Menus are Ready

The new Kroger and Albertsons menus are up at Meals for Deals. I have also e-mailed out the Super Savers list for this week. If you haven't recieved yours for some reason, shoot me an e-mail.

Fighting the Fat Friday

Ahhhhhh, if you don't know or didn't follow the last Fighting the Fat Friday post- I am doing a 90 day work out program. And if you follow my other blog, then you know- it's kicking my butt. The only thing I can actually say at this point in the game (I'm about 1/3rd the way through) is that I no longer hate the idea of actually exercising. I can actually get myself to do it without too much whining in my head. I have only lost about 2 pounds and I'm not sure if I've lost any inches yet. This part is very frustrating, but I'm trying to stay positive. I'll keep you posted :)

Tempt your Tummy

I hate doing food posts without the pictures but as we were making these this week, I forgot to take a picture. You'll just have to trust me :)
This recipe is for Turkey Burgers. I am trying really hard to like ground turkey. I know it's better for us and it's suppose to be a great alternative to ground beef, but there is a very distinct taste to ground turkey that I just can't get over, at least yet anyway.

We'll- I found this recipe and decided to try it, and it's the first turkey recipe that I have actually liked. So if your like me and hesitant to try turkey, this would be a good one to try.

1 Lb ground Turkey
1/4 cup sourdough bread crumbs ( I just use regular) but I want to try the sourdough
4 TBS low fat buttermilk
1 green onion, minced
1 tsp parsley
1 TBS Dijon Mustard (I used honey Dijon) I think this is what makes it good
1 dash Worcestershire sauce
Black pepper to taste

Preheat the grill or broiler (I broiled mine)
Combine all the ingredients and divide mixture into patties
Grill until cooked through 7 to 10 minutes on each side

To find other great tempt your tummy recipes visit here

Kitchen Makeover

I have been debating on painting my kitchen for a while. It's one of those things that I really wanted to do, but the work that I knew was involved was overwhelming for me, plus I wanted it a deep red and red is just one of those colors that is hard to paint. I finally mustered up the courage and just did it. And guess what? I love it! I really do. It makes me feel all warm and cozy inside everytime I look at it. ( at least when it's clean, anyway)

Expensive Hand Soap?...or is it?

Okay Here is my cheap chic mom trick of the week.  If you have ever been to my house and used the nice "GUEST BATHROOM" you can attest to my boutique hand soap in the despenser...right?! It smells like heaven in bubble form. Here is my secret. I use CHEAP SHAMPOO. I remember one day reading the labels on the hand soap and shampoo bottles and realized that aside from the fru fru organic extracts, its the same stuff.  On sale this week at ALbertsons is white rain shampoo for 69 cents, you know my soap dispensers are gonna thank me. We like the cherry scent and the volumizing scent. Try it... people will think that you spent a fortune and wonder why you put the "GOOD" soap in the guest bath.

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Windows Live™ Hotmail®: Celebrate the moment with your favorite sports pics. Check it out.

Updated Super Savings

The Menu for Kroger and Albertsons is up at Meals for Deals, also if you haven't had a chance to check out our Super Savings you are missing out. But if you don't know what your missing we put up an example of it on our website -Right now you can see all the grocery coupon match ups for Kroger and Albertsons. The good news is you can use it this week for Free! It's easy to print right off.

Frugal?

So I was in line at Walmart tonight, doing my weekly shopping trip, and I think I might have come across someone more frugal at grocery shopping than Janette. I was the third person in a line that didn't seem to be going anywhere so I grabbed a magazine and made myself comfortable. I figured Hey, why not enjoy this time? When I finished browsing my second magazine I realized... I haven't moved yet. So I got nosy and checked out what was going on. There was a woman at the front of my line with about 8 different sales ads. She was price-matching EVERYTHING in her cart. At first I was impressed, then I became curious- does she drive to pick up all those store ads- I'm assuming she lives in the same vicinity I do and I only recieve 3 ads a week. That's when I began to question the frugality of it all. The question became... would it be worth it? Mostly because the other stores are not anywhere in our area. I didn't have to think to much about it because I "overheard" that her total was only a whopping $ 22.00 after price matching and adding coupons. She walked away with a full cart of groceries!
Now, that is amazing. I almost handed her a business card, but I didn't have any on me. Of course I would have been more impressed if I hadn't stood behind her in line for almost 30 minutes. Janette, I think I have found your match!

I promise we'll be back in the groove this week, but I wanted to let everyone know that all of the menu's are up and running at Meals for Deals

On my mind... or in my dreams anyway.

This has been such a busy week, I have had very little time to be on the computer lately. This is VBS week for us and although it's been great, it has been exhausting!!!

But I thought I would share with you, that although I haven't been here to share any kind of meals or deals lately, frugality is never far from my mind...

A few nights ago, I went on my weekly shopping trip and got all of the usual deals. I almost always buy the store brand items unless the brand name is on sale, or I have a super coupon to use with it. This time I had two coupons for cottage cheese and as I stood in front of the dairy aisle I contemplated the savings compared with the store brand. I finally decided that if I bought the smaller size it would be worth it. I bought my things and went about my day.

