Monday, July 25, 2011
Good For You Cookies
Just finished baking 2.5 dozen delicious Good For You Cookies. The recipe is Top Secret but I will tell you this much...its an Oatmeal cookie recipe (which is already nutritionally quite good for you) with a super foods punch. My munchkins keep begging for cookies at the store but there is no way I will let them fill up on foods that are full of ingredients I cannot pronounce and do not know. Instead, we grab a handful of healthy ingredients and bake up some feel good foods that are full of Love and all the things your body needs to be healthy. I do not have the try very hard to be a sneaky baker, I just use good tasting and good for you ingredients, a little bit of chemistry, and viola, Healthy Snacks :-)
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Seeds and Things
Lets see, I've been a busy bee lately. I now have two tomato plants, but for the sake of full disclosure that is two out of three plants. My very first tomato plant fell victim to the gusty wind with a mortal wound right at the base of the stem. but I have since gained two new plants, the first is growing quite well excluding some fungus issues that have since been addressed thanks to my friendly Horticulturalist at the home improvement store. We are now all set with a child and pet friendly omni safe fungicide. I cannot undo the damage but I can keep it from spreading. That survivor of a tomato plant is already popping out little green tomatoes and more pretty little yellow flowers that, ideally, will give way to more little green tomatoes.
My second, and younger, tomato plant is growing very well, though it looks a bit silly. Both tomato plants are in grow bags hanging upside down. The smaller plant is trying to grow back up, and the stem has formed a U shape! It is the strangest thing to see. this one has been giving a preventative treatment of fungicide.
My flowers in the wine barrel plants are doing very well, overflowing their containers. I had to cut some down today and put them into a vase to cheer up the house. My raspberry plants and the flowers they were potted with have since been transplanted to the front yard, hopefully they will thrive a bit better out there. I have never known any raspberry plants that did not thrive to the point of taking over, but these darn things are barely hanging on. If only I could figure out what they are unhappy about I could bottle and sell it to all the people who can't get rid of the raspberry plants. I remember my Grandmother had raspberries in her backyard when I was growing up. When they got to the point of overtaking the garden my grandmother would go out there and cut them all down only to have them suddenly reappear growing bigger and faster than ever. There were times she tried to remove them all together but somehow they always managed to grow back. I loved going outside to play and eating fresh raspberries straight off the bush. The rabbits loved them too. My Grandmother, however, did not love the rabbits! I used to get very indignant about her shooing the rabbits away from her yard, because I loved all the wild creatures and didn't see the harm in a few rabbits playing in the yard, eating some low hanging raspberries and being relatively safe from the neighborhood predators. Now that I am grown and have a yard and garden of my own I have a much better understanding of the destructive path a rabbit can leave. Last year they demolished my entire stock of flowering bushes before they even had a chance to leaf. And don't get me started on what can happen to a plot of strawberry plants if a rabbit sneaks into your yard! We have been very lucky at our new home that the rabbits and squirrels have so far seen fit to steer clear of our yard. I hear constantly about how everyone's yards are covered in holes and nothing seems to keep them out.
Oh, I also planted some pumpkin seeds, watermelon seeds, cantaloupe seeds, and summer squash seeds! I am super excited because I want to try growing them from hanging baskets and using supports. By no means do I have the sheer square footage to grow them on the ground in a traditional manner. But after touring The World exhibit at Disney World and reading about innovative growing methods I learned that it is completely possible to grow vine plants up, or down, and they are strong enough to support their fruit until it reaches the size of a volleyball. I also discovered that we apparently have a fruit or vegetable plant growing in the little fenced in area for our television dish. At first I thought it was cantaloupe, but now I think it might actually be a squash. Time will tell.
