Monday, December 15, 2008

Beet Soup in Roasted Acorn Squash


This was rather interesting. Evan ate...most of it. He really liked the squash, but I think the soup was a bit much for him. The soup was really not that strong, but the color kind-of throws you off. I froze my left-over soup and will try to think of a creative way to use it.
Soooo, this is not "have-again-good," but it really wasn't bad. I wish I could find a soup that would go well with the roasted squash; the squash was really good like this.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Walgreens 12/12













I went in and came out with $5 RR. I spent $17.25, and I'll get $16.49 back on my gift card. My net loss: 76 cents. Yay for more shampoo!! I have not been enjoying the organic shampoo that was Free After Rebate a couple of months ago!

Walgreens - Monday


My net loss: $2.16.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Christmas Candy!!








Chocolate-covered pretzels!







Peanut butter balls




Cinnamon candy






Hard candy in progress

Orange-flavored hard candy before I broke it into pieces. I used a spatula to make the lines over and over on the candy while it was drying. You push the spatula a bit deeper into the candy as it dries.
I also made some cream cheese mints, but they are still drying. I will probably make my peppermint candy and maybe some more hard candy (gotta have root beer flavor!!) on Monday. I am also going to dip some pretzels in the vanilla-flavored almond bark. I have been stocking up on candy-making supplies whenever I find a sale, so I only had one thing to buy today for the candy! Anyway, I thought I would share.

Shopping Day

I went shopping (by myself, yay!) this morning, so I thought I would post my best deals. I kept myself under my $50/week budget that I'm working on, but I can't be too proud since that doesn't count the cost of a freezer full of deer meat and organic ground beef. ;-) I'll admit up front that I am not very good at using a budget since we've never had to have a budget. I have always been conscious of how much I spent, but I've also slowly (after six years) figured out that if I don't keep the home-cooked meals interesting, my husband wants to eat out a lot more. :-) And THAT is expensive. And, I must add, I absolutely love to cook. I love to find new recipes and experiment. I love to learn about nutrition and incorporate all types of foods into our diet. I'm just learning how to cook interesting and healthy meals frugally. It's definitely a work in progress.
Wow, that was a rabbit trail.
Here are my deals:
6 packages (6 boxes each) of Sunmaid raisins - regularly $1.67, comped at Walmart for $1 each, used three $1/2 coupons - total was 50 cents/package
2 bags of whole wheat flour - regularly $2.8?, used two $1/1 coupons - total $1.8? for each
1 bag unbleached all purpose flour - on sale at Walmart for $2, comped another store's price and got it for $1.67
1 three-pound bag of onions - on sale at Aldi for 99 cents
2 packages of Hillshire Lil' Smokies - on sale at Walmart for $2.20, comped them for $1.99 apiece (oh pooh! I forgot to use my $1/2 coupon!!!!! ARGH!!)

Sigh. I can't even blame that on Nathan! :-) Ah well. I am going to try Beet Soup in Roasted Acorn Squash this week, so hopefully I'll remember to take a picture whenever I make it!! Doesn't that sound interesting??!!

Friday, December 5, 2008

Walgreens 12-05

The total was $28.74, but after coupons and $6 in RR the total was $15.21 which I put on my Walgreens gift card. I got $12 in RR back.

The total was $28.71, and it went down to $11.53 after the RR and coupons. I got $5 in RR back and will get $11 on my gift card. I put all but 36 cents on my gift card.
I did all of my math, and I came up with this:
$22.00 - the amount I would've spent on "only needed" items at Walmart
(2 gallons of milk, 1 bottle of equate acetametaphin, Reynolds wrap, and peanut butter + tax)
$16.38 - the actual amount that I lost when I compared what I took into Walgreens (with my gift card and RR's) with what I brought out of Walgreens.
So, I saved "around" $6 and got two more bottles of Tylenol, two bags of candy, six pencils (yay!), and toothpaste. I probably could've worked this a bit better if I hadn't needed the Tylenol and the milk, but I would've had to buy them regardless! :-)
I hope you are properly confused now...

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Weekly Menu - 12/01

I just got my wisdom teeth extracted last week, so blogging has not been a priority. :-)

Hot Wings, French Fries (Baked Potatoes for Nathan and I)
Deer Stew, Apple Turnover things ?? :-)
Wild Rice Chowder
Bean Burritos, veggie
Chicken Breasts with Fresh Mozzarella, Scallion and Mushroom Soup
 

easy statistics
Buy Digital Cameras