Sugar Free Peanut Butter Cookies

Today is National Peanut Butter Cookie Day. Aren't you so glad that someone is out there making up these ridiculously awesome holidays? I am!

Sugar Free Peanut Butter Cookies

This was my first time to bake with NO sugar at all and use only a sweetener. I used Stevia In The Raw and added no sugar. That being said, I liked these cookies! 

These cookies end up being a little softer than traditional peanut butter cookies and do not get quite as crispy. That being said, I love how the natural peanut butter flavor is really the star here. If you are a peanut butter lover like I am, you've got to give these a try!

Sugar Free Peanut Butter Cookies

     makes 12 cookies

3/4 C natural peanut butter

1/2 C stevia in the raw

1/4 C oat flour*

3 T egg whites, or egg whites from 2 eggs

1/8 tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda

Pinch of salt {optional}

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, add all ingredients together and mix well. Roll into 12 balls and place on parchment paper lined baking sheet. 

With the back of a fork, make vertical and horizontal lines in the dough and flatten cookies. 

Bake for 10 minutes and remove from oven. After a few minutes, transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Aaaaannnnnnddddd, eat! 

If you don't mind a little sugar in your life and would like to try peanut butter cookies with it, try these! 

But if you need a diabetic friendly peanut butter cookie OR you're just looking to cut some sugar out of your diet, try THESE! 

*Make your own oat flour by just taking 1/4 C rolled oats and blending them in a food processor or blender or magic bullet until fine. {It's cheaper than buying oat flour too!} And if you're are eating gluten free, make sure to buy gluten free oats. 

Kung Pao Shrimp with Roasted Cashews

A few weeks ago I made my favorite Chinese dish, Kung Pao Chicken. I liked it so much that I wanted to try it with shrimp.

Kung Pao Shrimp with Roasted Cashews

I'm so glad I did! Wow, this dish comes together so quickly and it's really easy to make. The ingredient list looks long, but half of it you just stir together in a little bowl to make the amazing sauce and voila! You're almost done! When I made the chicken dish I used peanuts because that's what it usually comes with. This time, I used cashews because they are more fancy and I thought they would pair better with the shrimp.

Wait, is shrimp fancy? It is now. Oh you fancy, huh?!

This dish ended up a little spicier than the kung pao chicken and I liked it even better. This girl likes things spiiiiiicy!

Tip: Make sure you have the onion, pepper, garlic, ginger and green onion prepped so you can quickly add them. Like I mentioned, once you start cooking, this dish comes together very quickly!

Kung Pao Shrimp with Roasted Cashews
     serves 4
Marinade
1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 T corn starch + 1 T water
1 T low sodium soy sauce

1 tsp sesame seed oil for frying

Sauce and Veggies
1 T corn starch + 1 T water
1 T sesame oil
1/3 C reduced sodium soy sauce
2 T chili paste
2 tsp chili garlic sauce, such as Sriracha
1 T rice wine vinegar
8 dried red chilies, broken in half
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp grated ginger
1 small onion, chopped into 1 inch pieces
1 green bell pepper, chopped into 1 inch pieces
2 green onions, chopped, plus more for topping
1/2 C roasted, salted cashews or cashew pieces*

In a medium bowl, mix corn starch and water together. Add soy sauce and shrimp. Marinate for at least 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, chop veggies and set side. To make the sauce, in a small bowl, mix the corn starch and water together. Add the sesame oil, soy sauce, chili paste, and chili sauce and mix together.
In a wok or large skillet, heat the tsp of sesame oil over medium heat and add shrimp. Cook for about 2 minutes or until shrimp is cooked through. Remove shrimp from wok and set aside. Add the chilies and cook for about 1 minute. Add the ginger, garlic and onion and sauté for 1-2 minutes. Add the green bell pepper and green onions. Cook for 2 minutes or until the onion and pepper are softened. Add the shrimp back into the wok and pour in the sauce. Cook until the sauce thickens up a bit. Lastly, add in the cashews and stir to combine everything.

Serve it up smokin' hot and top with additional green onions.

The first time we ate this, I served it by itself in a bowl. For the leftovers, we ate it over brown rice. This would be great with jasmine rice, noodles on in lettuce wraps also.

*If you don't have or can't find roasted cashews, you can easily toast them in a skillet before you start, or you can simply add them when you add in the chilies. Just be careful not to burn them because they will cook up quickly.

Roasted Garlic, Goat Cheese & Artichoke Dip

This hot goat cheese dip is so addicting! The creamy roasted garlic cloves give it such a rich flavor and the salty Parmesan cheese gives it a great bite! And with artichokes in every mouthful, this is a very hearty dip.

Roasted Garlic, Goat Cheese & Artichoke Dip

I served this dip for girls-night-in a few weeks ago when my friend, Anna, came over. It is so filling that we actually had it for dinner. Well, this and wine. Duh!

If you have never roasted garlic or don't know how to, check out my easy tutorial. You don't wanna skip it! 

