What's For Dinner??

I haven't done one of these posts in a while, so here's what I see for possible dinners for the week from the weekly sale of Publix.

Peppers & Sausages (think fair food)
mixed green salad
French bread

Oven baked tilapia-
drizzle the filets w/ olive oil, coat them w/ ground Fiber One cereal, salt and pepper, bake in oven until done
cheesy grits ( from your pantry)
Grands! biscuits

Chicken tetrazinni-
mixed green salad
French bread
(recipe from Money Saving Mom)

Roasted tomato soup-
roast Compari tomatoes w/ garlic and onions the oven, add to a pot of chicken broth, season to taste, puree w/ an immersion blender or stand blender
Grilled cheese sandwiches

Mushroom & Asparagus Quiche
Mixed green salad
Crescent rolls

Shrimp Fettucini Alfredo
Steamed broccoli


With the exception of a few items, all of the dinners listed above are made from items on sale, including the olive oil, this week. If your pantry is well-stocked, then the sky is the limit!
These are just a few that I can see right off the bat and I know that there are tons more! Remember, plan your your weekly meals around the sales and use coupons to maximize your savings. There are tons of blogs and websites out there to guide you before your shopping trip along with any coupon matchups.

Happy cooking!!

Why Do I Coupon???

I was at my local grocery store doing my usual-shopping. I had my list and all of my coupons that I would be using. I approached the check out and separated the items that I would be getting for free after a coupon.

As I was checking out, another customer came into the same line. I turned to her and apologized to her that I was using quite a bit of coupons. She stood there and stated that she was fine and that she had some as well. This sparked up a conversation about "why we coupon".

This got me to thinking. Why do I coupon? I guess the long and short of it is that I do it to make sure that my family has a certain way of life. Think about it. If you use your coupon when an item is on sale, you have now maximized your savings. More savings at the grocery store equals more money in your pocket. More money in your pocket gives you the ability to build your savings and take care of whatever you need to.

Couponing for me gives me the opportunity to make sure that my pantry is full. Full pantry means less trips to a restaurant and healthy meals for my family. Couponing also gives me the means to help someone in need. By couponing, I have been able to take care of a few households and donate to a local charity. Before using coupons, I felt that money was always tight and we had no wiggle room. Now, our room to wiggle is a bit wider.

I have been couponing pretty heavily now for the last three years and now I'm hooked! It only takes me minutes a day, overall about an hour a week to get all my coupons together for my weekly trip. The coupons that I don't use, I give to someone else who can use them. Do they use them? I hope so. I can't see why they wouldn't. Even a $0.50 coupon doubles to $1.00 and this is now a $1.00 saved.

Sure there are a host of other reasons that I could list, but I won't because they are all over the blogosphere. Just Google couponing blogs and "how to coupon" on YouTube. The results are amazing!

My DH promised me a long time ago, that he would do all that he could to take care of our household. I promised him the same thing. I guess this is one of my many ways of keeping mine to him. Oh yeah, that shopping trip, I almost forgot..... my total savings was $87.02. My OOP (out of pocket) was $90.00. This would have been less but DH had some items on his list that I didn't have coupons for.

Why do you coupon???

All You Grocery Challenge

It's all the buzz!! It appears that the magazine All You, from Wal-Mart is having a contest that will run from July 13th and ends August 17th. Details are as follows:

All You Grocery Challenge Guidelines
The challenge is to spend no more than $25 per family member per week on groceries. Do not include household supplies and toiletries in your total.
During the contest, groceries that you purchase count toward your weekly total. However, feel free to grow, barter or use stockpiled food.
If you eat at a restaurant or buy takeout, the cost must go toward the week’s total.

All You Grocery Challenge Tracking
Save all your receipts as you will be required to submit them if you are a finalist. You can also keep track of your spending on the optional Spending log.

All You Grocery Challenge Judging
All entries and exit forms will be judged by All You’s editors, based on the following criteria: Staying within contest spending guidelines (50%); creativity and ingenuity (25%); and healthy choices (25%). All You will select 10 finalists, from whom a winner will be chosen on or before August 24, 2009. All finalists must submit grocery receipts.

All You Grocery Challenge Saving Strategies
Post your strategies on the Grocery Challenge Blog and share your money saving tips with others!

So, if you're up for the challenge, sign up here!

I signed up! Hope you will, too!

Recipe Review

So I tried the "Perfect Fried Chicken" from Pam Anderson's The Perfect Recipe. Now, I know fried chicken a time or five, so this was a no brainer.

The recipe was very easy to follow and she explains in great detail her method to her madness. I like the idea of soaking said chicken in buttermilk and using plain flour instead of self-rising flour. I also like that once the chicken is floured, letting it sit on a wire rack before frying. She suggests using shortening instead of oil to reduce the "smell" that one gets when frying chicken. That worked as well.

