Pardon Me, but You Seem to be a Cow

Here’s another meal freebie. July 8, 2011 is Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-A!

“Join us July 8, 2011 at any Chick-fil-A Restaurant

Come dressed like a cow from head to hoof and we’ll reward you with a FREE meal. (If you’re a little chicken, don’t worry, a partial costume still receives a free entrée.) And calves in costumes get free meals too; so bring in the whole herd for some family fun.”

Check out the details here.

What a fun way to snag a free meal! Sadly, there is no Chick-fil-A around here either so I can’t join in on all the crazyness. Too bad, that place rocks!

Bath and Body Works Freebie

If you happen to have a Bath and Body Works near you, here's an awesome coupon to score a freebie!

Check out their facebook page for more detail....

Or print out this coupon

This freebie is for today only so hurry on over!

Sad Day to be a Yankee

Living out in the boonies has its advantages and its disadvantages. While scouring the internet for coupons, I run into many disadvantages. Today’s heart break: no Panda Express for miles and miles.

While some people have beef with Panda Express (or chicken…haha I crack me up!), I love it! And for my fellow lovers of fast food Chinese, here is a deliciously enticing deal:

I’m pretty sure all you have to do is print off this coupon (pictured above or found here) and bring it in for your tasty midnight snack. Just check to see if your local Panda Express has these extended Summer Hours.

I’m thoroughly jealous of all of you who get to cash in on this free meal. Bon Appetite!

This week my Dollar General was running a sale on Glade Starter kits. They are $9 regular price but the DG had them down to $6. Normally, that would be an alright deal, but not enough to make me come-a-runnin’. However, I noticed that a couple of the kits had peelie coupons on them for $3 off! Now that’s a worth-while deal…but hang on to your hats folks because there’s more!

Last Saturday, my DG was having their Super Saturday Sale…aka $5 off a purchase of $25 or more. YAY!! I bought four of those bad boys! (There’s only three pictured because as soon as I got home I plugged one into my bedroom.) I also needed toilet paper so I went ahead and snagged a package of that, which helped bring my total over the $25 needed for the sale.

Let’s break it down now:

Glade Plug In Starter Kits - $9 regular price at Dollar General (These things are awesome! They come with a plug in and two separate scent oils)

Sale: Glade Plug In Starter Kits - $6 each

Used Coupon: $5 of $25 Dollar General Saturday Sale

Used Coupon: $3 off Glade Peelie that was attached to some of the boxes

Bought: 4 X Glade Plug In Start up Kits and 1 X pack of toilet paper.

Note: I let the cashier scan all of my items first…before coupons. So my Glades rang up at the $6 sale price. Then I handed her the $5 OFF COUPON BEFORE my peelies, otherwise the Super Saturday coupon wouldn’t have worked. Then I handed her the peelies.

Paid: $14.86 for the entire purchase including tax!

Now even to me that’s kind of confusing so let me see if we can double down the break down.

Glade Plug In: $6 each before coupon X 4 that I bought = $24 before tax

24 pack of tp = $5.50 before tax

Total before coupons = $29.50 + 8% tax here in NY = $31.86

$31.86 - $5 coupon = $26.86 - $12 (4 coupons at $3 each) in Glade coupons = $14.86

So if we subtract what I paid for tp and divide by 4, I paid roughly $2 .34 for each Glade Start Up Kit! How awesome is that?!

What Could Be Better Than Free...

Today’s score was better than free! I actually made money with my purchase.

Go to the travel size section of your Walmart store. Find these little $0.97 Aquafresh Extreme Clean toothpaste boxes and grab two. If you printed off your coupon at aquafresh.com you will make $0.03 a box. Now give yourself a high five for earning a whole $0.06 and scoring two free toothpastes!

Break Down:

Aquafresh Extreme Clean Travel Size - $0.97 regular price at Walmart

Used Coupon: $1 off any Aquafresh Extreme Clean (aquafresh.com allows for two printings per computer.)

Paid: Earned +$0.03 a box for a total of $0.06.

