This post is for my sister Niener Weiner’s friends at work, who wanted to know a little bit more about couponing! : )

Do you ever get a coupon book like this in the mail from your local stores?

This one is from my local Gerbes.

I signed up to recieve a Gerbes plus card years ago. If you have a Gerbes plus card, you should recieve coupons in the mail.

This is what they look like.

In the last few coupons books Gerbes mailed to me, there a few FREE coupons.

Well, I saved up the free coupons, making sure they did not expire first, and went to the store to do a awesome little shopping trip. I did buy some chocolate chips that I did not have a Gerbers coupon for but I had a manufacturer coupon for.

Here is what I got:

I have FREE coupons for eggs, carrots, ball park franks, and Johnsonville sausage.

I had a $1.00 off coupon for two chocolate chips and the rest were the free coupons.

I loved walking out of there only spending $1.54.

So, if you happen to get these coupons in the mail, you might want to check them out.

You might be surprised what you find.

I know I will be finding chili dogs, soup with sausage, scrambled eggs and carrots on my kitchen table this week!

Happy Couponing!

Becky

Here are the inserts I found today in my local Sunday paper. I only found 4 (where the bigger city newspapers are suppose to have 5) and I went through the paper twice. I don’t know if you have noticed that in the last few weeks we have not have coupon inserts in the newspapers because of the holidays.  The holidays are over now and they are starting to show up.

If you are going to go out and buy newspapers just to use the coupons, I would highly recommend that you buy the bigger city newspapers. I live in Missouri, so that would meanI would buy either the Kansas City or the Saint Louis paper. They usually have higher value and more coupons in thier inserts. If you buy those newspapers today, you should find 5 inserts instead of the 4 I found in my local paper.

My inserts were pretty skimmpy today too.

I did find a free fruit bar coupon.

These bars are around $1.00 at my local Gerbes. So if you are wondering if it pays to buy 4 to 5 newspaper a week. I would say a most  definite, YES!  This coupon alone give you a free $1.00 health bar. There was also Finish dishwasher tab coupons, starkist tuna, renu eye drops and many more. For a complete list of coupons check out two of my favorite coupon blog web sites www.hip2save.com or www.livingrichwithcoupons.com.

Let me know what great deals you found this week!

Happy Counponing!!

Becky

Whoohoo I survived my first day back this semester!

All but my first hour class is jam packed.

With the new semester, the students did not know if they had to switch classes or not. They were coming back and asking where do I go, what class do I have? I felt like Mary had a little lamb and all my little  lambs were lost. (and so were their schedules).

Students were late, some were really tardy and some never made it to class. I think the big bad wolf found them (the principle).

I had names I could not pronounce. I tried as hard as I could. Wearing my glasses will help. Maybe then I can see if it a U or a A or a R and not a N. I think I may have to give all of them nick names.

I am going to call them You Need.

You Need to sit down, You Need to stop talking, You Need to bring your own  pencil.

I am going to get a nick name too…..

My new name is, I Need.

I Need a nap : )

Other than that, I had a marvelous day back at school!

How was your day? Was your as exciting and entertaining as mine?

Becky

Today I spent most of the day grading finals and entering grades for last semester.  After a few hours, I finally got all my semester finals and grades in. Whoohoo! I am now officialy ready to start a new semester. Being a Family and Consumer Science teacher means that I am an elective teacher. Students elect to take my classes. Also, my classes only last a semester. Tomorrow starts a new semester and new classes of students for me.

After I got last semester grades in, I worked on getting ready for my new students I will get tomorrow. I made sure I have my little power point ready with my class rules. I made copies of scavenger hunts and first day assignments. I have some returning students; not that they did not pass my class last semester; but they are taking a different class, I teach. Still, I will have over 60 percent of new students. Which means new names to memorize and learning how to pronouce them correctly. I am not very good at either one of these things.

Resolution number one: Try not to mess up new students name for more than one month. If that is still impossible I will give them nicknames that I will remember. The only problem I see, is that not everyone can be,” the little red head girl.”

Gee….

Kidding aside, I will work on this.

Besides, A Small Town Kitchen, being a place I want to talk recipes and couponing, I wanted to be able to talk about being a FACS teacher. I do have some limitations.

I will not post pictures of my students.

If I refer to them by a name, it is an alias name.

I don’t want to use this as a grip session about teaching either. That would be boring and negative and non productive.

Just because I am a teacher and have a masters degree does not mean that I can always spell a word correctly or write with complete sentencs.

I write like I talk, with an country twang, going fifty miles an hour with built in giggle speed bumps.

So, my resolution is to share more about my teaching (within my limitations).

I hope it will be fun!

Wish me luck tomorrow.

I just hope I don’t have 4 who’s and 5 what’s in class.

Who is sitting on the front row, what is sitting in my seat, who belongs here, who’s stuff is where? What, did you say….

You get the idea : )

Becky

I got out 5 rack of ribs out of the freezer to thaw for New Year’s Day. I have no idea why I decided on 5 rack. I could have got out 3 racks or even just 2. Five just sounded like the right amount to cook.

I was off my rocker.

I could not put the ribs on the grill. It was brrrr…freezing outside.

This what it looked like out side. Now I know I have some readers out there who would have said…”What’s a little snow and 23 degrees stopping you from grilling outside?”  I will own up……

I am a wimp and proud of it.

Last week my baby collee girl went to the store and bought her a rack of ribs to cook. I have no idea what inspired her to cook ribs except for the fact I got her a crock pot for Christmas. She told me that, “you know when you are a grown up when you get excited over kitchen gagets.”

My baby college girl is growing up.