Last night I woke up from a dream in the middle of the night and the first thing that came to my mind was... Oh, no! I don't know if I even used my coupons for the cottage cheese when I checked out... and do you know, it bothered me so much I had to get up and check!

I know... I'm crazy.

Yummy Strawberry Muffins

Ok, these are seriously the best muffins I have ever had. I love them, I love them. I even tweeked the recipe from the original and they still turned out wonderful. My children love to bake with me, so as you can see in the pictures, they were right there in on the action. I originally tried these great muffins when I was peeking in on the once a month cooking adventure (see this post) but the original recipe came from here. In my recipe I substituted the white flour for whole wheat flour (see note on bottom of post) and I used lowfat buttermilk instead of milk, mostly because I had it on hand and I thought... why not? I actually forgot to put the topping on it and they still tasted delicious. I had intended on substituting the sugar for honey, but decided against it at the last minute- maybe next time.
Note: I grind my own flour, although I think the whole wheat flour you can buy at the store is a better substitute than the white bleached flour, I think it has a kind of bitter after taste. The wheat I grind does not. If you want to see how I do it check this post out.

For more great recipes check out Blessed with Grace

Our Tuesday Kitchen Tip

I hate wasting anything. I even save things I know I probably won't use or eat again but I hate to see anything go to waste. This can be a problem in some areas of my life (like when I have to declutter my house) But it often pays off in the kitchen. Last summer I had a little herb garden on my porch, but I didn't get around to getting it started this year. Sadly I have to buy my fresh herbs but since you have to buy in bunches I always have way more than my recipe calls for. So my tip today is to slice up your leftover herbs and place them in ice cube trays. Fill with water and freeze, when they are frozen place in plastic bags and label. Labeling is important because it's hard to determine what's parsley and what's cilantro when it's frozen.

To check out more great Kitchen tips stop over to Tammy's Recipes

Once a Month Cooking

Last month I followed two friends on their Once a Month cooking adventure. If you have ever tried to embark on the adventure, you know the kind of planning that goes into making this day a success. The work is long and sometimes hard, but the pay off is big. My gal pal Elizabeth's husband works nights so her motivation is to spend less time in the kitchen so that she can maximize her time with her husband, so the one day a month cooking method really appeals to her. Jessica, her partner in crime just wants to have quick, easy meals on hand that she can pull out of the oven or microwave and have on the table without thinking too much about it. If you are considering trying this, there is a great website that will do all the planning and lay out all the details for you http://www.onceamonthmom.com/
After checking the site out and peeking in on their cooking day, I was very impressed. For $126.00 they made 30 meals which included breakfast, lunch, dinner and a few snacks. That's about $4.00 a meal... Not bad!

Here are a few tips they discovered along the way;

You need big slow cookers to help out.

A food processor would have been helpful in making the job go faster

Chop the veggies the night before

Coupon shop ahead, for even greater deals

Use one of the meals as lunch for your cooking day

The whole day took them about 12 hours, but they assured each other and me that next time it won't take so long.

Command Central Jessica checking out the recipe Elizabeth slaving away at the stove :) They needed bigger crockpots The end result... 30 meals, ready to go!

For all you Red Box lovers, here is a new code. This one is good until July 7th. This is not the regular once a month red box code, that should come tomorrow I'll post that then. But if you have a little time today to relax and enjoy a movie check one out. 7HE79B

Fighting the Fat Friday

I know, it's not Friday... I'm a little behind. I'll blame it on the weather... see previous post... I would hate to get distracted and start whining again.

This has been a great week on my part for fighting the fat war. I have started a work out program with my husband, that I don't necessarily recommend- but only because It's not the regular girly warm and fuzzy kind of work out that I'm used to. This one is called P90X an extreme workout- you might have seen it on one of those late night infomercials that only crazy people watch :) I have gotten up early for 6 days in a row this week, it's a 90 day program... we'll see how it goes.

My weight loss tip for the week is Drink ice water. I have tried to keep a large cup of ice water with me or sitting in the kitchen at all times. This way I always have a refreshing glass of water to drink, and when I walk by it I reach for that instead of a snack. Because sometimes when I think I'm hungry I'm really just thirsty.

Up and Ready

The Kroger and Albertsons menu and grocery list for this week has been posted on the Meals for Deals Website, we are still working on Walmart, but check back soon!

My life at the moment

I am so unmotivated and whiney when I'm hot. I know it can't be true but it really seems like this is the hottest summer yet, and it's only the 1st of July. I have not been able to motivate my self to do much of anything past 10 in the morning, I'm pretty sure a tornado has gone through my house and the sign that hangs by my door that says " Excuse the mess, my children are making memories" just isn't making me feel better about the situation. The laundry is begging my attention but my biggest problem as the time nears 5:00 is that I haven't started dinner, and even as I sit here procrastinating I'm thinking I would love to be lying in bed under a fan. Texas is just hot in the summer! and even in my air conditioned house I can't escape it. I know I can't put it off forever but I'll try for at least a little while.