Last year, my husband and I did Jillian Michaels’ Ripped in 30 DVD which also came with a meal plan. I was nervous about what types of foods she was going to make us eat but in the first few days, one item on the meal plan was Chicken Satay. I had never tried it before so I had nothing to compare it to but I have to say I was very impressed that this meal was “allowed.”

You marinade chicken for awhile, skewer them and then grill them. You can then top it with an almond butter sauce but honestly they were just fine without it. This recipe is also in her book, The Master Your Metabolism Cookbook which I’m anxious to check out. I saw her recipe was shared on the Today Show so I thought it was OK to share it with you, too. Here’s how you make it:

Ingredients You’ll Need (I’m going to divide them by the marinade and sauce to make it easier)

Marinade
1 pound of boneless/skinless Organic Chicken Breast
1/2 cup of low-sodium tamari
Juice of one Orange (about 1/2 cup)
Juice of one lime (About 1 1/2 Tablespoons)
2 garlic cloves, chopped

Sauce
1/4 cup of rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Organic Natural Almond Butter
1 Tablespoon Organic Raw Honey
1 Tablespoon Fresh Ginger, minced
1/4 Teaspoon Sesame Oil
1 Teaspoon Low-Sodium Tamari
1 Garlic Clove, Chopped

1) Slice the chicken breast into thin strips 3 to 4 inches long

2) In a medium bowl, mix 1/2 cup tamari, orange juice, lime juice, and two of the garlic cloves. (I put in a little extra garlic as I forgot to save a clove for later!)

3) Add the chicken slices. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least one hour and up to overnight.

Note: Before you grill the chicken, soak the wooden skewers in water for at least 20 minutes. (An easy way to do this is to lay them on a cookie sheet with some water.)

4) Place the rice wine vinegar, almond butter, honey, ginger, sesame oil, 1 teaspoon tamari, and one garlic clove, in a blender or mixing device. Blend or process until smooth. Set aside until ready to serve.

5) Take the chicken out of the marinade and pat the chicken slices dry. Thread two slices onto each skewer. (Mine were a little smaller so I put extra)

6) If using a gas or charcoal grill, carefully spray the grill with olive oil and prepare a medium-hot grill. If using a grill pan, spray it with olive oil and heat over medium- high heat.

7) Grill for two to three minutes per side. Arrange the hot skewers on a platter and either drizzle the sauce over or serve the sauce in a bowl alongside the skewers.

You can see Jillian’s recipe and notes as she has them written, too. Probably easier to print from there,too.

I actually didn’t mind them without the sauce. So if you don’t have the sauce ingredients on hand, you could always try just the marinated chicken grilled.

This is a fairly new recipe to us and one that we decided to try to keep the meal plan a little new. Hope you enjoy it, too! You can check out some of the other “What’s New for Dinner” posts that I’ve shared in the past for more ideas, too!

Back around New Year’s, our Jewel had the POM drinks deeply discounted, which was perfect for using the $1 Off Pom Coupon to get them for under $1. The bottles that the juice comes in was so interesting that I rinsed them out and kept them for a “rainy day.”

Yesterday, I decided to make some POM Flower Vases with the kids as a gift they could give their Grandmother. Here are the supplies that we used:

POM Bottle – emptied and rinsed clean
Tissue Paper
Elmer’s Glue
Stickers
Flowers
Container/Qtips for the Glue

Before you get started, you’ll want to cut your tissue paper up into squares, or your shape of choice. I used a divided plastic container I had kept from a snack tray we had picked up.

I always keep containers from yogurt or mac & cheese cups as they make great little buckets to put in glue for projects like these. When I asked at the craft store what would work for pasting tissue paper, they recommended simple Elmer’s Glue that was watered down a little bit. This actually worked out really well. The kids took the watered down glue and, with the Qtip, spread a small amount on the POM bottle. Then they’d put a square piece of tissue paper on the glue.

I let them do their own thing. I’m still working on not wanting to make their projects perfect because the true art is that they do whatever inspires them. I love that everything doesn’t have to be just so and that they didn’t feel the need to cover the entire bottle. When they were done, they were done. LOL. The only thing I had asked is that they do is to not paste over the heart in the word POM.

We had some lighter colored tissue paper that we tried to double layer around the letters on the jar as it was still showing through. We left the heart visible and I had them put a letter “I” above and “U” below so it would look like it read “I LOVE YOU.” They added a few butterfly stickers to cover up the other letters, too.

When we went shopping for supplies, I let them both pick out their own artificial flowers. They both decided on ones with butterflies in them as “That’s her favorite.” Here’s what they ended up looking like (the picture doesn’t do them justice, though, as they are actually a lot prettier.):

We had a fun time together and they were both excited to be able to make their own Valentine’s gifts for their Grandmother. I’m hoping that if you decide to make one that you’ll have fun, too, when you take a Time Out with Kids!

I love trying to find ways to re-use containers, especially if it can turn into a fun game with the kids.

Yesterday, the kids and I took some empty and clean Parmesan Cheese containers, some rice and some items that we found around the house to make some “Seek and Find Containers” like their own “I Spy” game. The first place we went to look was in the craft closet. There we found things like feathers, cotton balls, small wooden items, water balloons, stickers, etc. Next I raided our office/school supplies to find some rubber bands, broken crayons, letter/number magnets, etc. We found a few items around the house like little lid caps and a lone domino to add to the pile.

I had a bag of rice in my pantry that I had been able to get nearly free after coupons and this is what we used to fill the container to hide the items in the container. You could also use small pasta or anything else small you have on hand.

One by one, we added the items into the containers and I’d write them down on a sheet of paper as we went along. I had added the rice at the end but if were to make another one, I think I’d add a little rice after each item was added to spread them out a little better. We were able to get them mixed in by turning it quite a bit but it took awhile.

The last step was to put on the lid and add some letter stickers to the edge of the lid rim to personalize each one. My kids are great about not opening it but if you worry about your child opening it, you may want to use some tape to seal it shut. I plan on switching out the items so I didn’t tape mine. Here’s what they ended up looking like:

After we were all done, the kids played “I Spy” telling me what they saw as they twisted the containers around. As they went along, we’d describe the objects’ color and I’d spell each word to them as we played. We’ll keep switching out the items as time goes by and as they get older, I’ll have them write down the items as they find them. Hopefully it will become a fun learning tool.

The kids not only had fun making these containers and playing with them but they also had fun on our little “scavenger hunt” throughout the house trying to find items to fill it. In the end, the project didn’t cost me anything extra as I just used items we already had.

I thought I’d share this little fun project we did in case you were looking for a fun activity to do with your kids, as well. I cannot stress this enough, though….only fill these containers with items that are age appropriate for your child. You do not want a fun game to turn into a choking hazard.

Thanks to Chanin for the idea! I hope you have a fun time when you take a Time Out with Kids!

Several years ago, my Mom started this wonderful tradition with my kids. One of their presents they receive from her is a Book Box. It’s a festive Christmas box that she has filled with wrapped books that she works on finding throughout the year. Each book is individually wrapped and here’s my favorite part–rather than opening them all at once, the kids get to pick a book, at random, throughout the year.

You should see their excitement when I tell them that they can get something from their Book Box. Their little eyes light up and they run over and grab one and get the joy of opening a present on a day that might be a little gloomy or a day when something special happened or just any old day when we need something new to do. And they know that the gifts are from “Nana” and it’s a great way to think of her often!

When the books are all gone, the box goes back to my Mom and she reuses it for the next upcoming Christmas.

I wanted to share this with you all in case you wanted to start the unique tradition with your family. You should be able to find festive holiday boxes on deep discount now. You can also pick up some discounted wrapping paper, as well. (I highly recommend having separate paper for each box. My kids love when she does that!) And you can start your search for the discounted books to save you money on the overall gift. Don’t be afraid to use used books that are in good condition–the kids wont’ mind! Here are some places to consider for books:

1) Thrift/Secondhand Stores such as Goodwill, The Salvation Army, or “Gently Used” Children’s Stores. Check with your Goodwill store as some have programs for discounts, such as 25% Off on your birthday, etc.
2) Garage Sales
3) Library Sales – Most libraries will do a once a year sale or they’ll have an area where you can pick up books for donations
4) Amazon’s 4-For-3 Sale This is a great way to get a few new books into the collection
5) Seasonal Sales or Clearance Areas at Book Stores
6) Target Clearance Areas by the books – I’ve found a lot of them there!
7) eBay – Look for “Book Lots” to get several books for one low price. Find ones no one is bidding on
8)  Dollar Bins – They typically have some simple books for younger kids

This is a great way to spread the love of books to kids and add a little bright spot on the days when you need them! This idea would also work for birthdays, baby showers, etc.

Where else have you found luck in finding deals on books?

I know a lot of you have Pinkalicious fans at home and I just wanted to share that there’s a new book out called Pinkalicious and the Pink Hat Parade. It just released today, 1/24/12. Check to see if your library has it in next time you are there! This one includes a poster, sticker and two paper dolls, as well.

This one is part of Amazon’s 4-for-3 promotion, meaning you can buy 3 books that qualify for that promotion and get a 4th one free. (They also include pre-orders in the promotion.) Here are a few Pinkalicious books to consider:

Pinkalicious: The Princess of Pink Slumber Party (I Can Read Book 1) – releases on 2/21/12.

Pinkalicious: Pink of Hearts – this one includes 8 Valentine’s cards, sticker and poster.

Pinkalicious: The Pinkerrific Playdate (I Can Read Book 1)

Pinkalicious and the Pink Pumpkin – this one is a lift-a-flap book.

My daughter was very excited when our copy of Pinkalicious and the Pink Hat Parade showed up today. I saved up my Swagbucks for an Amazon Gift Card for a set of 4 Pinkalicious books as they get read over and over again here! I usually save them for things like Easter, Sick days or our “Rainy Day Bucket.”

I love that the Internet exists so that I can take time to research products, find great deals and even find products that I would never be able to find locally. But we definitely need to be careful when shopping online as it can be very easy to spend too much too fast on items that we may not really need. The fact that we can just buy something with a few clicks of a button can sometimes lead to some impulse buys.

While I try to be careful about what I buy online, I decided to keep an online purchases journal this year. If you are starting to learn how I am, then you know that I kept it very simple! My first plan was to keep a notebook by my computer but I feared I would lose it. So I created a very simple Excel spreadsheet instead. I can easily update it and sum it up to keep track of how much I am spending. I also created a separate email folder for all of my order confirmations.

I gave my spreadsheet simple headers of “$ Spent, Where Purchased?, What Did I Buy, How I Paid and Where the $ comes out of our budget.” Anything that I’ve allocated as “my allowance,” I also put in a separate area so I can keep track of what I spend. I make sure I don’t go over the money I have on-hand to “pay back” our funds for anything I buy online. I added the “How I Paid” category so I can check my Paypal or Bank Account to make sure the purchases were charged correctly.

I’ve been doing this for about 3 weeks now and I truly wish I had started it sooner! What I love about it is that every time I log a purchase, it’s a trigger that I’m tallying more money being spent. There was one purchase I made this year that after I tallied it, I decided that it truly wasn’t a need and ended up canceling my online order right away. I don’t recommend making a habit of continually canceling orders but when you truly feel a change of heart, definitely do it if you can!

My plan is to take a few minutes each month and look through all my online purchases and review what I bought and ask myself, “Was that a smart purchase?” I’m hoping that by keeping track of my purchases, it will make me an even better online shopping that doesn’t have any unnecessary impulse buys.

