HURRAY!! Tons of great new beauty freebies!!

On Facebook today, there are some AWESOME Freevies:

 

Aussie- Per their facebook page, "We want to celebrate with our fans by offering a chance* to get a FREE Aussie product, up to $3.99 in value. Pick up a new product or one of your favorites, on us! *Just "LIKE" our page, and then enter your information to receive a coupon by mail for one free product (up to $3.99 value) while supplies last. We will send a confirmation to your e-mail address when your coupon is on the way."

Milani- Enter to win a free lip color!  I received a free bake blush from their Facebook giveaway a few weeks ago!

Herbal Essences- Per their Facebook page, "We want to celebrate with our fans by offering a chance* to get a FREE Herbal Essences product, up to $3.99 in value. Pick up a new product or one of your favorites, on us! *Just "LIKE" our page, and then enter your information to receive a coupon by mail for one free product (up to $3.99 value) while supplies last. We will send a confirmation to your e-mail address when your coupon is on the way."

Savemore.com (which is a daily deal site, similar to groupon) has a great deal today on teeth whitening pen, it's only $8.50.  When you sign up, you automatically receive a free $10.00 credit, which makes your tooth pen FREE!!

Free Miracle Perfume set for those who qualify (must be married woman with kids).

 

Non- Beauty related, but still pretty rad:

Walmart is giving away Soy Joy Bar samples!

Re-purposing leftovers: making soup!

I'm a big fan of re-purposing leftovers. Instead of serving leftovers in their orignal form, adding ingredients and changing it up to make it a completely different meal.

Examples: Making Meat loaf into meatloaf sandwiches or adding tomatoes, onions and seasoning to leftover tomato basil soup to turn it into spaghetti sauce.

Today I am taking a leftover Rotisserie Chicken and making chicken and rice soup.

Ingredients:

• 1 rotisserie chicken carcass


• 1 Gallon of Water


• 2 cups rotisserie chicken, chopped


• 3 cups of chopped carrots, divided


• 2 large chopped onions


• the skins of the onions


• 2 cups of chopped celery, divided


• 1 clove of garlic


• 1/2 Teaspoon of Sriracha Sauce


• Salt and pepper to taste


• 3 Tablespoons of Mural of Flavor


• 1/2 Cup uncooked white rice

Directions

1. First I had my husband remove most of the meat from the carcass, the meat was chopped and set aside.


2. In a large stock pot, place the carcass, water, 1.5 cups of carrots, 1.5 cups of celery, all of the onions and onion skins, garlic, Sriracha and seasonings.


3. Cook on medium heat for 4-6 hours, until the veggies fall apart and the meat falls off the carcass.


4. Strain the solids off and discard them.


5. Return the yummy stock (liquid) to the stockpot.


6. Add the 2 cups of rotisserie chicken, remaining veggies, and rice


7. cook on medium until the rice is cooked stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes.

Makes about 8 1-cup servings.  Serve with warm rolls.

 

The total cost for this soup was about $9.00.  This includes the cost of the chicken, but we got 3 meals out of the chicken.  The original chicken dinner with salad, hummus and carrot sticks.  The second meal was lunch today of a chicken quesadilla (yummy!), and finally the soup!

New Freebies!

Here are some awesome new freebies!

Free sample of Honey Nut Cheerios.

BOGO McDonald's Frozen Strawberry Lemonade or McCafe Drink!

Free Shout To Go Sample

Article: Extreme Coupons: TV Show Draws Extreme Backlash

A "duh" Article from Yahoo Finance.

Recipe: Easy Scalloped potatoes with ham

This is a super easy, yummy fast dinner.  I make this every 2 or 3 weeks and it's one of our favorites (and the leftovers are really great too!!)

Ingredients:

• 1 (4.9 oz.) package Hungry Jack® Sour Cream & Chives Potatoes


• 2 cups water


• 2/3 cup milk


• 1 Tablespoon Butter


• 1 large sweet onion, chopped


• 2 cups cubed cooked ham


• 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Saute Onion in butter.


2. Combine potatoes, sauce mix, water and milk in 3-quart saucepan. Heat just to boiling, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and cover. Simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.


