Spring...

It's warm enough today to have a window cracked open in the kitchen and to force young children away from the TV and outdoors. Thank goodness because it has been wall to wall fighting here. Overall Anna instigated 83.6 percent of all the fights that happen.

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's day, so much to my dismay, I have been assigned the making of the layered Jello so Patrick can take it to school. Patrick considers St. Patrick's day his other birthday.

I had to end my boycott of Jewel because
1. It was a real pain not to be able to go to the closest store to me.
2. Fairplay's non sale prices are just as high as Jewel's no sale prices.
3. Jewel has a new savings program called your bucks where you get coupons for $ off your next order when you buy certain items and what is way better about this vrs. their other deals is it will say buy 2 Lean Cuisine get $2.50 on your next order instead of spend $20 and get $5 and then I have to figure out what the participated products are and make sure I have spent $20 blah blah.

So I am back going to Jewel, and I find that many of the cashiers make you feel like you are trying to pull the wool over their eyes when you hand them coupons, they don't just start scanning them, they read them and check to make sure you purchased the right items.

I'd try to shop Trader Joes more because they have good customer service, but a. it's further away and b. the last 3 times I went there, the cheese I purchased got moldy b/4 the sell by date. That's so not cool!
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Today Anna came home from school and said that Mohammed's mom told him that if you tell a lie your tongue turns black. She told me a lie and I told her yes, her tongue did turn black. Then she said I am going to go in the bathroom and look in the mirror and lie to myself so I can see it.

Dang, she's too quick!

Coffee and Confession

I love Dunkin Donuts coffee. To be fair, I also enjoy Starbucks. You see I really like my coffe black, so Dunkin Donuts black coffee with Cinnamon flavor is my fave, a big cup is just under $2.00. When it comes to Starbucks, I really don't like to get their coffee black, it's too burnt in flavor, so when I go to starbucks I get the Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Tall, which means that it's all full of skim milk, which makes it,IMO, more of a dessert than a cup of coffee. Plus the Dunkin Donuts is closer to my house and they mail me coupons, so they get more of my business consistently.

When we drove down to my brother's last June I was super suprised to find that highways littered with Starbucks and completely devoid of the Dunkin Donuts! Who knew.

So I am a member of Starbucks Rewards and Dunkin Perks, I really really love coffee.

do you love coffee? Get a free Sample of Dunkin Donuts Turbo Coffee here:




Last night we went with Patrick to Reconciliation, which is what used to be called confession. It was a family Reconciliation so Tom and I had to reconcil with the priest as well as Patrick. The rest of the 4th grade ER class was there as well as the kids that go to school at OLOR, and we weren't free to leave after confessing, so we were sitting in the Church for about 1 hour waiting for our turn and then waiting for everyone to finish.

During all that waiting time, I was reminded that women can't be priests. And then that made me mad because IMO it's just stupid. Women would be great priests. Married Couples would be great pastors and pastresses. My mom has worked for the catholic church at the church level and the dioceases level (which I don't know how to spell, it's like the state or county level) and she has a masters from Notre Dame and she is always reading and philosophying about the scriptures and all that.

I think she should switch over and be a Lutheran and then she could be a pastor, but that isn't going to happen. Too bad Catholic Church, you are losing out great potential priests because you are ahh, narrow minded, too greedy with power, too antiwomen.

Okay I am done. Now I have to run off to Anna's school!

Food Holidays - National Food Celebrations

Food Holidays - National Food Celebrations A food for everyday, A food holiday for everyday! It's the little things that make me happy. I'm looking forward to so many! Like April 17th, National Cheeseball Day, that is like a Tastefully Simple Holy Day of Obligation. LOL Oh and April 23rd, National Cherry Cheesecake Day, y-u-m, and let's not forget, May 6th, International NO DIET Day!

Speaking of diets, I received the latest Weight Watchers Magazine in the mail yesterday, lots of stories, not enough recipes, IMO. I guess I am expecting it to be more like the Food Network Magazine which is chockful of recipes, and really WW magazine is supposed to be more inspirational and motivational than a recipe magazine.

Today Anna wanted Cheese and Crackers for lunch, and I gave her crackers and Dubliner Cheddar Cheese which is white. She didn't want to eat it because it wasn't orange, so I told her it was from Ireland (which is true) and that Leprechauns make it (which is highly debatable) and she ate it up, literally and figuratively.

I made a recipe and pretty much substituted everything in it.

