It's been said that you are what you eat -- so, it's a wonder that, by now, I'm not seeing a peanut butter and pickle sandwich every time I look in the mirror, because I've been eating plenty of those lately.

I love coming up with new recipes -- in this case, coming up with something that I've been in love with since March 27, 1990, but with slight variations on the original.

Here's the story of how I first met and fell in love with the original.

For so long as I could remember, there had been a place in my hometown of Anderson, Indiana that was called Bert T. Owens. When I was very young, I thought that the name of the place was Birdie Owens.

Sometime soon, I'm going to give you more of a history of this place but, for now, I'll stick to the bare bones, as I have another kind of deadline to meet besides a publishing deadline (and I have about a zillion of those as well).

As you'll begin to find out, I just so happen to be busy in several areas of my life at the moment, and you're going to watch me in action getting things untangled -- but more about that process in my next piece.

Anyway, I wrote my first article/item/piece/entry/post/whatever-you-want-to-call-it here a couple of days ago, and this was it:

https://steemit.com/introduction/@ainsleyjo1952/ainsleyjo1952-here-getting-her-toes-wet-written-on-july-13-14-2017

This was how I introduced myself, and here it is just one piece later, and you're about to find out a bit about my tastes in food -- which, basically, can be summed up as:

!!!-Food-Is-Good-And-Before-It-Heads-For-My-Tummy-It's Yummy-In-My-Mouth-That-Mindset-Proves-That-I'm-A-Certifiable-Foodie-!!!

Anyway, it shouldn't be surprising that my tastes in food might seem a bit weird at times -- after all, I've even been known to, occasionally, eat a plate...

Here's something interesting:

I was over at Facebook earlier and was looking at that place where you can find out what you were up to on the current day during various years, and I couldn't believe my eyes.

Even though Madewell's (a.k.a. Made-Wells or Made-Well Ice Cream and Grill) was no longer in business, Dick (deceased) & Jean Madewell's Page about their Mom & Pop eatery was still a reality.

I had written about them several years ago on July 16 -- and I had started this piece yesterday by referring to Bert T. Owens that would, eventually, move out of their building on Columbus Avenue, and the Madewells would move in.

As I said before, there's a rich history that I'm going to be writing at a soon-to-arrive later time, but I'll zero in on March 27, 1990 for now.

I'd had a more-than-minor mishap with my trick-knee on July 7, 1989, so I was gradually starting to do a little more each day. I was still using a walker, and there were still things that I couldn't do, but, at least, I was starting to drive again and enjoyed getting out-and-about in The Big Tomato (what I'd named my bright-red Pontiac Sunbird).

Anyway, I had been noticing that this new restaurant had put up a sign announcing that they had peanut burgers -- and I assumed that this was probably a vegetarian burger that had been created from peanuts.

Well, the name sounded delicious to me, so I made a mental note to get in there and try one out.

March 27, 1990 turned out to be the day to do just that, so I went in there and found a middle-aged couple in there with the woman behind the counter and the man back at the grill. A radio was set to a country music station.

I asked what a peanut burger was and was told that it was a quality grade of meat formed into a burger that was grilled -- but, instead of a slice of cheese being melted on top of it in the final stages of cooking, a generous dollup of smooth peanut butter was placed on top of it to melt.

At the same time, the two halves of a hamburger bun were grilling interior-down. Then, the burger was lifted onto the bottom half of the bun; a few pickles were placed on top of the melted peanut butter, and the top of the bun was placed over that.

Voila!!! My very first -- but definitely NOT my last -- peanut burger!!!

!!! Yum-YUM !!!

Anyway, the story of how I have a very nice, young lady who helps me to get some of my groceries is another story in and of itself. I believe that, before long, she's going to be joining the Steemit family, and I'll be sure to let you know when this happens.

She's the same one who got my neighbor, Jenny, & me to and from Larry's 70th birthday celebration this past February, and both Jenny & I give her an A+ for that.

Anyway, her name is Misty, and her nickname is Pj, and we've both helped each other out in various ways.

Hopefully, I'm not finishing with this story too late for her to still be able to pick up some groceries for me. A lot of things have to be taken into consideration such as available time and available cash, so, I'll generally start my grocery list with some most-needed things and, then, take it from there -- which gets back to the peanut-butter-and-pickle sandwiches.

Some of the must-haves for most shopping sprees include creamy peanut butter, whole wheat bread, pickles, and bananas.

Well, I decided that I was going to make a peanut butter and pickle sandwich and see if it were as good as I imagined it would be -- and it was even better!!!

Since I loved peanut burgers, I was sure that I would love this, too.

After all, it was peanut butter and pickles -- which was everything that made up the interior part of your basic peanut burger minus the burger. The bread wasn't a grilled hamburger bun. Instead, it was two slices of unheated whole wheat bread.

Not surprisingly, my reaction to my very first one was the same reaction that I had with my very first peanut burger with the very first definitely NOT being the very last.

Very simple recipe:

Take two slices of whole wheat bread, and generously spread the inside of each slice with peanut butter. Place a layer of dill pickle slices on top of the peanut butter on top of one of the slices of bread. Place the other slice of bread -- peanut-butter-side-down -- on top of that, and you're good to go!

Anyway, expect me to be writing another piece with some of my favorite ways to enjoy peanut butter in the very-near future.

But it's now time for me to write my list out for Pj -- and, hopefully, she'll still feel like shopping tonight. She recently changed jobs from an up-with-the-rooster job to an evening and night-owl job, so she's still getting used to new hours for going to bed and waking up.

Most of her work is done on weekends, and she has the week off to look for a part-time job that won't clash with this current one.

So -- without further ado -- here's what I'm hoping to get at least some of at the store. (Note: You will recognize some of these items being used in recipes I'll be sharing with you.

MUST HAVES:

2 jars of smooth peanut butter

2-3 loaves of whole wheat bread

2-3 jars of dill pickle slices

2 bunches of bananas

one regular size box of butter/margarine sticks

HOPE TO ALSO GET:

1-3 packages of those string-cheese sticks

Popping corn (1 jar)

1 jar of original flavor sunflower kernels (the inside of sunflower seeds after shells have been removed)

A box each of the following types of dry pasta (or one each of as many of the following as you can afford):

Corkscrew pasta (plain)

Corkscrew pasta (confetti)

Elbow Macaroni

Shell Pasta

Angel Hair Pasta

Spaghetti

If you can afford to, get one or more of the following. If not, save them for the next shopping spree:

1-2 containers of cherry tomatoes

1 bunch of seedless green grapes

1 bunch of seedless red grapes

1-2 packages of frozen strawberries

1-2 packages of frozen blueberries

Our next shopping trip will focus more on fruits and vegetables, so I'll be adding others to the list then. Thanks for your help!!!