Stuffed Peppers

On Sundays, Howard and I do some veggie and fruit shopping in Chinatown after church service and Sunday School. Each week, I kept seeing huge peppers and was thinking about stuffed peppers each time! I've enjoyed the Stouffer's stuffed peppers a few times in my life, and those are frozen, so I had very high hopes for making them myself and devouring them!

We chose 4 large red ones since they seem to bother me a lot less than green ones in terms of acidic content and because the yellow ones weren't perfectly sized the way these were. I followed the recipe on Betty Crocker found here. 

Even though the recipe required 1 cup of cooked rice, I accidentally measured it as 1 cup of uncooked rice. I ended up having a lot of the mixture leftover. It actually could have fit in 2 more peppers if I had them. Instead of using salt for seasoning, I used Creole seasoning instead for a bit of a kick. Howard and I have been loving it since we started using it; his sister and her husband bought it for us when they went on a trip to New Orleans before their baby was born. I also had to use 2 cups of pasta sauce for the mixture because it was dry with the extra rice, so that was an entire jar.

When they came out of the oven, they looked so good! Since we didn't have mozzarella, I threw on some Kraft Mexican shredded cheese, which has a combo of different cheeses in it. Of course, once it was sliced in half, I wanted to throw some more cheese on it because, well, CHEESE! We both really enjoyed it, and I will definitely make it again during the school year because it wasn't difficult at all. Plus, making 4 peppers means that we will both have leftovers for lunch the next day. I will, however, boil the peppers a bit longer next time so that they're more tender.

A Kid Again with Mini Pizzas

A few weeks ago, I decided to introduce Howard to something that most kids have had as part of their childhood: mini English muffin pizzas! I happened to have one more jar of Classico pizza sauce in the pantry. This time it was the Traditional version as opposed to the Fire Roasted version that we didn't like as much. I also had gotten a free bag of Stop & Shop cheese because I purchased other items, so I chose the pizza blend that had mozzarella and cheddar in it. I think that worked out SO much better than just having all mozzarella. I sliced up some white mushrooms I had in the fridge to put on top. You can tell that the ones at the bottom of the picture are mine and the ones for Howard are on top based on the amount of mushroom!

Of course, all the ingredients must be placed on Thomas's English muffins! There are some things where you do really need the brand name. I tried the store brand once, and they were thick and chewy without the nooks and crannies. It also just didn't get the same amount of crispiness. I followed the baking directions on the website, and after a quick 10 minutes, our simple Saturday lunch was ready. It definitely brought back so many memories of being a kid and my mom making them for my older brother and me. 

Simple Dinner Dates

Though Howard and I very rarely actually go out on a date and eat at a restaurant anymore, I still get really excited when he comes home from work and we  can have our at home dinner date every night instead! It's much cheaper that way. Plus, when we eat food from restaurants, we find that we have to drink water all night long because of the amount of salt that's used because we aren't used to it. 

Tonight's dinner was really simple. I had defrosted chicken breast and needed to use it tonight, so I just cut it up into pieces and cooked it with a little bit of olive oil. I'm not Italian in the slightest, so I don't mind using sauce from a jar, haha. This was the Emeril vodka sauce. I also had to use two different sized pennes (one was Market Pantry and the other was Barilla) because I had a little bit in each box left from other recipes where I needed to measure the amount of pasta. For the veggie side, I roasted green beans.

It's definitely nothing fancy, but it was rather satisfying! Even the simple, inexpensive dinners with my best friend are still memorable in my eyes.

Oven Quesadillas for Dinner

One of the easiest dinners that I make is quesadillas! It seemed like the perfect thing for tonight's dinner considering I had done a lot of organizing and cleaning in the closet so that I could put stuff away because things were getting a little cluttered in the apartment. I remember when I first started making quesadillas after we got married. It took a little longer because I did it on the stove and flipped the quesadillas and had to make each one separately. After doing that for a few meals, I looked up an easier way to make them in the oven and have been doing it this way since.

We buy family pack of chicken breast because it's the best deal, of course. I'll usually make something with one or two of them within a day of purchasing it, but I'll wash the rest of them at the same time and separate them into plastic bags for the freezer. All I have to do for quesadillas is pull out a bag of one large chicken breast and stick it in some cold water to defrost. Then I cut it into strips and cook it on the stove with a little bit of olive oil. In the past, I used to use the Perdue Short Cuts because it would eliminate the step of having to defrost, cut, and cook the chicken, but it's really silly not to just do it myself to save money. Plus, it tastes better when I cook the chicken myself. In the past, I've also cooked chicken breast with just a little bit of water in the crockpot for 4 hours on high. When that's done, the chicken can be shredded and then frozen although that sometimes gets a little bit of the freezer taste to it when used in salads (though if you heat it up in a pan with a bit of Frank's Hot Sauce for a buffalo chicken salad, it's fine!). That's an easy way to have cooked chicken on hand ready for recipes.

