Coupon Junkie & Food Item #6

Hi everybody!  I know I’ve been gone longer than usual, but I’ve been nursing blasted head cold and haven’t been very motivated the past few days.  But I’m back today with a tank full to post about.  Ready. Set. Go!!
Do you use/like coupons?  I admit that I am a coupon clipper extraordinaire!  Mostly with grocery items, but also cosmetics/cat products/household items.  Here is a sample of what I usually lug to the store with me come “shopping” day: Just on the food ones alone I saved almost $7.50.  Every penny counts, right?  Now I can go spend that $7.50 at Starbucks!  I kid……maybe.  :)  I only have a few “rules” that I follow when using coupons so here they are:

1. I only save coupons for items that I would normally buy.  To me it’s not a deal if I’m purchasing something I wouldn’t otherwise buy.
2. I don’t use coupons that are “buy 2, save $x.xx”.  Usually coupons toting that are for items that I wouldn’t generally buy 2 of so when you boil it down I’m not saving anything.  I’m actually spending more.
3. If my grocery store doesn’t carry the item that I have a coupon for I will not drive to another store simply to use it.  Again, no saving there.
4. Lastly, if I still have a coupon in my purse after 2 grocery trips chances are I won’t use it so I get rid of it.

It isn’t always easy to find good coupons online in Canada.  The site I use the most is called save.ca.  They usually have some pretty great deals.  Most of my coupons are clipped out of magazines, though.  I’d love for you to share your coupon tips in the comment section.  I’m always game for new ways to save!
The weather in these parts has been downright dreary this past week.  And I’m not the only one in this house with a cold.  My hubby and DD have it, too.  I’ve been keeping my fingers crossed that DS is spared.  In trying to stay warm and keep my nose clear all at once I’ve been drinking lots of hot fluid.  My favourite thing to make has been tea lattes.  I’ve been combining 1 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond breeze with a 1/2 cup of water and a teabag (the flavour varies) in a sauce pot.  I let the mixture get to just about the boiling point then it gets turned off and left alone to steep for 5 minutes.  Heavenly.  I made this one last night:
So comforting.  I sipped on it while browsing through my newest cookbook! 
 
So far I’m really liking the looks of this book.  I plan on making a few recipes then writing up a review for you. 
Next on the “post of the day” agenda is FOOD!!! WOW!  That’s a lot of oats!  But they’re not all the same oats; there’s kamut flakes, steel cut oats, Quaker oats and Only Oats in the mix.  There’s been some snacking; One night I defrosted some quinoa stew and served it with garlic toast and grated red pepper goat cheese: I’ve been into pizza more lately than I have in years.  One night I baked a Ristorante pizza which served as dinner and lunch the next day:  And we got pizza on the way home from DS’s game yesterday because the kids school was running a promo where you get one medium, one topping pizza for $3.99 and $.50 gets donated back to the school.   We also picked up a bruschetta pizza as one just wouldn’t have been enough for the 4 of us.    
I ate 2 slices of that and have 2 left for today’s lunch.  And lastly, the day my cold was at it’s worst I had eggs and toast; my comfort food when under the weather. On to what I am thankful for this week.    That would be my job.  It’s not my dream job by any means, but they pay is great, the benefits even better and I work with a good group of ladies, including my awesome boss.  I know that there are people who would love the job that I landed so when I’m feeling a little blue about it I remind myself of that.  The benefit plan is really good and when combined with my hubby’s we get all our med’s and dental visits “free”.  That’s HUGE for a family of 4.  And now for food item #6….already!!  Only 4 more to go after this!!! BEANS!  Any kind will do here for sure.  Be sure to add it to your grocery list this week!  Remember that you can always check the Thanks & Giving tab at the top of the blog for items #1-5. 
I’ll sign off with a picture of DS after a sleepover Friday night and an out of town game yesterday afternoon: Done like dinner!  :)
Bye for now!!

Muffins, Soup and Food Item #3

Happy Sunday!!  Hopefully you’ve all been enjoying the past few days.  I know I have!  Like usual, hockey has been the main activity of the past few days but today is a day off!  YES!  We had a late afternoon game in another town yesterday and my hubby worked in the morning so I had tome to do my vacuuming and floors.  The joy.  HA!  Today my hubby and the kids went out to the farm.  I stayed back because my in laws bought a new computer and hubby was setting things up for them.  And I am not a patient person when it comes to computer shenanigans.  Instead, I did laundry and some baking.  Awhile ago I downloaded the Smart School Time Recipes booklet and I finally chose a recipe to try. These would be Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins except I ran out of chocolate chips so I used cinnamon chips instead. 
The turned out fabulous!  I made 6 big muffins so I had to adjust the baking time from 15 minutes to 25. As you can see, they’re perfectly golden brown.  Thanks for the recipe, Katie!!
Before I vacuumed the place yesterday I roasted a butternut squash (from my garden) an onion and some garlic to make my Butternut Squash soup.   The 45 minutes roasting time was just long enough to haul the vacuum around and make the aroma in the house heady.  I enjoyed a hefty serving come lunch time:  
I topped my bowl off with some cubed goat’s milk feta for a little extra creaminess.  A great lunch for a cold, rainy Saturday afternoon!
Did I mention that DS scored not one, but TWO goals in yesterday’s game???  BOOYA!  I was freaking ecstatic for him!  He was getting a bit discouraged that he couldn’t get past any goalies so far this season, but my hubby has been driving it into him that as long as he keeps his feet moving and takes every opportunity for a shot, the goals will come.   And so they did!  And wouldn’t you know that on the way down I snapped a few pictures of him after I had promised none at the rink???  DOH!  Well, here’s what I got, anyways…
 
And DD is always ready for a photo shoot!

