Healthy cookies, tis the season #CHLight

Tis the season for holiday baking, we all know that, but did you know holiday baking can be healthy and still taste good.

After trying a variety of reworked cookie recipes and failing several times I found one everyone in my house enjoyed!
This is nearly Paleo and it crazy healthy.

Almond Sandies
2 cups Almond Flour
1/4 cup wild grain flour (my blend is kamut berries, quinoa, and wild rice that I milled in my blender)
1 cup butter
1/4 cup C&H Light Blend
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

blend butter and sugar together on high for 30 seconds, add vanilla and mix on medium slowly adding flour until all incorporated. Let stand for 10 minutes to allow flour to soak up the butter.
spoon 1 inch balls onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake in 325' oven for approx 20 minutes until bottom of cookies is golden brown.

I picked up Almond flour at our local health food store to try out. I'm use to working with whole grain flour but this was a first for me. I will definitely be looking for more ways to work Almond flour into my baking , it has a wonderful flavor and a unique hardy texture.

the C& H Light Blend is a good blend of sugar and stevia, not too sweet and bakes up well. I found it at my local Safeway store for around $6.00 for 2 pounds. 

Love making cookies in my Kitchen Aid mixer , though this recipe was pretty small for the bowl the butter and light sugar blend creamed pretty well together.

My old air bake pan fit 9-12 cookies so I ended up making 2 sheets at 20 minutes each sheet it worked out pretty good.

I did find they are fragile cookies but they taste really good

I also topped the cookies with a little "powdered" C &H Blend to powder the sugar I put a 1/4 cup in a small blended jar and blend on high until powdered.

C&H has a $1.00 off coupon available currently on their Facebook page you also don't want to miss following them on twitter or pinterest for more wonderful recipe ideas this holiday and the whole year. 

I'm not a Paleo die hard, but am starting to try more recipes paleo style and was happy to add C&H blend as a transition for my family. 

While I was compensated for this post, the recipe although inspired by a cookbook recipe is my own and my opinions and thoughts are my own. Thank you to DEI worldwide for the opportunity to share this recipe and my thoughts on C & H blend.

Mommy is Working tonight, Whats for dinner? #KFHealthyKids #cbias

This weekend Mommy made a decision to put some extra time in on her writing and blogging which meant the boys had to cook dinner. Thankfully, there was a healthy option for them. Kidfresh Healthy Kids frozen meals from Safeway 
The boys each picked out a meal and cooked it themselves under a watchful eye from Daddy.

Nathan selected Wagon Wheels Mac+ Cheese which seemed almost too easy as he loves anything pasta and cheese. 

Cameron went for the Rainbow Rice + Chicken. He loves veggies and chicken so it made sense. He was excited that it would be like fried rice without the eggs. 

 When we picked up the frozen meals, we were happy to see a reasonable price and a fairly easy selection, not too many choices. Although we had trouble finding them initially, we were happy to see them labeled in the freezer section of our local Safeway store and with a special club price. I also had a $1.00 off coupon so the price of $1.99 each was a value, especially for a treat. 

Cameron was happy with his meal and loved that it only took a couple of minutes in the microwave. He says 4 stars for the Rainbow Rice + Chicken. Nathan on the other hand said the Mac + Cheese was a little too simple and needed some more flavor. He had Daddy taste it and they added a touch of sea salt and pepper. I know sometimes healthy can be bland, but I think he was just having a day where he needed a little extra salt. 
If you would like to see our whole journey with Kidfresh , check out this photo journey
I love that I can find healthy options that I don't always have to cook for the kids, and I love that I can read and share thoughts on healthy kids with others on Facebook.

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and Kidfresh #CBias #SocialFabric #KFHealthyKids, all opinions and thoughts on the product are my own personal thoughts. 

 
 

A savings program designed for you: just for u

Recently I joined13 other local bloggers for a day hosted by Safeway Regional office to introduce the new Safeway just for u program.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I carpooled with another local blogger Tina Kelley the Mad Hatter Mom, actually she drove ….

We were greeted with an amazing breakfast spread and got to meet the other bloggers as well as some of the Safeway executives, some who had been with Safeway for over 40 years.

We were introduced to the just for u savings program and to the local president Steve Frisby who talked about the program and the rollout of the program. Steve has been with Safeway for 41 years and was an amazing host.

I was privileged to hang out with an amazing group of bloggers.

We were treated to an amazing spread for breakfast and  lunch. By the way if you ever see Buffalo Chicken Salad in your Safeway deli you HAVE to sample it, needless to say it was amazing!

After lunch we were given a chance to put what we had learned about the program into practice at the Oregon City Safeway.

We rode over to the Safeway store in a tour bus which gave us a chance to visit some more with the staff and the other bloggers.

After a brief press conference including  local media, we began our shopping with the new program.

I have to say , the carts at this store where perfect for carrying my large “purse” which is actually a Thirty-One gifts All in One organizing tote, perfect for carrying my coupons, planner, netbook, phone, etc…

 

Since I  didn’t know we were going to be shopping, I was totally shopping on the fly; I did manage to save34% using personalized savings, clickable coupons, club card savings, and a couple of clearance finds in the meat section. 

