Peanut Butter Grahams with Chocolate Drizzle

Peanut Butter Grahams with Chocolate Drizzle
by Michelle Jones, Founder of BetterBudgeting.com

Category: Frugal Recipes, Desserts

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

4 graham cracker halves

4 T. peanut butter

Whipped dairy topping (store brand)

Hershey's chocolate syrup

Instructions:

Place 4 graham cracker halves on a serving plate. 

Spread 1 tablespoon of peanut butter on the top side of each graham cracker. 

Top with 4 dollops of whip cream in the center of each covered cracker.

Drizzle chocolate syrup over whipped topping, either individually or all together (see our photo above).

Enjoy!

Michelle

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Easy Homemade Pancakes - Light, Fluffy, Perfect!

Featured Recipe...

Easy Homemade Pancakes - Light, Fluffy, Perfect!
by Michelle Jones, Founder of BetterBudgeting.com

You know what makes an easy and fun frugal dinner? Pancakes! If you regularly use a store bought pancake mix I invite you to try our family's easy homemade recipe. It never fails. No buttermilk on hand, no problem. Our recipe uses regular milk and tastes just as good as 'buttermilk' pancakes. Add cinnamon, vanilla, or fresh fruit for variations.

I've been making these pancakes for about 30 years. We like to add fresh blueberries (not frozen or they'll turn the pancake batter blue), or our favorite... chocolate chips.

Our pancakes are so light and fluffy, they're even good without butter or syrup. You can also dust finished pancakes with powdered sugar instead of butter and syrup, or add 1 T. cocoa powder to the batter for chocolate pancakes--with or without chocolate chips. OH MY LORD!!!

Our recipe makes about 6 large (5-inch) pancakes. For our family of six I usually double the recipe for 12 pancakes.

Mix together:

1 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 T. sugar
1 - 2 T. baking powder (Note: we have always used 2 Tablespoons of baking powder but if you are sensitive to the taste of baking powder it is perfectly fine to use less in this recipe. The pancakes will turn out a bit different - thinner - but I have no doubt they will still be delicious!)

In another bowl, whisk together:

1 egg
3/4 c. milk
2 T. vegetable oil

Heat non-stick griddle to 350. Stir together wet and dry ingredients, just until combined. Batter will be a bit lumpy. Pour batter onto griddle (or lightly greased skillet) in the size desired. We usually make large pancakes but sometimes we make small dollar size pancakes, about 3".

Here are some photos I took to help you every step of the way...

Enjoy! :o)

Banana Boats

Featured Recipe...

Banana Boats

4 large Bananas
1 chocolate bar or chocolate chips (1 cup)
Foil

Slice the banana in half only going through one peel down the middle.

Fill with chocolate.

Place in oven with meal while cooking until chocolate is thoroughly melted. Can also be placed over campfire for 15 minutes outside.

Submitted by Jillian
www.FrugalFamilyRecipes.blogspot.com

Iced Mocha - Budget Copy Cat Recipes

Featured Recipe...

Hi Michelle, I love your site, especially the free budgeting worksheets. Very helpful. One of the best ways I've found to remove a lot of wasteful spending from my budget is by making a serious effort to make my own coffee drinks. At $4+ each at a coffee shop, when I looked at where my money was going, I realized that an obscene amount was being put towards something I could do much cheaper for myself. I've come up with a stand-by recipe for an iced mocha that I think is pretty good. It's not a dinner meal recipe, but I thought I'd share it. It's inexpensive and does not require any fancy expensive espresso machinery, though I do recommend buying a coffee grinder and French press. I've had my French press and coffee grinder set for years, and that $30 total investment has saved me hundreds versus going out for coffee every day (for me, I'm saving $50+ a month). Enjoy!

