After a couple of days to try out these 2 Peanut butter substitutes I can say I'm a convert. I LOVE peanut butter, for me it's a trigger food. If I eat it, I tend to want to eat half the jar at once and it can lead to wanting to eat other things I know I shouldn't. I've worked damn hard to shed 170lb this past year and half and indulging in PB is something I very rarely do anymore. I'd all but given it up. So actually finding something like this, which will allow me to enjoy the occasional PB&J sandwich without the feelings of guilt and remorse is a godsend!
The reg. version of PB2 does have a roasted peanut taste to it, so it's not quite like regular PB, you don't get the salty sweeter taste of Jiff or Skippy. JUST the roasted peanut taste. But it's quickly adapted to. And the Chocolate version (which I was more skeptical of) was even better! You can eat either one right after you mix them with water, but I think they're best when added to something else.
First of all I like to mix a base of reg PB2 with the chocolate version since I prefer a bit more of the nutty flavor to the chocolate. When just eating the chocolate my first thought was this would be great on whole wheat with a smear of marshmallow creme. And I don't even like marshmallow creme. But I will probably try it out one day to see if I'm right.
Either spread works great on fruit. I've tried apples and bananas so far. I also tried a PB&J with reduced calorie jelly and it worked very well. Good enough to replace the high calorie reg. PB&J sandwiches.
It might sound strange but one combo I REALLY like is to scoop a bit of the powdered PB onto a fat free potato chip (I use Pringles fat free sour cream) and no there wasn't a taste clash or anything. I'm sure you could use the reg Pringles fat free, I just happen to think the sour cream ones taste better. Anyway turn the chip upside down and scoop a bit of powder into the "bowl" of the underside and eat. The salt of the chip is the first thing that hits your tongue and then the PB powered crumbs. And the combo is just....yumm!!!! Like that, it really does taste like any PB you could buy. I tried it with the chocolate version too, and there it's really like eating a peanut butter cup. And surprisingly the salty chip and powered PB isn't dry in the mouth. Quite the opposite actually. Now on the other hand, I tried adding the powdered PB2 as a topping to my skinny cow ice cream as I do on occasion like some melted PB on my ice cream, but there it DID dry out my mouth completely. Very strange. So I decided to try and mix the PB2 with water then heat it up in the microwave to see if it would melt like reg PB. It didn't. It got hot, but ended up dry like the cookie dough for peanut butter cookies where you can basically ball it up in your hands. I guess without all the fat the PB2 can't melt like standard peanut butter. So as for ice cream topping, at least so far, it hasn't worked.
I am looking forward to seeing what else these 2 powdered products would work with and am already planning on ordering the larger sizes as I'd like to try some baking with them too.
All in all, I highly recommend them!
Edit; Okay so it DOES work as a melted peanut butter substitute on ice cream. The key is to start with a base of water and gradually add powder to it until you get a very creamy consistency that will run off a spoon, just like melted pb *then* heat it up in the microwave. My first attempt with this method I used far too much water so be careful there. I kept adding bits of powder including the chocolate version for fear I'd use all my pb2 up. But it was so much water I couldn't thicken it up enough and decided to start over. However, rather than just throw it all out, I decided to try it out as a drink. And you know, heated up, it was like a super rich cup of cocoa....delish! Even with no added sweetener it was sweet enough. And as a plus, since it's just water you can save those calories there. Not to mention, if you're lactose intolerant like me, regular hot chocolate is out anyway.
Now even though this stuff is 85% less than regular peanut butter it does have some calories and fat, so I wouldn't over do it. But as an occasional indulgence, I'm so happy I found this!
PS: I just want to add since purchasing PB2 from Amazon I've found a site called "netrition.com" and I highly recommend buying food stuffs from them. Amazon is great for pretty much everything else, but they are way over priced on their food.
I bought the large 16oz pack of PB2 from netrition for only 7.99 per bag. the same price Amazon charges for the small 6.5oz size! They don't have free shipping like Amazon, but they only charge $4.95 flat shipping fee no matter how much you buy. So it's not bad. Maybe because I bought so much, or it was my first time ordering but they also sent me a free low cal. quick cook cake mix. They were also way WAY cheaper on PB2 peanut butter crackers and everything else I ordered from them.
So like I said, Amazon is great for most things, but when it comes to food, Netrition is a whole lot better!