Ding dong...Schwans man calling

About a week ago I saw a code posted for $5 off any order at Schwan's if you ordered online. That code is D5 and will take $5 off your order from any item selected. I do not know if this is only for new customers or current customers as we are new to them.

I decided to try out the French Toast sticks for the girls so they would have a change. After the $5 coupon the total for this bag was $2.99 plus $1 delivery charge for a total of $3.99. With 8 servings this came out to 50¢ a serving...not that great of a savings for us. The girls loved the sticks though.

Keep in mind if you do sign up with Schwans they will come around every two weeks to see if you want to buy something off the truck. You can simply tell them you don't want anything else or you will only order online when needed if you don't want them coming every two weeks.

balance of budget for the year $345.95

total saved for the year $2395.28

More ideas on what to do with tomatoes

Even though my tomato crop is long gone my mothers is still going strong. So much that she brought over tons and tons of them. Besides just eating them I wanted to make something with them so decided on tomato soup!


What you need:

enough tomatoes to line a large cookie sheet
2 cans chicken broth
onion
olive oil
salt
pepper
sugar




Cut tomatoes in halves or quarters and place on a cookie sheet with a lip. Drizzle olive oil on top, then season with salt, pepper and 1/2 teaspoon sugar. Bake at 450º for 35 minutes until skins start to char.


In a large pot add 2 Tbs olive oil and onion. Cook on medium heat until onion is translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Add tomatoes and all juices from cookie sheet and 2 cans chicken broth. Bring to boil then simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Let cool for 10-15 minutes then transfer in batches to food processor or blender and blend until combined.


Strain each batch through strainer to get the seeds and skins out.



Soup can be eaten hot or chilled and served cold. We had it both ways and the kids liked it better hot, I liked it better cold.

This recipe was adapted from Martha Stewart's recipe in her Living magazine.

Texas!

I have a faithful reader that lives outside of Texas and might be moving here due to a job transfer. The transfer would take them to Lubbock and I know nothing of it except they used to make tape measures there, lol...or is that Lufkin?

Of course besides the super high temps she would like to know more about it, the stores, what there is to do for fun and anything else she could learn about Lubbock. Some other items might be school districts, property taxes, where is the right and wrong side of the track?

So if you are from Lubbock or left there chime in and tell us what you think!

Free redbox movie

FREE rental code good today only, expires at midnight 4J7LF6

Just in time to grill

Katy Couponers alerted me to an excellent deal at Randalls. This is a special 4 day sale that unfortunately ends today, July 4th.

The large bags of Kinsford charcoal are on sale for $7.99. Use the in ad store coupon to bring the price down to $5.99. Use the insert coupon to take $4.00 more off and bring the price to $1.99 for a 13 lb bag of charcoal! Combine that with the $6 off pork wyb 2 participating products and you have a sweet deal.

13.8 lb Kingsford charcoal $7.99 used $2 off in ad coupon and $4 off mfg coupon
2 pork tenderloins on sale BOGO @ 9.99 each used $6.00 off pork coupon
1 can Mighty dog 70¢ used FREE item coupon that took off $1
1 KC Masterpiece sauce $2.74 used $2 coupon

OOP $6.50

balance of budget for the year $349.94

total saved for the year $2390.28

Cheap ice cream and corn

I just found out about the great deal on corn at Target so had to run over there this morning and stock up!

18 ears of corn 10¢ each
12 Dryers cups $1.19 each used $1 Target coupons
2 Eggo Bake Shop used $1 internet coupons
1 Snickers 64¢ used FREE item coupon

OOP $5.20

balance of budget for the year $356.44

total saved for the year $2365.28

Fruit and dairy

We needed milk again since I have been making so much yogurt at home in my crock pot.

1 gallon milk $1.99
2 Stonyfield Farms yobaby yogurt $3.99 each used FREE item coupon
2.29 lbs bananas

OOP $2.36

balance of budget for the year $361.64

total saved for the year $2350.28

First foods in solar oven

I wanted our first attempt at solar cooking to be something easy...and cheap in case it didn't work and I had to toss it all in the trash.

I decided to make a simple baked apple dish since I had everything on hand and it did not involve cooking with meat.

What you need:

apples
sugar (white or brown)
cinnamon
vanilla
corn starch

Start by pre-heating your solar oven outside for at least 30 minutes to get it warmed up.


Peel, core and slice apples. Add cinnamon and sugar to taste and 1/2 cup water. Mix well and add to a dark colored baking dish. The dark colored dish will help with the baking process.



