National Peanut Butter & Jelly Day

It's national Peanut Butter & Jelly Day! Is there anything more American than a peanut butter & jelly sandwich? I don't think so. In fact, I'm pretty sure this American staple is considered weird in some other parts of the world. On Wikipedia, I read the average American will have eaten 2,500 peanut butter & jelly sandwiches before graduating high school! That's over 130 sandwiches per year for 18 years. Yup, we like them that much.

My kids are no different! They love their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and they have a PBJ for lunch about 3 times a week. Here's Jo pictured with her diced sandwich after nap time.

                                                                              

Oliver is a big fan of PBJ Day.

Want to make your own peanut butter? Oliver can show you how!
http://becky-shattuck.blogspot.com/2012/11/olivers-cooking-show-peanut-butter.html

Since I'm posting pictures from this afternoon anyway, I am thrilled to show off Joanna's very first pigtails.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Sushi

Yesterday, I promised I'd share a kid-friendly sushi recipe with you today. I didn't forget!

Check out what I stumbled upon on Allrecipes.com!

It's so easy!  OK, so mine didn't turn out as nice-looking as Smucker's did, but Oliver didn't seem to mind.

First, use a rolling pin and flatten out a piece of bread.  If you don't do a good job here, the bread won't roll very well and will crack.

Then, spread some peanut butter onto the flattened slice of bread.  Spread some jelly or jam on top of the peanut butter. Your rolls will look cuter if you use a dark jelly. I made these last time with apricot jam, and they weren't as cute because there was no contrast. Cut off the crusts, and then roll up your bread (starting with a long side). Your roll should look something like this:

Slice your roll into six pieces and set them on a plate.  Look how cute!

We have some toddler monkey chopsticks that my in-laws gave us for Oliver. He loves them. He used them for two pieces of sushi before setting them aside and just using his hands.

The cutest part? When he was all done, he asked me for "more peanut butter jelly sushi."