Chicken Pot Pie (adapted from pillsbury.com)
Crust:
1 Can of Biscuit DoughFilling:
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup milk
2 1/2 cups chicken
2 cups frozen veggies.

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350 F
2. Put 3 or 4 biscuit circles on the bottom of your pan
Cook for 20 minutes
3. Meanwhile, in a saucepan melt butter over medium heat. Add onion, cook 2 minutes, stirring often. Stir in flour and seasonings. Gradually stir in broth and milk, cooking and stirring until bubbly and thickened.
4. Stir in chicken and vegatables. Remove from heat.
5. Put in baking dish and top with 3-4 more biscuit squares.
6. Bake 25-35 minutes, or until top is a pretty brown. (you may need to cover with foil for the last 15 minutes or so to prevent too much browning

Wednesday Ads 2-25-3-3

Here's what's looking good to me:

Albertson's:

Saltine Crackers $.97 with in ad coupon
Albertson's Cheese $1.48 with in ad coupon
Turkey breast from the Deli $3.99 with in ad coupon
Boneless Skinless Chicken breasts from the Butcher $1.88 lb.
Chuck Roast $1.99 lb. (This is what I use to make Pioneer Woman's Pot Roast Recipe)
Ground Beef $1.99 lb.
1 Dozen Eggs $1.19 dozen
General Mills Cereal--$1.50 each when you buy 4. Honey Nut Chex, I have .75 off coupons making this $.75 a box. It is a printed Smart Source coupon from earlier this month. There was also a $1/off of 3 coupon in the 2/8 sunday inserts.
Over 250 items, spend $10 save $3 instantly. There are a few things that are a good price.

The following are 70 cents

• Bush's Black Beans
• Marshamallows
• Jello
• Daisy Sour Cream

The following are $1.40

• craisins
• Dream Soy or Rice Milk (Jack loves this). There is a .75 off coupon here

The following are $1.75

• Florida's Natural Orange Juice (I bought a bunch of this last year at this price and froze it. Tropicana Orange Juice is $2.50 a carton at Costco. This is .75 cents cheaper)
• C&H Sugar, 5 lb. bag. I also stock up on this when it is this price.

There are several other things at Albertson's so check your ad for more details.

ROSAUERS

Grapes $1.29 lb

Albacore Tuna $1.00/can

Super 1

Oranges, .48 cents/lb

pears, .78 cents/lb

red, yellow or orange peppers, .98 cents each

Roma Tomatoes, .68 cents/lb

SAFEWAY

In ad coupon, save $10/$50 worth of groceries (expires 2/28)

Salmon, $5.99 lb

Asparagus, .99 cents/lb

2 liter Pepsi FREE with in-ad coupon and $10 minumum purchase

Lucerne Butter, .99 with in-ad coupon and $10 minimum purchase

Kelloggs Frosted Mini Wheat or Raisin Bran, .99 with in-ad coupon and $10 minimum purchase

Girard's Salad Dressing, $2.99

Also, if you spend $25 on frozen foods in a single transaction, you get a coupon for $10 off your next purchase.

My Last Albertson's Run

I went to Albertsons for the final time today. What a great week for shopping. I ended my week of savings by buying 26 cans of Progresso Soup, 2 cake mixes and 2 frostings all for $1.57 out of pocket.

Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup

I found this recipe on the label of a can of Rosarita refried beans and it became an instant favorite. Because it is made from canned goods it is easy to store a 3 month supply of the ingredients. You can even use canned chicken. For better flavor you can use homemade refried beans instead of canned.

Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup

2 cans Rotel
2 cans chicken broth
1 can refried beans
1 can corn
2 cups cooked, shredded chicken

Combine tomatoes and broth in medium saucepan. Stir in beans and corn. Bring to boil; reduce heat to low and simmer 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add chicken; heat through. Top with tortilla strips and cheese.

What I Bought Today at Walgreens

I am really loving these Walgreen's deals. There are several things on sale this week but here's what worked for me.

Theraflu and Triaminic: On sale 2 for $10 with a $6 easy saver rebate on two. I printed off coupons here and here. I got one of each. Total price $.50 for 2.

3 boxes of Reynold's Aluminum Foil. I used the Walgreen's in ad coupon and 3 Reynold's $1 off coupons from the 2/8 newspaper inserts. Total: FREE plus .11 cents overage.

