Everything's Coming Up Green

Archive for 2009

I realized this last weekend that when we return from spending the New Year with hubby’s family in Kansas I will have a mere 6 weeks until my due date. And with the wake up call of my sister-in-law delivering a good two weeks earlier than her due date, I am realizing that I need to get on the ball and prepare the house and stock the freezer. On top of this my father is having hip surgery the end of January and will need help with trips to the doctor and getting around the house and since I am the only one without a “job” that means my name is on the list. Needless to say January is lining up to be a very busy month.

Though I don’t have a plan set for the next month, I am going to be working on a to do list for January. I need to make a list of meals I want to make and freeze for baby time. I’d like to have at least two weeks worth of meals in the freezer. I also would like to have the house in extra working order so that I will have minimal up keep when baby girl is born. And let’s not forget the Christmas decorations that need to come down.

I’ll be honest in saying that I am more than a little overwhelmed. Especially being 34 weeks pregnant with a one year old running around, and piles of snow outside. But I am confident that God will give me the strength and stamina to accomplish what He deems I need to get done. The rest was obviously not important.

My plan is to create a game plan this weekend while I am out of town. I will be mostly absent over the holiday, but will return in the new year with my shiny new game plan, goals for the 2010, and shear excitement of what God has planned for the upcoming year!

Also, in January I will be having a giveaway to launch Everything’s Coming Up Green’s Facebook page! I am very excited about this!

Well we started kind of late this year on our baking day (last weekend to be exact), not that I can compare to previous years because this is the first time in my adult life we have had a Christmas cookie baking day. And really it was two days for us. Partly because we decided to have our baking day the day after my mom’s last day of school which was at the end of a very long week, and partly because, well, we thought we’d do a triple batch and we really only needed to do a double. But we got them done with a little one year old in toe to boot! Also during our baking extravaganza I made chocolate covered apricots as well as cranberry and pumpkin mini loafs. We had tons of fun cutting out cookies and frosting them. Emma even helped me cut out one. After that she was more interested in trying to eat the dough than help me press down on the cutter. Next year will be lots more fun though, and I can’t wait.

Why was I doing all of this you ask, because I had decided that I would do gift boxes this year for my husband’s boss and his business partner. I am one of those people that like to put together baskets herself instead of purchasing prepackaged ones. I like the challenge and as I have become better at couponing and, well, baking it has become even easier and more fun! You can go here to read my post about what I put in there and the cost of it all.

I am hoping to do some more cookie baking before the baby comes around Valentine’s Day so that I can bring cookies to the nurses at the hospital. They were so phenomenal when Emma was born that I would really like to bless them and say thank you. Of course this all depends on when baby girl #2 decides to grace us with her presence!

I thought I’d share with you the recipe for the yummy cookies we made.

Butter Cookies

1 cup butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp Vanilla

3 cups flour

2 tsp Baking powder

1 tsp Salt

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Sift flour baking powder and salt and add to mixture. Chill 1 hour. Bake at 350 degrees for 5-8 min depending on size of cookie.

Frosting: Mix milk and powdered sugar. Should be slightly runny. I added a little vanilla as well. Just add desired color and have at it!

    I’m still getting used to the reality of not having co-workers and a boss to make and give gifts to. I admittedly love making and giving gifts. This year and last I have been living vicariously through my husband. Last year was fun because where he was working had a lot of employees, a Christmas party and a name exchange. This year is a bit more of a challenge for me. You see he now works for a company with only three people involved-Joel, his boss, and his boss’s business partner. Oh and they are all men. Men can be difficult to shop for when you are related to them, let alone someone you work with. The question became “how do you come up with a gift that is sincere, useful, and won’t break the budget?” Since I love putting together gift baskets/boxes this seemed like the obvious choice for the year (I’m already thinking about what I want to do next year). I am the type of person that simply cannot stand to pay unthinkable prices for baskets of goods that aren’t that good and that there isn’t that much of. And now that I have gotten a better grasp on sales and coupons I can give a great gift with a price tag that is a great on my budget.