With the arrival of Lent, I'm keeping my eyes out for new meatless or seafood recipes. So I found this recipe in the March Food Network Magazine and made it for Ash Wednesday because Tom likes shrimp and I was thinking he would have leftovers to take to work on Friday. I went to the store to buy ingredients for this recipes of which the store didn't seem to stock several so I started substituting and the next thing I knew I'd pretty much substituted everything in the recipe.

GRILLED SHRIMP AND NOODLE SALAD
14 OZ flat rice noodles. I couldn't find any flat rice noodles so I bought an 8oz package of really long thin rice noodles.

1/2 cup fresh lime juice, well patrick had gotten into the little plastic green lime I had and there was only 1/4 cup of fresh lime juice.

1/3 cup of fish sauce, I didn't have any of that, so I used Tastefully Simple Sesame Teriyaki Sauce.

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar, I had reg. brown sugar

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped. I used 2 tsp of Garlic Garlic

1-2 teaspoons Asian chili sauce, I didn't have that so I used 2 tsp of a ginger chili sauce I had from Aldi.

1 pound medium-large shrimp, peeled and deveined I had a bag of frozen shrimp I used that and left the tails on.

1 med. bunch of asparagus, trimmed I got this part right

5oz shiitake mushrooms, trimmed, I used sliced baby portabella mushrooms instead.

1 med carrot shredded, I thinly sliced some baby carrots.

1/2 cup fresh cilantro, I had this on hand, but Tom doesn't like cilantro, so I was going to put it on my plate, but I forgot.

1. Bring large pot of water to a boil. Add the noodles and cook as the label directs; drain and rinse with cold water.

2. Meanwhile, whisk the lime juice, fish sauce, brown sugar, garlic and chili sauce and 1/3 cup water in a medium bowl. Transfer 1/4 cup of the marinade to another bowl and toss with the shrimp. Toss another 1/4 cup marinade with the asparagus and mushrooms in a third bowl. Let the shrimp and vegetables marinate 10 minutes at room temperature. Toss the noodles with the remaining marinade.

Now at this point is where I realized that this recipe involved grilling. I know, I know, it is clearly stated in the title of the recipe GRILLED SHRIMP and Noodle Salad, but some how I missed that part! So I got out the wok pan and made it a stir fry.

Wubba's Nutty Rice Noodles

Golden Double Stuffed Oreos are soooooo Good!

It was an eventful day of little events. This morning we received no calls from the school district canceling school! So all the kids went to school! Yippee! Then I shoveled the driveway so I'd be able to back out of the driveway and go to the store.

I like shoveling, it's a good workout, burns lots of calories, you get to enjoy the results, the sun was shining I had my iphone it was all good. Then I had the car running, and I took out the scraper to scrap the windows, my purse and my 2 store returns were already in the car. I got the windows all cleared off and most of the top too so that the snow wouldn't slide down when I was driving. I grabbed the door handle and pulled.

And the car was locked! Running, my keys in the ignition and I was locked out! ARG! I called Tom to see if we had an extra key in the house and we don't. He suggested calling the local Hyundai dealership and I did, and the girl said to call the roadside assistance! I forgot we had roadside assistance from Hyundai. Call them, and they said it would be 3 hours because my area was so busy, will all the snow and all. But less than 45 minutes later and nice young fellow showed up and opened my car and told me that cars do that sometimes. Which was great because I was sure it wasn't me making the car lock...

I was finally off, I returned the stuff Tom bought for me last night to use for the Kindergarten Valentine's Day Ice Cream Social Craft. I got some better crafty stuff and got to use my FREE Golden Stuffed Oreo cookies coupon!!! The lady at WalMart cheerfully accepted it. Okay, well she wasn't cheery, but she took it w/o any problems and I got the $2.98 OREOs free. I noticed that their reg. price on Oreos was $1.00 cheaper than Jewel...

Then I had enough time to go to my new local grocery store Fairplay where I got 1 lb of Sara Lee Honey Turkey for about 1/2 of what it costs at Jewel which was nice. And a 1/2 lb of smoked Gouda YUM!

Tonight I made a recipe from my latest edition of Weight Watchers magazine. Either I added too much rosemary or it should be made w/o Rosemary in my opinion.

