Tobins' Tastes: April 2012

Monday, April 30, 2012

Saved 81% At Target Today & I Stuck To My List!

Notice something about this photo? No impulse buys!
What is it about Target that makes me feel like I need to throw caution to the wind and just start throwing everything I see into my cart? I am list person. I go to stores with lists. I stick to those lists. I panic if I walk into a grocery store without a list.

I make Target lists yet everytime I go to one I end up with at least one (ok more like ten) things that weren't on my list but were "oh so cute", "oh so cheap" or "oh so something I can't live without".

I saw this on Pinterest and it pretty much sums up how I feel about Target.

Photo Credit
Yep, that's about right. In light of this information you can see why today was such a big accomplishment for me. I did not get one thing that wasn't on my list. Not one! I didn't even look at the clothing racks, I didn't find any random clearance deals that I just had to grab and I didn't put one grocery item in my cart that wasn't part of the plan.

It has been a great week for me shopping wise so far. I spent less than $8 today, only spent .44 cents on a Publix trip yesterday (saved 99% !! post coming soon) and I swung by the Dollar Tree after Target and was able to grab 4 extra copies of yesterday's paper (with all the inserts!) for a dollar each. Love that our local Dollar Trees get all our unsold Sunday papers and can sell them at a discount.

Make sure you check out this week's Weekly Totals post  (and come back Thursday for this week;s!) and link up your savings for the week. Here's hoping my shopping luck continues through Thursday's Publix trip.

Breakdown of today's Target trip:
Total retail value: $40.27
Total spent: $7.75
Total saved: $32.52
Percent saved: 81%

What I got with sale/coupon match ups:
  • Two packages of Reach Floss, retails for .97 cents each
  •  2 boxes of Barilla Whole Grain Pasta, retails for $1.27 a box, price cut to $1.14 each
    • Used two $1 off coupons from Facebook
    • Made them .14 cents each 
  •  1 bottle of Up & Up Nail Polish Remover, retails for .97 cents
    • Used a .50 cents off coupon from Target.com
    • Made it .47 cents
  •  1 roll of Up & Up Foil, retails for $1.02
    • Used a .50 cents off coupon from Target.com
    • Made it .52 cents
  •  2 packages of Olay Regenerist Cleansing Facials Cloths, retails for $5.99 each, price cut to $5.69 each
    • Used two $3 off coupons from the April P&G (expired today)
    • Stacked with two $2 off coupons from the Target Beauty Bag promotion (Facebook accidentally sent me two, yay for happy mistakes!)
    • Made them .69 cents each
  •  4 five-count packages of Zyrtec, retails for $5.29 each
    • Used four $4 off coupons from the 4/29 RP
    • Made them $1.29 each

Mealtime Monday Recipe Link Up Party & Features {#5}

I don't know about you, but it feels like time is flying by. I can't believe it is May this week. As a teacher that brings a smile to my face since I know that summer is right around the corner. I have been slacking lately on my cooking and blog projects so I am looking forward to the relaxing pace of summer and having more time to work on fun stuff.

 The weather here in South Florida was very dreary this week so I guess that may be why both of this week's features are classic comfort foods. Something about rainy weather (even hot rainy weather) kind of makes me want to curl up at home and make warm, homestyle food.

My husband would think he had died and gone to heaven if I made him this homemade gravy from Liz at Love Grows Wild. I have never made gravy like that from scratch so maybe I will have to use some of my free mornings this summer to try it.


You may not know this about me, but I LOVE chicken pot pie. We are constantly trying new versions of this classic recipe and when I saw Rill from Rill's Menu had linked up her version of this dish, I knew we would be trying it soon.


 Thank you all again for linking up! I love having lots of new menu ideas to add to our weekly rotations. I would love for you to spread this word about this link up by grabbing a button or by linking back. The more the merrier!

You can also check out my newly created pin board for Mealtime Monday Features where I will be pinning  the original links to the items featured here each week.

If you were featured you can feel free to grab a button from my sidebar. I am hoping to soon be fancy enough to include that in my posts and will hopefully be designing a Mealtime Monday and an "I was featured..." button in the not too distant future.

Can't wait to see what you have been up to lately and I love being inspired by all the delicious looking dishes you create.