What is in the box:

A half pound of Starbucks Holiday blend coffee and Christmas mugs: free-thanks to my awesome brother who gave me his coffee mark out for the week as well as the mugs he got a couple of years ago after Christmas that have sat in his Christmas box waiting to be loved. (I think the mugs were originally $8 each and the coffee is $6 per half pound)

 The Christmas box: $3.50 (30% off)

Bag of Ghirardelli Chocolate $3 each

Bag of chocolate dipped Dried Apricots: Homemade- I think I paid $1 for the chocolate chips and the Apricots were what we had on hand.

3 bags of Christmas cookies/ 3 cookies in each bag: Homemade-The only thing I went out and bought was a pound of sugar which was $1.98 everything else I bought a while back in bulk so I already had it on hand. (you can go here for the recipe)

2 mini loafs-1 pumpkin, 1 cranberry: Homemade

A very pretty Glittered pinecone ornament: $2 (was $3.99 ½ off)

Ribbon: $2.50 (was $4.99 1/2 off)

All said and done I think I spent around $11.50 per box (I divided the cost of the chocolate, sugar and ribbon between the two boxes). Plus I have extra ribbon, extra bread, and lots of extra cookies to share! A tin of 12 cookies at Mrsfields.com is $29 and that’s just for cookies that are rather small. My boxes are over flowing. I had to actually leave some stuff out just because it wouldn’t fit. I really love the way these turned out. I think they look beautiful. Thank goodness for wired ribbon, a God send for those of us that are challenged in the way of making bows!

Are you making anything special for Christmas?

   Attention Shoppers!! What a great trip we had to Bag ‘n’ Save this week. Because next week is a holiday week all the stores are running their ads through Thursday the 24^th instead of Tuesday the 22^nd so you have extra time to score some great deals. Most of the sales this week were rather ho hum, but for some reason Bag ‘n’ Save decided to throw in a couple of biggies. Joel and I were out on a mini date/shopping trip and swung in so I could use the in-store coupon. I usually price match to this store since is out of my way, but since we were in the area and they had such a sweet store Q I stopped in. I just want to say that I love shopping with my hubby, especially when I am 7 months pregnant!

Here’s the breakdown of what I/we scored:

7 Kraft Cheese Shredded $1.30 each – $1/3 in-store Q – $1/2 MQ = $0.47 each = $3.29

11 Kraft Cheese Block $1.30 each – $1/3 in-store Q – $1/2 MQ = $0.47 each = $5.17

12 Stove Top Stuffing $0.89 each = $10.68

3 Bags Kraft Marshmallows $0.88 each = $2.64

4 Dz Eggs $0.87 each – BOGO Free Q (This was IP from awhile back put out by some egg coalition or something. It’s no longer available)

Total before Coupons: $39.33

Total After Store and MQ’s: $23.72

I only actually paid $21 and change (I don’t have the receipt with me). The best that I can figure is that she entered the egg coupons wrong, because if you take out the eggs completely the total is about right. The only thing that would have made this even better is if I had put two and two together and realized since we were taking Joel’s car my grocery bags were not in the trunk like they are in my car. Bag ‘n’ Save gives $0.05 per bag so with the three bags needed I would have save an additional $0.15!

Also, they have Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers on sale for $0.69 a bag, a great deal in and of itself, but what makes it sweeter is that in last Sunday’s coupons there is a $0.40/1 MQ making it just $0.29 per bag! I will be price matching this at Wal-Mart on Sunday when I go to finish my shopping while hubby watches the kiddo!

 Did you get any great deals this week? Feel free to share!

I got everything in the picture above in one day! Needless to say it was a great day.