3. Stir in ham, and any frozen veggies you wish.


4. Mix 1 Cup cheese into potato/ham mixture.


5. Pour into a greased casserole dish, top with remaining 1/2 cup cheese and bake at 350 degrees  for 20-25 minutes, until cheese on top is bubbly, brown and yummy!

The Deal and What to do with Veggie Burgers

This week at Target, Morning star Farms Spicy Black Bean veggie burgers are on sale for $2.99 a package.  Recently I found some $1.00 IP's and I just found $1/2 Morning Star Target IP.

So, here was my plan:

4 boxes of Maring Star Farm Spicy Black Bean Burgers at $2.99/ea. = $11.96

-4 $1.00 Manufacturer IP

-2 $1/2 Target IP

Total= $5.96 for 4 boxes of Black Bean Burgers! (Bonus, I'll save 5% when I use my Target Debit Card, so my new total was $5.36!)

What am I going to do with them? I use them in enchiladas in the place of meat.  I defrost them and chop them roughly, and layer it in my enchilada casserole.

Using fruit and veggies as ingredients

The other day I wrote about avoiding food waste and I forgot to mention using fruit in quick breads.

Everyone knows about Banana bread.  I've been making this Banana Bread Recipe with Bisquick.  I've been adding 1/3 cup of flax meal (ground up flax seeds) and 2 Tablespoons of Cinnamon to give it a little umph. It's quick and easy.  You can always freeze the loaves of bread once they have cooled and save them for when company comes.

If you leftover applesauce, you can add it to bread or pancakes in lieu of using oil.

 

If you are a gluten free household, you can use gluten free Bisquick.

What's for dinner tonight?

In the recent issue of All You Magazine, there was a recipe for Slow Cooker Enchiladas. The recipe calls for corn tortillas that are toasted under the broiler.

I made a few changes to the original recipe (linked above).  Here is my version:

Ingredients:

• 9 6-inch corn tostadas


• 1 container Philadelphia Cooking Creme- Santa Fe flavor


• 15 ounces canned red enchilada sauce


• 1 15-oz. can White Northwestern Beans, rinsed and drained


• 2 cups cooked, diced, chicken (whatever type of chicken- white or dark, it's your choice)


• 2 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar

 

Directions:

1. Reserve 2 Tbsp. enchilada sauce. Combine beans, 1/2 tub of Cooking creme, chicken and remaining sauce in a bowl.


2. Mist slow-cooker insert with cooking spray. Spread 1 Tablespoon on creme on 3 tortillas place them in bottom of the crock pot.


3. Spread 1/4 of bean and meat mixture over tortillas.


4. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup cheese.


5. Repeat with 3 more tortillas, remaining bean and meat mixture, remaining corn and 1 cup cheese. Top with 3 remaining tortillas, reserved sauce and remaining 1 cup cheese. Cover and cook on low until cheese has melted and is beginning to crisp on edges, 2 to 3 hours.

A great houseparty!

Last night, my friend Ana had a great "Discover You Can House Party" by Jarden Home Brands.  We made Strawberry Jam with original pectin, and a great jam (Honey Lime Mango Berry Swirl Jam) with the Ball Instant Pectin.

Here is the recipe:

Honey Lime Mango Berry Swirl Jam

By Susan S. of Fernandina Beach, Florida
Featuring Ball® RealFruit™ Instant Pectin
Makes about 10 (8 oz) half pints
You will need:

• 3 cups sugar, divided


• 10 Tbsp Ball® RealFruit™ Instant Pectin, divided


• 3-1/2 cups crushed mango


• 3 Tbsp fresh lime juice, divided


• 1/2 cup honey, divided


• 3-3/4 cups crushed mixed berries (any combo of strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries)


• 10 Plastic Ball® (8 oz) Freezer Jars (or tupperware)

Directions:
1.) STIR 1-1/2 cups sugar and 5 Tbsp instant pectin in a bowl until well blended. Add mango, 1-1/2 Tbsp lime juice and 1/4 cup honey. Stir 3 minutes.
2.) STIR remaining 1-1/2 cups sugar and 5 Tbsp instant pectin in a bowl until well blended. Add mixed berries, remaining 1-1/2 Tbsp lime juice and remaining 1/4 cup honey. Stir 3 minutes.
3.) TILT jar, one at a time, pouring about 1/2 full with one flavor freezer jam. Keeping jar tilted, spoon second flavor on other side of jar. Repeat for remaining jars.
4.) TWIST on lids. Let stand until thickened, about 30 minutes. Refrigerate up to 1 month or freeze up to 1 year.