Cover with plastic wrap and cook in solar oven 1 1/2 - 2 hours depending on how hot it is. After that time mix 1/8 cup of water with 2 Tbs corn starch and add to apple mixture. Cook another hour.


Top with ice cream or anything else you have on hand. Enjoy!

Swagbucks is at it again!

Okay, you have heard me talk about the great prizes swagbucks has to offer, but it just got better. Now, instead of just cashing out for gift cards or merchandise you can cash out your points for PayPal! 80 swagbucks is equal to $5 in PayPal.




If you are new to swagbucks, click the "earn free prizes" box above and enter code CASHISKING (all caps) to start off with 5 swagbucks and be on your way to PayPal or other great prizes. This code is good only until July 6th at 12 PM PST.

Once signed up make sure you follow them on Twitter for even more free codes!

My new solar oven

My youngest and I made this solar oven last night out of material we already had which means it cost us nothing to make.

What you need is:

two cardboard boxes, one large one small
foil
black spray paint and/or black construction paper
large size turkey bag
tape

optional

thermometer

There are tons of different directions for making your own solar oven on the web, you will just have to find one that works for you. I had two boxes at home already that worked perfect for this.

Spray paint the inside bottom and part of the sides of the large box with black paint or use black construction paper. Tape 3 of the flaps so they are standing up and cover them with foil.

Take your smaller box and cut the top out leaving a one inch rim all the way around. Tape your turkey bag over the whole you just cut out so that it is tight. Line the smaller box with black paper / don't use paint for this as toxins could get in your food.
Leave a flap on the smaller box so you can insert your food and then close after food is inserted.

I am making apple cobbler in ours right now and will post the recipe and results tomorrow...if it turns out good, lol.

Share your no bake, no cook recipes!

Since so many of us are feeling the heat right now and don't want to heat up the house more by turning on the stove or oven let's see if we can share some recipes for no bake/ no cook dinners.

Please feel free to post your recipes here to share with all the readers for dinner or lunch meals that require no cooking or get creative and tell us how you "solar" cook.

Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies

Since it is way too hot to do anything outside and way too hot to turn on the oven and the kids were bored I found a no-bake recipe using typical stockpiled items.

1.5 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cups flour
2/3 cup evaporated milk
2 cups quick cooking oats (we used old-fashioned)
2/3 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt


In a saucepan combine sugar, butter, flour and evaporated milk. Bring to boil and cook for 3 minutes stirring constantly.


Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients and blend well.


Drop by tablespoons or with a cookie scoop onto foil or waxed paper. Once they cool off the cookies will set. Makes 2 dozen.

Cool completely then store in air tight container.

It's getting HOT in here!

Okay we have had at least 5 days in a row, maybe 6 I lost count, of triple digit temps. For those who don't understand that it means temps at 100 or higher! We got up to 104 one day.

What does that mean? That means I am not cooking dinner! It is way too hot, so I took the kids to Sonic Friday night(no, not the best place) so we could get out of the house and eat. Then luckily while we were swimming at my parents neighbors (thank you neighbors) on Sunday my parents asked if we wanted to go out to dinner with them at Cheddar's...their treat. Ummmmm...YES!

$15 at Sonic

$30 saved by having great parents take us out to eat

balance of budget for the year $364.00

total saved for the year $2342.28

This is a test...

Since my oldest is 18 I wanted to see if she could run to the store for me since I have so much make up work to do since our vacation. I made her a list, gave her money and told her what store to go to. I wanted her to go to Fiesta since they had a sale on the whole chickens for 59¢ / lb, that was the only reason I had her shop there.

4 whole chickens 12.80 lb total at 99¢ / lb (yes, the wrong ones, lol)
2 bags sugar 4 lbs each $1.69 each
1 Kraft bbq sauce $1.39
1 Arm & Hammer baking soda 79¢
1 CoffeeMate $3.49
1 Parmesan cheese $3.69
2 empanadas 89¢ for both (not on the list)

balance of budget for the year $379.00

total saved for the year $2312.28

Then the girls decided to take the rest of the money and go to Target and get stuff to redecorate their bathroom...I should have seen that coming. But it saved me time by not having to go out to the store and I appreciate her doing shopping trips for me. I just have to tweak her training a little more.

Jumping back in

Since we needed milk I went to Kroger because they have it for $1.99 every day now.

1 gallon milk $1.99
2 half gallons light OJ $1.49 each
2 Dananino 75¢ each

paid with gift card nothing oop

balance of budget for the year $401.62

total saved for the year $2312.28

Always check the mark down sections at your store. Both the yogurt and OJ still had 4 days left on it before they expired. They had several more of each one also.

