Thursday, September 6, 2012

Tangling with... Peanut Butter and Jelly!?

 Here's a really fun email and idea from Laura R. in Chicago:

Mya and her pretty... tangled... PBJ. I love the checkerboard heart on the left!
Some of the strangest things have become tangles…cards to friends, the skin on my phone, even my daughter’s pb & j…which immediately received an “I can’t eat it now…it’s too pretty”

How the PB&J was born:  ... I was planning to make a big heart by putting peanut butter into a decorating cone… big mistake by the way (too hard to clean decorator tips and I couldn’t find a tip that was small enough).  I planned to write her name in the heart in peanut butter right on top of the jelly.  But with so many things, one thing turned into another and I tangled it.

Tips:

1.  Peanut butter is best if you have an oily peanut butter… natural peanut butter separates when it sits… that’s usually best because it’s smoother.  I used Smart Balance.

2.  Jelly should be seedless… the lumpy jelly in the picture is red raspberry with seeds.  It’s harder to use. 

3.  Use a sandwich bag and cut the smallest bit off the corner of the bag as possible.  Squeeze gently, or the peanut butter will get away from you … not necessarily a bad effect, but probably not what you want. 

 4.  And practice, practice, practice… your mistakes are edible, so enlist your kids to clean up your mistakes. 

5.  Peanut butter is softer than frosting, so you have to use a lighter hand.  As you can see by the picture, my design isn’t perfected yet… it’s a completely different medium.

Who knows… maybe someday I’ll do a cake!

I guess I have a bit of an advantage with peanut butter…I’ve taken Mehndi classes so I’m used to practicing with a tube... Now that I think of it, my experience with mehndi quite possibly drew me to tangling…and each one has given me ideas for the other…

Have fun!!!
Laura R.

3 comments:

Rhonda Miller said...

What a fun idea to 'dress' up lunch. TFS.

Amy in TN said...

I love this post! So fun...and the photo is utterly fantastic.
Thank you, Laura & Mya!

Rachel R. said...

Jam might be easier than jelly. I know that when I'm spreading it, the jelly likes to stay in "chunks," while the jam (just not the kind with big CHUNKS of fruit in it) seems to be more gooshy.