"C" is for Peanut Butter and Jelly!

Ready for a new spin on an old favorite? How about a new spin on TWO old favorites?

Moms often serve foods that are tried and true. Things like cookies, peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, milk...that stuff ring a bell with you? Well, I have found a recipe that combines the PB & J of our childhoods with cookies that you normally see served through winter holidays, the thumbprint cookies. You know, the ones that are small and round and have a dollop of chocolate in the center.

I give you Cookie Monster's Peanut Butter & Jelly Thumbprints, brought to you by the letter R and the number 4. I mean, I found it in a Sesame Street cookbook called "C is For Cooking."

Ingredients...

1/2 Cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 Cup smooth natural peanut butter
1 1/4 Cups sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp. low-fat milk
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 Cup seedless raspberry jam

1. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat together the butter and peanut butter at medium-high speed until smooth and creamy.

2. With the mixer on low speed, beat in the egg, milk, and salt. Gradually beat in the flour.

3. Wrap the cookie dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until completely chilled, at least 4 hours or up to 2 days.

4. To bake the cookies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease the cookie sheets.

5. Use a teaspoon to scoop the chilled dough into 1-inch balls. Place the balls 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Flatten the balls slightly, using your thumb to make a "thumbprint" in the middle of each one. Fill each thumbprint with 1/4 - 1/2 tsp. of the jam.

6. Bake the cookies until the edges are slightly browned, 12-15 minutes. Transfer the baking sheets to racks for 2 minutes. Transfer the cookies from the sheets to the racks to cool completely.

Special Note: I didn't have natural peanut butter, so I used Jif. I also didn't have low-fat milk, so used cream. I also didn't have raspberry seedless jam, but I did have some Welch's grape jelly. Substituting is something I'm fairly good at! And guess what? The cookies turned out marvelous!

The cookbook is something my 4 year old picked out himself while shopping at one of my favorite discount stores. BUT, if you'd like to buy your own copy (I would highly suggest this book because there are recipes in there from guest chefs that have been on Sesame Street, like Martha Stewart and...my favorite...EMERIL LAGASSE!) you can get a copy at Amazon. 

How to start couponing as a beginner...

So, I haven't posted in here in several months. My apologies :)

I have found a few ways to save a little cash and I wanted to share this new information with a few of you who may not already know that it exists!

First, have you watched TLC"s "Extreme Couponing?" If you haven't, you really should because you can learn things on there that can save you a million bucks. Okay, so  maybe not a million at once, but over time money piles up. I'm definitely a couponer by nature, but extreme? Well, that's what I aspire to be...

I found a website today called "The Krazy Coupon Lady" where you can find all sorts of cool stuff. Not only can you learn to become an extreme couponer, too, but you can find links to freebies, giveaways, other places to find coupons, and so much more there. 

When you get there, click "Freebies" at the top of the page and scroll down to see what you can find. A lot of offers are through mail, and others through email (where a printer is really handy, and I don't have one...yet...). You can send off for more coupons via snail mail, though, if you're like me and don't have a printer. 

Under "Freebies", if you look to the right side of your screen, there are advertisements and links for other cool sites like Free Flys. Free Flys was very helpful to me. I found all sorts of freebies and offers for things that won't cost me a nickel, including some fabric softener samples (and samples are awesome, even if they're just one use apiece), shampoo samples, drink samples, coffee samples and more coupons! 

If you don't have a facebook account, I would suggest that you get one. Reason being, some of the offers required you to sign up for your free samples through liking a page on facebook. That's harmless, right? Right. So, do what Free Flys says and like the page and do what the page says to get your free sample already. 

As an added bonus, The Krazy Coupon Lady site has directions in steps for beginners to get their coupon collections organized, how to organize your shopping trips, easy ways to save a buck, and gives you the skinny on which stores have what deals when. 

Personally, as I am a novice (apparently), I have my own coupon organization system. I organize in three categories and several different subcategories under each category.

Here's how it works:

1.) Buy a small photo album, or "brag book" that has sleeves that open for pictures to just slide in there.
2.) Buy some labels so that you can label each slot.
3.) Gather all your coupons.
4.) Organize them into the following categories: Edible, Health and Beauty, Cleaning supplies.
5.) Edible coupons should go into the following subcategories: drinks, snacks, meats and specials, boxed dinners, sandwich fixins, cereals and breakfasts, noodles, cans and sauces, frozen.
6.) Health and Beauty should go into the following subcategories: makeup, shampoos and conditioners, deodarants, oral hygiene, soaps and body washes, styling products, feminine products, razors and shaving, and whatever else you want in there :)
7.) For Cleaning and Household supplies, I do it like this: paper products, all purpose cleaners, laundry detergents and fabric softeners, bleach products, bathroom cleaners, kitchen cleaners, trash bags, and etc...
8.) Once you're all organized into stacks, organize your photo album into three categories, then label your categories and subcategories with the sticker labels. Then, put your coupons in there.

Make sure you purge your coupons about once a week to get the expired ones out of there. Then start organizing your shopping by coupons. Don't buy things you don't need just because you have a coupon though. That doesn't save a thing...

Well, hopefully I'll have more couponing links to share with you guys soon. Until then, ta ta and happy clipping :)