Vegan Blueberry Pie via Paula Deen

Paula Deen's VEGAN Blueberry Pie

Click HERE for recipe

I dragged my kids to Kroger today with my very specific shopping list and coupons all organized in an envelope.  I told them to go look at magazines while I got the things on the list. I was thinking that if they tagged along with me a few "extras" might get thrown in the cart and mess up my well-planned shopping trip.  Suddenly, my 17 year old runs up with Paula Deen's latest magazine opened up to a glorious-looking blueberry pie (we're suckers for blueberry pie at our house).  Surprisingly, there was no butter in the recipe, but it did call for sour cream. My daughter is a vegan, but she wanted to try the recipe using Tofutti Milk-Free Sour Cream.  Who am I to stop my daughter from making one of my favorite desserts?  So she set about gathering up the ingredients...and messing up my 75% savings plan...but all was forgiven after I took my first bite...it was so light and refreshing - not too heavy or sweet...just good! For the recipe click HERE!

New Recipe Posted

I just posted a new recipe for Jicama Slaw (vegan and gluten free)!

A Beautiful Day at the Dallas Farmer's Market!

On Sunday, we took a little trip over to Dallas to enjoy the Farmer's Market.  While there, we sampled and purchased lots of FRESH, locally grown produce. Although it wasn't a frugal trip, it was well worth the money spent knowing that we are supporting local farmers.

You have many choices at the Dallas Farmers Market. You can support local farmers, who bring their in-season, super-fresh vegetables and fruit to Shed 1 for sale every day, or you can opt for fresh produce brought in from all over the country. You can buy prepared foods or the ingredients to cook them. You can take classes to learn more about nutritional, healthy food, or you can schedule a special event for your organization or company. dallasfarmersmarket.org

Gorgeous peppers!

The mangoes and tomatoes were delicious!

Fresh Black-eyed peas remind me of my husband's grandmother "BawBaw" - she would buy them fresh in the summer and them freeze them to use all year.

This is our "haul" - fresh beets, mangoes, tomatoes, jicama, black-eyed peas, raspberries, peppers, pears, cabbage, cilantro, limes, garlic, onions, peaches, and corn.  We're gonna have fun cooking this week!

Stack Albertson's Monopoly Coupons with Manufacturers Coupons and SAVE!

If you have been playing the Monopoly game at Albertson's, then you probably have a bunch of the coupons that are inside the game piece cards you receive every time you shop there.

Did you know that these are considered in-store coupons and can be stacked with manufacturers coupons?  Here are a few sample matchups I had in my own collection (In some cases the mfg coupon will double or triple):

 $1.05 off Smuckers!

 $1.50 off Heinz Ketchup!

 Use 1 Monopoly coupon and get $1.50 off 2 boxes Fiber Plus Bars or

use 2 Monopoly coupons and get $2.00 off 2 boxes!

 $1.25 off Hershey's candy!

 $1.20 off Fiber Plus Cereal!

 $2.00 off Energizer batteries!

Use 1 Monopoly coupon and get $2.50 off 2 pkg Special K Bars or

Use 2 Monopoly coupons and get $3.00 off 2!

Not Your Mother's Bundt Cake

Remember in the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" when the groom's parents brought a bundt cake to the party and the Greek mom put a flower in the hole? Well, I have found some bundt cakes that aren't anything like your mother's bundt cakes! Nothing Bundt Cakes is a unique bakery with locations in TX, CA, AZ, CO, NE, UT, NE & NV. I found out about it through Groupon. I got a $20 Groupon for $10! This store is really amazing. When you walk in, you are hit with the sweet aroma of cake and the comfortable vibe. Mmmmm....even better, there are samples! Today we tasted cinnamon swirl - fluffy, moist, and homey! The cakes are frosted with thick ribbons of frosting and can be decorated elaborately to fit any occasion. We decided on 5 "bundtlets" so we could try some different flavors: Red Velvet, Chocolate Chocolate Chip, White Chocolate Raspberry, Pecan Praline, and Almond Poppyseed. In Fort Worth they are located at 4603 Camp Bowie Blvd. I cannot wait to dig into these!

Cran-Raspberry-Lime Punch Recipe

Due to budget cuts in education, there are are a record number of teacher retirements this year.  Therefore there are a record number of teacher retirement parties.  After 19 years, one of the best Special Ed teachers in Texas is retiring to spend more time with her family and traveling...good for her!  I was in charge of the punch.  Here is my recipe for a delicious cran-raspberry-lime punch.  It can be doubled, tripled or quadrupled to meet your crowd requirements. Look on my Recipes Page for this awesome recipe!

