My .32 cents Shopping Trip

When I went shopping with my oldest daughter who does not cook on Turkey Day at Walgreens, I received over $30 in register rewards. I went back to Walgreens a couple of days later to use a $10 off of $30 purchase coupon and received some more register rewards. So, between both shopping trips, I had over $40 in register rewards. For those of you that do not know what a register rewards is, it is a coupon for a certain dollar amount off you next purchase. So basically, I could go shopping and get $40 of goodies at Walgreens for practically free. Part of my register rewards were going to expire tomorrow, so I did a quick shopping trip tonight to use part of them up.

This is what I bought:

1 package Charmin

5 packages of turkey bacon

2 Reynolds wrap

3 bags of kettle chips

3 bottles of oil

3 bags of Nice chocolate candy

2 cans tea

3 candy bars

2 mentos

2 Celestial Teas

1 box of kitchen garbage bags

After I used, in store coupons, manufacter coupons and $36.50 in register rewards, I paid a whooping .32 cents for everything.

My total savings was 100%.

This does not happen too often, but when it does, I feel like doing the Tony the Tiger…..” It’s Great!” yell.

I still have $8.00 in register rewards left (they expire in 2 days) and I received a $5.00 coupon off my next $20.00 purchase. So, I will have to find time to make another trip.

Did you find any great bargains this week?

Becky

Christmas Countdown: Day Three

Today is day three of our countdown to Christmas.

Yesterday, I gave you a little hint to help you guess what today’s ornament might be.

Did you make a guess?

The hint was, “it is named after a president.”

My oldest grand girl already knew what the ornament was. When she read what I had written in my post, she asked…. 

 “Which president was named Bear?”

It was beary funny!!!!

Anywho, here is our little teddy bear glass ornament.

I don’t know whether to sing Christmas Songs or say the Pledge of Allegiance.

It is late, so I better just say have a beary good nite!

Becky

Christmas Countdown Day Two

Here is the Little Advent Christmas Tree.

Today is December 2nd. Today, Oldest grand girl got to put a small glass candy cane ornament on the tree.

Here is a close up. It looks almost good enough to eat.

Peppermint does sound kinda good right now. I think I have some York peppermint patties somewhere…

I am going to go and try to find one, maybe two.

Try to guess, what tomorrow’s ornament will be?

Here is a hint,” there is a president named after it”, or is it, “it is named after a president.”

You decide which is right!

Becky

 

 

 

Who Plants Tulip Bulbs in December?

There is a saying that us Missouri native say, “If you don’t like the weather, just wait awhile.”

I guess that is why these packages of bulbs stayed in the trunk of my car for….a month…probably a bit longer…

I was waiting for the perfect day to plant them.

It is December 2nd and the weather is 63 degrees now but it was almost 70 degrees earlier today. I can hardly believe that it is this warm.

Tomorrow it could be 28 degrees. That is how it is in good Ole’ Missouri. I could not take the chance wainting for another 70 degree day to get these bulbs in the ground. Today was the day.

Luckily, I had a great grand girl, who wanted to work digging and planting the bulbs. The only catch was, I had to let her plant the bulbs where she wanted them.

 What does a grand mother, who wanted to go shopping, do?

 I got down on my knees and showed her how deep to dig the holes.

A few hours of shopping at the mall and lunch with PIC and Tall Niece at Red Lobster, this is what I came home to find.

She planted bulbs under the pear tree in the front yard. She calls this her flower pattern design.

She planted three bulbs in each of the front flowers mounds by the front sidewalk.

She moved to the little crab apple tree next and planted a bulb on each side.

Finally, she finished up in the new flower bed, where I originally wanted all the bulbs planted. : )

Never stop an artist from blooming where they are planting.

And don’t expect a 10 year old to clean up their mess!

It will be fun to see which bulbs are planted where, when we get warm weather in the spring.

OOOPS it is like spring now.

Hope your days was full of flowers and sunshine!

Becky

Countdown to Christmas

Are you counting down to Christmas already?

Yesterday on December 1st, I got out my advent tree. It is a little tree with lights that has a ornament to put on the tree each day until Christmas.

A few years ago I put the tree in the top of my bedroom closet. It has been there ever since.

Until yesterday.

You see, one of the ornaments had gotten broken. It was a mystery. I came home and the little balarina slipper for Dec. 17th was in several pieces on the table.

Ouuuu….it seems no one would tell me exactly how it happened.

In a rash decision of grinchyness, I took the tree and the ornaments away and put them in the top of my closet.

