Home-made Bread and a Super Soft Slide

exploding dough

finished


I have been in major nesting mode lately (no, not pregnant) and have had the urge to make home-made bread. Never having been the baking type I was leery, but I decided what the heck, give it a try. It helped helped that Albertsons had flour on sale for $1.38 a 5lb bag.
I was all excited to go home and make it, when I got home I realized I didn't have loaf pans!! What kind of mom doesn't even have loaf pans? I was really bummed...until I came across a bread machine at a yard sale for $2 this am SCORE!
After hunting around the web for a bit I discovered Hilly billy Housewife had a great generic bread machine manual. The recipe I use was super easy, basically dump the ingredients in and turn it on.
Two hours into the rising I was a little worried, it was pressing on the glass! Visions of bread making ala I Love Lucy popped into my head, but thank goodness it stayed contained.
It was stuck to the lid a bit and looked a little like a mushroom, but yummy just the same. The entire loaf was devoured in under 10 minutes, a huge hit with the kids!
So I bet you are wondering where the super soft slide comes into this, huh??
Well while I was cleaning the egg bombs of the porch (another story all together), my dear sweet (cough) Noah got the almost empty (thank God) bottle of fabric softener from the garage and gleefully poured it down the slide. Being pooped from scraping raw eggs off the porch I was in no mood to clean the slide... So I let them slide down it in their jeans and put then the jeans in the washer. Hey, I killed 2 birds with one stone; slide clean and clothes smell good. Kids also needed a bath but that's kinda a daily thing.

ETA:Second loaf turned our much better looking!

Sage Thanksgiving Advice

Thanksgiving is almost here! We are in 3 weeks away from one of my favorite holidays. There is nothing better than spending time with family and friends, sharing a meal, with no commercial expectations of gifts. I am thankful everyday for the wonderful life and family I am blessed with, but having a day set aside to just be thankful (and pig out) is wonderful.
In 1999 I was a new bride, and scared to death to death as I prepared my first Thanksgiving dinner. We ended up inviting a few of my hubby's friends over,luckily it turned out perfect! Now ten years and ten turkeys later, I am still excited to cook Thanksgiving dinner! We take the traditional route with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, home-made gravy, cranberry sauce (the jellied kind from a can lol)and tons of pie of course! A few things have changed over the years; as our family has grown the turkey had to get bigger along with us! Feeding at least 7 this year means at least an 18 pounder. Have I mentioned my family can eat ALOT? I am also making home-made rolls for the first time this year.
One thing that never changes is the seasoning that I use; its a northern seasoning that I have to hunt to get down here but its soo worth it. Just the smell of sage makes me giddy! Bells seasoning has meant the holiday season to me since I was a little girl. Its blend of herbs and spices but mostly sage and oh so yummy on turkey!


“This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as part of a sweepstakes sponsored by Butterball."

Making it on a MUCH Lower Budget and Publix Deals

This week has been a rough one on the finacial home front, well actually it started 2 weeks ago. Dh lost his second job due to downsizing. Then on Wednesday of this week his full time job cut hours from 54 to 43. All together we have lost more than a $1000 a month! This is a scary thing to face. Being the OCD budgeter (is that a word?) that I am, I have the budget done til early January and we will be ok.. by the skin of our teeth. Dh is a working machine and is looking for another part-time job. I have faith he will find one.
I am so thankful to have my newfound frugal skills! Before this we would have been in trouble!
I went to Publix this week and was able to get alot for a good price!
6 32oz College Inn broths sale bogo $2.79
used 6 $1/1 Publix qs from winter booklet
10 Pillsbury Savorings sale bogo $3.99
used 3 $1/1qs and 7 .75/1 qs
2 Mrs. T Perogies sale bogo $2.59
used 2 $1/1qs
4 Cans Hunts tomatoes sale bogo $1.39
used 2 .40/1qs and 1 Publix .55/1
2 Kraft Olive Oil salad dressings sale bogo $2.93
used 2 $1/1qs
4 bags Tollhouse Choc. Chips sale bogo $2.50
used 4 .50/1qs
2 Captain Chrunch on bogo $4.49
used 2 .50/1qs
4 cans Cambells Select soups on bogo $2.39
used 2 .50/2 qs
2 Land o Lakes on bogo 2.09
2 fresh grape tomatoes sale bogo $2.99
McCormick Black Pepper grinder sale $1.99
used $2/1q
1 beechnut baby cereal (for friend) sale $1.40
used $1/1q
2 Nestle Cookie Dough sale 3/$6
used 1 $1.50/2 q
also not on sale
2 packs of chicken quarters
lettuce
rice
brown sugar
Also used $5/50 Albertsons q
Total oop $39.85!
saved $95.44!!!
I am looking for ideas on how to stretch our dollar further outside of the grocery store! Any suggestions?