Overall, I do my best to buy our things locally, as I like to support my community but there are certain items that I can’t buy locally or truly can find a higher rate of savings online–such as some Organic Products. Our area has such skyrocketing prices on some Organic products and I do buy some of them online so I can continue to feed my family those great products. I might not be able to fit them into our budget, otherwise. I am seeing more stores offering a larger range of Organic products and that is very exciting! (If your stores don’t offer them, make sure you email them and let them know you’d be interested or tell your store’s manager.)

I’m hoping that if you do a lot–or even some!–online shopping that you take a little Time to Plan and make an Online Purchases Journal so you can make sure you are sticking within your budget and making smart purchases.

If you do shop online, I highly recommend signing up for an online portal, such as Ebates, that awards Cashback for going through their links for your purchases. They have over 1,200 stores listed, including most of the major ones where you may shop. It’s free to join, if you haven’t already.

What are some of the items that you regularly buy online? Where have you been able to find the best online deals?

So many of you have mentioned that you are or have a Star Wars fan in your house so I just wanted to mention this before I forgot–I saw that George Lucas was going to be giving an interview on the Oprah Winfrey Network this Sunday, 1/22/12 at 8PM CST.  Sounds like interviews with him are fairly rare. Oprah also takes a private tour inside George’s Skywalker Ranch.

If you don’t get that channel, you might be able to watch clips of it on the Oprah Winfrey Website.

I’ve mentioned several times that a great way to save money, without even using coupons, is to make a Weekly Menu Plan. Well, it seems like every time I go to sit down to make my menu plans for the week, my mind goes blank on the meals I know how to make. LOL. It seems my mind is too busy whirling with matching up coupons with sales with what I have on hand and coming up with recipes takes longer.

So I took some time this week to stop and make a “Master Meal Plan.” I just took a blank sheet of paper and started jotting down every single meal that I could think of that we eat on a regular basis. When I couldn’t think of any more, I took a “tour” of my fridge and pantry hoping that some items I had on hand would spark a recipe that I might have missed.

When I was all done, I decided I would organize them by a few categories and create an Excel Spreadsheet so I could update the Master Meal Plan whenever I made a recipe that I thought would become a long-time favorite. These are the categories I used for my sheet:

Casseroles-Pasta
Seafood
Main Meals
Grilling
Breakfasts
Side Dishes
Sandwiches
Soups

I didn’t add any one-time recipes that we might use. I’ll probably add them as separate column later if I feel that I need them. For now, I wanted to keep it fairly simple. It seems like when I complicate things or clutter it up too much, that I don’t end up using them.

So next time I sit down to make my Weekly Menu Plan, I can just pull out my Master Meal Plan sheet for ideas of some meals I can make with what I have on hand. I’m hoping it will streamline the process even more and possibly even keep me from repeating meals too much.

Last year, I picked up a Dry Erase Calendar that has magnets for hanging it on the fridge. This comes in handy for making the Weekly Meal Plans, too. I usually write the upcoming events on there so I can plan my meals around them. I picked mine up at Michaels with one of their 50% Off coupons. It might be a place to look for it if you are interested in getting one. I like that it’s dry-erase so I can easily switch things around if I need to. I hung my Master Meal Plan right next to my board and I’m all ready to fill in my calendar for the rest of the month.

For now, my sheet is just hung up with a magnetic clip but I’ll probably pick up a report cover to keep it from getting ruined. What I like about creating the sheet in Excel is that I can easily update the sheet later and re-print the new one. For now, I’ll just keep the sheet handy and pencil in any meals I may have forgot.

I’m hoping that this may help you in streamlining your process for creating a Weekly Menu Plan, too. Taking a little “Time to Plan” now can help to save yourself a lot of time later!

I am always amazed how much smoother my day goes by simply just taking 5-10 minutes the night before to lay out the clothes for the kids and myself. It seems like when I skip this small task, I spend the beginning of my morning running around in circles and stressing myself out before I even really start my day.

So I’ve been working on carving out my morning and nighttime routines over the last two days. Like everything else I do, I’m trying to keep it real simple and basic so I don’t overwhelm myself and quit before I even start. I’m hoping that by simply taking a little time when I wake up and before I go to bed to plan out my day and tie up any loose ends from the current day that I can save myself a lot of time and stress in the long-run.

Even little things as simple as checking to make sure there aren’t any clothes left in the washer/dryer or that I remembered to start the dishwasher can lead to an overall difference in how my next day starts. I find that when I start my day off trying to catch up from the one before, that I never truly catch up.

So here’s a tiny peek into what I’m going to try over the next week or two to see how it works:

Morning Routine
1) Rise and Shine and Make the Bed
2) Get ready right away so I don’t have to squeeze in a shower midday. (yes, sometimes that happens!)
3) Start a load of laundry. This way, it’s done by the time breakfast is over!
4) Unload the dishwasher, if need be.
5) Make myself a cup of hot tea and review my to-do list for the day before the kids wake up.
6) Enjoy breakfast with the kids before I start my work day.
7) Check my emails and begin whatever I have planned for that day.

Nighttime Routine
1) Lay out clothes for myself and the kids for the next day.
2) Check to see events for the following day and put any items I need by my purse/coat so I don’t forget them.
3) Take time out with the kids to read books and get them tucked in for the night.
4) Check washer/dryer and finish up anything left.
5) Wrap up loose ends in the kitchen–washing up countertops, putting away dishes, etc.
6) Do a quick walk-through of the house and put away anything that’s not where it should be.
7) Make a to-do list for the following day.
8 ) Check my meal plan for the following day and take out any frozen items that need to thaw.
9) Take time to wrap up any website loose ends or take time for myself or with my hubby.
10) Check my email one last time for the night and get to bed at a reasonable time!

I’m hoping that by getting in a little routine that my day will go a little smoother, save me time, stress and possibly money. I’ve found that when my house is in order, I have more free time to get myself organized so I can stay on top of my menu plans, coupon clipping and other ways that help us save money.

Do any of you currently have morning/nighttime routines set in place yet? I’d love to hear how yours looks!

While I can find and post so many great deals, coupons, freebies, etc for you, overall the best way I can help you all save money throughout the year is to encourage you to create a 2012 Budget and do your best to stick to it.

I know, the thought of making a budget does not sound like a lot of fun but it the long-run, it can help make life a little easier if you have a plan set in place to help you meet your financial goals.

Each year in January, I create a simple budget for us and then modify it, as need be, throughout the year. Budgets do not have to be elaborate. My personal preference is to actually keep them fairly simple as I am more likely to stick with it. A budget is simply a formula of Income minus Expenses. I like to break my expenses down by “fixed” and “variable.” Fixed would be the items that occur each month and normally cost the same amount, such as your mortgage, any car payments or loans, etc that you have. Variable expenses are those that fluctuate monthly. I like to set aside money each month for birthday/special events. Some months they are higher or lower so I break them out into a separate category.

These are a few of the things I include in mine: mortgage, utilities, insurance, phones, TV, Internet, Food, Household/Pet Care Expenses, Fuel for Vehicles, Tithe for Church, Savings and our “Allowances.” I try to set aside money in categories for things such as medical/dental/vet bills, car repairs, special events, vacation fund, etc.

There are several resources online for tips on creating a budget. We had great luck reading and following Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover Book as he taught us how to budget down to the very last dollar each month. His book is phenomenal about helping you get motivated to get yourself back on track and pay off your debts.

I’m hoping that if you haven’t already, that you all consider taking a little “Time to Plan” and create a budget this year. You can also start off small and at least create a Grocery Budget for yourself. Here’s what I suggest for that:

1) Start off by keeping your receipts for a month.

2) After you get home from the stores, take your receipts and highlight your items on it like this:
a) Green – items that were on your grocery list that you needed and got a great deal on
b) Yellow – items that were not on your grocery list but were on a great sale and you truly needed them
c) Red – items that were complete impulse buys that you could probably do without

3) Staple all of your receipts together each week. Take a small sheet of paper and make a note to yourself how your week turned out with your purchases. Did your purchases make a lot of good meals for your family? Ideally you want to only buy the items that you can get the best deal on and that provide lots of meals each week. Did you buy a lot of unnecessary impulse items? Are you seeing a lot of yellow, which might suggest that you need to keep track of low inventory items more?

4) At the end of the month, you can add up your receipts and create a budget with your totals. If you over-spent, set your budget lower and work to stay within that amount if you can.

Over time, you will start to be able to see your shopping trends and try to adjust them to squeeze the most out of your shopping trips. A tip I love to share with my readers is to create a shopping list and put any “impulse” items in one area of your shopping cart. Before you check out, take a look at what you added and ask yourself, do I really need them?

Good luck creating your budgets! The time you take to create one can help save you money throughout the year.

When I sat down earlier in the month to think about what types of goals I wanted to set for 2012, I started to see a pattern that I could really wrap up all of them into just one goal–Taking Time to Plan! It became clear to me that everything I wanted to accomplish could possibly fall into place if I set aside just a small amount of time each day to plan ahead. And here’s why I think that:

Financial Goals – I can meet my goals by putting into a place a great budget and taking time to plan out my shopping trips and planning ahead for events such as birthdays, holidays, weddings, vacations, etc. I can stick to my budget by keeping track of items we use the most and when they reach a “Low Inventory” so I can make sure I keep watch for a great deal on them.

Cleaning/Organizing Goals – I can meet these goals by taking time to plan time each day for household and website tasks. I can save time asking myself “What’s for Dinner?” by putting a meal plan in place and freezing meals ahead for busy weeks. Also, keeping my coupons organized is another great way to help meet my financial goals.

Fitness Goals – By keeping my household in order, I can possibly carve out time for myself to get in some much needed exercise–and also plan in some fitness time with the kids. I can also plan time for researching healthier recipes and meal options for us.

Self-Help Goals – By taking time to stay organized and financially stable, life might possibly feel less stressful making it easier to just enjoy life a little more.

Family-Time Goals – By making sure to plan time each day for one-on-one quality time with the kids, I can get in some really great outings and make some great memories with them! We can also maybe take them on a small vacation if I plan ahead getting great prices and by keeping on course with my financial goals.

So my biggest goal for 2012 is just set aside 15-30 minutes a day to plan out my day/week/month/year. I’ll be doing my best to share with you what planning I’ve managed to get in each week in hopes that maybe it will help you become a happier and more organized person, as well.

While making New Year’s Resolutions/Goals may seem cliche, I truly believe it is important to set goals for yourself each year. It can lead to a more rewarding and fun year as you might take the time to get in more fun, worry less about things that don’t truly matter and plan for your future.

I know there are a lot of Pinkalicious Fans out there, and I wanted to share some books that are coming out soon. Amazon has them for Pre-Order–and right now, they qualify for the 4-for-3 promotion, meaning that if you buy 3 qualifying products, the 4th one will be free.

Pinkalicious: Pink of Hearts will release on 11-22-11 for $6.99.

Pinkalicious and the Pink Hat Parade will release on 1-24-12 for $6.99.

Pinkalicious: The Princess of Pink Slumber Party (I Can Read Book 1) will release on 2-21-12 for $3.99.

And here are some that just recently were released:

Pinkalicious: The Pinkerrific Playdate (I Can Read Book 1) for $3.99. Released on 10/4/11.

Pinkalicious: Pinkie Promise (I Can Read Book 1) for $3.99. Released on 7/26/11.

Pinkalicious and the Pink Pumpkin for $6.99. Released on 7/26/11. My kids love this one because it’s a lift-a-flap book, too.

Just thought I’d share in case you were wanting to order these and might be able to take advantage of the free book deal if you buy a total of 4 qualifying items.