I love the personalized deals, these deals are based on my shopping history and are offers the system knows I can use.  We also found out at least in our  region, we will continue to have  double coupons for paper coupons and those deals can be stacked with club card savings or personalized deals for even greater savings.

Since the event in May, I have been averaging 37-54% in savings every trip with one recent trip my savings were 67%. They say the average customer will save 10-20%, but will a little extra planning greater savings are possible,   especially with the Safeway app on my phone.  I highly recommend going to Safeway.com and setting your account up, better yet visit your local Safeway store and find the just for you station where an associate will help get you signed up and you can even print your savings list.

#safewayjust4u

 

Thank you Safeway for hosting me and fellow bloggers and for blessing my family  with gift cards and Safeway branded goodies.

Menu Plan Monday

Menu Plan Monday from orgjunkie.com

Sunday: Shephard's pie (with ground lamb) inspired by the chick n' coop 's recent post

Monday: KFC for Papa's 80th  birthday (recently got coupons in the mail so this is a treat)
Tuesday: chili mac (with short spaghetti noodles from Safeway)
Wednesday: Grilled Salmon with Peach and Pineapple Salsa and Balsamic reduction (another Safeway inspired dinner)
Thursday: Stew (Beef and Vegetable most likely)
Friday: Casserole (probably Tator Tot Cassresole since I still have ground beef in the freezer)

Yes I know it is Sunday but I have a busy week so I figured I would post the menu for the week sooner rather than later.

On a side note this week's menu was inspired by my recent visit to the Safeway Regional office in Clackamas as part of their launch of the just for u program. 4 of the menu items for this week were either purchased or received from Safeway during the Blogger event I attended.  Stay turned for my write up on the Safeway launch.

K is for keys to saving money #atozchallenge

We can't all be extreme couponers, but there are some keys to saving that we can all do. 
First now what a good deal is, you can create a list of items you use in your home or pantry staples and what prices you find, watch the weekly sales for your magic number. A good example for me is Chili, my boys and my husband love Nalley’s regular chili, but I won’t spend more than $.98 a can for it. I can buy a chase at Costco and it costs $.92 a can, sometimes I can find it on sale for $.89 a can and when that happens I stock up (usually if I find it for $.89 a can I will buy 20 cans). Another example is pasta, if you follow the blog you know on our menu each week is Chili Mac. Chili Mac takes 1/2 a box of macaroni and 2-3 cans of chili, so I watch for sales on pasta. Recently I was able to buy boxes macaroni for $.50 a box because it was on sale and I had coupons. I also try and get whole wheat macaroni to mix half and half. I usually spend about $1.00 a box on the whole wheat so it averages out to $.75 a box, but I will spend up to $1.00 a box if I need to.
Next , I’ve said this before and I will keep saying it,  just because you have a coupon and it is on sale doesn’t mean it is a great deal.  Now with that in mind, remember it is ok to buy treats but make sure you know your limits.  For example, yesterday I bought chips (I don’t usually buy chips, but I had a coupon and they were on sale making each bag of Kettle Chips $1.50) these are a treat and I got flavors we all enjoy so only 1 bags gets opened at a time and I try to spread out opening the bags so they last at least a week.
Another tip is to make your own snack bags if you can. I saw a blog post or was it a pin on pinterest, anyway, the author had purchased snack size plastic bags and repackaged her bulk snack purchases into smaller bags. I love this idea… Packaged snacks are so expensive and usually end up not lasting through a weekend around here. By making your own, you know exactly what is in each bag, you can use purchased snacks or make you own (dried fruit, nuts, crackers, etc..)  then when the kids want a treat they can grab a bag and head outside to snack.


Finally, plan ahead for gardening or u-picks… Making frozen fruit snacks, dried  fruit, of even jams and jellies is a great way to save money through out the fall and winter months when the prices go up and the quality isn’t the best.  I love freezing strawberries, cherries, raspberries, blueberries, etc.. to each as a frozen candy like treat, or freeze them for making homemade smoothies and save a ton.. We all know  fast food or coffee shop smoothies are crazy expensive. Making smoothies in the morning is a great treat as you head out the door, they also make a great treat after school or practices. 

Couponing and giving it all for kids #AllYouCFK #cbias

I have written before about couponing, but this time we are putting a twist on it. Couponing for a cause, better yet, couponing for the kids with Champions for kids and allyou magazine.  
I couponing to make ends meet and I know many families struggle to even do that. When the boys and I head about the allyou  Couponing for Good we knew we would love to help. I love to show people how to save money on their groceries and paper goods and I love helping the Champions for Kids program.
We have received help from our local food pantries before and now that I am blogging and receiving an income from that , it is my turn to give back. 
So many families in our local communities are struggling to make ends meet and put a balanced meal on the table for their kids. Each week the boys and I still receive some help from the local food pantry through their bread bank, where families can come in and pick up a loaf of bread and a treat (muffins, cookies, etc). This program is a huge help to my family and many families in the community. Bread is a staple no matter what you are fixing. 
So many times I think people forget about the local food pantries after the holidays, but the need is still there and even greater now that the holidays are passed. 

