Menu Plan for the short week of Nov. 24th, 2008

A few weeks ago I made this dish from Orgjunkie's favorite meals, and it was delicious! Its makeover greek spaghetti and is a delicious way to get lots of veggies in while still enjoying a creamy casserole-like dish. Warning: lots of chopping necessary! I was not prepared for the time output it chopping 5 or so different veggies, so dinner was late when I made this! This would be a great way to use up some of that leftover turkey next week.

Breakfasts: Leftover sourdough muffins (turned out a little dry, so we are taking a long time to use up!), french toast with homemade whole wheat bread, yogurt, cold cereal

Lunches: leftovers and fruit

Dinners:

Monday: Turkey, mashed sweet potatoes (pre-made from an Albertson's sale), fresh cranberries (but cooked of course!) and green beans (why turkey 3 days before thanksgiving...well my freezer is so full of free green giant veggies that I knew I couldn't fit the super cheap turkey in it! So we decided to eat it anyway, since we love turkey. We'll eat more at my parent's house on Thursday!:)

Tuesday: Salsa (Turkey) and Black Bean Soup-in the crockpot...this looks SO good!

Wednesday: Cowboy Beans & Rice or most likely homemade pizza
The rest of the week will be at my parents' house, eating lots of turkey and such! I will be bringing refridgerator rolls, a green vegetable and a dessert.

Making Cheaper Choices: the Pizza Example

Living a "frugal" lifestyle involves lots of choices. Sometimes it seems like living on a tight budget takes away all your choices, but that's not really the case. Its often all about perspective and an attitude of creativity, which one has to cultivate. I didn't always have this attitude...and can fall out of it easily.

One example of this recently came up. I was excited about getting a free pizza from Papa John's through Facebook, but come to find out you had to buy an overpriced pizza before getting the free one. I was disappointed and was close to just doing it anyway. It didn't seem like a big deal, especially since we could afford it. It didn't take long to realize that with a little creativity (and being flexible with our "friday" night pizza tradition, we could have just as much pizza, that tasted good (different, but very good) with less hassle for just $3 or so dollars. I even let my usual wheat flour only rule slide for the night and used half white. Daniel and I decided it was the best pizza I'd made so far! Anyway, I was far happier afterwards than I think I would have been if we'd just gone ahead and ordered the not-really-free pizza afterall:)



Here is the crust recipe I use, and if you're wondering, the toppings we used this time were pre-made pasta sauce, turkey pepperoni (a treat from the QFC sale!) and fresh pineapple. Oh and a combo of mozzarella and sharp cheddar cheese. Very tasty!

My final pictures of last week's haul

All in all, the Albertson's promo from a week or so ago was the best grocery deal I've gotten in awhile. Pictured below are 3 transactions from Albertson's, a Walgreen's run, a trip to QFC (a Kroger affiliate) and a cute baby (toddler?:). All total, I spent right at $30 out of pocket and received a $15 gift card from Albertson's which I have since spent on fresh stuff and put towards a cheap turkey:) Oh and to be fair, the Walgreen's total was $0 only because I used a giftcard from previous Free After Rebates (FAR). M is holding some of the lovely Almay makeup I got for free (plus earning $2!) from WAGS. Isn't it fun to bargain shop?!


Can't keep the deals neat for long with my girlie around:)


M is taste inspecting my spices in this picture (above). My favorite deals? Probably the green giant veggies, the free french bread from albies, the free 7 up from QFC. Everything from Walgreen's was free (fruit, dishsoap, spices, make-up, so I can't complain about that either!).

Safeway NW Deals for the week (and a 1/2!) of November 19th-27th, 2008

Good Deals (no coupon needed)

Turkey: Safeway or Manor House 10-15lb $0.39/lb or 17-22lbs $0.27/lb with $25 other grocery purchase. Combine this with the Home for the Holidays Promo and you may have yourself a good deal!

Fresh Broccoli Crowns or Cauliflower $0.99/lb

5 lb box of Satsuma Mandarins $3.97 each

HoneyCrisp Apples $1.49/lb (I have heard that these are a tasty variety:)

12 pack Coca-Cola, Pepsi or 7 up Buy 2 Get 2 Free!

