Couscous

I had never heard of couscous until a friend of mine from college told me about it.  Her parents were living in Saudi Arabia at the time and she swore up and down that couscous was her favorite thing about Saudi Arabia.  So I tried her recipe and loved it!  I have forgotten about it over the years, but after making chicken a few nights ago, we had just one chicken breast left and I wanted a recipe would utilize that one piece and not make me have to buy a whole new bag (Yes, it's cheaper to buy a whole chicken and debone it yourself, but I don't quite have the stomach for it.  My husband used to do it for us when we were super broke, but once he got a raise, we treated ourselves to the luxury of boneless skinless chicken breasts/tenderloins).  Anyway, when I went to Morocco a few years ago (don't worry, I went for free...I'm still a poor person) we went to a fancy restaurant and they served us couscous!  I was happy that I recognized the meal and assured my students (I was teaching at the time and took a group of students to Spain and morocco) that it was good food.  So without further ado, let me introduce you to the fabulous world of couscous!

1 1/4 C. chicken broth (remember to stock up on this when it's on sale at Thanksgiving.  I usually buy a case and use it throughout the year)

1 C. uncooked couscous (you can find it near the rice.  It comes in a small box.  Be sure to get the plain couscous and not the flavored kind).

1 T. butter

1/2 c. olive oil

3 T. fresh lemon juice (or you could use it from concentrate, too)

1 t. salt

1/2 t. ground coriander (optional...I don't use it)

1/2 t. dijon mustard (optional)

1 large clove garlic (optional)

Black pepper to taste

1 c. cooked, diced chicken

1 large green onion, diced (I don't put this in)

1 1/2 C. diced celery

1 large granny smith apple (cored and diced)

In saucepan, bring chicken broth to a boil, add couscous and butter.  Bring to a boil again and cover.  Remove from heat, let stand 5 min, fluff with fork and let cool.  In small bowl, combine olive oil, lemon juice, salt, coriander, mustard, garlic and pepper - mix well.  In large bowl, combine cooked couscous, chicken, onions, apple and celery.  Add olive oil mixture, toss to coat.  For aesthetics, serve on lettuce.  Great as a main dish or served with lemon chicken meal (omit chicken from salad).

This was the first time we've had it since my kids have been older.  We made a HUGE mistake, though, and put in flavored couscous.  So when we added all of the other flavorings to it, it was quite over powering even for us.  Our kids were troopers, though, and took a few bites.  Then they asked politely for us to never make it again.  :)   We told them that there were too many spices in it and the next time we make it, we'll leave some of them out.  They seemed okay with that.  My mistake.  Believe it or not, there are times when I let my kids get away without eating their dinner, and this would be one of those times.  

Kraft fresh take review

I know, I know.  You can easily make this from scratch for less, but when you're nine months pregnant and your sweet husband is doing most of the cooking, you want to make it as easy as possible for him.  Or if you just want to save a few minutes, this is a decent choice.  I wasn't planning on buying these, but when I was in the store, they were on sale for $2.50 and there was a coupon dispenser right next to it for $1 off.  So I bought two for $1.50 a piece.  Lucky for me, chicken was also on sale for half off.  If you want to try it, you can download a coupon here. 

All you do is thaw some chicken, and throw it into these bags to coat them and then pop them in the oven.  I wasn't sure how my kids would react, but my concern was not necessary!  My 7 year old said that it was the best chicken he's ever had.  My two year old kept saying, "Nummy!  Nummy!"  My 5 year old was hesitant, but when we mentioned that there was pie when her chicken was gone, she ate it all without even making a face.  We served it with corn and biscuits.

Frozen bread dough

I don't typically like prepackaged food.  It seems so silly to pay more for something that you can just make yourself (and doesn't have as many preservatives).  BUT, considering that I'm nine months pregnant, I make some exceptions.  You can buy frozen bread dough in the freezer section (obviously).  They are whole loaves of bread dough.  I bought some for about $4.50 and it came with 5 loaves of bread.  You just lay it out for a couple of hours and let it rise, and then you have "fresh" dough to work with.  Here are two ideas about what to do with it:

1.  SCONES:  break off chunks of dough, flatten it with your hands, and fry it in hot oil.
            Once you have your scones made, you can do a couple of things with them.  My mom used to make Navajo tacos, which is just taco toppings on top of a scone.  You could also just slather them with honey butter and forget about the lack of real nutrients and the majorly high caloric and fat content.

