She Saved Giveaways

I LOVE to find good deals, as you should know... and a friend of mine is doing a GREAT giveaway! Check out She Saved for some fun Father's Day giveaways! There are 12! WOW!!! You can win things like a video camera, gift certificates, grilling stuff, hotel stays, computer software! It is amazing- The ones I would like to win are:

The Bed & Breakfast and Country Inns Book with 2 nights stay. Can't beat a getaway (especially when it's free!!)

Easy Lunch Box giveaway. The Hubby is so good to take leftovers for lunch everyday. He would really like this!

$100 Gift Certificate This one is cool, because it comes from an on-line place with LOTS of different choices. This site lets you purchase a gift card, and have it e-mailed to the recipient. Convenient for a last minute gift (which is the name of the site- Last Minute Gifts)!

Go check out She saved!! You'll love these giveaways (and so much more!)

Gift Card Winner!!

The winner of the $25 American Express Gift Card is Nicole! Congrats Nicole! Get me your mailing info and I will have this sent to you by MyBlog Spark. And another BIG THANK YOU to SuperValu and General Mills! Enjoy your box tops!

FREE Groceries & Box Tops

I am a Box Top Cutter! I love earning money for my kid's school, for buying food that we LOVE to eat! So... when I was offered this GREAT deal, I took it! And so should you (keep reading- you'll love it)!

Now through May 31, 2010- SuperValu and Box Tops are giving you a chance to win 50,000 box tops for your school! That's $5,000!!!! WOW!!! Register at http://www.growinglocallearning.com/ You will earn 5 BONUS box tops just for signing up! (Check their website for official rules.) There are other great things at this site too! Check out their coupons and promotions. There is no excuse. This is such an easy way to earn $$$ for your school!

SuperValu and General Mills gave me a $25 American Express card to go buy Box Tops products (I am giving one away! Keep reading). My local SuperValu store is an Albertson's. Al's has some pretty good box tops promotions, but this week, wasn't as a great a week as I've seen. But I still came away with a deal. Here's what it looks like-

4 bags of Chex Mix Snacks, 1 Cheerios snack bag, 1 24.9 oz. box Cinnamon Toast Crunch, 1 Betty Crocker Blueberry Muffin Mix (the hubby's fav!), 2 pouches Betty Crocker potatoes, 2 Betty Crocker Warm Delights (My Fav!), 1 package Pillsbury Refrigerated Cookie Dough, 2 boxes Pillsbury Toaster Strudel (the kid's fav!)

I did go a little over- I couldn't decide which flavor of Chex Mix to buy, so I bought one of each. That put us about $5 over. So I paid the difference with cash.

And.... a catalina printed out for 50 Bonus Box Tops!!! How cool!! So.. I earned 14 box tops from the packages + 50 from the catalina- That's 64 box tops for my school! Not as good as the 50,000 box top sweepstakes, but it's pretty good! I also got a catalina for $5.00 off my next order thanks to General Mills!

Here's that lovely $25 American Express Gift Card! Thanks My Blog Spark, SuperValu, and General Mills!

Here's how you can win a $25 American Express Gift Card (leave a separate comment for each entry):

1. Tell me how many box tops products you think you could buy for $25. Be realistic, but think of those good deals and coupons!

2. Subscribe to my blog e-mails (look to the left). Check your inbox and confirm your subscription, then leave a comment with this entry.

3. Register at http://www.growinglocallearning.com/ to start earning box tops and enter into the sweepstakes. Come back and leave a comment, when you have done this.

4. Receive an entry for every friend who enters and leaves your name! (one entry per friend) So start telling EVERYONE!!

You have until Sunday May 16, 2010 at 12midnight to get your entries in! I will announce the winner on Monday May 17. Thanks for visiting. Wishing you luck on the gift card, the sweepstakes, and all your weekly deals! And thanks again to SuperValu, General Mills, and My Blog Spark.

Cake a la Paris

I participated in a cake decorating class with some of the girls from our church. We were learning how to take a printed picture, and pipe it onto our cake. It would have been easier to take the clip art and do a snake or flower, like the gal said to do... but no... I brought a picture of the Eiffel Tower, to put on my cake. Actually it wasn't hard, but because of the angle I took the picture, it looks funny in icing. ??? But it was FUN and I enjoyed it!

