Heat Wave book review

I added the Castle DVD series to my wish list for Christmas and up popped this book on Amazon.  I was interested but it didn't go any farther until I finally decided to look it up at the library and reserved it just a few weeks ago.  The first two books came in and I went and picked them up.  I decided to add it to my reading list for March since I have already read three books and only have two more on my list.  Since I like to read in order, I started with Heat Wave, Premium Edition (Nikki Heat, Book 1) by Richard Castle.  It is a short book at 198 pages but it keeps you reading the whole way through.  It took me a couple pages to get used to the idea that it wasn't Beckett and Castle like in the show but it was a great read once I got over that initial issue.  It had you going from start to end (and unless you are my mom who always over thinks and tries to figure out the bad guy) and has tons of twists and turns along the way (so hopefully you aren't like my dad who puts it down when he figures out who did it).  I highly recommend giving the Nikki Heat series a try and see what you think and I don't think that you will be disappointed.  There is murder (actually three), theft, and mystery.  I might have to skip ahead on my list and read the second book this weekend!!  I hope that you like this book when you pick it up at your local library or bookstore.  Let me know!!

Harris Teeter Shopping Trip 3/9

I wanted to run in and get a few things with my $4 catalina including the eggs that were on sale and the pancakes.  I printed out my list the other day when I saw what was on sale for the week so that I would be partially ready.  I stopped first thing to get my papers at the library which was a good thing because there were some good coupons in the paper and I used three of them for my trip. 

First, I stopped to look at the meat but the pork on sale was huge pieces and the cheapest/smallest cut was over $8.  I don't think that I want to make a pork roast that big for my first time so I decided to move on to the next thing on the list.  The eggs!!  There were only a few left on the shelf.  They have the regular brown eggs for $3.49 and the cage free for $3.99 and both were B1G1.  I had a $0.75 coupon so I went with the regular brown eggs (after coupon, they worked out to $0.25 a dozen).  Of course for those of you really thinking, I have four dozen eggs from the last sale in my fridge and no flour anywhere to bake with :(  I can't pass up such cheap eggs so now I have 6 dozen eggs which I am sure that I will go through in no time... once I restock the flour!!!  Then, I went to get the Tetley Tea Bags which were normally $2.65 and on sale B1G1 and I had a $0.50 so they ended up being $0.32 per box.  I got one Ocean Spray Cranberry juice that was on sale for $2.00 and two bags of pancakes that were $0.92 each.

I decided to grab the Yakisoba noodles when I saw that they were on sale for $1 and I knew that I had a rain check to get them B1G1.  I remembered the coupon on the front of this Sunday's coupons that I just got so all together that would make them free.  Sadly, it didn't work out that well at the register because I got the one person at customer service who makes things more complicated then they have to be so instead of giving me the sale price, she rang the items up as grocery at the normal price of $1.19 so each container ended up being $0.10 instead of free.  Still a great deal but then she had to stay to ring everything up because the coupons had to be overridden at the end too because the computer said that I didn't buy those items.  If I had just held off on my Harris Teeter card, she never would have known that they were on sale because they would have come off at the end!  In addition, my rain check was for 10 noodles or B5G5 but I was only getting 6 because the coupon policy says that I am only supposed to use 3 coupons.  I tried to stop her while she was ringing up 5 at the cost but she just thought I didn't get what she was doing so I waited until the end and tried to re-explain that I was only getting 6 and not 10 that she was charging me for :)  She got it and we did the millionth void on this order.  Of well, lesson learned.  It also made the whole check look funny because there aren't totals next to any item the way that there usually is but luckily I didn't get much this time to matter.

I got all of the above in the pictures for $2.31 OOP and saving $31.89 (part from the raincheck).  It is basically what I would have spent on the Ocean Spray Cranberry juice or about $0.17 for each item.  It was a headache to check out but in the end it was all worth it.  The way I look at it, the customer service headaches are way easier to deal with then some of my past bosses were and this is what I do for a living now so I have a lot fewer complaints.  I only have to deal with them for 30 minutes at most and then I am done with them but my boss I had to put up with for 8-12 hours per day.  I will take the current situation over that any day :)  A bad day couponing beats a good day at the office :)  Hope that you got some great deals this week and I would love to hear about them!!!

