~ Peanutbutter Cups and Peanutbutter Fudge ~

These are so good and super, super easy, peanutbutter cups and peanutbutter fudge. I found these mini-muffin cups at...cough...Walmart, but I have mini-muffin tins so next time I am going to use those. I found both of these recipes at The Nourishing Homemaker, she has the best stuff. I change the fudge recipe a bit. The kids and hubby thought it was too oily so I add the rest of the peanutbutter mixed with nutrition yeast flakes that was left over from the peanutbutter cups, at least a half cup(got a bit ahead of myself). We really like the nutrition yeast flakes in the fudge, they gave it some crunch. This is a really great way to get some coconut oil into your kids too. A bit about coconut oil from The Healthy Home Economist's article about the Five Fats You MUST Have in Your Kitchen

COCONUT OIL Coconut oil is loaded with medium chain saturated fats which are utilized by the body for immediate energy! Want to feel better and have more energy? Incorporate this wonderful, healthy fat into your diet in copious amounts. Coconut oil is a highly stable oil, so much so, that you can keep it unrefrigerated in your pantry for years and it will not go rancid (I have a 5 gallon bucket in my garage .. it stays perfect through the long, hot, humid Florida summers!) It remains stable even at very high heat, so it is the ideal cooking oil. I use coconut oil anytime a recipe calls for cooking oil or shortening. Coconut oil used in your baked goods will result in cookies, cakes, and pastries so moist – you and your family will be delighted. Pepperidge Farm used to use coconut oil in their line of cookies years ago, only to replace it with very unhealthy, partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (aka, Factory Fats) when saturated fats became erroneously regarded as heart unhealthy. Coconut oil, however, is now known to be extremely heart healthy .. the Traditional Cultures that consume coconuts and coconut oil have some of the lowest rates of heart disease in the world (not to mention are some of the slimmest people in the world). Physiologically, coconut oil stimulates the thyroid gland, so is a fantastic addition to the diet for those that tend toward hypothyroidism (by some estimates, some 80% of Westerners over the age of 25 fall into this category). Lauric acid, a very important medium chain saturated fatty acid, is found in abundance in coconut oil. Lauric acid is highly antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal. And guess what? The human mammary gland produces lauric acid and it is contained in breastmilk! Anyone with candida issues of any kind should be regularly consuming coconut oil in their diet. Rubbing coconut oil into the scalp and then shampooing out is a wonderful home remedy for dandruff, a fungal infection of the skin. If you have an allergy to coconut, try palm oil or palm kernel oil, two other healthy tropical oils.