This last week, we had a loaf of bread that got stuffed back behind a few other bread products and I didn’t notice it was even there. By the time I realized it, the bread was fairly stale. In the past, I probably would have fed this to our wild birds or worse…even tossed it. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past few years, there’s usually a way you can use things that aren’t still the freshest, but are still safely edible. I’ve turned stale bread into bread crumbs before but I wanted to try to make some croutons this time.

I found a real basic Crouton Recipe on AllRecipes.com. This one was just for regular croutons with a little garlic flavoring. You could probably toss in some spices if you want more flavoring.

1) The first thing you need to do is to cut off the crusts of your bread. This will give you a typical crouton. If you want to leave them on, I’m sure you could.

2) Next, you need to butter both sides of the bread with melted butter. I had my kids help with this. They kept saying they were “painting bread.”

3) Once buttered, cut the bread into cube shapes. If you want them to have a garlic flavor, sprinkle them lightly with garlic salt. Then place them on an ungreased cookie sheet.

4) Bake them at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until browned. If you want, you could flip them over halfway through for an even cooking, but I didn’t and they turned out just fine.

That’s it. Simple and a great way to be sure any stale bread you have doesn’t go to waste. I put these in a Ziploc bag and we’ll be enjoying them on several salads we’ll pick from our garden.

I’m hoping that if you come across things in your house that aren’t the freshest but are still safe to eat, that you’ll find other uses for them, too. If you need some inspiration, I love to follow Teresa from Money Saving Maine-ac in her “Yucky Stuff is the Lucky Stuff” series. She always has such great ideas!

This was a fun little activity for me and the kids. I got a good laugh over when I told my kids that we were going to make Croutons and my son said, “We’re going to make Coupons?!” Can you tell Coupons are a big part of our life?

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted any gardening pics or chit-chat so I thought I’d share a little bit today. This has been a very interesting year of gardening for me. I basically tripled the size of my garden from last year, adding in different veggies that I wanted to try to grow. I added some kohlrabi, potatoes, peas, cucumbers, watermelon and squash.

My peas did well, but when we were on vacation, we were hit with some higher temps and I lost the last part of the crop. Lesson learned: Peas don’t like heat! I haven’t quite figured out the variety of cucumbers that we grew. It seems like no matter what size I pick them, they just don’t taste right–yet I can’t find my seed packet to research it online. A learning lesson here: always keep a gardening journal of what you plant so you can make notes later! The watermelon and squash are doing well. I knew they’d take up a lot of space but I still wasn’t prepared for just how much! I think I’ll keep them in a totally separate area next year and just let them grow freely. I think I’ll also put the potatoes elsewhere and try to squeeze in just one more 3×3 garden bed in that area instead. I also have an interesting concept of how I’ll grow beans and peas next year. I’ll share it with you if it works!!

I’m sharing all these things because here’s what I’ve found about gardening—it’s a continual learning process. Especially during strange weather years, like this one for us, between the rain/flooding and excessive heat wave. But at the same time, it’s a lot of fun for me. I often find it’s almost a source of calm for me as I can just get lost in what I’m doing and not stress about all I think I should be doing! I’m hoping that several of you that haven’t tried gardening gave it a try this year. And if not, it’s still not too late! There are several veggies that grow well in the late fall that you can still get started now–or soon. Just check to see what grows well in your zone for fall. If you didn’t get in a garden, you may want to consider checking out any local farmer’s markets to enjoy some fresh locally-grown food!

Here are a few pics from our garden/yard/harvest:

The larger varieties of tomatoes are still green and just ready to flip to red any day now.

This is just one picking of cherry/grape tomatoes. Such a savings for me as a container of these are usually around $3 in the store. If you enjoy tomatoes and have limited space, I highly recommend getting a container/patio tomato plant. You should get quite a harvest and savings just from one plant.

My friend introduced me to kohlrabi a few years ago and I’ve been hooked ever since. This is the first year I’ve grown them. Very easy to grow. When ripe, I just slice off their skins, add a little salt and they make a nice little snack or crunchy addition to a salad.

A watermelon in my backyard? I never thought I’d be able to grow them but so far, so good! The kids just thought this was the best when they saw it finally growing on the vine.

This beauty is what I believe to be the wild birds way of thanking me for feeding them. They dropped some seeds by my bird feeder. I let them grow as I knew the kids would get a kick out the plant. I’m guessing the seeds aren’t edible. But I’m hoping to grow some that are next year.

Hoping you are enjoying a fun year of gardening, too! I’d love to hear how your garden is growing, any things you’ve learned or any other stories you’d like to share about gardening.

One of the things in season right now, or soon to be for your area, are green beans. I had a plethora of them in my garden this week so I thought I’d take some and freeze them for when prices on green beans go up.

Freezing green beans is fairly easy. You need to cook them in a process called “blanching” and then put them in ice cold water afterwards to stop them from cooking more. The times cooking and soaking in the water should be equal. Green beans should take about 3 minutes for each step. (Information according to pickyourown.org)

If you don’t grow your own, several farmer’s markets will sell them, typically in large quantities for a good price. I didn’t grow any last year but bought a bunch at the markets and had farm-fresh tasting green beans during the winter months. While you might be able to get regular frozen vegetables in the store fairly cheap, there’s nothing quite like ones straight from a farm or your garden.

1) The first thing you need to do is wash your green beans and then pick over the green beans and pull out any that are blemished. Some of those you might be able to cut off parts to still keep. Cut the ends off your green beans. Next you cut them in 1″ pieces or you can keep them longer for things such as stir-fry recipes.

2) You’ll need a big pot of water to boil. Be sure you have enough water for the green beans to cook easily. Once it gets to a rolling boil, carefully place the green beans in, put the lid on and bring it back to a boil. Begin the timer for the blanching time as soon as you drop them in. Green beans should take about 3 minutes of blanching time.

3) As soon as the time is up, carefully drain the green beans and then submerge them in a bowl of ice cold water. Let them cool for 3 minutes.

4) Once the time is up, you’ll drain them and put them in Ziploc bags. I usually try to dry them off with a clean towel first, as I’ve found it helps them from clumping together or getting freezer burn.

5) Don’t forget to label your bag. It may seem obvious what’s in there but you want to keep track of the date so you know when to use them by.

This entire process is fairly simple. A lot of times, I blanch vegetables when I’m already in the kitchen getting supper ready and waiting on our dinner to cook.

I hope that you try to take advantage of Seasonal Savings and get some farm/garden fresh green beans in your freezer for when prices go up. It’s a great way to save on your grocery budget–and get some Organic veggies on your table.

It’s another new month and it’s time to take a look at what’s in season in your area. Be sure to check the What’s in Season Map to see what items you might not only be able to save money on but which tend to be the freshest. I often buy up extra in-season items to freeze for when the prices are higher. Several items freeze easily and can store flat in a Ziploc-type bag in your freezer.

Here’s what’s in Season for Illinois:

Peppers
Corn
Eggplant
Melon
Nectarines
Peaches
Plums
Summer Squash
Tomatoes
Watermelon

Other things not on their list that might be in season are green beans and garlic. Green beans are such an easy item to freeze for future months for a vegetable side or maybe for stir-fry meals.

I’m hoping you’ll take time to find a Farmer’s Market near you to get some locally grown in-season foods this month. You can use Local Harvest to see if there’s one near you. Buying in-season items are a great way to get produce on your table without breaking your grocery budget!

Here are a few ways that I worked on saving money for us on 8/1/11. While I won’t be able to post these daily, I will add a round-up when I can this month:

~I took the kids blueberry picking as a fun outing and froze the blueberries to save us money later when they aren’t in-season. We had a great time as a family and it will save us on our grocery budget later.

~On the way home from our outing, the kids wanted to cool off with some ice cream. Back in 2009, I picked up several McDonald’s coupon booklets for $1 each and they came with 12 coupons–3 sets of four freebies. One of them was a free small ice cream cone. These booklets usually come out around holidays such as Halloween or Valentine’s Day or even when school begins. So call over around that time and see if your local McDonald’s has them. They are are a great way to save on “treats” and they make nice additions to birthday presents for parties.

~My husband’s company took the employees and their families on a summer outing, which included a show and a meal out. The food portions at the restaurant we went to were incredible and we both ended up taking half our meals home. I used these for our dinner the next night. Portions are incredibly over-sized at most restaurants. When your meal comes, cut them down to a reasonable size and take the rest home. This is a great way to save on your grocery budget, while still enjoying a meal out, as you can turn it into a lunch or dinner later. If you are going to a dinner and a movie outing, see if you can catch the movie first for two reasons: 1) You’ll have great mealtime conversation about the movie you just saw and 2) You don’t need to worry about leftovers going to waste.

~It’s the beginning of a new month, which means coupons flip. I made sure my paper and ink levels were fully stocked beforehand and I made sure to take time to check out all the major coupon sites, such as Coupons.com, RedPlum, Coupon Network and Smart Source, to see if there were any great savings there. Also, typically the first Sunday closest to a new month tends to have a lot of coupon inserts in the Sunday paper. So never forget to check as you might miss out on the big insert weekend. Coupons = Big Savings!

~I received a Free Redbox Rental Code via text on my cell phone, as they always send one out on the first Monday of the month. While I didn’t get to use it, I wanted to share that with you in case you weren’t signed-up and wanted the freebie.

Just a few ways I saved a little money on 8/1/11. It all adds up!

One of the things in our budget is a little category called, “Entertainment.” If we let it, it could become quite a big chunk of our money, right? But how about if you paired a fun family outing with a savings in your grocery budget later on?

Yesterday, I took our kids out on our annual blueberry picking outing. I’m so happy to see that the pick-your-own type farm that we go to still charges the same price as when we began doing this 3 years ago. It’s hard to find that with anything these days, isn’t it? But they are holding steady at $1.98 lb.

The kids look forward to the tractor ride out to the blueberry bushes, we pick for as long as we can stand the heat that day and then we take a little time to enjoy some fun doing the free activities they have there, which is kept simple with sandboxes, slides, swings, etc. I like that they don’t sell food there but offer a couple picnic tables for a fun picnic lunch together.

The kids always have such fond memories of doing this together and even ask when we are going at the beginning of summer. Since it’s free to get in, we just pay for the blueberries. I’ll keep some for us to enjoy for a few days and then I freeze the rest. A few months from now, blueberry prices are going to soar back up in the grocery stores and that’s when I start dipping into our stash. It’s nice to still have blueberries for waffles/pancakes, smoothies or for yogurt toppings without breaking my grocery budget.

How did our day end? We picked 4.84 lbs in the maybe hour we were there, which turned into: the bags below, several stolen handfuls by the kids while I was freezing them and a big bowl that I saved for us to enjoy this week. I’ll probably pick up a few more blueberries at the farmer’s markets to add to our supply, as well. I’ve found that I’ve had better luck with my blueberries if I “flash-freeze” them on cookie sheets before I put them into the Ziploc bags. This seems to help them from becoming one big clump later on.

As you can see, I took some strawberries that I froze earlier this year (again, just by flash-freezing on a cookie sheet after de-coring them) and threw them in the bag with the blueberries so I have a ready-made “smoothie mix” for later. They end up being a lot cheaper than the store-bought ones–and you can’t beat farm-fresh flavor!

Check out the pick-your-own places near you and see if you can’t find one that still has reasonable prices and turn it into a fun outing along with some savings! You might find that your kids have just as fond memories over this as they would an expensive trip to the theater.

If you were to ask me what my favorite month blogging is, I’d have to say August. While I love finding holiday deals for everyone in December, August has a special place in my heart and that is because it’s the month I created Coupon Geek. And this year, it’s extra special as it’s a “golden birthday” year as Coupon Geek turns 3 on August 3rd.