Now Walmart’s coupon policy does allow for either cash back or you can take your earnings and put them towards your other purchases (which is what I did). I had no trouble at all. However, it might be wise to print off Walmart’s Coupon Policy in case you happen to run into trouble.

Note: Click the Aquafresh link and scroll down the page to find the correct coupon. There are several different coupons on the site and you want to make sure you print off the right one.

Why Not Me?

I’ve always been intrigued by people who coupon. I’m especially curious when customers come through my check-out line with a handful of coupons and I see their totals shrink dramatically. I always think “Why not me?!”

So, why not me? I always thought couponing would be time consuming and not worth the hassle. However, I ended up scoring a couple free Sunday papers from work last week so decided to give it a try.

I noticed a coupon in RedPlum (6/5) for $2 off 1 Nivea Body Wash for Men. My husband uses Nivea so right away I was excited for saving just $2. However, since we were going to Target I wanted to check out their online coupons to see if I could score more deals. Low and behold Target had a coupon for $1 off Nivea Body Wash! YAY!

I quickly checked out Targets coupon policy online and they do, in fact, take one manufacture’s coupon (my RedPlum coupon) and one Target coupon per item.

Here’s how my first coupon adventure broke down:

Nivea Body Wash for Men - $3.04 at Target regular price (your Target prices may vary from mine)

Used Coupon: $2/1 Nivea Body Wash for Men from 6/5 RedPlum ad

Used Coupon: $1/ 1 Nivea Body Wash from Target.com

Paid: $0.20 (that includes my tax) for a 16.9 fl oz bottle!

I snagged four of those bad boys! So overall I paid $0.80 for 67.6 fl oz of body wash and it only took a couple minutes of my time! I instantly fell in love with coupons and now there’s no turning back. I’m a coupon-er for life. I’ll try my best to document my savings and I’ll try like heck to break down how I saved and pass said savings along to you.

I should be honest with you though. It wasn’t exactly smooth sailing. I had to do them in four separate transactions (technically, Target didn’t tell me this. I did it of my own free will because I was nervous and didn’t want the Target people to yell at me; which was silly of me because they were fantastically nice). I also had to tell the cashiers that the Nivea price tag read $3.04 instead of the $3.99 which it rang up as. They, of course, changed it right away without even blinking an eye.

It's Just a Bunch of Hocus Pocus

The last few days of summer are coming to a close and for most of us the chill of autumn is already in the air. I love this time of year! The leaves are turning from green to glorious red and vibrant orange, pumpkin and squash are abundant, and the wonderful aroma of wood burning fireplace smoke fills the air. Halloween (my 2^nd favorite holiday, with Christmas winning by only a nose) is right around the corner. To pay homage to my runner up, I’m going to review my all-time favorite Halloween movies.

We’ll get this fright-fest started with the classic Disney movie Hocus Pocus (ok ok so maybe “fright-fest” wasn’t the right word to use when describing this movie, but…)

The Movie:

Hocus Pocus

Movie Summary:

300 years ago, The Sanderson Sisters were sentenced to death by the townspeople of Salem for practicing witchcraft. Before the sentence could be carried out, they vow to return to Salem on All Hollow’s Eve to take their revenge. Legend has it that a virgin must light The Black Flame Candle on Halloween night in order for the 3 sisters to return. Now, it’s 1993 and Max Dennison, a Halloween-hating teenager, lights the candle to scare his little sister Dani and his love interest Allison, and brings the sisters back from the grave. They have their sights set of immortality and must suck the lives out of the children of Salem by sunrise in order to get it. Max and his friends, along with a cursed talking cat named Thackery Binx, try to hold the witches off until dawn when the spell will be broken.

Starring:

Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy, and Thora Birch

My Thoughts:

I adore this movie and would watch it over and over and over again (and most times I do!). Hocus Pocus is a childhood favorite and never fails to put me in the Halloween spirit. Sure, it’s cheesy at times and may be a tad childish but I love it and always will.