3 Colgate Toothpaste. .99 cents each, used (3) .75 cent off coupons. Total: .24 cents each.

This Week's Menu

Sunday: Honey Glazed Salmon
Mashed Potatoes
Asparagus

Monday: Burrito Bowls

Tuesday: Chicken Tortilla Soup

Wednesday: Quesadillas

Thursday: Mexican Lasagne

Friday: Whole Wheat Pizza

Saturday: Out to Eat

It's a Mexican themed week around here. This morning I made a big pot of beans and will use them tonight, tomorrow and Wednesday night. They are super cheap and easy. I will post all the recipes on my sidebar soon.

20 Free Prints at Walgreens

I just did this and it was super fast and easy. For today only you can order 20 free prints at Walgreens using the code ONEDAY. It took me about 5 minutes to upload and order my prints and I can pick them up in one hour at my store. Get started HERE.

Here's An Idea For All Those Cake Mixes

The Betty Crocker Cake mixes and frostings on sale at Albertsons are a great deal but I'm not a huge fan of plain cake and frosting. I have enough to use for our 7 birthdays that we will celebrate over the next four months, but I want to buy a few more to help get other things at good deals. Here are a couple of great recipes that use Devil's Food Cake:

Homemade Oreos

1 Devil's Food Cake Mix
3/4 Cup Butter or Margarine
2 Eggs

Mix all ingredients together and chill in the fridge for about 10 minutes. Roll into small balls and place on a baked cookie sheet. Bake @350 for 7-8 minutes. Cool and frost one cookie with cream cheese frosting. Place another cookie on top and enjoy!

I made these tonight for the dinner we served to guests staying at the Ronald McDonald house. They were a HUGE hit.

This is another family favorite that I've been making for years. It's another Frederickson family traditional recipe that was given to me by my friend Kelly.

Chocolate Torte Cake

1 1/2 cups finely chopped walnuts or pecans
1 1/2 c vanilla wafers crushed
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup butter, melted
1 Devil's Food Cake mix, prepared to package directions
1 pint whipping cream
cocoa
powdered sugar

Mix the first four ingredients and put in bottom 1/4 inch of four round cake pans lined with wax paper. Add cake batter, distributing evenly among all four cake pans. Bake 30 minutes @ 350. Make frosting by whipping the cream and adding cocoa and powdered sugar to taste. Let cake cool and assemble cake side up, frosting between layers and on the sides.

Back From Albertsons

Just got back from Albertson's. They were fully stocked on all the General Mills items. My scenario worked out great. I ended up getting a cake mix instead of the Warm Delights so my total out of pocket spent was $13.47 and I have $13.50 in Catalina to use towards a future purchase. I will probably continue stocking up on soup. I also want to go back and get some Nature's Valley granola bars. There was a printable coupon for $.60/1 box a while ago but I can't find it now. There was also a Sunday paper coupon for $.50/1 but I'm not sure of the date.

It's a Wonderful Week At Albertson's

I didn't shop at Albertson's last week but this week there are some great deals. General Mills is running a promotion where you receive $10 back (in coupon form) towards your next purchase when you buy 10 of any participating items. They are featuring cereal, Nature's Valley granola bars, chex mix, progresso soup, frosting, cookie mixes, cake mixes, biscuits, and more. Here's what I plan to buy:



10 cans of Progresso soup using coupons I printed here. You can also print out a $1.10 off of one coupon here, but I have already printed mine the maximum times allowed. Here's the breakdown:



10 cans @ $1.50 each=$15.00

use (2) $2/4 cans coupon

use (1) $1/2 coupon



Total $5.00 off. $10 out of pocket (oop), receive a $10 coupon good towards your next purchase.



I am then going to buy 10 bags of chex mix. I have 10 $1 off coupons that I printed here. (you can only print 2 per computer)



10 bags @ $2.00 each

Use (10) $1.00 off coupons



Total $10.00 off, use $10 coupon off of previous transaction=$0 oop, receive another $10 coupon.



Purchase 5 boxes Fruit Gushers, 2 Pillsbury biscuits, 2 Betty Crocker warm delights, 1 cake mix.

Use (2) coupons for $.75/2 of the fruit gushers printable, (2) .55 off warm delights and (1) .50 off/2 biscuit coupon printable here or at the links printed below.

Total $17.50 minus coupons=$14.40, use $10 coupon for 4.40 oop.