While coupons are a big part of saving money, I often wonder how long coupons will continue to go on, especially with the latest craze in popularity. We are already seeing several stores changing coupon policies, manufacturers are switching $ amounts so they don’t double as easy, some places are rejecting coupons altogether and with increased demand, printables are starting to become harder to get ahold of before the limits are met. These things paired with finding the store shelves wiped out are making it harder to save money with coupons. (Though I’m going to continue to keep trying forever!)

But coupons are just one way to save money. There are other ways to save money and I’d really love to put a little focus on those things so that we can all learn to shop and live smarter to help our money stretch farther.

So over the next month, I’m going to be “Getting Back on Track” and share little ways that I find to save money or make the most of what we have. I’m hoping that you’ll find that some of them help you save money long-term, as well!

And since it’s a big birthday year I think we need to celebrate, don’t you agree? So that means—-more giveaways! I’ll be mixing them up between giveaways from sponsors along with a few of my favorite findings and giveaways that relate to my favorite activities/hobbies. So don’t miss out on those.

And here’s your first money-saving tip….several of my readers sign-up for giveaways on a lot of sites and use their winnings to help pay for gifts during the holidays or special occasions. It might be something to add to your daily routine–sign-up for a few and you never know, you might win some! Several blogs giveaway gift cards so keep your eyes open for those.

Hoping that you all find August to be a great month as a Coupon Geek Reader. Thank you to all of you for being so great and for helping me stick around for 3 years! It’s been a fun ride and I’m hoping it continues for a long time to come.

Several of you have mentioned that your kids are Pinkalicious fans so I just wanted to give you a heads up that there’s a new book that released today called Pinkalicious and the Pink Pumpkin. This one actually has pop-up pages in it.

Amazon has it for $6.99 and it’s part of their 4-for-3 promotion, where you order 3 qualifying books and you’ll get a 4th one free. Several of the other Pinkalicious Books are included in the promotion if you wanted to get a few books as a gift set.

You can also get it through Borders for $6.99 and Free Shipping with ShopRunner.

Don’t forget about that Free Online Storytime with Pinkalicious that Barnes & Noble has. Might be something fun to do together during a super hot or rainy day.

I like to keep books like these in my Wish List on Amazon. Then when I find 4 books for the kids and I save up enough gift cards through SwagBucks, I’ll order them and save them for birthdays, holidays or special occasions.

Hard to believe it’s already July but it’s a new month so it’s time to take another look at What’s In Season for July in your area. You can check out the What’s In Season Map to see what items you might not only be able to save money on but which tend to be the freshest. I often buy up extra in-season items to freeze for when the prices are higher. Several items freeze easily and can store flat in a Ziploc-type bag in your freezer.

Here’s what in Season for Illinois:

artichokes, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, eggplant, nectarines, okra, peaches, raspberries, rhubarb

I was so happy to see that our Farmer’s Market had lots of choices for blueberries and raspberries this last week. We’ve been enjoying these all week as a snack, on our pancakes/waffles and in yogurt. You can use LocalHarvest.org to see if there’s a farmer’s market near you. You might also be able to find a pick-your-own farm where you can pick berries with your family. We do this every year. Not only is it a fun outing but we have amazing blueberries all year as we freeze a lot of what we pick. The kids ask to go every year now.

You can even use in-season items to try out new recipes. I’ve given myself a challenge this year to try one new recipe a week and I’ve been sharing some of them in my What’s New For Dinner? series.

I hope you’ll take time to enjoy some in-season items this month!

Welcome to my series called “What’s New For Dinner?” This is series sharing a new recipe that I have tried throughout the week. This is my way of keeping our meals from getting boring and attempting to try new foods. I’m doing this fun challenge with my friend, Jenn from Super Jenn. You can see some of the past recipes I’ve done during the What’s New For Dinner this year.

I didn’t get to post my recipes for the last few weeks but I tried a few new twists with rhubarb making both the Rhubarb Salsa Recipe and a Rhubarb Fruit Soup Recipe. Both of them were very good and a nice way to use up what I bought at the farmer’s market those weeks. Thank you to my reader friends for helping me find those!

The recipe for this week was made because I found some great Bibb Lettuce at Costco. I’ve always wanted to try to make an Asian Lettuce Wraps Recipe but just never seemed to have gotten around to it. I found what turned out to be a good one on AllRecipes.com.

I followed the recipe just as they had it, leaving out the Asian Chile Pepper Sauce as it was optional and I didn’t have it. Here’s how mine turned out–I didn’t catch a picture of one rolled up into a wrap:

Verdict:
I couldn’t quit eating these. I guess that’s why I don’t have a fully wrapped one to show you, as they went so quick once they were made. I had leftover mixture so I took a chance and froze it. I’ll see how it turns out for a quickly defrosted meal on another day.

I think it was the taste of the hoisin sauce that made it taste so different to me. So if you make these, I would try not to skip that ingredient. My kids called them “lettuce tacos” and they enjoyed them, as well, so this one will probably be added into our menu plan every now and again for something different.

This is my latest recipe that I’ve tried. I’m hoping that you are also adding new recipes into your weekly menu plan as a way to keep meals fun and to try out new foods.

Over the course of this last year, I’ve been doing my best to teach my kids the importance of eating healthy and buying only “good” food. My kids and I have been to several farmer’s markets together, they see me choosing Organic foods at the store and I do what I can to explain where foods we eat come from. We’ve been blessed to find a great farmer that’s close enough to order pork and beef from throughout the year, as we need it. So, this last week, when my son asked if we could play “Farmer’s Market,” I wasn’t quite sure what this “game” would be but it turned into a week-long farm theme of fun.

Now, first thing you need to do (apparently) is line up all your Hotwheels and Matchbox cars and hang up signs saying, “Farmer’s Market” with an arrow. It looks something like this:(if only there was this many people waiting to get to real farmer’s markets)

Then you set up some kid’s tables, which are the farmer’s booths, and then you drag out tons of play food and divide them by fruits, vegetables, meats, breads and dairy products and make it look like this:

You have to have a reusable bag and you can only pay with cash. And then you listen to music, just like at the “real” farmer’s markets. Funny thing was, in the middle of playing this, our farmer called to get our order for how we wanted our 1/2 hog which will be arriving next week. (There’s nothing quite like farm-fresh brats and bacon!) Boy did she get a kick out of hearing what we were playing!

Throughout the week, I would take certain foods and I would explain to the kids where it came from, such as french fries are really peeled and chopped up potatoes, etc. We then took a trip to our library for some new books to read. Some of the ones we read were:

The Berenstain Bears’ Class Trip – They take a trip to a honey farm.

Good Morning, Farm!

Farm Animals

Barnyard Dance!

John Deere: Tractor Power

Oh, What a Noisy Farm!

Fantastic Farm Machines

We also watched the All About John Deere for Kids, 4-DVD Collection that my son had received as a gift. (Great gift for kids that love trucks/tractors!)

Another day, we took time to build our own play farm. I found this great farm animal set on Amazon (currently not available) which had 32 pieces for just $6. But you can typically find plastic farm animals at dollar stores/bins. I then picked up two tins at our dollar store. The kids and I then went on a hunt throughout our yard finding grass, rocks, twigs, etc to end up making this:

The duck pond is made from tin foil. This idea came from the book The Ultimate Step-by-Step Kids’ First Gardening Book (which has wonderful ideas in it, by the way.)

I noticed that some of our bird seed had fallen and started to sprout some little plants from the sunflower seeds. So we carefully transplanted some so it would create a look like rows of crops. We took a few matchbox tractors my son had (these are only $1 at many stores) and he spent quite awhile driving the tractors around “harvesting” the crops:

We got real lucky as our farmer’s market was having a special event for Father’s Day and they had tractors and a petting zoo there. The kids loved getting to pet the llamas, goats, chickens and bunnies. They pretended to drive the tractors and I was able to get a picture of them sitting in one of the wheels:

The kids were able to pick out a few things they wanted to buy and it was a really good time. Overall, I was surprised at how much we had been able to do throughout the week for such little money.

I’m hoping that if you are looking for something to do with your kids this week, that you might consider having your own “farm week.” You might not only have fun, but you might also be able to teach your kids where food comes from.

So this week, we decided we were going to have a Panda Bear Theme Week. It started off so simple just wanting to finally watch Kung Fu Panda since the 2nd one was already out. I pulled up panda bears on wikipedia and took a look to see if it would trigger anything and I started reading about what they eat. “…the panda’s diet is 99% bamboo….In captivity they may receive honey, eggs, fish, yams, shrub leaves, oranges, or bananas…” Well, we couldn’t eat bamboo but we had just picked up some asparagus from the farmer’s market and then a google search led me to decide we’d have a panda meal. Here’s what it turned into:

Each of us had a bamboo bowl of rice with olives that I tried to make look like a panda. I got the idea from Dollar Store Crafts, which I found through Google.

I set up the table all nice and added a cup of tea to each of their spots, along with a small bowl of honey to dip their food in. In the middle I had small dishes of fish, bananas, asparagus (fake bamboo!!) and the leftover olives from making the panda rice dish. I called them to dinner and told them they had to feed their pandas and then be panda bears themselves. It’s one of the few times I’ve ever gotten them to eat asparagus! And for once Mom was cool cuz I let them play with their food. I was bummed my hubby missed out on this meal but he had a work event that night.

The next night, we finally watched Kung Fu Panda together as a family. I had some popcorn ready and the kids loved the movie.

On Day 3, we made an attempt to make some “Kung Fu Panda Noodle Soup.” I’d love to share the recipe but….well, it tasted mostly like noodles in chicken broth so I’ll spare you. I think I would have had better luck if I had just made a package of Ramen Noodles and thrown in some veggies. I’ll have to keep working on this one.

On Day 4, we found some Free Panda Printables online and had fun doing mazes, writing letters, coloring and doing number searches. Just a little free fun and some education mixed in. We also watched some videos on YouTube, watching Panda Bears in their natural habitat and learning more about them. But the one they kept making me watch over and over was the one of the Panda Bear Sneezing.

On Day 5, we took a trip to the library and found some panda stories. While we were out, we stopped at the dollar store and picked up some black and white balloons. The kids dressed up as pandas by just wearing black and white and I made some ears from construction paper that I taped to headbands. (They are toddlers—simple is exciting for them.) They played panda warriors keeping the balloons afloat and coming up with their own obstacles. When they got exhausted, we stopped to enjoy the books that included:

~Zen Shorts - Loved this one! It’s on my list to buy for our book collection now.
~Zen Ties
~Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?
~Bears! Bears! Bears!

On Day 6, we made some Panda Bear Cupcakes. I based them on the ones I saw at Crazy About Cakes. I used chocolate cake mix, white frosting, mini-oreos for the ears and eyes, chocolate chips for the nose and middle of the eyes but then I switched the mouth to mini M&Ms as I had a bag of them already here. We made a dozen of them like this and then froze the rest, unfrosted, for another day. And the reason we made a dozen was because….

On Day 7, we took the kids on a new adventure and went to a drive-in that was showing Kung Fu Panda 2. Kids under 5 were free so we only had to pay $16 for all of us and we could bring in our own food/drinks/snacks. But of course we couldn’t pass up the popcorn made with real butter! My sisters and their families met us there and we all had a blast and ate some panda cupcakes to end our week. They had a second movie but we were too tired to stay and watch it. Maybe next time!

We had one more thing on our list for the week and that was to play Panda Bear, What Do You See? Game that I had picked up on a deal over the holidays but we decided to save that for another rainy day. Overall, we were able to have a whole week of fun for very little money.

