Now for something completely different......

Check this out.....some super easy lady bug cupcakes!!

1. Bake and frost your cupcakes (any kind of cupcake and frosting will work)

2. Dip the frosted side of each cupcake into red granulated sugar

3. Add chocolate chip dots 

4. Use some type of icing in a tube to draw a black line down the center of each cupcake. Color in the "face" of the lady bug with the frosting. I used black colored 'Betty Crocker Cookie Icing':

Easy breezy ladybug cupcakes!

Have yourself a...........

Merry Christmas!!

Shout out to my viewers in Finland lol

I have had 25 views on this blog so far this week from Finland! Crazy! 

'Kiitoksia Paljon' to my Finnish readers! (I hope that is how you say it)

Peppermint snowball cookies

Ingredients:
3/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup margarine
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered (or confectioners) sugar
1/2 tbsp. red sugar for coloring
4 crushed candy cane
An additional 1/2 cup powdered sugar

1. Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Combined the margarine and shortening in a bowl with the red sugar and 2 of the crushed candy canes. The best way to crunch up the candy canes is to leave them in the wrapper and beat them with something.
3. Add the flour and sugar, to the mix. The dough will seem very loose and weird, but you should be able to form 1 inch sized balls of dough with it. The will be fragile little balls, so gently set them on a greased cookie sheet.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. The bottoms will brown, but overall the cookies will look about the same as when you put them in the oven.
5. Combine  the additional 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and the remaining 2 crushed candy canes in a small bowl.
6. While they are still warm, roll the cookies in the sugar mixture.
7. To give them a more 'snow like' appearance I sprinkled them all with a dusting of a clear "prism" sprinkle. They look like little crystal flakes, I bought them at a specialty baking store.




Here are the little dough balls before I put them in the oven

Here is a warm one out of the oven being coated in sugar and peppermint

The finished product (minus one bite), see the little candy cane dotted centers!

The finished product!

Week of December 18th--No coupons this week :-(

I suspect there wont be any next week either, because of the Christmas holiday being on Sunday (and the next Sunday is New Years Day, so who knows about that week either).  Now is a good time to clean out your binders and get them ready for what will probably be a huge amount of coupons whenever it is that they are published next. See you in 2012 coupons!

Homemade cheeseball recipe

Cheese balls are a delicious addition to any holiday feast! Here is a way to make your own:

You will need:
1. Two rectangle bricks of softened cream cheese
2. One cup of shredded cheddar cheese
3. About 1/3 cup of chopped green onions
4. Slivered almonds (or chopped walnuts, pretzels etc.) to roll the finished product in
5. Chopped cooked bacon

***Other possible additives to your recipe can include: Crumbled blue cheese, pesto, prosciutto, candied walnuts, Worcestershire sauce, or even chopped smoked salmon! The possibilities are endless!

Spread the cream cheese all around the inside of a big bowl. Sprinkle the rest of the ingredients (except the nuts) onto the cream cheese, and gently with a wooden spoon combine it into one big mass. Chill the mass, so that it firms up a bit. Roll the cheese into a ball and roll it in the nuts. Wrap it into clear plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Gifts in a jar.....cookie edition

You will need:

1. 12 quart sized glass mason jars-- I have seen these available at Kroger and Meijer.

2. A funnel- Or a rolled up piece of paper in my case

3. Decorations for the finished jars: Ribbon, stickers, mini candy canes etc.

4. The ingredients for the recipe that you choose--Google search "Gifts in a jar" to browse recipes

The recipe I chose can be found Here.

Start out by layer the ingriedient in a color-contrasting pattern.....

Layer, layer, layer.....make sure you smooth out and press down on each layer with a spoon before you add the next layer. When you are done, the jars will look something like this....

Here is an example of one of the jars I decorated in a Hello Kitty theme, which is perfect for the younger people I am going to give these to. I also have also attached small ornaments, cookie cutters, and candy canes to ribbon in the past.

Attach a card to each jar that tells people how to finish preparing their gift and the cooking instructions!

