Archive | March, 2012

Couponing Update: a one paycheck snapshot

12 Mar

After my last couponing update, my one month check-in at the end of February, I had so many emails. Everyone was intrigued by the post and everyone had questions about specifically HOW to do it, exactly what I did. I’d shown the stuff I had gotten for free all month long, but everyone wanted to know *exactly* how I got those things free. So, I decided to keep very detailed notes during the next two week pay period, detailing where I went, what deals I was going for, what I got, how much I paid and how much I saved.

Well, two weeks is up. Tomorrow is pay day and it’ll be time to start all over again. So, here is the running record, with photos, of what I got, when, where, why and how. Hopefully it helps to answer any questions you had, but if not, be sure to email me and I’ll answer them if I can. Please remember, I’m new at this, so I’m not by any means an expert, but I am sharing what I know. Please also remember I only utilize certain stores, so although there might be other deals other places, I’m trying to keep to places I normally go to, places I can go to in between my travels as a “roving reporter” and a mom.

Be sure to read to the end (or skip to the end if you must) to see our final numbers; what we spent, what we saved, what we got for free. It’s amazing to me.

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Payday: February 28
We get paid…time to shop!

FEBRUARY 28:

Regularly scheduled two-week “big shopping” at Aldi’s $120.40  (This is approximately $100 less than average prior to couponing and stockpiling. Two weeks ago when I did my ” big shopping” at Price Rite it was $193, still under with hardly any errands in between to get anything extra, but now this was way under, this time.)

Walmart Run (no coupons) $42.87 (10 items I absolutely had to get, no coupons and hadn’t had any for them in the past month. Time to just cave in and buy them. Even still, this is approximately $60 less than average prior to couponing and stockpiling. And, just as an aside, one of the things I bought, a giant tub of laundry detergent, ended up being something I’d get for free during the following two weeks, but at the time I didn’t know that and we were out.)

FEBRUARY 29: Last day to use February expiring coupons, first day shopping the new week’s sales and deals.

CVS February 29 Transaction #1

CVS
Store Extra Bucks specials

 Cover Girl Spend $10 get $3 in Extra Bucks, Maybelline Spend $10 get $3 in Extra Bucks, Colgate Toothpaste Sale $2.74 plus get $1 in Extra Bucks at the register

Store coupon emailed to me that day: 20% off entire purchase

Expiring Coupons
Cover Girl $2.50 off two items, Maybelline $2.00 off lipstick item, Colgate $1.00 off toothpaste

Gillette Buy one deoderant get one free body wash, Gillette $1 off deoderant

Gillette $1 off body wash

Purchased

Transaction #1:

Two Cover Girl Items (These particular items are items I regularly use and run out of, not things I was just buying to get the Extra Bucks or to use the coupons.)  $7.79 and $8.29, One Colgate toothpaste $2.74, Two Maybelline Items (This lipstick I bought two of, is “my” color so I use it and run out of it and I was currently out of it.) $8.99 each, One Cranston Herald Newspaper $.50, Gillette Body Wash $4.99, Gillette Two Pack Deoderant $8.99, and a specific shampoo and conditioner needed, for $5.99 each and had no coupons for.

Used all the coupons listed above.

TOTAL BEFORE COUPONS, SALES, DISCOUNTS: $67.65

TOTAL AFTER COUPONS: $50.56

TOTAL ATER 20% DISCOUNT: $41.86 (TOTAL SAVINGS: $25.79)

EXTRA BUCKS EARNED FOR FUTURE PURCHASES: $7.00

(NOTE: You can get a price adjustment if you find a coupon you didn’t use. I later went back and got $1.00 off one of the $5.99 items. That decreases my total above and increases my savings above by $1.)

Transaction #2

One Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail product for my daughter who was with me, $9.99

Used Expiring coupon $1 off one SH Nail product (the specific one she was buying)

Used $7.00 CVS Extra Bucks (normally I’d use the Extra Bucks on things we needed, but I’d allowed her to use them instead. I wanted her to see the value in waiting to spend until she had a coupon and EB. She only owed me $2.69 instead of $10.)

TOTAL BEFORE COUPONS: $10.69

TOTAL AFTER COUPONS: $2.69 (TOTAL SAVINGS: $8.00) **FYI: when I put my final numbers at the bottom, I do not include her purchase as it’s her money being used, not ours.