 

Thanks to Ana and Amy for a great houseparty!

Private coupon tutoring & why I charge $20.00.

I have been getting a lot of emails and private messages regarding teaching others in my area.  I will only be having private couponing lessons- one on one classes, or small groups (such as a group of friends, or a club).

The Price is $20.00 per person (to cover the cost of copies and gas, as well as the cost I must pay to have someone watch my son), and includes a 40 page handout and 4 hours of instruction time.

Classes are available anywhere in San Diego County.  I can come to you, or you can come to my home.  I will have coupons available to trade.

For groups- If the number of individuals does not match the number of RSVP's you have given me, (people do not show up at the last minute), the person hosting is responsible for paying the fee for the no-shows. I will accept payments in advance via paypal if you prefer.

I am sorry to appear that I am being a hard-ass, but, after having to pay for childcare, and the cost of copies and having no one show up to my last class, it not only made me feel pretty crappy (and then angry), but cost me a lot of my own money.  Money, frankly that I don't have just laying around.  Being a SAHM is hard work, and teaching others how to coupon is hard work too. I'm not just sitting at home eating bon bons waiting for someone to ask me to teach them how to coupon.

 

Free BBQ Sauce- Hooray!

There was a $1.00/1 KC masterpiece Q in the 5/15 Smartsource Insert. This week at Target, KC Masterpiece is only .99!

I bought 3 of them- which for some isn't much of a stockpile, but that should last us a LONG TIME!

Not a freebie, but a pretty good deal is the Bullseye BBQ sauce.

Bullseye BBQ sauce is on sale for $1.37/each.  Pair it with the recent .50/1 Q and the $1.00/2 printable Target Q available at target.com. I had 2 .50/1 coupons to use.

Scenario:

2 @ $1.37/ea.=$2.74

-$1.00/2 Target IP= $1.74

-2 .50/1 Q= .74 for 2 or .37/each!

 

So for $.74 for 5 BBQ sauces!

 

I also picked up a can of baking powder for $1.19 for the muffins I made this morning and I'll be making baking powder biscuits coming up this weekend to pair with some sausage gravy and poached eggs!

 

The muffin update

I made the Malt-O-Meal Muffins this morning. I omitted the sugar and instead used applesauce.  As a result, the muffins are not sweet- AT ALL!  I wasn't expecting them to be tooth achingly sweet, just a touch. Oh, well, live and learn!

To combat this, I am softening a stick of butter on the counter and I'll whip it up with some butter and serve it atop the muffins.

 

Malt-O-Meal Magic Muffins

So part of my goal during the duration of the AllYou Grocery Challenge is to use up a lot of the food that we already have. For a couple reasons:

1- When we move next month, I don't want to move a lot of extra stuff.

2-I want to WIN!!!  They judge partially on creativity of the dishes, so Iam going to more creative than I was last year.

One of the dishes I'll be making tomorrow is Malt-O-Meal Magic Muffins, with a few changes to make them a little healthier and to use what we have in the house. I plan on freezing half of the batch for next week or the week after.

Here is the recipe with my changes in bold:

• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour


• ¾ cup Original Flavored Malt-O-Meal® hot wheat cereal, dry


• 1/4 cup sugar (or 1/8 cup brown sugar, packed)


• 1 cup milk


• 1/8 cup vegetable oil


• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (or 1/4 c egg whites)


• 1 tablespoon baking powder


• 2 Tablespoons Flax seed meal


• 1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)


• 3/4 cup mashed bananas or 3/4 cup blueberries (optional)

1. Pre-heat oven to 400°F


2. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients


3. stir together until ingredients are just moistened.


4. Spoon into a greased or paper-lined 12-cup muffin pan, filling cups ¾ full.


5. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

The original recipe can be seen here.

I'll post pictures tomorrow!

 

Now I have to go stir my tiny patch of strawberry jam!

 

The Family Binder- staying organized saves you money

I've mentioned my family binder in other posts, but I haven't ever written about it or what it contains.

