S'mores!

Since we're on the subject of gory animal death scenes (see previous post) I'd like to explain why, until recently, I hadn't eaten a S'more in over a decade. When I was in grad school I was taken on a tour of a meat packing plant as part of a hearing conservation class (because meat packing plants are noisy inside). I was already a vegetarian, so I didn't think I had much to lose, other than a few nights of restful sleep. I was wrong. After surviving the trauma of touring the kill floor I thought the worst of it was over and was ready to get out, now. We were standing next to a bale of pig skin and the guide was explaining how it had all been carefully dehaired before it was neatly baled, like a bale a hay, but far more disturbing and smelly. One of the students asked what the pig skin was used for and the guide enthusiastically said "Jelly Beans!" I knew what he as talking about before he explained that pig skin is often used to make gelatin. Gelatin is often used to make jelly beans, and of course marshmallows. Gross. I'm not sure how I'd made it so many years as a vegetarian without realizing where gelatin came from, but I had, and at that point my blissful ignorance was over.


So, I went well over a decade without eating a single S'more. It was very unfortunate.


Then, while we were in Iowa, Matt grilled up a S'more for me using (gelatin free) marshmallow fluff. He's my hero. (He, obviously, was a good choice.)




It took on a delicious smokey flavor.



In this photo you can see that the chocolate contains a layer of peanut butter. Matt introduced the idea as if it were a great epiphany. "Why, why do people use only plain chocolate?!"



Later on during our visit, he got a little more creative:



My favorite was the M&M-free kind.

Thanks Matt!