A Few Tricks for Healthy & Delicious Waffles

We love waffles. It's one of the few things that everyone here eats and doesn't bother my breast-feeding infant with reflux, plus it's a quick, easy and low-cost meal. Here are a few tips that I have found to make them healthier and tastier.

• Add a heaping tablespoon of ground flax seed to the batter. It help you get your Omega-3's, some extra fiber and protein and you can't taste it. I also throw a tablespoon of wheat germ into the batter for extra Vitamin E and fiber and no one can taste that either.
• Substituting almond milk for regular milk adds a slightly nutty flavor and decreases calories.
• If you use a professional waffle iron it will improve your waffles regardless of your batter recipe. The flipping motion introduces more air into the waffle. I was surprised that they only cost about $10 more than a good quality standard waffle iron.
• Putting a couple tablespoons of applesauce on your waffle moistens them without a ton of syrup, reducing sugar without sacrificing taste. (I got this idea from a friend. When she was growing up her grandparents didn't keep sugar or syrup in the house, so they put applesauce on their waffles so they weren't dry and tasteless.)
• Recently I tried some of my homemade applesauce (it's brown from the cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg) with just a little bit of real maple syrup drizzled on top. It was so yummy.

Wedding Apparel for $10- No Sewing Skills Required

Last August I found myself in a predicament. My husband's little sister was getting married.  I needed to find something for myself and my newborn to wear to her wedding reception. When looking for dresses for my baby, I couldn't find the right colors. Everything that was white was  a) too big, b) covered in sequins c) cost a lot more money than I was willing to pay for something she would wear once or d) all of the above. I couldn't see myself spending $60 on something that she was going to pee, poop and/or throw up on and had to be dry-cleaned. Fortunately, my best friend came up with a brilliant idea. Make her a tutu. She can wear it with a white onesie, it's comfortable and if she poops on it (which she did), I can easily change it out.  I got the materials for the skirt for $2, watched an internet video and had a tutu in less than 2 hours. Tada!

 Originally my sister-in-law had planned on having her wedding a couple weeks before my due date, but when I said that we would not be able to travel she changed her wedding to a week and a half after my due date. I appreciated her consideration so that we could be there, but either way it left me having a hard time finding something to wear. (My MIL insisted it didn't matter what I wore, but I didn't want my SIL forever looking at her wedding pictures and thinking, 'Remember that time I got married and Heather wore a hospital gown to my wedding reception? Yeah, that was something.')  How do you find formal wear when you are nine months pregnant with your third child or for that unknown size you are going to be immediately after having said child. I was pretty sure that after having the baby I would be smaller than pregnant, but how much smaller? Not down to pre-pregnancy size. One size? 3 sizes? How do you plan for that? (Also in one department, smaller is not the size direction that you go.)  I spent dozens of hours in stores and online trying to find a dress that would work. I found one dress with an empire waist that almost fit at Dillard's when I was four months along and called their website looking for a size or two up. No luck, they had sold out of those sizes in every store across the country. Awesome.
 After I had Miss Cindy Lou Who I called every clothing store in town. "Do you have something formal or semi-formal in green apple or royal blue in my size?" One girl responded "Are you fifteen?"
 "Nope."
"Then you probably wouldn't wear the only thing I found in royal blue. It has spaghetti straps and a mini skirt."
 "Um, no. I can't say that that would work."
 There is another store on St George Boulevard that always has lovely dresses in the display window. I called them and they had one dress in each color. And because they close before my husband gets home from work I went down there with my infant and my three-year old. (Yes, crazy. I know.) Each dress was around $165 and both of them were several sizes too big and would need to be tailored, drastically. I looked at them on the hangers while Thing 2 ran in circles around me and the racks of dresses, and said "This isn't going to work."
 The shop lady responded with a very patronizing tone "Well, we could have helped you if you had given us a few weeks more notice."
 "Well, a week ago I was pregnant and couldn't tell you what dress size I needed anyway." Not to mention I can't see myself spending that much money on a dress that I am not absolutely in love with.

 Then I tried a second-hand store that I had called earlier. Second-hand stores have changing inventory, so it was worth a shot. I found a blouse in royal blue for $8.50. Cha-ching!!! And I had a 20% off coupon. I paired it with my favorite black skirt and we were in business.

  So there we go. My husband had the rented tux provided by the groom's family, Thing 1 had her green apple Easter dress, Thing 2 had the tux that I bought him for the last family wedding (this time he had grown into the smallest size available), baby and I were covered and I did it for under $10.

Book Review: How to Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half with America's Cheapest Family

To give me some ideas to make it through my pantry challenge, I read How to Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half with America's Cheapest Family: So Many Innovative Strategies You Won't Have to Cut Coupons by Steve and Annette Economides. I enjoyed reading it. It has lots of great suggestions, even if sometimes it's a little on the cheesy side. I love that the authors emphasize that your time is at least as valuable as your money. They spend $350 each month feeding their large family, and they don't do it by hitting the loss leaders at 6 grocery stores per week. The strategies that they use work for them because they provide them with more time with their family. And their basic suggestions aren't new or revolutionary, but they do elaborate with lots of examples that have worked for them and other families who read their blog.