I do have some exciting news. One of the women that organized the Bake-off that my cupcakes won asked if I would consider making the cupcakes for their Spouse Appreciation Dinner this week. At first I was thinking that I would say no, but Prince Charming talked me into it, which wasn't hard since I wanted to do it anyway. I am going to be spending a lot of time baking in the next few days. They need approximately one hundred cupcakes. They wanted multiple flavors so I think I have pretty much settled on Spiced Chai & Honey, Coconut, Red Velvet, and a traditional Vanilla possibly with a Vanilla Rum frosting. What do you think? Would vanilla and rum partner well for a cupcake? I use rum in my Tiramisu cupcakes and it complements the marscapone cheese nicely. I thought about making the Tiramisu cupcakes but they are expensive to make and very time consuming, especially considering that the frosting needs to set in the fridge for 4 to 12 hours before serving. I make everything from scratch and my recipes, excluding the coconut, only make twelve cupcakes which means I am going to be spending a lot of time mixing and whipping. I decided to bake over two days, then frost them all the last day so the frosting is nice and fresh.
Any thoughts?
Thanks for hanging around,
K
My second, and younger, tomato plant is growing very well, though it looks a bit silly. Both tomato plants are in grow bags hanging upside down. The smaller plant is trying to grow back up, and the stem has formed a U shape! It is the strangest thing to see. this one has been giving a preventative treatment of fungicide.
My flowers in the wine barrel plants are doing very well, overflowing their containers. I had to cut some down today and put them into a vase to cheer up the house. My raspberry plants and the flowers they were potted with have since been transplanted to the front yard, hopefully they will thrive a bit better out there. I have never known any raspberry plants that did not thrive to the point of taking over, but these darn things are barely hanging on. If only I could figure out what they are unhappy about I could bottle and sell it to all the people who can't get rid of the raspberry plants. I remember my Grandmother had raspberries in her backyard when I was growing up. When they got to the point of overtaking the garden my grandmother would go out there and cut them all down only to have them suddenly reappear growing bigger and faster than ever. There were times she tried to remove them all together but somehow they always managed to grow back. I loved going outside to play and eating fresh raspberries straight off the bush. The rabbits loved them too. My Grandmother, however, did not love the rabbits! I used to get very indignant about her shooing the rabbits away from her yard, because I loved all the wild creatures and didn't see the harm in a few rabbits playing in the yard, eating some low hanging raspberries and being relatively safe from the neighborhood predators. Now that I am grown and have a yard and garden of my own I have a much better understanding of the destructive path a rabbit can leave. Last year they demolished my entire stock of flowering bushes before they even had a chance to leaf. And don't get me started on what can happen to a plot of strawberry plants if a rabbit sneaks into your yard! We have been very lucky at our new home that the rabbits and squirrels have so far seen fit to steer clear of our yard. I hear constantly about how everyone's yards are covered in holes and nothing seems to keep them out.
Oh, I also planted some pumpkin seeds, watermelon seeds, cantaloupe seeds, and summer squash seeds! I am super excited because I want to try growing them from hanging baskets and using supports. By no means do I have the sheer square footage to grow them on the ground in a traditional manner. But after touring The World exhibit at Disney World and reading about innovative growing methods I learned that it is completely possible to grow vine plants up, or down, and they are strong enough to support their fruit until it reaches the size of a volleyball. I also discovered that we apparently have a fruit or vegetable plant growing in the little fenced in area for our television dish. At first I thought it was cantaloupe, but now I think it might actually be a squash. Time will tell.
I do have some exciting news. One of the women that organized the Bake-off that my cupcakes won asked if I would consider making the cupcakes for their Spouse Appreciation Dinner this week. At first I was thinking that I would say no, but Prince Charming talked me into it, which wasn't hard since I wanted to do it anyway. I am going to be spending a lot of time baking in the next few days. They need approximately one hundred cupcakes. They wanted multiple flavors so I think I have pretty much settled on Spiced Chai & Honey, Coconut, Red Velvet, and a traditional Vanilla possibly with a Vanilla Rum frosting. What do you think? Would vanilla and rum partner well for a cupcake? I use rum in my Tiramisu cupcakes and it complements the marscapone cheese nicely. I thought about making the Tiramisu cupcakes but they are expensive to make and very time consuming, especially considering that the frosting needs to set in the fridge for 4 to 12 hours before serving. I make everything from scratch and my recipes, excluding the coconut, only make twelve cupcakes which means I am going to be spending a lot of time mixing and whipping. I decided to bake over two days, then frost them all the last day so the frosting is nice and fresh.