Free Ziploc Gift Pack

Go here
to sign up for a free gift pack of ziploc products for the holidays! I also includes coupons, but be quick its only the first 20,000.

Tales from a Frugal Test Kitchen

I have only been at this stockpiling-coupon-hoarding thing for a few months and have a pretty good stockpile going. We use to run out of food 2-3 days before I was due to shop again and this was while I was spending $80-$100 a week! We never run out of food now. Its amazing how much you can get for free with a little effort!
That's not to say everything you get is worth it; even if its free.
I will start off with the bad.
How could I not know Hamburger Helper is NASTY??!! I mean really gross! I have 20 boxes of it, right now... That's after giving away 20!
I will be donating most of it to food drives, but hey I actually made money buying them so no loss there!
Voila frozen dinners were another bomb in my house, with the exception of the Alfredo which was pretty yummy, they went over like a ton of bricks. They should have been tasty; lots of frozen but fresh ingredients and pretty tasty sauces, but something was missing. However, they did work out great for my single brother!
There are some things that are surprisingly yummy!
I was very hesitant to try the Steam and Mash Potatoes; had they not been nearly free, I would not have purchased them. But they were super cheap so I HAD to buy them lol. I popped my first bag in the microwave last night. WOW are they good! They tastes just like fresh, homemade ones! The only issue is since they are not water logged from boiling it takes more milk to smooth them out. They don't even need salt.
One bag fed my family of 5 easily and I am feeding 3 boys!
We also discovered that Strawberry Mini Wheat are super tasty.
This week we will be trying the Pillsbery Savorings for the first time, I will let you know how they come out!
Have you had and great successes or huge flops trying new things with coupons??

Walgreens Deals

I am still new to Walgreens couponing. I dont do as well as I do at CVS, but I am learning. I love Glade Candles and since they seem to be the only ones I am not allerigic to I just had to get them!
I picked up 4 Glade Scent Oil Candles on sale for $5.99ea
I used 2 bogo ip ( http://www.glade.com/offers.aspx?offerId=102 ) and 2 $2/1blinkie qs
I also was able to buy 2 packs of Quatro Razors and make $2 overage!
using 1 bogo q & 1 $2/1q PLUS 2 $3/1 Walgreens qs from the Easysaver book.
My total OOP was under $4 and that was mostly tax!!
Please let me know what other deals Wags has this week!

CVS deals

This was a great shopping week at CVS! I think I have become addicted to getting things for free!
I bought:
2 Easy-ups sale 2/$20 get 5 ECBs
used 2 $1.50/1qs
2 Crest Pro-Health sale $3.49 get 3.49 ECBs
used 1 .75/1q and 1 $1/1q
10 Ice Breakers Gum sale $1ea get 5ecb WYB $10
used 5 $1/2qs
2 Gold Emb. candies .99ea
used $1/2 CVSq
1 Dawn Dish Soap .99
used .25/1q
1 Breeze Meter sale $30
used $30/1q
also used CVS $10/50 q
and 18 ECBs
total OOP $2.47
Saved $110!!!!!!!!!!!!!