Everytime I got in my closet I would see that little tree, with 16 ornaments hanging on it, reminding me that it had a broken ornament. As the years passed, dust was started to settle on the little branches. I looked at all the local stores, on line, out of town stores and flea markets trying to find a tiny little balarina slipper. I was determined to fine one.

I still have not found one.

I will never fine one either.  Because, as long as that little tree stayed in my closet, where no one could enoy it, I was not going to find a replacement for the tiny little balarina slipper glass ornament.You want to know why?

Grinches do not get present they really want!

Ouch! That hurt to say that!

So yesterday, oldest grand girl and I got out the Advent Christmas Tree and started setting it up.

         

I took off all the ornaments and dusted off the little tree. We carefully wrapped and put each ornament back into it’s little matching box.

We got the lights turned on and oldest grand girl put on the December 1st. ornament.

The countdown to Christmas has begun!

For me, my grinchy heart grew 10 sizes that day!

December 1st in a poinsetta ornament. Later today I will post the December 2nd ornament.

I need to go now and cover my green face with makeup to go shopping. I only have 23 days left before Christmas!

Enjoy you day!

Becky

What the Heck is a Pomegranate?

Heck if I know….just kidding!

Truthfully, I do not know a ton about pomegranates. I do know that most of us are probably more familiar with pomegranate juice. Pomegranates originated from the Middle East but are grown in the sunny state of California too. The are full of little sacks of tart juice with a seed in the center, that you can add to yogurt or cereal. I have even seen them added to cookies.

They are full of antioxidants along with vitamins and minerals. After my Kale Catastrophe, I decided maybe to switch to fruits that are really good for you instead of vegetables for the time being.

If you read my earlier post, you seen I just bought 6 ponegranates. With add matching and coupons I only paid .09 cents apiece for them.

NOW WHAT?

How do I eat this strange fruit that is covered in a skin that reminds me of a smooth husk?

I don’t know.

I had to get some directions.

 

The little pamphlet that I picked up said to wash off the pamegranate and cut off the end.

         

After you cut the end off of the fruit, you cut it into quaters where the grain is and pull each part of the fruit apart.

You can see all the little seed juice sacks.

         

Over a bowl of water, you start plucking the little juice sacks out and putting them in the water. The unedible husk pieces will float to the top so you can scoop them out.

    

Here is a picute of the undedible parts you skim out of the water. Here is a picture of the mess I made.

When I got done picking out all the floating pieces you cannot eat, I drained the water off and rinsed the fruit sacks off.

This is what I had left over.

Little sweet tarts of juice with a seed in the middle.

Wonder what happens to the seeds after you eat them?

Who wants to have the first bite?

Becky

My Hyvee and Walmart Shopping Trip

    

Does anyone shop at Walmart anymore?

Since I started couponing almost a year ago, my shopping trips to Walmart are few and far between. I just find that if I can go to a store that doubles my coupon along with getting it on sale, I can really get better bargains.

I keep forgetting that Walmart will do add matching with other stores weekly adds. This week Aldi’s (which does not take coupons) was  having a very good sale on pomegranates, pineapples and bananas. I had coupons for the pomegranates I could use too. Woohooo! So tonight after dinner at Chili’s (yes, went out to dinner but I had a coupon for free pretzels and cheese) I headed over to Walmart and to Hyvee to see what kind of deals I could manage.

I bought 6 pomegranates, 1 pineapple, couple of bunches of bananas and a bag of fresh spinach.

I add matched the pomegranates for .59 cents each, the bananas for .29 cents a pound, the pineapple for $1.00. The bag of spinach was not on sale.

I used 6–.50 cents coupons for the pomegranates.

For everything I paid $4.76

No bad, since pomegranates are normally $2.00 to $2.50 each.

Next I headed to Hyvee

    

My original plan for Hyvee did not work. 3 items that they had on a 3 day sale were sold out. I did get my rain checks though.

Using coupons, I was going to get some small bags of Malt O Meal Cereal for .09 cents a bag, Right Guard for free and half gallon of orange juice for .99 cents.

Oh well….

This is what I ended up buying.

Since oldest daughter who does not cook, loves peanut butter (cause it is pre-made and comes in a jar) I bought 2 jars of Peter Pan Peanut Butter for $1.69 each. I also bought 3 Kemps Frozen Yogurt for $1.99 each. I had $1.00 coupons for each of the yogurt, bring the price of the frozen yogurt down to .99 cents each.

So for 3 containers of frozen yogurts and 2 jars of peanut butters I spent $6.64.

For tonight’s shopping trips I spent a total of $11.40.

Now, should I eat a banana or frozen yogurt for a bed time snack….

Which would you choose?