(NOTE: The Salon Effects nail product didn’t work at all, so I emailed Sally Hansen (Coty) right away and will be getting the entire $10 back in the mail–essentially making a $7.00 profit, although not on purpose, obviously. But, that $10 purchase added to my running tally of Beauty Club purchases for which you earn $5 Extra Bucks back every time you “spend” $50.)

Target February 29

Later that same day…
TARGET
Target Store Specials:
Quaker Granola Bars $2 per box (These usually are $2.50 or more, even at Price Rite.) Hunts canned tomatoes $.84 per can

Expiring Coupons:
Yo Crunch Yogurts $.29 off (I had eight coupons)

Yoplait Yogurts $.50 off ten

Any gallon of white milk FREE with any three breakfast products (granola bars, yogurt count as breakfast products) *Milk had to be a name brand. Target brand didn’t count.

Hunts Tomatoes $1.00 off four cans (I had two coupons.) Quaker Granola Bars $1.00 off two boxes

Transaction:
Nine Yo Crunch Yogurts (I know I only had 8 coupons but I needed nine yogurts, three for each kid.) Ten Yoplait Yogurts, One gallon Garelick Farms Milk @ $3.84 per gallon, Two boxes Quaker Granola Bars, Eight Cans of Hunts Tomatoes

Used above coupons

TOTAL BEFORE COUPONS: $26.69

TOATAL AFTER COUPONS: $17.88

TOTAL AFTER RED CARD DEBIT CARD 5% back: $16.99 (TOTAL SAVINGS: $9.70)

My free cereal from Shaw's. But, they wouldn't take my free milk coupon, so I left the milk and went home. I'll never go back to Shaw's.

March 2: On the way to pick up the kids at school I decided to make good on a raincheck I’d gotten a couple of weeks back.

SHAW’S

*Normally I don’t shop at Shaws because it’s so expensive, but I broke my own rule a few weeks back when I realized they had Cheerios for $1.49 and I had three coupons for $.75 off each box. I had to get a rain check for the cereal because they were out. In the meantime I got the free gallon of milk coupon when you buy 3 breakfast items, so I went back to use them together. They also had an item there that I couldn’t get at Aldi’s or Price Rite and I had a coupon for it.

However, when I went, they refused to accept the milk coupon. I will never shop at Shaw’s again.

 

Transaction:

Three boxes Dulce De Leche Cheerios $2.50 each before raincheck : $7.50, One box Slow Cooker Liners $3.99

TOTAL BEFORE COUPONS: $11.49

TOTAL AFTER CEREAL RAINCHECK, CEREAL COUPONS AND LINER COUPON: $3.21

(TOTAL SAVINGS $8.28)

Surprise savings! All I paid for in this photo was the nail polish remover, which was an item we were out of at home.

March 3: CVS surprise trip, surprise savings

I mentioned on my last CVS trip that I needed to bring in a coupon to CVS to have them take it off my receipt because I didn’t have it with me when I went last time. It was for $1. I was going to be in and out, get my dollar and go. As I was getting my $1 back, Caroline went and scanned my card in the machine and out popped $5 in Extra Bucks. With them we bought 2 laundry detergents on sale for $1.99 (happened to be the brand we usually buy, Xtra) and one shampoo and paid nothing. As we were walking out, I saw nail polish remover (which was on my shopping list for next week) with a coupon on it: buy a 2pack of CVS brand nail polish remover ($4.99 for the pack) and get $2 Extra Bucks at the register. So we went back in, bought the remover and used the $2 in Extra Bucks to get a third bottle of detergent. The sale on the detergent was $1.99 but it ended that same night, so that’s why I went back in and bought the remover so I wouldn’t miss the sale.

And best of all….when we went to pay for the nail polish remover to get the extra bucks, they didn’t print out. Upon a closer look, it turned out the label on the nail polish remover was expired at the end of January. So I told them forget it I didn’t want the remover or the detergent. But, they were able to print out $2 ECB for me anyway, which I then did use on the detergent.

Important lessons from this trip:  1) Always scan your card whenever you’re in CVS. 2) Always bring back coupons to take off your receipt if you get them in a reasonable amount of time after you shopped. 3) They will honor expired Extra buck offers if they are advertising them. 4) Always have your coupons with you if you’re going into a store. You never know if you’re going to “need” to shop. If I’d needed a coupon for the remover or the detergent I would’ve had it with me even though I hadn’t planned to buy anything while I was there. You just never know.  5) The CVS Beauty Club rocks. That’s how I keep getting these “surprise” $5 Extra Bucks. Every $50 you “spend” you earn $5 back in EB even if what you “bought” was free or almost free.
TOTAL SPENDING: $5.34 for the remover  TOTAL SAVINGS: $7.00

 

Love the free milk coupons!

