Budget Friendly Peanut Butter Cookies

Enjoy this guest post from my IRL (in real life) friend, Tanya! She offered this recipe up to be shared because it has only 4 ingredients and it uses mostly pantry goods. Because we are a mostly sugar-free household, I tried replaced the 1 cup of sugar in this recipe with a 1/2 cup of raw honey. It was apparent immediately that they wouldn't set up, so I added 1/2 cup of sugar. Still pretty amazing, but more like flat PB Balls than cookie. I'd suggest going with the original recipe and substituting sucanat if you're looking for a change. The 6 boys I served them to for dessert last night approved! :) Try them yourselves and then head over to Tanya's fabulous blog, Free & Easy Living!

Today I want to share with you a recipe for Budget Friendly, Flour Free, Quick and Easy Peanut Butter Cookies. Now that’s a mouth full! These cookies offer everything in a recipe you could possibly be looking for: they meet special dietary needs (flour-free means gluten-free too, just make sure your peanut butter doesn’t contain any gluten either), they have 4 ingredients and only take about ten minutes to prepare so they are easy to make when you’re short on time or energy, and they only cost about $0.17 a serving! Cheaper if you used coupons to get any of your ingredients for free or at a discount.

This recipe is from Recipe Lion’s Budget Friendly section. If you’re looking for great, easy recipes be sure to check out their site.
 
Yields: 12
Cooking Time: 10 min
Ingredients

* 1 cup sugar
* 1 cup peanut butter (I used honey peanut butter. It was what I had on hand, and added another dimension of flavor.)
* 1 egg
* 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions (Edited from the Recipe Lion instructions, because I did things slightly different. You can see the original unedited recipe here.)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix all ingredients in a bowl.
2. Spoon out in heaping large tablespoonfulls onto lightly greased cookie sheet. This is the direction according to Recipe Lion. I actually rolled the cookie dough into balls in my hand, according to a more traditional peanut butter cookie style. (This is the way my mother has always done it.)
3. Flatten loosely with a fork and sprinkle with sugar.
4. Cook for 10 minutes; Remove to cooling rack after 4 minutes. Recipe Lion suggests waiting only 2 minutes, but I found that these cookies like to fall apart a little easier than normal, so you should let them set up a but longer.

That’s it! You’re done and are on your way to enjoying delicious cookies. Because these cookies are flour free, they are a little less cake-like, and a little more dense than traditional peanut butter cookies. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how much you enjoy these cookies. This recipe is a great way to make cookies for any friends or family who have gluten allergies for much cheaper than the gluten free products sold in stores. Even if you don’t have gluten allergies, one less ingredient just makes these cookies that much cheaper and easier to make!

Happy Savings and Tasty Cookies for All! <3 Tanya

Guest Post: Popcorn and Smoky Roasted Black-Eyed Peas

I'm so thankful for bloggy friends during this busy time! Please enjoy the first of many great guest posts EFYP will be blessed with over the next few months.

Micaela Vega is a working mother of 2, who writes about her experience with incorporating healthier food options into her family's meals at Striving Bean. Sometimes her kids like it, sometimes they don’t – she'll let you know about both.

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It’s not often that “Black-eyed peas” and “snack” go together, but they go together surprisingly well.

I made some popcorn for the kids the other night, and thought….hmm…how could I add beans to the mix?

Voilà:  Popcorn & Smoky Roasted Black-Eyed Peas. A quick and easy snack that the kids really liked.

Another great discovery this weekend?  My daughter loves smoked paprika.  There’s a difference between smoked paprika and regular paprika.   The smoked has a deeper and smokier flavor. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

So break out the movies, cozy up on the couch, and grab yourself a big bowl of Popcorn & Smoky Roasted Black-Eyed Peas!

Dried Black-Eyed Peas (before cooking)

Popcorn & Smoky Roasted Black-Eyed Peas
Recipe by Striving Bean

Ingredients

• 1 2/3 cup (1.66 cup) cooked Black-Eyed Peas (or try 15 oz. can)
• 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 – 3 teaspoons smoked paprika (depending on your taste)
• several cups air-popped popcorn
• small amount melted butter & sea salt (to taste)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450° F
2. If using canned beans, rinse and drain.  Blot beans dry with clean towel.
3. Mix together beans, olive oil, sea salt, and smoked paprika.
4. Spread beans evenly onto a baking sheet.
5. Roast beans for 18 – 22 minutes. (depending on your oven)
6. Check every so often. Goal is to dry them (not burn them) so they’re crunchy.
7. Mix black-eyed peas with popcorn, small amount of melted butter, and additional sea salt (to taste)

Another option is to roast them at a lower heat (425° F) for longer.

Our family weighs in:

• We all liked them.  Daughter said the black-eyed peas reminded her of “black olives”.  They reminded me of soy nuts.

Store left-overs in the refrigerator.  The black-eyed peas also make a great salad topping.

Make it Yourself Monday: Pesto

My favorite farmer at the market gave me a giant bag of basil for $5 last week because I came near the end of the day and it needed to be used. I froze some for later (basil loses some of its flavor when dried) and used the rest to make up three big batches of pesto (I'm freezing two in glass jars - leave an inch or so). Pesto is a great way to use up extra herbs from the garden and is an impressive addition to dinner when entertaining. There are endless possibilities to tweaking this recipe, but here are the basics:

Ingredients
2 cups fresh basil leaves
3-4 cloves of garlic, peeled (or 2 tsp pre-minced garlic)
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup olive oil
juice from 1/2 a lemon
1 tsp sea salt
black pepper to taste


Directions
Rinse and dry your basil leaves (if you are picking your own, I hear its best to pick them in the cool of the morning as they lose flavor throughout the day). I'm lazy, so I combine all of the ingredients in a food processor and process until almost smooth. Taste, and add more of whatever you think it needs. Since the word pesto comes from "pestle," you could also do this by hand if you don't have a food processor. Or, you could try your blender. 