She is also trying out cooking in her new apartment. It is a little bitty thing. But, she loves it and she can call it home for now, while she is in college. Her range looks like a little barbi doll range. Her sink takes up the whole counter. She needs a step stool to get to her cabinets. But, her cabinets are full of food (thank goodnes for coupons) and her fridge has some milk and eggs in it. What more do you need?

I guess, she needed ribs!

She wanted to cook her ribs in her new crock pot. I told her to do them in the oven while she was home instead. To make a longer story shorter, she boiled them for a bit, wrapped them in foil and baked them with bbq sauce. She even sent me pictures. I guess I was either a little envious of her wonderful looking ribs (I need to download the picturs for you) and they looked good enough to eat, so I wanted to make some too. (beisdes the fact I had 7 racks of ribs in the freezer I bought on sale)

So, not to be out done by my baby college girl, I got out 5 racks of ribs….

Here they are. I just stared at them for a bit. Trying to decide my course of action.

First things first.

You need to remove that little fatty membrane from the underneath part of the ribs. If you can grab it, it pulls right off.

I put a rib rub on them. If you have your own rib rub, use that. I used a commercially make rib rub this time. Be sure to rub the rib rub into the meat.

Place the ribs in a foil lined pan. Sprinkle a little more rib on them and then sprinkle a tad of brown sugar on them. Foil them up tight with foil and put them in a 290 degree oven for 3 to 3 1/2 hours. I used a fork to test for doneness. If a fork goes in them really easily then they are ready for the next step.

After I check to see how tender they are, I slather on bbq sauce and sprinkle on more brown sugar.

I put them back in the oven on broil. I broil the sauce and brown sugar on for about 7 to 8 minutes. Just keep checking on them so the sauce does not burn.

Right out of the oven and right into our bellies. Yum! The meat fell right off the bones.

What was I thinking only make 5 racks of ribs….I still had 2 more rack left in the freezer.

I am still off my rocker!

We are eating left over ribs tonight, and probably tomorrow night. But who is complaining?

What better way to start 2013 than with left overs…..and paper plates.

Becky

Oven BBQ Ribs

Ingredients:

St. Louis Cut Ribs

Rib Rub

Brown Sugar

Directions:

Remove the fatty membrane from the underneath part of the ribs. Generously sprinkle rib rub on both sides of the ribs. Rub the rib rub in. Sprinkle brown sugar on the ribs. Place the ribs in a foil lined baking sheet. Foil completely. Bake in the oven for 3 to 3 1/2 hours at 290 degrees. With a fork, check for doneness. When the ribs are tender, take out of the oven. Spread your favorite bbq sauce on the ribs. Sprinkle the top with a little more brown sugar. Put the uncovered ribs back into the oven on broil. Broil for 7 to 8 mintues. You want to carmelize the brown sugar and the sauce but not burn it.

If you are a wimp like me, and it is brrr freezing outside try making ribs in your oven.

These ribs will knock you off your rocker!

Enjoy!

Becky

Yikes! Did I really thaw out five racks of ribs?

What was I thinking?

It was 23 degrees outside today. Sorry, it is too cold for me to be out trying to stay warm by the grill all day. So, I did the next best thing I could think of and I put them in the oven. I took a bunch of pictures for you and I will post them tomorrow.

I also made, bacon wrapped little smokies:

Spinach Dip:

Crab stuffed Mushrooms (I used imitation crab meat)

Don’t worry, the ones I made had filling in them.

Meatballs in a grape jelly and chili sauce glaze. Yep, it really does work and taste great!

Here is just a sampling of things I made today for New Year’s Day. Normally, I have a New Year’s Eve get together, but we had a weather advisory all day yesterday. So I just postponed the get together until today.

We had a great time. Little sister Jeanie Beanie came with her grand son. My little brother came with PIC and my niece. My bestest friend from work came. And, of course all my kids, and grand girls (minus one, who lives in Springfield).

I am as full as a tick and my kitchen looks like hurrican hit, and that is after I started the dishwasher.

I will post full recipes tomorrow evening with pictures of all the tasty treats.

I hope you had a wonderful and relaxing day and ready to start 2013.

Have you made your resolutions yet?

I have’t either.

Becky

Happy New Year Everyone!

Welcome to 2013!

Have you got your pot of black eye peas cooking on the stove yet?

Mine are done!

They are pretty tasty too!

My kids did the, “what is cooking in the pot,” look. Oldest daughter who does not cook tried them. She said they were pretty good. I don’t know if she was just hungry or if she spied a piece of ham in the peas she wanted to eat. No matter!

2013 is going to be a lucky year for me : )

It also fits into my New Years Resolution to eat more fiber.

Have a wonderful first day of 2013 and thank you so much for visiting me here.

I appreciate each and every one of you!

I gotta go….no, not literally…I did not eat that many peas. I just have company on the way and I have a bunch more food to finish up. I will tell you all about it later tonight.

Peas Out! (or is that peace out) and Good Luck for 2013!

Becky

I am not taking any chances for 2013.

I want to start the year off right.

My older sister Neiner Weiner makes black eye peas every year on New Years Day for good luck.

My Mom the Princess even talked about how good there where. Neiner put a ton of ham in with her black eye peas and cooked them till they thicken and made a gravy.

Well, I decided to get a head start on this good luck concept for New Years Day. I started cooking my black eye peas today.

I know, I know, some people eat black eyes peas on New Years Eve for good luck.

Does taste testing count?

I am not taking any chances!

I will eat some tonight and tomorrow.

Will that give me double the good luck?

What are you doing to bring yourself good luck for the New Year?

Be safe, have fun and be joyous tonight!

Have a great New Year’s Eve!

Be sure and eat your peas!

Becky