Peanut Butter Cookie Bliss

Since I read Wheat Belly and threw out all my wheat I haven't had a decent cookie. One time I made a very dense almond flour cookie and another time ate a very chalky chocolate chip cookie but neither deserved the title "Cookie". I have now found an amazing cookie that doesn't need any flour and I'll be making it again soon since my first batch didn't last 24 hours.

Only Five Simple Ingredients

I've also found myself spending more money on groceries without cheap wheat products to fill the shopping cart so I decided to make these cookies as frugal as possible. I bought all but the homemade vanilla extract at Aldi. I didn't go for the more expensive but only slightly healthier sugars this time and decided to just indulge in the white and brown stuff. I did reduce the sugar from the original recipe and it still tasted plenty sweet to me.

Grain Free Peanut Butter Cookies
adapted from The Gluten Free Table
1 cup natural creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and place the oven rack in the center position. Combine the ingredients in a medium bowl and stir well with a wooden spoon until smooth. Scoop about 1 tablespoon of dough into your hands and roll into a ball. Place the balls on ungreased cookie sheets with 1 inch of space between each one. Use a fork on each cookie ball to press down a cross-hatch pattern. I put 12 cookies on each sheet for a grand total of 24 cookies. OK, maybe a bit less since I indulged in taste testing the dough (FYI it was yummy). Bake each sheet about 10 minutes until the cookies have risen and are lightly golden. Allow them to cool before removing from the baking sheet.

These peanut butter cookies were seriously delicious and I didn't miss "regular" cookies at all!

This post was shared with Homestead Barn Hop, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Make Your Own Monday

Frugal Seedling Pots

  Snow is still covering the ground but spring is in the air! I saw a couple of cardinals just this week so it has to be on it's way. I'm starting to get excited about my garden and I've noticed the stores are starting to sell seeds. For the third year I'm going to start my own seedlings and this year I'm determined to spend as little money as possible.
  I picked up a bunch of seed packets at Aldi for $.49 and Menards for $.19 and $.95. I also got an 8 liter bag of seed starter potting soil for $3.44. To grow my seedlings this year I decided I'm reusing and repurposing items I've already got.

 I saved 17 toilet rolls and 2 egg cartons to use for my seedlings. 

  I found this tutorial on You Grow Girl on how to make your own Toilet Roll Seedling pot. Easy to do but I only had 17 rolls saved up and I want to start a lot more seedlings. When I saw that I can use newspaper to make Homemade Seedling Pots I got really excited and made a bunch.

 I cut the newspaper along the seams into fourths and then folded each page in half. I then rolled it around a small glass and pushed the edges into the cup. I carefully pulled the glass off and had an easy & frugal seedling pot. My favorite thing about these pots- I can place them directly into the ground when it's time to transplant! No more mangling the delicate roots when taking them out of a pot and putting them in the garden. The paper is biodegradable so they can go into my garden and these pots are practically free.

  For my first round of seedlings I planted English lavender, hyssop, Giant Italian parsley, Sugar Snap peas, Romanesco broccoli, Romaine lettuce, Numex Big Jim peppers, Buttercrunch lettuce, Bloomsdale spinach and Chicago Pickling cucumbers. This was way more that I had planned but when I saw the huge seed displays I couldn't resist stocking up.

  Last night I rolled up about 50 more newspaper seedling pots while watching a certain silly vampire movie. I don't know where I'm going to put them since my laundry room is pretty crowded and I have to keep them out of reach of my cat. Somehow next week I'm going to plant even more seedlings. I'm feeling optimistic about my garden and I'm ready for spring to arrive!

How about you- Do you have any frugal seedling tips? Are you ready for spring?

This post was shared at: Clever Chicks, Natural Living Monday, Make Your Own Monday, Homestead Barn Hop, Wildcrafting Wednesday, Your Green Resource

March Menu

I love planning my whole menu for March at the beginning of the month and then being ready for each meal as it happens. This way I'm not stressing each week to decide what's on the menu and I reduce the planning stress to just once a month.

This month it took me a couple of days to decide on a March menu, possibly because there are 3 more days to account for in March. Also because we'll have house guests and I was trying to pick appealing meals for them. 

Since reading Wheat Belly and learning about the many health problems associated with eating wheat I now only cook gluten free. (You can read my book review here.) My menu was only a little harder to make now that we are wheat free.

