Friday Food Funds - 1st Time @ CVS & Walgreens

Here's my savings for this week's grocery shopping...
The chart is a little deceiving, because I was also able to accomplish the following:

~ At Superfresh $48.47 of the dollars I spent go towards a program in March where once I spend $75 on frozen foods I'll get $10 back for a future purchase.

~ At CVS I got started with their Extra Care Bucks program (ECB) this week. Since this is the first time I've used this program I of course had to spend a little to get started, but I now have $10 in ECBs. Hopefully I will be able to spend these on other ECB generating products, and maybe start getting some things for free. You can read a great tutorial on this whole process here at Money Saving Mom. I also received a $4 off a $20 purchase coupon, and rainchecks to receive $60 worth of merchandise for FREE once it is in stock again. These rainchecks were for items that would have been free after ECBs, but since they weren't in stock, and since it was the last day for the promotion, I won't get the ECBs but I will get the items for FREE. So, all in all, I spent a little over $20 and got back $74 in ECBs, coupons, and FREE merchandise. NOT BAD! ~~~ I also just did this and got a $5 off a $15 dollar purchase coupon. YAY!

~ At Walgreens I also received a $4 Register Rewards back that I can use on my next purchase. If you want to read more about the deals you can get at Walgreens go here at Money Saving Mom. Also, here is Walgreens' March EverSaver Catalog.

~ At Giant, as I was leaving the store, a man was selling newspaper subscriptions. So, I signed up and this will be the third newspaper we get that has coupons in the Saturday edition. Also, for signing up I got a $10 gift card to Giant!

I spent more this week than I have in the last couple of weeks, which is ironic because I really didn't need to buy groceries at all. We had all of the things we needed for this weeks meals, but we decided to take advantage of some good sales and stock up on a few things.

Weis had really good prices on beef, and Superfresh was selling chicken dirt cheap (we got two HUGE tray for legs for $0.88/lb), so our freezer is now well stocked. Also, March is National Frozen Food Month which means that every store is having great sales in the freezer section. I tried to take advantage of these by using the coupons I had to increase the savings.

Anyway, we now have more than enough food. And, for the rest of the March, in addition to the usual milk and produce purchases, I'm going to try and only shop based on the sales and my coupons. I'm excited to see what kinds of deals I can find.

Look at the great deals other people made here.


Check out my personal challenge to Share the LOVE.

Wordless Wednesday - Big Eyes

Find other Wordless Wednesday pictures here.

Check out my personal challenge to Share the LOVE.

Happy Blogiversary to you...

Please stop by I'm a Drama Mama, and wish her a happy blogiversary... plus she's celebrating by giving away prizes, so come on... go say Hi!

Check out my personal challenge to Share the LOVE.

Share the LOVE

I LOVE receiving comments on my blog. It makes me giddy that someone has visited my site and has chosen to take a couple moments of their time to write me a note. It’s unbelievably flattering, and I’d like to personally thank each and every one of you.

Another thing I LOVE is visiting other people’s blogs. Whenever I get a free moment I grab my computer and start reading. However, as much as I enjoy getting comments I rarely leave them, and I just realized how incredibly unfriendly that is of me. I’m sure other bloggers put as much time, effort, and thought into their blogs as I do into mine, and I’m sure they enjoy getting comments as much as I do.

So, I have decided to give myself a challenge, and I am calling it Share the LOVE. Everyday I get online and enter the blogosphere I will try to visit, read, and leave a comment on at least ten new blogs. I will also try to comment on each of the blogs I read regularly. If I feel like I can comment in a meaningful way, than I will, and I won't just “read and run” anymore.

Now, a note to those who read this blog… please do not feel like this is a statement to get more comments here. It does not bother me in the least if my readers do not comment. I’m just happy you visited, and hope you enjoyed your time on my site. So, THANK YOU for stopping by.

If by chance you have been inspired and would like to Share the LOVE as well, than I would like to encourage you in your own challenge. Please don’t feel like you have to start out by visiting and commenting on ten new blogs each time. Even if you only comment on one new blog a day I’m sure that one person appreciates your words, just like I’m sure you appreciate others leaving comments for you.

If you would like to tell others about this endeavor, I’ve created a little button (because what’s a blog without little buttons) that you are welcome to use on your site. The code is listed below, and will link the button back to this post so that others can find out what Share the LOVE is all about. Or, if you’d like to use the button without the link, just right click to save it, then upload it to whichever photo hosting site you use. All I ask is if you write a post about this personal challenge please include a courtesy link back to this post. THANKS!


