Debt Free!

I know, I know -- still pretty MIA. Every week I keep thinking I'll be able to post about our grocery trip, and every week I am exhausted by the time I get this far. Not to mention that my trips have not been that impressive. Just GETTING to the store is good for me. I'm definitely lacking in the preparation department as much of my planning time has been re-dedicated to sleeping. I usually use my lunch time to plan our grocery shopping, but I have taken a nap in my car instead nearly every day for the last 10 weeks or so! Even still, I am feeling a little improved, and I am down to one kid this weekend! I MAY make a grocery shopping trip return! Maybe I'll even whip a new recipe! Oh my!

My reason for posting is that I did want to share that we finally made our goal! We're debt free (except for our mortgage again!) We paid off our Town & Country last week! We paid it off in exactly one year with less than 7K miles. I'm so proud! You can read more about our decision to buy a new minivan here. It was a lot of work to pay it off, but it was WORTH IT! And, now we have Baby #3 on the way, and a PAID FOR car that we will all fit in. Planning (and saving!) is a good thing!

Opinion Outpost

I know I've been completely absent lately. I can explain. Really. I'm the worst pregnant lady ever. I can barely look at or even think about right food now. So, the blog just...makes me want to puke. LOL.

BUT, I have discovered something interesting lately -- Opinion Outpost! It's a really great survey site. I've made $17 in the last 10 days or so by completing surveys that have mostly taken 10 minutes or less per survey. I'm so stoked! I am just so thrilled to be able to easily earn an extra few bucks here and there with little effort. At first I was thinking I would just use the extra cash to pad our checking account, but at the rate I'm going, I'm wondering if I couldn't do something more significant like fund our Christmas Club account. What a blessing!

If you want to join, click on this link.

http://OpinionOutpost.com/join/8360138

(I will add that I occasionally will NOT qualify for a survey. In fact, I don't think I qualified one for the first two weeks after I joined! Don't lose heart. You'll qualify for lots!)

House and Home

*Whew!* Summer has my family eating us out of house and home. Not only that, but we've been BUSY having fun. I barely have time to keep up here, and I didn't get a picture taken last week OR this week. I figured this week I'd update with our shopping trip anyway, since I only made one trip (to Hy-Vee.) This is what we got:

1 Milky Way bar
1 16 oz generic cottage cheese
1 Digiornio Flatbread
1 Red Baron double pizza slice box
1 box of Fiber One bars
1 bag of salsa Sunchips
1 box of Trix
1 box of Corn Pops
1 can of black beans
1 bottle of generic apple juice
2 boxes of Keebler Multigrain crackers
2 jars of Skippy Natural Creamy
2 bottles of V8 Fusion
1 squeeze bottle of Welch's reduced sugar jelly
2 boxes of Popsicles
1 package of Hillshire Honey Ham
1 1/2 gallon of generic chocolate milk
1 package of Cascade action pacs
2 1 lb bricks of generic cheese
4 lbs of strawberries
2 6 oz packages of raspberries
1 package of Ball Park hot dogs

My pre-tax total was $55. I got SEVERAL rain checks for items they were out of, which was great. That will help me stretch my budget next week, and it allowed me to stock up on the things that they did have in stock. I'm a little worried because even though I got some good deals, we are low or our of a lot of staples. In addition to what I bought, I've got a good stock of bread, noodles, marinara, canned corn, Jell-O, cake mix, fish sticks, frozen french fries and hashbrowns. Umm, that's not going to help me much!

I haven't had a lot of time lately to try new recipes (or just to cook and bake in general,) but I did try to make chocolate covered raspberries a la Karl Bissingers today, but they just did not turn out as I had planned. They taste great, but they look AWFUL. I know HOW I need to make them, but I had some trouble with the execution. (Mainly the chocolate dipping.) I think I need to buy one of those little tubs of chocolate for fruit dipping and try that. I just couldn't get the chocolate hot enough for fear of burning it. I also wasted a whole bag of chocolate chips and changed my microwave language setting to Spanish somehow in the process. Ha! I'll try again soon.

We're growing!

In most important news, our grocery project has taken a turn! We're now feeding 2 adults, 2 kids and a growing infant! That's right! We're expecting Baby #3! With that big news, I'm a little bit of a mess this week! We made two trips to two different stores. I have one picture and one receipt, but I did come out at $50.00 exactly. Here is what we got -

Hen House -


Those are ORGANIC blueberries that were on sale for $1.99!!! So awesome! I don't have my receipt, but my saving was around 50%, and I spent about $25.00 after tax. I got really good deals on everything but the milk, which I paid full price for. I hate that!

