Healthy Eating

I love food. Who doesn't? The challenge is eating healthy AND enjoying what you're eating. Can I get an amen?

Carbs are delicious but not recommended in most diets. I posted a couple recipes using cauliflower as a carb substitute: cauliflower bites and cauliflower pizza crust.

I recently discovered a pasta made with veggies from Ronzoni. Of course, I had coupons for this pasta (see below).

We made some pasta and mixed it with salad. It was a nice way to have some solid food while getting a helping of vegetables. 

The price per box was $1.69 at Publix and it was a BOGO. I used 2 $0.75 coupons for a total of $0.19 for 2 boxes.

Here’s the breakdown:

$1.69 for 2 boxes because it was a BOGO

-$1.50 off ($0.75 coupon x2)

$0.19 total for 2 boxes

Great deal!  Needless to say, we stocked up!

Couponing: First Aid

Having just experienced a hurricane, I was surrounded by a lot of wise counsel on how to prepare for this natural disaster. One of the resources suggested having a fully stocked first aid kit. A lot of injuries take place during and after a hurricane as people are scurrying around trying to hunker down and clean up.

I found a great deal recently on CeraVe healing ointment.

Here's the breakdown at Walmart:

$3.73 each
-$3 coupon
$0.73 each!!!!

I had 4 coupons so I grabbed 4 packages for a whopping total of $2.92 + tax. That's a total of $12 savings!

Homemade Vegetable Soup

I was raised on home cooking where most everything was made from scratch. One of our family favorites was chicken noodle soup. Not just any ordinary chicken noodle soup. The soup my great grandmother made.

I was fortunate enough to have a great grandmother into my mid 30's. I had a sweet relationship with her for many reasons. We lived nearby and I was the first great grandchild. Although I'm not sure the latter contributed to our relationship. We would have dinner in her home on regular occasions. My father's request of his grandmother was her homemade chicken noodle soup.

As she aged, her homemade dinners were less frequent. I stopped by her home still and tried to get as much information about cooking, family history, and other things that she would know. I knew our time would come to an end.

Our family wanted to duplicate her chicken noodle soup so I got her recipe. She took a whole chicken and put it in a pot with water to simmer. She was careful to mention that boiling it would not produce a clear broth. We tried it and it didn't taste as good as hers, of course. Did we expect it to?

On winter days, I can still taste her soup in my memory almost as vividly as when I ate at her table. As the temperatures drop, my cooking tends to default to my childhood comfort food. Once I moved to Florida, my desire for comfort food didn't surface very often because the temperatures don't fall as far. My first couple years in Florida, I was in a year round July daze. This is the first year I have a sense of seasons. It's still not the same as up north.

I got the urge for great grandma's soup and thought I'd try my hand at it again. I looked around for ingredients at home and found a turkey neck, heart, and gizzard in the freezer. There are almost always onions, garlic, carrots, and seasoning around.

I live in a meat free zone, a decision my husband made for the health of the family. We're not vegan and so I used the turkey neck and parts to make a broth. I simmered it to maintain a clear broth. Skimmed the fat and pulled out the turkey parts next. In went chopped onions, garlic, cabbage, and carrots. I cooked rice separately and added it later.

Clear broth, skimmed fat, and remainder of turkey meat.

Simmering with carrots, onions, garlic, and cabbage. 

 Final product with rice.

Low Country Boil

One of the delights of moving to the south is discovering southern cuisine. 

My husband and I like a restaurant that does boils. We both love seafood, potatoes, and corn so it's a perfect combination for dinner. It's served in a bag while you get equipped with a lobster bib and plastic gloves. This is serious!

While delicious (and messy), it can be pricey to eat out frequently. After having this boiled dinner a couple times, I decided to try my hand at it at home. 

Jewelry Deal

I do love jewelry and I love a bargain. So you can imagine my excitement on getting a great deal on jewelry at Charming Charlie.

I had a $5 coupon for my birthday (more on that later). When I went into the boutique, I found that the clearance items were BOGO.  I got a copper necklace and earrings for just over $6 and used my $5 coupon so I ended up paying just over $1 + tax.

The cashier was new and working on her own at the cash register. She was having some difficulty ringing up the birthday coupon. She finally figured it out and offered me 2 coupons as an appreciation for my patience. The new coupons were $10 off $10 valid a few weeks from that time.

Knowing that the clearance items were currently BOGO, I was hoping that would still be going on when the coupons were valid.

Sure enough! I went back and the BOGO was still going on and I had $20 in coupons. When I have such a great deal, bargain, coupon, or gift card, it takes me longer to choose items. I want to make sure I’m getting the most bang for my buck.

I chose a variety of items (pictured below) and ended up with 8 items which totaled $24 including BOGO clearance. I paid $4 out of pocket.

I’m stylin’ and savin’ simultaneously!

Read more about how to clean tarnished silver jewelry I previously posted.

Couponing: Make Up

Recently, Publix made the announcement that they were no longer carrying CoverGirl cosmetics. What does that mean?  CLEARANCE SALE!!!

There were coupons galore on CoverGirl that were high dollar values = bonus!

Here is what I got:

4 eye shadow palettes $2.44 each

2 blush pallets $1.99 each

I used 4 coupons for a CoverGirl eye product that were $3 each.

I, also, used 2 coupons for a face product that were $1.50 each.

Here is the total:

4 eye shadows @$2.44 each = $9.76

-4 ($3) coupons

= $-2.44

2 blush @1.99 each = $3.98

2 ($1.50) coupons

= $0.98

The total is -$1.46. So now what? Publix gave me a gift card for the overage. I will be back in Publix that same week so that’ll go towards my next transaction.

Because I use various types of shopping apps, I submitted receipts at Checkout51 (see previous post on Checkout 51) for these products. They were giving $1 per CoverGirl product (quantity 5 maximum). The result is that I got back $5 from Checkout51 in addition to the $1.46 from Publix.

Sometimes you win at adulting!

Money Earning Apps: Checkout51

I featured recently 2 different apps that I use to earn money back: Receipt Hog and Shopkick.

This time I want to highlight Checkout 51. This is a great companion app for couponing.

You buy items and then you get cash back. Once you accumulate $20, they will mail you a check! Simple as that!

View items available for rebates:

Select items you want to buy: 

View notes about new products and receipts submitted: 

View the amount you have accumulated: 

You are bound to buy items anyway. Why not get money back?