The Other Stores

We all know and love the major stores here in Texas there are a few other choices.  I always like to check on the prices from Albertson's, Kroger and Tom Thumb from a few other great blogs.

Minyard's has a few specials to check out if you have one in your area.  It follows the same schedule as the others and rotates to new prices on Wednesday.  I don't know the coupon policy, especially whether they accept internet coupons.  Here are a few good deals that end at closing time Tuesday, September 7th:

Blue Bell ice cream - 3 for $10, limit 3 (you can get $1 off coupon by signing up on their website) Final price: $3/ea wyb 3
Dr. Pepper 12 pack - 4 for $10
Kraft Miracle Whip - 2 for $5 (-$1 off Kraft Mayo, Sandwich Shop Mayo or Miracle Whip Dressing wyb Oscar Mayer Deli )
Kraft BBQ Sauce - 89cents each
Bar-S meat Franks - store coupon 69cents each, limit 4
Ranch Style Beans - store coupon 49cents each, limit 4
VanCamp's Pork & Beans - store coupon 49cents each, limit 4
Best Choice Louisiana Hot Sauce - 2 for $1
Zest, Ivory or Safeguard bath soap 3 to 4 count - 2 for $3 (-$1/2 Ivory Body Wash, Liquid Hand Soap, or (3) bar packs, PG 8/29; -.25/1 Ivory body wash, bar pack, or liquid hand soap, PG 8/29;
-.50/1 Ivory body wash, bar soap or hand soap, PG eCoupon printable; -$1/2 Zest Bodywashes or (3) Zest or Safeguard Bars or Safeguard liquid hand soaps, PG 8/29; -.35/1 Zest Bodywash or bar, or Safeguard bars or liquid handsoap, PG 8/29; -.50/1 Zest body wash or bar soap, PG eCoupon printable) Final price: $1 ea wyb 2
Crest Toothpaste 6.4oz - 2 for $3 (-$1 off Crest Toothpaste 4 oz + or Liquid Gel, PG 8/29; -$1 off Crest Toothpaste, 4 oz +, PG 8/29; -.50/1 Crest Toothpaste 4 oz + or Liquid Gel, PG 8/29) Final price: 50cents
Secret or Old Spice Deodorant - 2 for $3 (-$1 off Old Spice Fresh Collection Invisible deodorant, PG eCoupon printable; -$1/2 Old Spice antiperspirant, deodorant or body wash products, P&G $100 Coupon Booklet; -$1/2 Old Spice Deodorant, Body Wash, or Body Spray, PG eCoupon printable; -$1/2 Old Spice product, PG 8/29 - I know there are Secret coupons too but not sure where) Final price: 50cents
Tampax or Always Feminine Products 12-46 count - 2 for $4 (-$1 off Tampax cardboard product, PG eCoupon printable; -$1 off Tampax product, 18 ct +, PG 8/29; -$1 off Always Pad or Clean or Feminine Cleansing Cloths, PG 8/29; -$1/2 Always Pantyliners, 34 ct +, PG 8/29; -.50/1 Always Pantyliners, 34 ct +, PG 8/29) Final price: $1

There's also Fiesta:
Cocoa Puffs or Cheerios Cereals 11.8 to 14 oz - $1.88 (-$1/2 General Mills Boo Berry, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cocoa Puffs printable; -.55/1 Cocoa Puffs Cereal printable; -.55/1 General Mills Cocoa Puffs cereal printable; -$1/2 General Mills Original Cheerios printable; -.55/1 General Mills Original Cheerios printable) Final price: $1.33
Arm & Hammer Laundry Detergent 36 to 48 load powder or 32 load liquid - $2.99
Hefty one zip Storage 13 to 22 count - 99cents each (-$1/2 Hefty One Zip bags printable; -$1/2 Hefty One Zip Fresh Extended Bags printable) Final price: 49cent ea wyb 2

Thanks to Southern Saver's coupon database!  If you need a printable link - check for it there.  This does not account for any taxes.

Albertson's Run

I decided to go to Albertson's last night to try and beat the Labor Day mad dash.  Blue Bell was on sale for 3 for $10 and I had a $1 off coupon from signing up on Blue Bell's site for their club.  I love Blue Bell!  I made some brownies for work to go with vanilla ice cream.  YUM!

I was in no hurry so I cruised the aisles for clearance items.  I ended up with Argo corn starch 16oz for 99 cents which was cheaper than Albertson's brand and had more volume.  I use corn starch in a great recipe, I think it's from the old Better Homes & Gardens cookbook, for chess pie.  This is a lemon custard type pie that is delicious!  It's a family and friends favorite and oh so simple to make.  I"ll try to put it up when I get back home.