Easy toddler meals

Lots of companies make 'toddler meals' like Earth's Best, Gerber, Compleats etc. They are easy to serve and convienient to travel with, but making your own meals is fun, healthier, and less expensive than buying the pre-made stuff! Here is what I will show you how to make....... 

"Whole wheat pasta with a very veggie sauce".

1. Boil your noodles....any type works: wagon wheel, penne, spaghetti etc.

2. Add a little bit of olive oil to a large frying pan, and cook some diced fresh veggies until soft.
--I used carrot, onion and zucchini in my recipe.....

3. When the veggies are ready, either puree them in a food processor to make a smooth sauce, or leave them in chunks to make a chunky sauce. Either way, add your spaghetti sauce to the pan with the veggies. Cooked meat and/or cheeses could be added to the sauce at this point.

4. The rest of this is pretty easy. Mix the sauce and the noodles together, and portion it all into little freezer-safe storage containers. Into the freezer they go!  Here is my finished product:

This whole entire process took less than an hour, and yeilded me about 2 weeks worth of the "on the go" food that I require for my little pasta eater! You can always double your batch to make twice the amount of meals!

DIY Holiday presents

Gift baskets are a great affordable Christmas gift that you can make all by yourself! You can custom make them to match the interests of the person your are gifting the basket to, or make several 'generic' baskets all at the same time to gift to the masses.

The supplies needed include:

1. Baskets or containers-Check out consignment stores for fancy baskets!

2. Clear plastic gift wrap-- Check out this video on how to wrap your baskets!

3. Tape

4. Ribbon

5. Goodies to put in the baskets

I like to use square or rectangle baskets like these:

If you find that the basket you select is too deep for your items to be seen, just add a layer of bunched up pieces of wrapping paper or newspaper to prop up your gift items.

For my baskets, I decided on an Italian food theme. In each basket I included: a package fettuccine noodles made by a local bakery, gourmet marinara sauce, a jars of  tapenade sauce to make bruschetta, a few chocolate biscotti cookies, and 2 mini bottles of chocolate wine! 

Other food themes could include: Different spices and seasoning, tea with a coffee mug, cake baking supplies, or different ethnic food themes. The possibilities are endless! Of course if you don't want to do food, you could make a 'pet lovers' gift basket, baby supply basket, or scrapbookers gift basket. You save money by being able to create something, rather than buying it.

Here is my finished product:

CVS deals: Week of December 11th......

There are actually some good deals this week at CVS.....which is good because I was about to disown them if they kept up their lame 'deals' they have been running! As is to be expected this time of the year, all stores are starting to have vitamins and OTC cough/cold/flu medications on sale. Time to stock up for the year!!

1.  Cepacol lozenges are my favorite cough drops. They are medicated lozenges that provide excellent numbing relief of sore throats. In the 12/11/11 Sunday paper there was a coupon to save $1.00 off any Cepacol product, and they are all on sale this week for $4.88 (and you get $1.00 in ECB's back with your purchase!).

The total price will be only $2.88 per item, after you factor in your coupon and ECB earnings!

2. Several different Advil cold and sinus medication is on sale this week for $4.99 a box. Most of these products are located behind the pharmacy counter.

--A coupon is available to save $2.00 a box, in this week's paper!


Final price per item will be $2.99 a box!







3. Nature Made vitamins are on sale BOGO!
--This week I got a coupon printed from the in-store coupon machine to save $2.00 off of a purchase of any Nature Made products. I also had two coupons to save $1.00 off of any Nature Made product, that came out in the paper a few weeks ago.  I bought two bottles of the vitamins pictured here <-----------

Final price per vitamin ended up being about $3.75 a bottle!



4. American Greetings has the same promotion as last week.....Buy 3 cards and earn 3 ECB's!! If you buy 3 of the $1.00 card, you earn back your spendings with $3 in ECB's. Final cost for 3 cards is FREE!!

5. 'Simply Asia' and 'Hormel Compleats' meals are on sale 2 for $4.00
--Print coupons for Hormel products at Hormel.com to save $1.00 off two items!

