Vivian Howard Offers a GREAT Kid Friendly Snack!

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PBS's A Chef's Life, the character-driven docu-series that takes viewers inside the life and kitchen of Chef Vivian Howard and her two restaurants located in the low country of eastern North Carolina. 

As a mother of twins, Vivian knows how to create good food on the go that is both quick and fun to make with her children. So Vivian knows kid-friendly recipes! Check out this one below, and be sure to check out her fun show!  

Rollups With Vanilla Pecan Butter 

Ingredients

Rollups: 

2 slices whole wheat sandwich bread of your choice

1/4 cup vanilla pecan butter

1/2 ripe banana, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds

Vanilla Pecan Butter:

makes 1/2 cup

2 cups pecans

1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped

1 teaspoon honey

1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Make the pecan butter: In a 10-12 inch skillet or saute pan, toast the pecans over medium heat for about 2 minutes or until they are just becoming fragrant. The may darken slightly in color but do not let them get noticeably darker in places. If you find a few spots where this happens, pluck those pecans out. 

Let the pecans cool completely, then transfer them to the bowl of a food processor along with all the little dark seeds from the center of the vanilla bean. Blend the pecans for 1 minute. Stop and scrape down the sides. Blend another minute. Scrape down the sides again and add the honey and salt. Continue blending a third minute or until the pecan butter is quite smooth and loose. The end product will be much more looser than any peanut butter you’ve ever seen and a bit less viscous than almond butter. It will pour off a spoon. 

Depending on the power of your food processor or the sharpness of its’ blade making the pecan butter could take longer than 3 minutes. Just keep an eye out for separation of nut and fat. If this starts to happen, let the pecan butter cool down before blending further. Store the pecan butter, sealed at room temperature, for up to 2 weeks. Stir well before using. 

Make the rollups: Use a rolling pin, flatten each slice of bread to 1/8 of an inch thick. Spread roughly 2 tablespoons pecan butter over each flat piece and lay the banana slices overtop. Roll the bread up in a pinwheel and take it wherever you need to eat. 

About the Show:

A Chef's Life is a half-hour character-driven documentary and cooking series that takes viewers inside the life of Chef Vivian Howard, who, with her husband Ben Knight, left the big city to open a fine dining restaurant in small-town Eastern North Carolina.

Each episode follows Vivian out of the kitchen and into cornfields, strawberry patches and hog farms as she hunts down the ingredients that inspire her seasonal menus. Using a chef’s modern sensibilities, Vivian explores Southern cuisine, past and present — one ingredient at a time. A celebration of true farm to table food, the 13-week series combines the action and drama of a high-pressure business with the joys and stresses of family life.

The series returned for Season , this month, to follow Vivian's journey to highlight Southern cuisine and local ingredients, all while managing twos restaurants with husband Ben Knight, a bustling young family and new found fame. Check your local PBS station for airing times.