Peanut Butter and Elvis!

May 3, 2014

Peanut Butter and Elvis!

Running into “Elvis” in Maryland, in December 2012

 Yesterday, my trusty “Facebook Trending News” tool informed me that Britain’s royal princes, William and Harry, had just toured the home of The King, Graceland in Memphis, while in town for a friend’s wedding. Although, I have no impending weddings of friends, near Memphis, Graceland is on my travel “to do” list, too! Also on that list, is the Hawaiian island of Kauai (more specifically, The Cocoa Palms hit by 1992 Hurricane Iniki and slated to reopen in 2016.) where I can set foot in the land where Elvis once walked in “Blue Hawaii” (…one of my favorite Elvis films).

To read about the royals’ Graceland visit, click on the link below.
http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/prince-william-prince-harry-visit-elvis-graceland-pictures-201425

 Elvis in front of his Graceland, 1957

 For more information on Elvis’s Graceland, click on the links below.
http://www.graceland.com/connect/gracelandcam.aspx

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1224715/Birthplace-rocknroll-Discover-real-Elvis-Presley-tour-Mississippi-Memphis.html

The final/wedding scene in Elvis’s Blue Hawaii, with Joan Blackman, 1961

 To read more about “Blue Hawaii’s” Kauai, click on the links below.
http://movies.elvispresley.com.au/blue_hawaii.shtml

 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054692/locations

 http://www.examiner.com/article/50th-anniversary-of-elvis-blue-hawaii-celebrated-on-kauai

 http://www.gohawaii.com

 Elvis and Me
(Yes, I know, Priscilla wrote a book by this same name.)

 It seems that Elvis Presley has always been around. While in elementary school, Elvis was one of my first Hollywood crushes. In the 1970’s, while my high school peers were listening to the heavy metal hits of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, I preferred singing along to the lyrics of Elvis’s “Return to Sender” and “Little Sister” from some fifteen years earlier. And when it was announced that Elvis would be singing in my hometown of Ames, Iowa, just after my high school graduation, I happily shelled out $12 of my hard-earned baby-sitting money to attend with five friends. The highlight of that evening came when my friends and I let out a perfectly timed scream amid a brief stage silence, and Elvis looked directly at the five of us, doing his infamous swivel shudder. Bud-um. Oh, Yeah! And, when my husband’s sister and later his mother, moved to Cape Cod, there came yet another Elvis connection. The beautiful and historic church where they attend, “graces” the album cover of Elvis’s 1967, How Great Thou Art.

A ticket and newspaper clipping  from that historic night in 1976.
 Thanks to my good friend Jodie, for these two photos!

Elvis made the front page of my hometown newspaper,
after his performance the night before.

I recently found MY ticket, and the newspaper (above) from this historic evening.
Added August 2020.

Elvis performs at James W. Hilton Coliseum, Ames, Iowa
On May 28, 1976, to 14,750 fans
Elvis wore his “Bicentennial Jumpsuit”
http://www.elvisconcerts.com/jumpsuits/1975-16.htm

 http://www.elvisconcerts.com/concerts

 http://tcbelvisworld.blogspot.com/2009/11/elvis-concert-list-1976.html

Elvis on the cover of his 1967 album with a Cape Cod church in the background

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Great_Thou_Art_(Elvis_Presley_album)

 http://www.firstchurchsandwich.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Church_History.pdf

 The Sandwich That Elvis Made Famous

 The fried peanut butter and banana sandwich has become synonymous with the legend that is Elvis. Just type in this delicacy on Google, and over two-dozen pages of recipes pop up on how to recreate this tasty, although not low fat, Elvis comfort sandwich. Being a cookbook lover extraordinaire, I am the proud owner of two Elvis cookbooks, both of which share the recipe for this Elvis culinary treat. After all, no Elvis cookbook worth its weight in paper would be worth anything without the inclusion of this recipe. I have included the recipe for Elvis’s Peanut butter and banana sandwich below, sort of combining the best of both cookbook recipes.

My two Elvis cookbooks: Elvis in Hollywood, by Elizabeth McKeon
(Thanks for introducing this one to me, Aunt Liz!), and Are you Hungry Tonight? ,
by Brenda Arlene Butler.

Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich

Elvis, eating a sandwich in “G.I. Blues”

Ingredients

1 ripe banana

2 slices white bread

peanut butter

butter

Directions

Mash up peeled banana in bowl.

Toast bread lightly.

Spread peanut butter on one piece toast,

And other piece with mashed banana.

Fry sandwich in melted butter until each side is golden brown.

Drain on paper towel.

For another variation of Elvis’s sandwich, check out this blog https://suckitmartha.com/2012/09/24/elvis-peanut-butter-banana-sandwiches/

 How to Make Your Own Peanut Butter

Why would anyone make his own peanut butter, you ask? Well, when my children were young, and natural peanut butter choices were scarce, making my own natural peanut butter, sans the added sugars, was pretty much my only option. More recently, when my husband and I were overseas, natural peanut butter was non-existent, so it required that I dust off my peanut butter making skills once again. I have had several people ask me, recently, for my recipe, so here it is. It is easy to make, as long as you can find good quality cocktail peanuts and have a heavy-duty food processor.

 Homemade Natural Peanut Butter

 

Ingredients

 2-3 cans (approximately 12-14 ounces each), or bags, of cocktail peanuts

 Yep, that’s it!

Directions

Pour peanuts into food processor canister, reserving about 1/3-1/2 cup, if you want the crunchy variety.

You may wish to use earplugs, depending how noisy your food processor is.

Chop for 1-2 minutes, and stop to stir down. Your food processor will get hot, and burn out your motor, if you do not stop every minute, or two, and stir. Continue to process, stopping every 2 minutes, for about 8 minutes.

Add last 1/3-1/2 cup peanuts, if making chunky peanut butter,
and process about 30 seconds- one minute, until chunks are the size that you prefer.

That’s it!  Store in the refrigerator, in covered container.

When at home, I use one can of regular cocktail peanuts and one can of lightly salted. 

 Peanut, Peanut Butter…

 I just could not write this blog about peanut butter without including a quick mention of PBS’s Barney the Dinosaur’s rendition of the song “Peanut Butter”. A favorite with our youngest, in his toddler years, this song was often heard coming from the Barney video plugged into our home VCR. :o)

To hear Barney belting out this tune, click on the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usz_4pmXsT0

 Elvis Craft on my Crafting “To Do” List

Isn’t this cute? Over at the blog Makely School for Girls, Lindsay posted the instructions on how to make this. I am not sure where this would fit into my home décor, but when I figure it out, I am making this fun DIY. To see how to create this Elvis masterpiece, click on the two links below.

 http://makelyhome.com/elvis-art-template/

 http://makelyhome.com/elvis-pressley-custom-artwork/

Test your Elvis movie knowledge

 

Elvis made 31 movies during his career. While researching for this blog, I came across this fun Elvis movie quiz. Can you match each Elvis movie tag line with the movie it represents?

 Click on the link below to take the Elvis movie quiz.
http://www.elvisblog.net/2012/01/14/elvis-movie-match-up/

Click here, for another Elvis related blog post.

Thanks for reading!  :o)

Annette

I attempt to post my blog bi-monthly. 
I will talk to you again around June 1.

 

As Elvis would have said, “Thank you, thank you very much”…

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Our eldest son, tapping into his inner Elvis, as his sister feigns a star-struck pose,
in 2007