So let’s talk about what I am thankful for this week (and always).  I am super lucky that my parents and in laws are all healthy and active.  Heck, my father in law is in his 70’s and still runs a horse farm with my mother in law for goodness sake!  I lost all my grandparents at a very young age so I have very vague memories of them.  I am SO thankful that my children have the opportunity to know, and grow, knowing their grandparents.  It’s such a blessing!  And on the lighter side, I am thankful that it has been raining all weekend because with the temps as cool as they are it could very well be snow!  Actually, we had a dusting of snow on the deck Friday morning.  *shiver*.  BTW, did you know that “snow” is considered a swear word in the Krista’s Kraving’s household?  LOL!!
I’ve been cooking bigger batch meals lately so there’s not too many food pictures today as most dishes were eaten more than once.  Here’s what I’ve got, though!! Kamut flakes above!!  I used a half cup, 1 cup water, craisins, banana and pecan pieces.  It’s been too long! Goat’s milk yogurt, pumpkin butter and granola became lunch one day… This was Thursday’s dinner.  I had enough time after work to roast some bone in chicken breasts.  On the side is brown rice and a mixture of sautéed pancetta, zucchini, spinach and goat’s milk feta.  Great flavour combination happening there, I tell you!  We all felt like breakfast for dinner last night so we stopped off at an all day breakfast joint for some eats.  This place has a great latte selection:
I ordered the pumpkin chai latter with skim:
I ordered the “Oxford” omelette for my meal.
It came with home fries (which I usually tell them to hold because I despise them!  But I forgot) and dry WW toast which later got some orange marmalade spread over it;
It was much better than I thought it would be….and I thought it would be good!  I’ll have to remember that mix of veggies next time I make eggs at home.
Now on to the Thanks & Giving food item of the week…. Hamburger Helper!  Just to review, week one was tuna and week 2 was mac n cheese.  Don’t forget to link back to the food drive, please!  The more the merrier.  Let’s help get food on the table for those less fortunate than us this Christmas!!!
Did you see the full moon Thursday night?
I snapped theses while in the Tim Horton’s drive thru!  Love them.
Bye for now!!

Where Have I Been??

I’ve certainly been gone longer than I intended.  Even though my days are fairly repetitive (work, eat, drive kids around, go to bed) I still seem to be on the busy side with it all!  We recently switched our job rolls around at work so I’ve been learning a few new duties.  I like that it’s keeping me engaged because there’s nothing worse than getting bored at work, IMO.  Monday night’s DD is in dance class from 6-7:30 on the other side of town so I usually wander around Winners instead of driving back and forth.  This is not so good for my wallet!  I’m thinking that using gas driving to and fro is more cost effective!  LOL  And Tuesday is MY night, AKA Pilates.  My Mom joined me this session and it’s fun having her there.  By Wednesday I’m usually ready for a post but last night we went out of town (about a 1.5hr drive) for a hockey game.  It was bed time by the time we rolled into the driveway.  So here I am!  Better late than never, right??
On Tuesday DD went to the mall after dinner with a friend of hers….alone.  We’ve never dropped her off and let her hang out before.  It was a BIG step for this Mama Bear, I tell ya.  There were special circumstances that led up to this, though.  The friend she met up with is going in for some significant surgery in a week and they really wanted to get together beforehand.  Plan A was to see a movie but nothing that was playing interested them.  Enter Plan B, the mall.  Said friend is also 2 years older than DD and is responsible enough that I felt DD would be safe.  She had a great time with her freedom, of course!  I had to pick her up for 8pm and Pilates ends at 7:15 so I had a bit of time to spare.  Enter a trip across the street from the mall to The Bulk Barn.  I haven’t been there in ages.  Here’s what I bought!
Candy corn for the office candy dish…..and some for me!  ;)
Kamut flakes.  Love these for breakfast and I haven’t bough any since the summer so I’m eager to cook some up!
Cinnamon chips.  First time seeing these in Canada.  Very exciting!
Green raisins.  First time seeing these ever.  They’re good!  They taste more like a sweet grape than raisins which I liked.
A great big sack of steel cut oats:
Cocoa roasted almonds.  These are also the first I’ve seen around here.  They’re nowhere near as good as the Emerald brand, but they’ll do!
And lastly, coconut cashews.  Much sweeter than I anticipated, but they make a nice little treat….and the “crumbs” are great on my oats!  :)  I know bulk type stores are not for everyone (germs, etc) but I’m more than OK with them and find them to be really decent money savers.
So about that out of town hockey game….THE BOYS WON!  This is their second win of the season (they’ve played 8 games) so we were all pretty excited!  I took a few shots of DS during the warm up:
Apparently he’d had enough!!  LOL   I’ve been leaving Operation Beautiful notes in all the bathrooms at the different rinks we go to! Here are a few of the more notable eats I’ve been enjoying this week: It’s been dark in the mornings so my pictures are a little dark.  Boo!  The middle bowl was eaten at work because DS had a 6am hockey practice Monday morning and I had no time to eat at home. This yellow bell pepper, zucchini, chicken stir fry made a great stuffing for a pita pocket! Dinners have looked like this:
A can of tomato & onion tuna + 3oz of WW macaroni noodles turned into this:  And one night there was grilled chicken thighs, veg, asparagus and 2 potatoes (I don’t care much for potatoes, obviously!) Sweet treats!
I think that’s all I’ve got for now.  I’m guessing there’s enough picture overload in this post!  I’ll be back Sunday with the next Thanks & Giving food item!
Bye for now!!