I love Target!!

You guys need to see these great deals that Wes and I just scored at our Super Target in Fishers.

Deal #1- Meat, Meat, Meat!!

Here are the totals of the 4 packages of chuck steak that I bought: $.25, $.58, $.65, and $.95!!! You read that right, each package was under a dollar. Target had coupons on each of them for $3 dollars off instantly which brought them down to these wonderful totals. Now I just need to find out what to do with chuck steak......hehe.

The 3 lb chuck roast at the bottom of the picture was on sale for $6.94 and I had a $2 dollar off coupon which made it under $5 bucks! I can definitely make at least two meals, probably 3 off of this piece of meat.

Deal #2: Kellogs Cereal

In the flier this week, Target had a deal where if you bought 5 boxes of Kelloggs cereal, you could get a $5 dollar gift card. At my favorite website www.moneysavingmom.com, she gave a link where you could print out 5 Kelloggs coupons for a $1 off each box. The prices of the boxes on sale ranged from $2.00-$3. So, here's what I ended up paying:

$13.36 for 5 boxes- $5 dollars off from coupons= $8.36- $5 gift card= 3.36 for 5 boxes of cereal!! That's $.67 per box! Yahoo!

Deal #3 Spagetti-rama!!

Target has a web coupon you can find at www.afullcup.com for $1 off a bag of baby cut carrots that were on sale for $.99 this week. Free!

The Sunday newspaper had a coupon for $1 off Ronzoni noodles that were $1.50 at Target so I got two boxes with two coupons for $1!

Target also has a web coupon for Prego, buy 2, get $1 off. They also are on sale for $1.67 each. I also had a manufacturer's coupon for $.40 off which you can combine with Target coupons.

So here's what I paid:

4 cans of Prego: $6.68- 2 Target $1 off coupons- $.40 man. coupon= $4.28 for 4! About a dollar for each is what I ended up paying.

So, there you have it!! It does take some time and planning, but to me, there is no better feeling than saving my family money that Wes works so hard to make! If you're feeling ambitious and want to take a trip to Target and have questions, let me know!!

Apple Cinnamon Yogurt Muffins: Taste Test Tuesday

Today I made Apple Cinnamon Yogurt Muffins. We went to the apple orchard and so I have a lot of apples to make into yummy food. I have been craving muffins (it's like cake for breakfast) so I decided I just had to make some!

Here's the cast of characters:

The Recipe: Apple Cinnamon Yogurt Muffins

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 3/4 cups sugar

3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine

1 cup grated Braeburn or Golden Delicious apple

1 container (8-ounce) low fat vanilla yogurt

2 large eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method:

1) Heat oven to 350¦ F. Grease 24 3-inch muffin pan cups or line with paper liners. In large bowl, combine flour, 1 cup sugar, the baking powder, salt, orange zest, and nutmeg. With pastry blender or fork, cut in 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter until mixture is crumbly.

2) In medium bowl combine apple, yogurt, and eggs; add to flour mixture, stirring until just combined. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups and bake 20 to 25 minutes or until centers spring back when gently pressed.

3) Cool muffins in pan 5 minutes; remove from pan and cool until able to handle. Meanwhile, melt remaining 1/2 stick butter. In small bowl, combine remaining 3/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon. To serve. brush tops of muffins with butter and roll top in cinnamon-sugar mixture.

From: http://www.bestapples.com/

Here's what the dough should look like when you are done combining everything. A good tip I heard was overstirring batter for muffins makes them dry!! So, keep stirring to a minimum.

I prefer to use muffin tins because I think muffins are really hard to get out of the pan when you just grease them. But it's all about personal preference.

The finished product.....and boy were they good!!!!

Preston didn't even notice a camera in his face which I would say means he gives this 2 little thumbs up. And I can't even smile because my mouth is so full so I give them two thumbs up too!! When you see me next, I'm going to be like those ads on TV with those girls who have donuts instead of buttcheeks, except mine will be muffins!!

Eighties Night....and I'm Feeling Right!

So, on Wednesday night, our friends Scott and Kristin and Wes and I all headed to Castleton (sans kids) to party the night away at the Melting Pot. They were having a special promotion where if you dress up in all 80's clothes, you get their 80's pricing and you get a special gift.

Well you know Wes and I have done a lot less for a good deal so this sounded like a lot of fun! The Melting Pot is a fondue restaraunt where you cook all of your food at your table in the fondue pots. Boy was it good! By the end, you practically had to roll us all out of there because we had eaten so much!

Here's Wes and I trying our best to look 80's. I was kinda glad that by the end of the 80's, we were only 9 years old!!

And here's our friends Scott and Kristen looking very retro. Scott got a lot of compliments on his Karate Kid headband too!

Frozen Pizza Pockets: Taste Test Tuesday

Hey Everybody! I thought it would be fun to start a weekly feature on my blog called "Taste Test Tuesday." The concept is that every Tuesday I will post a recipe that Wes and I have tried the previous week. It will be a brand new recipe to us and we will rate it for you!! The idea came about after a few weeks of feeling like we were eating the same thing all the time! So, here's the first installment, enjoy! And if you have suggestions, leave me a comment.

Frozen Pizza Pockets

adapted from Advantage Freezer Cooking

Here are the casts of characters: 1 pound frozen bread dough (thawed), 6-8 slices deli ham, pepperonis, 1 cup pizza sauce, 1 cup mozzarella cheese and an beaten egg.

Recipe:

Assembly Directions: Thaw bread dough. Pinch off pieces about 1/3 – 1/2 C. Each loaf should yield about 7 sandwiches. On a floured surface, roll dough into a rectangle. Don’t roll it too thin or the filling will seep out. Put filling ingredients in a line down the center. Fold the long ends into the middle and pinch them together. Fold the short ends up and pinch into the folded long ends. Turn the sandwich seam side down and flatten it with your fingers. This will cause the dough to “stick” and keep the sandwich from coming “unraveled”.

Filling: You’ll have to “play with” your ingredients a bit to figure out what is “just right” for you. A little bit of peperonni, cheese and ham goes a long way in these sandwiches. Use up your cooking day leftovers!
The hardest ones to fill are the ones with sauce. It wants to seep out but you’ll get the hang of it.
Non-pizza sandwiches taste good with a sauce in them – I used either a mayo and mustard combo or some Thousand Island dressing on the ham sandwiches. Yummy!

Cooking and Freezing Directions: I only tried cooking the sandwiches and then freezing them. The dough will rise in the oven so the sandwiches will come out cooked much larger than when they went in (a real revelation for someone who doesn’t bake “from scratch” very often). Lay the sandwiches seam side down on a sprayed, foil lined cookie sheet. I also did an egg wash (one whisked egg brushed on the top) on mine to give them that great color. Bake at 350 degrees until lightly browned about 15-20 minutes. Cool completely. Wrap individually in foil. Label and freeze.

To serve: Thaw. Reheat for 5-10 minutes at 350 degrees or in a toaster oven. Reheating in the microwave will cause you to lose the “crispness” but using a wrapper from the store purchased hot pockets can help.

Stacy's comments: These little things were more difficult to assemble than I expected! They ended up shaped like dog bones....haha. Oh well, we can't all be Julia Child. They baked up very nicely and had a nice color. I used bread dough that had some whole wheat flour in it. Here they are right before going into the oven.

Here was the finished product. Some of the pockets leaked a little but not too bad. These went right onto the dinner table, but you can also let them cool completely and then freeze them.

Wes' rating: 5 stars....He really liked these.

Stacy's rating: 4 stars.....I wasn't sold on them. They were good, but a lot of work! :)