Peanut Butter Jelly Time! – Foodie Friday

This week I had a special assignment for Chef Jill McCoy. I love throwing curve balls at people and seeing how they handle the left handed mind. I asked the Chef to create a dish that would take me to a different place.

Immediately the ideas started flowing, Chef Jill suggested things like Texas Barbeque, New England Clam Chowder, Alaskan King Crab, they were all great ideas but where I wanted to travel is not on a map. Where I wanted to go was back in time.

One thing Chef Jill and I agree on, food is a pipeline to our senses. It touches how we feel, how we taste, what we smell and to be truthful where we are. I also believe it can transport the mere mortal through space and time and obviously the Chef believes that too.

Is there a taste that is more synonymous with childhood than peanut butter and jelly? Chef Jill's grown up application of the best flavored memories I have ever had is absolutely a means of time travel. When the first taste of this flavor packed treat hits your tongue you are no longer a manager, a teacher, a parent, or even a grown up. You are eight years old and dreams are within reach and forever happens every day.

The thing I truly love about these bars, besides the flavor, is the ease in making them. This is the kind of treat even the most timid cook in the kitchen could prepare with ease. It's also a great dish for kitchen time and teaching with your own little ones.

Food is so much more than nourishment for our bodies. It is spiritual fuel for what fires up our passion. Maybe a little taste of your childhood this weekend would make the pressures of your grown up life take a backseat for a few minutes. Maybe this recipe shared with friends and family will result in conversations of a time long ago when the only thing that could put a damper on your day was when your mom turned on the porch light.

I invite you to take a trip back in time to a place that we both have been before. A place we long to see again. A place where the Summer was endless and the world was a bicycle ride away with your very best friend beside you.  Thank you Chef, with this simple recipe I have stepped away from being who I am long enough to remember who I wanted to be.