Monthly Archives: January 2010

Healthy Breakfast Bars

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This recipe sounds healthy, delicious, and like a good recipe for kids as well as adults.
INGREDIENTS:
  • 1 1/2 cups flour  (I plan to try  Spelt flour)
  • 1 1/2 cups bran cereal
  • 1/3 cup sesame seeds
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2  teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg
  • 3/4 cup buttermilk
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed (if you use Stevia powder in place of brown sugar,  increase the molasses to 3 T)
  • 1/3 cup oil  (I plan to try olive oil)
  • 2 tablespoons molasses
  • 1 1/2 cups finely grated carrots
  • 1/2 cup chopped dates
Mix the dry ingredients (first 8 ingredients) together.  In another bowl, mix together the egg, buttermilk, brown sugar, oil, and molasses.   Add the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients; stir just until moistened.  Fold in the carrots and dates.  Spread evenly in greased 13 x 9 inch pan.  Bake at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes.  Cool.  Cut into bars.

Save Money at Restaurants & Get FREE Items

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  • Arby’s – Sign up on their site and get an email for a special offer plus future email coupons.
  • Black Eyed Pea – You get email offers and a special offer on your birthday.  Last year, I think it was a FREE dessert.  This year it’s a FREE appetizer.
  • Don Pablos – Get a FREE dip sampler for joining, $10 off on your birthday, $10 off on your anniversary sign-up date, and $10 off for a ninth visit reward.
  • LaMadeleines – Sign up and receive an email for a FREE petite salade or cup of soupe. They’ll also send you an email for a FREE item for your birthday.
  • Qdobas – Get an email coupon for a FREE item on your birthday plus I think you get an email coupon for FREE queso when you sign up  (It’s been two or three years since we signed up so I can’t remember for sure).
  • Red Hot & Blue (I just joined so I don’t know what you get for joining.   I’ve never been there so I also don’t know what their food is like.  Friends say it’s good. )
  • Rockfish Seafood Grill
  • Rosa’s Cafe – Receive a FREE #17 Combination Burrito with a drink purchase when you join.
  • Taco Bueno – When you sign up, receive a coupon for a FREE platter with the purchase of another platter.  Receive an email coupon for an item on your birthday.

Book Giveaway: The Five Love Languages of Children

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Children need to feel loved in order to thrive. This book gives a lot of usable suggestions for how children interpret and feel love. What makes one child feel loved might not be the same for another child. Learn the love language of your child (or children).

I am giving away a copy of this book, The Five Love Languages of Children, and will mail it within the U.S. (Sorry, money is limited and I have to restrict it to postage I can afford.)

This is all you need to do to enter the giveaway: Leave a brief comment on this post with your name (first name is fine) and your email address. Your email address will be confidential and I will not share it with anyone. Names will be disqualified who do not leave email addresses because that is how I notify the winner. I will notify the winner by email to get their mailing address. Again, the mailing address will be confidential and I will not share it with anyone.

Deadline for entry is February, 10, 2010.

Using RANDOM.ORG to determine the winner, the winner is… Maria.  Congratulations, Maria!

If you would like your name entered twice, post about this on your blog and leave a comment with the link to your post.

*Watch for another book giveaway soon: The Five Love Languages. Learn your spouse’s love language and also your love language.

Digital Cameras

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Aren’t digital cameras great? I remember having to buy film, waiting until all 24 or 36 pictures were taken before getting the film developed, and then having several pictures that weren’t that good and that wasted part of the film. Now it’s so easy to pick out great pictures to print out the same day you take them, and there are options to edit them and cut out background clutter which is a feature I like.  And digital cameras are great for taking pictures of family, especially grandbabies who require a lot of different camera shots sometimes to get a really good picture!

Saving Money

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There are all sorts of ways to save money here and there, by checking grocery ads every week and buying the specials, using coupons, checking life insurance rates and other insurance rates as well to get the lowest rate available, etc.  Also, keeping the thermostat set a couple of degrees lower in the winter and wearing a sweater in the house is another way.  I read recently where a lot of people aren’t eating out as much anymore and instead they are “dusting off their cookbooks” and eating at home.  That definitely saves money.  Saving money in several different areas does add up over time!

Gourmet: Apple & Butternut Squash Bisque Recipe

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We had our monthly Ladies’ Fellowship and Stephanie made this delicious soup:

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 1/2 pounds peeled, seeded butternut or other hard-shelled squash (about 2 small butternuts)
  • 2 tart green apples, peeled and chopped
  • 1 oinion, coarsely chopped
  • Pinch of rosemary
  • Pinch of marjoram
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons brown sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
  • 1 quart chicken stock
  • 4 tablespoons butter (I would probably use 2 T butter and 2 T olive oil since I use olive oil in most things)
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 1 1/2 cups half-and-half  (I would try fat-free)

Cut squash into large chunks.  Combine squash, apples, onion, herbs, salt, sugar, pepper and stock in saucepan.  Bring to a boil and simmer about one hour.  Strain squash and apples from the soup and puree in electric blender.   Return puree to soup, mixing well.

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat.  Stir in flour, mixing well.  Pour the soup through a strainer over the flour mixture, a little at a time.  Stir well with a whisk.  Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and stir half-and-half into soup; heat through, but do not boil.

Get 4 Cheerios Coupons – Each Worth $1

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We eat a lot of Cheerios at our house, so I check grocery ads to find them on sale.  And if I have a coupon for them, that makes the savings even better.  Well, I found this great site where you can get 4 coupons, each worth $1.  After entering my name, address, and email on an official Cheerios website, I will be receiving four emails over the next few weeks, each email containing a $1 coupon.   That also enters me for a chance to win one of 50,000 boxes of Cheerios that they will be giving away.  Sounds good to me!

Four Foods On Friday 102

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1. What’s your favorite type or shape of pasta?

Rotini and Farfalle (bow-tie pasta)
2. Where do you shop for groceries?

Several places!  I study the grocery ads every week and usually end up going to a couple of different grocery stores, maybe three, to get their specials.  I shop at Brookshires, Albertsons, and Krogers on a regular basis.  Certain things I get at Wal-Mart, Sams, or Super Target because I can get a better deal there.  And then some things I can only get at Central Market, so I go there every three or four weeks.
3. What’s your favorite mayonnaise?
Hellmann’s Light Mayo

4. What is the food in your freezer wrapped/stored in?

Usually whatever it came in.  Or if it’s casserole, I have freezer containers to freeze it in so it’s the right portion for what I need.

Resolutions

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I didn’t write down a list of New Year’s resolutions this year.  I just want to continue growing stronger in my faith walk with God and develop an even closer relationship with Him.  And I want to lose the pounds I gained during the holidays without having to buy phenphedrine.  I plan to do this by eating healthy and getting more exercise.  So there’s my short list of resolutions.

Jiffy Cake Mix “Dinner Roll” Recipe

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This is for real…cake mix in a dinner roll recipe.  It’s interesting!  Maybe you’ve seen this recipe before or even made it.  I haven’t and thought it was a little different, but when I thought about it, I could see how it would work.   I don’t plan to make it anytime soon since I’m trying not to eat much white bread.  But  here’s the recipe for anyone who’s interested:

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 package Jiffy White Cake Mix
  • 1 package dry yeast
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/4 cups warm water
  • 2 1/2 to 3 cups flour
  • butter

Combine cake mix and yeast.  Add salt and warm water.  Gradually beat in flour.  Cover and let rise in a warm place for one hour.  Punch down dough and shape into dinner rolls.  Place on greased baking sheet and brush with butter.  Cover and let rise 1 hour or until double in size.  Bake in oven preheated to 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes.