Late-Blooming Peanut Butter Sandwich Love

In the last year, I've come to enjoy nut butter more than I ever did as a kid. I thought peanut butter & banana sandwiches were weird then. In college, I enjoyed the Nutella & banana combination, but I was always just as pleased without the banana.

Now, I can go through a jar of peanut butter in two weeks.

I think there's some correlation with the amount of time I've been spending outdoors, rock climbing and car camping. And because one of my friends has been arriving at our web series film shoots with a snack of peanut butter and celery. Peanut butter is easy. It feels healthy. In addition to its sweet and snacky uses, it can also be used for savory dishes like gado-gado.

My favorite variation on the PB&J lately is this:

Plump blueberries up close.

Eastern Sierra in the background.

Something I've always found irksome about the PB&J is how the jelly or jam or banana tends to make the sandwich slide apart. During my last camping trip, I inadvertently resolved this issue for myself: I didn't have any jam, but I wanted a fruity element, so I threw on some of the dried blueberries I'd brought for my oatmeal. The slivered almonds were unnecessary ('twas an experiment). I would have used a slightly thicker layer of peanut butter if this hadn't been the very last that I could scrape out of the jar.

Advantages of using dried blueberries instead of jam or jelly in a peanut butter sandwich:

1. The chewiness of the dried fruit gave me more to sink my teeth into, which made the 'wich more satisfying.
2. Dried fruit is lighter than a jar of jam and can also be used in oatmeal or as a snack in itself. Scooping up a handful of jam when you need a sugar boost is not very convenient.
3. No need to worry about getting peanut butter in your jam or vice-versa.
4. The sandwich does not slip apart. 
5. Nothing got drippy. 

I imagine this would be just as good with most other dried berries, but I'll probably stick to these dried wild blueberries from Trader Joe's. A dash of cinnamon is always a good idea.