Earlier that same day…..

TARGET:
I had purposely been spreading out my Target runs to go with when I needed a gallon of milk so that I could use my free milk coupons as needed. I hadn’t paid full price for a gallon of milk in more than two weeks. But since I can’t store or use all that milk at once, I’d wait til I needed a gallon and then go to Target to get it.

Target Run:
Free Milk Coupon requires that you buy 3 breakfast items. We needed cinnamon bread for french toast and sandwich bread for lunches, those count as the three items. I had a coupon off the two cinnamon breads and of course, the milk was free.

Total before coupons:  $11.71
Total after coupons: $6.87
Total after Red Card Savings: $6.53 (TOTAL SAVINGS: $5.18)

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Sunday, March 4: Price Rite Run: Don decided he wanted Chicken Parm for dinner that night so he made a run to get all the chicken, sauce, cheese etc., needed for that meal. $14 added to our 2 wk. grocery spending at non-coupon stores ($134 total so far. Still wayyyy under the $200-$225 we normally spend when we do our pay day “big shopping.”)

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In my efforts to get all my frozen stuff put away quickly after shopping, I forgot to take a photo of that day's "haul." But here's my tip: storing Eggos out of the box is a space saver in your freezer.

March 5 (start of a new sale week)
TARGET

Store specials and sales, stacked with Manufacturer’s Coupons:

1) Buy 5 Eggo Waffles and/or other specific Kellogg’s products get a $5 Target Gift Card
Sale on Eggo Waffles $2 per box
Coupon for Eggo Waffles (I had two) $1 off three boxes
Coupon for Free Gallon of Milk FREE Garelick MILK ($3.84 value) with purchase of three breakfast items

2) Target Coupon $1 off ten Yoplait Yogurts
Manufacturer’s Coupon $1 off ten Yoplait Yogurts
$.50 off six Yoplait Yogurts

3) Milk Bone Dog Treats on sale
Manufacturer’s Coupon $1.50 off Milk Bone Dog Treats when you buy two
Manufacturer’s Coupon FREE Healthy Treats Dog Treats when you buy two Milk Bone Dog Treats

4) Over the counter daily medicine $1.25 off one, had two coupons, needed two boxes

5) Target Coupon $1.00 off three Kellogg’s Cereals plus the above mentioned Kellogg’s deal
Manufacturer’s Coupon $1.00 off three Kellogg’s Cereals
Sale on certain Kellogg’s Cereals $2.75 each

6) Manufacturer’s Coupon $.99 off Scott Naturals Toilet Paper 4 rolls

7) Target Coupon $1.00 off Quaker Life Cereal
Sale on Quaker Life Cereal $2.74

TRANSACTION ONE: Everything listed above.

TOTAL BEFORE COUPONS: $66.34
TOTAL AFTER COUPONS: $46.55
TOTAL AFTER RED CARD: $44.75 (TOTAL SAVINGS: $21.59)
EARNED $10 in TARGET GIFT CARDS (which I used for Transaction 2)

TRANSACTION TWO:
Clothing on clearance: Three tank tops, two sweatpants for Elizabeth
TOTAL BEFORE GIFT CARDS: $29.96 (or $6 each on average)
TOTAL AFTER GIFT CARDS: $19.96
TOTAL AFTER RED CARD: $18.96 (Savings $11.00)

TOTAL TARGET SPENDING BEFORE SAVINGS FOR TWO TRANSACTIONS: $96.30
TOTAL SPENDING AFTER SAVINGS FOR BOTH TRANSACTIONS: $63.71
TOTAL SAVINGS FOR TRIP ($32.59 or all of Elizabeth’s clothes and one box of waffles for free!)

Zyrtec is very expensive, and two of the girls and I all take it, so getting any sort of deal on them is awesome! In this photo everything but the Zyrtec was free, and I didn't even pay full price for that!

March 7
CVS
Store specials stacked with coupons and Extra Bucks:

1) $10 off Zyrtec 70 count pills one week only. 70 Count is usually $34.99, 2) Had Two Buy 1 Get 1 Manufacturer’s Coupons: Buy one Olay facial cleanser, get an Olay Body Wash Free. 3) Had Two $2 off Olay Body Wash coupons Coupons
4) Olay Facial Wipes on sale $3.99 each, 5) Earn $2 Extra Bucks when you buy Olay Body Wash (Limit 1)
6) Received $5 Extra Bucks from the Beauty Club when I scanned my card today.