Receive $10 coupon, plus an additional $3.50 coupon for the fruit gusher purchase.


Here are some great sites for printing coupons for this sale:



Box Tops



Pillsbury



Betty Crocker



I'll report back later today.

Betty Crocker Deals at Safeway

This week safeway has Betty Crocker cookie and cake mixes and frosting on sale for buy 2, get 3 free. They are $1.79 each and you can use 2 $.50 cents off one coupons that were in the 2/08 Sunday paper or print them off here.

I am finished with my grocery shopping for the week. I went $10 over budget because I went back to Winco one more time. I stocked up on bananas, apples, potatoes, and toilet paper.

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog. I have always loved a good deal. Somehow I never thought good deals applied to food. For about a year I've been obsessed with trying to trim my food budget while still eating the foods we love. I've learned lots of tricks along the way and I still have lots to learn. This blog is a way for me to share what I know.

My 10 Day Menu

Last year I read a great book titled "Beating the High Cost of Eating." One of the best habits I established after reading the book was planning my menu around the weekly grocery store ads. I now have enough food stockpiled that I am able to rotate through a basic list of recipes that my family likes. I now plan menus for 10 days at a time and use the weekly sales and for a few weeks now coupons to replenish my supplies. Here is my current 10 day dinner menu.

Monday: Sloppy Joes
French Fries
Veggies

Tuesday: Chicken Enchiladas
Corn

Wednesday: Homemade Macaroni and Cheese (real Simple Magazine Recipe)
Salad

Thursday: Twice Baked Potatoes
Salad

Friday: Homemade Whole Wheat Pizza

Saturday: Kung Po Chicken
Rice
Stir Fry Veggies

Sunday: Pot Roast
Mashed Potatoes
Carrots

Monday: Chicken Spaghetti

Tuesday: Honey Glazed Salmon

Wednesday: Homemade Tomato Soup

I will add the recipes daily on my sidebar.

Albertsons

For me it was a slow week at Albertsons and I didn't end up doing much shopping there. I did buy a few bags of french fries for 99 cents and take advantage of their four double coupons in their add. I ended up using them for Sun Chips which our family loves. These rarely go on sale for less than $3 a bag. I have purchased them for as low as $1.88. They have a new peppercorn ranch flavor that had a $1 coupon on the bag. I doubled it and ended up getting four bags for $1 each. Hopefully there will be some good deals tomorrow.

Chex Mix Printable Coupon

Chex mix is often on sale at Albertsons. Here is a printable coupon for $1 off.

What I bought This Week at Walgreens

After Register Rewards and rebates all these items were FREE.

Here's what I bought: (Print this out and take it with you to the store).

If you don't have the coupon for the razor, skip that and just buy the wipes using the printable coupons. After coupons and submitting your rebates, they will be free.

(1) Fusion Gamer Razor, $8.99 each

(2) Scrubbing Bubble Wipes, On sale for $2.50 each

(2) Windex Wipes, on sale for $2.50 each



I used:


1 $4 off coupon for the Fusion Gamer Razor (found in Sunday's coupon insert)

1 $3/2 Scrubbing Bubbles Printable Coupon found HERE

2 $1.50 off of one Windex Wipes printable coupon found here.

Here's how it worked. I bought the razor first for $4.99 and received a $6.00 register reward. In a separate transaction I purchased the four containers of wipes and after coupons it was $4 plus tax. When I got home I immediately got online and submitted my easy saver rebate for $4 at walgreens.com. This is so EASY to do. Just go to walgreens.com and take 30 seconds to sign up and enter your receipt number. I signed up for my rebates to come on a gift card because they will gift you an extra 10 percent.

There are three other good items at Walgreens this month. You can easily find them when you get to the store by picking up an easy saver catalog at the front of the store by the ads. The items I picked up were Revlon Creme lip gloss and Revlon Age Defying Spa foundation. They are both $10 but free after the rebate which, as I said is so EASY to do.

Hints: When I got to Walgreens the cashier told me that they didn't receive the Fusion Gamer Razor but the manager let me buy another Fusion razor and gave me a gift card for $6 instead of the register reward. The wipes were not marked down on the aisle but they are on sale for 2 for $5 and ring up just fine at the register.

Also, you can print off a coupon for $1.10 off one can of Progresso Soup. I already used mine last week at Super 1. They are on sale at Walgreens for 4 for $5 making them .15 cents after the coupon.