[caption id="attachment_1070" align="alignleft" width="540" caption="The front of the Family Binder- Pic of DH and I at Conan last year and the Law and Order:CI Valentine DH gave me"][/caption]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I use our family binder to keep track of bills, our schedules, vehicle maintenance, grocery lists, menu planning, our budget, the groupons and restaurant.com gift certificates. I used some of the pages available to be printed here at Organized Home.  Some of the other pages, like the vehicle maintenance, I use made up a spreadsheet in Excel.

[caption id="attachment_1071" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="The "bills to be paid" folder"][/caption]

Inside the front of the binder is a pocket- I keep the "Bills to be paid" folder in that pocket.  When the bills come, I highlight the due date, and stick them in the folder.  The night before each payday, I pull out the folder and pay the bills.  I mail them on payday. Most of the bills can be paid online, in those cases, I set up the online payment through the companies website the night before payday for those bills that we do not have set up on a re-occurring payment.  By having the car insurance, car payment and electric bill on auto-pay, it saves a stamp and I know the bills will be paid on time.  Only a few of our bills can't be paid online.

I started with a 3 inch 3 ring binder, a package of tabs, and a box of page protectors.

[caption id="attachment_1074" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="The tabs of our binder"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1073" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="Table of Contents"][/caption]

I spend about a half hour each week with the book, writing the next weeks menu in the menu planning section, checking due dates on bills, updating our calendar.

Some great freebies!

Click here for a coupon for a free carton of So Delicious Coconut milk.  It's really great in smoothies!

Click here and "Like" Safeway on Facebook.  You can enter to receive a coupon for a free carton of Open Nature Ice Cream.

 

2011 AllYou Grocery Challenge!

The AllYou Grocery Challenge starts tomorrow!  So to get ready, I am menu planning for the next 4 weeks and updating the cupboard and freezer inventories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm pretty excited to stretch our savings and hopefully we'll win! We get $50 per week for all food and beverages (including eating out and entertaining).  I'll be sharing some savings tips and tricks over the next month to help anyone else who has entered!

 

Mineral Makeup Giveaway!

Woo Hoo! This is a great giveaway.  I am giving away 9 mineral eyeshadow and 4 blush samples from Sweet Libertine Mineral Cosmetics.

About Sweet Libertine:

Sweet Libertine Mineral Cosmetics is an independent mineral makeup company owned and operated by Sarah Waller. Fed up by the expensive yet inferior cosmetics readily available, Sarah set about spending some time experimenting in her super-secret laboratory. Raising a big middle finger to conventional beauty standards, Sweet Libertine was finally ready to be unleashed on the world. Specializing in offbeat styles and catering to off-kilter women and men, Sweet Libertine set about challenging every preconceived notion of how a cosmetics company could and should be run.

I've known Sarah for a few years and I love love love her makeup!  The colors are true, blend well and you can mix them to make new colors!

The colors included in this prize packet:

Eyeshadows: Acmon Blue, Murder She Wrote, Baby Drama Llama, Lilac, Sultry, Mojito, Maximum Overdrive, and Above the Clouds.

Blush Samples: Olivia Twist, Jezebel, Felt Up, Deep Romance

To view the colors associated with each name, visit Sarah's online store!

To enter... there are only two easy steps!

1: Leave a comment, why do you want to win?

2: Subscribe to this blog.

That's it! I will choose a winner on 6/30/11 before I go to bed.

 

 

(Sweet Libertine didn't sponsor this contest, but we love them and want to share the goodness of mineral makeup!)

Making lemons out of lemonade

Well the 3 peoplewho RSVP'd for my class today no-showed, but I'm making lemons out of lemonade.

 

On the up side:

My house is clean (woo hoo)

Dinner is in the crockpot ( vegetarian chili) and there will be enough for at least 3 more meals!  I see Chili mac in our future!

I have gotten my 5 companies to contact for the week done.

I put together the goodie bags for my house party/happy child, happy earth  together

I am working on a giveaway

I will be posting a RAOK on Hot Coupon World this afternoon!

I'm sorting my coupons today and I'll be pulling out the expireds

Baby snuggles!

 

The Down side:

I know have a bunch of handouts printed up.

I could have gone to a local SCA demo at 2 local libraries to talk about Medieval history with kids.

 

 

How do you make lemons out of lemonade when your day doesn't go as planned?