Couponing for a cause is a great way to help your local community. There are 2 simple ways to help, first you can do what we did, select a stack of coupons and shop for your local charity, or decide that you are going to donate your savings. Donate the money you save couponing to your local charity. For instance, when I went shopping this last time I saved $23.80 using the coupons I had. I could donate the cash to the local charity or shop for them using my coupons. 

Something else to consider, reusable shopping bags. I donated 2 bags of groceries and included the bags so the charity can reuse them or send a package to a family in the bag.  I know of a local food pantry here in town that has each family bring back their bag each month to refill. It saves costs for the food pantry, allowing them to buy more food and not worry about boxes. 
See our full journey including the carious coupons we used in our Google+ Album

Every little bit helps and together we can be Champions for kids.
Follow Champions for Kids on Facebook and Twitter
This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias 

Private Selection: an option for Appetizers and Frozen Pizza #blogboost #imabzzagent

Are you looking for a classier Frozen Pizza with more flavor? What about some fun appetizers in a hurry?  Private Selection from Kroger stores might just be your go to.  Over the holidays we received coupons to try  Private Selection frozen appetizers, desserts, and pizza. I picked up 2 frozen pizzas and a dessert and appetizer. While the dessert and appetizers were exactly a hit, the pizza seemed to hit the spot. It was a late night and the boys wanted pizza , usually I would make a trip to town and pick up a Take-n-Bake pizza from 1 of 2 places, but this particular night it was too late and I was too tired to drive the 12 miles to town to pick up a pizza. So I pulled out the 2 frozen pizzas and we cooked them up.
I had some preconceived ideas of frozen pizza but this was definitely better than what I expected.  The crust was thin and crispy, the toppings were plenty , and the flavor was pretty good.
The boys liked it as well which surprised me since they expected simple flavors.
I cut the 2 pizzas up so that we each got a piece of each, but this pizza would work well cut smaller for a buffet style party tray.
I also highly recommend watching your local Kroger brand store for sales and CATALINA printed coupons. When I purchased mine, they had a special running if you bought 3 Private Selection frozen packages you received $3.00 off your next purchase (not sure if they still have that deal going or not).

I don't always shop at our Kroger brand store (Fred Meyer) as it isn't totally convenient but I have to say with awesome coupon deals and in store specials you can enjoy quality and not spend over the budget.
If you have a casual party (Football weekends are here for the next month), consider trying some of the Private Selection appetizers , desserts, or ice creams as well as other Private Selection labeled foods.

****I received coupons for samples of Private Selection products as a Bzzagent in exchange for my honest opinion of their product, no other monetary compensation was received****

The organized coupons

I've said it before I'm not an extreme couponer. I am what I like to call a necessity couponer,  I coupon because I can't afford not to.

small accordian file (not so good)

larger accordian file

That said, I have been in search a system to organize my coupons.  I tried the binder concept and found I fumbled with it too much and it seemed bulky and akward. I did a small accordian file that turned out to be well, small. Next I tr ied a longer accordian fils with more pockets, and that didn't seem to work either. So, this morning I decided to try one more idea....a coupon box.

Creative Memories Mini Power Sort Box
turned coupon sorter box = Success!

I dug out an extra Creative Memories Power Sort Box and 18 divider tabs and went to work.My power sort box is the older style so I don't have the lid for the compartments (I think those would have just gotten in my way).
I stumbled across a a wonderful blog, The Q-tipping Mom, where she shared a set of labels for coupon binders printed on Avery return address labels (Avery # 42895). Since I had a package of labels I printed off a set.  Nathan and I stuck labels to dividers and began resorting and purging expired coupons.

In afternoon we put the box to the test! Walmart.... The box sits perfectly in the child seat of a cart and I left space in the box for my wallet and phone. I think I've found my couponing system. The only thing I need to add is a small notebook for my list (either that or use the list features on my phone)  I even added a tab for restaraunts and used a coupon for pizza.


I have a pile of coupons to cut and sort into the box for the next trip. I think this is going to work really well for me...
For those of you that use the binder system with success I'm glad that works for you... I tried and it didn't work... This system is going to work for me, I think I am even going to make a crocheted carrying bag for it just for something to do...

Ready, set, #coupon

Someone asked me how I coupon, so I decided to share it here.

I start by sorting out the coupons that are close to expiring and the coupons for things we need this week.   I try to make notes of sales so I know where I'm going to get the best deal.  I don't usually go to more than 2 stores in a day especially if I have husband and kids with me.

Next , I write a list of my coupons I am taking with me. This helps me see what I have and the value.  This week I have the list for 2 stores, walmart and Winco.  I alsp have a second pile and list for a trip to the Walmart Super Center in another town, we are heading over there Tuesday for a movie activity. Anyway, I know the polocies of each store I am going to as well, if needed I print a copy from their website and take it.

This system works for me,  I don't do crazy stock ups as I don't have the exrra money to do it, unless it is a money maker deal and the stores are getting really picky about those.

I hope this has helped someone on their money saving coupon journey.