Peanut butter, bananas, and ice fishing!

So, I'll start this post with a highlight from my week - I tried a new peanut butter and it was amazing!  I saw a coupon on Ibotta for this peanut butter and had to visit three different stores before I found it.  It reminds me a lot of a raw cookie dough and I'm loving it on apples for straight from the jar.  James also tried it today and loved it - I guess I'll have to share :)

Another highlight from the week was attending a Scheel's Kids Klub event.  The store has a different kids event scheduled for each month of the year. This months event was "Ice Fishing" and we were excited to see what they'd teach us.  They started by talking about ice safety and showed the kids an auger and other tools that an ice fisherman would use.  They let the kids sit inside the ice hut - that was a big hit. They talked about bait and poles and how they differ from what a summer fisher would use.  The kids got to see an underwater camera and then they named different fish that were on display in the store.  At the end of the event, each kid received a snack (Gatorade to resemble "ice" with a penguin catching a swedish fish).  They also got a calendar to color.  There was also a DNR representative present and she had a table full of stickers, coloring books, fish guides, etc.   She was also explaining the TAKO (take a kid out) initiative.   We're love these kind of events - especially during the winter!

A random question - do Costco's bananas ever ripen?  This week I bought bananas from Costco for the first time ever.  I was a bit hesitant because they were so green, but I had my fingers crossed that they would ripen up.  Well, its been three days and they are still way too green to eat.  I guess you need to buy them about a week before you plan to eat them!

This picture doesn't do them justice - they are still very green!

Two cooking fails this week - roasted broccoli & chocolate dipped strawberries.  So, another Costco purchase was a giant bag of broccoli.  I've seen recipes for roasting it with some olive oil and garlic and it sounded yummy to me.  I read to cook it at 400 degrees for 20min.  My first batch was scorched black after 20 min.  I should have know to check it sooner. My oven always cooks things in less time then a recipe calls for.  I tried again and it was better, but the broccoli didn't get soft enough.  If I'd left it in longer it would have burned too.  I'm not done experimenting with this!

My 2nd fail was melting chocolate.  I tried to melt milk choc chips in the microwave.  Once again, a recipe said to add a bit of butter to give it a smoother texture.  The recipe did say to use a double boiler but I wanted a shortcut and the microwave failed me.  I've never had luck melting chocolate in the microwave- why does it have a melt choc button if it doesn't work?!  I guess I'll just have to eat the strawberries the healthy way (without chocolate!).