• Have a plan- plan your grocery list, plan your meals, plan your money
• Look at ads, then coupon and price match 
• Stock up on good deals
• Shop once per month
• Cook once per month & freeze multiple meals
• Get your family involved
• Organize your kitchen/pantry/freezer in a way that makes shopping & cooking efficient
• Learn to cook and eat at home
• Garden

 That's the basic premise of their book. These down-to-earth ideas are all things that we have heard before, but I think the key that really brings it all together is having a plan. This is true when it comes to most things, whether you're talking about feeding your family, saving for college or running a business. You have to decide that your are going to save money on your groceries and how you are going to do it.
 At the end of every chapter they have suggestions for which ever level you're at. If you're a beginner there are suggestions for you, there are suggestions for those with some experience who are trying to do better and then there are even tips for the experts. In one of the book reviews I read, someone complained that all of the ideas in this book were great if you have a large family, but irrelevant for most people. I have to disagree with that. They have suggestions that work for the young, old and in between. There are ideas that can work if you live by yourself or are part of a family of 12. You just have to pick out the ideas that are relevant to your situation.
  Here are some of my favorite tips from the book:

• Buy produce in bags, you get more for your money. Produce bags have to be a certain minimum weight, but often weigh more than that and are usually cheaper per pound than loose produce.
• Share recipes with friends to get new cooking ideas.
• Put a small plastic basket in your cart where you put all of your "impulse buys". Before you get to the check-out evaluate if you really need any or all of those items.
• Picky eaters can easily sabotage frugality. Find creative ways to get them to eat what the rest of the family is eating.

End of the Pantry Challenge

Spending for last week:

• $21.50 for Bountiful Basket and extras that I split with friends (that's what I ended up paying)

That means that I went over my $100 goal by less than a dollar. Not too shabby. As long as I can stay out of the grocery store until Wednesday.

 For the last two days of the pantry challenge lunches are (have been) consisting of soup, sandwiches and mac and cheese. (Someday they'll get over this food jag.) For dinner tonight I made Chilean Lime Beans and Rice, it went well. Then we made cookies from ingredients in the pantry for family night. Tomorrow we'll have beans and rice again, because goodness it made a lot. I put a bunch in the freezer and we still have quite a bit in the fridge.

 I was hoping that this experiment would use up lots of the contents of my pantry. We didn't use as much as I hoped. We did however, try four new recipes using food storage that were successful, eat lots of fresh produce, cleared out some space in my freezer and saved a fair amount of cash. Looking at my pantry I feel like I need to do this for another month to get things cleared out and rotated. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. I hope that my experience encouraged you to try a few new recipes and make use of the things that you have in your pantry.

Pantry Challenge Week 4

I meant to put this up yesterday, but family and friends come before blogging.
Grocery spending last week:

• Whole wheat hamburger buns- $2.45

• 2 cans pinto beans- $1.08

• 2 gallons milk- $4.25

• package of tortillas- $1

• package of pretzels- 50 cents (after coupon)

• package of Yoplait- free (after coupon)

• can of Carnation Instant Breakfast- $3.70 (after coupon)

• Bountiful Basket (apples, bananas, pears, oranges, cauliflower, broccoli, kiwis, pomegranates, lettuce, corn on the cob)  + bread pack that I split with my mom- $12

Total- $26.36 after tax
Total for the month so far- $79.36

Now I have to admit that I cheated. My family was visiting from out of town and we took them to lunch. Lunch for 5 adults and 2 children came to $59. Not really compatible with the $100 challenge. But I'm not going to be a bad hostess just because I'm doing some crazy pantry challenge. And I did make them eat food storage experiments for their other meals, which actually turned out pretty good. And I never got around to making the BBQ beans because I had too many other leftovers.

Menu Plan:
Breakfast
oatmeal
cereal
yogurt
fruit
smoothies

Lunch
leftovers
Ramen noodles (my kids love them)
shells and cheese
sandwiches

Dinner
BBQ beans
leftovers
Whole Grain Vegetable Lasagna*
Mac & Cheese with Cauliflower
Cream of Vegetable Chowder If you want to add chicken, be my guest.
Taco Salad

Sides & Snacks
Corn on the Cob
salad
roasted vegetables
fresh fruit
homemade bread and jam

*If you live in the Utah county area there is a Stouffer's thrift store near the plant in Springville, UT. Anything that isn't perfect goes to the thrift store. This could mean that they messed up the product, but most often it means that the package is under or overweight. Recently when my mom was there she found frozen Whole Grain Vegetable Lasagnas for $1.99 each, so she brought a few down when she came to visit. They tasted great. Hope that helps someone who is trying to get dinner on the table for less without spending their lives in the kitchen. :)

December Updates

Great news!

1. I passed the CPN exam! I am now a Certified Pediatric Nurse and I get to put extra letters after my name. Wahoo!
2. Cindy Lou Who's reflux is getting better. She's still on more than $500 worth of medication each month and I still can not have tomatoes or onions, but I can have small amounts of cranberries, chocolate, citrus, beans and dairy. Really, this is huge people.
3. We had a great Christmas, including some time with my brother-in-law who just came home from the Philippines.

With these big things behind us I'm ready to conquer the world. Or maybe just tackle my house. It needs serious work. And perhaps get around to fixing my blog, that is getting my computer programming husband to fix my blog. Starting the first of the year I'm going to try something new: The $100 Challenge. For the month of January I plan on spending no more than $100 on groceries for my family of five. It's basically a pantry challenge, but gives me some leway to buy milk and fresh produce. I'll share my menus and food storage ideas here and I'll find prizes for some of those who want to join me in my endeavors to rotate my pantry items and save some money. Who is with me?

