Frugal Foodie Fridays: Last week I was honored to be the BSI (blogger secret ingredient) hostess. The event allows the blog host to select an ingredient of their choice, and fellow bloggers and viewers send in recipes that feature the chosen food.

When I selected sunflower seeds as the secret ingredient, little did I know how much trouble I would have in creating my own submission. I admit to some selfish motives for this foodie choice, so perhaps it was karma. I have A TON of raw sunflower seeds on hand because they were so darn cheap, and I needed some healthy inspiration to use them up. I hoped the blogosphere would offer some wonderful recipe ideas, and fortunately, they did.

And, after several trials, I came up with two simple recipes that I am proud to share. First is a Sweet Asian Sunflower Slaw (no-mayo, no-soy, and no-dairy, yet the slaw dressing is thick and rich!) that I posted to my recipe blog, One Frugal Foodie. Second is a Slightly Sweet Sunflower-Pecan Butter with Dice Apples that explodes with nutrition, and is posted to my new blog, Dairy-Free & Fit. But wait, there is more ...

I had one more recipe that I would deem as a success, we just aren't big tahini fans. A swap to another nut butter or even SunButter would make these Seedy Oat Cookies a win in our household. Of course, tahini fans would like these granola-like cookies as is.

As for the submissions, I have already added the Sunbutter Satay Sauce and Sunflower Seed Fudge to my "to make soon" list. But you can view all of the sunflower seed recipe submissions here. Keep in mind, BSI is not a dairy-free event and I didn't want to alter the recipes submitted. With that in mind, most contributors did submit dairy-free recipes, but in a couple you may need to substitute dairy-free margarine for the butter and/or your favorite milk alternative for the milk. All look very doable though.

Seedy Oat Cookies from Dairy-Free & Fit, by cookbook author Alisa Fleming