I’m hoping that by sharing our little adventures, you might have some fun with your kids by having your own panda week when you take Time Out With Kids this week!

I’ve been wanting to get up some postings on gardening but I wanted to wait until mine was complete so I could show you some pics. Things are going a little slow so I figured I’d just show you a finished product later in the month.

But here’s what we had last year–a fairly small garden-It’s a 4′ x 8′ bed. There’s also a few strawberries to the left that got cut off the picture.:

And this is how far I’ve come this year: (the kids are actually waving to you in this one!) This is my main garden with all sorts of good stuff. Each of the kids has their own 3′x3′ Grow Bed. And then there’s the 3′x3′ “Salad Garden” where I’m growing spinach, lettuce and cucumbers.

We have quite a few potatoes growing in our three potato bags: (My kids just LOVE these! I paid a little more so they could have the colorful ones and it really added some nice color to the garden area!) Organic Gardening has a great article on how to grow potatoes–so many options!

The strawberries are starting to ripen. They are teasing us by looking red but not fully ripe yet:

And lastly, the tomato and pepper bed:

I still have to “pretty-up” the area. I think we are going to mulch in the area in-between the beds as it’s hard to mow throughout that area and it will help keep grass from flying in. Overall, we are growing: Garlic, Oregano, Turnips, Spinach, Chard, Swiss Chard, 4 varieties of lettuce, Squash, Kohlrabi, Beans, Peas, Carrots, Watermelon Radishes, Beets, Regular Radishes, Brussel Sprouts, Leeks, Tomatoes, Peppers, Cucumbers, Onions and Potatoes. (Whew!)  My son is still wanting a watermelon plant so we’ll see what happens.

And let me tell you, I wouldn’t have a clue where most of these were planted if I didn’t have it all mapped out. Having a plan is such an important part of gardening. Over time you learn what grows well by each other and what not to plant close by–if nothing else because the plant gets tall and shades your other plants too much! I was able to create my garden map through the Free Garden Planner App on Gardeners.com.

I thought it was a fantastic idea from my reader Karen for each of the kids to have their own garden plot. I cannot even begin to express how much pride they have in that little space of land that is truly just theirs. Both of them help me water everything on the days that it needs it, being careful not to flood anything.And since I went with raised beds, there really isn’t a lot of time wasted with weeds. This year, we actually had so much rain that I had to replant quite a few of my seeds. They were flooded to the surface or didn’t grow at all. Right now is a fun time watching everything starting to really take off.

So I wanted to share with you a few ways to garden so you might decide to give it a try. The first thing that every veteran gardener gave me for advice was—start off small. Pick a few plants that are easy to grow and that you know you’ll use. My first year, I grew tomatoes and peppers. That’s all. Each year, I added a few more to the equation until this last year I felt confident that I could handle more.

If you are gardening with kids, strawberries are an easy one to grow, along with tomatoes, radishes and my kids got a kick out of picking beans last year. Whatever you pick, be sure it grows well in whatever Zone you live in. I always thought that if I didn’t get things planted in the spring, it was too late. But there are several summer and even fall plants that do well, even in a colder state. So it’s not too late to start!! Once you decide what you are going to grow, you need to decide which method you are going to use.

Now, our soil is extreme clay soil. I can take a shovel and dig up pretty much any spot in the yard and find a clay chunk and hand it to my kids to mold into something. I tried working new soil, compost and all that in but I still didn’t do too well and battled so many weeds. So I decided that raised bed gardening was best for me. Another method is container gardening. This is great if you have limited space or even if you live in an apartment that has a deck. I loved growing patio tomatoes when I had my apartment.

The most frugal way to garden is probably just digging up a spot and planting–that is, if your soil is OK and not terribly clay. You may fight weeds more with this method but it’s the cheapest. Seeds are fairly inexpensive and there are a lot you can plant without having to start indoors first. I usually buy transplants for my tomatoes and peppers as I haven’t had luck with seeds for them and they usually only run about $1 each.

Raised bed gardening is great if you have poor soil. You’ll need to pay your start off costs of the raised bed itself (whether you choose to build it or buy a snap-together kind) and you’ll need your soil elements. If you are going to go this route, I highly recommend the book All New Square Foot Gardening. It’s a great resource on how to plant a lot in a small area. This is the guide that I refer back to a lot.

Whatever method you choose, I hope you’ll take a chance and try to get a few veggies planted this year. It is a little bit of an investment of money and your time but having your own fresh produce to pick from in your backyard is fabulous! –and I actually find that gardening is a great stress reliever for me, too.

More to come soon!

My friend Kristen discovered that her twins were allergic to both eggs and milk products. I sympathized with her when she would tell me the stories about how hard it was. But I never truly understood until I threw my first party that they were invited to when the kids were older. I was going to try to make several things that didn’t have eggs or milk and then I realized….it seemed like everything has eggs and milk in it! I’ve asked Kristen to do a guest posting series for me once a month, sharing tidbits of her story and some recipes that she’s found that not only work well, but taste good. Take it away Kristen…..

Hi Everybody, I apologize for getting this posting together late in the month. It has been an eventful one so far! I have not been feeling very well for some time now, and I am sure my friends and family are weary from hearing me say how tired I am and that I just don’t feel well at all anymore…Blah blah blah. Well I finally went to my primary care physician and had a physical. And thanks to the advice of my friend and her Mom– I requested to have the Dr. order a Celiac Disease panel. Last week I received the results and sure enough that’s what I have! On one hand I am relieved that now I know what is wrong with me, on the other hand now I am worried about my children since Celiac Disease is hereditary… but that is another posting altogether

So, now I am embarking on yet another facet of culinary restrictions! I am so thankful to my friend Cassandra who has lent me a great book (and other resources) to help me figure out how to deal with this disease. This book is an easy read and has been very helpful, it’s called The G-Free Diet: A Gluten-Free Survival Guide by Elisabeth Hasselbeck Co-host of The View. I had no idea that Celiac is actually an autoimmune response to gluten and not an allergy. In a nutshell, the body cannot break down the gluten into the amino acids to digest and the gluten then builds up to toxic levels in the body creating all sorts of havoc if left untreated. Yikes! There is no cure and the only way to combat the disease is with a gluten-free diet.

Basically my challenge is to make tasty food for the family that is milk, egg and now gluten free too. We are still staying away from nuts and fish because of suspected reactions. Not an easy feat! For right now I am practicing making gluten free recipes just for myself and making a separate meal for everybody else. I have already lost 5 lbs! (No, it’s not because my cooking is bad! lol) In light of this news, it was hard for me to decide which recipe I wanted to share with you this month! In the end I decided on one of my more recent favorites–Starter Chicken Curry. This recipe appeared in the Spring 2010 Penzey’s catalog and I have modified it to suit my family’s needs. I like that I can cook it all in just one pot–easy clean up! Even if you haven’t ever had curry, I think you will enjoy this one very much. There is not much heat and the raisins give the dish a nice sweet offset. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!! And yes my kids do enjoy this recipe! I even tweaked it so now it is gluten-free… taa daa…

Starter Chicken Curry (modified from Penzey’s Spring 2010 catalog)

Thanks for sharing your story and recipe, Kristen! I know a lot of you out there also have to eat a Gluten-Free diet and I am doing what I can to find deals and coupons on those products for you. I’m hoping that you’ll find a good new meal in the recipe that Kristen shared. More to come soon!

The most important thing to me is my family. While I love blogging and helping out others, my family always comes first. My kids are at such a fun age, 2 and 4, and I am trying to capture more of the things that we do together with the hope that it might also provide some fun activities for other families. So as I mentioned before, I am starting a Time Out With Kids series to share some of our adventures.

Now that summer is here, it gives us so many endless possibilities of things that we can do outside together. Living in the Chicago area, there seems to be more cold days than warm ones so I try to take advantage of each beautiful day that we have. For my son’s birthday, I always renew his subscription to Our Big Backyard, a publication by the National Wildlife Federation. Each time it arrives, he exclaims, “I got mail today!” and it makes it worth every penny I spent on it. Well, in the May 2011 issue, there was a story about how the animals went on a Rainbow Walk. Immediately the kids wanted to do one of their own.

It’s a real simple concept—you go for a walk and try to find something of every color of the rainbow- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and purple. My first impulse was to make some fancy sheet for them but if there’s one thing my kids have taught me, it’s to keep it simple. So I used some half sheets of paper from the bottom of printable coupon print-outs and I let them take some crayons and scribble a small sketch of each color down the left column. I dug in my supplies closet and found two small clipboards I had picked up in the dollar bins at Target. Since they are still so young, they would hand me their clipboards when they found an object of one of those colors as we went on our walk in our wagon and I’d log their find. They had a lot of fun and wanted to continue on with the rainbow activities during the week.

We took one day and came up with rainbow foods, simply brainstorming to think of foods for each color. Blue is a tough one unless you go with non-natural food coloring items. Otherwise we thought of blueberries and blue potatoes. We then would try to eat one color of the rainbow each day–Tomatoes, Oranges, Bananas, Asparagus, Blueberries and Purple Grapes, etc.

We also checked out some books on rainbows/colors at our library. A few included:

Radio Flyer: My Red Wagon

Planting a Rainbow

This last one became a favorite of my son’s and you can guess his next request—a rainbow garden! We are going to work on this one by buying what I call “rescue plants” throughout the year. These are plants that are discounted and just need a little extra TLC to keep them growing. We’ll also use some flower seeds I got from that great Seeds of Change deal. I also found a packet of Poppy Ladybird seeds at a local nursery that were just too cute to pass up, as they look like little ladybugs! This should create some fun time outdoors for us.

The kids loved their rainbow walk so much that they’ve requested we go on so many more since. It’s such a simple idea and I hope that you take Time Out With Kids this week and just enjoy their fabulous eye-opening world. I’m always so amazed at how much they teach me, and the greatest of these is–enjoy life, keep things simple and find the fun in anything!

More fun to come next week!

Welcome to my series called “What’s New For Dinner?” This is series sharing a new recipe that I have tried throughout the week. This is my way of keeping our meals from getting boring and attempting to try new foods. I’m doing this fun challenge with my friend, Jenn from Super Jenn. You can see some of the past recipes I’ve done during the What’s New For Dinner this year.

It’s been awhile since I posted a recipe. I have been keeping up with my challenge but it’s been hard to find time to post everything each week. Two recipes I made were Baked Tilapia with Dill Sauce and Bacon Roasted Chicken. I also tried this recipe a few weeks ago and loved it so much that I made it again this last week for my parents who were in town for a visit. What I love about this Potato Leek Soup Recipe is that it has few ingredients and is super easy to make. I’ve never had leeks before and have always been intrigued by them when I see them in the store. They look like a giant green onion but the question was what did they taste like? I’m not a fan of onions so I was glad they didn’t taste much like them. Here’s the recipe as I found it on AllRecipes.com:

You’ll need:
8 Potatoes, peeled and cubed
4 Cups of Chicken Broth
1 Pound of Bacon, cooked and chopped into pieces, Reserve 3TBs of Bacon Grease
3 Leeks, sliced
1 Cup of Heavy Cream

1) Bring the chicken broth and potatoes to a boil in a large saucepan.

2) Saute the Leeks in a skillet with the 3 TBs of reserved bacon grease. NOTE: You could have cooked the bacon in this skillet beforehand, keeping only the 3TBs of grease in the pan after. I microwaved my bacon while I was chopping up my potatoes and leeks so the prep-time would go faster.

3) When the potatoes are tender, stir in the cooked bacon and leeks and add the heavy cream. Heat a little and then serve.