Transaction 1:
Bought Two Olay Facial Wipes on sale $3.99 each, Bought Two Olay Body Washes that included a FREE bar of soap with them $6.99 each
TOTAL BEFORE COUPONS: $23.50
TOTAL AFTER COUPONS: $5.52 (TOTAL SAVINGS: $17.98)
EXTRA BUCKS EARNED: $2.00

Transaction 2:
Bought One 70 ct Zyrtec $34.99, CVS Brand Cotton Balls $1.99, CVS Brand Ibuprofin (sale) $4.99, Cranston Herald $.50
TOTAL BEFORE COUPONS: $45.41
TOTAL AFTER COUPONS AND $7.00 EXTRA BUCKS: $28.06 (TOTAL SAVINGS: $17.35)

 WHAT I WOULD HAVE SPENT TOTAL WITHOUT COUPONS: $68.91

TOTAL SPENDING BOTH TRANSACTIONS: $33.58 (less than what Zyrtec alone had cost originally.)
TOTAL SAVINGS BOTH TRANSACTIONS: $35.33

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March 8: Aldi’s Run: Originally I went in for my end of pay period pick up of fresh fruits and veggies, milk, eggs etc. That’s usually about a $25-$30 or so run. However, they had Steel Cut Oats in, and on sale. I had to buy several containers to stock up since I use them often and they are expensive. That and a couple of other extras made my run a $47 run instead.

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We go through one box of waffles per week on average and one box of toaster strudels per week also. We have enough waffles to last approximately....three months. I won't need to buy them again til summer!!

March 10: Just when I thought I was done….
Target

I couldn’t help myself. I received not one, but TWO more Eggo Waffle $1 off three boxes coupons from my friend Pam. The fact that the sale at Target was going on for just one more day was all I could think about. (If you remember the sale was $2 per box and buy 5 get a $5 Target card.) I thought about it for two days, do I go back, or don’t I?

I went back. I opted to buy six boxes to use my two coupons. I used my free gift card to get Pillsbury Toaster Strudels, which I also had a coupon for, $1 off three boxes. So I spent $10 and my $5 gift card.

TOTAL BEFORE COUPONS AND GIFT CARD: $15.87
TOTAL AFTER GIFT CARD, COUPONS AND RED CARD: $10.00

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Here’s the lowdown on our final numbers

GROCERY SHOPPING:

Running 2 week grocery tally: $181, even with enough steel cut oats to sink a boat. This includes doing a “big shopping” as well as my end of the pay period pick up of the milk, eggs, veggies etc. This is much less than normal, well below budget
Walmart trip: $43

COUPON SHOPPING:

Total spent over 2 weeks: $182  ($91 per week)
Total earned free product stockpiled as a result of coupons: $143   ($71.50 per week)

Rebates earned this pay period:

$15 P&G Best in Beauty
The best thing about this rebate was that a while back I’d downloaded the form to my desktop from an email and then forgot all about it, so I didn’t even realize it when I was shopping that the things I was “buying” (Olay, Cover Girl, Head & Shoulders) were qualifiers for a rebate. Later I looked to see what that was on my desktop. It was the rebate and I’d met the qualifications. $15 more back in our pocket!

So there you have it….

Overall, I spent MUCH less on grocery shopping this month and slightly more than last month on coupon shopping but I got more than $140 in free product including what are normally expensive medications, in the process. And…lots of waffles. However, my coupon spending amount is still MUCH less than what all of my Walmart, Target and CVS trips used to be prior to couponing and on those trips I never earned anything for free. My Walmart shopping alone was $100 a trip usually. I have stayed with my goals of 1) only buying what we need, use, run out of, and nothing just for the sake of buying it, and 2) of only going to my usual places, and 3) only buying what we can store. Thankfully, we have Grandma Grello’s freezer in our garage or I could not have made good on all the waffle coupons and sale.

I am spending much less and earning much more.

And, that’s the way I like it!

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Bakerella’s Black Bottom Cupcakes

9 Mar

Bananas, cream cheese, chocolate. Seriously, could anything be better?

Did you ever just have one of those memories of something you ate in your childhood, but never had again? First of all, I have memories of things I’ve eaten, probably every day. But, things I’ve never had again but still remember? Not as often.