I will be featuring my favorites next weekend and I will be pinning things to my Pinterest boards too. Make sure you check out my Link Ups page for lots more fun places to link up at too.

As I teacher, I enforce rules all day so I am going to call these my suggestions.

I would love it if:

  1. You would link back to this post/blog. You can do so by grabbing my button (upper right hand corner), linking back to this post in your post, or by adding this blog to your list of places you link up to/party at on your Link Parties page. The more people who link up the better it is for all of us : )
  2. Please follow this blog through GFC, Linky Friends or Blog Lovin.
  3. Please only post directly to your recipe link. No giveaways, etsy shops or anything not family friendly. 
  4. Visit at least two new blogs and show them some love.
  5. Come back next Monday and link up!
Show me what you got!

Menu Plan Monday 4/30


Happy Monday! Hope you had an amazing weekend!

It is another busy week in our household. We have lots of stuff going on this week so in the spirit of continuing to clean out our fridge and freezer, I am keeping it easy this week.

We will be having:
Homemade Pizza with dough from the freezer with salad
Quinoa Chicken Fried Rice
WW Thai Peanut Noodles
Skinny Ms. Slow Cooker Mac & Cheese with salad and garlic bread from the freezer
Chicken on the grill, roasted red potatoes and frozen veggies


I am hoping to make a quick batch of Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies this week too since we have everything on hand. 

Make sure you stop by Mealtime Monday and link up some of your favorite recipes!

What are you making? I would love for you to comment and let me know what you are making this week or leave a link to your menu plan post.

I am linked up at OrgJunkie.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Justin's Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas

Our little homemade fiesta on a plate!

This past week was a crazy one. I had meetings or school functions almost every night. So you can imagine my relief and gratitude when Justin offered to cook us dinner and to have it ready for us when I got home. He knew that I was wanting to have a few recipe posts in the Cinco De Mayo theme this week so he even took some pictures for me too.

While he is an amazing chef and real life photographer, he is still getting the hang of what types of pictures I use for blog posts so forgive us if there aren't too many photos of the cooking process. He also is a little less precise when it comes to measurements and such so I will do my best to put his recipe into words : )

We love celebrating Cinco De Mayo but after waiting 2 hours for a table last year (I am not exaggerating, it really took that long!), we wanted to find somethings to make at home to celebrate without facing the crowds.

I was amazed at how flavorful these enchiladas were and I loved them with the corn tortillas.  They were surprisingly simple to make and we can't wait to try them again and dress them up with some fresh veggies and salsa. Pair them with my Mucho Margarita Cupcakes and you have the perfect Cinco De Mayo meal right in the comfort of your own kitchen!

Who needs to go out for Cinco De Mayo!?!
We served this dish with salad and homemade tortilla chips. We just cut up the left over corn tortillas and lightly fried them. I know we probably should have baked them but since we were going for an authentic Mexican night at home it only seemed right to do it as a restaurant would.

Justin made a homemade enchilada sauce but according to him, the recipe needs a little more refining before he is ready to share it with the world. He told me to say that if you don't have an enchilada sauce recipe at home you can always get it pre-made at the store without sacrificing any real flavor.



This is the recipe as dictated to me in an email from Justin. I laughed out load reading over it because it is a clear example of the difference in how a man and a woman would describe a recipe. Hope you enjoy hearing today's recipe as told you from a male perspective : ) 

Justin's Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas
  • One pound of chicken breasts
  • One packet of taco seasoning of your choice (we used low sodium)
  • Half an onion
  • Green pepper (optional if your wife likes them, Justin's specific words here)
  • Sour cream or Greek yogurt (plain)
  •  Corn tortilla shells (or flour if you prefer, we felt that the corn had a more authentic feel)
  • Shredded cheese, we used a 4 cheese Mexican blend, you can use however much feels right to you
  • Enchilada sauce for topping, homemade or in a jar
1.) Partly cook  raw chicken by simmering in plain water in a large saucepan for about 10 minutes.

2.) Drain water and add about 1 cup of water or enough to cover chicken. Add packet of taco seasoning, onion and peppers. Simmer on low for 45 minutes to an hour or until chicken falls apart with a fork.


3.) Take the chicken out of the sauce and shred it. Leaving the sauce and veggies still in the pan.



4.) Return shredded chicken to the sauce and stir in two heaping (Yes, Justin actually said heaping) tablespoons of sour cream or Greek yogurt and mix thoroughly.

5.) Spread the chicken mixture down the center of a tortilla, roll it up and place in pan seem side down. Repeat until you run out of the chicken mixture.

6.) Drizzle any remaining sauce from the chicken over the tops of the tortillas and then sprinkle shredded cheese over them before baking.

Ready to go in the oven!
 7.) Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until cheese is bubbling and the tortillas are starting to brown on the edges.

Drizzle with enchilada sauce and enjoy!

Make sure you stop by this week's Mealtime Monday and link up any amazing recipes you have been working on lately.



***Depending on the day this post may be linked up to any of these fabulous linky parties.***

Friday, April 27, 2012

End of the Month Printable Reminders

As April draws to a close, don't forget to print any online coupons you have been meaning to print Many times we see coupons disappear on the first of them month or if we are lucky they might reset.

Some of the ones I made sure to grab are:

You may also want to check the following websites:
What coupons are you making sure you print off before May 1st?

Thursday, April 26, 2012

New Publix Booklet: Spring Gatherings, Over $30 In Publix Coupons

So excited about this one!
I was so excited to find this awesome new Publix coupon booklet in my store today! It seems alot like the Holiday Gatherings booklet out last Nov./Dec. and it has over $30 in Publix store coupons.

I am loving that many of the coupons go great with the current sale cycle and lots of them are for products that we have manufacture coupons for or see go on BOGO pretty regularly.

Here is the long list of coupons. They are a mix of Publix store coupons and Publix manufacturer coupons (only redeemable at Publix but can't be stacked with other man. coupons. My Publix does allow me to stack them with true Publix store coupons) that expire on 5/26.

Publix Store Coupons:
  • FREE Publix Large Eggs WYB two Sargento Shredded Cheese
  • Save $1.00 off any TWO Friendship products (cottage cheese, sour cream, buttermilk or farmers cheese)
  • Save $1.00 when you buy ONE Smart Balance Milk
  • Save $1.00 when you purchase any ONE Sabra Hummus product (8 oz or larger)
  • Save $2.00 off any ONE Birds Eye Viola! 42 oz. Family Sized Skillet Meal
  • Save $1.00 when you purchase any ONE Mott's Snack & Go Pouch (12.7 oz)
  • Save $1.50 when you purchase any TWO Snapple Tea or Juice Drinks (64 oz.)
  • FREE 2-liter bottle of Sunkist or Sun Drop when you purchase ONE 2-liter bottle of Sunkist or Sun Drop (regular or diet)
  • Save $1.00 when you buy any ONE Hefty Foil Pan product
  • Save .75 cents off any Silk Fruit & Protein Quart
Publix Manufacturer Coupons:
  • Save $1.00 on any ONE Splenda Essentials Sweetener Product
  • Save $2.00 on any ONE Ore-Ida Steam n' Mash Potato Product AND ONE jar of Heinz HomeStyle Gravy
  • Save $2.00 on any ONE Ore-Ida Family Sized Potato Product (4 lbs. or larger)
  • Save $1.00 on any ONE Bagel Bites Mini Pizzas (9 ct. or larger)
  • Save $1.00 when you purchase any ONE STACY's Pita Chips (8 oz. or larger)
  • Save .55 cents when you purchase any ONE McCormick's Grill Mates Bottle Blend
  • Save .55 cents when you purchase any TWO McCormicks Grill Mates Marinades
  • Save $1.00 when you buy any ONE Lawry's Marinade
  • Save $1.00 when you buy any ONE Lawry's Seasoning Blend
  • Save $1.00 off the purchase any ONE Green Works naturally derived cleaning product
  • Save $1.00 off the purchase of any ONE Hidden Valley salad dressing (16 oz or larger)
  • Save $3.00 off the purchase of meat with the purchase of any ONE Kindsford Original Charcoal, Kingsford Mesquite Charcoal, or Kingsford Match Light Charcoal (12.5 lbs or larger)
  • Save $1.00 when you buy any ONE Pacific Soup (32 oz)
  • Save $1.00 on TWO 4 lbs or 5 lbs Domino Granulated Sugar products
  • Save .55 cents on TWO 1 lb. boxes of Domino Brown or Confectioners Sugar
 Thanks to Michelle @ I Heart Publix and Jenny @ Southern Savers for the shout outs! It's a coupon blogger's dream come true : )
    Make sure you check out and link up at this week's Weekly Totals post!