March

1 Baked Drumsticks, steamed green beans

2 Grilled lamb chops, steamed broccoli

3 Baked Salmon, quinoa, peas

4 BBQ Crockpot Ribs, steamed broccoli

5 Sesame Tuna with Avocado, tossed salad

6 Tacos with Ground Beef

7 Chicken Nuggets, steamed broccoli

8 Baked Salmon, rice, edamame

9 Grilled Chicken Skewers (from The Autism Cookbook), roasted sweet potatoes & apples

10 Crockpot roast, carrots & potatoes

11 Tacos with Ground Beef

12 Baked Tilapia, quinoa, steamed green beans

13 Crockpot Chicken with carrots and potatoes

14 Crockpot Vegetable Beef Soup, Perfect GF Bread

15 Crockpot Garlic Chicken with carrots & potatoes

16 Grilled Steaks, baked potatoes, edamame

17 Pasta & tossed salad

18 Maple Glazed Chicken Legs (from The Autism Cookbook), steamed green beans

19 Salmon Cakes, sweet potato fries

20 Tacos with Ground Beef

21 Chicken Nuggets, steamed green beans

22  Baked Salmon, rice, edamame

23 Leftovers for kids, Strawberry Poppyseed Salad for parents

24 Crockpot Garlic Chicken with carrots & potatoes

25 Dinner Out- Kids Eat Free!

26 Baked Tilapia, quinoa, steamed green beans

27 Tacos with Ground Beef

28 BBQ Crockpot Ribs, steamed broccoli

29 Grilled Chicken Skewers (from The Autism Cookbook), roasted sweet potatoes & apples

30 Meatballs & spaghetti, tossed salad

31 Slow Cooker Pulled Pork, Honey Carrots, Perfect GF Bread
He is Risen!

Snacks to try this month:

Lemon Coconut Bars
GF Mocha Walnut Brownies

You can find even more menus at Menu Plan Monday.
(Note: some links in this post are my referral links. Read my disclosure policy here.)

Book Review: Wheat Belly

Wheat Belly takes a comprehensive, witty examination of the effects of wheat on the human body. The author, William Davis MD, is a preventive cardiologist and begins the book by reviewing the history of wheat and it's relationship to primitive and modern man. He relates that modern wheat is far removed from the wheat our ancestors first cultivated thousands of years ago.

Today's wheat has been altered by intensive hybridization to provide processed food manufacturers the greatest yield at the lowest price. Now this grain has been transformed into an ingredient that causes blood sugar to spike more rapidly than eating pure table sugar. It also has addictive properties that cause the body to cycle through hunger, overeating and fatigue. Dr. Davis exposes the connection between wheat, weight gain and fat buildup in all the wrong places.

I often find non-fiction books will draw me in for one or two chapters and then bore me too much with repetition of the same point to continue. I did not have that problem at all reading Wheat Belly. Each chapter disclosed another piece of the puzzle of wheat which kept my interest.

I was impressed with all the scientific and academic language Dr. Davis used. It was obvious that he wasn't just relating his own conclusions but thoroughly researched each point he made and backed up everything he said. Dr. Davis witnessed over 2,000 patients regain their health after giving up wheat and came to the controversial conclusion that wheat is the single largest contributor to the nationwide obesity epidemic.

The most disturbing things I learned from Wheat Belly:

• Common wheat, upon digestion, yields polypeptides that possess the ability to cross into the brain and bind to opiate receptors which demonstrates wheat is addictive. 
• When administered to typical people or people with uncontrollable appetites, opiate-blocking drugs yield reductions in appetite, cravings and calorie intake, as well as dampen mood, and the effect seems particularly specific to wheat containing products. 
• Wheat is an appetite stimulant so when you go off wheat your appetite stabilizes and there are no more constant hunger pangs. 
• Wheat is directly linked to many adverse health effects like diabetes, heart disease, immunologic and neurological disorders like celiac disease, rheumatoid arthritis and dementia. 

The final chapters of the book offer readers a user-friendly, step-by-step plan to navigate a new, wheat-free lifestyle. Many recipes are listed and a week long sample menu is also included.

My biggest take away from the book- I'm now wheat free and transitioning my family that way as well. It wasn't so long ago I never could have imagined even trying a gluten free diet for a month. After all I've learned about the ill effects of wheat I'm resolved to stay wheat free for the rest of my life.

This post is shared at: Natural Living Monday, Living Green Tuesday
(Note: This post contains referral links. Read my disclosure policy here.)