St George- Local Businesses

 When you move somewhere new, it can be hard to know where to go for various goods and services. It certainly took me awhile to figure it out. (And I can't say I've got it all down yet.) Here are some of the local small businesses that I have had good experiences with. I am not being compensated in any way for endorsing them. They don't even know that I am endorsing them. Each of them have just done a good job at a fair price.

Bosch Kitchen Store- 188 North Bluff Street  This place has the best prices on fresh organic bread. $1.84 per loaf and occasionally they have other deals going too, like buy 1 get 1 free. They have a good variety of breads at this price. My kids love the Cinnaburst bread, which makes great french toast. Cafe Atlas, the restaurant that they have inside the store, has some really yummy sandwiches and soups, but unfortunately they are only open until 4, or I swear I would go there a lot more often. The Bosch store is also the best local place to go for less than usual baking ingredients, like wheat gluten and a variety of grains. They also offer free cooking classes. Sometimes there are coupons for both the Bosch store and Cafe Atlas in the Valpak envelope, and Cafe Atlas has a deal on the Dixie Direct card.

Coyote Exchange- 140 N 400 W B3- A local second-hand clothes store with a really great selection. My husband's little sister recently got married and I had been looking for something to wear since before she was engaged. I had looked at every store locally, several online stores and a few dozen stores near where my family lives without any luck. Two days before the wedding I found a satin blouse in one of her wedding colors here for less than $8, and it looked brand new. I also found good deals on a few other items for myself and my husband. (They don't carry children's clothing.) They often have coupons in the newspaper, and have several in the local coupon calendar that comes in the mail. I am certain that I will be going back here.

Dixie Battery- 1250 W Sunset Blvd Ste C-18 This place is kind of hidden, and easy to miss, but they provide the best prices on car batteries. They were also knowledgeable and friendly guys.

The Tailor Maid- 435-674-7102 The summer before last my brother got married and I had a difficult time trying to find something to wear to his wedding and reception. A few days before we were to leave on our trip I found the perfect dress in a whole size to big. I called a few other seamstresses in the area first who said that taking it in would cost $60-$100 and take at least two weeks. That just was not going to work. Karen took in my dress in less than an hour and only charged me $10. I felt like I had found my fairy godmother. She has over 35 years of experience and did a fantastic job.

Terminator Pest Control- 435-862-9334 If you live in this area good pest control is a must. However I find that most local pest control places are ridiculously over-priced. And most that I talked to want to you sign a contract and have them come back every or every other month to spray again, charging around $90 each time. Ridiculous. John is nice, amiable guy, recommended by my neighbors and charges less than half of anyone else's best offer that I could find.

Tips on Newborn Diapers

Cindy Lou-Who modeling the W brand diaper

 Through personal experience and talking to other moms I have determined that when it comes small babies (7-10 pounds), Pampers Swaddlers size 1 (8-14lbs) are more effective than Huggies at preventing leaks. After that stage I generally use Huggies because there are more coupons and deals available, and there's not a big difference.
 Last Saturday night, we were staying with family and I realized we only had 3 diapers left. So I made a late night run to Walgreen's. They did not have Pampers Swaddlers in size 1 stocked. So I decided to give the store brand a whirl. The Walgreens newborn diapers are sized up to 10 lbs, so I tried those.  I found that I have been having even fewer leaks than I did with the Pampers, and they are significantly less expensive.

Here's the price comparison for the Walgreen's that I stopped at.
Pamper's Swaddlers size 1- 40 diapers- $11.99
Walgreen's Newborn- 42 diapers-$8.99

Currently there is a P&G (manufacturer's) coupon out for $1.50 off 2 packs of Pampers or one case, and if you ask at the make-up counter there is another coupon (store) for $2 off any package of Pamper's diapers. At Walgreen's you can use both a store & a manufacturer's coupon for the same product. (Ask for the Infant Care coupon brochure.) So if the Pampers were available my total would have been $18.48 plus tax.

Currently (through 9/24/11) there is a deal where when you buy one Walgreen's product you can get a second of the same for 50% off. And in the Infant Care coupon brochure there is also a coupon for $2 off any Walgreen's Brand diapers jumbo pack. (Because it is a store coupon the $4 is taken off before the 50% off discount.) So my total was $10.48 plus tax for 2 packages of diapers. And they are just as good if not better for the stage that my infant is at right now. And yes, you don't have the reward codes, but a discount of $4 per package of diapers is worth more than a reward code.

Some Tips About Upromise and Sallie Mae

So a few years ago I opened a Upromise account to get a head start on saving for my kids college. It's somewhat like Ebates. You get a percentage of what you spend online put into an account that you can use to pay off student loans, or pay tuition and other college expenses. There are a few other ways of earning money too. Sometimes there are surveys you can take, you can earn money back on dining, groceries, etc. Originally this money was to be for the kids' college fund, but then my husband went back to school and had to take out some loans, so I wanted to the money I've earned to pay off his loans first. His loan was already linked to the account, but there was not an option online for me to transfer money as payment towards his loan. I called the number listed on the website: 1-888-434-9111 (Whatever you do, do not call that number.)

The person I talked to at Upromise said they had to transfer me to Sallie Mae. Fine.

The second person I talked to said I was not authorized to information related to his account. Fine, talk to him. Why would I be trying to pay off his student loan if I am not his wife? He promptly gave them permission, because that means I'll take care of it and he doesn't need to worry about it. After I got back on the phone they transferred me to someone else because they were not authorized to transfer payments.

