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Amazon.com LINK

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Making the Most of Your Coupons

Did you see my post last month on organizing your coupons? If you are starting to accumulate lots of coupons you might be wondering the best way to use them. Just heading out to the grocery store and using your .35 cent coupon on tuna fish is not the best way to utilize your coupon. If you know how to use your coupons you can make your money stretch farther than you thought possible!



1. Wait to use your coupons. Don’t use them right away. Wait closer to the expiration date for a good sale. For example, take a $1/1 Crest toothpaste coupon. When Walgreens, Rite Aid, CVS, Albertson’s or your local store has them on sale, THEN use the coupon on the sale price. many times these stores will have toothpaste on sale for $1, then you could get the toothpaste for free! Or when Walgreens offers Register Rewards on the toothpaste you can actually come out ahead when you use your coupon on the sale price, then get back a RR for the full purchase price!

2. Combine B1G1 free coupons with a similar sale. Let’s say that your store is having a sale on their Colgate toothpaste, B1G1 free. The sale price is $3.99 each. But let’s say you also have a coupon for a B1G1 free tube of Colgate. Use that coupon with the sale of B1G1 free and you will come away with two free tubes. Note that some stores do not allow this, so check the store coupon policy first. I know that Rite Aid used to allow this but they have since changed their coupon policy.

You can also use a cents-off coupon with a B1G1 Free coupon on the same sale. Lets say you are buying two boxes of pasta on a B1G1 Free sale. You can use a B1G1 Free coupon to get one item free, as well as a $1/1 coupon that you have for that item as well. The $1/1 coupon is for the box of pasta you are purchasing, the B1G1 coupon is getting your a free box for buying the first one. Make sense?

3. Combine your coupons with current rebates and rewards available. This is one of the main ways I have gotten ahead over the years. A Kraft rebate at Albertson’s a few years ago is an example. Kraft was offering a $20 rebate for purchasing certain items. I combined the sale prices at Albertson’s on those items with current coupons I had, which was $7 worth. I spent $14 plus tax out of pocket and got $20 back! I got paid to shop. Awesome!

This same concept is applied to Walgreens Register Rewards and Rite Aid +UP Rewards. You can combine the sale items with coupons, then get back the rewards immediately. It’s like cash in your pocket. Many times you can come out ahead.

4. Use manufacturer coupons with store coupons on the same product. Target, Fred Meyer & Walgreens are the stores in my area I do this at. These stores offer store coupons in their weekly ads or in their monthly coupon booklets. Many times there are manufacturer coupons (from the Sunday paper or printable coupons) that are for the same item. You can use these two coupons together!

For example, let’s say that you want to purchase Garnier shampoo at Walgreens for $3.99. Walgreens has a store coupon for $2/1. You also have a manufacturer coupon from the Sunday paper for $1/1. Use them together to get the shampoo for .99 cents.

5. Use your cents-off coupons to get free items. Did you know you can get many free things with regular cent-off coupons? You can! One way to do this is by purchasing trial size items. If you have a $1/1 coupon for Tide, use it on the .99 trial size. Just make sure you read the coupon to make sure it doesn’t mention that trial sizes are excluded. Many stores will apply the overage to your total as well! Walmart usually does. Target and Walgreens would adjust the coupon down to .99.

If you can’t use the coupon on a trial sized item, often you can use it on a full size item to get it for pennies! Wait for the item to go on sale before your coupon expires. Use patience!

How do you make the most of your coupons?

Healthy, Make-Ahead School Lunch Ideas

School time is now upon us. And for many moms that brings the dreaded “what do I pack for school lunch that is healthy and won’t break the bank?”


I have some great ideas for you today. These work really well for me and my kids.


1. Use Muffins Instead of Sandwiches. My kids are really picky when it comes to sandwiches. And they can only take so much pb&j. So one thing I like to do is make muffin ahead of time and freeze them. Then when packing their lunches in the morning all they have to do is grab a frozen muffin and it will be thawed by lunch time. Works great! I can make a couple different batches of muffins and they will last a few weeks. Here is a good healthy option if you want to do this.

Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
original recipe source

1/2 cup butter (1 stick or 4 ounces)
1/2 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
1/4 cup honey
2 large eggs
2 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cups mini chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350. Line or grease a 12 cup muffin pan. (I usually make these in my mini muffin tins. Makes 34 mini muffins or 12 regular size and 24 mini muffins).

Beat together the butter, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla in a medium bowl until smooth. Add the banana, honey and eggs, beating until smooth. Add the flour and chocolate chips, stirring until smooth. Divide batter into the muffin cups, they’ll be nearly full. Bake the muffins until a cake tester inserted in the center of one comes out clean, 23-28 minutes. Remove from oven and after a couple of minutes transfer the muffins to a rack to cool.