The Road....to nowhere

Movie: “The Road”

Based off the novel by Cormac McCarthy “The Road” is about a father and son’s struggle to survive in a post-apocalyptical world. This film stars Viggo Mortensen as “The Man” and Kodi Smit-McPhee as “The Boy” with appearances by Robert Duvall, Guy Pearce, and Charlize Theron. Realizing that they may not survive another winter where they are, The Man leads The Boy south in hopes of finding warmth and safety with just a pistol and 2 bullets to protect themselves from the cannibalistic groups that haunt their path.

This movie got rave reviews which, to be honest, I really don’t get why. “The Road” was very raw and an incredibly depressing movie. If this movie had a point I sure couldn’t see it. Perhaps if I had read the novel first I would have enjoyed the movie more. However, after seeing the movie all hopes of reading the book have vanished for me.

Whip It Real Good!

Movie: “Whip It”

I thought I might as well do the last movie I watched for my first movie review.

Based off of the book Derby Girl by Shauna Cross, Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut, ‘Whip It” stars Ellen Page (the girl from ‘Juno”) as a young misfit who wants nothing more than to get out of small-town, USA and break free of the mold by joining an all girls roller derby league.

Drew Barrymore sure has a talent for acting and I think she’s struck something with her directing as well. Ellen Page gives an excellent performance and reminds us all why she’s on her way to the top. Of course, Page and Barrymore aren’t the only ones: Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Wiig, Juliette Lewis, Daniel Stern, and Alia Shawkat also lend their talents to the movie.

I’ve heard mixed reviews about the film, but I really enjoyed it. While it may be a little predictable, it was funny, energetic, and had a good, albeit cheesy, message to just be yourself. “Whip It” keeps your attention and tickles your funny bone. I’d recommend it to anyone.

A Fresh Start

Yes, yes. I know I have been the worst blogger in the entire universe. I know this, you know this, now let’s put it behind us. I know I’m already forgotten it.

Now I originally intended this to be a cooking blog with the occasional “life story” thrown in. However, it’s quite difficult to blog about cooking when you do not have your own kitchen. I’ve been living in several different places the last few years and all of my amazing cooking gadgets are either packed in boxes in New York or packed in boxes in England. Now that I’m in a place that I’d assume I’ll be for at least a year, you’d think I could finally get down to it and cook, cook, cook. You’d be mistaken. The house I’m in now has no oven…you heard me right…no oven. The man who built the house decided that he no longer needed an oven and would be content with just a microwave and stove-top. Yeah, it’s complete madness I know.

Anyway, I miss the blogosphere too much to stay away any longer. I’m now going to blog about whatever I want! Neener, neener, neener!

I pick movies! I adore movies. Scary movies, funny movies, bad movies, good movies. I’m constantly on the hunt for movies. I always thought it would be so neat to be a Movie Reviewer, and now I get to be one (for the few remaining readers I have).

Daddy's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads!
(I know I'm a day late, but better late than never)

Momma Mia

Wishing all the moms a wonderful Happy Mother's Day!

Californ-I-A

I do realize I've fallen horrible behind on blogging about my cooking adventures. Lately though, I've been boring in the kitchen with nothing at all exciting to blog about. Just the average, everyday stuff. I've felt very uninspired. I'm hoping things start to perk up a bit, but as for now...nadda.

Instead I will tantalize you all with a few photos from our California trip.

We went on a Whale Watching boat in San Diego. While the whales were no where to be found, it was a really nice boat ride about 18 miles off the coast. And to be fair, we did see some wildlife.
In case you can't tell from that extraordinary picture. There are a couple seals on the buoy.

After the whales were a bust, we went to the beach just as the sun was setting and it was absolutely beautiful.
The days that followed were packed full of Disneyland, California Adventure, and more down time at the beach. We all had a great time.

That Canyon Sure Is Grand

Yesterday we drove up to the Grand Canyon. John has never been and we thought with Teresa here it would be the perfect opportunity.