In any case, here is the recipe:
Filet Mignons with Creminis and Rosemary
4 1/4 lb Filets Mignons about 1/2 inch trimmed
1/4 tsp koser salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp canola oil
12 small cremini mushrooms, quartered (i used an 8oz package of mushrooms which was 15 mushrooms
1 med. red onion quartered, when making this again I am going to use shallots vrs the red onion, the red onion was a bit too sour. IMO
1 cup dry white wine or low sodium beef broth. I used a cup of chardonnay that I didn't taste b/4 using or I wouldn't have used it, it was a bit sweet.
2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary, this IMO over powered the dish,
1 tbsp chopped fresh flat parsley.
and I used Tastefully Simple Everyday Grilling Seasoning on the filets.

Sprinkle steaks with 1/8 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp pepper. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over med. high heat. Add steaks and cook until an instant-read thermometer insterted into side of each steak registers 135F for med. rare, about 2.5 min per side. Transfer to large plate; cover loosely with foil and keep warm.
2. Add onion to skillet and cook,stirring frequently, until browned, about 2 minutes. Add mushrooms and remaining 1/8 tsp salt and pepper; increase heat and cook, stirring frequently, until mushrooms release their liquid and begin soften about 3 minutes. Add wine and 1 tsp rosemary; bring to boil. Cook, scraping up browned bits from bottom of skillet, until liquid evaporates and mushrooms are lightly browned about 3 minutes. To serve, stir in parsley and remaining 1 tsp rosemary; pour over steaks.

Deals and the straw that broke the camel's back.

First the deal:

80% off Restaurant.com Certificates
Posted on February 09 at 08:42 PST

Restaurant.com takes 80% off all their dining certificates via code HEART. This means that $10 certificates, which normally sell on Restaurant.com for $4 are now just $0.80 and $25 certificates, normally $10 are just $2. This is a great way to save at your favorite restaurant. Obviously, not all restaurants participate, but there is definitely a good selection to choose from. Just be careful to read the fine print as many restaurants exclude alcoholic beverages, weekends and other things.

Enter code: HEART (80% off)

AND

Okay that is it, I am officially not going to Jewel anymore. As you know a couple weeks ago I complained about how they said I couldn't use my $1.00 off coupon for Orville Redenbacher popcorn and they said I couldn't use it because they had a store deal and I couldn't have a store deal and use a coupon. Well this week I had a couple coupons for items that they also had in store coupons for, and I used both, to see if it would work, and it did. So I should have been able to use the $1 Popcorn coupon, just like I thought!

But that's not why I am going to make sure to head over to Fairplay & Aldi for all my grocery shopping from now on. Here is the straw that broke the camel's back. Oreo Cookies had a special where if you became their friend on Facebook you could be one of 150,000 people to get in the mail a coupon for a free package of Double Stuffed Golden Oreos. Yum. I like the golden ones better than the regular. And yes I was one of the lucky 150,000 people and I rec'd a coupon in the mail last week for free Oreos. Now this paper has a coupon at the bottom and up at the top you can see the Oreo mailing address (return address) and my mail to address and the back of the paper says verified and is printed all over the back, much like a check might be printed on the back to avoid counterfeiting.

I took my coupon and tried to use it to purchase 1 package of Double Stuffed Golden Oreos this afternoon. The price was $3.99 (overpriced if you ask me.) and the coupon said good for free package up to $4.19 so I was in the limit. The cashier said I couldn't use my coupon because it was an Interent coupon.
I said. It's not an internet coupon, I rec'd it in the mail from Oreo.

So she went to the manager on duty and the mgr said, We don't take Internet coupons.

I said this isnt an internet coupon, Oreo mailed it to me, and I used coupons I printed from coupons.com a couple of weeks ago.

She said, we take internet coupons for cents off, but not for free items or anything over $5.00.

I said. I.Didn't.Print.This.Coupon.I.rec'd.it.in.the.mail.from.Oreo.

She said, we won't take it.

I said, if that is your policy maybe you should post it somewhere so people would know about it.

I said to the cashier, I don't want the cookies then take them off my order.

And that is the story of my last trip to Jewel. Fairplay here I come. You would think that because Jewel charges hirer prices for their food than other grocery stores that they would have great flexible coupon programs. No.

Okay I am done complaining. I am off to write a complaint letter to Jewel.

Dealusional: I'm giving away a $50 Safeway giftcard! Enter now!

this is a link to my friend Amy's blog:

Dealusional: I'm giving away a $50 Safeway giftcard! Enter now!

I'm glad it is friday! We have a quiet weekend over here, which is good since I had a cold this week. Tonight will be a nice night to catch up on Burn Notice, The Real Housewives of the OC, Psych, and White Collar. :-D I am also going to be making sometime to work on getting our tax paper and info together so we can get our taxes done before the month is out.