Once that's done, I lay out two tortillas on our largest baking sheet. We still have 2 packs of the flour tortillas in the freezer from the last time I stocked up and bought 8 packs when there was a sale and a great coupon. I'm glad I did that because I haven't had to buy them in months, and I know they're fine in the freezer. I've read that some people put wax paper in between them, but I haven't had any issues separating them even when frozen. 

I divide the chicken and lay it out on the two tortillas and then sprinkle the shredded cheese on top. I still have tons of bags of cheese too from the last great sale! I don't like getting it for more than $1.50, and recently I got the Kraft bags for $0.17 or so because of a sale and coupon too. They last a while in the fridge when not open, but they can also be stored in the freezer as well. That's why quesadillas really are a great meal because I typically have all the fixings in the fridge/freezer! The only thing I didn't have that would make this better was an onion. I don't cook the onion all the way down because we like the extra crunch in there, but I didn't have any to use today.

I put the other tortillas on top and just press them down a tiny bit so that the chicken and cheese are kind of the same thickness all around. I pop it into the oven that has been preheating at 400 degrees for just 10 minutes. I like the bottom to be crispy, but Howard usually likes it a little less crispy. It can go for a little less than 10 minutes since the only thing that really needs to be done is melt the cheese and warm up the tortilla, which doesn't take long. This was a full 10 minutes in the oven though because I knew there was more chicken. You can see in the picture below that the bottom gets nice and crispy without any oil that would have been required if doing this in a frying pan on the stove!

I'm sure it'd be better if they were in the oven for 5 minutes and then flipped for the remaining 5 minutes because then it'd be even on both sides, but Howard and I really aren't picky about it. Why complicate things? I'm sure that if I were making this for other people, I'd be good about flipping it, but when it's just us, it doesn't really matter. As long as one side is crispy, it'll hold up to the salsa that we put on top (and sour cream for me if we happen to have it!). 

I like having simple dinner "recipes" like this for the nights when neither of us want to spend much time cooking or we didn't prepare for a more complicated meal. It can be made somewhat last minute since the defrosting is really the only thing that must be done ahead of time. The best thing is that it's also cheap and somewhat "healthy" in comparison to any meal from a chain restaurant like Chili's or Outback, which is where we used to get dinner when we were dating. I anticipate making chicken quesadillas for dinner when we have little ones too!

Up Next? Butternut Squash!

Zucchini, asparagus, baby carrots, and green beans ... what was next on the list to be roasted? Butternut squash! 

I cheated with this in that I bought a bag of already cubed butternut squash from Target using a veggie coupon. I like that the Target mobile coupons make it so that I can try new items because I don't know that I would've wanted to pay full price for this veggie when I was trying it for the first time. All I did was toss it with some olive oil, salt, and pepper and then stuck it in the oven for about 25 minutes at 400 degrees. I think it could have actually used a little bit more salt since it does have a sweet taste to it, but there wasn't a need for it. I'm not like the Top Chef judges who are totally against underseasoned food. If the food tastes like the food it is, I think, "Well, that is how God made it!" Haha. Though I didn't like it as much as I like zucchini and Brussels sprouts, it was definitely a tasty alternative to the other vegetables we've had in the past.

A New Obsession with Fresh Veggies

I admit that it probably took a bit too long for Howard and me to get to this point, but lately we've been pretty obsessed with fresh veggies! When we first got married, it was difficult to stick to having fresh vegetables with every meal because we were still at that stage when we would buy groceries and then end up throwing some of it away because it got old in the refrigerator. We've had to say goodbye to meat that might have smelled a bit suspicious and fruits and vegetables that got wet or just turned into mush. When I talked to other people who had either just gotten married or moved out to live on their own, I heard that the same thing happened to them as well. I guess it really takes some time and practice fully understanding what is required in running a household efficiently. 

That's why a lot of the times our veggies for dinner were in the form of frozen vegetables. I used to think that they weren't that great, but I read that they're pretty gosh darn healthy too! There is still a lot of nutrition packed into veggies that are frozen. Just to make sure that I was right in saying that, I Googled it for the umpteenth time and read this because I don't want to make things up and post it on my blog, haha. It's interesting to think that sometimes the nutrient level can be even higher since the fruits and veggies are picked at their peak and frozen whereas fresh ones need to travel long distances. It really did help that they were just ready for me in the freezer to either stir fry with some Cajun seasoning without needing any prep. 

