Merry Christmas!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Luke 2:11-12
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you;
he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you:
You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Sign Up Saturday...

Welcome to Sign-Up Saturday!
If you are having a giveaway on your blog, link up below!!
Link directly to your giveaway page. Please make sure it's family friendly!
***
Also if you've found a good deal or a freebie

link up for that too. That way we don't miss any great deals!!

Be sure to sign up for my current giveaway...
One lucky winner will win a
Tassimo Single Server Brewer

Go here to enter!! (ends Jan. 7th)

Have a Great Weekend and a
Very Merry Christmas!

Winter Wonderland

This was the kids a couple weeks
ago during our first "real" snow!

Very little new snow this week, but we'll still
have a very white Christmas!!

Easy Chocolate Pretzels!

Cute EASY way to make
chocolate pretzels without dipping them!

Best of all the kids can do most of it!
If they don't eat them all!

Spread regular pretzels on a cookie sheet.
Open Hershey's kisses and put one on each pretzel.

Pop in the oven at 275* for 2-3 minutes (until starting to melt)
Take them out and pop a M&M on top!

Put them in the freezer until hard and then
transfer to container or Ziploc bag!

One more treat
to put on the cookie tray!

Tassimo Coffee Brewer Review and GIVEAWAY!!

Giveaway is now Closed...
I was blessed with the awesome opportunity by the great
people at Bosch to test out one of their
Tassimo T20 Single-Server Brewer.

This brewer is unique because you don't have to know
anything about coffees and how to make them!
The machine does ALL THE WORK!!

You use what they call T Disks, insert them
into the machine and the machine reads
the bar code on the disk and makes exactly what you want!

It can make over 40 varieties of hot and cold drinks including
coffees, lattes, cappuccinos, hot chocolates,
espressos, teas, and crema coffees.

All you ever have to do is fill the water holder, insert the disk,
and push 1 button! It was so EASY!
Oh and I should mention - ZERO CLEANUP!!

The only down side I see is that the T Disks are not
exactly cheap, but that also depends on what you
compare it to. You can see in the picture that
The Tassimo Machine makes Starbucks!

You can even get inserts to change up the color of your
machine!! They sent me a cool red insert!

So how would you like to win one of these
fabulous Tassimo T20 machines?!?!?!?

This Giveaway is open to
US entries only.

To enter you can do one or
all of the following.
(Leave separate comments for each one)

1. Visit Tassimodirect here and tell us
what kind of drink you most want to try!

2. Blog about this giveaway
3. Tweet about the giveaway (can do once per day)
4. Tell your facebook friends to come sign up!
5. Follow my blog (or tell me you do)
6. Subscribe to my blog (or tell me you do)
7. Just for fun - tell us something special
that's going on for Christmas!

Remember to leave one comment for each item you do --
up to 7 comments (or more if you Twitter daily).
Also please don't forget to leave me your email!

This giveaway will end January 7th at 8pm
One winner will be chosen using Random.org!
Good Luck!!!

Disclaimer -- Bosch/Tassimo provided me a new
T20 Machine to try out free of charge!
All opinions are my own.
Thanks Tassimo!

Sign Up Saturday...

Welcome to Sign-Up Saturday!
If you are having a giveaway on your blog, link up below!!
Link directly to your giveaway page. Please make sure it's family friendly!
***
Also if you've found a good deal or a freebie

link up for that too. That way we don't miss any great deals!!

Have a Great Weekend!!

Get to Meijer for CHEAP Olive Oil!!!

We try to only use olive oil, butter, or coconut oil at
our house. None of which is cheap...
So when I saw that Meijer (yea I still keep an eye on them esp.
when I'm going to be in town anyway!)
had their Pompeian Olive Oil on sale 50% off ($2.99)
stacked with a Mealbox $2. coupon (unlimited prints)
Makes them .99 cents for a 16 oz bottle of
Extra Virgin Olive Oil!
AWESOME!!

And if that's not cheap enough you
can print this coupon and get 1-2 for FREE!!
with the $1./1 MQ
For that price I'll even overlook the plastic bottle (grrr)

I had 1 - $1. MQ and 6 Mealbox coupons
so I paid $5.00 for 6 Olive Oils!!

Also in picture is Campbells Mushroom soup
on sale for .59 use $1./4 MQ printable here.
Total for 8 was $2.72 (.34 each).
I don't use these very much but they're handy in
a few meals I occasionally make!