Any thoughts?
Thanks for hanging around,
K
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Why are Pancakes so Easy?
I have to admit that I love pancakes. And waffles. But mostly I love the way you can turn a boring pancake into something fantastic. I am partial to Spiced Blueberry Pancakes myself. I stand by the theory that if you are going to eat delicious carbs, you might as well do what you can to make them good for you. I love the taste of blueberries and they have so much to offer, not to mention the spices and seasonings you can add to any baked good to give it not only an added flavor kick but add nutritional and health value. My secret weapon is Nutmeg. And my right hand spice is Cinnamon. I sneak them into probably 50% of the foods I make. I even drink Cinnamon tea at night before bed when I have that horrible snack craving.
Pancakes are fantastic for about anything, you can make them sweet or savory. Anyone who knows me will know that I prefer the sweet breakfast version. I am not sure if my children know what a plain pancake is. Toss in some blueberries, a cut up banana, even an apple will do (with a nice added crunch and sweet or tart flavor). Something else I have learned to love is tossing some yogurt into my pancake mix. Not too much or it won't cook right. If you get it right, you will have the moist, fluffy pancakes that we all envision but rarely actually find when we order pancakes. I know that it is just edging into summer territory, but for a seasonal bend you can add a little canned pumpkin puree or pumpkin pie mix to your pancakes...utterly delicious. Don't worry about getting it right the first time, finding delicious flavor requires experimentation and practice and a great deal of "oopses." I was lazy this morning and tried to cut corners by making my pancakes in a frying pan instead of on our electric griddle and I burned the first half I cooked. I couldn't get the temperature just right and the butter ended up scorched. Failure is a prerequisite for any worthwhile success.
Thanks for hanging around,
K
Pancakes are fantastic for about anything, you can make them sweet or savory. Anyone who knows me will know that I prefer the sweet breakfast version. I am not sure if my children know what a plain pancake is. Toss in some blueberries, a cut up banana, even an apple will do (with a nice added crunch and sweet or tart flavor). Something else I have learned to love is tossing some yogurt into my pancake mix. Not too much or it won't cook right. If you get it right, you will have the moist, fluffy pancakes that we all envision but rarely actually find when we order pancakes. I know that it is just edging into summer territory, but for a seasonal bend you can add a little canned pumpkin puree or pumpkin pie mix to your pancakes...utterly delicious. Don't worry about getting it right the first time, finding delicious flavor requires experimentation and practice and a great deal of "oopses." I was lazy this morning and tried to cut corners by making my pancakes in a frying pan instead of on our electric griddle and I burned the first half I cooked. I couldn't get the temperature just right and the butter ended up scorched. Failure is a prerequisite for any worthwhile success.
Thanks for hanging around,
K
Friday, May 13, 2011
Cupcakes and Procrastination
Its been a while. Our internet is so terrible that most days we only have sporadic internet access, if any at all. Prince Charming finally decided to switch internet providers and hopefully this issue will be resolved by next week. "Yay." I was wandering around the store a few days ago when I spotted a cupcake book...I fell in love. No, I did not buy it (but I plan to...hehehe). I love my recipes but I would like to try a few new ones and this book is prime material for cute, fancy, creative, and ingenious cupcake decorating. They have it broken down into categories and there are designs and ideas for most seasons and holidays and special occasions.