There are just weeks like these....

Does it seem like some weeks all you do is shop and get awesome deals, and other weeks you barely go into a store?  The latter is one of those weeks for me.  It has been so crazy around here lately that sitting down and planning out a good shopping trip has been out of the question. I'm getting the "itch" to get out there though...I think I'm going through Walgreen's withdrawal - I haven't been there for TWO WEEKS and I know there are some good deals waiting for me there. I'll keep you posted.  In the meantime, be watching my recipes page for a great punch recipe and my Countdown page to see how I'm doing in my classroom this week! Have a wonderful day!

Check out my mom's potato salad recipe!

When I think of comfort food, the first thing that pops into my head is my MOM'S POTATO SALAD.  It's so simple, but oh so delicious.  It's slightly sweet and a little tangy. As a tribute to my mom for Mother's Day, I am sharing her recipe:Check it out on my "Recipes"page!

New Recipes for Mexican Casserole and Mango Salsa

Be sure to head over to my Recipes page for MEXICAN CHICKEN CASSEROLE, VEGETARIAN MEXICAN CASSEROLE, AND MANGO SALSA recipes!!!

I Planned, I Shopped, I Saved!

Last night I spent some time planning today's trip to the grocery store.  I wanted to stock up on some chicken, but I also wanted to take advantage of some coupons that were expiring on 4/30.  By carefully planning, I quickly got through the 3 stores I visited. I stuck to my list and didn't spend time looking for other deals...although I did stumble upon a great deal on turkey bacon while I was in the Albertson's meat department ;-)

• I matched my coupons with the sales in the store circulars
• I checked my favorite coupon sites for deals I might have missed
• I made a list for each store
• I placed the coupons in envelopes for each store
• I got to the store early

 

Here are the results:

Kroger: 

4 packs MentosGum - Free

2 pkg Goldfish Grahams - Free

10 Tony's Crispy Crust Pizzas - .50 each

2 bags Kroger tortilla chips $1.00 each

Total out of Pocket:  $7.88 (72% savings)

Albertsons:

2 Archway Cookies .99 each (my plan for stacking coupons failed)

3 Puffs Tissues .63 each

2 Homelife double roll 6 roll $1.99 each

3 New York Texas Toast Croutons .75 each 

2 pkg Allen Frozen Peas .33 each

2 Cool Whip $1.25 each

1 Pantene Shampoo $1.33

3 Whole Fryer Chickens .49 per pound

1 pkg Chicken thighs .88 per pound

5 pkg Oscar Mayer Turkey Bacon $1.00 each

4 Mangos $2.00

5 limes $1.00

2 jalepeno peppers .15

1 bunch cilantro .25

3 bags Fresh Express Salad .99 each

Total Out of Pocket  $36.73 (Total savings $52.51)
Aldi
2 loaves of wheat bread .99 each
2 gallons of milk $1.69 each
1 bag of sweet onions $1.29
Total out of pocket:  $6.65 (total savings approx. $3-$4)
Grand Total Out of Pocket:  $51.26


I would not call this extreme couponing, but I'm very happy with the results.  I can't believe I used to buy all of this stuff without coupons! Actually, I would have never bought Pantene Shampoo, 5 pounds of bacon, or 10 pizzas at one time because these would have busted the weekly grocery budget.  Couponing allows us to buy higher quality products and stock up on items we used to buy every week!!!

Wondering what to do with all of that ground turkey?

Here's a good use for ground turkey:  Meatballs with Pasta and Sauce.  Check it out!

Honeysuckle Farms Ground Turkey $1.00 at Albertsons!!!!!

My family loves this turkey!  We hardly ever buy ground beef anymore.  Albertson's is currently running it for 10 for $10 limit 10 per visit.  They had this deal back in February and we stocked up on 10.  It lasted us about 8 weeks. So glad to see it's back!  If they don't have it, be sure to get a raincheck at the customer service desk.  The raincheck is good for 30 days at the sale price!

Stock up Alert: Ken's Dressing at Walmart

I got a nice supply of 9oz Ken's dressings at Walmart for .47!
Price:  $1.47
Use $1/1  8oz-9oz Ken's Dressing (SS 3/20 - hurry coupon expires on 4/30!)
Final Price .47!