Thurs., Jan. 7th

Stayed under the electric blanket til almost 9:00 this morning. Cloudy and overcast again. Cereal for breakfast. I had a list of to-do’s: file coupons, look for recipes, make chicken salad, clean out cabinets and magazines.

I made the chicken salad, cleaned out the cabinets, threw out some magazines, and watched All My Children. I can’t believe Ryan is gonna be with Erica. She must be 30 years older than him………..gross!

The snow started about 2:00 and ended about 3:00. It was pretty while it lasted. Then…it started sometime after dark and came down for about an hour. Everything is totally covered. Probably just ½ inch. We’ll check it out for sure in the morning. The grandkids will love playing in it. Buddy’s never seen snow….he probably won’t even go out in the morning.

I was pretty lazy so we had chicken salad for dinner. I’ll cook tomorrow.

Sam didn’t feel too good (allergies?) so he went to bed early. I’m watching Alabama beat Texas. Too bad Texas’ star quarterback got injured early on. It would have been a better/fairer game for the National Championship if he were playing. I only want Alabama to win ‘cause they represent the SEC. And I do love the state of Alabama. It’s a beautiful place with mountains and lakes in the north and gulf beaches and Mobile in the south.

There were 2 campers tonight, both from New York.

Friday 1/1/2010 Happy New Year!

The boys were up bright and early this morning....about 7:30. Breakfast was cereal and blueberry muffins and chocolate milk.

We managed to entertain them inside until about 10:00 then they just had to go outside and swing and ride Kyle's scooter.

Samantha and Nathan came over about 11:00 and stayed for a couple hours. They left about 1:30 and took two boys with them. Kyle stayed and we will take him home on Sunday. He goes back to school on Wednesday, Jan. 6. Missed All My Children, if it was even on.

Today we had to move from the "Host" site as we were only scheduled as hosts for November and December. New hosts for January through March moved onto the host site and we moved down to another site in the park. We're now in site 30, a pull through that is very large and has everything except a black water (sewer) drain. There is a gray water drain so that is good. Sam will have to take the black water to the 'dump' in the blue tote tank...about once a week. Sam will assist the maintenance guys, completing various projects around the park.

This site is at the bottom of the hill at the back of the campground. We can see the entire campground, uphill, out our big windows. There is a creek (which Kyle loves) just behind us at the edge of the woods. I think I like this site best of all! : )

Thurs. 12/31 - New Year’s Eve

Here's the new heater

We will need it because the next 5 nights are lows in tbe teens/twenties! Yikes! : o

I was up at 7:00 to turn on the coffee and watch the news. Sam slept until 9:00! It was so foggy and dark he thought it was still night! Late breakfast of cereal then I sorted some coupons that expire today and went to Kroger and Publix to get any final deals. I didn’t leave until after 1:00 but All My Children was a rerun?? That was weird.

Sam had leftover chicken and rice for lunch but I had a dollar burger on the way to Publix.

At Publix, I got four bags of Chex Mix and their last bag of Cherry Cordial Kisses and when I checked out they paid ME .08 cents! I LOVE Publix, where shopping is always a pleasure. ; )

Found some free Glade candles at Kroger and a few other deals. Total was $30.94 and paid $8.50 after coupons and after checking the tape, they over charged me by 52 cents on one item! : (

When I returned to the camper, Sam took the laundry over to the motel (here in the park, where we are able to do laundry for free) and washed up a few things. : ) I stayed at the camper and watched 2 episodes of Reba! It got pretty windy and was still very foggy when I took Buddy for a walk.

About 7:00, Samantha and Nathan brought their 3 boys over to spend the night while they went to a party at someone’s house. We made pepperoni pizza and played games. They were very good and actually went to sleep before the Peach dropped. So did I! : )

2 Campers tonight!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I hit the mother-load at Walmart and Kmart today....

Walmart take today....$96.98 total before coupons....paid $8.98!