    Weekly Totals Link Up & Saved 63% At Publix Today 4/26


    I was so nervous about my shopping trip today. I kind of threw it together last night and it seemed like none of my newspaper inserts had the right coupons or the right values to match the good deals at Publix this week. I ended up not getting much but still was able to save 63% even though I only used 11 coupons. A possible record low of coupons for me.

    That shows , in my opinion, that you don't have to go crazy with coupons to save significant amounts on your shopping trips. If you shop the sales and store deals you can still do pretty well. I used one of my $5/$30 Winn Dixie Enjoy the City coupons so that helped with my total too.

     I was very under budget this week (thank you stockpile!) and even after we hit up the Farmers' Market Saturday, I should be able to stick some left over grocery cash in our camera savings and house projects fund.

    I also found a new "Spring Gathering" booklet at my Publix which had over $30 in amazing Publix store coupons so I was thrilled. They all expired at the end of May.

    On another note, I am so excited that we had over 40 link ups for last week's weekly totals post. You all blow me away with your amazing savings and I love looking through all of your deals and see how you accomplished it all. Can't wait to see what you have in store for us today!

    Breakdown of today's trip:
    Total retail value: $85.29
    Total spent: $31.98
    Total saved: $53.31
    Percent saved: 63%

    What I got with sale/coupon match ups:
    • Dozen 4 Grain eggs, retails for $2.69
    •  Publix Organic Strawberry Preserves, retails for $2.99
    •  2 Slim Fast Shakes Mulitpacks, retails for $5.99 
      • On sale BOGO, made them $2.99 each
    •  4 boxes of Kleenex, retails for $2.03 each, on sale for $1.25
      • Used two $1/2 Publix coupons from the March Of Dimes in store booklet
      • Made them .75 cents each
    •  2 jars of Orville Redenbachers popping corn, retails for $5.29 each
      • On sale BOGO, made them $2.64 each
    •  Smucker's Organic Strawberry Preserves, retails for $3.89
    •  1 Mango, retails for $2.09 (?!?)
      • On sale for $1.00
    •  1 tube of Colgate toothpaste, retails for $3.47, on sale for $2.50
      • Used a $1.00 coupon from the 4/15 SS
      • Stacked with a $1.00 of Target coupon from a recent Hi Coupons mailer
      • Made it .50 cents
    •  3 Dove Hair Products, retails for $4.79 each, on sale for $3.00 each
      • Used three $1 off coupons from here and here (plus the product had $1 off peelies on them that I saved for later)
      • Stacked with a B2G1 Free Target.com coupon
      • Made them $1.00 each
    •  1 bag of Publix salad, retails for $3.09
      • On sale for $2.00
    •  1 sweet onion on sale for .61 cents
    • 4 boxes of Krusteaz cookie mix, retails for $2.19 each
    •  Silk Almond Milk, retails for $3.49 (ouch)
      • Used a .55 cents coupon from the 4/15 SS
      • Made it $2.94
    •  1 package of Martin's Potato Rolls, retails for $3.49
      • Randomly marked down to $1.99
    •  2 bottles of Lawry's Marinade, retails for $3.19 each, on sale BOGO ($1.60 each)
     How did you do this week? Inspire me (and everyone else) with your amazing savings and deals this week. Please link up directly to your specific post. No main pages, giveaways, or etsy shops please. I would love it if you would link back to this post or grab my button from the sidebar : )

    Click below to link up your posts!

    Two Year Magazine Subscription for $7 On Living Social


    Living Social is offer a two year magazine subscription to a number of different magazines today for only $7 or $3.50 a year. This is a pretty great price and some of the titles look pretty good.