<a href="http://memoirsofamommy.blogspot.com/2008/02/share-love.html"><img alt="Share the LOVE" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd318/saltwoods/SharetheLoveButton.jpg" title="Share the LOVE" /></a>

Friday Food Funds - Back on Track

I didn't post my FFF last week, because I just wasn't too thrilled with my outcome. So, here's a quick recap... The regular price for all of the items I bought would have been 170.72, I spent 138.16 which means I saved 32.56 or about 19%. I also spent an additional 17.66, but I didn't include it in the totals because, even though everything was on sale, the receipt only showed the price paid and not the discounts. Anyway, it was only my second week cutting coupons and planning my shopping list around the store sales, but if it had been my first I might not have attempted it again. Don't get me wrong... I'm not complaining about saving over $30.00, I'm just not sure if a 19% discount is worth all of the time and effort I invest in this endeavor.

Thankfully, I persevered and returned in full force this week. And, I'm proud to say did much better. Here's the results...
I haven't reached my goal of saving a minimum of 50% each week, but, since this is only the third time I've tried this, I think I'm doing pretty well. Also, I signed up online for CVS's Extra Care Bucks (ECB), and I can't wait to start using that program to save even more. Everything I've read says that once you get rolling with the ECBs you pretty much get things for free. Although, I have read online that some people have problems redeeming these at their local CVS. So, I'll just be praying for the best.

Speaking of redeeming.... that reminded me of a BIG complaint I have. Three weeks ago when I started this coupon crusade I went crazy and printed off every grocery coupon I could find online. Then I carefully planned out my shopping trip and happily headed on my way.... only to find out that NONE of my grocery stores will take the computer printed coupons. I was so MAD! I wasted all that time, paper and ink for nothing. Every time I asked what the problem was they told me it was because people were photocopying the coupons and cheating the system. SHAME on those people for ruining a good thing for everyone else. Now I'm stuck with newspaper coupons only... not always the best selection. Oh well, in spite of all that I think I'm still doing well, and I hope as my skills improve so will my savings.

Check out the savings other smart shoppers found here.

Momma's Pizza Bread

I made my Grandma's Bread again today, but with a few additions which turned it into pizza bread. I divided the batch in half and made one into a loaf and the other into rolls. I think it turned out pretty good, and my husband liked the loaf sliced up and dipped in ranch sauce. If you click on the pictures you can see them larger.

Here's what I did. I added the following ingredients to the yeast and first half of the flour in the mixing bowl:
2 ounces Parmesan Cheese
1½ tsp Garlic Powder
1½ tsp Italian Seasoning
1½ tsp Black Pepper

Then instead of 2½ cups of Water I combined 1½ cups of Water with 1 cup of warm Pizza Sauce, and then added the sugar and salt as normal.

I made the rest of the recipe as it was written, and then after the first rise I folded in the following ingredients:
3 ounces Turkey Pepperoni
1 ounce Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1 ounce Mozzarella Cheese
2 tbsp finely chopped Sun Dried Tomatoes
about 20 small Olives finely chopped

For the rolls I worked these ingredients into the dough, but for the loaf I rolled out the dough and spread the ingredients over the center. Then I folded the dough over almost like making a burrito, and pinched closed the seam and ends. I hope you get a chance to try it... it's GOOD!


Check out my personal challenge to Share the LOVE.

Downsizing My Blog Addiction

When I first started blogging I went a little crazy and created blogs for every aspect of my life, and when all was said and done I had five blogs I was trying to keep up on a daily basis.

Well, I've decided to merge two of them into this blog, because I just wasn't posting to them often enough to justify keeping them separate. So, I've taken each of the old posts (three from each blog) and migrated them into this blog under the same dates and times as they were originally posted.

These are from my sewing/knitting/crafting blog formerly known as Momma Unraveled:
Knit Beanie Animal Sweater
Crafty Goals 2008
No Crafty Progress

And, these are from my baking/cooking blog formerly known as Momma's Little Kitchen:
My New Casserole Recipe
Pizza Pics
Momma's Simple Pizza Dough
There was one other post on this blog, but I rewrote it and reposted it here.

I will continue to write about these topics, but I will just do it here from now on.

I still have two other blogs... Silver Skies my photo blog, and Mommma's Lost It my weight loss blog, and I will most likely keep these as they are.