Next Thursday is Anna's Valentine's Ice Cream Social, and I am still w/o a craft. Anyone know an easy craft for 26 kindergarteners to do? Then Friday afternoon/evening and Saturday, Tastefully Simple on Tour!!! Why is going to training exciting? Oh because that is where the spring/summer line is unveiled! I can't wait for Spring!!!

A little of this and a little of that

I made the Beouf Borg. recipe last night. I had to cook it a good 45 minutes more than it said and really the thyme is crucial to the dish because the first 1 1/2 hours it was cooking I forgot to put it in, and it was lacking in flavor. However, once it was in there it was much better.

Now I don't know what the grocery stores have against frozen pearl onions, but I could not find any! So I bought fresh pearl onions and boiled them for 3 minutes and used those and it worked well.

This week I felt I did a great job of getting the best bang for my grocery buck. I circled all the good deals on the items I needed at Fairplay and then I did the same for the Jewel flyer. Fairplay was great, they had the stuff that was on sale, you could tell it was on sale and the prices were good. Then at Jewel, they put in their flyer this FAV 4 deal where you can pick any of large varieties of meat and pay $20. The flyer lists about 10 items and then it says many more in the store! The thing is some packages are marked with a green sticker, and others aren't so how would you know what is what, there isn't a complete list of the products anywhere. Grrrrr.

I thought an hour and 10 minutes would be plenty of time for my trip to Jewel, but it took way longer than I thought. Then there I was at the checkout at 11:26am, Anna's bus get to her stop at 11:34 (ish). Everything was rung up, then it was 11:28am, I give the cashiers my coupons and 1 valid coupon will not work. She tries for a good couple of minutes 11:30, and it won't go through...ahh I'm sweating bullets, must get to bus stop, don't want to miss Anna's bus. Hurry!

The manager gets called over and says that the reason it isn't ringing up is that I cant use a coupon and also get a deal that they have printed in their paper. The deal is buy one 2-4 count package of Orville Reddenbacher Popcorn @ 3.59 and receive 1 package of popcorn free and 2 2-liters of 7up brand pops. They have a special display up on an endcap and everything. I was excited because I had a $1.00 off a package of Orville Reddenbacher manufacturer coupon. Now, I don't think that is right because the add doesn't say no other offers accepted. It just lists the deal which I took advantage of and should have been able to use my coupon. I find the deals at Jewel extremely frustrating because what they say at the store frequently doesn't match up with their ad. This is just the latest example. Maybe I would have complained, but I really needed to get to the bus and get Anna. Also, I have visited the customer service desk before and it really has done nothing but cause me to be frustrated and angry.

I bet you are asking why do I continue to shop at Jewel. I ask myself the very same questions the answers are:
1. It's very close to my house.
2. I know where everything is (except for those french fried onions you put on top of green bean casserole because they hide those! LOL
3. Hope springs eternal. Every few weeks I think I'll be able to take my coupons, get the items I need on sale and go to the checkout, have things ring up the price listed in their ad, and have my coupons work.

And that is my story, I am though going to try to shop more at Fairplay since there prices are straight forward, typcially less on most items, esp. in the deli.

In a perfect world I would have my personal assistant do my grocery shopping.
:-D
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And now a guest blogger
A Story by Anna Hamel:

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess named Mrs. Z. (that's Anna's teacher). And she was lost in the woods and there was a big bad wolf. And it sniffled and snapped because it wanted to eat the beautiful princess.

And so the princess climbed on his back cause the big bad wolf had a big back and it was because there was a river and she couldn't get past it. The big bad wolf said climb up closer to my head cause the water was getting deeper and then it said get closer to my mouth cause the water is getting deeper.

then he said climb up to my face because the water is getting deeper, deeper, and deeper. Then he almost ate her. Then she grabbed a rope and grabbed his mouth, then other people came and they had a fiesta.
THE END

Darth Vadar and MLK Jr

Every week Patrick brings home a study sheet to review for a Test that then occurs on each Thursday. A few weeks ago it was a science test and it was about volcanoes. Each week I quiz him on the answers to the test and sign the paper to prove it.