The Verdict: A new favorite for me! I’m wishing that I had tried it before our cold-spell ended. The original recipe calls for 1″ pieces of bacon but I think next time I’ll cut mine up smaller as it was a little chewy for a soup. The first time I made this, I was the only one that ate it that day and the potatoes sort of sucked up the broth after awhile. It then made for a nice side salad the next day! But this last time I made it, it was well-received and there weren’t really any leftovers. Each of us had a second helping. I actually ended up planting leeks in my garden after eating this so I could continue to make this soup again. And when my Mom got back home from their visit, I received an email saying, “Don’t forget to send me that soup recipe!”

This is my What’s New for Dinner Challenge recipe for this last week. I’m hoping you are also making attempts at trying new recipes and foods to keep your meals from getting too boring.

It’s a new month so it’s time to take a look at What’s in Season for June in your area. You can use the What’s in Season Map to see what items you might not only be able to save money on but also plan ahead to freeze some for the months when the prices are much higher. This is just another of the 31 Ways to Save on Your Grocery Budget without Coupons.

Here’s what’s projected to be in season for Illinois for June:

Asparagus, Cabbage, Cherries, Eggplant, Garlic, Nectarines, Okra, Peas, Rhubarb and Strawberries.

If you haven’t tried some of these items before, consider trying something new. I’m having a lot of fun with my What’s New For Dinner series and using some foods that I’ve never tried before. This last week, I tried leeks for the first time and they will now be on my list for future months.

Hope you find ways to save a little money on Seasonal items. Not only are the prices lower but they tend to be fresher items, too. Don’t forget to find a local farmer’s market in your area to get even fresher items.

It has been a very busy month of May with Easter, Mother’s Day and some other projects I’ve had going on. So I hope to spend the next week catching up on some on my postings that I’ve fallen behind on.

I have been keeping up with my challenge of trying a new recipe each week for “What’s New for Dinner.” Some of them have been: Baked Tilapia, Bacon Roasted Chicken and two others that I want to share separately as I thought they were really great and are definitely part of my permanent monthly meal plan going forward!

But I have some fun things planned for this summer on Coupon Geek.

Last year, I did a Wednesday’s Reading Day and shared what I was reading with my children and did a giveaway for you guys to pick your own new books. I will be sharing books again this year but I am going to do the giveaways in one big one at the end of each of the summer months with several winners for new books–and one additional giveaway to kick off our fun!

My garden is ALMOST set-up now and I’ll be sharing some pics with you and some ideas for getting your own garden started this year. Produce coupons are so rare still and having your own garden is an amazing way to save money and have some fresh veggies worked into your meal plans.

I am also working on a “Time Out with Kids” series, sharing some frugal ideas that I’ve done with my kids throughout the week. We had a fun little outing last week that I can’t wait to share as my kids keep asking me to repeat our adventure this week. You’d be surprised at how much fun you can have for free or nearly free. (A special thank you to my friend Keri Lyn for making my button for this series!)

Some of you have asked what my plans are for fitness coming up. June starts off my 5K training again with hopes of signing up for the Susan G Komen Chicago 5K Race. I am also digging out an old DVD of mine of my favorite fitness instructor, Denise Austin, called Blast Away 10 Lbs. It has some fun kickboxing routines on there and Denise is one of the most motivating trainers I’ve found. So I’ll be doing these along with several walks with kids and loads of outdoor fun with them, taking advantage of Chicago’s limited warm weather months!

So stay tuned for some fun and as always, thank you so very much for stopping by Coupon Geek and following in my adventures and coupon savings!

As I mentioned before, I’m going to try to put up a posting each month with what’s in season as a way to help you save a little more on your grocery budgets. Products that are in season not only tend to be cheaper but they are also tend to be a lot fresher than non-seasonal produce.

You can check the What’s In Season Map for what’s in season in your area. Here’s what they have projected to be in season for Illinois:

Asparagus, Cabbage, Cherries, Cucumbers, Leeks, Lettuce, Peas, Potatoes, Rhubarb and Strawberries

I love to buy seasonal items at local farmer’s markets. You can use LocalHarvest.org to Find a Farmer’s Market Near You. Some Farmer’s Markets have free activities for kids and even free musical events, as well. I tend to shop at the markets early so I don’t miss out on what I want. But I’ve heard from others that if you shop closer to the closing time of the market, the farmers might give discounts as they don’t want to have to take the food back with them.

In the last year, I’ve actually had fun trying new foods and finding new recipes to try them in. The site that I tend to go to for new recipes is AllRecipes.com. They allow people to review each recipe and I always read through the reviews for more ways to improve the recipes. I tend to lose recipes so I like their feature of a Recipe Box that you can save your favorites to.

Buying in season is just one way on how to save on your grocery budget. You can also read through my series I wrote back in June 2009 called 31 Ways to Save on Your Grocery Budget without Coupons.

If there’s one thing that I’ve learned from juggling a life of being a blogger and a Mommy, it’s that you really must be flexible and adapt when things don’t quite go as planned. I had wanted so much to get in my annual “Marching Into Fitness” month focusing on health and fitness items and life dealt me a different path. I spent most of March battling a terrible case of bronchitis and a sinus infection. I had just enough in me to get up my daily postings and not much more. I try to blog from my heart and my heart was not saying, “Fitness” but “Sleep…get some sleep!”  All my extra energies, which were limited, were spent on my family–just as it should be.

Thankfully we are healthy here now and ready to get back to our regularly scheduled programming, so to speak.  And in a sense, I’m glad it was delayed because I think it’s going to be a much better month and here’s why….

I didn’t realize how many of you would be interested in Zumba Fitness For Wii. At the time, I only had one to giveaway but I’ve picked up a few more so that I can do this—Every Monday for the rest of April I will be giving away a copy of Zumba Fitness For Wii. I really do love this game and I want to offer you all a few chances to win one. So many of you are like me and lead a busy life, unable to make it to a gym. So I’m hoping this will give a few of my readers a chance to have this fun “class” at home. I’ll be adding a little update on how my progress on the game is going with each new giveaway–motivating me to use mine all the more.

While fitness may not seem like a “hot deal” I have to tell you that it IS! Taking care of yourself and your family is such a great investment–one that not only could save you so much money in the future on medical bills but also may give you a longer, healthier life with your family–and that is priceless and the best deal that I can ever share with you on this site!

So stay tuned and keep your eyes peeled for those giveaways each week and all the others that are coming at you–including one that will make one of my lucky readers go Wii Wii Wii all the way home!

Note: This posting is not for a giveaway. Just an update as to what’s coming soon.

Welcome to my series called “What’s New For Dinner?” This is going to be a weekly posting sharing a new recipe that I have tried throughout the week. This is my way of keeping our meals from getting boring and attempting to try new foods. I’m doing this fun challenge with my friend, Jenn from Super Jenn.

I didn’t post what I made a few weeks ago because I still haven’t decided if I truly liked the recipes. It was a Blueberry Mango Swiss Chard Smoothie along with some Kale Chips that we had for a snack one day. I found them in the last issue of Natural Health Magazine. My hubby said the smoothie was OK, which is saying a lot since there was Swiss Chard in it and he typically doesn’t like “greens.” Both recipes were just so-so and things I’d probably never make again but I didn’t want you to think I skipped out on trying something new that week.

But last week, we tried two new recipes that turned out very well. One was a Strawberry Caprese Pasta Salad and the other was Strawberry Goat Cheese Bruschetta. If both of those titles made you do a double take…then you did exactly what I did when I saw them.  Driscoll’s sent them to me and I was totally intrigued by the idea of adding berries to an otherwise typical recipe. And here’s just one of the reasons why–my hubby hates tomatoes. So I rarely make bruschetta. This is a little sad for me as I am a big tomato-eater. But with strawberries…what a neat concept! And the kids thought Mom was just a genius for putting strawberries in their pasta–two great things in one!

And the best part was—both of these recipes were really simple to make. I got the biggest kick out of the kids saying, “Goat cheese?” when they asked what was on their bread. LOL. I had never tried it before either so it was another fun addition to our adventure that week.

VERDICT: These will both make it into our meal plan, especially when berries are in season. I didn’t care for the mozzarella balls in the pasta salad and since they were expensive, I’ll probably just use shredded cheese next time. I also didn’t have any fresh basil at home and the store was out so I just used dried basil and it worked out OK. When I was picking up my ingredients, I didn’t see any baguette slices at my Jewel but a sweet bakery worker was able to quickly cut up some of their loaf bread for me. So if your store doesn’t have them, you might want to ask if they offer the same service. Goat cheese can be a little pricey, as well, and next time I might try to make them with some cream cheese, instead. Here are some pictures of our meal:

The kids helped me assemble the bread–spreading on the cheese and topping each with a strawberry.

I had all the ingredients ready and the kids helped me make the pasta salad, too.

And this was our final meal shot. It made for a nice light lunch.

Well, that was our adventure last week. It was fun trying out some new ingredients, along with the new recipes. Did any of you try to make anything new recently? I’d love to hear about it!

Some of you had mentioned how you wanted to see the next season of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. I just got an email from their newsletter announcing that it was going to start airing again on Tuesday, April 12, 2011 on ABC at 8PM EST/7PM CST.

Just thought I’d mention in case you wanted to set your DVRs to record it.

Jamie is on a mission to bring better food to our schools –and to teach healthier eating habits. I’ve learned a lot about various foods from watching last season so I am definitely watching it again this year.

My friend Kristen discovered that her twins were allergic to both eggs and milk products. I sympathized with her when she would tell me the stories about how hard it was. But I never truly understood until I threw my first party that they were invited to when the kids were older. I was going to try to make several things that didn’t have eggs or milk and then I realized….it seemed like everything has eggs and milk in it! I’ve asked Kristen to do a guest posting series for me once a month, sharing tidbits of her story and some recipes that she’s found that not only work well, but taste good. Take it away Kristen…..

Hi, my name is Kristen and I am the mother of 3 beautiful children–twins Jimmy & Serafina whom just turned 5, and Chloe is almost 3. They are the joys of my life and all 3 have multiple food allergies. Imagine my surprise when it came time to introduce solid foods to my babies and found out they had so many food allergies and restrictions! It turned out that the twins were severely allergic to Milk & Eggs, Fish and Soy were also positive, and the Allergist said not to give them Shellfish, Nuts or Tree nuts either until they turned 3 yrs old. (Chloe is following in her big brother and sister’s footsteps.) I was in complete shock, and panic… What in the world was I going to feed my children?? How was I going to keep them safe from having an anaphylactic reaction? The Allergist did not give me any other advice besides don’t let them eat or come in contact with any of those foods. Oh, and here’s an EpiPen Jr.

I love to bake but I was not prepared to tackle this challenge. And this news pretty much meant we couldn’t go out to eat at restaurants–at least not for a long while. Luckily I found an amazing Pediatric Nutritionist (through the Early Intervention program Child & Family Connections) who helped us so much. She came to the house and helped with new recipes to try while also making sure they were growing and gaining weight. I am forever grateful for her help. She gave me the strength and knowledge to take charge of my children’s special diet with confidence.

When it came time to celebrate birthdays, store bought cake was out of the question as it always has egg in the recipe. So the first time we went to a friend’s birthday party I felt badly because I knew my children really couldn’t eat most of the goodies. But what I decided to do was bake some cupcakes and special goodies to bring so they did not feel left out and the hostess did not have to worry about accommodating their allergies. I did find some acceptable recipes on the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network site, and I experimented with my own recipes too. Turns out most of our friends really like the milk and egg free versions of our homemade creations!

A couple of years ago, my Mom found this Crazy Cake recipe in a newspaper article… Hallelujah!! Finally, a milk and egg free cake that is soooo chocolatey and delicious! This is the only cake my kids ask for now for their birthday. I hope you try it….. my children know you will like it!