The third person I talked to was kind of confused and transferred me to someone else. He said that I needed to link the two accounts together before I could do anything and I should try making a payment online. If that had been a possibility I would not have bothered calling.

The fourth person I talked to was also confused and tried to tell me that I couldn't access the loan information, before changing their mind about it. There is no information that she could give me that I couldn't access myself from the Sallie Mae website. She transferred me to someone else.

The fifth person I talked to tried to give me all of the same bologna that the other incompetent people gave me, before deciding that I needed to call Upromise. "I did call Upromise, and they transferred me to three other people before you." "Oh, well just a minute." She gave me a different number to call. 39 minutes of my life wasted. And guess where the number she gave me sent me?

A Ford dealership. No, I'm pretty sure that they can help me about as much as the fools at Sallie Mae. Later my husband asked me a question about the account. I told him that the people at Sallie Mae were idiots. "Well, at least they are using the money we are paying in interest to provide jobs for the handicapped."

I went back to the Upromise website and found a different number. 1-800-877-6647. After talking to the guy for a few minutes, he set it up so at the beginning of the next quarter all my money will be transferred over to the student loan, and every quarter when there is a balance of at least $10, that money will be applied to the student loan also. Hallelujah! $689 down, some odd thousand left to go. Why couldn't I have talked to that guy in the first place?

Lessons learned:

• Call Sallie Mae at your own peril and only if you are interested in being transferred around in circles and hoping to waste a lot of time.
• Some customer support numbers listed on websites are better than others. The one that actually spells the name of the company is usually a safe bet.

Where to Find Grocery Coupons

Recently a neighbor asked me where I find my coupons. Here's my list.

1. Newspapers- I take a subscription to the Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune for weekends only. I know that The St George Spectrum carries the Red Plum inserts in addition to Smart Source, Proctor & Gamble, and General Mills, however the subscription costs 6-8 times as much as the Salt Lake papers, so whatever additional coupons I would get are not really worth the cost. Two newspapers provides me with more than enough coupons. If there is something to good to pass up I'll get it from a newsstand.
2. Coupon printing websites- Coupons.com is the biggest one, but I have found that most often any coupon found there can be printed from the Swagbucks website instead, which gives you points that can be exchanged for Amazon gift cards.  Big food companies like Kellogs and General Mills will often have coupons on their websites that you can print. You can also try RedPlum.com & SmartSource.com, but I have found the printing widgets to be less reliable and their trouble shooting tips to be worthless, and I consider myself to be fairly technically competent.
3. Facebook- Many companies will allow you to print coupons for their products if you "like" their page. I tend to not use my personal account to do this, because I prefer to have my FB feed be full of updates from my family, friends and neighbors and not cluttered with ads. When I find great printable coupons I share them on my public Facebook profile.
4. GrocerySmarts.com- I Heart this website. Not only does it match up coupons with ads, it tells me where I can find individual coupons to print. It totally makes my life easier. This one also gives tips on how to get Catalinas.
5. Mail- Because I am pregnant I have been getting oodles of coupons for infant formula for free (I think I filled out a survey at some point and that's what started it). Smith's also send me a booklet of coupons for various products at least once a month. If you are really ambitious you can write away for more coupons, but I'm not. CouponingtoDisney is great reference for companies you can write to for coupons and samples.
6. Rite-Aid.com- Another printable I am generally not patient enough for this one. There are great savings to be had, but I usually have to sit and watch a video to get them, and I find that the vast majority of the time when I go to Rite-Aid the great deals are all gone.
7. Grocery Checkout- Often coupons (aka Catalinas) will print when I am paying for my groceries, or sometimes they will be on the back of the receipt.

Virtual Coupons- I love these because there is no clipping involved. The only hassle is remembering your login and password to load them.

1. Upromise- These can be stacked and do not show up on your total. I often forget about them. You just have to link your grocery cards to the Upromise website, and if you purchase one of the items instead of getting "money off", you get "money back" in the form of college savings. The problem with these is that are for national brands and I find that many of them are for products that my local stores don't even carry, but I still try to look through them once a month. Another problem is that these coupons are slow to show up and there have been occasions when I know I have bought a product from the list (even without stacking with other coupons) and never received credit for the coupon. But I have saved a few dollars using these.
2. pgeverydaysolutions.com- These Proctor & Gamble coupons are also linked to your grocery card, but are not stackable. There is some overlap with Smith's digital coupons. You can also request that they mail samples and coupons to you and I find that these coupons often are of higher value than the ones found in the newspaper inserts, plus they're free.
3. Smith'sFoodandDrug.com- These are also linked to your grocery card, but are not stackable. This site sometimes also provides a few additional printable coupons. You do have to wait at least two hours after loading them to redeem them. Warning: if you have a better paper coupon for a product and have already loaded one of these to your card, you don't get to pick. You have to take the digital discount. There is an exception to the stacking rule. As an example if you have a digital coupon for Reese's Puffs and a paper coupon for 2 General Mills cereals, you can use both if you buy 2 GM cereals and one of them is Reese's Puffs. This site also sometimes has promotional games you can play for free stuff. Last summer I played a spin game and got a free package of Johnsonville sausage and a free Gatorade.
4. Shortcuts.com- Same rules as the first two, and it also offers a few printable grocery coupons, but I have never printed from this site. There is some overlap for the digital coupons found here and the Smith's website and sometimes it won't let you load from both, but then sometimes it will, you just have to purchase 2 of an item to redeem both coupons. Annoying thing about this one is they are always sending me emails trying to get me to do my online shopping through them. I'm happy with using Upromise and Ebates.
5. Cellfire.com- I like this one because I log in using my cellphone number and birthday. I can remember that regardless of what computer I am on. This one doesn't offer a huge selection, they're mostly GM product coupons that are also found other places. But when I find a stock-up sale on fruit snacks they come in very handy.
6. Savingstar.com- This one is either really great or meh. Like Upromise you link coupons to your grocery card and you don't get money off, so they're stackable, and once you reach a savings total of at least $5 you can use your savings to purchase a gift card. (The only one I remember is an Amazon gift card, but there were others.) I've gotten some awesome ones like Huggies and Carnation Instant Breakfast, but this month doesn't offer much that I might actually buy. I also found that they're somewhat retroactive. I bought the Huggies and the next day discovered the digital coupon here and loaded the coupon in case I went back for more. I never did and the next time I checked my account they had given me credit for the Huggies coupon. Sweet. (That was just my experience, no guarantees that that will happen every time.)