This week was a social studies test. The topic of which was Martin Luther King Jr, his life, impact and death. I went over the sheet, quizzed Patrick, and when I got to the question, Who shot Martin Luther King Jr, the answer listed was James Earl Jones. (as seen above)

Hmm, I thought to myself, that doesn't sound quite right. I mean James Earl Jones did the voice of Darth Vadar, but that only means he can sound evil, he surely isn't actually evil. If ever there was a moment to go google something, this was it. I can't have Patrick's classroom walking around thinking Terrence Mann from Field of Dreams was also an assassin.

Did a quick google search and discovered that James Earl RAY was the man who shot, Martin Luther King, Jr. So I call and left a message for his teacher. I didn't hear back from her, but when Patrick got home a red line was through the James Earl Jones and James Earl Ray was written in it's place.

Phew a major injustice, of either the kids thinking the wrong person was the shooter, or all the kids getting the answer wrong on the test, was avoided.
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I had a few minutes to go through my copy of Weight Watchers magazine that I got for free from some website, you can find deals like that on blogs like Mashup Mom and they had a section of slimmed down versions of Julia Child recipes, including her Boeuf Bourguignon. This one is not only slimmed down but it has few ingredients and steps. As I am a fan of recipes that are simple, yet tastefully, I'm making this tomorrow after a trip to the store.

Boeuf Bourguignon

2 lbs bottom round roast, trimmed and cut into 3/4 inch cubes
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp olive oil
1 can low-sodium beef broth
1 c red wine
1 16oz package frozen pearl onions
1 10 oz package cremini mushrooms
2 tbsp tomato paste
4 garlic cloves, chopped (or 4 tsp Garlic Garlic)
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
1 bay leaf (I won't be using that, I can't stand bay leaf)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 lb thick sliced carrots
2 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Toss beef and flour in med. bowl until evenly coasted. Heat oil in large Dutch oven over med high heat.
Add beef, in batches if necessary, and cook, turning occasionally until browned, about 6 min.
Transfer to med bowl with slotted spoon.
Add broth, wine, onions, mushrooms, tomato paste, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, salt and pepper, bring to boil, scrapping up browned bits from bottom of pot.
Stir in beef and reduce heat.
Cover and simmer 1 hour.
Stir in carrots.
Cover and simmer until beef and vegetables are fork-tender, about 30 min.
Serve, sprinkled with parsley.

Yum, should be great w/slices of Wheat Bountiful Beer Bread.

Grrrrrrr

Since Monday my side has hurt. At I was sure it was mittelschmerz because it's just like that and the timing was right, but that shouldn't last more than a day and my side still hurts. Great, thanks for the medical update Victoria, right? But I have a point, so read on.

This morning at 830 I called my primary Doctor. I wasn't sure if I needed to see a reg. dr or a girl dr, and I thought I'd start with my reg. Dr. I called and spoke to the nurse. I told her my side hurt and I needed to see my dr. She said the next appointment they had open was today at 11am (can't get there at that time b/cause of Anna in 1/2 day kindergarten and I have to get her off the bus since I don't currently have a nanny to take care of that sort of thing for me.) OR April 9th.

APRIL 9th???!!! Seriously???

I said: Even if I need to come in because I am in pain?

She said: well you could trying early in the morning in case someone cancels... or you can take the April 9th Appointment.

GRRRRRRR.

All I can say is I don't know so much why people are very up in arms about the possiblity of healthcare reform, it's not like good insurance is doing me much good! I figure either w/ or w/o reform our healthcare system is a PITA.

On the plus side, I called my girl doctor and the nice nurse got me in at 415pm today. So I've got that going for me :-D

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I went to Aldi this AM and enjoyed the peace and quiet of Aldi (they don't play music over the PA system) and shopping w/o Anna. One of the many pluses of shopping there is that Aldi doesn't have a ton of yummy snacky items and sweets can derail healthy eating.

Let me share with you some of the highlights

8oz fresh mushrooms 69 Cents
3 lb bag Tropicana Clementines $2.49
Bag of Salad, 49 cents
Cat Food, 32 cents

A whole cart of groceries, enough for about a week (except for us running out of milk before then) Only $75. Some people think that Aldi stores are icky or that they don't have fresh produce. However, I have found the stores to be clean and the produce just as good as anywhere else.

I purchased a pack of Center Cut Pork Chops and I threw them in the crockpot with some of the Tastefully Simple Slow Cooker Savory Mushroom Sauce. We'll have that with the steamable bag of broccoli florets and roasted potatoes seasoned with TS Seasoned Salt. The family can eat that and I'll be off to my Tastefully Simple party tonight in New Lenox!