    Here are the magazines included:


    It does not seem to have a limit on how many you can buy for yourself so if you want more than one title it looks like you can grab them.

    Living Social is a daily deals site that runs national and local flash sales. It is free to sign up.

    Publix Buy Theirs, Get Ours Free Promo 4/26


    Looks like Publix has a new Buy Theirs, Get Ours Free promotion starting with this week's new sale cycle. It appears to be healthy food/organics oriented.  

    The way these promotions work is you buy the specific name brand item and you get the Publix version for free. My Publix's have started doing a display table/area with the specific products. You can use coupons on the brand name items to make the deals even better. 

    The brand name products include are:


    Check out my other favorite deals from this week HERE. Hope you're having a great week!

    Thanks to I Heart Publix for the coupon match ups!

    Wednesday, April 25, 2012

    $35 To Yes For Carrots for $15 on Plum District


    Plum District has a pretty fun deal going on this week. For $15 you can get a $35 voucher to Yes To Carrots's website. I love their products so this is exciting to me!

    You can also shop through Ebates and 2.5% cash back too! New to Ebates? Check out the details on it HERE.

    This voucher doesn't cover shipping and it looks like shipping is around $6-$8. It does look like Yes To Carrots has some sales and promos going on so you may be able to make your $35 credit stretch even farther.

    Plum District is a daily deals site that is free to sign up for.

    New Publix Ad & My Favorite Deals 4/26

    This week's new Publix ad doesn't really thrill me but there are a few BOGO deals on products that don't go BOGO very often. Hopefully it is a better week for you than it is for me.

    I plan to use our grocery budget to continue adding to our stockpile and to get some fresh items (there are some decent deals on produce). Hopefully I will have some extra cash left over in the grocery envelope to add to our new camera savings fund and to add a little to the house projects fund.

    Here are my favorite deals with match ups and you can always click the links below for the full sale ads with matchs. Be sure to come back tomorrow for my Weekly Totals post and link up to your shopping trips this week.

    My favorites:
    • Smart Balance, retails for $3.59 each
      • On sale BOGO ($1.79 each)
      • Use two .75 cents off coupons form the 4/1 SS
      • Makes it $1.04 each
    • Lawry's 30 minute marinades, retails for $2.99 each
      • On sale BOGO ($1.49 each)
      • Use two $1 off coupons from the 4/15 RP
      • Makes it .49 cents each
    • Bic Disposable Razors, retails for $5.79 each
      • On sale BOGO ($2.89 each)
      • Use two $3 off coupons from the 4/15 SS
      • Makes them all FREE
    • Mangos, on sale for $1 each
    • Dove Hair Care on sale for $3 each
    You can also visit Publix's website for the full ad from your area as well as some new printable Publix coupons as well. Visit HERE and HERE for my favorite sale/coupon match ups for this week's ad. 

    Tuesday, April 24, 2012

    No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Bites


    Ok, I admit it. I am slightly obsessed with bite sized desserts. I relish the chance to use my mini muffin baking tin. If a recipe can be made into a miniature version, I am all over. Check out last week's Snickerdoodle Cups or my mini {almost} Vegan Pumpkin Cupcakes for further proof of this obsession.

    So when I saw Crystal from Money Saving Mom post about making these Chewy Homemade Granola Bars, I decided to make them in bite sized form. To top it off, they were no bake too! Living in South Florida means that any recipe becomes infinitely better looking when you realize you don't have to turn your oven on.

    These Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Bites would totally be worth turning the oven on for though. They are so simple and yet so good. The combo of peanut butter, honey and dark chocolate gets me every time. They are the perfect  sweet treat to cap off a meal without being too overpowering. The presence of Quaker oats makes you feel a little less guilty about eating them too : )


    I have been wanting to try making some kind of homemade granola bar for some time now but for some reason I thought that they would be very difficult and labor intensive. Not this recipe. It took me longer to wash the dishes then it did to assemble these babies.

    I did not spray my mini muffin tin or use liners when I made them but my recommendation would be to do one or the other to make them easier to remove from the tin once you refrigerate them.

    I placed them in mini liners after the fact to store them easier.