But times have changed as of late. Though I definitely wouldn't turn down some Cajun peas, carrots, and corn (yes, I have to pick out the lima beans!), I've started craving fresh veggies! It started with all of the roasting we've been doing lately. The flavors become so distinct and robust when tossed in the oven. But this past week, I tried something a little different.

I needed fresh spinach for a recipe. When I was in Pathmark, I was going to pick up a 12 oz package of baby spinach that was on sale. But then I saw that there was a  16 oz package of regular spinach that was the same price if not a little bit cheaper because there was a manager's special coupon stuck on the front of it for $1 off. I know that there are manager's specials when the store needs the product to sell because of a nearing sell by or expiration date. If there was a way for us to stock up on meat to keep in an extra freezer, I would definitely take advantage of that as that's what many couponers do. But I didn't know they did it in the produce section too! It was fine because I knew I'd be using at least half of it that night, and in the worst case scenario, if we didn't use the rest of it, no money would have been lost. 

Well, we definitely did use the rest of it! After making the first recipe where the spinach was mixed with the pasta and thrown in the oven, I knew I would use the rest of it in another pasta dish. I just made a simple meat sauce for ravioli and slowly added spinach in since it really looks like a lot before it is cooked down! 

It definitely made the dish. I typically dislike meat sauce. I remember my mom used to take the time to roll meatballs even though it clearly took so much more time, but I have yet to make meatballs at my apartment! But putting the spinach with it made each bite really tasty. I love how it becomes really soft so there's no fear of choking! Howard and I are definitely going to do the whole spinach in pasta thing again.

Yesterday I did errands and knew I'd get back home not wanting to take the time to cook a big meal, so I picked up some baby spinach this time so that we could have salad. We devoured the whole bag and got that iron feeling on our teeth, but nowadays I don't mind it as much because I know that means we're making healthier choices! I'm really excited that over the past few weeks, all I've been craving is protein and fresh veggies. Here's to a healthier 2014 and beyond!

Tonight's Menu

Back in January, I posted about getting Kraft Recipe Makers for free because there was a $1 coupon and the product was available at the Dollar Tree. I tried the Asian Fish Tacos today since I finally had the corn tortillas (we always have flour tortillas in the freezer, but I had to specifically go buy corn) and coleslaw. Howard and I also bought tilapia from Target recently too. I was happy to see that they had frozen fish individually sealed because it works well when there's only two of us. All we have to do is pull out the packages we need to defrost in water. 

With all the ingredients, it was time to try out these flavors! I defrosted the fish and then cut them into 1-inch strip pieces. I dipped it in the baking sauce and then into some panko. They went in the oven for less than 20  minutes. The box also comes with a finishing sauce to toss with the coleslaw, which was just the Dole blend that I got a few days ago on sale for $1. Presto! Dinner was done!

It was pretty decent. I still think the Verde Chicken Enchiladas is the best though. Howard likes the Three Cheese Chicken Florentine the most. I'm just happy to have these easy dinner helpers in the pantry that we can try out for free! I personally think it would have tasted better with a different fish. Maybe next time I'm at Target, I'll pick up the cod since there's $1.50 mobile coupon out now with the Cartwheel offer for Simply Balanced Seafood. 

After dinner, I was still feeling a little hungry and was actually in the mood for something sweet, which is a rarity. Normally, I would specifically want a piece of chocolate or something, but I knew fruit would suffice. I cut up the strawberries we bought yesterday, and Howard cut up a mango. They were both a little tart, so I did add a little bit of sugar to it and mixed. We ate some before, but I'm looking forward to how it'll be tomorrow after it sits in the fridge overnight.

Maybe I'll even bring some for lunch tomorrow because I'm subbing for elementary school again. I pray the day goes well because God definitely made me a middle school teacher, but hopefully the kids will be good since I got to know most of them when they were in Pre-K. Crossing my fingers!

Paying with Coins

If you've noticed, I've been having updates scheduled to post at 5am in the morning, but I didn't have one prepared last night.  It's okay though because here's the update!  I always have writing ideas on my mind, and blogging (which I consider more simplistic writing compared to what I would like to write) helps me get back into the habit of communicating through the written word.  Though it might not be the most interesting read if you're not interested in couponing, I know that it's good "exercise" for me.  I did add a little bit of non-couponing stuff in this post including a food picture!  Scroll down if that's all you're interested in seeing, haha.