While we are on the topic of cupcakes now would be a good time to share the happy news! A friend told me about a local Bake-Off competition last minute and urged me to enter. It was as good an excuse as I needed to make me some cupcakes :-) I ended up staying up until 2am mixing, baking, and whipping. In the end it was all worth it (not just because then my house smelled amazing and I would have "left overs" in my fridge) because my custom specialty Tiramisu cupcakes not only won Best Fingerfoods (it was originally going to be the Best Cupcake category but they decided to merge all the individual desserts i.e. cupcakes, cookies, chocolate dipped strawberries, etc at the last minute) but my Tiramisu cupcakes won Best In Show. I was very excited. My main competition was a woman who has her own cottage business baking gourmet cupcakes and her cupcakes always look fantastic. I was excited because sometimes you just want to know that you do something really well, something that sets you apart from the pack. I work really hard to be good at what I do, professionally, academically, etc and like most people who work hard can understand, there is a lot of stress that comes with setting high standards for yourself. Well, baking cupcakes makes me happy and washes my stress away. I like to think of it as aromatherapy for the carb inclined :-) Smelling something baking is such an instant relaxer, eating it makes you forget what you were so worried about in the first place, and giving it to someone else to enjoy makes you feel warm and happy inside. I could never be a full time baker, that would take all the fun out of it...but finding time to beat butter and sugar into submission improves my outlook on my week. I was happy that someone else really liked my Tiramisu cupcakes. They are definitely one of my more complicated recipes, and overall more expensive too since I use authentic ingredients. I baked Tiramisu, Pumpkin Spice, and Chai and Honey Cupcakes for the bake-off.....then my munchkin plowed through the extras in the fridge. He was actually getting up early and sneaking into the kitchen to help himself to breakfast! I left half of the extras bare, no frosting, so it really wasn't that bad for him...especially since he was eating the Pumpkin Spice cupcakes.
Happy Eating!
K
While we are on the topic of cupcakes now would be a good time to share the happy news! A friend told me about a local Bake-Off competition last minute and urged me to enter. It was as good an excuse as I needed to make me some cupcakes :-) I ended up staying up until 2am mixing, baking, and whipping. In the end it was all worth it (not just because then my house smelled amazing and I would have "left overs" in my fridge) because my custom specialty Tiramisu cupcakes not only won Best Fingerfoods (it was originally going to be the Best Cupcake category but they decided to merge all the individual desserts i.e. cupcakes, cookies, chocolate dipped strawberries, etc at the last minute) but my Tiramisu cupcakes won Best In Show. I was very excited. My main competition was a woman who has her own cottage business baking gourmet cupcakes and her cupcakes always look fantastic. I was excited because sometimes you just want to know that you do something really well, something that sets you apart from the pack. I work really hard to be good at what I do, professionally, academically, etc and like most people who work hard can understand, there is a lot of stress that comes with setting high standards for yourself. Well, baking cupcakes makes me happy and washes my stress away. I like to think of it as aromatherapy for the carb inclined :-) Smelling something baking is such an instant relaxer, eating it makes you forget what you were so worried about in the first place, and giving it to someone else to enjoy makes you feel warm and happy inside. I could never be a full time baker, that would take all the fun out of it...but finding time to beat butter and sugar into submission improves my outlook on my week. I was happy that someone else really liked my Tiramisu cupcakes. They are definitely one of my more complicated recipes, and overall more expensive too since I use authentic ingredients. I baked Tiramisu, Pumpkin Spice, and Chai and Honey Cupcakes for the bake-off.....then my munchkin plowed through the extras in the fridge. He was actually getting up early and sneaking into the kitchen to help himself to breakfast! I left half of the extras bare, no frosting, so it really wasn't that bad for him...especially since he was eating the Pumpkin Spice cupcakes.
Happy Eating!
K
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Amazing Movie Deal!