Despite waking up at the crack of dawn (I am NOT a morning person), we had an awesome day.

We drove through Sedona...

...and stopped to take a couple pictures. We wanted to reach the Canyon before dark though, so we didn't get to stay very long. John and I have been up there before and there are a lot of cool shops that I'm sure Teresa would have enjoyed. Oh well, that gives us another reason to go up there again next time!

We also drove through Flagstaff. I love Flagstaff and had I stayed in Arizona for college, I would have gone up there.

I get car sick at the drop of a hat, this picture was taken of John while we were stopped on the side of the road so I could get some air. So if the roadsides look like that, you can imagine how beautiful the rest of the city is.

And finally the Grand Canyon!

I've been there so many times due to out-of-state/country family visits, but it still blows me away every time.

It's Alive!

Hello everyone!
I am very happy to report that I am not dead. And equally as happy to report that this time I have a real excuse for falling behind on my blogging. However, I am not happy to report that the reason for lagging is kidney stones.

People compare the pain of kidney stones to child labor. Now I have no idea if this is true or not, but what I can tell you is that if that's true...I need to seriously reconsider this whole getting married and having children thing.

Let's all just say one big OUCH! For those of you who have had kidney stones you may throw in a few other choice words if you feel the need. I know I sure did.

Boneless Buffalo Wings...Sort of

Tonight for dinner I made Boneless Buffalo Wings...only with chicken tenders. So I suppose that would make them Boneless Buffalo Tenders? Hey, that has a nice ring to it!

I made them for John really. He loves going to Applebee's during Happy Hour (half price appetizers!) and ordering their classic boneless buffalo wings. But even at half price, those tastey little treats can be expensive. I did a little research online and found a Copycat recipe for them.

I changed very little. I left my chicken tenders whole instead of cutting them into bite sized pieces and I used half Original Louisiana Hot Sauce and half Wing Louisiana Hot Sauce.

They tasted very much like the real thing. In fact, if I hadn't made them myself, I would have thought someone had brought them in from Applebee's.

I think maybe next time I make them, I'll try baking instead of frying them.

It's Always a Party with Shepherd's Pie

Last night for dinner, John made me Shepherd's Pie. Now you may think you love food, and you may think you have an all time favorite food, but there is no comparison to my love of Shepherd's Pie.

I had never even heard of it until I moved to England and John's best friend, Leon, had us over for dinner. When he told us he was making Shepherd's Pie, I automatically thought of a pie with crust. I pictured something very much like a chicken-pot-pie.

Now for those of you who may not know, I am not a big lover of cheese and not too long ago onions were my mortal enemy. So when he laid a plate full of something covered with browned cheese and several onions spilling out, I was thoroughly frightened and confused.


I politely said, "Oh, what's in this?". Trying with all my might to sound more interested in learning about the dish then terrified of it.

"Well, there's mince (the American translation is hamburger meat), onions, gravy, mashed potatoe, corn, cheese, and peas."

Oh no, peas?! Those tiny little green balls would be the death of me! What kind of country puts all those awful things together?! Well now they are both staring at me, waiting for me to take my first bite of Shepherd's Pie.

Oh and what a bite it was! It was on that fateful day that my addiction for Shepherd's Pie was born. Now I get John to make it for me as often as I can. Last night was one of those delightful times.

Moving away from one beautiful thing to another, Friday was my nephew's first birthday. Yesterday, was his birthday party.


He was very interested in eating the toys on his cake and was quite distressed when my sister took them out of his mouth. He was pleased once again when cake was put into his mouth instead.

Bring on the Chili

I have been craving chili for quite some time. Yesterday, I had a look through the cupboards and realized I have everything I needed to make not just chili but home-made cornbread as well.

While I have no written recipe for chili (I just throw in dice tomatoes, a variety of beans, chopped onion, etc.), I did find a good cornbread recipe.

Cornbread

2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 2/3 cups milk
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

1. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Combine the eggs and milk. Combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with egg mixture.
2. Pour into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking pan. Bake at 400 degrees F for 22-27 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cut into squares; serve warm.

