Harris Teeter Shopping Trip 10/3

We were out of milk... for anyone else that is floored by this, I was amazed!  We have had a store of Smart Balance Milk for as long as I can remember (minus loosing a ton during the power outage).  It has a super long expiration and I can usually get it for free with sale and coupons.  Luckily, there was an e-vic special on milk for $2.77 for a gallon of milk so I headed out to get the milk that was over $1.02 off the regular pricing.

I know that it wasn't the most exciting trip but when we are out of milk, it has to cause a trip.  For some reason, this also really motivated my son to drink multiple glasses of milk for a few days... so we are almost out already!!  I will most likely be going back to get two under my mother's card.  Good news because she drank our previous milk when she was visiting :)

Total OOP $2.84
Total Savings $1.02 

Amish Cinnamon Bread

This basic recipe is the yummy one that most people are passed when they get their bag of gooey starter dough.  No one believes that this gross bag is going to make this yummy bread but I promise that it really does.  If you coat the pan with cinnamon and sugar and put lots on top.  Great for breakfast. snack or anytime!!  I hope that you try it soon too!!

I woke up early this morning with a horrible tooth ache so I decided to start baking at 6 am.  The wonderful thing about this is that you get the yummy bread in the oven early and everyone gets hot bread right out of the oven for breakfast on a weekday (which is really unheard of in this house since I like my sleep).  I got out all the ingredients with my eyes barely open and made sure that I had enough of everything to make the bread.

I mixed up all the ingredients per the recipe and put them in my neat cinnamon and sugar coated loaf pan.  In one loaf pan, I filled it halfway up and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar mixture before putting the rest of the batter in the pan so that it will have a nice cinnamon center.  It isn't called for in this recipe but that is how I always made Amish Friendship Bread with my mom so I figured that I would try it on one of the two loaves.

My son decided that he had to help so I gave him sugar shaking duties.  He is very proud of the cinnamon and sugar shaker and told me that I had to take a picture :)

See how great he shook.  It was a nice because even if he made a mess, the pan was coated too!!!  Plus at 6 am, any help to get them in the oven was appreciated.

This is the yummy finished loaf.  We got two out of the recipe but one was gone before 8 am!!

I would love to share a slice but you have to come quickly or it is all going to be gone!

Check out the original recipe from the Friendship Bread website for yourself below or at their site with over 200 different recipes.  This one is worth the effort and will have everyone happy when they smell this first thing in the morning.

Amish Friendship Bread

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Servings: 16
Yield: 2 loaves

Ingredients

1 cup Amish Friendship Bread Starter
3 eggs
1 cup oil
1/2 cup milk
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups flour
1-2 small boxes instant pudding (any flavor)
1 cup nuts, chopped (optional)
1 cup raisins (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325° F (165° C).
2. In a large mixing bowl, add ingredients as listed.
3. Grease two large loaf pans.
4. Dust the greased pans with a mixture of 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.
5. Pour the batter evenly into loaf or cake pans and sprinkle the remaining sugar-cinnamon mixture on the top.
6. Bake for one hour or until the bread loosens evenly from the sides and a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean.

Harris Teeter Shopping Trip 10/2

After a busy month in September, I still went back to the store at the beginning of October.  I had to catch the end of the whole chicken sale.  Plus, I wanted to grab more Cheese-Its which they were sadly mostly out of but it might have been for the best so I didn't buy too many more.  We were also out of bread so I got one loaf.  I was going to use my rain check to buy 4 loaves but I left it in the car so I am sure that I will be going back soon to get some more bread since my son is on a toast kick!!

I also had a Ritz coupon burning a hole in my pocket.  I had an issue with a box of Ritz crackers were they were smashed and one of the sleeves was half empty and open.  I called the company and they sent me a coupon to get a free box of any cookie or crackers that I wanted.  Since I wanted Ritz, I decided that I would be using the coupon for them.  Isn't this the prettiest back of a coupon that you have ever seen??  The coupon was good until the end of 2013 but the Ritz were on sale for Buy One, Get One so I figure that now was as good a time as any because I got two free boxes!!