Okay, so I heard about this from a friend, thanks Lindsey! Right now Best Buy is offering a few specials and sales which just so happens to coincide with Disney offering a great deal on a few of the same items! I bought The Incredibles on Blu-Ray DVD combo, and Cars on Blu-ray DVD combo, as well as Horton Hears a Who! on Blu-Ray. Normally the prices would have broken down like this:
The Incredibles- $34.99
Cars- $29.99
Horton Hears a Who!- $19.99
So that would have brought my total to $84.97 plus tax.
But here's the deal. Best Buy is having a huge sale on a wide assortment of DVD's, including $10 off of The Incredibles (Which is not advertised by the way either online or on the shelf) and $5 off of Cars (this one was not actually even on the shelf when I got there but I asked and the sales guy went to check in the stock room and they had just gotten a box of them in for this promotion but hadn't bothered to put them out on the floor yet...go figure), they are advertising an additional discount of $10 if you buy Cars and The Incredibles together. Then I found the rack of Horton Hears a Who! dvd's. They had traditional dvd's, Blu-Ray dvd's and a few other options...all on sale. The Traditional was marked down to $7.95 and the Blue-Ray was on sale for $9.99. That in itself is a great deal. But here is kicker. I paid even less then the great sale prices!
Disney is offering "upgrade" coupons toward the purchase of the Blu-ray/DVD combo packs of Cars and The Incredibles. If you have a Disney Rewards account, and it is completely free to set up and use and is really a great deal if you do buy Disney movies from anywhere, you an log in and type in the UPC code off of the back of your Cars or The Incredibles movie case. If you do not have a UPC readily available you can find them on the different deal sites online....check out this one
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?s=b3c0ab725387a29e433cb1f1ed1335ed&t=2822021
and this one for more info on this deal!
http://www.mamacheaps.com/2011/04/hot-best-buy-cars-incredibles-both-blu-raydvd-combo-packs-2-movie-tickets-for-cars-2-for-21-98-total-starts-412.html
So I have a Disney Rewards account, yay. I log in and put in the UPC for Cars and it gives me a coupon for $8 to print out. Then I put in the UPC for The Incredibles and it gives me a $10 coupon to print out. Holy Moly, I am liking this. So we head into town and I get The Incredibles, Horton Hears a Who! and finally Cars after the sales associate gets the unopened box of Cars dvd's from the back room.
All said and done when I got to checkout the Incredibles was $19.99 after in store sales and with the coupon I paid a whopping $9.99!!!
With Cars, after the in store sales it came to $19.99 a well and after the coupon Cars was $11.99.
Horton Hears a Who did not have any additional coupons but it was on sale so I only paid $9.99 for the Blu-Ray DVD :-)
Oh, did I mention the freebies? So when you purchase either Cars for The Incredibles there is a code inside that you redeem at the Disney website for a FREE movie ticket to see Cars 2 when it comes out this summer! We bought both of the movies so that is two free tickets, score! Then with Horton Hears a Who! there is a code to get $10 toward Hollywood Movie Bucks for a ticket to see Rio, which just came out in theaters. Thats another free ticket. So not only did I only pay 31.97 plus tax (before I used my giftcard...hehehe I only paid $11.00!!!!) for $85 worth of movies, but I have three absolutely free movie tickets! It was a good day.
And yet again, thanks for hanging out!
Love, Katie
The Incredibles- $34.99
Cars- $29.99
Horton Hears a Who!- $19.99
So that would have brought my total to $84.97 plus tax.
But here's the deal. Best Buy is having a huge sale on a wide assortment of DVD's, including $10 off of The Incredibles (Which is not advertised by the way either online or on the shelf) and $5 off of Cars (this one was not actually even on the shelf when I got there but I asked and the sales guy went to check in the stock room and they had just gotten a box of them in for this promotion but hadn't bothered to put them out on the floor yet...go figure), they are advertising an additional discount of $10 if you buy Cars and The Incredibles together. Then I found the rack of Horton Hears a Who! dvd's. They had traditional dvd's, Blu-Ray dvd's and a few other options...all on sale. The Traditional was marked down to $7.95 and the Blue-Ray was on sale for $9.99. That in itself is a great deal. But here is kicker. I paid even less then the great sale prices!
