Harris Teeter Super Doubles- 91% Savings!

I'm so much like a little kid in a candy store with coupons- especially when Super Doubles are happening :)  Today I spent $4.90 and saved $51.60 (91%).  I would have had to spend that on the organic soup alone!!  

Go HERE for a great list, but I wanted to include a few things I found that weren't on the list for you that would be FREE!

Johnson's Safety Swabs- $1.99

$1/1 J&J Baby Product in 1/3 or 12/13 RP inserts

Final Price: FREE

Polaner's All Fruit- $2

$1/1 Polaner in February All You or 1/10 SS insert

Final Price: FREE

Bertolli's Pasta Sauce- B1G1

$.75/1 Bertolli's Sauce in 2/14 RP

Final Price: FREE

Even though I'm not blogging like I was due to time constraints, many of you have asked if I am still teaching coupon classes.  The answer is YES!  I make time for 3 a month- feel free to contact me if you are interested!

Monday's Meal Plan

Ahhh Monday :)  I sort of skipped last week because Chris was gone all week.  Never went to the store once, but the girls' and I survived though thanks to my stocked freezer.  We ended up having a fabulous Valentine's dinner at home last night including heart-shaped pasta with chicken, artichoke, and spinach and lobster tail (on sale at Publix this week!).  My hubby and I will definitely go out sometime soon- we're just not big on fighting crowds when we could just pick a night thats semi-close to V-day and it be more peaceful :)

I'm forever trying to get outside the meals I make all the time- we'll see how it goes this week.  What are you cooking up?

Monday: Seared Steak w/ Roasted Mushrooms and Spinach Salad
Tuesday: Steak Tostadas w/ Cilantro Sour Cream
Wednesday: Lasagna- I'm going to try homemade noodles
Thursday: Chicken and Dumplins
Friday: Pizza

Winner of $25 Kroger Gift Card Giveaway!

Big congrats to Cheryl F. for winning the Kroger gift card giveaway!  She had comment #7 which was in response to writing their favorite money or time saving tip:


I save time by recording things on the computer that I used to write by hand. I never lose anything this way and it's so much easier to find what I'm looking for :)

I appreciate all of you so much- thanks for entering!

Chicken Chili- DELICIOUS!!

So I posted on my meal plan that I was going to make Chicken Chili on Friday.  Well, I didn't want todays dinner, so I made Fridays instead :)  It was AMAZING!  I wanted to share what I did differently because if you follow the recipe as stated, you will be disappointed (and your mouth will be on FIRE!)

Here is the original recipe as stated on Allrecipes:

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 (14 ounce) cans chicken broth
• 2 (15.5 ounce) cans great Northern beans
• 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
• 1 roasted chicken, bones and skin removed, meat torn into bite-size pieces
• 3 tablespoons ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
• 1 (8 ounce) container sour cream
• 1 (8 ounce) package shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Directions

1. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in onions, and cook until softened and translucent, about 3 minutes. Pour in chicken broth, great Northern beans, chopped chiles, and torn chicken. Season with cumin, chili powder, and cayenne pepper. Increase heat to medium-high to bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Stir in sour cream and simmer for 5 minutes. To serve, ladle into bowls and sprinkle with Monterey Jack cheese.

Here are the changes I made:

• Boiled a whole chicken for the meat (about 1.5 breasts) and used 4 cups of broth from that.
• Didn't have green chiles, so I added half a can of Rotel (strained)
• 3/4 tbsp cumin
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• a DASH of cayenne pepper- who on earth would put 2 tbsps in?!!  That is crazy!!
• about 4 tbsp of sour cream
• cheese to top instead of cooked in the soup
• squeeze of lime juice
• salt

Tuesday's Timesaver- Entertaining Part 3- Potlucks

Well, its been a few weeks since the last Tuesday's Timesaver- sorry friends!  If you missed the last 2 posts you can view them here and here. I love this idea from my friend Robin about doing pot-luck style dinners to keep meals inexpensive when you are entertaining.  Again, start with that pantry!  Say you have flour, yeast and cheese- well sounds like pizza to me!  Have your friends bring their favorite toppings.  By splitting things up a bit you are saving yourself time and money- and are still able to open your home and have a great time!

Here are a few of my favorite pot-luck style meals:

• Pizza (thanks Robin!)
• Chili- friends bring fixins
• Tacos/ Taco Salad
• Fondue (you provide the dips, friends bring the dippers
• BBQ's- great for summer- have friends bring their favorite meat.  That always kind of grosses me out, so I like to provide the meat and have them bring sides :)
• Sub Sandwiches and Soup
• ...and of course Banana Splits for dessert!

Really and truly you can divide things up with any meal- keeps everyone involved and most importantly, its fun! What potluck style meals are your favorites?