Are there any places that I have missed? I hope that was helpful.

Food Storage Friday and Vegetarian Link-Up

 My husband has recently decided to be a vegetarian. And I sort of follow suit because I don't want to bother making two or three meals every night. Right now I find that if I go two or three days without eating meat I start feeling weak and nauseated (more so than usual). I also found that when I don't eat meat I don't gain weight, which I need to be doing right now. I don't need a lot of meat to fix the problem, a turkey sandwich will usually do the trick, but I have to have meat. Perhaps I will give it a more concerted effort when I am not trying to grow a person in my belly. For now I cook vegetarian meals at home and when we go out to eat, or sometimes when I'm at work I eat meat. (The kids don't really like to eat meat anyway, except for the occasional chicken nugget.) So I'm eating some meat, but not very much.
 So why go vegetarian? Here are a few bonuses about the lifestyle:

• It dramatically lowers your cholesterol and calorie intake.
• Cutting out the meat significantly reduces your grocery bill.
• Vegetarian protein sources are cheaper to store and last significantly longer in your food storage than canned or dried meat.
• Meat is unfortunately "fortified" with steroids, antibiotics and growth hormones. None of which I recommend taking without a prescription.
• It forces you to pay attention to think about what you are eating. While you are looking at the ingredients, it's more likely that you may be thinking 'Is this good for me?'
• Vegetarians live longer and don't get sick as often.
• Going vegetarian leaves a smaller carbon footprint.

 Here's the my vegetarian experiment of the week:

Crock Pot Pepper Pasta
Food Storage Ingredients:
2 cans (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
1/8 cup olive oil
2 cans (6 oz) tomato paste
2 Tablespoons jarred, pre-chopped garlic
1 Tablespoon dried basil
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
1 lb pasta, prepared according to directions

Fresh Ingredients:
3 bell peppers, chopped into 1 inch pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
6 Tablespoons shredded Parmesean

1. Mix everything except pasta and cheese together in crock pot. Cook on low for 7 hours or high for 3 hours. 2. When sauce is almost done prepare pasta. 3. Season sauce to taste. Serve with Parmesean.

This stuff made my house smell wonderful. I served it over whole wheat pasta with green apples and french bread (in the interest of providing something I could guarantee my kids would eat.) I thought the sauce was a little thinner than I liked, so next time I may drain one of the cans of tomatoes. My husband loved it the way it was and used his french bread to soak it up.

Now I am well aware that giving up meat is a huge life-style change. I obviously can not say that I have managed to do it. But if you can reduce the amount of meat that you're eating, think of the benefits. You will save money and improve your health, (which also saves you money). It has taken a little work and experimentation, but I have found myself trying and loving many foods that I never would have thought of trying before. Vegetarian cooking has also given me a boost of confidence in my culinary skills. Where my husband works they go out to eat/order in pretty frequently, and usually he's more interested in my leftovers than what is available at local restaurants. Haha!  So this week I am inviting anyone out there to share their favorite vegetarian recipes. And if it includes rice, pasta, oats, potatoes, wheat or beans, all the better!

Food Storage Friday: Bean Pancakes

Over a year ago I came across a recipe blog hop on Trying Our Best, (I love getting recipe ideas from other people.) which included a recipe from Sunrise on the Water for bean pancakes. I thought that I would give it a try, but of course I made several changes, shared it with my buddy Liesa who had some good suggestions and voila!- another happy food storage concoction. I love that this recipe is a good mix of fresh and food storage ingredients and in a pickle I could make it from all food storage ingredients. Plus it's healthy, easy to prepare and super cheap to make. Also if the name "bean pancakes" sounds too weird for you, try calling them bean tortillas, because really they're like a healthy tortilla, you just cook them like a pancake. You could easily fill them with eggs and green chiles or taco stuffings. Enjoy!

Bean Pancakes
Food Storage Ingredients:
1 15 oz can beans, rinsed, drained & mashed (I've done black or kidney, both are great, the pancakes pictured are made with black beans)
1 12 oz can evaporated milk
1&1/4- 1&1/3 cup wheat flour (depending on how moist your beans are)
2 Tablespoons canola oil
dash of lime pepper
a couple shots of Tabasco sauce (I prefer the green variety for this)
salsa for topping

Fresh Ingredients:
1-2 Tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 egg
shredded cheese
avocado sour cream or ranch dressing

1. Mix beans, milk, wheat flour, oil, pepper, Tabasco, cilantro, garlic and egg until a pancake consistency. There will still be chunks of beans, but you want to make sure that the flour is mixed in well. 2. Make into pancakes. While you are cooking the second side of the pancakes, sprinkle a little shredded cheese on top so it melts onto the pancake. 3. Top with salsa, avocados, sour cream or whatever you please.