    What I really love is that these can be modified to include anything you you like or have on hand. You can add dried fruit, seeds, nuts, coconut shreds, pretty much anything. You can also play with the kind of peanut butter you use (I used regular but I bet crunchy would be awesome), the type of chocolate you choose, or you could even leave out the chocolate for a healthier version. Not that we would do that in this house, but hey, more power to you.


    No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Bites
    Recipe adapted from Heavenly Homemakers

    • 1/2 cup of peanut butter (or any kind of nut butter you prefer)
    • 1/3 cup of honey
    • 1/4 cup canola oil (or any kind of oil you prefer)
    • 2 cups oats (I doubled this from the original and loved it)
    • 1 cup dark chocolate chips (or any kind of mix in mentioned above)
    • 1/2 cup chopped peanuts (or other mix in)
    1.) In a sauce pot on medium heat, mix together peanut butter, oil and honey. Heat and stir until completely combined.






    2.) Remove from the heat and mix in oats followed by your other mix ins of choice. Stir until well combined.


    3.) Using a cookie scoop or tablespoon, scoop mixture into mini muffin tins. As mentioned above, you may want to line or grease the tin lightly to help with removal. You can also go the more traditional route and press the mixture into an 8x8 pan to be later cut into bars.

    Mine made exactly 20 bites when I was done.

    4.) Refrigerate for at least two hours before removing from tin or cutting the pan into bars.


    5.) Store in the refrigerator in an air tight container.

    These won't last long!

    Enjoy!


    Make sure you stop by this week's Mealtime Monday and link up any amazing recipes you have been working on lately.


    ***Depending on the day this post may be linked up to any of these fabulous linky parties.***

    Monday, April 23, 2012

    Mealtime Monday Recipe Link Up Party & Features {#4}

    Welcome back and happy new week! Hope you had a restful and relaxing weekend. I can't believe that this is my 4th time hosting Mealtime Monday. It makes me so happy to see it growing slowly but surely. I really appreciate those of you who have linked up and linked backed. Your support means more than you know : )

    This week I decided to pick two different features from two different parts of the menu. As this party grows I can't wait to be able to have enough link ups to pick a feature from every part of a full meal.


    The first feature of the week is this delicious sounding Chicken Croissant Casserole from  A Susie Homemaker. I love how easy it looks and it would be perfect for using left off shredded chicken in. I am so eager to try it that I added it to our menu plan for the week.


    Next I chose these super cute Homemade Fondant Flowers from Pamela's Heavenly Treats. I give her big props because fondant is something I haven't tried because I am a little intimidated of it. I am thinking of using her recipe for a little Cinco De Mayo cupcake project I am attempting this week so we will see how that goes : )

    You can also check out my newly created pin board for Mealtime Monday Features where I will be pinning  the original links to the items featured here each week.

    If you were featured you can feel free to grab a button from my sidebar. I am hoping to soon be fancy enough to include that in my posts and will hopefully be designing a Mealtime Monday and an "I was featured..." button in the not too distant future.

    Can't wait to see what you have been up to lately and I love being inspired by all the delicious looking dishes you create.

    I will be featuring my favorites next weekend and I will be pinning things to my Pinterest boards too. Make sure you check out my Link Ups page for lots more fun places to link up at too.

    As I teacher, I enforce rules all day so I am going to call these my suggestions.

    I would love it if:

    1. You would link back to this post/blog. You can do so by grabbing my button (upper right hand corner), linking back to this post in your post, or by adding this blog to your list of places you link up to/party at on your Link Parties page. The more people who link up the better it is for all of us : )
    2. Please follow this blog through GFC, Linky Friends or Blog Lovin.
    3. Please only post directly to your recipe link. No giveaways, etsy shops or anything not family friendly. 
    4. Visit at least two new blogs and show them some love.
    5. Come back next Monday and link up!
    Show me what you got!

    Menu Plan Monday 4/23


    Happy Monday! Hope you had an amazing weekend!

    It is a crazy busy week for me school/work and personal life wise, so here's hoping we can actually stick to a menu plan and make most of our meals at home this week. If we don't, then we can always push some to next week : ) 

    Still trying to clean out some space in the fridge/freezer this week so our meals will be relying on what we have on hand mostly. 