2.  PIZZA ROLL:  Once the dough has risen, flatten out the entire roll, fill with pizza sauce and toppings, roll it up jelly roll style, brush it with water and sprinkle with salt, then bake at 350 for 25 minutes.  Yummy, fast and easy!

grilled peanut butter

Some days, you just want an easy meal that will please the masses.  We all know about grilled cheese, but have you ever tried grilled peanut butter?  Same concept, just spread your bread with peanut butter instead of cheese. The peanut butter melts and makes for a delicious ooey-gooey sandwich.  You could also just toast the bread and the spread the peanut butter on while it's still warm.  Same effect, fewer calories!

Saving Star

Are you familiar with Savingstar.com?  If not, you should be.  What you do is link all of your shopping cards to the website.  You then go through a list of available "coupons" and click on the ones that you want activated on your cards.  Then, whenever you go shopping and purchase those items, instead of money being deducted from your bill, they actually put money into an account for you that you can use on several different things.  These can be combined with ANY paper or electronic coupons, so you can get some major savings.  One of the deals they are offering right now is $5 back when you spend $15 in quaker products.

I used the  money in my account for an amazon gift card. I was able to use that gift card to buy my cousin a wedding gift from her registry.  It's nice to be able to give people good gifts (that are actually wanted) and to be able to do it without breaking the bank.   It makes me feel smart.

Tilapia

Do you like fish?  I don't.  Not so much.  But I eat it because I know that it is so good for you.  We went fishing as a family every summer when I was growing up, but I just never acquired a taste for it.  A few years ago, I decided to see if maybe there was a different type of fish that I might like a little more than the salmon and trout that we caught as children.  I didn't want to spend much money on something that I wasn't sure I would like.  So I mosied over to the frozen fish section and picked out a bag of tilapia fillets for three of four dollars because it was the cheapest I could see.  I didn't have high expectations, but was pleasantly surprised when I actually kind of liked it.  It didn't taste nearly as fishy as I was expecting.  Now, whenever we find a fish recipe, we always switch out the fish that the recipe calls for with tilapia.  Over time, we've come up with this simple way to prepare the fish.  It's easy and fast and you don't get the slimy raw chicken factor...

Place four tilapia fillets in a 13x9 inch baking dish.  Spread a little bit of butter on each fillet.  Sprinkle the fillets with about 1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning (or whatever else you have on hand.  We've used lemon pepper seasoning as well).  Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt on the fillets.  Then pour about 1/4 cup of lemon juice on top of the fillets.  We use lemon juice from concentrate, but you can use fresh lemons if it's in the budget.

We then cut up a cup or two of vegetables and sprinkle them around the fish.  Tonight, we used fresh celery and red pepper.  Did you know that celery actually reduces blood pressure?  We add it to as many meals as we can because of my husbands family medical history.  You could use frozen vegetables, too.  If you want to use canned, don't add them until the last few minutes of cooking so they warm up.  Be smart with your vegetables.  The other day I went to buy broccoli and found that it was almost $3 a bunch.  I thought that was ridiculous and made a mental note to check out the frozen stuff.  But while finishing my produce selections, I noticed that there was some organic broccoli on manager's special for just 99 cents.  So I bought that.  Organics don't move as quickly in the grocery store, so they often go on sale just before they go bad.  If you find some, just rearrange your menu so they the veggies can be used soon.  These picture were taken just before I put it in the oven.

Anyway, pop your fish into the oven at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes or until the fish begins to flake with a fork.  This is one of those meals that my kids haven't always enjoyed, but today they ate it all up.  I had paired it with some uncle ben's rice that I got for a quarter (It was on sale for $1 and I had a coupon for 75 cents off).  My kids chose to eat the fish and leave the rice.  Which was okay with me.  My son was convinced that he had the gills.  We told him that the gills are the best part and he, surprisingly, agreed.  So now our kids are fish eaters.  Yay!

Good clean savings...

Hygiene can be really expensive...unless you know how to be frugal about it! 

Here are a couple of tips:

1.  To save 50% on shampoo, simply wash your hair every other day.  It's better for your hair, anyway.  I haven't always believed that, but my hair has adjusted.  I have naturally curly hair and often put a lot of product in my hair.  So on the days that I don't wash it, I just rinse it and it works fine.  I don't have any build-up issues.