 I served mine with Cafe Rio style rice, peach salsa and mango smoothies, but go with what sounds good to you. If you plan on stuffing them taco stuff I would add the lesser amount of wheat so they're a little thinner and easier to fold. As I'm writing this I just had the thought that next time I should add some green chiles or other peppers to the pancake mix. I'm sure it will be delicious. I'll let you know how it goes. Also I would advise against telling small children that these are pancakes. Both of my kids were pretty upset that I made them pancakes that we were not putting syrup on.

Romantic Getaway on a Budget: 2nd Edition.

A few weeks ago we celebrated our wedding anniversary. Now that my husband's done with school and we're in position where our monthly income exceeds our monthly expenses, we probably could have really splurged for our anniversary. However, we're trying save money and pay off the student loans that we acquired putting him through school instead. Besides that I was seven months pregnant at the time and extensive traveling isn't high on my list of things that sound like fun. The answer: plan and find a coupon. We visited family in Utah county for a few days, then left the kids with Grandma and headed to Salt Lake for a couple days with an envelope full of coupons and gift certificates. All total our getaway cost less than $200 and I over-prepared as far as coupons were concerned. (We also hit a movie with a movie gift card that a friend had given us.) But you can take any of these deal sites, pick your destination and find deals on food and entertainment.

Here are some of the deals I planned:

Groupons:
Blue Iguana for dinner-50% off
Vosen's German Bakery for breakfast- 50% off
Laser show at Clark Planetarium- 50% off

I love Groupons.  Every Groupon is at least 50% off. I've gotten some great deals on restaurants and shopping. It also takes some of the guess work out of where we should go for dinner.

CityDeals Gift Certificates:
60 Minute Massage- 85% off
Taste of Thai- 60% off

I am very pregnant and my husband is developing back problems from sitting in front of a computer screen all day. We both needed a good massage. I also enjoy Thai food. :) One bonus with gift certificates is that you're less likely to run into the problem of the cashier, waitress, etc, not knowing how to ring up your discount.

Ebates
Hotels.com- Here I booked a popular hotel for 50% off and using Ebates I got $6 back.
Restaurant.com- Another discount restaurant gift certificate site where I got a few discount dinner options. Pros- With Ebates you get 15% (sometimes more) back + there are often coupon codes to get an additional 60-80% off. Cons- there are a few more stipulations to the gift certificates than others that I've gotten. However, they can still be well worth it.

For other ideas on saving money on a romantic getaway, see my post from last year.

Food Storage Friday: No-Bake Energy Bars

Well  it's summer in St George and I have officially reached that point where I avoid using my oven at all costs. Recently I found this recipe for  no-bake energy bars and I am in love. I found the recipe on Skinny Bovine's Kitchen and she got it from Love Veggies and Yoga. I made a couple of minor changes. These things make a great breakfast on the go. Enjoy.

No-Bake Energy Bars
Food Storage Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/3 cup chopped nuts (I used cashews)
1/2 cup maple syrup (the real stuff)
1/2 cup dried fruit (I used craisins)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 Tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)

Fresh Ingredients:
1 ripe banana, mashed
1 Tablespoon wheat germ (optional)

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl. 2. Flatten on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. (I found to fill a standard size cookie sheet you need to double the batch.) 3. Freeze for 8 hours, cut into bars, wrap in plastic wrap or individual baggies. Store in the freezer because they soften up quickly.

Eating these when they soften up reminds me of eating oatmeal cookie dough, but it's safer and healthier.

Free Family Friendly Activities in Utah-Summer 2011

While I was in northern Utah recently I discovered a few events that I would be likely to attend if I didn't live a solid 4 hours away. But I am certain that this information will be helpful to someone out there who reads my blog, right? Also, the more research I did on this, the more I realized I can't fit it all into one blogpost. Expect more to come.

Free Community Concerts- Utah Symphony

July 6- 7:30 pm @ Abravanel Hall
July 11- 8:30 pm @ Utah Cultural Celebration Center
July 13- 8 pm @ Sandy Amphitheater

Not something I would recommend for the whole family if your children are as young as mine, but a good date night. Call 801-533-6683 for more information

Free classes for kids

Chess for Kids- Orem Library- Story-telling Area
Thursdays 4pm-6pm- Volunteers help kids to learn and improve their Chess skills, bring your own board if possible

Children's Author Series- Orem Library- Story-telling Area
Thursdays 2pm- Top authors and illustrators teach kids about the process of making a book on Thursdays in June and July.

Other Free Events

American Freedom Festival- Balloon Fest: Bulldog Field, Provo
July 1, 2, & 4- 6:30- 8am

American Freedom Festival- Colonial Days: Crandall Printing Museum, Provo
July 1, 2, & 4- 10 am

Negotiating Savings

Monday was not the best of days for me. I had (still have) a kidney infection and was having contractions so hard and frequently I could barely walk. My husband was out of town on business and Thing 1 and Thing 2 were not on their best behavior. And my house was in a fairly pathetic state. Despite this I had a few  money-saving victories that I think illustrate the principle of "not just taking what you are given"and being assertive.

