Frugal Gift Wrapping

I have never seen a point in buying gift wrap. The receiver just rips through it and in the garbage can it goes. Not to mention all the trees that are cut down just for gift wrap that goes in the trash immediately after the gift is opened. We try and recycle as much as we can so using the comics section from the Sunday paper is a good way of recycling. After the gifts are opened, we then recycle the paper. So we end up getting an extra use of the paper before recycling. I usually start saving my comics in November and I end up with extra comics. Now, my brothers always makes fun of my choice of paper for wrapping gifts but they are not as frugal as I am and they find all sorts of new reasons to mock me. I did immediately notice at my baby shower, one of my good friends did wrap my gift with comics! I was so happy to see that others do think the same way I do. We also save gift bags, bows, and tissue from gifts that we receive and we reuse these at a later date. Above, you can also see my homemade granola in a canning jar where I used comics in between the ring and the lid.

Here, I made a bow using an old Christmas card. I just the card in to 2-3mm strips. Then curled each end with my fingers. I put a piece of tape in the middle (either use double sided tape or fold a piece of tape over so both sides are sticky) then arranged the strips on top of the tape so they would stick. You can also tape something to the middle like I did in the first picture, I taped a little square i the middle. If anyone has frugal gift wrapping ideas, please share by commenting. Happy wrapping!!!

Grain-Free Almond Snowball Cookies

I have been making regular, unhealthy almond snowball cookies from the Food Network as Christmas gifts for years now. The people I make these cookies for do not care about eating healthy so I just make the same thing for them every year, including this year. As I was baking the cookies, I wanted to try one so bad but we don't eat white flour or white sugar and the ingredients were not organic so I couldn't have any. The next day I decided to try and make a healthy version for hubby and me.

Grain-Free Almond Snowball Cookies

1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 stick salted butter
1/4 tsp stevia
a few drops almond extract
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp honey
1/4 cup coconut flour
powdered sugar for dipping cookies

Combine butter and almond flour in a bowl. Add stevia, honey, almond extract, and vanilla extract and mix well. Add coconut flour and mix until combined. Put dough in fridge for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 325F.

Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Place on greased cookie sheet and press down with fingers or the bottom of a glass. Bake for 20 minutes or until a nice golden brown. Remove from oven and leave on cookie sheet for 5 minutes. Dip cookies in powdered sugar and place on cooling rack. After cookies are cooled, dip in powdered sugar again and store in an airtight container.

Makes 12 cookies.

Gifts for the Cook

My husband has been asking me what I want for Christmas, so I thought I would make a list of budget friendly gifts for the chef/cook in your life.

Garlic Press - I have this one, the kuhn rikon. It is the ultimate garlic press made of quality steel. A garlic press makes chopping garlic a breeze. I find myself using more garlic when cooking now.

Immersion Blender/Stick Blender - This is a very versatile kitchen appliance. Every cook should have one in my opinion. This can be used to puree soups and baby food and blends smoothies and shakes quickly. Cleanup just takes a minute versus taking out the hand blender or food processor. I use this all the time to puree squash soup, make mayonnaise and blend smoothies. Recently, I have used this to blend eggnog for the holiday.

Steamer Basket - I don't have a steamer but I already have all the pots I need; so this is the perfect item that will store easily in a cabinet after use. Now that I have a baby who will be eating solids, steaming and then pureeing baby food is in my near future. Steaming keeps all the nutrients in the vegetables, so healthwise, we should already be steaming our vegetables. Just be sure to get stainless steel as aluminum will leach into food.

Chef's Knife - Every cook needs 1 good quality chef's knife. I got the Wustof Classic Santoku knife as a wedding gift and I absolutely love it. It cuts through everything with ease and no more squishing tomatoes while trying to cut them!

Pepper Grinder - Freshly ground pepper tastes so much better in foods than the already ground stuff. I never realized the difference until I got one myself. Every house should have a pepper grinder. They make these in all shapes and colors to match anyone's kitchen or dining table.

Well there is my list of budget friendly gift ideas for the cook in your life (well the knife is a splurge but well worth it!) Some of these I already have and some are on my wish list.