What I got:

• 50 Free photos for signing up with Shutterfly.com-I only had to pay shipping. (This is an ongoing promotion. Just sign up and 50 free prints will be credited to your account.
• Nutri Dog Hig and Joint treat (No longer available)
• The current issue of Martha Stewart Living (I recieved a free years subscription for taking a quick survey whic is no longer available)
• Set of note cards thanks to Dove (No longer available)
• A form from Enfamil to send in for a free baby bag and formula sample

      I love getting free stuff in the mail. Especially when it takes only a few second to sign up for them. Lots of little freebies add up, and who can argue with free magazine subscriptions!

As I’m getting going I will post links to new freebies available!

Kellogg’s has a new rebate offer which doesn’t end until December 31, 2010. Collect 5 Toy Cash tokens from select boxes of Kellogg’s, Keebler and cheez-its, download and fill out the rebate form here and Voila! Only one rebate per house is allowed.

You can go here for a list of products you can find the tokens on.

 Also you can go here to print off some great cereal coupons!

Hey all! Money Saving Mom is hosting an awesome giveaway sponsored by Shopathome.com. Shopathome.com is providing $100 gift cards to 5 winners. The best part is the winner gets to choose where the $100 gift card is to!

Want take a shot a winning one of the awesome gift cards? Head on over to moneysavingmom.com and follow the instructions to enter.

Good Luck and be sure to let us know if you win one!

I’ve had a couple of people ask about the recipe for the homemade Runzas I made with my mother-in-laws over thanksgiving. These are the greatest and sooo delicious. Make them up and freeze them individually and just pull them out as you like.

MAKE AT HOME RUNZAS

Sweet roll dough

• 4 1/2-5 cups of Flour
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 1 tsp Salt
• 2 pkgs Dry Yeast
• 3/4 cup Milk
• 1/2 cup Water
• 1/2 cup Shortening
• 2 Eggs-room temp

Measure 1 1/2 cups Flour into bowl. Stir in Sugar, Salt and Yeast. Heat Milk, Water and Shortening until 120-130 degrees. Pour into Flour mixture. Add Eggs and beat 30 seconds on low, 3 minutes on high. Stir in the rest of the Flour mixture. Knead 3 minutes until smooth. Cover and let rest 20 minutes.

Filling

• 2lbs Ground Beef
• 4 Onions chopped
• 2tsp Salt
• 8 cups Cabbage chopped
• 8t Butter
• 1/2 tsp Pepper
• 3 cups Motzarella Cheese

Brown Beef and Onion. Wilt Cabbage in Butter (about 2 minutes in the microwave). Add Beef mix with Salt and Pepper to Cabbage.

Assembling

Break off golf sized dough balls. Roll out into thin circles (the thinner the better. When you fold them up it will create less dough at the bottom). Sprinkle cheese in the center. Put 1/4 cup mix on top of cheese (if your bowl is big enoug you can add the cheese to the filling mix). Fold dough to center and pinch to seal. Place folded side down on greased sheet. Let rise for 40-60 min or when indentation remains when pressed. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until done.

When they have cooled wrap them in plastic wrap and either store in a container or a freezer bag in the freezer.

To reheat: Microwave for about 40 seconds.

I’m attempting to start meal planning over the next couple of weeks in order to damage control the grocery budget for the month.

Here’s the plan:

This week: 

Mon-Chili

Tues-Rice and Bean burritos

Wed- Chili cheese dip

Thurs-Potato Soup and Grilled cheese

Fri-Taco salad at Parents house

Sat-Dinner at Parents

Sun-Leftovers

  Hopefully I can stick to it. This is one of those tired weeks, but I am determined to get on track with the meal planning!

How about you? What are you planning for meals this week?

From now until Christmas, Walgreens will be releasing a mid week 4-day sales ad. For the best match-ups check Money Saving Mom’s ad match-up and link ups. There are some great Register Rewards resulting in free product, especially if you are needing medication for this season. Plus part of the 4-day sale Walgreens is offering a $5 register rewards when you spend $25 pre-coupon, pre-tax.

Update: You have to have $25 AFTER coupons and Register Rewards in order to receive the $5RR.