My cousin's Sweet 16 is coming up, so I had to stop by the mall yesterday to pick up a gift card.  Since I was out and about, it obviously meant that I was going to stop by CVS, haha.  I know I had said that I wasn't going to return for a while because the sales weren't going to be good for the next two weeks, but this doesn't count, right?  It's the same sale week!  Haha.  I checked my CVS account two nights ago and saw what coupons would print out from the redbox for me, and it included GREAT savings.  There was no way I could pass up on it considering I knew my subtotal could be negative.

The CVS by my parents' house wasn't going to work for my plans because not everything was available.  I tried to see if I could rearrange my plan as I stood there in an aisle on my phone, but I didn't want to pay more out of pocket than planned.  So I scrapped that idea and just picked up more of those free toothbrushes using Howard's card.  He had $4 ECB to roll, so I got 2 toothbrushes for free with 2 coupons and got $4 ECB back.  I think even for those of you who don't want to take on major couponing, these deals would work out well just to slowly get free things for your family.  Of course, you need to always make sure you get your coupons at the redbox though!  And sometimes that means having to ask an employee for help when the machine says it has no paper to print.  This is the second time I've seen the machine opened (the first time, my coupons got stuck inside as they printed so they had to be redirected out of the little slot on the side).  I got super excited and snapped this picture even though another lady was also waiting for coupons too, haha.  As you can see, this is one of the older machines.  The new ones seem to be better as you can input your telephone number in case you don't have your ExtraCare card.  I also believe that the new ones have more space to scan a card or an item, so scanning your phone (if you use CardStar or another app like that) might be able to work.  I'll have to test that out at a newer machine.

The small total for my purchase at the first store was paid with coins!  I decided that from now on if it's possible, all CVS transactions will be paid with the spare change in my wallet and from the little plastic container we have at home since it's money that we have that technically just sits there!  Since I do self-checkout, I don't have to feel silly handing over $1 or $2+ in coins including lots of nickels and dimes.  I just slowly feed the machine whatever I have in my wallet and it deducts as it lets me know how much I owe.  I do plenty of math with my planning, so it makes my life easier knowing the machine will do the math for me there!

Afterwards, I drove to the mall to pick up the gift card and popped into the CVS there, but it's never one that I enjoy frequenting.  It's cramped and not as clean and organized, and for some reason, their products weren't scanning at the correct price.  I didn't want to bother dealing with it there, so I just left.  

Since I was at the mall though, it made sense to pop by the Disney Store and trade Vinylmation!  There was one from the series called Mickey's Wild West in the visible portion of the box, but I wasn't sure if I should trade for one in the mystery portion since last time we snagged Eric from The Little Mermaid series.  I asked if I could trade, and then I said to the guy, "Hmm, you have mystery ones too, right?" and he proceeded to pull all of them out for me to see!  There wasn't anything in there, so I snagged "Dewey" from Wild West.  I was happy about that!  What was funny is that I traded a Vampire Goofy even though in the trade box, there was a Goofy Vampire in there already along with a Werewolf Pluto!  Haha, clearly those were from us since we cleaned them out of those as traders ($2.99 for the set) twice!  But it was the best investment ever to build up our Vinylmation collection on the cheap.

Yes, it's kind of strange that I'm talking about paying for my CVS hauls with change and then mentioning Vinylmation.  Haha, we did buy those Vinylmation way before I got into couponing.  Plus, now that I coupon, it will allow us to get a few fun treats every once in a while.  Howard's interest has now turned into one of mine!  Trading pins and Vinylmation have become part of the memories we make at Disney World as we make great trades and interact with other guests and cast members.  It's just exciting that we get to have some Disney magic at home too.

I left the mall and drove home, which meant passing by the CVS close to my apartment (yes, the 3rd CVS in one day).  So we may have spent $2.99 on a set of 2 Vinylmation, but I spent way less than that on all of the things below!   

The night before, I checked out past receipts and figured out what would get taxed and what wouldn't.  Then I checked to see what coupons would reduce my taxable amount.  Basically, anything that scans as a "CVS Coupon" should be deducted from your subtotal before figuring the tax.  That includes any of the $ off $$ coupons, the % off coupons, randomly emailed ExtraBucks, earned Beauty Bucks, and emailed birthday ExtraBucks.  It was nice being able to figure it out because then I could be more exact about anything OOP and keep it to the barest minimum.  So how did I get all of the above products for only $2.19 in change?  Just a bit of homework!