Becky

My Kale Catastrophe

Did you know that Kale is the next super food? It is loaded with all kinds of great nutrients for your body.

My sister loves to make Kale chips. My school friends make Kale chips. My vegetarian school friends use Kale in everything. Well, by golly I was going to grow myself some Kale!

I was at Menards looking around for new ceiling lights for my family room and decided to check out the garden section. It was pretty picked over this time of year. I walked around to see what bargains I could possibly find and low and behold, I saw two pots that were labled kale.

I struck gold! Well, the purple and green kind.

I was so excited. I grabbed those babies up and plunked them on the counter and pulled out my debit card. I just knew I was going to be eating kale by supper time.

I went home and pulled out a planter that I thought would do. I loaded it down with potting soil and planted, what I thought would be my dinner in the middle of the planter. I went into the house and called my kale eating friends, bragging that I bought two kale plants.

My sister gave me advice, my friends gave me advice and my vegetarian friends gave me advice on how to make kale chips. I cut my little leaves off the kale plants and put them in a zip lock bag.

I decided to wait and take them to school the next day to show my kale vegetarian expert. I knew she would be so excited over my little bag of kale leaves.  The problem was, she was not at school the next day. No worries, I just decided to go ahead and bake them for lunch. I had more of the little gems at home to bring in to show her later.

I washed them off, oiled them down, sprinkled them with sea salt and waited for the magic to happen in the oven. It was not too long before I had a plate full of little kale chips. My taste buds could not wait any longer. I grabbed one up and ate the crispy little critter.

Cough…sputter…cough…spit…

They tasted terrible. They were bitter beyond belief. Was super food suppose to taste good?

I crunched down all 12 little leaves.

There, I ate my super food for the year!

Even though I had eaten, what had to be my nutrients for the year, I had a lingering bitter aftertaste in my mouth that no amount of water, altoids or even chocolate could get rid of.

What have I done? Have I poisoned myself?

I got on the Internet and, to my disbelief, I had  bought the wrong kind of kale. My kale was ornamental kale. You know, like shrubbery! YIKES! You are not suppose to eat my kind of kale. My only relief was that that, even though they are extremely bitter, they are edible.

Ornamental kale (that I ate) is on the left. Regular, eatable kale that you grow in your garden is on the right. It is so big next to the little ornamental kale, you can see right away why it is a super food.

The shame, the shame. I felt like my oldest daughter who does not cook, when I sent to the grocery store to buy  a zucchini and she came home with a cucumber.

I tried to get past the fact that I ate an ornamental shrub. I went out to lunch with my children and my oldest grand girl. We were standing in the front of the restaurant waiting for our little beeper to beep that our table was ready. She said, “look grandma, they have the same plants that you have.” I looked down and in their decorative planter containers were pretty purple and green ornamental kale.

Will that beeper ever go off? I am ready to eat some onion rings!

Becky

 

 

Apple Sour Cream Crumb Pie–Take Two

 

Have you ever heard of the saying, “Second times a charm?”

Well, with this pie, there almost wasn’t a second time.

About a month ago my baby college girl, was home for the weekend. As parents of college students already know, when college students are home they want to eat all their favorite home cooked foods.

This meant I had to make an apple pie.

A friend of mine at work gave me the November 2012  issue of Martha Steward “Living,” magazine. It has some pretty amazing looking pies with the recipes in the issue. I found one pie that intrigued me, it was Apple Sour Cream Pie. I thought this pie would, fill the bill, for helping baby college girl get over her apple pie craving. We went to the store and bought 6 golden delicious apples (yes, golden ones not those old Granny ones) and some sour cream. Luckily I had every thing else at home.

I really thought I read the recipe correctly .

But when I took it out of the oven 45 minutes later, it came out all soupy looking. I ended up having to bake it longer.

The pie all had part of the butter from the crumb topping spill over and burn in the emergency catch pan underneath the pie.

The crumb topping was so baked on, I  even had to soak my brand new pie plate to get it clean….that was the last straw. I need Martha’s Stewarts number. Something was wrong with this recipe!

Don’t worry, I did not call Martha Stewart. I could not fit her into my schedule : )

I did look carefully over the recipe again, the picture in the magazine looked so divine, and even though it was a soupy looking pie, it still tasted great.  What could have possible gone wrong?…..mmmm….. I read the recipe a second time……it said to do this, bake the apple filling first for 45 minutes (really) and then it said to do that, after you bake the apple filling add the crumb topping on top of the apples and bake for another 35 to 40 minutes, (no way)….how did I overlook these two important things….

OOPS!

It pays to read the whole recipe even when it goes on over to the next column. Sorry Martha!