When I was younger my mom used to make these fabulous black bottom cream cheese brownies. They had chocolate chips in them. They were mouth-wateringly (is that a word?) delicious. My mouth is watering right now and all I’ve got is my bagel for lunch to satisfy it.

Anyways…I follow this blog, Bakerella, and in fact, she just announced this week that one of her recipes will be featured in the April Women’s Day Magazine. One day on her blog she posted these yummy looking Black Bottom Cupcakes, and just the photos on her blog made me want to make them THAT DAY, never mind the fact that they reminded me of my mom’s black bottom brownies of my youth.

So I did. I made them that very day.

They were SO GOOD.

And healthy! Yup, they have THREE bananas in them. That makes them in the fruits food group in my opinion.

After I made them, I passed the recipe along to my mom and she said, “Those remind me of the black bottom brownies I used to make.”

ME TOO!!

And now, I have her brownie recipe as well. I’ll make them soon and post that one too. Bonus.

In the meantime, here is the recipe for Bakerella’s Black Bottom Cupcakes. One thing to note: It says it made 18, but I ended up with 12. Twelve very large muffin-like brownie cupcakes. I think my muffin tin is too big. Other than that, they were quick and easy. Delicious, definitely a keeper, according to my family.

Now, my photos aren’t as amazing looking as hers, so definitely go over and see her recipe post too, so you can see what I mean.

Black Bottom Cupcakes

Two batters, two bowls.

Cream Cheese Mixture
 8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 small banana, pureed
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

Chocolate Mixture
 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large bananas, pureed
1/3 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

For the cream cheese mixture:

  • Beat cream cheese and sugar until nice and fluffy.
  • Add banana, egg and vanilla and mix together until combined.
  • Stir in chocolate chips and set aside.

I used my Pampered Chef scoop to do the chocolate batter.

For the chocolate mixture:

  • Sift together flour, cocoa, sugar, soda and salt using a wire whisk.
  • Add bananas, oil and vanilla and mix together on low until combined.
  • Use a large scoop to fill cupcake liners with batter.
  • Repeat topping the cupcake batter with the cream cheese mixture.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until done.

Makes about 18 cupcakes.

Recipe adapted from Great American Favorite Brand Name Cookbook, 1993.

See...mine were kinda large by the end! And of course, everyone had to fight over who would get the biggest one with all the chocolate chips from the bottom left corner.

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Cauliflower Au Gratin

8 Mar

Cauliflower AuGratin got four thumbs up this week. It was a recipe I found on Pinterest.

I have had Cauliflower Au Gratin before but I have never made it myself. I’ve never even thought of making it until I happened upon it while perusing Pinterest last week. As I’ve said before, I’m always on the lookout for new things to try, new ways to have “the same old thing.” I thought to myself, “Well, they like mac and cheese,” and figured I’d try this. That’s Mom logic for you.

Funny thing is, I was almost right. Overall, everyone except Alex loved it. Alex had peas though, so everyone was happy.

Here’s the recipe, straight from “Point-less Meals,”  the blog that I pinned on Pinterest. I did have to make some adjustments because of what I did or did not have in my house at the time I made it. I’ve noted them.

INGREDIENTS

serves 12 ( 4 points + )

3 pkgs. ( 16 oz each ) frozen cauliflower (I used a head of fresh, could’ve used two or three though.)
1 large onion, chopped (I used half a large onion.)
⅓ c. butter, cubed
⅓ c. flour
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. ground mustard
¼ tsp. pepper
2 c. skim milk (I had 1%)
½ c. grated Parmesan cheese

Topping:
½ c. whole wheat soft bread crumbs (I used plain bread crumbs)
2 T. butter, melted
¼ tsp. paprika
DIRECTIONS

Cook cauliflower in a Dutch oven with a little water; drain. (I steamed mine.)

Place cauliflower in the bottom of a 13 x 9 dish coated with cooking spray.

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, melt butter. Add onions and cook until tender. Stir in flour, mustard, salt and pepper.

Gradually add milk, stirring and cooking until thickened. Remove from heat; add Parmesan cheese. Stir until blended.

Spread cheese mixture over cauliflower.

Mix bread crumbs with butter and paprika. Sprinkle over cheese mixture.

Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

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Purim 101

7 Mar

When I heard that these cookies could be made with chocolate chips as a filling, I knew I had to try them.

What’s Purim, you ask?