Other items on clearance: Fleishman's pizza dough yeast, Tree Top apple juice concentrate, kitchen utensil set and some mango drinks in a can.  I'm in Texas and this may be regional so ymmv.

When a Woman Takes an Axe to a Wall

Fun title, fun book.  This is a quick read from a do-it-yourselfer woman published by a small shop - The Writer's Lair Books.  While the book is geared more towards divorced women and encouraging their "homeownhership", I think it's an inspirational read for anyone with a little fear of tackling home projects.

I've done a lot of projects myself, but that doesn't mean I'm not anxious about some of them.  A sample list: ripped up carpet, removed old and installed new blinds, installed kitchen and bath hardware (the handles), cut and installed moulding, replaced outlet receptacles and even replaced two lights.  Next up?  One of my kitchen fluorescents kicked the bucket so I'm aiming to replace the ballast (not that I even know what it does) this weekend.  Anytime I'm working with electricity I turn off the current at the breaker and have a set of current testers I use to make sure I used the right switch.  It makes me a little nervous, but I'm not paying anyone for a ten minute job.  After a hiatus, this book has got me back in the spirit of fixing and improving!

Food Should Taste Good

Food Should Taste Good is an all-natural snack food maker of tortilla chips.  I was lucky enough to try out five flavors with my office mates.  We went for Sweet Potato, Multigrain, Lime, Olive and Chocolate.

What does it taste like?   Well, tortilla chips.  That's what I tasted first and then the flavor kicks in a bit, and not like a fake food flavor.  The chips have a long list of all the reasons it's healthy and better for you, but it still passed the taste test.  The majority winner was Sweet Potato and Multigrain came in second for me.  One guy like Lime the best and another Olive so you really won't know what you like until you try them all.  :)  They've already been asking in the office when I'm bringing more in and where they can get some.  That's a great sign for people used to snacking on processed bars.

If you want to try Food Should Taste Good then check out their website for stores near you.  If you sign up for their fan club then you get a dollar off coupon.  Not only do you get $1 off, but Food Should Taste Good will donate 50 cents to Share Our Strength, a charity to alleviate child hunger in America.  What could be better than that?  And if you want more, google Food Should Taste Good coupons.  They switch them up a bit, but currently have $2 off any three bags over 5 oz.

We're hooked!

Omnibalm Review

Earlier I posted my first ever blog win of Omnibalm from Sweeps4bloggers.  The prize pack included a 3 oz Daily Foot Therapy cream, Skin Relief Cream and lots of little samples of both to share the love.

I've been using the Daily Foot Therapy on my poor feet.  I wear heels at work, leave a mini heater on underneath my desk and walk around barefoot the rest of the time.  I will spare you photos of my tootsies (although they are pretty cute from the top).  Omnibalm is a natural product featuring tea tree oil.  I can even pronounce all the ingredients!  It has a scent that I can't really place.  It's not medical and it's not overtly sweetened by perfume.  It's unique, and I like it.  It's a non-greasy cream that's really thin so it spreads easily.  Even though it's for feet, it's working on my fingers as well that I've used to work in the cream.  My feet started to crack and toughen from all the hardship I've been putting them through, but after the first night I noticed a difference.  My feet are actually softer.  Even with continued abuse, I think with regular application, Omnibalm will turn my feet silky smooth.

The other great news is that this cream is supposed to be great for diabetic foot care.  Unfortunately, I have a lot of diabetics in my family from unhealthy eating.  This will make a great gift for them.  I'm saving the Skin Relief Cream for my friend, but keeping a sample for myself.  I have poison ivy in my backyard that I need to tackle and I imagine this might come in handy!

I heartily recommend giving Omnibalm a try.  I'm happy to send out a 0.1 oz sample of both the Daily Foot Therapy and Skin Relief Cream to the first four followers to email me.  So since I only have three followers at the moment you have a pretty good chance if you're interested.  :)

Overdue Update

A lot of things have been going on...I'm just a little pressed for time so this will be my brief attempt to catch up.

Electrolux and Kelly Ripa have teamed together to bring a sweepstakes and a cause together.  Kelly Confidential supports the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund each time you 'create' a banana split.  It takes less than a minute.  How easy is that?  I was inspired to make a real split for myself!  I love Blue Bell ice cream and put together Butter Crunch (like Butterfingers), Pistachio Almond (the green one) and Cookies n' Cream.  YUM!  That's not all - for helping out a good cause you get a chance to win awesome prizes so go check it out.