2.  Pampered chef sells a suds pump for less than $10.  It is intended for dish soap, but I use it for my kid's body wash/shampoo.  What you do is put a couple tablespoons of soap into this bottle (the lines are marked on the bottle) and then fill it the rest of the way up with water. It comes out foamy instead of in the liquid soap form.  My kids have a tendency to pour WAY too much soap onto their washcloths when they wash themselves, but with the foamy soap, they're not wasting any.  We like using the Suave brand.  Every now and then, Target will put the suave products on sale for $2.50 and then offer a $5 gift card when you buy 4.  During one of these sales, I happened to have some suave coupons and got a bunch.  Combined with the suds pump thing, I think we've got a five year supply!

saving on non-food items

Typically the first Sunday of every month (sometimes the last Sunday), Proctor and Gamble has their own insert in the newspaper featuring many of their products.  This includes deodorant, shampoo, laundry detergent, dish soap, and diapers.  I usually like to ask friends and neighbors if they don't mind passing the coupons they don't use on to me.  I often end up with up to ten copies of that Sunday's newspaper.  As I have mentioned, there are several coupon websites that will tell you exactly which coupons match up with which sales at certain grocery stores (southernsavers.com is my favorite).  For example, my Kroger store recently had their Old Spice body wash on sale for $2.49.  A couple of weeks earlier, there were coupons for $2.00 off this exact same body wash, which means that you can purchase it for 49 cents.  With ten coupons, I was able to buy ten of these for just five dollars.  That will keep my husband clean and smelling fresh for at least ten months!  During that same time, Tide laundry detergent was on sale for $4.99 and there were also coupons for $2.00 off one, which means that I got it for $2.99.  While I do like Tide, it is not the only brand of laundry detergent I purchase.  I also like Gain and All (which also have coupons frequently).  If one of these brands goes on sale for $2-$3, I usually buy 5-6 bottles just to make sure that I don't end up over paying for it when I run out.  One of the keys of saving money is to buy an item before you need it.  A major mistake that we used to make was to wait until we were out of something and then add it to that week's shopping list.  Nothing was ever on sale when we needed it and we didn't use coupons so we ended up spending a lot more money than we needed to. Sales like this often run every 3-6 months, so just pay attention to when these items are on sale and try to buy enough to last you 3-6 months.

There are some items that seem so ridiculously expensive that I would have never thought to even cut out a coupon for them because I would never purchase that item at the price they were asking for it.  One such item was the L'Oreal Collagen Micro-Pulse Vibrating Eye Treatment.  I got a coupon in the mail for $3 off, and thought it might be fun to see just how much it costs.  It retails for $30, which is more than my weekly food budget.  I totally thought that I would never buy it, but held on to the coupon just in case.  Sure enough, my grocery store ended up marking it down to just over $5 and I was still able to use my $3 coupon and get a great deal.  As a pregnant mother of three, getting rid of bags under my eyes is a constant battle, and it feels fun to pamper myself a little every now and then (it feels even better when I feel like I'm doing it practically for free).  One of the best ways that I've found to get deals like this is to just walk up and down the aisles looking for closeout items and manager's specials.  Here are just a few of the deals that I've gotten:


Pantene products - on closeout for $1.67.  I had a coupon for $3 off two, which made them 17 cents a piece.  The products were for color-treated hair, but shampoo is shampoo, right?  


Herbal Essences shampoo - on closeout for $0.99.  I had a coupon for $1 off.


Store brand wipes - I got the nearly 500 count box for just $1.99 on closeout, but left my coupons at home that day (Kroger sends my coupons in the mail for some of their store brand products).  Darn.  Sometimes I go back to customer service the next time I'm in the store and ask them if they will apply a coupon to a previous purchase, and they usually do.  I just didn't in this case.  


Pampers - I always used to think that name brand diapers were too expensive.   And they are.  But not when they go on clearance and  you have a coupon!  The $25 boxes went on clearance for $12.50 at my Kroger and I had coupons for $2.50 off per box.  I got $75 worth of diapers for just $30.  The cool thing is, each box came with $5 worth of coupons, which for me is like getting $15 cash back.  I usually find diapers on sale like this every 3-4 months, so I try to stock up on them when I can.  If I run out before another sale like this pops up, I either use cloth diapers that I always have on hand, or buy store brand diapers if I have a coupon (you can usually get them at coupons.target.com for the up and up brand target diapers, or download them digitally onto your Kroger shopping card at Kroger.com).  If you've potty trained before, cloth diapers are no big deal.  Just buy yourself a nice pair of rubber gloves for rinsing them.  I made my own diapers, by the way.


Suave deodorant - This wasn't a closeout deal, but an all the time deal.  Suave deodorant is $1.06 at Kroger.  Every now and then, we'll get suave coupons in the mail for $0.50 off.  Kroger doubles this to a dollar off and I get my deodorant for 6 cents.  And it works.  I was leery at first that the cheap stuff wouldn't work, but it does.  I'm not running marathons or anything, but I do chase after a two year old all day.