Victory #1- So I called my doctor to let him know that the antibiotic that I was on was not effective, at all. A few hours later his office called saying that they had called in a new prescription. When I went to pick it up my co-pay was $35 and change, for a generic mind you. I said "Wow, that is significantly more than the last prescription that I had. (It was only $4.) Does it make a difference if I use a different insurance company?"  "Well, let's see what we can do."
 Now I have been told before that for prescriptions, even if you have double coverage, they will only use one insurance company, and insurance company co-pays are pretty much all the same. But I thought I would check anyway. A few minutes later the pharmacy tech said "Ok, that will be $5." Wahoo! It doesn't hurt to ask. One question saved me more than $30.

Victory #2- My husband likes to build things and fix things. It comes in handy. Awhile ago he decided to invest in a few hundred dollars worth of tools. The store he bought them from had a promotion that if you put them on the store credit card (which he already had) and made minimum payments, you paid no interest for a year. So I set up automatic payments and forgot about it. (Oops!) A couple weeks after the complete balance was due I remembered my mistake. I promptly paid off the remainder of the principle, but discovered that my mistake had cost me more than $84. Ouch. So Monday while I was laying on the couch, and feeling unable to do other productive things I gave them a call. I apologized for forgetting to pay the balance in full on time and asked if there was anyway that I could get the interest reduced. I was put on hold for about ten minutes. When the man I spoke to returned he said that this one time they could waive all of the interest charges. Better than I had hoped for. And I didn't have to work that hard for it. I was ready to threaten to cancel the account, but that wasn't even necessary. One phone call saved me $84.

Victory #3- Last week my husband was in an accident. On the way home an elderly gentleman ran a stop sign and my husband was unable to stop soon enough to avoid hitting him and t-boned his car. Fortunately no one was hurt, for which I am very grateful. Our car was however totaled. Besides being very inconvenient, this is expensive no matter how you slice it. Our car is not worth what it would cost to replace and we recently we just put down a significant amount of money on new tires and other maintenance related things. Mrggg. If I had a crystal ball I wouldn't have put that money down. The adjuster from the other insurance company called and left a message while I was on the other phone. Before calling them back I called my insurance company wondering if they could give me a ballpark figure for what my car was worth. The quote he gave me was about $1600 more than my limited internet research had yielded. Now I don't know how much they are going to offer, but it's nice to have some information to leverage with. I figured my insurance company would be fairly straightforward with me. It doesn't cost them anything one way or the other. I called the other insurance company back and left a message, but they haven't called me back. Whatever, I keep the rental car until they settle things, and I know that the rental car is worth a lot more than my crunched car is. Potential savings from five minutes of my time: $1600.  Ha, ha, ha! Couch time can be productive. I saved more money than if I had spent the day working. :)

Here are some tips for negotiating savings.

1. Ask nicely.
2. Remember that businesses want to keep your loyalty and will often work with you to do so.
3. Ask questions/ do research to make sure that you are well-informed.
4. Credit card companies are more likely to waive interest and fees if you have a history of making your payments on time.
5. Your first answer isn't always the final answer.
6. You have little to lose in seeing if you can get a better deal.

Heartsy: A New Way to Save Money on Gifts

Last week I came across a new deal website: Heartsy. It's like Groupon, but they only offer deals on Etsy stores. All deals are at least 50% off and are generally offered for 24 hours, or until they are gone. There are generally 3-4 deals offered at the same time, and each day Heartsy will send you an email letting you know what the current deals of the day are.
 For those of you who are not familiar with Etsy, it's a marketplace for handmade items. You can find a multitude of different items, such as clothing, jewelery, gourmet chocolates, furniture, stationary, home decor and bath and body items. I have found many unique gifts that screamed 'Buy me for _____!' at Etsy. (And if you're going to find the perfect gift, why not save some money on it at the same time?)
 Sellers come to Heartsy offering a vouchers for discounts on their items for a limited time. And if you sign up through Heartsy you can vote on these deals so, they know which items you would be most interested in. Here are a couple of deals that I snagged last week. Bath and Body Items from Swan Mountain Soaps for 75% off and Gourmet Chocolates for 70% off from Sweet Sophia's Creations. (I was thinking Father's Day.)

And if you click on this referral link and sign up for their email notifications you will receive a $5 credit, making the deals that much better. :)

Awesome Deal on Skippy Peanut Butter from Amazon

Now normally my blog is not the place to come when you're looking for the hottest deals. There are many other bloggers out there who just do a better job. But if that hot deal is super convenient and involves food storage, I promise that I will let you know about it.

1. Select one case of Skippy Natural Peanut Butter-Super Chunk from Amazon.com. (The price is listed as $13.23) Also available in the Creamy variety

2. Select Subscribe and Save. This should bring the price down to $11.25. (You can have it delivered as often as you want, and cancel later if you please.)
3. At checkout enter code TOTALUNI (This should bring your total down to $9.32) Although for some reason my total came to $9.27, not complaining. That makes it $1.55 per jar, shipped.
4. This same set of instructions also works for the Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter- Natural with Honey for a few cents more.

Amazon prices fluctuate, so I would hop on this deal NOW.

Thanks Freebies to Deals!

Legoland California

 Last year I came across a free subscription for children to Lego Club Magazine. Thing 1 loves to get her own mail, so I signed her up. In one issue there was a coupon for a free child's admission to Legoland with the purchase of an adult admission. We agreed that it would be a good family vacation for 2011.
 And I have to say that it was AWESOME. I believe that for my kids at their age (Under age 8), Legoland is better than Disneyland. Here are my reasons:

Legoland is pretty much Lego Mecca, with some fairly impressive displays throughout the park. (I love Legos, they're great learning toys that facilitate creativity.)