I think the cake would have looked fine, if I had left it at this.
But I didn't... I tried to get the whole picture on there!

I stopped here, I could tell it wasn't working out. Oh well. It tasted GREAT. My boys never complained!

Thanks Ashley for teaching us! It was a GREAT class!

Cooking Together

So... The Hubby is off work every Friday. We were watching Food Network while eating lunch. We thought the recipes they were making sounded SO good. We ran to the store, and a couple hours later...
We made Empanadas, Chicken stuffed potato balls and Fire and Ice sauce. YUMMY! And so fun to cook with the Hubby! I LOVED IT! I can't wait to find another recipe he will get excited about, so we can cook together again!

St. Patrick's Day

The Leprechaun didn't do any pranks. I only did one meal for the holiday. And of course, like I said, the Rainbow Cupcakes. I got this "Taste A Rainbow" recipe from Family Fun.

Here are my six colors. I didn't follow the food coloring guide from Family Fun. I used Wilton Gels instead of the liquid. My red was a liquid, and it turned out pink. I even added extra. But the other colors came out VERY vibrant. I was pleased.


Here is a look at the layers. This was tedious work. My back was sore, and it took a lot longer than I had expected. One big cake in a Spring form pan would have been better. Layering 16 cupcakes was too long.

Here's a look at the cupcakes when they came out of the oven. Cool Red color on top, despite the pink batter.

Now... taking them out of their paper liner was a trick! I only ended up with about 7 cupcakes that had flat bottoms. I almost think that you need spray the liners with non-stick spray. And some of the liners bunched. So they left creases in the cupcake. See two pictures above for an example. You can see the gap between the liner and the cupcake pan. Anyway... those ones were harder because of the way the cake baked around the bunched part. Too much? Sorry, let's move on...

Here's the finished product. I added the green sugar, because I was on a green kick. Go figure! Note the ones that were decorated upside down. The tops were flat enough to hold the cupcakes up. It made for a fun twist to this fun dessert!

Here's one of the cupcakes cut in half. So you can see what the middles look like. This is a fun recipe! We gave some to friends. One of them said their girls enjoyed the colors and wants these for her birthday party. This would be a fun treat ANYTIME of the year!

So the meal I made was far from Irish. But it was GREEN!

Spinach Ravioli with Pesto Sauce. Sorry nothing too fancy as far as cooking directions. Frozen Ravioli, that I boiled. Then fried in Olive Oil for about five minutes. Covered with Pesto from a jar, and warmed on Low/ Medium for a few minutes, until the Pesto was heated.

Green Jell-O with Gold Coins (Bananas)

Green- Green Salad

Leaf Lettuce, Broccoli, Sweet Peas, & Green Apples

Green Kool-Aid

And that was our St. Patrick's Day. What did you do? Share your ideas, and I will give you a Pampered Chef Cookbook! Leave a comment with an idea and a way to contact you. You don't have to know me, or live by me. I know how to use the Post Office! Thanks in advance for sharing.

What a DEAL!!

I was at WinCo this morning. They have their Betty Crocker Cake mixes and Tub frosting on sale. The cake mixes are only $0.78 and select varieties of the frosting are $0.98. PLUS the coupons!! If you have coupons from the ads, or printed on-line that's great. But the Milk Chocolate and the Vanilla frosting have a SAVE $0.25 NOW coupon right on the packaging!! WOW!!! Saved my coupons for the frosting that didn't have the coupons. This is especially exciting today, because I am making these, from Family Fun:

Don't they look so fun?! I will post pictures of our finished product. But for now... go get some cake mix and frosting! Don't forget your coupons!

Attention Cereal Lovers!

Thanks to General Mills and My Blog Spark, I'm excited to share some great news for cereal lovers. A few weeks ago General Mills announced a commitment to further reduce sugar in cereals advertised to kids under 12 to single digit grams of sugar per serving. The company has already been reducing sugar in cereals while increasing key nutrients, such as calcium and vitamin D, and providing whole grain.

Did you know that ready-to-eat cereal eaters consume less fat, less cholesterol and more fiber than non-cereal eaters? Cereals also deliver important vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients, making cereal a top source of key nutrients in children’s diets.

Other cereal benefits:
*Ready-to-eat cereals, including pre-sweetened cereals, account for only 5% of sugar in children’s diets.
*Ready-to-eat cereal is the No. 1 source of whole grains in a child’s diet today.
*More frequent cereal eaters tend to have healthier body weights and lower Body Mass Index measures.