Grandma Edie's Bread

My submission for this week's Works For Me Wednesday is the Best Homemade Bread Recipe ever! And, as a bonus, it's SUPER easy to make. My Grandma used this recipe and technique to teach me how to make bread, and she makes bread just about everyday and has for years and years. I'm sure she found this recipe somewhere a long time ago, but I have no idea where so I can't give credit to its author.

The technique she uses is almost as great as the bread, and can be applied to just about any bread recipe. To clarify the technique I've outlined the basics at the end of this post.

I use a stand mixer with a dough hook for this 2 loaf recipe but, if you don't have one of those you can make a half recipe the good old fashioned way with a bowl and a spoon. I do this all the time when I just want one loaf, or don't feel like messing with my mixer. I've included a half list of ingredients at the end of the instructions along with ideas for altering the recipe.

Everyone I have made this for has absolutely loved it, and those that I have taught to make it now use it as their standard bread recipe. So with out further ado, I give you...

GRANDMA EDIE'S BREAD
Ingredients
2 tbsp ~ active dry yeast (or two packets active dry yeast)
5-6 cups ~ bread flour (this is my favorite kind)
2 ½ cups ~ HOT water
2 tbsp ~ sugar
1 tbsp ~ salt
1 egg

Equipment
1 ~ stand mixer with batter attachment and dough hook (or bowl and spoon)
1 ~ liquid measuring cup (4 cup size)
measuring spoons and cups
1 ~ basting brush
2 ~ cookie sheets
wire rack(s)

Put 2 tbsp active dry yeast in the bottom of the mixer’s bowl, and add in 3 cups flour. Dissolve 2 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp salt, in 2 ½ cups of very hot water (this will cool the water to about the right temp. you want it to be about 110 degrees) then pour it into the bowl with the flour and yeast, and beat using the mixing attachment on a medium speed for about 2 minutes. Switch the attachment to the dough hook and continue mixing and adding small amounts of flour until the dough forms a ball. The ball should not stick to your fingers when you touch it. (A small amount of stickiness is OK) Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface and knead for a minute or two. Put the dough in a greased bowl and turn to coat all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put in a warm place to rise until doubled, about and hour. After dough has doubled punch down and roll out on a lightly floured surface. Shape into two long loaves, and place on two greased cookie sheets. Cover with a towel and let rise until doubled again, about half an hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix egg and 1 tbsp water and brush over loaves. Make three slashes about ½ inch deep horizontally across each loaf. Cook for 30-40 minutes. Tap bottom of loaves to check for doneness. They should sound hollow. Cool on wire racks.

Half Batch Ingredients
1 tbsp ~ active dry yeast (or one packet active dry yeast)
Approx 3 cups ~ flour (I really don’t know the exact amount)
1 ¼ cups ~ HOT water
1 tbsp ~ sugar
1 ½ tsp ~ salt
1 egg

Alterations for Full Batch Recipe
Black Pepper Parmesan ~ Add 1-4 tbsp(s) ground black pepper (amount depends on how hot you like it) and 8oz finely shredded parmesan cheese in with the yeast and flour at the beginning.

Tomato Basil Garlic ~ Add 1 tsp dried basil, and 1 tsp garlic powder (or more of both) in with the yeast and flour at the beginning, and then add in finely chopped sun dried tomatoes when you roll out and shape the dough after the first rise. Here's a picture of this version... yum, so good!
GRANDMA EDIE'S DOUGH TECHNIQUE

The key to this technique is to first separately combine all dry ingredients, and all wet ingredients.

First put the majority of the dry ingredients into the mixing bowl… yeast, dried herbs, HALF of the flour, and any other small dry ingredients. Add in larger dry ingredients, such as grated cheese, and the rest of the flour in step three.

Second combine ALL liquid and dissolvable ingredients… water, milk, butter, salt, sugar, honey, etc. Be sure to follow the recipes guide lines for the temperature of the ingredients. If you need warm water to react with the yeast I find it’s best to start with REALLY hot water because the salt, sugar, etc. will cool it down some, and the flour in the bowl with the yeast will cool it down even more.

Third pour the liquid ingredients into the mixer and mix using the batter attachment on a medium speed for about two minutes, or according to recipe directions.

Fourth switch the attachment to the dough hook, and add in the larger dry ingredients. Then slowly add the remaining flour until a nice ball of dough forms and is not too sticky when touched.

Fifth turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and knead for about a minute. This step isn’t necessary, but I like getting my hands in the dough so I enjoy this part.

Follow the recipe for rising and baking the dough.

Please let me know if you try either this recipe or technique. I would love to know what you thought of it. Also, if you come up with other variations for the recipe please let me know... I'm always looking for new ideas.