First Day of Giant Credit and Last Day of Harris Teeter Sales

What makes a busy Tuesday night?  A quick trip to two grocery stores which takes one hour door to door and I don't get to leave the house until 7pm.  Trying to figure out where to go first so I decided to go to Giant first to use my $10 credit for participating in their online community (I do discussions and surveys on their website once a week and they give me $10 each month).  I didn't know exactly what I was going to get but I had a list of the things that we needed for the month so I figured that I would get some stuff off the list until it added up to the $10 mark and then stop.  Great plan right?  I got the self scanner and started on my trip.  First to the produce to get lettuce since we were totally out. Next to the meat department and got two packages of turkey that were $1.99 each after coupons.  Up and down aisles checking what was in each aisle.... nothing interesting.  Found Ocean Spray for $2.50.  The first one gave me $0.50 off uscan it discount so it was only $2!  Then I went and got the King Arthur Flour which was on sale for $2.99 and I had a $0.55 that didn't double :(  I checked out and the computer erased the $0.50 uscan credit- second :(  My total was $3.30 and I went to customer service and they gave me $0.50 back so my total OOP was $2.80.  I saved $16.12 on this trip which isn't a great percentage but I got a bunch of things that we needed so even with two frowns, I still think that it was a success.

It was the last day of the Harris Teeter sale on the Kraft Cheese which gave me the surprise Catalina which I was going back to do again and get another Catalina!!!  I still hadn't formulated my plan on the cheese and now using the calculator, I chose wrong!!  Teaches me that I need to use the calculator before the check out :)  I would have been cheaper getting four in one transaction and getting four in another one and rolling the Catalina into the other transaction.  Instead, I got 6 in one transaction with bread and Kikkoman seasoning package.  My total was $6.63 (with a savings of $18.39).  Still a great deal and I put the cheese straight in the freezer.

The great news is that I got most of the stuff that we need for the month and I am only at $123.36 which leaves lots of room for Super Doubles (or whatever great sales comes up).  I also have a $4 Catalina for Harris Teeter so I will be able to get bread and some deals when we need it next week and it won't even!!  I just looked at the sales so I am really excited to figure out how to I am going to use that $4 :)

When did I get like this? book

I normally go to three seconds in the library to look for books that I haven't read.  The 340ish section (frugal/economic books), the 640ish section (cookbooks), and the 306ish section (mommy books).  I try to get a mix from each section to read some different topics through the month.  Sometimes I get going on one topic and I want to keep going but I try to stop myself!  This has been on the top of my list for a while but I had to go back to an economic book first.  When Did I Get Like This?: The Screamer, the Worrier, the Dinosaur-Chicken-Nug... and Other Mothers I Swore I'd Never Be by Amy Wilson had a title that jumped off the shelf at me.  I had to take it home and see what it was about... especially since my son's favorite dinner is dinosaur chicken nuggets!!!  No mother can turn away from this title or this book because it is exactly as advertised. 

In the first chapter, the author discussed how everything we do as mothers is wrong and the new marketing ploy is to make sure that we know that we are doing things that we will negatively impact our children because we aren't working to do the best for them.  Through the second chapter, she talks about her mother and how calm she was raising 6 kids at the same age as she is currently and can't make it work with three kids.  The house always looks like an explosion and she is lucky to think about dinner before 6pm, let alone get it on the table.  She goes on to other serious and funny topics like picking a nursery school and kids not believing in Santa.  The book was a page turner which is why I have already finished it after starting it yesterday???  This is the third book of the month and we are only on the 6th day!!!!

If you want to know that other mothers feel the same way as you sometimes, pick this book up and you might see your own story in print.  I laughed my way through the book and seeing myself on many pages!!  It was super funny to hear how she deals with her three kids on a daily basis and the funny things that they say.  Hope that you decide to pick this one up because I am sure that you will be entertained as well :)

Harris Teeter Shopping Trip 3/5

Today was the day of errands with my son.  First to the bank which he loves because he gets something green.....  a lollipop!  We did drive through so it was super easy and the tube that goes woosh is also a hit with my son.  Then on to the library to return books in the book drop.  Then driving over to Harris Teeter to get eggs and cheese (or cookies as my son said).  The eggs were on sale for $0.97 (limit 2) and Kraft cheese was B1G1 (original price $3.69) so it was $7.38 for 4 bags less $2 in coupons so it was $1.35 per bag.  I didn't think that it was a great price because my stock up is usually under $1 but I haven't seen shredded cheese on sale for ages.  The great news came at the checkout when I paid $7.53 OOP and got a $3 catalina for my next purchase from buying the cheese!!!!  I wanted to go back and get more cheese right then but my son was out of cookies and we were on a strict time schedule so this was my only check out but I might have to go back tomorrow since we don't have any plans for playdates. 