I bought more than I needed (adding to my whole chicken stockpile which is now at 11).  We went through the last ones so quickly and I paid $0.77 per pound so I didn't think that it got any better than $0.69 for me.  I should have been able to hold back but I just seem to be week!!

Total OOP $18.54
Total Savings $26.78



Thrifty Thursday: Alternate Uses For Shampoos or Body Washes

Did you ever get a shampoo that you didn't like the smell of or didn't work the way you wanted?  I had a few shampoos that didn't work on my hair and I just kept them in the cupboard, hoping someone else would use them.  I also had a Bath and Body Works Pumpkin Spice Body Wash which sounded good until I used it.  I didn't like the smell actually on my body because it was too strong.  Since I hate throwing things out, they just sat there.

I finally decided that I needed to do something about the things that I wasn't using so I started thinking.  I decided to take the body wash and add it to the hand soap pump with my pumpkin soap from last year.  Perfect amount made a half full pumpkin hand soap, a full soap!  I have another body wash that I am going to mix with another hand soap to fill up which I think will make a great hand soap.  It is a great way to use the scents that might be better in smaller quantities on your hands!!

I had a few ideas but I hate to waste so I searched on the Internet for other uses.  I am going to figure out how to use the shampoo so that they don't go to waste. 

Shave your legs.  Some people use conditioner but shampoo is also meant to lather so it is perfect!  I am running low on my shave cream so I guess it will be next in line.

Wash down the shower with it.  I don't know if you have the glass shower walls like I do but they get horrible hard water marks and it is easiest to rub them down with shampoo (or body wash) and then rinse off.  It helps keep the glass super clean and the water runs right off it.

Use as hand soap.  Fill up those pumps and try it out. 

Use as body wash.  Soap is soap and it all cleans you!

Share with friends and family or save for company.  I had some that I didn't like and I handed it off to my sister in law to see if she liked it.  Everyone likes different things and all hair reacts differently!!  I also put some in the guest shower and everyone else seems to love sharing it :)

Put in toilet to extend the time between heavy cleanings. (Has anyone tried this one??  I guess I will try it and see if it works)

Let the kids wash their doll's hair with it.

Clean the kids toys with a bucket of shampoo and water.

Wash the dog.  They need shampoo too!

Put in a bucket with water and clean the woodwork, floors and stuff around the house.

I hope that you find some ideas to use your shower gel and shampoo so that it doesn't go to waste!!  Let me know if you have any ideas that I can use too :)

September Month End Budget Update

It seemed like a busy month with shopping but mostly it was a busy super doubles shopping month and then a big break where I thought I was done for the month.  I went every day (and sometimes more than one and to more than one Harris Teeter...I know that I have a problem).  I was well under budget for most of the month and then the deals started coming up that were for things that we needed so it was a quick rise to budget and then over by reluctant choice.

$147.61     Harris Teeter
$26.55     Wegman's
$0.28       Giant
$3.83       Wal-mart
$7.33       Aldi's
$30.91     Target

$216.51   Total OOP

I had a long list of things that I wanted to get this month and I got a few things on the list.  We stocked up on chicken, ground beef, flour, juice, cheese, tissues, frozen pizza, Cheese Its and pull-ups to last a few months.  Next month's list is going to include Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice, Margarine Sticks, milk and lunch meat.  I started a list of things that I needed in October and then found deals at the end of September so I knew that I shouldn't pass them up.  I know that other needs will come up through October (and without a doubt other deals that I can't pass up) but I am hoping to come in really low to make up for this month!!

I saved lots but I don't count any savings at Wegman's, Wal-mart or Aldi's because they basically have the lowest pricing possible on the items that I am getting there and I use very few coupons there (if at all).  I saved a lot at Harris Teeter, Giant, and Target to make my monthly savings pretty big and make me really happy! 
$672.05   Harris Teeter
$24.48     Giant
$26.47     Target

$723.00   Total Saved

77 % Savings for September

(82% just at Harris Teeter which is why I love that store!!!)

