Apple Peanut Butter Cookies

As I write this entry, we're less than a week away from Thanksgiving, so today I thought I'd share a relatively healthy cookie recipe that's generated a lot of positive comments over the years.

Apple Butter-Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup apple butter, preferably without sugar
1/2 cup natural style chunky peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup nonfat powdered milk
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt, if peanut butter has no salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins

Prepare cookie sheet with oil or lecithin/oil. Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, beat apple butter, peanut butter, and vanilla. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, stir together the powdered milk, flour, salt, cinnamon and raisins. Add dry ingredients to apple butter mixture and mix well.

Drip by teaspoon onto prepared cookie sheet. Flatten with fork dipped in ice water, making a criss-cross pattern on top.

Bake at 350F for 10 minutes. Cool. Refrigerate until well chilled because doing so will intensify the peanut flavor. Oh, good!

Serve cold. These freeze well. This recipes makes 32 cookies.

Make plenty of these cookies because they'll go fast, holiday or not!

Chet "Peanut Butter Cookies" Day
Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com/blog

P.S. If you have a healthy cookie recipe you'd like to share, click on the "Comment" link below to add it to the blog. And if you love cookies as much as I do click here to sign up for my weekly amazing cookie recipe newsletter.

Red Bean Burgers

How about a recipe with a bit of a kick to it today?

Oh, I thought you'd go for that.

Keep reading...

Jalapeno Red Bean Burgers

1 yellow onion, chopped
1 Roma tomato, chopped
1 jalapeno chili pepper, seeded and chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp chili powder
1 16-oz can kidney beans, drained
4-6 Tbs barbecue sauce
1/3 to 2/3 cup bread crumbs

Put onion, tomato, pepper, and garlic in skillet and stir-fry until beginning to carmalize. Stir in chili powder and remove skillet from heat.

In a bowl, mash the beans. Add onion mixture and barbecue sauce, to taste. Add bread crumbs, enough so the mixture can be formed into patties that hold together.

Grill or fry in lightly greased pan.

If you have a bean burger recipe you'd like to share, click on the "comment" link below and have at it.

Chet "Bean Burger" Day
Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com

Office Exercises

Today I want to share a few simple exercises you can do at home or in your office.

If you work a typical 9-5 day, you can do a lot for your health with a simple 2-minute exercise routine every hour, on the hour -- lunch excepted!

So, try this. Before you start your daily grind at your job, do two minutes of exercise, and then repeat every hour until lunch. Ditto for every hour after lunch.

Here are some simple exercises to include in your routine:

• go up and down a staircase for two minutes, if one is available
• drop to the floor and do pushups and variations for two minutes
• try 120 seconds worth of forward, reverse, or walking lunges
• do a minute or two of bodyweight squats
  

The above list is hardly comprehensive, but it will get you started.

If you want to learn more on this topic, check out our collection of abdominal exercise articles.

Chet "I Like Bodyweight Squats" Day
Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com