Oh and the Red Wine Vinegar was on sale for $1.89
use a .50/1 Printable here, doubled made it .89 cents.
I love to use this in one of my chicken marinades!

Not pictured was 2 - 3 packs of yeast
On sale for .99 cents - .40 MQ doubled = .19 cents each!

Total at Meijer was around $9.00
It felt pretty good to use some coupons today!!

If you want to see all of their deals this week
Visit Bargains to Bounty!

Parchment Paper for Baked Potatoes!

Quick easy money saving tip!

Use parchment paper to wrap your potatoes!
I bought a roll from Pampered Chef about 3 months ago
after the lady saying that you can wrap your potatoes in
parchment paper and REUSE it!

I know you can just bake potatoes with nothing but we
really like how they turn out using foil. But then you
throw the foil away and it wastes ALOT when you do
10-12 potatoes at a time!

I'm excited to report that I have now used and reused the same
parchment paper for about 8 times and it shows no signs of
needing to be replaced! At this rate my roll I bought will
last years and years! (It's big)!!

So if you're interested, all I do is wrap them up just folding the ends
in and rolling. Put them on a baking sheet and bake as normal.
When you get them out unroll, stack up the papers, and put
them away until next time. I don't even see a reason to wash them
since there's never anything on them!!

Anyone do this too???
What's your secret to baked potatoes??

Sign Up Saturday...

Welcome to Sign-Up Saturday!
If you are having a giveaway on your blog, link up below!!
Link directly to your giveaway page. Please make sure it's family friendly!
***
Also if you've found a good deal or a freebie

link up for that too. That way we don't miss any great deals!!

Have a Great Weekend!!

Free Excedrin!

Go here to request 2 free bottles of Excedrin!
The coupons are mailed to you in a few weeks!

Thanks Money Saving Mom
and Coupon Pro

Baked Donuts!

Have you ever made donuts at home??

These were a huge hit last week!
I actually made 2 batches and yep, they're all gone!

While I wouldn't say these are healthy,
they are at least baked not fried!!
And in my opinion that makes them lots easier too!

I picked up these cute donut pans at a
store for only $1.49 each!!

Here's what I did....

2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
Mix together, then add
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
1 T butter
mix and put in greased pan...
Only fill about 2/3 full.
I think it made about 15-18 donuts!

Bake at 325* for 8-10 minutes

Take out of pan, cool then frost with favorite recipe!

I used
1 cup powdered sugar,
2 T milk,
1 T butter,
1/2 cup melted choc. chips
I had to add a little water or milk because it was a little thick.

I also frosted some with a cinnamon roll glaze
1/4 cup melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla
3 T. milk
Powdered sugar to make right consistency

Next time I'm trying something I like, like caramel!!!
You can also make them a little healthier by using better
sugar (sucanat) and maybe some ww flour!

Sign Up Saturday...

Welcome to Sign-Up Saturday!
If you are having a giveaway on your blog, link up below!!
Link directly to your giveaway page. Please make sure it's family friendly!
***
Also if you've found a good deal or a freebie

link up for that too. That way we don't miss any great deals!!

It's good to be back after a long bloggie Break!
Enjoy entering some great giveaways!
I'm hoping to have a few for you in the coming weeks!

Have a Great Weekend!!

Awesome Shutterfly Christmas Cards... and for FREE!!

So, do all of you have your Christmas Cards yet??
Yea probably because you're all on top of your game!
Me?... Well nope not yet!
But soon very soon I'll get that done...
At least I hope, because did you realize Christmas is
only about 24 days away?!?!?


Have you checked out Shutterfly this year?
I discovered that if you're a blogger and blog about
them that they'll give you 50 Christmas Photo Cards for FREE!!!
Turns out that's just what I wanted to pay!!
If that's what you want to pay too, check it out here.
But, HURRY there's not much time!

Even if you're not a blogger you really should check them out.
They have some SERIOUS Holiday Card choices. I'm really not
sure how on earth we're expected to choose just one.
I seriously love over 100 of them!

Here's two of my favorites...

I really love the scrapbook look where you use
more than 1 photo. But why is it sooo hard for
me to get one photo let alone multiples? One of these years
I'm actually going to get several good pictures to use.... I hope!!
So how do all of you do it?????

I really Love this card! I took the picture of my kids
vertically this year so I don't think I can use it, but I love it!


