Operation $40K

This is a SUPER easy recipe that I think I learned when I was 10. You can get little people to try things when they are a part of creating it AND they see that a lot of the things they like are inside it. My munchkin loves each of the 5 main ingredients - and it was her job to cut the onion (in a Tupperware Lil Prep Chopper) and measure the rice and water. It's also great for those "use it up" pantry months! You need: 1 onion, minced 1 # ground beef or turkey 1 cup minute rice 1 can tomato soup 1 can water Start by sauteing that onion in a little butter, in the skillet Add the ground meat and cook through. Remove half of the meat/onion mix and save for another meal, another night. (maybe mix it with a can of refried beans for taco night or enchiladas?) Add rice, soup and water. Stir and simmer. This is where you can zip it up a bit if you wish - I like to add a few drops of Tabasco, parsley flakes and some garlic salt. . When it is "thick" you can plate it up an...

This is the other "as seen on TV" gift that we got for Christmas. I thought it was the goofiest thing but tried it anyways... I have gotten a few brownie mixes free last year and figured it was cheaper than trying to make them from scratch - so one box of brownies it was! I preheated the oven to 350 and popped that batter into the pan. Then, you spray the bejesus out of the insert and add it. If you DON'T spray it, you will have a large brownie with the insert stuck in the middle of it. (not fun)! Now THIS is where the fun starts...you can make each brownie different! I added the last of the holiday M&Ms, and a few chopped walnuts to them. 30 minutes later - we just needed some cold glasses of milk and ripped into them! Bottom line: I wouldn't have paid cash for this as I have regular pans but this is a fun toy to keep - I see several custom brownie batches in our future. =)

1-9 RedPlum Coupon Preview Sunday coupon preview Regional coupon inserts & value differences are to be expected! (x) before coupon = multiple of same coupon ETS = excludes trial sizes RedPlum Coupon Insert Carbona tough acting Oven Cleaner Save $1.00/1 (4/9) Carbona 2-in-1 Oven rack and grill cleaner Save $2.00/1 (4/9) Endust Product Save $1.00/1 (2/20) Garnier Cleanser or Moisturizer Save $1.00/1 (6/1) Get One Gatorade Perform or G2 FREE When you buy One Gatorade Prime (4oz) AND One Gatorade Recover (16 oz) value Save $1.29 (3/31) Hillshire Farm Deli Select lunchmeat (8oz or larger ) Save $1.00/2 (2/12) Keebler and/or Sunshine 100 calorie Right Bites Snacks 6 ct or larger any flavor mix or match Save $1.00/2 (3/6) Kellogg’s cereals any packages Save $1.00/3 (2/20) L’Oreal Preference any shade Save $3.00/1 (3/6) Maybelline New York Mascara Save $1.00/1 (3/9) Met-Rx bars Buy One Get One Free value to Save $2.39 (2/20) OneTouch Delica Lancets any Save $3.00/1 (2/5) OneTouch Ultra Met...

This month I have been to HyVee and gotten butter. Twenty pounds of it at that price. Then, I went to Cub Foods and got 10 Mac N Cheese @$.69/box and used 10 expired $.50 coupons -- for a grand total of $1.90 100.00 -39.96 HyVee -1.90 Cub Foods -------- $58.14 to go (and 25 days) YES, I am planning a use it up pantry and freezer month, LOL! I have plenty of meat, cheese, baking items more to use...it's time to get creative with meals. If I hit Copp's this week, you already know what I am going to get...I am hoping a DOUBLE DOUBLE day pops out some time this month!

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OK -- the new flier is out and a few things: 1) Saturday Double Days seems to be over at Copp's. They still show Wednesday (yay!) but the perk for Saturday AM shopping seems to be gone for the moment. 2) Fuel Perks program was extended BUT it is half of what it used to be! It is $.05 a gallon discount for every $50 you spend, not the dime that we had been loving. (sigh) 3) Meat prices...the good and the bad. The good news is that bacon seems to be coming down - Farmland bran is on sale for $3.99/# and says it is a $.50 savings, a big drop from the $6 price we had seen a few months ago. The bad news is that beef seems to have gone up and stayed up. I think the new "BUY NOW" price for roasts will have to be $2.50/# - which still excludes Angus. The Beef Tenderloin is on sale for $5.99/# and we are used to seeing $4.99/# The Jenni-O ground turkey seems high since we got ground turkey a month ago for $1/# - now it is $3.50 for a 14-20 oz package. Chicken Drumsticks or Thigh...

They are fun to eat, VERY inexpensive to make and usually put a smile on someones face in the morning...perfect for those lazy days! We like to take it further than that... Once baked in your waffle iron, and cooled on a wire cooling rack, they are simply fun bread and can be used for sandwiches when you cut them down the middle. =) Try a peanut butter & jelly with sliced bananas...yum! Basic waffles - 2 eggs - 2 cups all-purpose flour - 1 3/4 cups milk - 1/2 cup vegetable oil - 1 tablespoon white sugar (I mix it with a little Tupperware Cinnamon Vanilla seasoning) - 4 teaspoons baking powder - 1/4 teaspoon salt - 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract Preheat waffle iron... Beat eggs in large bowl with hand mixture until fluffy or just let it rip in your stand mixer. Stir in flour, milk, vegetable oil, sugar, baking powder, salt and vanilla and mix by hand or with electric mixer until smooth. Pour batter onto waffle iron and cook until golden brown. Super easy! We like to make these the bat...

