I have 3 sons, aged 6, 9 and 12. I have to make lunch for all of them, and their preferred meal is peanut butter and jelly. Sometimes they veer off path, but usually when I ask it’s the tried and true answer of peanut butter and jelly. We were going through 4 pounds of peanut butter in less than 2 weeks, and needless to say it was getting expensive.

I researched homemade peanut butter, and it turned out that I could easily make it at home with my food processor. It looked as though it would save me quite a bit of money. I also found out that I could make homemade jams with my food processor too!

I went to my sons, and explained that since we were going through these things so quickly, I was going to try another alternative and would make it all at home. I tried to make it seem like a cool idea by telling them that we could experiment with different types of nuts for nut butters, and different fruits for jam. I’d allow 3 different kinds of each, since there were 3 of them.

My 12 year old seemed disinterested, as most 12 year olds do with pretty much everything. He was a sunflower nut, and I didn’t think he realized that sunflower butter was a thing until I mentioned it. He then changed his tune and was really excited about the idea. My 9 year old wanted to try cashew butter, and my little one still wanted regular peanut butter. They decided on 3 types of jam: cherry, strawberry and grape.

I made sure they knew that if they didn’t like them, then we could switch them up in the future, or tweak the recipes a bit until we figured out what works. They were onboard and wanted to help too. So I let each son gather the ingredients for their preferred recipes and let them each use the food processor to make their own, under my supervision and with my help of course.

We only had to do small adjustments to get the recipes to my sons’ liking. My youngest was a little grossed out by the separation, but once he wasn’t seeing it anymore it didn’t bother him. I always made sure I had it stirred up before there was a chance for him to notice.

Since this had become such a hit, I realized I was going to need to update some part of my food processor. My blades were getting dull with use and if I was making the butters and jams on the same day, it would be helpful to have an extra work bowl on hand. A friend had sent me the link to the KitchenWorksInc website where they sell legitimate Cuisinart-dfp-14 parts. I was able to purchase these items and receive them in a relatively short amount of time, which meant there wasn’t any downtime between batches.

It’s been fun experimenting with different types of nut butters and jams, and my sons have discovered different things that they like as well. Plus, it encourages them to share their creations with each other and for young siblings that right there is a major win in itself. They’re definitely bonding much more over this.

I love the fact that something so simple as peanut butter and jelly and my Cuisinart food processor has brought my family a little closer. Not to mention the money it saves us. I think this is a must for any parent who has kids that eat a lot of nut butters and jellies.