Well, at least that’s what I asked when my friend Pam said that I should include a Purim recipe on my blog for the upcoming Jewish holiday.

Not being Jewish, I had not even heard of Purim and definitely not of a cookie recipe to go with it. I asked Pam for an explanation and within a day or so, she sent me one, along with the recipe. It looked pretty easy and it said that you could use chocolate chips in it, so in my mind that meant I had to at least try it out so that I could include it on my blog in time for Purim. I figured that if the recipe was a keeper, I’d celebrate Purim every year!

Well, it wasn’t *exactly* a keeper, but if you watch TLC’s “Four Weddings,” where they rate the weddings on several different benchmarks, I’d say the overall score was a 7 out of 10. It was a very simple recipe, didn’t use a ton of utensils or bakeware (always good for someone without a dishwasher,) the batter was yummy and the cookies got all thumbs up from my kids. But, they didn’t come out looking “just like the picture,” when I Googled “Purim Cookies.” They didn’t hold their shape very well. Later when I re-read the recipe it said you could freeze them prior to baking them to get them to hold their shape when baking. I should’ve read more carefully, but even still I don’t think I would have taken the time to do the extra step, at least not without trying it out first.

Here’s what Pam sent me regarding the holiday:

Jewish Year 5772: sunset March 7, 2012 – nightfall March 8, 2012
The story of Purim is told in the Biblical book of Esther. The heroes of the story are Esther, a beautiful young Jewish woman living in Persia, and her cousin Mordecai, who raised her as if she were his daughter. Esther was taken to the house of Ahasuerus, King of Persia, to become part of his harem. King Ahasuerus loved Esther more than his other women and made Esther queen, but the king did not know that Esther was a Jew, because Mordecai told her not to reveal her identity.
The villain of the story is Haman, an arrogant, egotistical advisor to the king. Haman hated Mordecai because Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman, so Haman plotted to destroy the Jewish people. In a speech that is all too familiar to Jews, Haman told the king, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your realm. Their laws are different from those of every other people’s, and they do not observe the king’s laws; therefore it is not befitting the king to tolerate them.” Esther 3:8. The king gave the fate of the Jewish people to Haman, to do as he pleased to them. Haman planned to exterminate all of the Jews.

Strawberry filled

Mordecai persuaded Esther to speak to the king on behalf of the Jewish people. This was a dangerous thing for Esther to do, because anyone who came into the king’s presence without being summoned could be put to death, and she had not been summoned. Esther fasted for three days to prepare herself, then went into the king. He welcomed her. Later, she told him of Haman’s plot against her people. The Jewish people were saved, and Haman and his ten sons were hanged on the gallows that had been prepared for Mordecai.

And here is the recipe she sent:

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups butter or margarine, softened
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 6 tablespoons orange juice
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 (12 ounce) can poppyseed filling (people use raspberry or apricot jam, or even chocolate chips)

Refrigerate batter at least two hours.

Directions

  1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the orange juice and vanilla. Mix in the baking powder, then gradually stir in the flour until the dough forms a ball. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours. I like to do mine overnight.
  2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
  3. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into 3 inch circles using a cookie cutter or drinking glass. Place circles on the prepared cookie sheets. Spoon 1 teaspoon of filling onto the center of each circle. (Any more and it will ooze out) Pinch the sides of each circle to form a triangle, covering as much of the filling as possible. The cookies may be frozen on the cookie sheets if desired to help retain their shape while cooking.
  4. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until light golden brown. These are best undercooked slightly. Cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

    Chocolate chip, blackberry, strawberry and apricot filled cookies.

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Chicken A La King

6 Mar

Thick, rich, creamy...all my favorite things!

This recipe is probably sooooo not healthy, but it’s really soooo delicious. It’s one that I got out of my “Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook” a few years back. I distinctly remember wanting to make something new and different that day and trying to find a recipe that I actually had everything for. This was that recipe. It’s really very good. Most of the time I make the “Cheesy Chicken A La King” version, which is listed below. I love Swiss Cheese and the combination of the Swiss and the Sherry is just amazing. It says to serve it on toast points, but I do my usual bed of rice or egg noodles. At least if you do egg noodles and someone doesn’t like the chicken, they’ve got pasta.

All the ingredients laid out, except the mushrooms.