Overall, a great recipe. But, if you have one that works for you, keep doing what you do. On to the next one....Oh, sorry for not having pics, the family devoured it before I could snap one!

Recipe Roundup

A little late on this post but this is what I can come up w/ from the Publix weekly sale for 05/28/2009 to 06/03/2009:


Shrimp frittata w/ mixed green salad, fresh fruit
Fish tacos w/ salsa
hamburgers, fresh fruit, chips or grilled chicken sandwiches
Breakfast for dinner-English muffin sandwiches, mixed fruit

Shrimp frittata-whole eggs or egg whites-from weekly sale, cheese-from weekly sale or pantry, mushrooms-from weekly sale, shrimp-from weekly sale
mixed salad-from weekly sale, add in what's on hand from fridge and pantry
fresh fruit-from weekly sale

Fish tacos- fish from weekly sale, grilled and seasoned to your taste
Taco bell dinner-use just the shells only
salsa- make your own or if in a pinch, use salsa from the taco dinner, cheese-from weekly sale,all the taco fixings

Hamburgers w/ chips- ground beef -from weekly sale or pantry, baked chips-from weekly sale, cookies-from weekly sale or pantry, Jell-o snacks-from weekly sale
chicken breasts-from weekly sale, although not the best price this week

Breakfast for dinner- English muffin sandwiches-English muffins from weekly sale, eggs or egg whites-from weekly sale, sausage-from weekly sale

You could even do coffee and biscotti

Of course, make sure you're using the coupons for the coffe, biscotti,English muffins, baked Lays, Jell-O, and Crystal Light just to name a few. Check CouponMom for the coupon match ups w/the weekly sales.

Happy cooking!!!

Recipe Roundup

Each week, I sit down and plan dinner for the week around what's on sale and what's in the pantry. This week, my local Publix ad looks very promising.

This is what I can come up with that I know my family will eat:

Memorial Day is this week, so we will definitely try to fire up the grill, if the rain holds off. DH wants to have ribs, pasta salad, mixed green salad and strawberry shortcake.

ribs-from the weekly sale
pasta salad-from what's on hand from the pantry
mixed green salad-combination of weekly sale and pantry items
strawberry shortcake-combination of weekly sale and pantry items

Buffalo drumsticks, baked, w/ bleu cheese mashed potatoes, green salad and chocolate chip cookies:

Buffalo drumsticks-seasoned w/ what's on hand from the pantry-cracked pepper, hot sauce mixed w/ melted butter, baked at 350 degrees until done
bleu cheese mashed potatoes-mashed potatoes (homemade or box), mixed w/ bleu cheese crumbles until creamy
chocolate cookies-from weekly sale

Grilled portabella mushroom sandwiches w/ grilled onions and provolone cheese, fruit salad:

portabella mushrooms-from weekly sale
buns-weekly sale
provolone cheese-weekly sale
grilled onions-from weekly sale or the pantry
fruit salad-combination of weekly sale and pantry items

Salmon fish sticks w/ couscous, mixed green salad, make-it-yourself ice cream sandwiches:

salmon fishsticks- salmon fillets from weekly sale:
cut the fillets in half, roll in an egg white, then seasoned breadcrumbs( made from scratch or from the pantry), baked in 350 degree oven until done
couscous-weekly sale or from the pantry
make-it-yourself ice cream sandwiches- from weekly sale, filled w/ ice cream from weekly sale, place in freezer until firm

BLTs w/ celery sticks, chips,pickle spears and popsicles:

bacon-from weekly sale
mayonnaise-from weekly sale, pantry or make your own
celery sticks from weekly sale
salad dressing (for dipping celery)-from weekly sale or pantry items to make your own
chips-from weekly sale
pickle spears-from weekly sale
popsicles-from weekly sale

Of course, there are hundreds of other combinations to answer the age old question of "what's for dinner". Be sure to visit CouponMom to get the coupon matchups w/ the sale items to maximize your dollar.



Happy cooking!

New Concept-at Least to Me

I know it's been awhile since I've posted. I think that I learned that trying to maintain two blogs is some WORK!!

While surfing one evening and reading one of my favorite blogs, I happened upon a concept. It's not new, it just never dawned on ME.

I have 50 million cookbooks, okay not that many, and have only referred to them every now and then. For one month, you take a particular cookbook and prepare recipes from it. Next month, a different cookbook, so on and so on.

I haven't really purchased any new cookbooks lately (insert gasp) but I have had my eye on few that I would like to add to the shelf. So for now, I'll work with what I've got. For June, my choice will be The Perfect Recipe by Pam Anderson.

Using this concept will take some planning on my part, so this will be a challenge. But, I've reached a point that I'm now cooking the same things over and over and I need to change it up a bit.

At the request of DH, and because he doesn't get it often, my first venture will be Rediscovering Fried Chicken. Yes, I know that I've fried chicken a time or five hundred, but this is the perfect recipe........

Happy cooking

Happy cooking!