Disney is offering "upgrade" coupons toward the purchase of the Blu-ray/DVD combo packs of Cars and The Incredibles. If you have a Disney Rewards account, and it is completely free to set up and use and is really a great deal if you do buy Disney movies from anywhere, you an log in and type in the UPC code off of the back of your Cars or The Incredibles movie case. If you do not have a UPC readily available you can find them on the different deal sites online....check out this one
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?s=b3c0ab725387a29e433cb1f1ed1335ed&t=2822021
and this one for more info on this deal!
http://www.mamacheaps.com/2011/04/hot-best-buy-cars-incredibles-both-blu-raydvd-combo-packs-2-movie-tickets-for-cars-2-for-21-98-total-starts-412.html
So I have a Disney Rewards account, yay. I log in and put in the UPC for Cars and it gives me a coupon for $8 to print out. Then I put in the UPC for The Incredibles and it gives me a $10 coupon to print out. Holy Moly, I am liking this. So we head into town and I get The Incredibles, Horton Hears a Who! and finally Cars after the sales associate gets the unopened box of Cars dvd's from the back room.
All said and done when I got to checkout the Incredibles was $19.99 after in store sales and with the coupon I paid a whopping $9.99!!!
With Cars, after the in store sales it came to $19.99 a well and after the coupon Cars was $11.99.
Horton Hears a Who did not have any additional coupons but it was on sale so I only paid $9.99 for the Blu-Ray DVD :-)
Oh, did I mention the freebies? So when you purchase either Cars for The Incredibles there is a code inside that you redeem at the Disney website for a FREE movie ticket to see Cars 2 when it comes out this summer! We bought both of the movies so that is two free tickets, score! Then with Horton Hears a Who! there is a code to get $10 toward Hollywood Movie Bucks for a ticket to see Rio, which just came out in theaters. Thats another free ticket. So not only did I only pay 31.97 plus tax (before I used my giftcard...hehehe I only paid $11.00!!!!) for $85 worth of movies, but I have three absolutely free movie tickets! It was a good day.
And yet again, thanks for hanging out!
Love, Katie
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Easy Peasy
So my four year old munchkin has started using the term "Easy Peasy" to accurately describe something as easy or no big deal. Where does he come up with these? He is one of the funniest people I know. I probably did not spell Easy Peasy correctly but you know what? I do not particularly care. I usually do, a lot. There are some things in life that wriggle their way under my skin and drive me up the wall. A perfect example of this, one which many people can attest to, would be the incorrect use of "Their."
If you are referring to more than one person partaking in some action then "they are" becomes "they're." Please do not confuse this with the possessive "their." And of course who could forget "there" to describe where exactly something is among other uses. So, if we wanted to correctly make use of these words, we could say that....
They're leaving their dog out to bark all night over there in the backyard.
I'm sorry, I seem to have temporarily forgotten that this is a food and living blog, not a grammar blog! I will be the first to tell you that I do not have perfect grammar, definitely not. But there are some common misuses that drive me bonkers!
We went with simplicity last night for dinner. Chicken nuggets, corn, and broccoli with some Spanish rice for the munchkins as well. After dinner Prince Charming and I watched the Robert De Niro movie Everybody's Fine. I did not suspect that it would be such heavy emotional subject matter and I bawled my eyes out. Yes, I cried like a big baby, sniffling there on my couch while Prince Charming tried his best to hide his laughter at my total emotional breakdown brought on by ninety-nine minutes of cinema. The crying inevitably led to a headache, which generously decided to stay and keep me company through today. Arg. Be gone, headache, you are not wanted here!