CHICKEN A LA KING

Ingredients:

 1/4 cup margarine or butter

1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms or one four ounce can of stemps and pieces, drained (I use fresh)

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1 3/4 cups milk

1 cup chicken broth

2 cups cubed cooked chicken or turkey

1/4 cup chopped pimiento (I don’t use this)

2 tablesppons dry sherry (optional but I always use it)

8 toast points or 4 baked patty shells (I use white rice or buttered egg noodles instead)

You'll be able to tell when the sauce is ready, it starts out very thin and then thickens.

Directions:

 In a saucepan melt margarine.

If using fresh mushrooms add mushrooms and cook til tender.

Stir in flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Add milk and chicken broth all at once.

Cook and stir til thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir 1 minute more.

Add canned mushrooms if using.

Stir in chicken or turkey and pimiento and if desired, dry sherry.

Heat through and spoon atop toast points.

I always serve over rice or over egg noodles rather than toast.

Alternative: CHEESY CHICKEN A LA KING 

Prepare as above except add 1 cup shredded American or swiss cheese to the thickened mixture before adding the chicken or turkey and stir til cheese melts.

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Nature vs. Nurture and Alex’s List

5 Mar

Our youngest....

When you have a child, one of the first things you notice is how different life is, how different you yourself become. When you have more than one kid, you realize again how different life is, how different you are, and now, how different they each are from each other.

As most of you know, we have three daughters, no boys, and it always amazes me how different they each are, how individual they are despite the fact that we “raise them all the same.”

I’m amazed at who is daring, who is nurturing, who is cautious. Although they may each have indicators of being all of those things, they each have their strengths, weaknesses, and differences. It’s kind of like a science experiment, watching them grow.

As much as we both love to cook, we are strong supporters of the theory that we are not a restaurant, we are not short order cooks and therefore, we only make one meal per night. For the most part, all the kids like at least some part of each meal and if they are still hungry there’s always fruit, yogurt, cheese or cereal if needed. This seems to work out fine for the most part.

However, there’s Alex. Our lefty, our brown-eyed girl, our youngest daughter, our cutie-patootie. She’s always been the one to go off the beaten path, even when she was a baby. For the most part, she hates meat, almost all meats. Every now and again she’ll eat a bbq rib or a meatball, overall she seems to like ground beef and they all love fish. But chicken, or “the other chicken: pork,” or steak, cubed beef, no no and no again. She’s been this way since she started solid foods. We’ve always said she’s our little vegetarian, even though technically she does eat some meat, so yes we do realize she’s not *really* a vegetarian.

One night last week after dinner, when again she did not eat the meat (but had cheese instead) I called her over to me and said that I was beginning to worry because it seemed like she never really liked anything we ate for dinner, and that I was running out of ideas for things to make that she would like. After I said that she looked up at me with her big brown eyes, and she looked sad, like she was in trouble, even though she wasn’t. I instantly felt bad. She said to me, “Mommy, tomorrow I’m going to make you a list of all the things I like because there are more things I DO like than things I DON’T like.”

I love her. I could just eat her up.

Sure enough, the next day she came home from school, did her homework, and asked me for a sheet of loose leaf paper so that she could make me her list. It was so stinkin’ cute, I just had to share it here. I’ve translated it, although I put her original spelling first. I know that she’s left some things off of both lists, and I’m not so sure it helps me with planning out my meals a ton, but we did indeed have “spgety with met ball” for dinner that night.

She does like pizza...

ALEX’S LIST:

I Don’t Like…
corn
chickin   (chicken)
lefstovermacarone   (leftover macaroni)
star berry Jilly    (strawberry jelly)
opukot Jilly    (apricot jelly)
I Like….
frot          (fruit)
pee’s        (peas)
Frinch tost      (french toast)
walfle       (waffle)
pan  cake’s    (pancakes)
maciches     (mac and cheese)
pissa      (pizza)
spgety with met ball    (spaghetti with meatballs)
grild chees     (grilled cheese)
jicinagits    (chicken nuggets)
backin    (bacon)
saled    (salad)

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Donut Maker Update

2 Mar
Babyckaes Donut Maker

My new toy!

Back in January I posted on my blog about our New Year’s Eve Donut Wars. At the time we’d just received our Babycakes Donut Maker and it was our very first time using it. Now that we’ve had it a couple of months, I thought I’d put out a quick update letting you know what we’ve tried since then.

First of all, I am still a huge fan of the donut maker. It’s so much fun to use. To date we have used it three more times since that first time.