Tillamook Baby Loaf 2 lbs $5.99 (great price for good cheese)

Home For the Holidays Promo
Receive $10.00 Reward coupon (for on your next order) when you purchase $40.00 or more, receive $5.00 Reward coupon when you purchase $25.00 worth of participating products.

Some participating items in this week's ad that may be a good deal:

Pillsbury Cake Mix: $.79

C&H Sugar 5lb bag 2/$5
Use $0.35/1 coupon from 11-16 RP
Final Price $2.15

Quaker Oatmeal, 18 oz. $2.22
Use $1.00/2 coupon from 11/16 RP
Final Price $1.72 each

Progresso Broth: B1G1 Free, $3.15
Use $1.00/1 from 10/5 GM or 11/16 SS (may be able to use one on each, depends on your store)
Final Price varies

Three deals you cannot pass up!

I have gotten out of the habit of passing along deals here because there are so many great sites that specialize in this very thing! But recently there have been so many excellent deals that I couldn't help passing them on to those who may not frequent all the deal sites I do.

*Free medium pizza from Papa John's if you are a Facebook user! Click here to see how it works!

*Sign up for Swagbucks (search engine like google) and earn gift cards just by searching! If you sign up through my link, you'll help me earn points (but won't take any away from yourself)! Visit Economic Endeavors to see how she got most of her Christmas gifts (via earning giftcards) just by using Swagbucks. Click here to join!

*Restaurant.com is having an 80% off sale! You get a $25 gift certificate for only $2 when you use code Surprise at checkout!

*Coinstar has a sweet deal right now where you turn in $40 or more of coins for gift certificates and you can send in for an additional $10 gift certificate...that's $10 free dollars just for hauling in that extra coin! Check out Coinstar for more details here.

In case you're wondering, some of my favorite money saving sites are:
Money Saving Mom
Freebies 4 Mom
imommies

Protein the Inexpensive way

Being the expectant, still-nursing (2-3 times a day) mom that I am, I am always looking for ways to get more protein in. The problem is, it can be expensive! Another problem, my previous go-to protein source (beans!) has sounded less appealing since becoming pregnant. We still eat a beans at least once a week, but much more than that and...well I've reached my limit. Hopefully this will pass soon.

So...needing other sources of inexpensive protein I have been creative. Scrambled eggs worked for mornings for awhile, but I got tired of that quickly! A couple new ideas I have tried this past week are yogurt in the crockpot (which I am still working to perfect...going to use some powdered milk to thicken the next batch!) and healthy peanut butter balls. Here is the recipe which was adapted from the What to Eat When You're Expecting cookbook.

Healthy Peanut Butter Balls

1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup powdered milk (not reconstituted)
3/4 cup plus 1/3 cup prepared unsweetened or homemade granola
1/4 cup wheat germ (I used some cracked wheat?? and a little whole wheat flour)
1/4 cup apple juice concentrate* (I would probably add a little honey or another sweetener to this next time. They did not taste sweet enough to me)

Mix ingredients well in a bowl and shape into small balls. Refrigerate. Serve with milk for extra protein!

I also used a combo of grape nuts and special K cereal for the granola because that's what I had! they stuck together just fine even so.

More recipes adapted from the What to Eat When You're Expecting book coming soon! For more kitchen tips, visit Tammy!

Anniversary visit to Eastern WA

My parents were kind enough to babysit M while we stole away to Leavenworth (a little bavarian town in Eastern Washington) for our 4 year anniversary getaway. So much fun! We had dinner at an Asian restaurant called the Dragonfly, which was awesome, but not so popular. We were the only ones in the place at 5:30pm on a Friday night for 15 or so minutes:) They do the organic, local, sustainable business so it was pricey, but very tasty. We are huge party animals so we stayed up til 11:00 (whooo...3 hours past bedtime!) watching "what not to wear". I know, don't be jealous. We don't have a tv for many reasons, so tv watching is a big treat for us. Like I said, party animals:) Anyway, here are pics of the rest of the weekend. None of our big overnight getaway since our camera is going..going...gone (but did I mention we're getting one on Black Friday...yeehaw!

Gramie and M doing bathtime

Yep, a little spoiled with a brand new vintage kitchen all her own.

Lovin' the swingin'

Uncle Jon and M at the church cafe in Ellensburg, where Jon is estudiante extraordinaire

Our happy little family of (soon to be) 4:)