By the way, if you are one of those people out there that is paying $3.69 for one bag of shredded cheese, they are best to stock up when they are on sale and freeze them.  I even freeze the cheese if I think that I am using them that week because there is nothing that I hate more then opening up a bag of really expensive cheese and seeing mold!!!  There is also no way to get rid of mold in a bag of shredded cheese except throwing it in the trash!  Shredded cheese freezes great and unfreezes so that you can smoosh of part or use the whole bag.  I prefer frozen cheese on pizza because it cooks up better without burning :)

Anyway, back to the trip all through the town, my son wanted a balloon but they didn't have anymore except the Mylar balloons you have to buy which he didn't really understand but we made it back out the door without too much fight.  Then off to Salvation Army to donate some stuff and not have to get my son out of the car again... what a great list of errands where we are only out of the car once.  Then on to the doctors office, where he weighed in at a 32.0 pounds!!!  The ear infection is gone and we are back to normal ears.  Back home and the little man fell asleep in the car.  I got him all the way upstairs and in his bed.  Time for a nap for mommy too!!!  Hope everyone else had as productive a day.

Menu Plan Monday 3/5

Monday- Shredded Chicken Fajitas Wraps
Tuesday- Zesty Herb Chicken with herb rice
Wednesday- Chicken Egg Rolls
Thursday- Chicken and Rice Casserole
Friday- Lime Chicken
Saturday- Burgers and BLTs/Leftovers
Sunday-Beef Barley Soup/Leftovers

Slow Cooker Caribbean Jerk Chicken

In one of my new book reviews, I wrote that the author recommended http://www.crockpot365.blogspot.com/ so I went and checked it out.  I found a bunch of recipes for a whole chicken to do in a crockpot!!!  Good news since I have a freezer full of whole chickens from the great $0.77 per lb sale at Harris Teeter weeks back.  I was determined to try a few recipes and I saved a bunch on my computer so that I found figure out what I had the ingredients for when it was time to cook.  Caribbean Jerk Chicken happened to be the first one because I found a bag of 16 limes on sale at Harris Teeter for $2. 

I was trying to figure out the basic costs with this recipe to see if it worked out to a cost effective solution too.  The whole chicken was on sale for $3.63.  I used 6 limes so that makes it a $0.75 cost in limes.  My parents bought me the chili powder and cinnamon for Christmas so they didn't really cost me anything.  I got the salt and brown sugar for free at the store.  Then the rice was a big bag that I have been using for awhile and I really don't know how many cups were in it and how much I paid but I would say it was less than $0.20.  If I would count the cost of the spices together, I might put them at $0.40???  So my total was $4.58 (counting spices was $4.98).  Three of us ate it tonight and there is a ton of chicken and rice leftover.   I think that I am going to freeze the extra rice and try to figure out another recipe for the chicken that I have leftover. 

Hint:  I was being a cheapskate so I zested the limes and put a little on the outside and I jammed the juiced lime halves in the cavity of the chicken for extra yummy.  I froze the extra zest to use in another recipe.

Slow Cooker Caribbean Jerk Chicken
Before Cooking in crockpot:

After cooking:

4-5 pound whole chicken

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon all spice (not a typo, it is a whole tablespoon!)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I used chili powder)

2 teaspoons kosher salt

3 limes, juiced (about 1/3 cup)- my limes were small so we did 6

Instructions:

Use a 6-quart slow cooker (Mine is 3 ½ and it worked fine). Make sure all the giblets, neck, etc. are out!  Skin the bird as much as you can (optional).  In a small mixing bowl, combine the brown sugar and dry spices. Rub this spice and sugar mixture all over the bird, inside and out. Cook the chicken upside down, to keep the breast meat as juicy as possible. Pour on the lime juice. 

Cover, and cook on low for 6-7 hours, or on high for 4. Check doneness with a meat thermometer, or cut in to make sure the meat is no longer pink. Usually the bird falls completely apart when it is done.  Remove chicken from crock pot and reserve juices to make rice. 

You can serve with lime wedges for a bit of extra citrus flavor, if you'd like.

Please note, if you don’t have all spice (like me) use the following instead:

  1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

  1 teaspoon nutmeg

  ½ teaspoon ground ginger

  ½ teaspoon ground cloves

Lime Rice

1 cup white rice
2 cups of reserved liquid (add water if you don't have enough)

Boil for 20 minutes in a covered sauce pan.  Fluff with fork when done and serve with chicken.

Shared at Posed Perfection