 

 

Blog Contests-Do you enter?

I see tons of Blog Contests each day on my twitter feed and on the blogs that I read.  Most of them have 5 or 6 steps in order to enter. Comment, tweet, follow the blog via an RSS reader, friend on FB, etc. etc. etc

Does anyone enter them?  Not that I'm lazy, but with a little one, I don't have time to jump through 5 or 6 steps just to win a box of rice-a-roni.  I enter contests that are worth my time. They need to have a large prize, something that I really want and need/can use, and may make my life (or my families life) easier.

I may be holding a contest coming up, and I promise you readers that there will be no crazy hoops.  Just two steps,  that's it. Quick, easy and painless. And it will be something fun that most of my lady readers will love!

 

Printable Coupon Round up!

I found some really great new (to me) printable coupons and coupon websites.

Coupon Dad has some great food and beverage coupons.

Coupon Network, powered by Catalina

Printable Coupons and Deals

 

And of course, check out our twitter feed to find the hottest printables and deals daily!

 

This is why I love 99 Cents Only!!

This is today's awesome deal from 99 Cents Only!  Each box was only 99 cents!  That's cheaper than the lowest price in town!  I am so excited!

[caption id="attachment_1046" align="alignleft" width="456" caption="All 5 of these boxes were just 99 cents each!!"][/caption]

Scheduling a coupon class

WOW!  The request for couponing classes has surged. I'll be offering a few dates to accommodate the most number of people.

The class fee is $20.00 per person and includes a 30+ page handout, a coupon wallet and access to my coupon stash (over 1000 coupons).  The class fee is non-negotiable.

Class dates are: June 15th, and 21st and are 4 hours in length.  Classes will be capped at 15 people per class. Classes will be held at my home near Mission Valley.  The address will be given to you once you RSVP.  Refreshments will be served.

The June 15th and 21st classes start at 11am.   If  the class size is over 10 in size, then we will move class to a nearby park.

Please email me at cacoupondiva@gmail.com to RSVP.

Velveeta Cheesy Skillet HouseParty!

I got the Velveeta Cheesy Skillets house party! It's scheduled for the 18th of June at 3pm.  San Diego Locals, if you'd like to attend, please let me know.  The more the merrier!

We'll be sampling a few of the new Velveeta Cheesy Skillets.  I will be making at least one vegetarian, so for those who don't consume meat, there will be something for you!

The party pack shipped today and it includes:

• 1 $5 WalMart Gift Card


• 1 VELVEETA CHEESY SKILLETS Ultimate Cheeseburger Mac Dinner Kit


• 1 VELVEETA CHEESY SKILLETS Chicken and Broccoli Dinner Kit


• 1 VELVEETA CHEESY SKILLETS Nacho Supreme Dinner Kit


• 1 VELVEETA CHEESY SKILLETS Zesty BBQ Chicken Dinner Kit


• 16 $1 off coupons for VELVEETA CHEESY SKILLETS Dinner Kits


• 16 Memo boards


• 16 Golden tote bags

Each party goer will receive a tote bag and coupon!

Recipe: Salsa Chicken Soup

I probably should think of a better name for this recipe.  In our house, we have Salsa Chicken about once a month.  It's Boneless skinless chicken breasts with 1-2 cups of salsa poured over it and baked in the oven for about 30 minutes. Top with cheese and serve with rice.

 

Recently, I've been crockpot cooking 2-3 days per week.  It gives us a chance to have a yummy home cooked meal without 1-2 hours in the kitchen. When you cook in the crockpot, the crockpot seals in the moisture of the meat, so it's a lot more "soupy" than if you cook the same dish in the oven.  After a few meals of Salsa Chicken in the crockpot I added a few more ingredients and Salsa Chicken soup was born.

Salsa Chicken Soup

Serves 4-6

• 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken pieces


• 1-2 cups salsa of your choice


• 1 small can of fiesta corn


• 1 handful of rice (about 1/2 cup)


• 1 can of chicken stock

1. Combine chicken, salsa, corn and stock in the crockpot.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours.


2. Fork shred chicken, return to crockpot.


3. Add rice, turn crockpot up to high for 1 hour.


4. Serve in a bowl topped with tortilla chips and cheese.

I serve this soup with a green salad and warmed flour tortillas. I'm told this soup is good with a splash of Srircha.