Crazy Cake

1 ½ Cups all purpose flour
1 Cup sugar
1/3 unsweetened cocoa powder (I like using Penzey’s Dutch Process Cocoa)
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 Cup cold water
1/3 Cup vegetable oil
1 Tbs distilled white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla (Use a really good one like Penzey’s Mexican vanilla. It won’t taste very good if you use imitation vanilla. Can you tell I like Penzeys ?)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place first 5 ingredients in square 8 x 8 x 2” non-stick metal pan.

Combine 1 cup cold water, oil, vinegar and vanilla in large glass measuring cup.

Pour liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and use a fork to stir until smooth.

Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 30 minutes.

If you don’t want to serve the cake right out of the pan, be sure to grease and dust with cocoa powder your pan of choice and mix your ingredients in a separate bowl. I like to do it this way and
use a whisk instead.

After baking, let cool in the pan at least 20 min. before flipping it out onto a wire rack to finish cooling completely

If making cupcakes, line cupcake pan with cupcake papers and bake approximately 24 minutes. Makes 12 cupcakes. Cupcakes freeze well. Double the recipe to make a double layer cake. Can be made 1 day ahead. We like to sprinkle powdered sugar on top or use store bought milk free frosting. Enjoy!

A special thank-you to Kristen for sharing her stories and recipes with us. Look for another one from her next month!

Even though I am a huge fan of coupons, I realize that it’s not for everyone—and  that it shouldn’t be your only source of reducing your grocery budget.  Back in June 2009, I wrote up a series called 31 Ways to Save On Your Grocery Budget (without coupons) and one of the things that I should have stressed even more then was to try to work things that are in season into your weekly menu plan.

Throughout the year, there are always certain fruits and vegetables that are in season at various times. And if you watch closely, you’ll see that those items will drop in price at the stores since they tend to be more abundant in supply. I wanted a source to send you to that would help you watch which items might be in season and I was very happy to find one on Epicurious that is a US Map that will tell you items not only by state, but also by month. It might be one that you’ll want to bookmark and check at the beginning of the month if you aren’t familiar with the seasonal schedule.

Not only is it great to work those items into your menu plan but they are great items to consider buying more of, if you have any wiggle room left in your grocery budget, so that you can Freeze/Can them.

I’m still learning which foods freeze well and how to can/preserve foods myself. I just try to learn a little bit more each year so I don’t get overwhelmed. Here are a few good resources to check out from your local library, though:

How to Freeze: Everything You Need to Know About Freezing – This one breaks out foods to where you can just flip to the item and read up on how to preserve it.

The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest: 150 Recipes for Freezing, Canning, Drying and Pickling Fruits and Vegetables – This one is a great resource because it covers so many methods of food preservation.

Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving and Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving – If you find that you like the last one, it often comes free in canning/preserving kits.

Simply in Season Expanded Edition (World Community Cookbook) – This one is more of a recipe book for ideas on how to use those items that are in season.

You can check the map for your local area, but here’s what they project for being in season in April for Illinois:

Asparagus, Broccoli, Cabbage, Lettuce, Onions, Peas and Spinach.

I already took advantage of a hot sale on Asparagus at my local grocery store that was sold in a big bunch. We never would have finished it– but I blanched them, chilled them in ice water, let them dry and then threw them in a freezer bag so I can add them to a pasta dish, casserole or stir fry later. I reduced wasting food and I saved myself money down the road. And get this—I was able to do most of this process while I was waiting for some pasta to cook. Never underestimate the savings that can come from multi-tasking.

Another great thing you can do is to take any  raw/uncooked vegetables that you have each night that are leftover from your recipes ( freeze them according to the proper directions) and  save them in one container for a stir fry or soup later on.

I’ll share the seasonal items to watch for again next month. I’m hoping this will help you stretch your grocery money a little further.

I have mentioned a time or two that the only line of make-up that I can use is bareMinerals, due to allergies. I’ve tried so many types and have only come to find luck with bareMinerals. So I was happy to hear that they are releasing a new line of Skincare Moisturizers, Cleansers and Treatments. I’m anxious to try them out as I’m sure they are the same quality of their make-up line.

Powered by 100% pure RareMinerals Active Soil Complex, enjoy increased cell turnover, fewer fine lines and wrinkles and the famous bareMinerals Naturally Luminous glow.

Sounds like something I could learn to love! I’ll be hosting a giveaway for some of their products real soon–so keep your eyes open for that posting! In the meantime, I wanted to share with you that this new line is out and you can read more on the Moisturizers , Cleansers and Treatments at those links.

I know a lot of your kids love the Pinkalicious Book Series so I just wanted to let you know that on March 29, 2011, they are going to release a Pinkalicious DS Game.

They are also coming out with a new book called Pinkalicious and the Pink Pumpkin on July 26, 2011.

Spring is getting closer and as I mentioned on the Coupon Geek Facebook Page yesterday, I’m itching for the weather to get warmer here in Illinois so I can start getting to work on this year’s garden. Last year was my first year attempting to try my hand, or should I say green thumb, at a bigger garden. I figured I’d be outside with the kids quite a bit so we may as well have a little project to do while we are soaking up some of those summer rays.

I went back and forth whether I wanted to try a normal garden or take a chance at Square Foot Gardening. Since our yard is mostly clay soil, I figured I’d go with SFG. And I don’t regret it one bit–nor did I miss any of those crazy weeds. Oh, a few would blow in now and again but for the most part, my garden was free of them. (But it wasn’t free of a little critter that hopped right on my foot when I went to reach for a tomato. Thankfully, that was just a cute little bunny or I’d probably still be shaking from the surprise.)

While we tried to get a jump-start using some seeds, I have to say, I failed miserably at growing seeds indoors. They sprouted. We all got excited. And then somehow, I killed them all before I could get them planted. But, I’m going to give it a shot again this year. I think I might have left them too close to the window during a strange late coldspell that we had. Not sure. But I was so excited when little by little, each seed that we sowed outside grew.

Prior to that year, I had only planted a couple tomato/pepper plants that I bought as starters. Or I had a couple container tomato plants. So imagine my excitement when in our first year, we were growing strawberries (picture above is some from our garden!), beans, lettuce, carrots, kohlrabi, a few pepper varieties, tomatoes, potatoes, radishes, and some spices. And one plant that became my favorite, completely by mistake!

I wanted to plant some rhubarb so I could make a strawberry rhubarb pie. I bought some seeds but when I went to plant them, it clicked—it wasn’t rhubarb but Swiss Chard Rhubarb. Completely different! Swiss Chard is more like a spinach and you actually eat the leaves where, from what I gather, Rhubarb leaves are actually toxic and you just eat the stems. But it turned out OK as I fell in love with cooking up Swiss Chard in garlic and olive oil for a side dish for us. It became one of my favorite things to grow—probably just because it prospered so much!

My goal this year is try to get as many Coupon Geek readers that haven’t gardened–to try their hand at it this year. Even if it’s simply just a few container plants or some spices you grow in your kitchen window. It’s completely amazing at how fresh your food will taste and how much fun you’ll have with the kids. You might just get them to eat more veggies if they grow their own–as I found that to be true here.

More Chit-Chat to come….

Welcome to my series called “What’s New For Dinner?” This is going to be a weekly posting sharing a new recipe that I have tried throughout the week. This is my way of keeping our meals from getting boring and attempting to try new foods. I’m doing this fun challenge with my friend, Jenn from Super Jenn.

This last week, I wanted to try a recipe that I could make in my new Cuisinart Cast Iron Dutch Oven. I found it on a great deal on one of those daily deal sites. While I knew the pans tend to be heavy, I wasn’t quite prepared for just how heavy. I was off balanced grabbing the box from my front step and almost fell off of it as I was bowled over by its weight. I keep telling myself I’ll have to continue to keep cooking with it more so I can build up those biceps!

Anyway, when I was checking out reviews for it on Amazon, I saw that several people also bought the Glorious One-Pot Meals: A Revolutionary New Quick and Healthy Approach to Dutch-Oven Cooking book. So I had to check it out to see what kind of recipes it offered. When I was flipping through it, the one that caught my eye was one titled, “African Peanut Butter Stew.” Hmmm, a peanut butter stew sounded like something I might be able to get the kids to try—so I chose that as this week’s adventure.

Here’s the recipe and some pics to follow:

Canola oil or 2 tsp peanut oil
1/2 medium onion, diced
3/4 cup white rice
3/4 cup plus 1 TB broth (chicken or vegetable) or water
1/2 to 3/4 lb chicken breasts or thighs
1/2 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and sliced
2/3 cup milk or water
2-4 garlic cloves, minced or crushed
1/2 tsp cayenne
Sea salt, to taste
3 TB peanut butter, chunky or creamy
3 to 4 tomatoes, diced or one 14 oz can diced, drained
1/2 sweet potato, cut into 3/4 inch cubes
1 handful of fresh spinach or 5 oz frozen

1) Preheat oven to 450 degrees
2) Spray the inside and lid of a cast-iron Dutch oven with canola oil or wipe with peanut oil
3) Scatter the diced onion in the pot.
4) Rinse the rice in a strainer under cold water until the water runs clear. Add the rice and the broth/water and stir to make an even layer.
5) Place the chicken on the rice. Add the bell pepper.
5) Whisk the milk, garlic, cayenne, sea salt, and peanut butter in a measuring cup until the peanut butter dissolves. Pour over the chicken.
6) Layer in the tomatoes, sweet potato, and spinach.
7) Cover and bake for 45 minutes or “until 3 minutes after the aroma of a fully cooked meal escapes the oven.” Serve immediately.

Here are a few pics from ours:

This is how the pan looked after it was done.

This is a picture of the meal, though not a good one as the veggies all seem to be hidden on the bottom.

VERDICT:
I did enjoy the stew but I think I will do a couple things differently next time. I put the chicken breasts in the pot whole, and I think they’d be better cut-up and spread out across the stew as it will be easier for the kids. I also will add more spinach to it. While it looked like a lot when I put them on there, I forgot how much spinach wilts down and it didn’t seem like much after they were cooked. (If you don’t like spinach much, though, stick with the original recipe!) And lastly, I will definitely check my rice before taking it out of the oven. Only some was completely cooked, while the other was only halfway done, making it a crunchier stew.

So this was my cooking adventure for last week. (Side Note: Jenn won’t have recipes up for awhile. While she’s continuing to make one each week, she’s in the process of moving–and with three little kids. So you can all imagine just how busy she is and hasn’t been blogging much! ) Did any of you try to make anything new? I’d love to hear about it!

Welcome to my series called “What’s New For Dinner?” This is going to be a weekly posting sharing a new recipe that I have tried throughout the week. This is my way of keeping our meals from getting boring and attempting to try new foods. I’m doing this fun challenge with my friend, Jenn from Super Jenn. So check her site for what she’s tried this week, too!

I wasn’t sure what I was going to make this last week until I saw a really great sale on Catfish at our Costco. I’m doing my best to incorporate more fish into our monthly menu plan so I decided this was the route to go. Since I really wanted some good opinions on fish, I went to my favorite recipe site again, AllRecipes.com. I stumbled onto their Cajun Baked Catfish Recipe. I liked the idea that it was going to be flavorful and that it wasn’t fried. Here’s how it went:

We gathered up all of our ingredients. What I liked about this recipe is that it’s fairly simple so I had everything on hand, except for the catfish.

We mixed together the ingredients. I measured them out and my son poured them in and then stirred them up. I love when I can let him help me (safely) in the kitchen.