Has anyone tried freezing OJ in this form? I am guessing you would have to empty some out to allow for expansion.

If you say so

Since so many readers voiced their opinion on what to do with the vacation eating, I will listen to you. I do have a vacation budget set up and due to awesome deals on hotels, flight and attractions I had more than half of what I set aside for that left.

I initially didn't want to include our food in that simply because when I set up my blog I stated it included all food, including eating out. But, I can see the point so many of you have made that those type of purchases should come directly from the vacation budget.

So I will continue where I left off with my budget before the trip. I don't have all of the receipts from our trip for food, but a rough break down is this:

food at Disney - $70 (one pizza was $30)
Bubba Gump - $80 (what a great place to eat) included 4 desserts too
Wipe Out - $50 (not worth it)
Taco Bell - $20
airport food - $75 (we missed our flight so got to be on standby all over the place, but the hotel is paying for this since it was the valets fault we missed it)
Ghiradelli - $35 (yummo ice cream and chocolate)
groceries while there - $45
smoothies $12



balance of budget for the year $401.62

total saved for the year $2305.81

Since we got back, we do need a few things, so I am jumping back in and scouting the sales and will be updating tomorrow.

Thank you all for you continued support and suggestions on how to handle this. I really appreciate it!

We're Back!!!!!

The girls and I are back from our vacation to California. What a beautiful state! The weather was gorgeous, a mere 64-67º all week, lol. Then we came home to 98º, welcome to Texas!!!

One thing I did before we left and while there was to book our hotels online through hotels.com and hotwire.com using Ebates. I will end up getting over $20 back for the hotels I booked through them, not a ton of money but every bit counts.

Now for our total spent on food (drum roll please)...let's just say I exceeded my budget. I brought a collapsible cooler with me as well as re-usable water bottles and some snacks. I did start out by going to a grocery store there and stocking up on items we could microwave, small boxes of cereal, milk and fruit, but the real cost came at eating out (the girls would not let me bring a loaf of bread and peanut butter for some reason).

We ate so well...and didn't even care how much it cost!

Since I am over my $800 budget for the year because of the trip, I will only be updating the blog with recipes or super hot deals that I come across to share with you.

What to do with tomatoes

We have had so many tomatoes from the garden and there was no way we could eat them all before we went on vacation so I decided to make some homemade salsa with them. I have never made salsa in my life. I had no clue how this would turn out, but sometimes you just have to try stuff out.



I looked up several recipes online and they all had the same basic ingredients: tomatoes, peppers, onion, garlic and lemon juice.


I started with one bulb of garlic and peeled it then tossed it into the food processor until it was in tiny pieces. I then cut the peppers and de-seeded them and tossed them in and pulsed it for a few seconds. I cut up the tomatoes and removed the seeds and extra liquid then tossed them in and pulsed for a little bit but still leaving chunks of tomato. I added the onion last since it was already diced and I didn't want to liquefy it.


On a scale of 1-10 my youngest gives this salsa an 8! She really liked it. Now I will put it into smaller cups after letting the flavors mesh a few days and stick it in the freezer.

SWAGBUCKS 6 instant points for new members!

You have probably read me post about SwagBucks in the past. I was hesitant using SwagBucks at first but after I won my first gift card simply by using SwagBucks as a search engine I was hooked.

SwagBucks has some exciting new things coming up this week! First off, if you are new to SwagBucks and sign up with my link and enter swag code ERINSCODE in the box provided on your screen, you will get an additional 3 bonus swagbucks on top of the 3 you already get for signing up. You can get anyone of a number of prizes with those six little swagbucks.

My personal code, ERINSCODE (all caps, no spaces) will be good from June 9th at 12:01 PST until June 16th at 11:59 PST. This code will only work for new SwagBucks members. So what are you waiting for? Register, start searching and win!

You can earn gift cards to Amazon.com, Target, Apple, Ticket Master, Southwest Airlines and many more.

Needed some basics

I had a few recipes that I wanted to make so needed to pick up a few items for them. I decided my best bet was the 99¢ Only Store.

8 pack of garlic 99¢
6 pack of peppers 99¢
sugar in the raw 99¢
wafer cookies 99¢ (you know when you buy these at other stores they have a cream filling...NOT at the 99¢ store)

OOP $4.00

Fiesta

Mazola oil $2.99 used 50¢ coupon on bottle

OOP $2.49

balance of budget for the year $401.62

total saved for the year $2305.81