At Hy-Vee, we got:

3 bags of Chex mix
1 bottle of Hidden Valley Ranch
2 boxes of Quaker granola bars with fiber and Omega 3s
1 bag of Sara Lee bagels
1 package of Hillshire Farms lunch meat
1 4 pack of Activia
1 carton of Philadelphia cream cheese
2 lbs of baby carrots
1 red bell peepper
2 lbs of grapes
1 head of Romaine lettuce

My total here was $23.00 after tax.

Our food supply is looking a little sparse. In addition to feeding my own family, I took a dinner of salad, cavatini and scones to a friend of mine that is on bed rest with twins. My husband is also still doing a great job on his diet, which means I've been packing more lunches than usual and just generally buying different items. My goal for this week is to try to get my coupons in order. They are a MESS, and I really need to be stretching my dollar better than I have been. I think fixing my coupon problem would help me a lot.

Back in the Saddle....

It took me a few weeks to get back in the swing of things post-Disney World, but I'm back! We had a great trip to Hen House yesterday. Here is what we got:

1 Butterfinger
1 box of Honey Nut Cheerios
2 16 oz tubs of cottage cheese
2 small packages of raspberries
4 lbs of peaches
3 packages of Gia Russa whole wheat gnocchi

My pre-tax total was $12.16. I saved $20.09 or 60%, BUT that doesn't include the savings on the gnocchi. I got them out of the bargain bin for $.50. I think they're usually close to $5.00, but a bargain bin price reduction isn't calculated by the computer since the price is manually entered by the checker at this store. So, I think I really saved closer to $35.00, which is quite possibly my best savings ever. Oh how I love a good bargain bin sale!

I have a few more trips to make this weekend. My husband is a week in to a new diet, and he needs some new and exciting healthy food to eat. He's doing a great job, and I want to encourage him!

Strawberry Shortcake Scones

I've been loving experimenting with the base recipe from my favorite orange cranberry scones. Today, I whipped up a strawberry shortcake variety, and it is awesome! Here is the adjusted recipe:

Strawberry Shortcake Scones:

Scones:

• 4 cups flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup room temperature butter, cubed
  
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (I used vanilla bean paste.)
  
• 1/3 cup strawberry juice*
  
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup chopped strawberries

*I used some of the juice from my leftover fruit salsa and fresh strawberries. Next time, I will either mix the chopped strawberries with a little sugar, let them sit, strain off the liquid and use the strawberries in the scones. I think you could also use frozen strawberries in syrup and strain to separate the liquid and the fruit.

Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and. Cube the butter and mix in to the mixture until the butter is pea sized. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, vanilla, strawberry juice and milk together. Stir into the flour mixture until the dough is moist, do not over mix. Knead in the strawberries. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead a couple of times. Divide dough into two equal balls. Pat each ball into an 8 inch circle. (Be careful to make sure it is not too thick in the center.) Place each ball onto a parchment paper lined or greased cookie sheet. Score each circle with a knife into 6 wedges. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 25-30 minutes, or until done and lightly golden. Allow the scones to cool. (I sanded the scones in the picture with vanilla sugar because they were just TOO pretty to frost!) We ate these warm, and they were DELICIOUS. I think you could also serve them with whipped cream as a dessert. They would be delicious.

For more recipes, see Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays, Tuesdays at the Table, LifeasMom, Joy of Desserts, Grocery Cart Challenge.

Fruit Salsa with Homemade Cinnamon Chips

I delivered this little tray to my mom for Mother's Day. The word is that my dad ate all the chips and left my mom all of the salsa. Ha! Those little chips are really darn good!

Ingredients

• 2 kiwis, peeled and diced
• 2 Golden Delicious apples - peeled, cored and diced
• 8 ounces raspberries
• 1 pound strawberries
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons fruit preserves, any flavor
• 10 (10 inch) flour tortillas
• butter flavored cooking spray
• 2 cups cinnamon sugar

Directions

1. In a large bowl, thoroughly mix kiwis, Golden Delicious apples, raspberries, strawberries, white sugar, brown sugar and fruit preserves. Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 15 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
3. Coat one side of each flour tortilla with butter flavored cooking spray. Cut into wedges and arrange in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle wedges with desired amount of cinnamon sugar. Spray again with cooking spray.
4. Bake in the preheated oven 8 to 10 minutes. Repeat with any remaining tortilla wedges. Allow to cool approximately 15 minutes. Serve with chilled fruit mixture.