So, to redeem myself and this apple pie recipe, I decided it was time to make Apple Sour Cream Crumb Pie again and serve it on Turkey Day.

I re-bought the apples, I was glad they were still on sale for .99 cents a pound.

Peel, quater and slice 6 medium size golden delicious apples.

         

In a medium size mixing bowl combline, sugar, flour and cinnamon.

         

Add the vanilla, beaten eggs, and lastly the sour cream.

         

Mix all the filling ingredients together, pour over the apples and mix until all the apples are coated.

         

In a pie plate, place pie dough in it for a bottom crust. Add the sour cream apple filling and pop the pie into the oven. I put my big old catch pan underneath the pie, just in case I had any boil overs.

    

 While the pie is baking, make your crumb topping.  (I did not add the walnuts in the topping because my son does not like nuts)

 Top the apple pie with the crumb topping. Place pie back into the oven and bake for another 35 to 40 minutes or until the topping is brown.

         

It came out beautiful. Look at the emergency catch pan….not a drop of burnt butter on it. Success…relief….uh….apologises to Martha.

Take Two, Apple Sour Cream Crumb Pie came out perfect.

Tasted great too!

Second time is a charm!

Apple Sour Cream Crumb Pie

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewards Living Magazine Nov. 2012 issue.

Filling:

1 cup of granulated sugar

1/2 cup flour

2 teaspoons cinnamon

pinch of salt

16 ounces sour cream

2 eggs, room temperature and lightly beaten

2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

6 golden delicious apples, peeled, cored, and sliced into 1/4 inch wedges.

Crumb Topping:

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter cut into small pieces

1 cup chopped walnuts

Pie Crust:

I used a store bought refrigerated pie crust. I rolled it out on a slightly floured surface to enlarge it to fit my10 inch pie plate.

Directions:

Place store bought pie crust in the pie plate to form a bottom crust.

Prepare the filling by mixing together the sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, sour cream, eggs and vanilla.

Pour the filling over apple slices. Stir together to coat the apples.

Pour the apple filling the in the crust.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until the apples are golden brown and the filling is bubbling.

While the pie is baking prepare the crumb topping. With a fork combine the brown sugar, granulated sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, walnuts and butter. Refrigerate until the pie comes out of the oven. You want the mixture to be cold when you put it on top of the hot pie.

When the pie comes out of the oven, crumble the crumb topping evenly over the  pie. Bake until the topping is set and the apples are tender, about another 35 to 40 minutes.

I did make changes to this recipe. I increased the amount of cinnamon that goes into the apple filling. I  decreased the amount of butter for the crumb topping to 1 stick. Lastly, I decreased the baking time for the crumb topping to 30 to 40 minutes.

Oh! and I almost forgot! I used a store bought refrigerated pie crust……I mean…not everyone can be Martha Stewart!

If you don’t succeed the first time…try, try, again…..it does work like a charm!

Enjoy,

Becky

 

My Turkey Day Deals

 

Whats up with the stores starting their deals on Turkey Day!!!

Isn’t Turkey Day supposed to be off limits…at least until 12:01 am on Friday?

I don’t know what my problem was, but I just could not wrap my brain around getting up at 5 am to go shopping when JC Penney’s was not giving away their cute little Disney snow globes this year!

Their new CEO is a Grinch!

Who wants one of their new give away buttons anywho…..hey Neiner Weiner, (nickname for big sis) I would like to take a gander at yours before you put it on ebay. : )

I did manage to go to Walgreen’s on Turkey Day. Not sure how I did it as I was on turkey overload. I probably would not have gone, but my oldest daughter who does not cook, got my coupons out for me, told me what to match up and even drove us there. She is a regular concierge!

I bought;

 3 Walgreens chapsticks

3 Walgreens cough drops

1 Carmex

2 Scunci hair ties

1 Dr. Teals Epsom Salt ( for tired aching feet)

1 Cepacol logenzes

1 Thermocare Heat Back Wrap

2 Welshes Sparkling Grape Juice

2 Skintimate Shave Gel

2 Herbal Essence Hair Shampoo/Conditioner

1 Crest 3D white toothpaste

1 Revlon Lip Gloss

1 Alma eye shadow kit

Total Spent: $42.17

Total Savings $33.76 (with coupons and Balance Rewards Savings)

Savings value 46%

PLUS I received $32.50 in register rewards and a $10 off coupon to use on my next purchase.

     cau

Now, just because I bought some shaving gel I still may not shave my legs untill the 1st day of Spring!!!

Hope you found some great savings too on Black Friday!

Becky

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