    We will be having:
    WW Honey Crunch Chicken, smashed red potatoes, veggies
    Skinny Enchiladas & veggies
    Breakfast for Dinner: whole wheat pancakes, crock pot apples, eggs
    One meal out between work and an evening work event
    Chicken Croissant Casserole & salad

    Make sure you stop by Mealtime Monday and link up some of your favorite recipes!

    What are you making? I would love for you to comment and let me know what you are making this week or leave a link to your menu plan post.

    I am linked up at OrgJunkie.

    Thursday, April 19, 2012

    Weekly Totals Link Up & Saved 66% At Publix Today 4/19



    I can't believe another week is over. It will be summer before we know it and I am totally fine with that.

    After an inventory of my two freezers this week, I realized that we have tons of frozen foods that we need to start slowly whittling away at before the start of hurricane season this summer. The thought of losing my highly prized stockpile of meat, frozen veggies and other items makes me cringe.

    I am pretty glad I went through things because I realized that we still have 2 1/2 bags of Purdue chicken, 2 packs of fresh (then frozen) Publix chicken, 3 whole chickens, a ham, some ground beef and a pork loin in our stash. This means I won't be buying meat for a few weeks unless I see a really, really good sale. I also have about 20 bags of frozen veggies so I decided to forgo fresh ones this week so we can work on what we have.

    Not buying meat or veggies allowed me to use my grocery budget to get 2 bottles of allergy medicine, and 18 pack of toilet paper, and take advantage of the extended Spring Cleaning sale without exceeding $50. I am slowly starting to stock up on things like peanut butter just in case we do need things this hurricane season.

    I ended up saving 66% this week and I was able to use my last $5/$30 Publix spring cleaning coupon stacked with a $5/$30 Winn Dixie coupon from Enjoy the City. I hit up Target earlier this week and spent $6 putting my weekly shopping total right at $50.

    Breakdown of today's trip:
    Total retail value: $132.14
    Total spent: $44.45
    Total saved: $87.69
    Percent saved: 66%

    What I bought with sale/coupon match ups:
    • 2 tubs of DiGiorno Cheese, retails for $4.79 each
      • On sale BOGO made them $2.39 each
    •  Kraft Fresh Takes, retails for $2.99 each, on sale BOGO ($1.49 each)
      • Used two $1 off coupons from a Kraft First Taste home mailer
      • Made them .49 cents each check out my Fresh Takes Pasta Bake!
    •  2 jars of Peter Pan peanut butter, retails for $3.49 each
      • On sale BOGO made them $1.74 each
    •  2 boxes of 4C Panko Bread Crumbs, retails for $1.59 each
      • On sale BOGO, made them .79 cents each
    •  Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner, retails for $2.29 each, on sale BOGO ($1.14 each)
      • Used a $1/2 coupon from the 4/15 SS
      • Made them .64 cents each
    •  2 Lysol All Purpose Cleaners, retails for $2.69 each, on sale BOGO ($1.34 each)
      • Used a $1/2 coupon from the 4/15 SS
      • Made them .84 cents each
    •  4 packs of Jello Pudding/Gelatin, retails for $3.39 each, on sale for $2.00 each
      • Used four .60 cents off coupons from the 4/1 SS
      • Stacked with two $1/2 Publix coupons from the Stocking Spree booklet
      • Made them .90 cents each
    •  1 carton of Smart Balance milk, retails for $3.99, on sale for $2.50
      • Used a $1 off coupon from the 4/1 SS
      • Made it $1.50
    •  4 single serving cartons of Silk Almond Milk, retails for $1.19 each, on sale for $1.00 each
      • Used four .55 cents off coupons from Coupons.com 
      • Made them .45 cents each
    •  5 pound bag of Publix Red Potatoes, retails for $4.09
      • On sale for $2.99
    •  2 packages of Allegra Allergy Medicine (30 count each), retails for $22.49 each, on sale for $17.99 each
      • Used two $4.00 off coupons from SmartSource.com
      • Stacked with two $4.00 off Publix coupons from the Green Ad. Flyer
      • Made them $9.99 each
    •  2 boxes of New York Texas Toast, retails for $3.65 each, on sale 50% for $1.83 each
      • Used two .55 cents off blinkies found in store
      • Made them $1.28 each
    • 1 tub of Charmin Freshmates, retails for $2.89, on sale for $2.29
      • Used a Publix Stocking Spree coupon for FREE Freshmates WYB any Charmin product
      • Made them FREE
    • 18 roll package of Charmin toilet paper, retails for $14.69, on sale for $9.99
      • Used a $1 off any Charmin product coupon from a P&G Home Mailer
      • Stacked with a $2 off Target Coupon WYB both Charmin toilet paper and Freshmates from the 3/4 Target P&G insert
      • Made it $6.99
    How did you do this week? Inspire me (and everyone else) with your amazing savings and deals this week. Please link up directly to your specific post. No main pages, giveaways, or etsy shops please. I would love it if you would link back to this post or grab my button from the sidebar : )