I cut that recipe down to size for my family, but other than that I kept it as is. I thought it was more cakey than cornbready but it was still good. John said it was the best cornbread he'd ever had. In fact that's what he had to eat this morning for breakfast.

The Sorry Sound of a Forgetful Blogger

Well I’d say I have been slacking off on my blog entries but I don’t think 5 months would be considering “slacking off”. I think that would be considered abandonment. I promise it was not intentional. When I was in High School, (goodness 4 years ago! Where did 4 years go?!) I was quite the little blogger. I must be growing boring and forgetful in my 20s. Such a sad and terrible age.

My Cooking Friends are responsible for lighting the fire again. Most all of those wonderful ladies have a blog of their own, and they contribute to it often. So why not me? They all lead busy lives and yet they managed to set aside a portion of their time to “the blog”.

Wow, that sounds menacing. “The blog”. And it sure can be. Putting your thoughts, hopes, dreams, out into cyberspace is a very intimidating thing. But I’ve managed to come this far with a few simple posts, why not go all the way!

We’ll pick up where I left off…recipes.

Christmas is barely over so there are many recipes to discuss. I’ll just tell you about my new favorite dessert that has quickly become a family tradition.

It’s officially called “Great Pumpkin Dessert” but the members of my family have deemed it a lesser sounding name, “Pumpkin Cake”. Inferior name, but the taste makes up for it. It’s a recipe I was turned onto by a friend and can be found on the website Allrecipes.com. I’ve made a few changes which I will state in red.

Great Pumpkin Dessert (Pumpkin Cake)

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree

1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk

3 eggs

1 cup white sugar

4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (I also sprinkled some cinnamon in)

1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix

3/4 cup butter, melted (I used 1 cup, otherwise not all of the cake mix absorbs it)

1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts (I used about 3 cups of pecans, I just prefer them and a LOT of them)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar and spice. Mix well, and pour into a 9x13 inch pan.
3. Sprinkle dry cake mix over the top, then drizzle with melted butter. Top with walnuts.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. (Mine took about 1 hour 10 mins)

I would have taken a picture if it had lasted that long. Note to self: always take pictures before you serve, BEFORE you serve!

My Johnie lies over the ocean, my Johnie lies over the sea

Tuesday, John had to go back to England for 3 months! It’s a horrible situation we’re in, but it’ll all be worth it in the end. It’ll be a very lonely 3 months though.

A very good friend of mine shared an e-cookbook with me and tonight I selected a refreshing beverage from it to make, Blueberry Lemonade! Now I’m a blueberry junkie to begin with so the question I gotta ask myself is…Why have I not thought of this before?! Blueberries…good! Lemonade…good! So when the two combine you’re in taste Heaven people!

Here’s the recipe, my very few modifications are in red:

1 cup plus 2 tbsp. granulated sugar (I added an extra tsp. because my blueberries were a tad tart)
2 cups water (My changes here are down in the instructions)
1 pint fresh blueberries
1−1/2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice (from about
10 big lemons, including pulp but not seeds)
.
First make a simple syrup by combining 1 cup sugar and water in a saucepan
over medium heat, stirring until the mixture boils. Lower the heat and allow
the syrup to simmer for another minute. Remove from heat and let cool. In a
blender or food processor, puree the blueberries with 2 tablespoons of
sugar. In a pitcher, combine the cooled syrup, lemon juice and blueberry
puree. To serve, pour 1/4 to 1/3 cup of base into a glass and fill with
water. Alrighty, I may just be lazy, but this seemed like unnecessary work to me. I just added about 7 cups of water (8 cups when you count the 1 cup in the simple syrup) to the pitcher. Makes base for 12 servings.

And there you have it! A warning for some, you get blueberry pulp. I however, thought that was an added perk!

I’m eyeing up the recipe for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Peanut Butter is another weakness of mine. I’m planning on making them soon so I’ll keep you posted.