Winter always makes me crave these - they are like pot roast in a pie shell. When I had the restaurant, Thursday used to be pasty day. We would make a ton of these and sell out pretty quickly -people even drove up from Chicago for a few dozen to take back and enjoy. I stage my prep for this as they can be labor intensive...but they are SOOOO worth it! You can pre dice your carrots, potatoes, rutabaga, etc and cover with water to freeze. Just thaw out when you are ready to assemble. This is very easy to make a double or triple batch of, I hope you enjoy these as much as we do - I still can't figure out if I like them better with gravy or ketchup. Diced Veggies: 1# carrots 2.5 # potatoes 1/2 rutabaga 1 medium onion Add: 3# ground sirloin 2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese Mix all together in a large bowl. Seasoning- stir together: 1/2 cup warm water 2 TBSP Legout Au Jus Base 1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp curry powder Pour over items in large bowl. Sift over that 1/3 cup flour, 1 Tbsp pep...

Here is what you will find in the papers this weekend =) I found a few that interest me...looks like I need more than one paper this week! 1-9 Smartsource Coupon Preview Date: January 3rd, 2011 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1-9 Smartsource Coupon Preview Sunday coupon preview Regional coupon inserts & value differences are to be expected! (/X) after coupon = expiration date () before coupon = multiple of same coupon ETS = excludes trial sizes DND5 = coupon states Do Not Double, but barcode starts w/a 5 Smartsource coupon insert All Natural Almond Accents Save $.50/1 (5/31/11) Barilla Plus Save $.55/1 (3/7/11) Benefiber Save $2/1 (2/26/11) Benefiber Stick Save $2/1 (2/26/11) Bic Disposable Shaver B1G1F to Save $6.99 (2/6/11) Cold Buster Warming Syrup Save $2/1 (4/3/11) Cream of Wheat Hot Cereal Save $1/1 (3/31/11) Depends Guards for Men Save $1/1 (2/19/11) Depend Underwear in Prints and Colors 6 ct Save $2/1 (2/19/11) Dole Fruit Cri...

Who doesn't love rice? There are so many different kinds and it is a very nutritious side dish! Some people are SOOOOO afraid to try to make it, it is SUPER easy! You can use the new (and totally amazing) Microwave Rice Cooker from Tupperware or, just pull out your Stack Cooker base and cover. For regular rice: 2 cups water, 1 cup rice, a dash of salt and a couple drops of veggie oil. Cover and cook on high for ten minutes, then let stand (still covered) for five more minutes. How easy is that?! For a Flavored Rice mix: 4 cups uncooked long grain rice, one tablespoon parsley flakes, two (1 1/4 oz) packs onion soup mix, one tablespoon salt. Mix it all together and store in a Tupperware Modular Mate until you are ready to cook. To prepare it: 1 1/3 cups of mix, 2 cups of water, 1 tablespoon of butter. Cook in microwave on high for five minutes. Now what do you do with that leftover rice? It is too yummy to just pitch out (and we are too cheap to do that)! You can use it to fill in ...

The holidays are over and I want to switch things up a bit, I also have a lot of food in the chest freezer to rip into! This week will also see some baking days for the cinnamon rolls and breakfast cookies, which aren't really cookies but don't tell my four year old that, LOL! Here is the list: Breakfast will include: -breakfast cookies -oatmeal (It's frigging cold out!) -cinnamon rolls -fruit crepes Lunches as normal (sandwiches, soup, left overs, tappas plates) and for dinner... Monday - Bacon Wrapped turkey steaks with bake potatoes, glazed carrots Tuesday - Simple Spanish Rice Wednesday - breakfast for dinner! waffles Thursday - Chicken Cordon Blue with wild rice (skipped it last week) Friday - Fridge clean out! Saturday - French Onion Soup with croutons and broiled cheese Sunday - Lasagna with one ground up Italian sausage in it (skipped it last week) What are you going to feed YOUR family this week?

Pop over to thecutecouponer.blogspot.com and check it out - Valerie has a fun site to look at and you will see a post by me! I am a featured guest blogger there this week and sharing how to play the grocery selling cycle game with meat. Of course I added a recipe or two also, LOL!

Just perusing the sales fliers today and this is what jumped out at me: Remember my price guidelines (Produce under $1 a pound and meat under $2 a pound) HyVee *****Butter for $1.98 a pound (no posted limit!!) Hormel Boneless Pork Shoulder Roast $1.79/# Ground Beef $1.88/# (limit 2) Whole Chickens $.79/# Cantaloupe $2 (weigh them to make sure you get a 2# or more one) Grapefruit 3/$1 Roma tomatoes $.88/# From their 3 day sale: Boneless IQF Chicken Breast $1.60/# Hormell Pork Spareribs $1.29/# Roundy's Stores (Copps and Pick'n Save) Ground Beef $1.88/# - when you get 3# or more Boneless IQF Chicken Breasts $1.99/# (HyVee has a better price) Ronzoni Pasta $1 (should be FREE with the coupons out there) Baby Carrots $1/# - great for soups and stews this time of year when coarsely chopped. Cub Foods FRESH boneless Chicken Breast $1.99/# Split Breasts $1.49/# Kraft Mac N Cheese $.69 (no limit) Apples $.99/# Braeburn, Gala or Fuji Baby Carrots $.80/# when you buy 2 with in flier coupo...