 

The leftovers will thicken up, you can use it as burrito filling or quesadilla filler. This is a pretty cheap meal.  You can use other cuts of chicken, but it should be skinless.  When You fork shred the chicken, remove and discard the bones.  If you opt not to use skinless chicken, remove the skin when you shred the meat.

"that" couponing show...

UGH!! For those who don't know me IRL, may not know that I despise "that" couponing show on cable (I do still watch it on the internet so I can see what everyone is talking about).

 

They don't bill it as an educational show, despite it being on a channel that was once dedicated to Learning. So many people watch that show and think, "Hot Damn! I want to clip some coupons and become an Extreme Couponer!" What they don't realize is that each episode features the shoppers largest trip to date, which many of them plan out for weeks, collecting and buying coupons from clipping services, or in some cases stealing newspapers from their neighbors driveways.

 

Most couponers who blog are Moderate couponers, or Sensible couponers. We don't buy 300 bottles of BBQ sauce, we buy enough to hold us over until the next sale, we buy food that will be consumed before it expires.  We don't use so many coupons that it locks the register.  I've never gotten applause or a high five from the cashier or grocery store staff.  Most of the time couponers get dirty looks from store employees because scanning coupons takes time and that time can mess up the cashiers scanning ratio (how many customers and items they scan per hour).

 

If you are interested in learning about couponing and money saving, please have realistic goals and expectations. You probably won't save 80+% on every trip. You may mess up a few times, not save as much as you could have, you may miss deals. It happens!

 

And, if you notice, they have never done an episode of that show in Southern CA (SD, LA, OC or the Inland Empire).  There is a reason for that. We have limited doubles, and the price of food here borders on crazy!

Stopping food waste-Cook from scratch

You've all seen the stats on food waste- on average, the typical American family throws away over 25 lbs of food per family member each year!  Throwing food away is throwing money away!

To curtail my family's food waste, I cook mostly from scratch.  When it looks like fruit or veggies are about to go bad, I turn them into something.  Last week I made spicy Pomodoro sauce when the tomatoes at my parents house were starting to look squiffy (we were house sitting for them).  Mom had left 6 tomatoes in the fruit basket and they were starting to get soft.  I took them home and pulled the tomatoes  and half of a sweet onion I had put in the freezer just a few days ago.

[caption id="attachment_1033" align="alignleft" width="526" caption="Both fresh and frozen- these babies are ready to be cooked!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1032" align="alignleft" width="534" caption="1/2 of a large sweet onion in a teaspoon of butter."][/caption]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the recipe:

 

Spicy Pomodoro Sauce

Makes about 4 cups of sauce

• 11 fresh, whole ripe tomatoes (they can be frozen)


• 1/2 chopped large sweet onion (about 1 cup)


• 1 teaspoon butter (or olive oil if you are vegan)


• the following spices to taste: Italian seasoning, garlic powder, dehydrated onions (if you like your sauce very onion-y), kosher salt, pepper, dried red pepper flakes

 

1. Saute onions in butter until clear, about 10-15 minutes.


2. add whole tomatoes (it's ok if they are frozen), cover pot and simmer on medium for about 30 minutes, until the tomatoes start to fall apart.  Stir every 10 minutes or so.


3. add spices to taste, and mash tomatoes up with a potato masher.


4. Simmer for 1-2 more hours.  Sauce will be chunky.

Serve sauce on pasta of your choice or on a bed of lightly sauted spinach.  If you don't like your sauce spicy, omit the red pepper flakes.

 

Another recent "from scratch" dish I made was strawberry syrup.  We've been getting a lot of strawberries lately, but last week, we didn't get around to eating them all before they became a little squishy.  So I hulled and chopped them up and tossed them into the freezer, in a bag with other chopped up hulled strawberries that were dead ripe.  The bag was getting full, so Saturday evening, I decided to make strawberry syrup for our Sunday morning pancakes.

 

I used my mom's recipe for homemade pectin free jam and just didn't cook it as long. You can substitute in any other fruit you prefer, except pineapple, kiwi, mangoes, bananas, or coconut (they won't gel).  This is best with berries.