Iced 'Mocha'

Makes 2

Heat 1 1/2 cups water to a boil. Place 1 T. chocolate syrup (or more if you prefer) in the bottom of each of 2 tall glasses. Prepare strong coffee with the water and 5T coarse, fresh ground coffee, using a French press*. Let sit 4 mins., then press. Poor a small amount of the coffee into each glass, and use a long spoon to mix the syrup with the coffee until well blended. Add 1/4 c. of milk and plenty of ice to each glass. Pour remaining coffee over top and stir to combine. You may need to add more ice at the end. Serve immediately.

Try substituting other flavored syrups, such as vanilla or hazelnut, for the chocolate. They're inexpensive and available at many beverage stores, such as BevMo.

*A French press is $10-$20, available most general home stores, such as Walmart. And in my opinion, well worth the investment if you are a coffee fan. Use it with 100% arabica coffee, and its better than anything you can get at a coffee shop - at a fraction of the cost.

Submitted by Julia

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Yummy, Julia, I love mochas too, hot or cold! :o) We try to make our own coffee at home as often as possible...great for saving money. - Michelle

Girl Scout Thin Mints - Budget Copy Cat Recipes

Like most families, we love Girl Scout cookies. The popular Thin Mints are among our favorites. We are happy to support the Girl Scouts with their fundraising but the price (currently $3.50 per box) has gone up so much over the years. So, we usually make our own "Thin Mint" cookies at home and they are DELICIOUS! They taste almost the same and cost a fraction of the price. And they are SO EASY to make, you will be amazed. We've been doing this for many years and if you haven't tried them yet I hope you will soon.

I was a Girl Scout (you're probably not surprised!), and have fond memories of selling cookies with my mom who volunteered as our scout leader for a few years. Even though the cookies have gone up in price (they were only $1.25 when we sold them), remember this is their main fundraiser for camping trips and other activities. Please support your local troops when you can.

Okay, here we go... You can make these in, oh, about 10 minutes!

Thin Mint Cookies
By Michelle Jones, Founder of BetterBudgeting.com

Ingredients:

Ritz crackers
Peppermint extract
Chocolate almond bark

This recipe makes a lot of cookies. We've never used a whole box of crackers or an entire package of almond bark. Probably more like half of each. Oh my goodness, my mouth is watering just thinking about these delicious cookies!!!

Directions:

Melt about 6 ounces of almond bark at a time in the microwave and add 12 drops of peppermint. Quickly dip crackers into chocolate, thoroughly covering both sides, then place on waxed paper to cool. We use a toothpick to help move the crackers in and out of the chocolate. We usually use several toothpicks for a batch of cookies and make a good mess of everything. But is is SO WORTH IT! Move cooled cookies to a container and continue the process until you have the amount of cookies desired.
You may not think these chocolate covered crackers could possibly taste like Thin Mint cookies, but they do! :o)

This recipe was originally shared with us by a member of our own Cookie Club at CookieClubRecipes.com. Come on over for a visit, we'd love to have you join us!

Copyright 2009 by Michelle Jones
FrugalFamilyRecipes.com

Chocolate Gravy

Chocolate Gravy

3 Tablespoons cocoa
2 Tablespoons flour
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups milk
1 Teaspoon vanilla

Mix all the ingredients in a pan until cocoa and flour are smooth over medium heat. Add milk and stir until smooth and mixture thickens. You may have to add more flour, til it's gravy thickness.

Pour over hot, buttered biscuits. Sounds strange, but it's very tasty for breakfast. Kids LOVE it!

Submitted by Kim Pierce

Coffee Brownies

Featured Comment by Susan...

Michelle, Happy Thanksgiving. Over here in Chamblee I am making brownies for my holiday gifts using a little instant coffee added to the bought packaged mixes, toffie bits, and extra dry cocoa and black walnuts, pecans, chopped candy bars and etc. So, my "coffee" brownies should be good. I got the brownie mixes on extreme sale. If one looks around, walnuts and pecans are in the streets all around the neighborhood.

(Happy Thanksgiving to you Susan! And to all our U.S. readers! I may not be able to post here for the next few days due to the holidays but I promise I will be back to work soon... enjoy a few of those coffee brownies for us, YUM!)