2. Forget Fruit Snacks! Another good energizing snack is these Peanut Butter Balls. My kids LOVE these, and I can sneak in whatever I want to make it healthier. The recipe is quite adaptable. Just like the muffins, the kids pop these in their lunch bag in the morning and they are thawed by lunch time. One of my kids likes chocolate chips, the other two don’t.

Peanut Butter Balls
Original recipe source

1 – cup honey
1 1/2 – cups creamy peanut butter
2 – cups dry powdered milk
3 – cups quick or old fashioned oatmeal, uncooked
1 – 2 – tablespoons wheat germ or flax meal
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (optional)

Mix all together with hand mixer. Form into balls with hands and freeze on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper until firm. Remove from freezer and store in a large zip lock bag in the refrigerator.

3. Make Smoothies Ahead. Another idea for you is to make smoothies and freeze them in containers like this:


Then take them out of the freezer in the morning and they will be thawed by lunch! My kids love smoothies and I sneak all sorts of veggie and fruit goodness in them. It’s a great way to give them a boost during their day…a healthy boost! Here are some of my favorites to make. Keep in mind these measurements are approximate…I never measure when I make smoothies and I always use different ingredients..what I have on hand.

Orange Julius
1/2 c. orange juice concentrate
1 c. milk
1 or 2 bananas
3-4 raw baby carrots
handful of fresh pineapple
handful frozen peaches
half apple cut into chunks
1 c. vanilla yogurt
honey to sweeten (optional)

Blend until smooth! I use frozen fruit so I don’t add any ice. If you use canned or all fresh you will want to add ice. Can also add pears or any other yellow or orange fruit or veggie.

Purple Passion
1/2 c. vanilla yogurt
1 c. milk
handful of frozen blueberries & raspberries & strawberries
handful raw baby spinach
3-4 baby carrots
1 banana
honey to sweeten

Blend until smooth! Like I said above, if you don’t use frozen fruit add ice.

Peach Raspberry Smoothie
2 c. frozen peaches
1/2 c. frozen raspberries/strawberries
1 c. vanilla yogurt
1 c. milk
honey to sweeten (optional)

Blend until smooth.


Peanut Butter Blast

1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. peanut butter
1 banana
chocolate syrup
small handful of graham crackers
ice

Blend until smooth.

4. Make Your Own Kid-Sized Portions. The last tip I want to share is about planning ahead. Instead of purchasing pre-packaged smaller items at the store like applesauce and yogurt for your kids’ lunches, do it yourself! I bought these containers at Walmart, and I fill them with fruit, yogurt, applesauce and whatever else. This way I am saving money as well as giving them better food. For example, I can my own applesauce and fruit.

What back-to-school lunch ideas do you have to share?

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SavingStar.com LINK

What to do with unused canning rings?

I decided to fix some homemade Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuits for lunch on Sunday. I’ve tried making them before, and everything goes well up until the ‘egg’ part. It’s just not very easy to eat these things with a bunch of scrambled eggs just piled loosely on the biscuit – they tend to fall out of the biscuit faster than you can scarf them down! I’ve tried using those special circular egg molds you put in your pan, but with a 12″ skillet, they never seemed to sit flat enough on the bottom, so when I poured the eggs in they would just run out the bottom under the mold and all over the pan – kinda defeats the purpose of the mold, you know?

We recently bought a large flat griddle during a fabulous Kohl’s sale (thank you PYP!), and we have been loving it (can’t believe we’ve gone this long without one)! We pulled it out and cooked our bacon, and then it was on to the eggs. But those little round egg molds were nowhere to be found, and I didn’t want a repeat of the Amazing Collapsing Biscuit Sandwich, so what’s a girl to do? Canning lids to the rescue!!!

We sprayed the inside of some wide-mouth jar rings with cooking spray, set them down on the skillet, and then poured the eggs inside. We let them cook until they were almost entirely set (just a little runny in the middle on top), gently popped the mold off, and then turned them over to finish cooking for another minute or two. Voilà! Just like the “eggs” on those other biscuit sandwiches that you might find under a pair of golden arches…Nicely cooked, the perfect size for the biscuits (I used canned dough ‘cuz I’m lazy), and no loose eggs falling all over the place!

The best part? We had two biscuits leftover. We stuck them in the freezer in a plastic zip-top baggie. Later that night, I pulled one out, wrapped it loosely in a paper towel and microwaved it for 60 seconds – fabulous! Just like my friend Jimmy Dean’s…(Okay, he’s not really my friend, but I still like his breakfast sandwiches anyway.)

[I’m probably the last person to figure out this little trick, right? You all probably had this figured out years ago…Oh well, just humor me, okay? 🙂 And yes, you could use fried eggs or poached eggs, which would solve the scambled-eggs-all-over-you mess, but I have a serious aversion to egg yolks that are not mixed together with the whites somehow, and I’m not talented enough to be able to pull off a poached egg, so scrambled it is!]

Favorite Canning Recipes

I wanted to share some of my favorite canning recipes.  They are all quite simple to make.  I use a water bath canner so the times listed for processing are based on this method.