Substitutions
We rarely eat cheese, so we exclude parmesan from our pesto, though traditionally you'd cut back on the salt in the above recipe and add a 1/2 cup or more of grated parmesan or even feta cheese. You can also substitute pine nuts for walnuts or hazelnuts (if you experiment further, let me know!!) and you can replace all or part of your basil with fresh parsley or spinach. You can also omit the lemon juice if you don't have it, or replace it with lime juice. The citric acid helps it maintain it's green color and the lemon flavor adds a nice touch.

Serving suggestions
We ate chicken sandwiches with pesto on a ciabatta roll last night. Would have been heavenly with a slice of tomato. Pesto is most commonly used as a pasta sauce, but it can be used as a garnish on any meat (especially chicken breast and pork chops), an ad-in for soups, a dip for veggies, or my favorite - a spread on crusty italian bread. Pesto will stay fresh in the refrigerator for a week or longer, and will freeze for a few months.

How do you use pesto? What else do you usually make from scratch instead of buying pre-made? Link up below!

Easy Roasted Red Pepper Dip

We don't always feel like eating big heavy meals in the summertime, but we are always hungry! I found some pita chips on sale for .89 and whipped this dip up to go with them this week. Parsley was straight from our garden pot. :D It's easy to halve or double according to your needs.

Easy Roasted Red Pepper Dip

Ingredients

2 med. red bell peppers
4 cloves of garlic, peeled & minced
8oz. cream cheese (make your own)
small bunch of parsley
1/2 tsp salt

Directions

Wrap your (whole) red peppers in foil and roast at 350 degrees for about half an hour in either the oven - or to avoid heating the house - a toaster oven.
Peppers should be starting to soften and be easy to peel.
Peel the peppers, remove seeds and stem, and cut them into at least 4 pieces each (to make them easier to process).
Combine peppers and the rest of the ingredients in your food processor and process until consistency is smooth.
Serve with raw veggies or pita chips.

This post is linked to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday and Tuesday Twister.

"Wheat Thins" from Healthy Snacks to Go

These absolutely delicious crackers were super easy to make - even though I went the extra step and soaked them! The basic recipe and my interpretation of the directions are below, and you can find the directions for the soaked version, as well as a few great tips, in the Healthy Snacks to Go E-book or over at the Kitchen Stewardship blog.

If you missed my review, or haven't entered the giveaway yet, scroll down to the last post or click here to read all about this e-book and how you can win one!

Ingredients

1 ¼ cups whole wheat flour

1 ½ Tbs sugar (or honey)

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp paprika

4 Tbs butter

¼ cup water

¼ tsp vanilla

salt for topping

Directions

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Use a pastry cutter or two knives to mix butter into the flour mixture until it has a crumbly appearance. Add the wet ingredients and mix until a workable dough has formed.

Preheat the oven at 400 degrees while you grease one or two baking sheets or cover them with parchment paper and prepare to roll out your dough. Alternatively, if you have a baking/pizza stone, you can roll the dough out directly on top of it - that's what I did.

Roll your dough out as thin as you can get it. I didn't roll mine out thin enough this time, but they were still great. You should be able to split the dough in half and cover a baking sheet with each when rolled out. Transfer it to baking sheet if necessary once rolled. Use a pizza cutter or knife to cut dough into squares and sprinkle with salt.

Bake for 5-10 minutes until just crispy - they will harden a tiny bit more as they cool. Store in an airtight container.

This post is linked to Wholesome Whole Foods and Pennywise Platter.

Make it Yourself Monday: Granola Bars

Welcome new readers and old friends! My goal on Make it Yourself Mondays is to encourage you to branch out and try to make from scratch some of the things you usually buy from the store. This often saves money, and it's always fun! Please link up the things you've been "making yourself" recently at the bottom of this post. :)

I try to make as many of the snacks my husband takes to work as possible. He always has either leftovers or a sandwich, fruit, and some kind of goodie. Sometimes it's crackers and hummus, or a small bag of almonds, but I usually try to pack him something special (aka sweet). This is an awesome alternative to buying expensive granola bars from the store that have who-knows-what in them! Adapted from The Barefoot Contessa's recipe at the Food Network.

Homemade Granola Bars

Ingredients:

2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal

1 cup sliced/chopped almonds

1 cup shredded coconut, loosely packed

1/2 cup ground flax seed

3 tablespoons salted butter

2/3 cup honey

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup raisins

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Butter an 8x12-inch baking dish and line it with parchment paper. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Place the butter, honey, and vanilla in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for a minute, then pour over the oatmeal mixture. Add the cranberries and raisins and stir well. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Wet your fingers and lightly press the mixture evenly into the pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until light golden brown. Cool for at least 2 to 3 hours before cutting. Makes 12-16 bars.

Notes: you can add some brown sugar or sucanat if you think you'll want it sweeter - I thought it was perfect without it. Also, I don't like the way raisins taste after they've been baked, so next time I'll probably use the apricots or dates the original recipe calls for. And more coconut! Always more! :)