Up next is Minute Maid's new Natural Energy drink in Strawberry Kiwi.  I got this and Pomegranate Berry as a free hand-out at the Taste of Dallas food expo.  If you look on the right you can see this is a brand of Coca-Cola.  If you're into myCoke rewards then this counts.

It was incredibly hot at the expo and exhibits were inside and out of buildings.  I brought water and quickly finished it off.  By the time I got this drink I was getting dehydrated but refused to pay $3 for a bottle of water.  My verdict: this drink is absolutely delicious.  Here's some things to consider - this is a juice blend.  It says 27% juice blend, mostly pear juice from concentrate.  While pear is pictured on the drink it's barely peeking out and not even in the flavor name.  There's less than 1% of: Strawberry and Kiwi juices from concentrate.  I liked the flavor so I'm not too bothered by how much is made up of what fruit.  It contain 37-43 mg of natural caffeine (from coffee beans) so I suppose that might explain the energy part.  At 12 oz it has a similar calorie count to a soft drink and 24 g of sugar.  For me, this would be a good replacement for a soft drink to reduce carbonation, but I still have to watch it for the calories and I'm not entirely sure how it compares to a typical glass of juice.

My great friend, C, gave me a package of venison sausage since she's leaving town for work and didn't want it to go to waste.  I'm no stranger to venison since my uncle is a hunter, but don't cook it too much. I decided to slice it up, put it on the "Foreman" grill and seasoned with Lawry's Seasoning Salt.  Venison is a great alternative meat since it's low in fat.  I tried one after it had cooled and it was perfection!  I also love Lawry's seasoning salt.  Let me tell you how much I love it.  When I was living abroad I took some with me.  And I used it all the time.  And I tried to convert the locals to using it.  I still love it although it's salt and I really should watch my sodium intake (but it's now got less sodium so it's okay, right?).  I can't wait for lunch tomorrow!  My neighbor gave me some fresh tomatoes and I cooked up some long grain wild rice.  Sounds like a feast!  Thank you, C!

Omnibalm Win!

Sweeps4Bloggers (check out her button on the right!) was the gracious host of the Omnibalm giveaway.  You can check out the giveaway for more information here.  I'm very excited to try out the Daily Foot Therapy.  I wear heels at work nearly every day, and combined with my mini heater to combat the arctic office air, it does a number on my feet.  I'll be sharing the anti-itch cream with a friend with allergies.  She gets serious welts from bites!    

Thank you, Valerie!  If you haven't been by Sweeps4Bloggers yet - go right now!  Theres a lot of great reviews and giveaways.

The Ultimate Soup Bible - Pasta and Chickpea Soup

Yesterday I decided I'd had enough sandwiches and tuna salad on crackers for lunch.  I wanted something easy to make and in a big enough portion it could last me for several meals.  My local library is in a new location, but with some rather old selections.  I checked out the few shelves of cookbooks (yes, you can check them out - and for many, many weeks!) and wasn't too inspired until I came upon The Ultimate Soup Bible.

This book is a stunner!  It has some of the most beautiful food photography I've seen in a long time.  The best part is those photos include a few prep steps so you know what your dish is supposed to look like as it's coming along.  There's a robust selection of recipes to choose from: chilled, light & refreshing, hot & spicy, one-pot meals and everything in between.  It covers a few food basics like certain types of ingredients and cleaning methods, as well as the occasional tip.

I flipped through the heartier soups so it could stand alone as a meal and decided to go with the Pasta and Chickpea Soup.  The photo reminded me a bit of a Tunisian stew I absolutely love so I had high hopes for this soup.  The one drawback I've found so far is the ingredient list for this recipe.  This is partly my fault for not looking up cannellini beans and partly the book for choosing what I would consider as an obscure ingredient.  I expected it to be in the canned bean section with the chickpeas (Garbanzo), but ended up confused and frustrated.  Recalling the photo, I went with a substitute - the large butter bean - and went on with it.  Update: it is a white navy bean also known as a pea bean or haricot.  I don't recall seeing it in the store, but I'll check it out next time I'm there.  I was also confused by the bottled strained tomatoes and ended up with canned diced tomatoes.  The extra touch of grated Parmesan cheese swayed me back into a positive mood though.

This is really an easy recipe to follow, as most of them appear to be.  I made this up after dinner so I only tasted it reheated today, but it was still a fantastic soup.  I love pasta and this is a great way to sneak in more vegetables for myself.  Even though I didn't chop the veggies as small as they probably should have been, they were still tender without being mushy.  Chickpeas are a great source of protein and make up for a lack of meat.  Overall, this is a great dish and easy on the wallet.  I would highly recommend the recipe and the book.

Above photos are my attempt: the pile of veggies, tossing in rosemary, and the final product.