6. Centrum Pro Nutrients supplements have a coupon to save $7.00 of any 1 item in this weeks newspaper. This is a new product! CVS's coupon machine printed a coupon to save $5.oo off one item, so you can have a total savings of $12.00 off any product  (they are not on sale this week and cost about $20.00 normally)

Meijer deals......Week of December 11th

This week's deals AND coupons are not very good for shopping at Meijer. All the sales and coupons are geared towards 'holiday' food. I am only going shopping for produce this week, as I have plenty of stuff at home that I can make all week. Hopefully the good savings will start back up again after Christmas.


One (kinda) good deal I was able to find this week at Meijer was on Fisher-Price toddler and preschool toys. All "Little People" and "Laugh and Learn" toys are buy 2 get one free!I love the 'Laugh and Learn', they are so cute and sturdy. There is also a M-Perk coupon available to save 10% off of a general merchandise purchase on 12/14 -12/15. So, if you combine the Fisher-Price deal with this M-Perk you can save a lot!

Also, there are lots of M-Perks available for board games. For example, one M-Perks available is to save $5.00 off of the "Game of Life".

So better luck next week couponers, and hopefully you can just live off of your stockpiles this week!!

Gifts in a jar!

 

Every year I make some type of 'gift in a jar'! I have done cookie mix, soup, and cocoa so far.  I have also seen recipes for bath salts, soaps and other non-edible gifts. I have my mason jars bought and am still looking for that perfect recipe for this year's project.....check back soon and I will talk about what I decided to make and give some instructions on how to make your jars look amazing.

Free American Greeting card at CVS this week!

This week at CVS if you buy any three American Greetings cards, you earn $3.00 in Extra Care Bucks.

Buy three 99 cents cards, and get $3.00 in ECB's. Bam! Free cards!

Week of December 4th: Meijer deals!

 This highlights of Meijer's deals this week include a great '99 cent sale', lots of great M-Perks that correspond with this week's manufacturer's coupons, and more Santa Bucks available to clip online. Here are some deals:


Ester-C vitamins
--M-Perks available online for $2.00 off one item AND a coupon in this weeks paper to save an additional $2.00 off one item. Combined savings of $4.00 per item!!!









Aquaphor ointment coupons available for 0.35oz sizes and larger!

--Mperks coupon available to save $1.00 AND a Sunday paper coupon to save $1






Pepperidge Farms Breakfast Swirl Bread is BOGO!
--A coupon to save 40 cents (doubles to 80 cents) in today's newspaper....make sure you use two coupons to get $1.60 of savings!

***In other bread news, Brownberry bread is also BOGO, and Aunt Millie's english muffins are 99 cents!

Half off at the Body Shop!

You can shop online at The Body Shop, and save 50% off of your order AND get totally free shipping!! Why deal with all the crazies at the mall when you can shop at home at rock bottom prices??

GET YOUR COUPON CODES HERE!

A great 'stocking stuffer' or 'Secret Santa' gift is the mini body scrub, which normally retails for $6.00. You can purchase it for about $3.40 (tax included) with free shipping! Trust me, this stuff is the best!

* What is a coupon code?
--A coupon code is used when shopping online. You can find them all over the internet, and often on the website that you are shopping on. It is the equivalent of a store coupon, and usually you just type in your code on the 'payment' page BEFORE placing your order. Make sure to look at your total, before paying to ensure that your coupon code works.

Hot deals on Playskool toys at Kohls!

All Playskool brand toys are 50% off right now at Kohls!

Fun!

How to get a real letter from Santa sent to your kids!

Check this website out!

All it costs is $6, and the proceeds benefit a good cause.

Shopping at the hospital.....

Sounds weird, right? Well here in SE Michigan hospitals are seemingly everywhere, and where there is a hospital, there is an outpatient pharmacy. Think of it as the hospital's CVS (except they don't take coupons). Personally, my family's physicians are located right in the hospital near us.

Today I was at a conference in a hospital, and walked in the outpatient pharmacy to buy some cough drops....boy was I surprised. A nice sized bag of Halls was less than $1.50! Everything there was so cheap! The cashier said that it was because the hospital bought and sold everything 'at cost' without crazy mark-ups! I will return tomorrow for another day of this conference and may just go back by the pharmacy and see what other deals I can find!