I have always served myself with my sliced apples.
Yes, this meme forced me to do a little soul-searching. I decided to check my app to see if I could get a calorie count if I measure my peanut butter by the ounce. And yes, I can! I got out my digital food scale, added a paper plate, noted that said plate weighed .4 ounces, and then judiciously added peanut butter until the scale read 1.4. I thought of posting the picture of the empty white plate with the one-ounce blob of peanut butter, but decided against it, since it just didn’t look nice at all.
The good news is that one ounce of peanut butter is a good bit more than a level tablespoon. This is good news because a level tablespoon of peanut butter would, to quote Ulysses Everett McGill in one of my favorite movies of all time, “merely rouse my appetite without beddin’ ‘er back down again.” I have decided that eating peanut butter (smooth only; thanks-but-no-thanks to the peanut chunks getting caught in my teeth) is a bit like having a friendship with a dangerous animal. Peanut butter is delicious, full of protein and healthy fat, and goes well with lots of other foods. However, it is also very high in calories, stacks easily to impressive heights, and rarely if ever comes in serving-sized containers. So: peanut butter can add boundless health and enrichment to your life, but unless you measure carefully and keep your wits about you, it might just mess you up big time.
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For your further edification (just in case you missed it):
O Brother, Where Art Thou? – Wikipedia
The trick is to store your peanut butter on a high shelf. Calories are afraid of heights, so they will jump out, leaving only the delicious, delicious towering tablespoon goodness.
Brilliant! I will have to try that. 🙂
Haha, the same with sneaky salad dressings and even BBQ sauce!
So true! Thanks for reading, cuz.