Also, don't forget to checkout other great tips over at Rocks in my Dryer.


Check out my personal challenge to Share the LOVE.

It's been weird!

Well, my hubby is home after being gone for almost 14 months. It's been wonderful having him around, but honestly it's been weird too. Especially for him. He's not used to have four little beings (five if you count the new puppy) making constant motion and sound, and I think it's all a little over whelming for him. But, even though they may make him a little crazy he's been enjoying our girls' love and attention, and they have been showering him with it since the moment he arrived.

He's been trying to keep himself busy (I think to escape a little) by doing laundry, fixing up one of our cars, and just working on misc. projects that I wasn't able to handle by myself. Let me tell you, it's been nice having a man around... especially this morning when my minivan's battery was dead.

All in all it been wonderful, and I am so glad the last 14 months are over. I'm sure things won't stay weird for too long, and in the mean time I'm just overjoyed that he's finally home. I'm not taking one moment for granted.

Happy Valentine's Day...

I'm sending lots of

your way!!! XOXO

Wordless Wednesday - Birthday Cake!

You can find lots more wordlessness here.

Pleasantly Surprised ~ My New Casserole Recipe

I made this tonight and it turned out really good, so I thought I'd share. It's my own recipe that I came up with in the moment... basically it was what I had on hand that I thought would be good together, and in my opinion it wasn't good.. it was GREAT! We ate it as the main course, but I think it would be good as a side, or perfect for a potluck. Let me know if you try it.

Momma’s Beef Chicken and Rice Casserole

Ingredients
8oz ~ Leftover Taco Meat (see below)
8oz ~ Cooked Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
1 box ~ Uncle Ben’s Original Wild Rice
1 ~ 15 ¾ oz Can of Tomato Sauce
8oz ~ Parmesan Cheese Divided in Half
1 sm can ~ Sliced Mushrooms
1 sm can ~ Sliced Olives
1-2 ~ Garlic Cloves Minced
Hot Sauce to Taste

* Leftover Taco Meat ~ When I made the ground beef for tacos last night this is what I put in it:
2lbs ~ Extra Lean Ground Beef
2 packets ~ Goya Sazon Seasoning
1 packet ~ Taco Seasoning
1-2 Cloves Garlic
½ Onion finely chopped
A Couple Pinches of Cumin
A Couple Pinches of Ground Mexican Oregano
And a Little Salt and Pepper

Equipment
Pot to cook the Rice in
9x13 inch Casserole Dish
Mixing Spoon

Cook Wild Rice according to package directions. Mix half of the Parmesan Cheese and remaining ingredients in with the cooked rice. Spread evenly in a 9x13 inch casserole dish, and top with the other half of cheese. Cook at 350 degrees until heated through.

Weight Watchers Points
6 WW points ~ when divided into 8 servings
9 WW points ~ when divided into 6 servings

Check out my personal challenge to Share the LOVE.

I'm So Excited, and I Just Can't Hide It!

My husband has been working overseas for the last 14 months, and the only time he was able to come home was for two weeks last Thanksgiving. I haven't really mentioned this, except for in my first post, because well.. I just don't like talking about it. And, I have MISSED HIM SOOOOOOOO MUCH that writing about it just made it hurt more.

Anyway, I won't have that problem anymore.... he's coming home! For good! Sometime this weekend... YAY!!!!!

I just had to share my JOY, because it's over flowing!

Feeling Lucky?

If so, then check out what's going on at Chased by Children, she's giving away a prize a day for five days. Today is day two... I missed day one, but will be playing the rest of the week. You should too, because who doesn't like winning prizes?!

What in the World Are They Teaching Them?

For those of you that don't know her, let me first tell you a little something about my Deidre... the girl LOVES to talk. Usually when I pick her up from school words come out of her mouth non stop for maybe 15 minutes... NON STOP. Sometimes she makes a lot of sense and tells me about things she did at school, and sometimes I haven't a clue what she's talking about. Below is an example of the later.

When I picked up Deidre today she told me the following paraphrased story...

Mom, today we had a show.. a man and a woman came and they had puppets on their hands, and they taught us about what we have to do...

They taught us about... um I forget what they're called... um little people, you know? Not kids, but little people who stay small even when they're grown up... um I think it starts with an M, oh well I can't remember, but they taught us about them, and said that sometimes they are too small to drive cars.. but then they can sometimes too.

