The Perfect Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

It was 11:40 pm on a Wednesday night and I couldn’t sleep because I got hungry. I went downstairs and made me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Up until near the end of last year, I probably had a handful PB&Js my entire life. PB&J was not my jam.

Then on a warm, fine evening in November last year (I couldn’t remember the exact date). My buddy TJ and I were waiting for other dads to play volleyball. I got a little hungry. TJ pulled out a Smucker’s uncrustables peanut butter & grape jelly sandwich he packed for his son. I didn’t want to take it, but he insisted. The creamy peanut butter and the sweet-and-sour grape jelly on a cold, soft sandwich bread stuck with me. It gave me energy to play volleyball.

In December, 2024, I took a ski trip to Stowe and I bought all the ingredients for PB&Js. Since then, I have a PB&J every morning with coffee. When I went teaching snowboarding on the weekends, I made an extra one for lunch. For almost three months, I tried out different peanut butters, jellies, and sandwiches. I finally perfected my PB&J.

I chose Schmidt’s Old Tyme Italian bread because each slice only had 40 calories. I selected Kirkland’s organic, creamy peanut butter because it had no added sugar. I enjoyed Wegmans’ organic blueberry jammin’ fruit spread, which included only 5g added sugars.

Thanks to TJ, I am now hooked on PB&J. Luckily, he didn’t hand me cracks or cocaines.

I can’t believe I just wrote a post on PB&J at midnight. I always encouraged my kids to write about anything they want to hone their writing skills. I just practiced what I preached.