Studies also demonstrate the benefits of eating breakfast. A 1998 study showed that children who eat breakfast tend to perform better at school. Compared to children who skip breakfast, children who eat breakfast score higher on tests, are less likely to miss class or be tardy, have fewer reported discipline problems, and make fewer trips to the office. For more information about kids and cereals, please visit Cereal Health and Wellness.

Right now if you visit here you will find a $1 off coupon for one of four General Mills cereals.

Thanks to General Mills and My Blog Spark for sending my 4 VIP coupons for my family to try their cereals. We REALLY enjoy cereal at our house. It saves me time and my kids get a good breakfast before they head off to school. Our favorites are:

*Reese's Peanut Butter Puffs

*Lucky Charms

*Cinnamon Toast Crunch

*Golden Grahams

I hope you use your coupons and your cereal. I know we do!

Pillsbury Winner!

Using random.org- I have selected a winner. #7-

' I'm leaving an entry for my sis, Erika Rose. She could use a win this week! She was having a hard time leaving a comment. She likes all The Pampered Chef's recipes that use Pillsbury Crescent Rolls. No promises, but Good Luck sis. '

Congrats to Erika Rose! She has won:

*2 VIP coupons for Pillsbury refrigerated crescent dough (the coupons are only valid in the U.S.)

*Great holiday platters to serve your new creations to your guests

Thanks to Pillsbury and My Blog Spark for offering this wonderful prize! I have e-mailed the winner. Winners have 24 hours to respond with their mailing info, or a new winner will be selected. Thanks for entering and viewing my blog!

Pillsbury Giveaway

WOW!! Again, something I didn't get done BEFORE Christmas hit. Thanks to My Blog Spark and Pillsbury for some GREAT recipes, serving dishes, and this giveaway.

No holiday celebration is complete without appetizers made with flaky crescent dough. Here are some easy, yet impressive recipes to try that call for either Pillsbury® Refrigerated Crescent Rolls or the newer Pillsbury Crescent Recipe Creations® refrigerated seamless dough sheet.

Crescent -Wrapped Brie

Crescent Bacon- Cheese Tartlets

Crescent Holiday Tree

My Family voted to try the Crescent Bacon-Cheese Tartlets

We LOVED the food and the serving dishes are so nice. They are a basic white, very simple, oblong, and look great with my Pampered Chef Simple Additions.

Thanks again to Pillsbury and My Blog Spark. Here's what they gave me- and will give one of my lucky readers:

*2 VIP coupons for Pillsbury refrigerated crescent dough (the coupons are only valid in the U.S.)
*Great holiday platters to serve your new creations to your guests

Here's how you can win:

1. Share your favorite Pillsbury crescent appetizer creation (something from above, or something else you have tried- psst- Pampered Chef has some REALLY good ones)

2. Share me on Facebook (leave me a link!)

3. Share me with your friends-tell them to leave your name for an extra entry!

4. Share me on your blog- grab my button- leave a link.

4 ways to enter, 4 ways to win. Because I was late posting this, I am not leaving it open for very long. I will close entries on Friday January 15 at 11:59pm. GET YOUR ENTRIES IN FAST! Tell your friends and family to come check out these great recipes and giveaways too. Thanks for reading and sharing. And Good Luck!

D

How did I forget to post "D"? I didn't realize it, until AFTER I posted E! Well, for our "D" dinner we ate:

Dijon Mustard Chicken

Dill- Buttered Veges.

Doughnuts

The chicken and vegetables were SO DELICIOUS! The Hubby said that it tasted like something at a restaurant. The boys agreed. I LOVE it when I get compliments like that! The Doughnuts were store bought. I would love to make homemade doughnuts some day. And don't worry, some day I will!

MMMMmmmmm....

E

WOW!!! I can't believe how Christmas Break just took over. Kids and hubby home, no schedule, we enjoyed it! We did manage to have an "E" dinner during it all. I didn't think it was too exciting, but the hubby REALLY enjoyed it.

Egg Salad Sandwiches (hubby's favorite part)

Egg Nog (Big Dude's favorite part)

and (this is a bit of a stretch) an EDIBLE Gingerbread House for dessert (dude's favorite part)