Now, read the fine print.....I had 17 coupons for $3.00 off flea collars which sell for $.97 each. This equals an overage of $34.51. Other overages were 4 x $3.00 coupons on $1.97 disposable razors = $4.12 overage on razors. And 2 x $5.00 coupons on $3.97 Zantac = $2.06 overage on zantac. This equals total overage of $40.69. Now Walmart is not gonna hand over $40 in cash for buying their stuff....BUT....if you buy enough stuff so that the $40 is absorbed and you end up paying something then it works. So I chose to buy over $40 in groceries that I don't usually have coupons for such as meat, bread, produce.

Kmart doing doubles again....total before coupons $78.81....paid $3.79!

More fine print.....

I had overages at Kmart because I had a couple of Kmart coupons for $3 off total purchase. I had two of these so I broke the order into two orders to use both. That's why I purchased the bacon....no coupons for them but I had overage to use up. I ended up with two $5 off coupons to use on your next order. I'll probably use these at Publix 'cause they honor all competitor coupons.

What 'cha want for dinner tonight??

Been workin' the deals' in August. Here's a couple of pics from a trip to Kmart and Publix. Kmart was doubling up to $2.00, so 2.00 coupon was doubled to $4.00. They're doing it again next week. Kmart total was $105.42 and I paid $14.80. Publix trip was today to get some buy one/get one frees before the weekly sale ended. Publix's ads run Wednesday thru Tuesday. This trip was $93.74 and after B1G1's, in-store specials, $3.03 left on gift card...I paid $15.08. Also went to Wally World Sunday. Total was $60.33 and I paid $15.20. Plus short trip to Winn Dixie to pick up a couple of B1G1 was $12.14 and paid $2.10

Totals for 4 stores was $271.63 and I paid $47.18. That's 82.6% savings. Not too bad. I didn't have to buy any meat in these trips, just the 2 boxes of fish sticks which will make 4 or 5 meals. I already had pork chops (B1G1 at WD last week) and ground beef. Publix has chicken and ground beef on sale this week so I'll do that before next Tuesday.

I'm always on the lookout for fast food/restaurant coupons. We eat out once or twice a week. Monday night we had Burger King - 2 whoppers, 2 fries, and 2 sr. diet cokes = $3.20 after free whoppers (on back of every receipt!). We ate a MacDonald's twice this month 'cause we had coupons for their new big burger; just buy burgers and get medium fry and drink free. And those burgers were surprisingly good but I'd never pay full price ($3.99) without coupon of some kind! Then there is Subway's footlongs for $5. Very good deal to bring home and add chips and diet coke. And I still have a few Sonic coupons for B1B1 burgers, footlong dogs, etc. There is also a new place in town called Chow Time. It's similar to Golden Corral but only $5.49 before 4:00. They have good peel'n eat shrimp.

Kmart/Publix

Strawberries galore!

Fresh strawberries = Strawberry Shortcake!

Yum-Yum!!

Crock Pot Cooking

With the weather so hot, I drug out the crock pot and tried to come up with some ideas for dinners. Vegetable Beef Soup is a good old standby. The gas stove and oven tend to heat up the camper but eating hot soup in a cool camper works for us.

In a rare twist the temp outside yesterday was so low, due to the overcast skies, that we were able to cook cornbread in the oven to go with the soup. I even did blueberry muffins while the oven was on to have for breakfast this morning.

Vegetable Beef Soup

Ground beef and/or turkey, browned

Package of frozen vegetables

Can of white beans

2 Cans of diced tomatoes

32 oz. Chicken broth

Salt and pepper, to taste

Mrs. Dash, Oregano, Red Pepper Flakes,

all to taste.

And any other frozen, canned, or leftover vegetables you may want to throw in.

Cook on High 4 hours or Low 6 hours.

Enjoy!

Chocolate

My favorite chocolate fix........Texas Brownies

I'm trying this one on Sunday:

CROCKPOT CHOCOLATE MESS -

This fabulous, decadent chocolate pudding cake is made in your crockpot.
Prep Time: 20 minutes, Cook Time: 7 hours.