Roasted Garlic, Goat Cheese & Artichoke Dip

8 oz goat cheese, slightly softened

4 oz fat free cream cheese, softened

3/4 C shredded Parmesan cheese

14 oz can artichoke hearts in water, drained and roughly chopped

3 cloves of roasted garlic

1/2 C grated onion

1/2 tsp seasoned salt or flavored salt of choice

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 C shredded Parmesan for topping

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine everything in a large bowl and mix together. Spread in a baking dish and cover with foil. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and remove foil. Top with remaining 1/4 C Parmesan cheese and return to oven for 5-10 minutes or until Parmesan is melty and slightly golden brown. 

Serve hot with your favorite dippers.

I like serving this dip with endives because it is a nice presentation. If you are looking for a low-carb appetizer or dip this is a good one for you. Just make sure the dippers you serve it with are low-carb too. 

This dip is very similar to the ah-mazing Cheesy Artichoke Bread I posted a few weeks ago. So if you love goat cheese like I do, this would be a fun smear for crusty bread loaf also. It's pretty fantastic on whole wheat crackers too!

This one's for the goat cheese fanatic! Cheers! 

Funfetti Candy Pretzel Bites

This will be my second year doing the Color Run in Kansas City. It's a 5K where you run with a bunch of people and get blasted with brightly colored powder. Fun! The only problem is I don't really love to run so I need a little inspiration. These FUNfetti treats are the perfect remedy. They are salty, sweet, crunchy and smooth. And who doesn't love a little bit of chocolate?

Funfetti Candy Pretzel Bites

What makes these little bites funfetti are the Wilton Colorburst candy melts that I melt on the pretzels before topping them with M&M's. They have these great little specks of confetti in them! I usually use Hershey's kisses melted on top, but I couldn't pass by these at the store and not get them.

These Wilton melts come in bright and pastel. I used pastel because of the colors of M&M's I used. I used purple, turquoise, mint green and light pink.

I actually used candy coated chocolate instead of M&M's because I can find them for a little cheaper but either will work great.

Last year I made some funfetti white chocolate puppy chow and look how much fun we had! 

So yeah, this year should be pretty FUN!

Funfetti Candy Pretzel Bites

Pretzels {I like using Snyder Snaps}

10 oz bag Wilton candy melts Colorburst pastels

Colored candy coated chocolates or M&M's

Preheat oven to 200 degrees and line baking sheet with parchment paper. Place one candy melt in the center of each pretzel.

Bake for 4 minutes only. Place one M&M on each candy melt.

Press down slightly.

Place baking sheet in fridge for a few minutes before handling so the candy melts will harden up a bit. 

So what do you think? Are these worthy of being a good snack for the "happiest 5K on the planet?" 

I think so!

Ok, 4 days until the race. Time to start training! :)

For other great funfetti ideas, check out my Party Page! 

Red White and Blue Chevron Cookie Cake

Chevron! It's all the rage right now and it's all over the place. Rugs, nurseries, baby showers and birthday parties, wall paper, phone covers....why not a cake?! A COOKIE cake to be exact.

Red, White & Blue Chevron Cookie Cake 

I had some red, white and blue candies left over from my Stars and Stripes Candy Flag Tray so I thought I would put them to good use. 

Before you get scared and think this is too hard, you should realize I used a cookie mix to make this cake. Hey, bloggers are aloud to be a little lazy sometimes. If the chefs on TV can use pre cooked rotisserie chicken in some of their recipes I'm aloud to use some help from a cookie mix, am I right? 

Red, White & Blue Chevron Oatmeal Cookie Cake 

     makes 1 cookie cake

1 17.5 oz oatmeal chocolate chip cookie mix {I used Betty Crocker}

1 stick butter, softened

1 egg

1 12 oz tub of vanilla frosting

Red, white & blue M&M's or candy coated chocolates

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray 9X13 baking dish with floured cook spray. Mix cookies according to package directions. Spread dough into prepared baking dish. Be patient; it will be sticky and kind of hard to spread out. 

Bake for 13 minutes or until cookie is golden brown on top and middle is cooked through. 

Cool cookie cake completely. Meanwhile, get frosting and candies ready. 

Once cookie cake is completely cool, start out by frosting one side of it. Don't frost the whole thing at once or the frosting could harden too quickly, making it harder for the M&M candies to stick. 

Try to line up candies in a straight line but don't worry if it's not perfect. Mine isn't!

Keep going....

keep going.....

TA DA! 

Now, invite all your friends over to see what a cool cookie cake you made! 

 Why not get the kiddos involved and help sort the candies or put them on the cake? This was pretty fun and I'm sure they would love to help! 

It would be fun to do this with other colors and for other holidays too. Use your favorite team colors or school colors for a fun tailgate or game day treat! You could make a cake instead of a cookie cake, or even brownies or blondes! The possibilities are endless so get creative! Red and green would be fun for Christmas or orange and black for Halloween. What would you make?

Check out my other 4th of July ideas on my holiday page!