What really blows my mind is if I bought all of this month's groceries at full price, it would have cost me $939.51!!  Can you believe that I would have ever spent almost $1,000 on groceries (and that most families spend that a month) because I can't believe it when I look at it in black and white.  I start to beat myself up over the fact that I can't stick to the budget and my husband reminds me that I saved $723 for our family this month.  He also reminds me that I got a lot of nice things that we wouldn't normally buy because I have been able to save so much money which I never would have been able to purchase previously.  It might not be a great paycheck but I will take that and all the hugs that I get from my little guy for my part time job of taking care of my family.

I hope that you take this time to track what you are spending at the grocery store...I do not suggest this to push couponing or cutting back but it helps to get a realistic idea on the total amount of money that your family needs in a month to pay for groceries.  It certainly helps to budget later if you can track the current spending.  It also helps when you wonder where everything has gone at the end of the month and you can at least point to something that tells you all that you spent.  I know that pre-couponing, I wouldn't think twice about what I spent at the store because I "needed" it.  Stay tuned for some articles on how you can save money at the grocery store by tracking what prices make you run to the store to get things :)

Amish Friendship Bread: Snickerdoodle Cookies

One of my husbands favorite cookies is snickerdoodles.  I figured that I would try the Friendship Bread version and see how they stacked up to the other recipe that we have always used.

I started by getting out all the ingredients to make sure that I had everything that I needed and luckily I did!!  I set to work putting all the ingredients in the mixer. The dough was very thick and a little sticky but not really hard to handle.

I mixed up the cinnamon and sugar per the recipe and I thought that there was way too much cinnamon versus sugar so I took some of the mixture out and added more sugar.  Doesn't this mostly look like cinnamon?

Then, I used my cookie scoop to scoop out even sized cookie balls into the cinnamon and sugar mixture.  I rolled them in the mixture and piled them up so that I could transfer them to the cookie sheets.



I fit 8 cookies on each sheet but they didn't expand as much as I left room for so I probably could have put on more easily.

I baked them for 10 minutes but they seemed to cook quickly so they were usually done a little under 10 minutes.  With the normal snickerdoodle cookies, I have to make sure they are out or they get super hard so I didn't want these to do the same.  They are a much softer cookie and didn't get too hard but they kept the nice cinnamon coating on the outside of the cookie.



I put them on the cooling rack and was amazed that I filled the whole cooling rack with tons of cookies.  I never make the amount that they say in the recipe because I always make the cookie a little bigger but I got over 40 cookies.

Overall, I love the cookies.  I think that they have all the great flavor of snickerdoodles but not the crunch.  Sometimes that is a good thing because my husband really likes a cake like cookie but I guess we will see if these become the new favorite recipe or not!!  I hope that you try this recipe and see what you think.  The original recipe is below and the only thing that I would change is the cinnamon and sugar to roll the cookies, decrease the cinnamon and it will be much better tasting (as well as more cost effective).

Amish Friendship Bread Snickerdoodle Cookies

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10-12 minutes
Servings: 60
Yield: 60 cookies

Ingredients

1 cup Amish Friendship Bread Starter
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375° F (190° C).
2. In a large mixing bowl, add in wet ingredients.
3. Mix in rest of ingredients except the last sugar and cinnamon.
4. In a small bowl, mix together the sugar and cinnamon.
5. Shape dough into 1 inch balls.
6. Roll balls in cinnamon-sugar mixture.
7. Place them 2 inches apart on cookie sheet.
8. Bake 10 minutes.
9. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

Menu Planning Monday 10/1

Monday- Rosemary Chicken with egg noodles (I can't believe that I have never posted this one but I guess I will have it up soon.  It is super easy and a crowd favorite... Aunt Lynn's favorite too- we miss you.)

Tuesday- Sloppy Joe Chicken on homemade rolls with smiles and sweet potato fries (This is the first time for this recipe but I got it from $5 Dinner cookbook so I will post soon.)

Wednesday- Breakfast for dinner:  Pancakes and hash browns

Thursday- Rosemary Chicken and Potatoes

Friday- Shake n Bake Pork Chops with mac and cheese

Saturday- Leftovers/Spaghetti with Meatballs

Sunday- ???

I am hoping for an easy week and made an easy menu plan to help with that!!  I hope that you have a yummy week planned too :)