    Click below to link up your posts!

    Wednesday, April 18, 2012

    Snickerdoodle Candy Cups



    WARNING: Do not read this post if you are hungry. You are about to be barraged with an onslaught of delicious looking photos. You may be compelled to head into your kitchen and whip these up right now. You may be amazed (as I still am) about how easy they are to make and you may want to make them on a weekly basis. Don't say I didn't warn you....


    The inspiration for these bite sized pieces of heaven come from Dorothy at Crazy for Crust. She made these little babies. My first question was what is a Peepster? (Marshmallow, chocolate covered amazingness I later found out) Followed by when can I make something like this?

    Turns out, I am currently not feeling as motivated as her. I love her idea of S'more Cookie Tarts but making homemade dough on a week night? Not really my thing. I also did not have the necessary ingredients in my pantry. What I did have was two boxes of Krusteaz cookie mix and a few bags of assorted Easter and clearance candy. And lo and behold, Peepsters was one of them.

    I love getting candy and baking stuff for cheap with coupons.
    And that is how Snickerdoodle Candy Cups were born. I made the cookie dough. Rolled it in the included cinnamon sugar, pressed it into a mini cupcake pan, and stuck pieces of left  over candy in them. Bake them, let them cool and there you have it. So easy, I would be willing to do it on a week night.

    The process is simple but I will list it out for you. Mainly I want a reason to fill this post with as many decadently gorgeous photos as possible. Enjoy!


    Snickerdoodle Candy Cups
    • Snickerdoodle cookie dough (homemade or from a box, I clearly took the easy route)
    • Cinnamon and sugar mixture
    • Assorted candy pieces, whole or chopped up. Pretty much anything you like would work.
    1.) Make a batch of Snickerdoole cookie dough according to the directions on the box or your recipe.


    2.) Using your hands or a cookie scoop, make tablespoon sized balls of dough and roll them in the sugar mixture just as you would a normal snickerdoodle.

    3.) Press into a greased/butter mini cupcake pan. I always am better safe than sorry when it comes to greasing the pan since I would hate to not be able to get one of these lovely treats out of the pan.


    4.) Press whatever candy you choose into the center of the dough. I used Dove Caramel Pieces, Peepsters, and chopped up Snickers Peanut Butter Easter Eggs.

    Peepster: A creamy marshmallow center covered in chocolate

    Dove caramel pieces

    For the Snickers pieces I made a little bowl for them to rest in.

    So good.

    Hungry yet?
    5.) Bake for 7-10 minutes at whatever temperature your original recipe or box mix directs you to. Keep an eye on them because there is a fine line between melted chocolate and a nicely done cookie and chocolate explosion and a burned cookie cup.

    Right out of the oven.

    Make sure to let them cool completely before taking out of the baking pan or they can crumble and break.
    I really can't pick which candy combo was my favorite. They were all so amazing yet so simple. Here are some close ups of the three varieties. Which one looks the best to you?

    All three.

     Here they are cut in half to show their delicious centers.
     

    Peepster

    Snickers  Egg

    Dove Caramel

    Too hard to choose right? I know. That's why I had to try all three. More than once. It's embarrassing. Please don't judge me. It was totally worth it.

    Enjoy!

    Make sure you stop by this week's Mealtime Monday and link up any amazing recipes you have been working on lately.


    ***Depending on the day this post may be linked up to any of these fabulous linky parties.***
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