I'm off to search for my perfect Christmas Cards
come on over and join me! We can both get this
crossed off our "To do List"

Oh yea, don't forget to do a search for a coupon code. I've
seen several for Shutterfuly floating around the web!

I'm still here!!! Are you????

Hi Everyone!!!
Thanks for being sooooo patient while
I enjoyed a LONG blogging break!!

While I enjoyed taking a break I also
missed all of you here in cyber life!

So I'm back.... while things here won't be the
same as when I left I'm hoping you'll still enjoy stopping by!
I won't be posting daily but more like 1-2 times a week.
I wish I had time to post daily but realistically weekly is
going to be challenging enough!!

In the last 12 months my kitchen life has changed
dramatically! Here's how.....

I rarely clip coupons (I know you're gasping in disbelief),
I rarely buy anything boxed or premade,
I make everything I can from scratch,
I haven't been grocery shopping at Meijer in 6 months,
I try to use a lot less sugar (and more honey),
We rarely buy pop/soda/whatever you like to call it,
I've banned HFCS from my kitchen (there are a few stragglers!),
I eat an apple and banana EVERY DAY,
Oh and not kitchen related but... I no longer use hairspray or mousse.

I don't tell you this because I have things figured out... No way...
while I feel like I've went miles in another direction, I
feel like I have thousands of miles to go...

I tell you because if you feel like you can't begin to make
healthy kitchen changes, YOU CAN!!!
Babysteps is the name of the game!!!

Hmmmm... I didn't intend for this post to get sooooo long!
I guess I'll see you soon!!
Before I go, Here's a current shot of my munchkins!!!

Happy 12th Birthday, Malachi!

Today my oldest turns 12!
**Yikes teenager fast approaching...
Man how time has flown by!

We're so proud of the young man you're becoming.
You have such a compassionate heart and a great love for Jesus.
Happy Birthday, Malachi
We love you!

Sign Up Saturday...

Welcome to Sign-Up Saturday!
If you are having a giveaway on your blog, link up below!!
Link directly to your giveaway page. Please make sure it's family friendly!
***
Also if you've found a good deal or a freebie

link up for that too. That way we don't miss any great deals!!

Have a Great Weekend!!

Making a club with pallets!

Hubby rounded up some free pallets from the area
and the kids dreamed up a club.

I'll post new pictures in a few weeks. The clubs have
already expanded. They've worked really hard and
gotten LOTS of poison ivy. YUCK!!

But the work is paying off and
they're spending a lot of time in their cool clubs!

Canning Tomato Sauce - The EASY way!!!

I read how Heavenly Homemakers did her tomato sauce
and I adopted it!!! Be sure to read her post here.

This works so great. I've done it about 6 times so far
and have about 32 Quarts of tomato sauce and 35 pints.

I'm over 1/2 done but, I'd like about 15 more quarts
and maybe 20 more pints. Then I'd also like
some salsa and tomato soup.
Come on tomatoes keep turning red!!!

Start with tons of tomatoes! Simply wash them and take off the tops.
Some I take off the bottoms and some I take out bad spots. Take out
the core if it's big. My tomatoes are Roma so most of the cores are tiny.

Cut them in half or fourths.
Leave the peel on and leave in the seeds.
(how easy is that!)

Next take your tomatoes and put them in your blender.
Smash them down a little with a big spoon.
Start it up and it should look like a big smoothie!

You can even add in some zucchini. Just cut it up and
blend it with the tomatoes. I peeled mine so that
there weren't green pieces in the sauce.
I added 1 zucchini per huge bowl of tomatoes.

Heat it on high until it starts to really cook. At that point I turn
it down to a strong med. It will begin to froth up so if your
pan is too full it will run over. I sometimes prevent this by
dipping out some of the froth before it goes overboard!

When the froth is gone you have tomato juice. I let it cook
about an hour longer and I have tomato sauce.
Total cook time is around 2 hours give or take!

After that, dip it out and put it into your jars.
Make sure and sanitize your jars, lids, and rings.

I water bath my sauce. Be sure to follow your water bath
or canning instructions. I did mine for around 40 minutes.

Pull them out and you're done!!!
Add them to your stash after 24 hours.

I use tomato sauce for all my
pasta's, pizza, and chili.
I just add different spices when I pull it out!

Anyone else use this simple method for tomato sauce?