The Nivea deal is the same as all my past updates.  It's the LAST week for it.  When I left CVS last time, I saw at the bottom of my receipt that I only needed $6 more to get another ECB deal.  That meant that it carried over from my FIRST week of Nivea purchases.  I also got a coupon from the redbox for $2 off 2 body lotions so I picked up another bottle along with another body wash to complete the final Nivea deal.  Basically that breakdown was as follows:

2 Nivea lotion = $12 sale price - $4 in manufacturer's coupons - $2 in CVS coupon = $6 OOP

1 Nivea body wash = $4 sale price - $2 in manufacturer's coupon = $2 OOP

That meant putting in $8 OOP and getting $6 back so it was a pretty great opportunity to roll ECB.  

The candy deal was to spend $10 and get $3 ECB.  I got a $4 off $10 coupon from the redbox including Halloween candy, so it was a fabulous opportunity to get some bags ONLY if I could find proper coupons, and I did!  Here's that breakdown:

2 Hershey's ($0.99 sale) = $1.98 - $1.00 manufacturer's coupon = $0.98 OOP

3 Twix ($3 sale) = $9 - $1.50 manufacturer's coupon - $4 CVS coupon = $3.50 OOP

That meant putting in $4.50 OOP and getting $3 back, so that too was a pretty good way to roll ECB.  It amazes me because last year, I waited until after Halloween to get some of my favorites on sale.  That meant getting one bag for about $2.00!  I spent so much less for a ton of it!  I'm looking forward to sharing chocolate with friends.

Lastly, I did the Got2B deal again because of a $1.50 off $5 styling products coupon from the redbox, but I didn't get any ECB from it.  The website said limit of 5 per card, but the circular actually says limit of $5 per card, so that meant no ECB.  I will be returning them during my next trip.

As you can see, my subtotal was exactly as I calculated it to be at negative $0.68.  I miscalculated the tax because I thought the candy wouldn't be taxed.  Silly me.  I paid the $2.19 in coins again and did my best to get rid of my nickels and pennies, haha.  The first 3 coupons that you see on the receipt are coupons from the redbox, the next 3 are my ECB, and the remaining 4 are manufacturer's coupons.  I read that that's the way to do it to allow the overage to dip into your tax, but I've had negative subtotals before without doing it that way, so I'm not sure if it's necessary.  I'll definitely still do it that way though just in case.  I left with $9 ECB, which is less than what I put in, but I also got an email for $3 ECB for being a member, and I will be getting $5 in Beauty Bucks, so it'll bring my ECB total back up again.  Phew.

Back home, I saw that it was a good snail mail day too as I got a free sample.  I love free samples!  When I lived at my parents' house, I used to keep free samples until I might have needed them for vacation.  I just used whatever was there.  Nowadays, I actually truly appreciate free samples because I can try something out to see if it's worth purchasing.  Being in charge of our household means that we have to be careful about what we spend our money on, and I would be upset if we bought a product that we ended up not liking.  Getting free samples is how I tried the Tums freshers and decided to buy a bunch of them instead of only having regular Tums!  We've also tried Centrum Flavor Burst Chews and know that those are pretty awesome as well!  I personally thought that the vitamin C VitaMelts were kind of gross although Howard didn't mind them as much.  Seriously, such a perfect system these companies have for consumers to try products!  Now we can try Herbal Essences body wash.  I associate Herbal Essences with shampoo, so it's a great opportunity to test something new.

The last picture of the night is what we had for dinner.  When I make chili, it's a LOT for just the two of us.  Thankfully, the hubby is absolutely fine with eating leftovers, so when it's made, we usually have it two nights in a row for dinner or for lunch leftovers.  Even so, there's still some leftover, so I froze a batch of it.  We had it for leftovers last night over some cottage fries.  I think it worked out really nicely because having a part of the dinner that's freshly made with a part that was frozen makes the meal extra appetizing.  To think we used to have chili out of a can is disturbing when it's so easy to make from scratch.

The cottage fries are also really easy to make.  I just washed and peeled the potatoes to prepare them, and then Howard sliced them and mixed it with a little bit of olive oil and whatever spices depending on the meal. They're baked for about 40 minutes, flipping them after each 15 minutes.  It makes me wonder why we used to buy Ore-Ida products in the beginning of our marriage as "backup" side dishes.  We would have a $2 bag that would be split for 2 meals.  Nowadays we buy a bag of 5 lbs of potatoes for about the same amount and can make so many side dishes from it.  Plus, it's much healthier, of course.  Too bad having too many carbohydrates isn't recommended because I love 'em!

Saving money and having more food made from scratch ... you'd think we were mature adults if we weren't also trading figurines, hehe.