Tip:  To peel tomatoes or peaches, dip them in boiling water, then quickly in cold water to loosen skins. Peel with fingers.  Although I only peel the tomatoes if I am only canning tomatoes, I don’t peel them for sauces or salsa.

There are lots of canning mixes on the market.  I don’t always do the 10-day pickles.  My favorite pickle mixes are Mrs. Wages which I can usually find in the grocery store.


Mild Salsa

About 25 Peeled tomatoes (actually I don’t peel them)

7 Green Peppers

10 Onions

2 Red Peppers

2 Yellow Peppers

2 Orange Peppers

3 Jalapenos

11 Anaheims

2 C Vinegar

1 T Heaping Garlic Powder

6 1/2 T Salt

8 T sugar

1 Heaping T Oregano

Chop up all the vegetables and combine everything together.  Bring to a boil and then simmer for 1 hour.

Pour into hot jars and process.  I use a water bath canner – 45 minutes for pints, 1 hour 15 minutes for quarts.

Makes about 30 pints or 15 quarts


Julie’s Zucchini Relish

6 cups chopped zucchini – of course you can use cucumbers too.

3 cups chopped onion

1 1/2 cup green pepper chopped

1 1/2 cup red pepper chopped

6 tablespoons salt

4 1/2 cups sugar

6 teaspoons celery salt

3 teaspoon mustard seed

3 cup cider vinegar

I use my food processor to cut everything up.  Combine zucchini, onion, peppers sprinkle with salt and cover with cold water, let stand for 2 hrs. Drain, rinse, and drain again thoroughly.  Combine remaining ingredients in a large sauce pan. Bring to a boil. add vegetables, simmer for 10 min. Pack hot relish into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. put on lids and process for 15 min in water bath canner.


10 Day Sweet Pickles

Day 1 — slice enough cucumbers to fill a gallon size jar.  Pour 1 cup of salt over it & cover with water.  Close the lid on the jar.

Day 2 & 3 — Turn jar upside down and back up once each day.

Day 4 & 5 — Drain the water and cover with fresh cold water each day

Day 6 – Drain & wash cucumbers well.  Put in a pot & add 1 T Alum & 1 Cup of cider vinegar & just enough water to cover.  Keep it hot for 2 hours (Do NOT Boil)  Stir occasionally

Prepare bag & syrup:

Bag (can use a knee high nylon or cheesecloth):

1 T Celery Seed

12 Cinnamon Sticks

½ C Whole Cloves

Syrup:

1 qt of Cider Vinegar

5 Cups Sugar

After the cucumbers have cooked for 2 hours, drain and put back in the jar.  Put the bag on top.  Boil the syrup & pour over the pickles & bag

Day 7, 8 & 9 – Drain & Heat the syrup adding an extra cup of sugar each day.  The last 2 days you can add food coloring (Green & Blue) to give the pickles a rich dark green color.

Day 10 – Drain & heat the syrup.  Put the cucumbers in hot pint canning jars.  Pour the syrup over  the cucumbers, heat the lids and seal in a water bath for 10 minutes.


Frozen Spaghetti Sauce

1/2 bushel tomatoes

2 hot peppers or 2 tbsp. dried

2 c. vegetable oil

1 entire bulb garlic

4 green peppers

3 lb. onions

1/2 c. canning salt

1 tsp. basil

1/4 c. oregano or 3 tbsp.

1/2 to 1 1/2 c. sugar (start with 1/2 c. and add to taste after sauce has simmered awhile)

Cook onions, garlic, and green peppers in oil for 1/2 hour. Put through blender until liquefied. Put tomatoes (just wash and core leaving skins and seeds) through blender until liquefied. Boil everything together until desired consistency. Add 1 large can tomato paste for added flavor. Mix well. Pour into plastic container and freeze.


Chili Sauce ( I use this for sloppy joes)

12 red ripe tomatoes — peeled (again I actually don’t peel them)

6 medium onions — chopped

6 green peppers — chopped

3 red sweet peppers — chopped

1 cinnamon stick – (3″ long)

1 teaspoon whole cloves

1 teaspoon whole allspice

1 tablespoon salt

1 pint cider vinegar, 5% acidity

1 cup sugar
Finely chop raw tomatoes, onions, and peppers. Tie cinnamon, cloves, and
allspice into a clean white cloth to make a spice bag. Add spice bag to
tomatoes, onions, and peppers and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes. Remove
spice bag. Add salt, vinegar, and sugar to tomato mixture; boil rapidly
for 5 minutes.

Pour hot chili sauce into clean, hot pint jars. Seal with properly
prepared canning lids. Process in boiling water for 15 minutes. Remove
jars; cool and store.

To freeze, cool quickly by lowering container of chili sauce into sink of
ice water. Pack sauce into moisture-vapor-proof, rigid containers,
leaving 1-inch of head space, and freeze at 0 degrees or lower.

This recipe yields 2 pints.

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