Thriftism

Almost everyone can agree that they love brownies, but maybe not everything that comes with eating brownies. The refined sugar and flour along with high calorie make brownies a diet buster and a real no-no for those going gluten free. While these bean brownies are not quite as amazing as the real deal, they are pretty darn tasty and satisfy my sweet tooth. Plus, these puppies are gluten free, high in protein and fiber, making them a great snack anytime of the day. Even better, there are only 6 ingredients, resulting in incredibly easy to make brownies.  What you'll Need: 3 Eggs  2 Cup Pinto Beans 1/2 C Cocoa Powder 1/3 C Honey 2 T Coconut Oil 2 T Vanilla  Preheat oven to 350. Mash beans or blend in your food processor (Ninja!) Add in the rest of the ingredients and blend some more. Once you have reached a fairly smooth consistency you're ready to bake. Grease a brownie pan and bake at 350 for ~20 minutes or until a to...

Blueberry muffins can be a fun start to your day. They can also load you full of sugar and fat which can kill your productivity for the day and cost a few bucks to do so. Try your hand at making these yummy muffins at home to reduce your sugar intake and save a few bucks. You'll Need: 2 Cups Flour 2 Tbsp Sugar 2.5 tsp Baking Powder 0.5 tsp Salt 1 Egg 1 Cup Milk 1/4 Cup Butter Crisco or Butter or Liners Mini Muffin Pan or Muffin Tin Preheat oven to 350 Chop Blueberries Mix your dry ingredients. Beat the egg, add milk and butter. Combine wet and dry ingredients. Add Blueberries Grease or line your muffin tins. Bake mini muffins for 10 minutes and regular muffins for 20 minutes. When you can insert toothpick and it comes out clean they are done! Enjoy these easy to make, yummy muffins as breakfast or a snack! Feel free to be creative, branch out, try raisins, pecans, apples and cinnamon. The sky is the limit.

Who doesn't love muffins? Maybe a few of you, but it seems most people are all about muffins. Buying them at a coffee shop or even at a bakery can get spendy and they have a lot more calories and sugar than you would think. We started making our own to enjoy great flavor, fresh ingredients, and save money by making our own snacks (or breakfast). Makes ~12 regular size muffins or 24 mini muffins or a combination of both! INGREDIENTS: 2 Cup All Purpose Flour 2 Tbsp Granulated Sugar 2 tsp Baking Powder 1 tsp Salt 1 Large Egg 0.25 Cup Butter 1 Cup Milk 1 Cup Cranberries (Optional: add 1/2 Cup Sugar to sweeten Cranberries) Preheat your oven to 400° F. Begin by chopping up cranberries. Or use a food processor to speed things up. You can use dried cranberries too, but this increases cost and adds a lot of sugar to your recipe. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add in eggs, milk, and butter. Mix Finally, mix in your cran...

Using up the last of the squash from this fall? Don't let anything go to waste. There are countless recipes requiring squash, whether it be butternut or spaghetti, but what do you do with all that goop you pull out? Well, I guess I throw away the actual "goop", but I make sure to pull the seeds out first. Baked squash seeds have become one of my favorite snacks. Not only do they use something that would normally get thrown out making them essentially free, they also are quite healthy.  Squash seeds are high in protein (up to 12g/cup) and have more fiber than other protein options. They also have loads of other beneficial vitamins without killing your calorie goals for the day. The last reason I love them is that they are rather easy to make and travel well. I have used seeds from just about every type of squash and the only thing I change is the baking time (less for smaller seeds). Now that you know they are great, how do we make them? I cut my squash in hal...