We then brushed the fish with the ingredients. My son referred to this part as “we painted the fish, Daddy” when he was telling him about it at suppertime.

I coated a 13×9 pan with non-cook sticking spray and then placed the marinated fish into it. The recipe said to cook 10-13 minutes at 450 degrees but after reading the reviews, I cooked it much longer. Probably closer to 20-25 minutes. So just watch your catfish to make sure it’s done before taking it out.

Since I was in a lazy mood and we had a bigger lunch that day, I just served it up real simple with some jasmine rice and strawberries.

VERDICT:
I loved how this fish had a nice kick to it. If your kids don’t enjoy spicier foods, you may want to cut back on the cayenne pepper/hot sauce. Mine had no issues with it. I did take the advice of people reviewing the recipe and switched the garlic salt to garlic powder and increased the cooking time. This is why I love grabbing recipes on sites like that—I have better luck having a good recipe! We are definitely adding this to our future menu plan, especially during Lent.

Did any of you try a new recipe this week? I’d love to hear about it! You can check Jenn’s site to see if she made anything new this week. She has a few projects going on so she may not have time to get a post up this week, though.

Welcome to my series called “What’s New For Dinner?” This is going to be a weekly posting sharing a new recipe that I have tried throughout the week. This is my way of keeping our meals from getting boring and attempting to try new foods. I’m doing this fun challenge with my friend, Jenn from Super Jenn. So check her site for what she’s tried this week, too!

My apologies on getting this posted late. I got caught up in some other projects and forgot to post it this week! This week’s recipe challenge was a fun one. One that was several months in the making. Oh, it didn’t take that long. But I’ve just had the book about that long with the intent of “someday” hopefully happening. My dear friend, Christy, put up a posting on how she makes homemade bread using Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day: 100 New Recipes Featuring Whole Grains, Fruits, Vegetables, and Gluten-Free Ingredients. I left her a comment saying it looked like fun and I’d have to get the book sometime. Well, immediately she sent me a text message saying, “Jaycie, No! Don’t buy it! It’s already on its way to you.” The sweetie sent me a surprise copy. We do this sometimes when we come across something we love. We’ll surprise the other one with something just to brighten their day. I am so truly blessed to have her as a friend.

I couldn’t quite get to making the bread as I didn’t have any of the supplies that I wanted to use. Well, over the holidays, I watched for deals on a Baking Stone, a Pizza Peel and worked on finding the right sized container for the bread to rise. (Found a set at Sam’s Club) You can make it without the stone or peel, I’m sure,  but I planned on making this frequently enough to make it worth the investment. The Pizza Peel I found is so gorgeous that I just hang it up as a wall decoration in my kitchen, when it’s not in use!

This was a simple recipe so I let the kids help me with it. I always let them help me in the kitchen when it comes to just dumping in ingredients and stirring. When it comes to hot ovens/stoves, that becomes their playtime and I finish up. Here’s how the process went:

We mixed up all the ingredients in a 6 quart container, put a lid on it (popped a little to vent) and then it rise at room temperature for 2 hours. No kneading involved! It then said it was easier to work with cold and the flavor is best if you wait for 24 hours. So after it was done rising, we put it in the fridge and waited.

Then, I took out the dough, dusted it with flour and cut off a 2 pound piece and formed it into a loaf shape. I placed it on my pizza peel, covered it with saran wrap and let it set for 90 minutes.

30 minutes before baking time, I preheated the oven to 350. After the 30 minutes were up, I placed the loaf onto the baking stone and let it bake for about 45-50 minutes.

When it looked nice and golden, I took out the loaf and let it cool on a Cooling Rack. We had warm bread for some sandwiches and more dough in the fridge for more loaves later in the week.

Now the reason I’m not sharing the recipe with you is because there are so many recipes in the book. This particular one was for soft whole wheat sandwich bread. Also, Amazon has a great video clip of How To Make The Bread. They used a different recipe than I did but it’s one you can try.There are far too many varieties to post. The book is well worth checking out at your library–and then purchasing if you find it’s right for you.

I’m excited to see that they are also coming out with a pizza and flatbread recipes book that is scheduled to release October 2011. And they also have another book called Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking.

This was a fun little adventure for me and the kids. They got the biggest kick out of watching all the steps in the bread-making process. We are going to be adding this to our weekly routine as there’s just nothing like the taste (and smell!) of homemade bread.

Don’t forget to check out Jenn’s adventure this last week, too. Did any of you try a new recipe this week? I’d love to hear about how it went.

Welcome to my series called “What’s New For Dinner?” This is going to be a weekly posting sharing a new recipe that I have tried throughout the week. This is my way of keeping our meals from getting boring and attempting to try new foods. I’m doing this fun challenge with my friend, Jenn from Super Jenn. So check her site for what she’s tried this week, too!

This week, I wanted to try something that  my son could help me make–and that I could turn into a Dinner & a Movie night. I have never made homemade spaghetti sauce before–always just dumping something out from a store-bought jar– nor have I ever made an attempt at homemade meatballs. So this was my “challenge” for this week.

Up until this point, I didn’t allow my son to help me cook anything involving raw meat. But I figured if I watched him closely, he’d be just fine. I’m glad I did as he had a blast rolling up some meatballs with me. I spent quite a bit of time stressing the importance of washing your hands very well after handling raw meat and how he shouldn’t touch his face, etc with his “grimy” hands. I had to laugh when the rest of the week he kept asking me if it was “good meat” or not whenever I’d make something. And we chuckled as he explained to his Daddy that it goes in yucky meat and comes out new cooked meat that we can eat. Just when you think they aren’t listening to you, right?

So for this recipe, I just followed a recipe I found on AllRecipes.com. My favorite part was how the house filled up with a delicious smell of garlic. The least favorite part (which was my own fault) was not reading the recipe completely to see that the sauce simmers for 90 minutes, and then takes another 30 minutes after you add the meatballs. I really just skimmed it too quick.  The plan was to make this and then watch Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs but we ended up starting the movie and then pausing it when supper was ready. It worked out just fine, though.

Here’s a picture of the meatballs my son and I made:

And here’s a picture of our meal:

VERDICT: I am definitely adding this one into my monthly meal plan as I thought it was a fabulous recipe. It makes a lot of food so we had plenty of leftovers for another meal, or two. Had I been thinking, I would have saved some of the meatballs to make meatball sandwiches the next night. I actually want to try to freeze them, and the sauce, so I can see how it tastes for a night I need to make a quick meal. Next time–we’ll probably watch Lady and the Tramp , as I love the scene of the dogs eating the spaghetti and the kids haven’t seen it yet!

Next week, I’ll be sharing a recipe that goes very well with this one! Did any of you try to make anything new this week? I’d love to hear about it! Don’t forget to check out Jenn’s latest adventure this week –she made a Baked Peanut Butter Oatmeal Recipe. You can also check out some of the past recipes I’ve tried this year.

Welcome to my series called “What’s New For Dinner?” This is going to be a weekly posting sharing a new recipe that I have tried throughout the week. This is my way of keeping our meals from getting boring and attempting to try new foods. I’m doing this fun challenge with my friend, Jenn from Super Jenn. So check her site for what she’s tried this week, too!

I didn’t feel very adventurous this week. So when I saw that All Recipes had a recipe of the day for Baked Chicken Nuggets, I knew that would be what I’d make this week—something simple yet still something I had never tried before.

I have two toddlers and they are in that big chicken nugget phase. So I like the idea that I can make my own and I’ll know exactly what ingredients are in it. When I made this, I picked up some Organic Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breasts. The first thing you do is to cut them into 1 – 1/2″ pieces. I made some of ours a little smaller since the kids are still fairly young.

Next, you mix up the spices and Parmesan Cheese. The cheese is what makes these taste really good! You’ll keep those in a separate bowl from the chicken pieces.

Then, you’ll melt your butter and keep it separate from the other two bowls. After that, spray a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray. When your prep work is done, it will look like this:

Now begins the process of coating the chicken pieces. You’ll first dip them in the melted butter. Then coat them in the spices and Parmesan cheese mixture. After this step, lay the coated chicken pieces on the sprayed cookie sheet. Continue doing this until all the pieces are coated. It will look something like this:

When I was reading the reviews on this recipe, a lot of the commenters recommended flipping the chicken pieces halfway through. So I set the timer for 10 minutes instead and then flipped them over and reset the timer for another 10 minutes. I had no issues keeping the coating on and they didn’t seem to be greasy that way, either. (Don’t forget to check that your chicken pieces are fully cooked!) This was what ours looked like when we were done:

During the cooking time, I had chopped up some watermelon and I also steamed some Organic carrots in one of those microwave steam bags for our side dishes. It worked out perfectly for time!

The Verdict:

I didn’t have any Italian Seasoned Bread Crumbs so I had used regular and threw in some Italian Seasoning. I put a little too much but it still tasted really good. I’ll be looking for a sale on the Italian Seasoned Breadcrumbs when I make these again. These were very tasty and not one bit greasy. I liked being able to eat chicken nuggets that tasted like real chicken instead of that processed stuff. We’ll be making these for a lot of future lunches! I’m going to have to test out how these freeze so I can just pop them in the microwave on busy days.

Well, that was my new recipe for this week. Did any of you try to make something new, too? I’d love to hear about it! Don’t forget to check out Jenn’s site later for when she posts her latest cooking adventure, too!

Welcome to my series called “What’s New For Dinner?” This is going to be a weekly posting sharing a new recipe that I have tried throughout the week. This is my way of keeping our meals from getting boring and attempting to try new foods. I’m doing this fun challenge with my friend, Jenn from Super Jenn. So check her site for what she’s tried this week, too!

So I was debating what I would make for my new recipe this week and then the new Taste of Home Magazine showed up and as soon as I saw the cover, I knew I had to make some Crockpot Beef Stew. It’s perfect for this time of year on a cold night.

If you subscribe to their magazine, you’ll find this recipe on page 45 of the Feb/March 2011 issue.

Ingredients
1 lb. of Beef Stew Meat
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 can (14.5 oz ) beef broth
1 can (11.5 oz) V8 juice
2 celery ribs, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
3 bay leaves
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp pepper
2 TB cornstarch
1 TB cold water
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup frozen peas

Your prep work will consist of peeling/cubing potatoes, peeling/chopping carrots, chopping celery, chopping the sweet onion and cutting up your meat if you don’t buy it pre-cut. When I made this, I bought a roast and cut it into 3 – 1lb sections. I weighed it out with my Kitchen Scale and then put two of them in their own individual Ziploc bags so I can now easily make up two more batches of beef stew. I saved money by not buying the pre-cut beef stew meat as it cost quite a bit more per pound.

After all your prep work is complete, you’ll put the first 12 ingredients into your crockpot. (That’s everything from the beef stew meat down through the pepper.) Cover it and let it cook on low for about 7-8 hours. Now, my crockpot tends to run a little hot, so mine was good to go soon after 6 hours. So make sure you check to see how yours is around that time, just to be sure.

After this time-frame, be sure to carefully pick out your bay leaves. Don’t worry that your stew is a little liquid-y. It will thicken up soon as your next step is…

Combine your cornstarch with the water and stir it until it’s smooth. Stir it into the crockpot. This will help thicken up your stew.

Next, you’ll add your frozen corn and peas. Turn your crockpot up to High now and let it cook for about 30 minutes or until your stew thickens some. And your end result should look something similar to this….

This was my new recipe that I tried for this week. Don’t forget to check out Jenn’s adventure this week as she made Mini Taco Cups, which might make for a great Super Bowl Sunday appetizer, too! Did any of you try to make something new this week? I’d love to hear about it!