We are already half way through Saturday and we still have yet to do anything. I need to hand my second Topsy Turvy Tomato planter. I bought another tomato plant to go in the planter that has been sitting on my kitchen counter. Sadly, I am not sure if my first tomato plant will make it but I am hopeful.
One of my Blueberry plants is growing quite nicely, though slowly, while the other has yet to leaf out at all but also shows no signs of disease or decay which is good I suppose. I want to make a little raised garden bed for another fuller Blueberry bush, using cinder blocks which are inexpensive. But prince Charming has some reservations about killing the grass. Oh well, we will see.
Love, Katie
If you are referring to more than one person partaking in some action then "they are" becomes "they're." Please do not confuse this with the possessive "their." And of course who could forget "there" to describe where exactly something is among other uses. So, if we wanted to correctly make use of these words, we could say that....
They're leaving their dog out to bark all night over there in the backyard.
I'm sorry, I seem to have temporarily forgotten that this is a food and living blog, not a grammar blog! I will be the first to tell you that I do not have perfect grammar, definitely not. But there are some common misuses that drive me bonkers!
We went with simplicity last night for dinner. Chicken nuggets, corn, and broccoli with some Spanish rice for the munchkins as well. After dinner Prince Charming and I watched the Robert De Niro movie Everybody's Fine. I did not suspect that it would be such heavy emotional subject matter and I bawled my eyes out. Yes, I cried like a big baby, sniffling there on my couch while Prince Charming tried his best to hide his laughter at my total emotional breakdown brought on by ninety-nine minutes of cinema. The crying inevitably led to a headache, which generously decided to stay and keep me company through today. Arg. Be gone, headache, you are not wanted here!
We are already half way through Saturday and we still have yet to do anything. I need to hand my second Topsy Turvy Tomato planter. I bought another tomato plant to go in the planter that has been sitting on my kitchen counter. Sadly, I am not sure if my first tomato plant will make it but I am hopeful.
One of my Blueberry plants is growing quite nicely, though slowly, while the other has yet to leaf out at all but also shows no signs of disease or decay which is good I suppose. I want to make a little raised garden bed for another fuller Blueberry bush, using cinder blocks which are inexpensive. But prince Charming has some reservations about killing the grass. Oh well, we will see.
Love, Katie
Thursday, March 24, 2011
What a week!
It has been very busy since I last updated my blog. We just got back from our friends' wedding and it was fabulous. I ate cake, which always makes me happy.
There was a lot of eating out while we were out of town, and I am not even going to dwell on it, because I knew it was going to happen and it did so now I can focus on cooking at home and eating healthier. Yay?
Yesterday I took a trip to the grocery store. I had both of the munchkins with me and they were doing their best to aggravate and irritate each other. It was fun. So in between the squishing and biting and patting and squealing I managed to grab a 4 lb carton of strawberries on the way into the produce section. I almost did not. I thought about grabbing some, and then thought that I would pass it by because I didn't want them going to waste and therefore wasting my money but one of the munchkins saw the ripe red strawberries and the battle was lost. happily, I can report that we somehow managed to eat probably 65% of them yesterday alone. So it looks like there will be no strawberries going to waste around here. I may have also decided to make chocolate fondue last night before bed. It may have been delicious.
So there I was in the grocery store with my little ziploc bag of coupons that I try to take with me when I leave the house. Before we left the car I had sorted through them and picked out the coupons I wanted to use that day. I needed milk among other things and I had coupons for both Horizons Organic and Organic Valley brand milk. Yay. We made our way around the store and I picked up most of the items I had coupons for, while deciding against several I had brought with me. They actually had the yogurt in stock that I wanted to try, with my coupon I printed off of the internet. If its good I need to get more. Yogurt is a staple around here.
