Homemade Uncrustables

First off, I know it has been forever since I have posted. This year has not been what I expected, after I started to recover from my broken arm, I ruptured my tendon, needing surgery. Well, I have now been in a splint for 11 weeks and am just dying to get back into cooking and blogging; so, I have decided to get back into it slowly with this simple post.

For those of you who have kids you probably know what uncrustables are and how expensive they can be for what they are. Seriously, they are a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, without crust, and can be frozen. Super simple and so convenient, but I refuse to pay $14 for a box of 18 at Costco, when making them at home only cost me $1.75 for 10! These will be our go to for trips to the beach, park, and zoo this summer; just make and freeze them ahead of time, throw them in a cooler or bag, and they will be ready to enjoy by lunch. Give these a try, the kids will love them.

Ingredients

- 1 loaf of your favorite bread

- peanut butter

- jelly, jam, or preserves of your choice (we went with strawberry preserves)

1) Using a large round cookie cutter or a glass and knife (like I did), remove the crusts off of all the slices of bread.

2) Lay each slice of bread on cookie sheet and spread a thin layer of peanut butter on each slice, making sure to stay at least a 1/4 inch from the edges, it will make it easier to crimp the edges.

3) Place a small spoonful of jelly or preserves (about 1 to 1 1/2 tsp) in the middle of half of your slices of bread. Make sure not to over fill with jelly, and there is no need to spread it out.

4) Lastly, place the slices of bread without jelly on them on top of the slices with jelly (peanut butter side down obviously ;) ). Then if you have a sandwich crimper you can use that or you can use a fork to crimp the edges, which is what I did. Then place the cookie sheet in the freezer or enjoy now.

After mine were frozen I wrapped each individually and placed them back in the freezer for when we are ready for them. When I know we are doing PB & J for lunch, I just take some out of the freezer when we wake up and place them in the refrigerator. And when we are heading to the park I throw a few in a little cooler bag in the diaper bag, they make a great snack for when the kids need some energy from playing so hard. Give them a try.

Enjoy!!