Homemade Hamburger Buns

One night I thought I would try making hamburger buns from scratch. I believe I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. Our family tried them and we were hooked. They are so good.

Homemade Hamburger Buns

1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1/8 cup margarine, melted
1/8 cup warm water
1/8 cup white sugar
1 Tablespoon yeast
1 teaspoons salt
3 cups all-purpose flour, or as needed


In a large bowl, stir together the milk, margarine, warm water, sugar and yeast. Let stand for about 5 minutes.
Mix in the salt, and gradually stir in the flour until you have a soft dough. Divide into 10 pieces, and form into balls. Place on baking sheets so they are 2 to 3 inches apart. Let rise for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Bake the rolls for 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool slightly, then split them in half horizontally to fill with your favorite burgers

Chicken Enchiladas

Another family favorite and the ultimate in comfort food. Comes from "The Essential Mormon Cookbook."

Chicken Enchiladas:

2 cups cooked chicken
1 cup sour cream
1 7 oz. can chopped green chilies
1 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons butter
half teaspoon salt
4 cups shredded cheese
10 flour tortillas
1 can green enchilada sauce
combine chicken, sour cream and green chilis. Set aside. Saute onions. Add onion, salt, and 2 cups cheese to chicken mixture. Dip tortillas in enchilada sauce to soften. Assemble in pan.

Homemade Sloppy Joes

I got this recipe from my friend Kelly and it has become a family favorite. She calls them "Freddy" burgers since they are a Frederickson family recipe.

Homemade Sloppy Joes or "Freddy Burgers"

1 small onion
1 lb hamburger
2 T flour
1 8 oz cans tomato sauce
1 can water
1 T chili powder
Dash of Pepper
Fry onions and hamburger and drain. Stir in 2 T flour, add tomato sauce and 1 can water. Add chili powder and cook until thick. Serve on warm buns.

These are great served with fries and any kind of vegetable and salad.

Real Simple Magazine Macaroni and Cheese

This is from the February issue of Real Simple Magazine.


Macaroni and cheese with cauliflower

12 ounces multigrain elbow macaroni
1 head cauliflower, roughly chopped
4 slices multigrain bread, torn
½ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 onion, finely chopped
1 ½ cups grated extra-sharp cheddar (6 ounces)
1 ½ cups reduced-fat sour cream
½ cup 1 percent milk
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Cook the pasta according to the package directions, adding the cauliflower during the last 3 minutes of cooking time; drain.
Meanwhile, pulse the bread in a food processor until coarse crumbs form. Add the parsley, 2 tablespoons of the oil, and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper and pulse to combine; set aside.
Return pasta pot to medium heat and add the remaining tablespoon of oil. Add the onion, ¾ teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, just until soft, 5 to 7 minutes. Mix in the pasta, cauliflower, cheese, sour cream, milk, and mustard.
Transfer to a shallow 3-quart baking dish, sprinkle with the bread crumbs, and bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes.

Kung Po Chicken

This recipe is super easy and very flavorful. You can also add stir fried veggies.

Kung Po Chicken:

2 Tablespoons pineapple or orange (or other fruit) juice
2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 chicken breasts
8 tablespoons oil
8 hot dry chili peppers
1 cups salted peanuts
2 teaspoons garlic
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
4 green onions, including stems, sliced

Cooking sauce:
In bowl combine 4 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons vinegar, 1/2 cup chicken broth or water, 4 teaspoons sugar, 4 teaspoons cornstarch.

In medium bowl combine juice, cornstarch, salt and pepper. Add chicken; stir to coat, then stir in 1 tablespoon oil. Let stand for a few minutes. Prepare cooking sauce and set aside.

Heat wok or large frying pan over medium heat. When pan is hot, add 2 tablespoons oil. Add whol dry hot chili peppers and peanuts, stirring until peppers begin to char. Immediately remove peppers and peanuts from pan and set aside. (if peppers become completely black, discard; remove peanuts from pan and repeat with new poappers.) add remaining oil to pan; increase heat to high. When oil begins to head, add garlic and ginger. stir once, then add chicken and stir-fry until chiken becomes opaque, about 3 minutes. Add peppers, peanuts, and onion to pan. Stir cooking sauce, add to pan and cook, stirring until sauce bubbles and thickens.