I always leave the frozen section for last. I had a coupon for 55 cents off of ANY Red Baron brand product. I grabbed a frozen pizza, and noticed that the store had little individual pizzas, three to a tray. They were 89 cents each. Hm. There I was wishing I had more coupons for the Red Baron products when I remembered that the store had recently begun keeping coupons at the front of the store. I thought, what the heck, its worth a shot. I pushed my brawling children in the big blue Rocket Ship cart full of food back to the entrance, and scanned the coupons. I didn't see them. Darnnit. But then I noticed some fliers on the bottom of a two shelf unit. I picked one up and flipped to the inside, and there it was! My Red Baron coupon stared out at me, the lone coupon on the flier. I grabbed a few and made my way back to the frozen foods. And yes, there I stood trying to tear along the dotted lines hoping to neatly remove the coupons from the fliers. I folded, I pressed, I tore in straight lines. I bought nine packages of Red Baron Deep Dish Mini Pizzas for 34 cents each. Hello.
At checkout my bill rang up to $78, but after I handed over my mountain, er neat stack, of coupons I paid $52.00. Not bad considering the items I paid full price for. All said and done I am happy with the end results. Sometime this week I need to make a casserole bake. It will be one of my favorite childhood dishes, chicken and rice with cream of mushroom soup. Mmmm, yummy.
Thanks for hanging out with us!
Love, Katie
p.s. If you like it, share it!
There was a lot of eating out while we were out of town, and I am not even going to dwell on it, because I knew it was going to happen and it did so now I can focus on cooking at home and eating healthier. Yay?
Yesterday I took a trip to the grocery store. I had both of the munchkins with me and they were doing their best to aggravate and irritate each other. It was fun. So in between the squishing and biting and patting and squealing I managed to grab a 4 lb carton of strawberries on the way into the produce section. I almost did not. I thought about grabbing some, and then thought that I would pass it by because I didn't want them going to waste and therefore wasting my money but one of the munchkins saw the ripe red strawberries and the battle was lost. happily, I can report that we somehow managed to eat probably 65% of them yesterday alone. So it looks like there will be no strawberries going to waste around here. I may have also decided to make chocolate fondue last night before bed. It may have been delicious.
So there I was in the grocery store with my little ziploc bag of coupons that I try to take with me when I leave the house. Before we left the car I had sorted through them and picked out the coupons I wanted to use that day. I needed milk among other things and I had coupons for both Horizons Organic and Organic Valley brand milk. Yay. We made our way around the store and I picked up most of the items I had coupons for, while deciding against several I had brought with me. They actually had the yogurt in stock that I wanted to try, with my coupon I printed off of the internet. If its good I need to get more. Yogurt is a staple around here.
I always leave the frozen section for last. I had a coupon for 55 cents off of ANY Red Baron brand product. I grabbed a frozen pizza, and noticed that the store had little individual pizzas, three to a tray. They were 89 cents each. Hm. There I was wishing I had more coupons for the Red Baron products when I remembered that the store had recently begun keeping coupons at the front of the store. I thought, what the heck, its worth a shot. I pushed my brawling children in the big blue Rocket Ship cart full of food back to the entrance, and scanned the coupons. I didn't see them. Darnnit. But then I noticed some fliers on the bottom of a two shelf unit. I picked one up and flipped to the inside, and there it was! My Red Baron coupon stared out at me, the lone coupon on the flier. I grabbed a few and made my way back to the frozen foods. And yes, there I stood trying to tear along the dotted lines hoping to neatly remove the coupons from the fliers. I folded, I pressed, I tore in straight lines. I bought nine packages of Red Baron Deep Dish Mini Pizzas for 34 cents each. Hello.
At checkout my bill rang up to $78, but after I handed over my mountain, er neat stack, of coupons I paid $52.00. Not bad considering the items I paid full price for. All said and done I am happy with the end results. Sometime this week I need to make a casserole bake. It will be one of my favorite childhood dishes, chicken and rice with cream of mushroom soup. Mmmm, yummy.
Thanks for hanging out with us!
Love, Katie
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