The longest line was a 45 minute wait. (And there was only one line that long.)

The lines that were longer than 15 minutes had a little area where the kids could play with Legos while the parents could watch them from their place in line. (Genius on their part, less whining=happier kids +happier parents.)

Thing 2 learning to drive

You get significantly more bang for your buck when it comes to the meal options. (My husband and I split one large combo meal and together we couldn't finish it. I also was satisfied with the options for my kids.)

There was tons of active play. My kids totally wore themselves out.

The best tree house I have ever seen. It took 3 shots to try to get the front. Look at it and try to tell me that you don't want to climb through that with your kids.

There were far less crowds. In one day we had to time to ride every ride at least once, and our favorites 2-3 times.

There are plenty of coasters that even my underweight 3 year old could ride.

 
They have a great aquarium attached that you can view for an extra fee. I thought it was worth it.

It's less expensive than Disneyland with plenty of discounts and coupons available. I totally felt like we were getting our money's worth.

 Gate prices: Adult admission is $69, children's $59. Kids 2 and under are free. Hopper passes to either Legoland plus the Sea Life Aquarum or the Water Park are $81/$71. Or you can do all three for $89/$79. (We didn't check out the Water Park because it was closed that day.) You can add a 2nd day to any hopper pass for $10. Parking is $12 per day. Legoland California is located in Carlsbad California. Now let's talk about those discounts. I'm going to rank them according to most money saved for a short trip, although many are not available to the general public. Pick the best one that is available to you.

1. Buy an Adult admission get a Child free- $59 discount. As mentioned previously, this can be found in some issues of the Lego Club Magazine. I've also heard that periodically you can find coupons like this in some fast food chains in Southern California, Arizona and New Mexico.
2. Employee Discounts- varies- (I saved $14 per ticket on my 2 remaining tickets) If you are employed for a large company check this one out. I am employed for a large corporation that is based in Utah, and I was surprised that they still offered a discount through our employee website. I was able to print my tickets out the morning of, or you can have them sent via snail mail if you are less spontaneous than we were that weekend.
3. Printable Coupon- $8 discount at this link. Only good on day passes (Up to 6 tickets) at the gate, cannot be combined with any other discount. Good until 5/31/11
4. Entertainment Book- $7 discount for up to 6 tickets found in the San Diego 2011 Entertainment Book. Currently the books are $15 each. And if you're you're going this route, I highly recommend that you buy your book through Ebates.com, where you can get 17.5% back on your purchase. (I like Ebates for their many other discounts available.)
5. Military Discount- 10% off for members of the armed services when you show your military ID.
6. AAA Discount- 10% off tickets when you show your American Automobile Association card.
7. Carlsbad Hotels- $6 off per ticket. Many of the local hotels offer tickets at a discount and it means that you don't have to wait at the ticket booth.
8. Costco- This one is a better deal than the previous six deals, but only if you plan on spending 3 days at Legoland. I'm sure that my kids would have been just fine with that, but we had work, school etc. $99.99 for a 3-day pass + $2.34 shipping and handling. There is an extra fee if you don't have a Costco membership, for more details on this deal go here.
9. Legoland Annual Passes- $129 for adults & $99- Ultimately the best bang for your buck if you live close enough to visit than 3 times per year or more, but we don't, or I'm pretty sure I would have bought these. This comes with multiple perks like free parking, and no black-out dates.

5 Simple Ways of Conserving

I mention recycling fairly often on my blog, but I think that recycling is a only a small part of energy conservation. Don't just recycle, reuse, re-purpose, use less and throw away less. I believe that a big part of it is attitude. 'What small things can I do today to make the world a better place?' Here are some of the things that I do, and yes I am aware that they don't make an enormous difference, but if everyone is doing small simple things to help the environment, it can make an enormous difference.

1. Reusable grocery bags- I love these. They're bigger and easier to carry than multiple plastic bags and they save me money. For every time you use one of these at Target they take 5 cents off your total. Every time you use one of these at Smith's, you get 5 points, which essentially translates to a 5 cent reward towards future grocery purchases.
2. Reuse cooking water- I realize this is not always easy to do, but when I boil pasta or corn I drain the water into a container instead of the sink and pour it on my garden after it cools. I also pour half-full luke warm glasses of water on my lawn instead of down the drain.
3. Save and reuse popsicle sticks- Why should I pay for popsicle sticks for craft projects when I rinse off the hundreds that we go through around here and use those?
4. Reuse plastic grocery bags- Even with using the cloth bags I still get these sometimes. I make a point of not throwing them away. I use them to line the small garbage cans in our bathrooms and the office. I keep a couple in my car to hold trash, or soiled children's clothing. They're also good for wrapping Christmas ornaments or fragile items when moving.
5. Reuse paper- You know those credit card and insurance offers that you're always getting in the mail?  I use the back sides of those papers to print coupons. I also use them to write my to do lists on. I use the envelopes to hold my coupons divided by grocery store. I've printed coupons on the backsides of bills before. I also maneuver it so I always print at least 2 coupons per sheet of paper. Junk mail can also be used for paper mache or for small children to color on.

Here are a couple of other posts I have written in the past about things you can do to help the environment that will also save you money.

Ways to save money that are good for the environment too.


More ways to save money that are good for the environment.

Ways to save money on your utility bills in the summer.

What things do you do to help out the environment?