We used it in January with a pumpkin spice donut mix that my mother-in-law brought with her when she visited. Before making them that time though, we went to AC Moore and I bought a pastry bag with a tip to use when filling the donut wells. MUCH easier than using a ziploc bag. Caroline has become a pro at filling the wells. I use that time to make the frosting so that we can frost them while they’re slightly warm.

Everyone had their own donuts to frost, their own bowl of frosting and their own spoon.

The next time we used it was for a triple playdate after school. Once the word about us having a donut maker got out, “everyone” wanted to come over and try it out. I decided to bite the bullet and let each kid have one friend over after school all in one day. We’d make the donuts and let the six kids frost them. So later on in January that’s what we did. Although I wasn’t sure if it’d be too much for me to keep organized, it worked out fine. I mixed up the batter and while Caroline filled the wells, her friend helped me make the frosting (a double batch of frosting seems to be enough for all the donuts that one recipe yields.) Then when we were ready to frost, I gave each girl a plate, four donuts to frost, and a bowl of frosting with a spoon. They could do whatever they wanted with their four but couldn’t share with each other (I didn’t want to share germs if they’d been licking their spoons, fingers etc.) I put a common area in the center of the table for sprinkles and decorations. It worked out great. They could then eat their donuts when they were done, or save them to take home, or whatever they wished. It worked out great.

The kids like being able to decorate their donuts however they want to. I try to have plenty of sprinkles out.

Another thing I did differently for the playdate this time from other times, was I used the recipe that came in the box for the Sour Cream Donuts rather than a cake mix, and the recipe for their Chocolate Frosting instead of a tub of frosting. Both were very, very good and easy to make. It made the donuts truly taste like donuts, rather than like cupcakes, which is what happens if you use a cake mix. Both work fine, but if you’re looking for that donut taste, definitely try out their recipes.

Separate work stations for each kid seems to work out great; no cross contamination!

The next time we used it was for a cousins sleepover. We had one of our cousins sleep over during February Vacation Week and we thought it would be fun to make donuts with her for our movie night, and we were right, it was fun!

I used the exact same two recipes and did it the same way, with Caroline filling the wells while I made the frosting. I still kept it to four donuts per kid and we had more leftover, which I sent home with our cousin for her brothers.

Overall, we’ve really enjoyed the Babycakes Donut Maker! We’ve got Alex’s birthday coming up soon and she’s already said that she’d like donuts instead of cupcakes this year, so I’ll take it out again for that, if not sooner. I’m also anxious to try out the other recipes in their booklet. There’s a chocolate donut recipe, a maple donut recipe as well as vanilla glaze and maple glaze frosting recipes. Grandma Rose loves maple glazed donuts so we might just surprise her one day with some.

Now…if I could just get the Babycakes Cake Pop Maker……:)

Here are a couple of other “finished product” photos from our donut making experiences.

The "after" shot.

If you run out of or don't like frosting, there's always powdered sugar on top which is yummy!

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Food on the Table: A new website and a new pork chop recipe

1 Mar

We tried out a new pork chop recipe at our house recently.

We have a tough time with pork chops in our house. Don doesn’t love them, Alex hates almost all meat including “the other chicken, the pork kind,” and the other two kids sometimes love them and sometimes hate them. I personally love them. I try to make them on nights it’s just the girls and me, and I try to find new ways to make them all the time.

This most recent recipe was one that I got from a new website that’s out there now called Food on the Table.

The website allows you to search recipes, create meal plans, and will even make your list and search the local grocery stores for sales on the items on your list. It’s a comprehensive website.

They allow you to create a meal plan with up to three recipes per week for free. So far I have tried two of my three recipes. I liked this one and didn’t like the other one. I will be trying more recipes though.

This recipe is supposed to be for the grill, but since it’s winter and we are currently out of propane for our outdoor grill, we broiled inside instead.

I personally liked this recipe quite a bit. Don seemed to like it, for as much as he likes pork chops, and the kids gave it mixed reviews. Alex still hates meat.

If you try it, let me know what you think. And, if you try out Food on the Table, let me know what you think of that also.

GRILLED HONEY GARLIC PORK CHOPS

INGREDIENTS

1/3 cup ketchup

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup soy sauce (it says to make gluten free, use wheat free tamari.)

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 five to six ounce pork chops

salt and pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS

Combine ketchup, honey, soy sauce and garlic. Set aside.

Lightly season pork with salt and pepper.

Brush each chop with sauce to coat.

Grill chops on grill, basting with sauce often for about 5 minutes on each side or until meat is cooked through.

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