Strawberry pancake syrup

Makes about 2 cups

• 3 cups chopped ripe fruit (can be frozen)


• 1 1/2 cups of white sugar (do not use splenda or honey)


• 1/4 cup of water

1. Add all of the ingredients together in a pot, cook on medium, and stir every 5-10 minutes to keep the sugar from burning.


2. Once it has boiled and the fruit has thawed (if working with frozen fruit), mash up fruit with a potato masher.


3. Turn the heat to low and simmer gently for about 30 minutes, or until the mixture looks glassy.


4. Remove from heat, pour into a container with a lid (I use a ziploc bowl with a screw on lid) and store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

The mixture will be slightly chunky, and not as firm as jam, but a little more substantial than pancake syrup. This is also good on ice cream or pour a few tablespoons into plain Greek yogurt.

 

There are a lot of great dishes you can make from scratch anytime- you don't need to wait for the veggies or fruit to start to turn! We make applesauce from scratch at least 3 times a month.

 

I make veggie broth/stock when I bring home veggies from the store.  I clean all the veggies and toss the celery hearts, onion skins and carrot tops into a pot with water, salt and pepper and a little garlic and let it cook on low for 4-6 hours.  If we have leftover chicken in the fridge, I'll pull the meat off and add the carcass to the stock pot. after it's cooked for 4-6 hours, I strain off the veggies and the carcass and discard them.  I then add the chicken pieces I had previously pulled off the carcass, as well as a hand full of noodles and cook on medium until the noodles are tender.  Home made chicken noodle soup made from leftovers!

 

 

A different approach to obtaining coupons

We all know about getting coupons from the newspaper, printing them off the internet, finding them on products and in magazines. There is another way to obtain high value coupons: Writing companies.

 

Over at Couponing to Disney, she writes about her 5 a day mail campaign, where she contacts 5 companies each day.  I have recently started my own variation after a pretty long hiatus.  I do 7 a week.  With a 2 month old, I don't always have the time to contact 5 companies per day, but, I always have time to contact at least 1 company per day.

When I contact companies, I am honest about their product. Did I like it, how it makes our lives better, or if I didn't care for the product, I include the UPC code, when and where I bought it and how much it cost.  I include specific times when we have used the products (example: each morning, for my husband's birthday, etc.).  Sometimes, I will ask for coupons, other times, I just compliment the product or give them a suggestion.  Here is a recent example:

After buying the soy based Glade candles, I was really impressed by them (they have a very strong, clean scent). I wrote glade an email asking if their holiday scents would be in the soy based as well. I included my name and mailing address in the email under my name. They wrote me back to thank me for my email and sent me a coupon for a free 2 oz. soy based candle.

How do I find the contact information for companies? I google the company name and I visit the company website and find the Contact Us link.  Most websites have a form that you can fill out and submit, if not they will have an email address that you can write to.

In the past month I have written to the following companies and received responses:

Kashi- they emailed me a $1.00 IP ( I thanked them for being a part of the Recyclebank program)

Michelina's- They sent me 2 Free product coupons (I complimented the variety of products and noted how my husband has one for lunch a few times a week)

Dole- 2 free bunches of Bananas Coupons (we had 2 bunches of bananas not get ripe, they just turned black-EW!)

Bar S- They sent me a coupon for a free product up to $5.00 (I complimented their awesome bacon)

Clif Bars: emailed me a thank you, but no coupons.

 

HotCouponWorld has an excellent thread about contacting companies (with a link to a very large list) here.

 

I am savings all of my frees and high value coupons for the AllYou Grocery Challenge, so I can really stretch our $25 per person per week allotted amount of spending.

 

A new e-Coupon resource- Savingstar!

In addition to the other e-coupon services (coupons.com, shortcuts, cellfire), there is a new service: Savingstar!

Savingstar is a little different than other E-Couponing sites.  It is more like the coupons that you can load to your savings cards at Upromise. The amount of the coupon does not come off your grocery bill.  Instead, it is deposited into your Savingstar.com.  You can log on to the website and either have the money transferred to your paypal account or checking account, or you can order gift cards with your savings, or you can donate your savings to charity- Once you have accumulated at least $5.00 in savings.  For more info, check out their FAQ page.

 

In my area, you can sign up your Ralph, Rite Aid, CVS and Albertsons cards.

 

I'm pretty excited about another way to save!