Yeah, so that's what they said, Oh! and they also taught us what we have to do. (she never said what exactly that was, I guess she forgot)

The actual story was much longer, but said about the same, and if I understand her correctly they had a puppet show about M people (midgets?) and learned some sort of lesson. ??? Puppet show about little people? I must say I was tempted to call the school and straighten things out, but I decided to just be happy that she's getting exposed to the performing arts and leave it at that.

No Crafty Progress

Well, it's been almost a month since I've posted my crafty goals, and I have done absolutely ZERO knitting and sewing. NOT a good start to the year.

I did however recently giveaway this. I made it awhile ago, and got such an overwhelming response that I am now considering opening an Etsy shop. But, to do this I need to first clean out and organize my craft room. So, I have revised my goals, and

#1 is finishing the room
#2 is making bags to sell
#3 is opening my shop on Etsy

I'm hoping to get a good start to the room this weekend. I'll be posting before and after photos soon.

Friday Food Funds - I Love a Good Deal!

I have a new hobby, but you could almost call it an obsession. I stumbled upon this site a little while ago, and decided to try my hand at planning our meals ahead of time. I also decided to be a smarter grocery shopper by taking advantage of each store's sales and using coupons. So, this morning after I dropped the girls off at school, the baby and I hit the road and went to four stores. Here's the outcome.
Not bad, right? I was really pleased. I hope the more I do this the better I get at it, and eventually I want to save over 50% each week. This week I saved 40%. I'll try to post my results every Friday, so please come back and check out the next Friday Food Funds.

This week Weis seemed to have the best in store deals, especially on canned food (I stocked up), but Giant, even though they didn't have good discounts, had better regular prices on their fresh produce, and I also got our Milk there. Milk wasn't on sale anywhere this week, which is really too bad because we go through about seven gallons a week. This is the only thing I will have to buy more of before Friday, because I can't store all seven gallons in our fridge. Well, I guess I could, but I wouldn't be able to get anything else in!

Anyway, our shopping is done for the week, I know what I'm going to put on the table each and every night, and I'm saving money. One little corner of my world is in harmony and it feels good!

I wanna WIN!

Look what 5 Minutes For Mom is giving away!

If you want a chance to win, just head on over their site, and don't forget to go to the Oreck site to read all about this cool vacuum.

I really need this, my vacuum is so heavy! And, I've always heard nothing but outstanding reviews about Oreck.

I hope I win! **crossing fingers**

Photo Meme

(edit: I went back and saved these photos to my computer, resized them, and reposted them here, because some of them were just so big that they were taking forever to load)

I read this today, and it looked like so much fun that I just had to do one too.

1) Answer the questions below.

2) Take each answer and type it into PHOTOBUCKET (www.photobucket.com).

3) Take any picture from the first page of results and post. (click on the picture and copy the HTML code)

1.The age you will be on your next birthday:2. A place you’d like to travel:3. Your favorite place:4. Your favorite object:5. Your favorite food:
6. Your favorite animal:7. Your favorite color(s):8. The town in which you were born:9. The town in which you live:10. The name of a pet:11. The first name of your first crush:12. Your nickname/screen name:13. Your middle name:14. Your last name:15. A bad habit of yours:16. Your first job:17. Your grandmothers name (I did one for each of my grandmothers):18. Your current job:19. Your favorite drink:20. Your dads name:21: What does your house look like?22. What kind of car do you have?
23. Favorite clothing store:24. Favorite past time:25. A lifelong dream:
Some of the pictures I got, just cracked me up! Also, in case you’re wondering… my first job was not “kisser” (or worse if you were thinking along those lines) I worked at SUBWAY!

This was fun... you should do one too!

Wordless Wednesday - Tuckered Out

You can find a lot more wordlessness here, and here.

SO Grateful

I must say... I was overwhelmed with the response I received on my giveaway. Seriously, I thought I would get around 100 responses. So, when all was said and done and there were 843 comments I was floored. I want to say a very big THANK YOU to each and every person of who left a comment. You all were so very sweet and left such kind words. The whole experience was very good for my ego.

I wish I had a prize to send to everyone, but since there is only one I would like to formally congratulate Wendy the lucky winner. I've already contacted her, and the bag will be in the mail on Monday. Congratulations again!

I will DEFINITELY be making another fun bag for the next Bloggy Giveaways Carnival, so keep an eye out for me. I'm also considering opening an Etsy store, and if I do I will post an announcement here. You can get the announcement as soon as it comes out if you are subscribed to me. Otherwise please check back often.

Again, THANKS SO MUCH. You've made my first giveaway a memorable one!