Ingredients:
·1 pkg. two layer chocolate cake mix
·3 oz. pkg. instant chocolate pudding mix
·4 eggs
·1 cup water
·2 cups sour cream
·3/4 cup vegetable oil
·3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
·1/4 cup milk chocolate chips
Preparation:
Spray a 4 quart crockpot with non-stick cooking spray and set aside. In a large bowl, combine the cake mix and pudding mix. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs with the water, then add the sour cream and oil and beat until smooth. Add to the dry ingredients and beat well. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Pour into crockpot. Cover slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours, until top springs back when touched very lightly with finger. 8-10 servings

When bored, cook......

Chicken with Broccoli and Garlic Sauce

• 2 t. olive oil


• 1 t. minced garlic


• 8 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1" cubes


• 1/4 t. dried thyme


• salt and pepper to taste


• 2 cups frozen broccoli florets (I used fresh)


• 1 cup chicken broth


• 2 cups cooked brown rice

Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic; saute one minute. Season chicken with thyme, salt and pepper; add to skillet. Cook, stirring frequently until browned, about 3 minutes. Add broccoli; cook 1 minute. Add broth, cover and cook 5 minutes. Serve over rice. 2 servings.

Project 365 Day 77 - Spaghetti Pie

I found a recipe for Spaghetti Pizza Casserole that looked good. I just called it Spaghetti Pie. It was okay. I've made this from leftovers before and it was just as good. Just take leftover spaghetti noodles, mix in bowl with an egg or two and 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese. Spread mixture in a 8x13x1" pan. Top with your choice of spaghetti sauce, mushrooms and mozzarella cheese. Bake about 30 minutes at 350. Enjoy!

Project 365 Day 70 - Palm Trees

Here's a shot of the sign at the entrance to the campground.

Love the palm trees...they remind me of Florida! They're NOT native here...they were planted. They seem to grow well all around this area but they do not grow naturally in the wild. (Only the cacti are native here). All around the shops, stores, etc., they have been grown in a nursery then transplanted.

Project 365 Day 69 - Desserts

Dessert Row from last night's Pot Luck.....yum, yum.

Project 365 Day 68 - Marinara

A good day for cooking.....

Today is overcast and chilly....a good day to make a big pot of multipurpose Marinara Sauce. Here are the ingredients.

The recipe came from Cooking Light Magazine a few years ago. It's great for any pasta dishes, chicken dishes, or even pizza. Also good for a dipping sauce for bread or crudites and as a spread on a meatball sandwich or burger with provolone cheese.

The best thing about this marinara is it's low fat and low calories. And for Weight Watchers, it's 100% Core with no points.

Basic Marinara

Use a large Dutch oven or stockpot. Recipe yields 12 cups. Cook at low simmer - just a few bubbles every few seconds will yield the deepest taste.

• 3 T olive oil
• 3 cups chopped yellow onion (3 med.)
• 1 T Splenda
• 3 T minced garlic (6 cloves)
• 2 t salt
• 2 t dried basil
• 1 1/2 t dried oregano
• 1 t dried thyme
• 1 t freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 t fennel seeds, crushed
• 2 T balsamic vinegar
• 2 cups fat/free less-sodium chicken broth
• 3 (28-oz) cans (no-salt added, opt.) crushed tomatoes

Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion; cook 4 minutes, stirring frequently. Add splenda and next 7 ingredients (thru fennel seeds); cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in vinegar; cook 30 seconds. Add broth and tomatoes; bring to simmer. Cook over low heat for 55 minutes or until sauce thickens, stirring occasionally. Yield: about 12 cups (serving size: 1/2 cup).

Calories 50; Fat 1.8 g; protein 1.3 g; Carb 8g; Fiber 2.1g. Refrigerate for up to 5 days or freeze up to 4 months.