I know that I can't be the only person out there who loves a good peanut butter & jelly sandwich! However, if you're trying to watch the calories you are taking in, it can be hard to eat a reasonable PB & J without breaking the calorie budget! However, I have found a perfect lower calorie version of this favorite sandwich and I am going to share what I use with you all.
First off, I use a lower calorie Peanut Butter alternative. I know some people use PB2, however, I bought some of that and it just did not taste right to me personally. Instead, I use a product called Better' N Peanut Butter Spread. It has 100 calories per two tablespoons servings. This works for me because I typically only use one tablespoon on sandwiches (I weigh out the exact grams on my kitchen scale to be absolutely sure).
Then I pick out a lighter bread option, typically one that has 45-50 calories per slice. I have just bought some Franz light 100% whole wheat bread which was really good. I will probably stick to this one from now one the bread was soft how I like it. (:
And of course I used my low sugar homemade strawberry jam that I had just made that is 20 calories a tablespoon. So all in all this sandwich had right around 170 calories. 100 calories for two slices of bread. 50 calories for 1 tablespoon of Better'N Peanut Butter Spread, and 20 calories for 1 tablespoon of low sugar jam.
To make it a healthy lunch, I usually add something to it. Maybe fresh fruit, small salad, yogurt, etc. On this particular day I added one serving of Pop Chips. (:
Cheers!
