Publix Best Buys 3/20-3/27

This week's Publix Ad is GREAT.  I walked out with far more than I normally do.  Here are the best deals of the week.

• Publix 1lb Butter $2.00
• Steamfresh Veggies $1.30
• Simply Mashed Potatoes $1.89 ($.75/1 & $1/2 Publix Q) $.65ea
• Eat Smart Veggies $1
• Sabra Hummus $2.00
• International Delight 32oz $1.55 ($.55) $1
• Sargento Shredded Cheese $2.09 ($.55/2 & Free Egg Publix Q) $1.81ea and Free Eggs!
• Craisins & Craisins Trailmix $1.23
• Uncle Ben's Rice, boxed mixes $1.00 ($1/2) $.50ea
• Mueller Pasta $.80
• Dole Pineapple $.71 ($.50/2) $.21ea
• Swanson Broth $1.30 ($.40/2) $.90ea
• Toufayan Flatbread $1.25
• Mott's Medley or Apple Juice $1.50 ($1/1 Medleys) $.50
• Domino 5lb Sugar $2.49 ($.50) $1.49
• Texas Toast Croutons $.89
• Purex Detergent $3.50 ($1.00/1) $2.50
• Reese's PB Eggs $1.55 ($1/2 & $1/2 Target Q) $.55ea

In total I spend $44.80 (wwaaayyy more than usual) and saved $72.28; that's 62%!  I also picked up the penny item this week (Publix brand 'sandwich cookies').  I was lucky this week and I had a Publix gift card which covered my run!  Hurray!

Starbucks Groupon--Friday, March 3/22

My husband just got an e-mail that there will be a Groupon deal on Starbuck's gift cards tomorrow!  He got the deal a day early (though I have no clue why I didn't!) so check your inbox and see if you got an invitation to purchase this deal early.

The deal is a $10 gift card for $5.  I love this deal because I love Starbucks as a place to curl up with a book and get away from my life!

This usually sells out so if you want it be sure to buy first thing in the morning!

If you're not a Groupon member you can click here for my referral link to sign up!  I admit I don't buy too much from Groupon, but they do have some spectacular deals from time to time.

No Time? How to Get a Healthy Dinner on the Table in No Time!

We're all busy.  We have lives to live.  Sometimes life's schedule goes a little over and those best laid dinner intentions are quickly shoved onto the back burner.  We turn to take out, drive thrus, frozen fish sticks or worst yet, no real dinner at all. 
If this happens sometimes it's not a bad thing.  Variety is the spice of life.  I'm not crusading against Happy Meals here.  What I am saying is that this happens to a lot of us more often that it should.  With a little prep, a well stocked pantry/freezer and the willingness to do a little work you can get dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes.  I don't know about you, but where I live it's going to take me 30 minutes to run out to our closest restaurant (Mexican) and back.
Well, you say, enlighten us please.  Gladly.  Here's a few tips on how I get dinner on the table after a crazy day and a few ideas to get you started.

• Keep a well stocked pantry/freezer.  Pasta, jarred sauce, frozen veggies, frozen ravioli, sandwich meats and cheeses can be great jumping off points for a meal.  If you don't have to run to the store, you're more likely to make dinner.
• Don't beat yourself up for serving a boxed mac and cheese to your family.  Do serve a vegetable alongside it.  I love the Birds Eye Steamfresh veggies...I don't even have to dirty a dish!
• Cook for your freezer.  Making meatballs, enchiladas, french toast or soup?  Make a double batch and freeze one. Then all you have to do is defrost, warm and serve!  You've already done the work, now reap the benefits.
• Breakfast is your friend.  Breakfast is quick and cheap.  When all else fails I always have the ingredients on hand for pancakes or waffles.  I mix up a batch and serve them alongside a big fruit salad.
• Do the prep ahead of time.  If you know it'll be a crazy day don't wait until 5PM to think about dinner.  You can chop veggies, marinade (or in some cases cook) meat and do other prep work hours or days ahead of time.  By washing and chopping vegetables and pounding out meat ahead of time I can put Chicken Piccata and a salad on the table in just at half and hour!

Lastly

• Don't set yourself up for failure.  If you even think the day is going to be wild don't plan on making lasagna for dinner.  Plan ahead if you can and if the day has gotten away from you take stock of what you've got and work with it.

I hope this has given you a little inspiration to use what you have and avoid the dinnertime crunch.

Chicken and Dumplings or are they Noodles?

Everyone makes Chicken and Dumplings a different way.  Some people make dumplings that get dropped into the soup, some get dropped on top and some people make it with an egg noodle.  I grew up with a thick noodle style dumpling, and I like it a lot, but sometimes the clock wins.  No matter which way you whip 
This recipe uses a Dutch style egg noodle.  You want a starchy type noodle for this.  The type I use says 'Dumpling Style Egg Noodle' right on the bag. 
I make Chicken and Dumplings in two days because I think it's easier.  If you do it in two days it allows you to create a more flavorful stock and to skim all the fat off the stock easily.  Doing this also means that it comes together in a snap the day of.  If you have a whole day to do this though feel free to make it in just one day.

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken, 4-5lbs (giblets removed)
• 1 gal water (or more, you need enough to cover the chicken by 1-2")
• bay and 1/2 tsp whole peppercorns
• 1 onion, halved
• 1 carrot, halved
• 2 stalks celery, halved
• 2 cloves garlic, halved
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 white onion, chopped
• 8oz dumpling style egg noodles
• salt & pepper

Directions

Place the chicken, water, bay and peppercorns in a large pot.  Bring the chicken to a boil and back the heat down to a simmer.  Cook for about 1 hour, until the chicken is cooked through.  Remove the chicken to a baking sheet and allow to cool enough to handle; leave the broth on the stove.  When the chicken is cool enough to handle pull the chicken off the bones; leave it in nice chunks and put it in the fridge.  Discard the skin. 

 Skimming stock.

Place bones and ingredients 4-7 into the pot.  Allow the stock to simmer for 2 hours.  Cool the stock completely and skim off the layer of fat that has formed (you can skip this step for 1 day prep).

When you're ready to make the Chicken and Dumpling bring the stock to a boil and add in the chopped carrot, onion and celery.  Cook for 30 minutes, until the veggies are fork tender.  Add in the dumpling style noodles and cook according to the directions.  The noodles I use take about 15 minutes to cook, much longer than the standard type egg noodle, so plan accordingly.  During the last 5 minutes add in the chicken to warm through.

Season the dish with lots of salt and pepper and serve up for your family to enjoy!

Publix Best Buys 3/13-3/19

At first glance I wasn't over the moon about this weeks Publix ad, but after shopping I was pretty pleased with what I purchased. 
This week was a higher than average Publix total but I bought some salmon for dinner tonight at just $5.99lb, which in landlocked TN is a great price!  I'm always pleased with Publix's salmon.  It's not wild caught (which is my preference) but I've never gotten a pin bone in it and it's always fresh.

• Dole Fruit Bowls $2.00 ($1/2) $1.50ea
• Post, Honey Bunches of Oats $1.60 ($1/2) $1.10ea
• Welch's Squeezable Grape Jelly $1.30
• Bertolli Pasta Sauce ($.60/1 & $1/2 Publix Q) $.65ea
• Bailey's Coffee Creamer $1.67 ($1/1) $.67
• Vosko's Greek Yogurt $1 ($1/3 Publix Q) $.67ea
• Fresh Express Salad $2 ($.55/1) $1.45
• Smart Balance $1.49 ($1/1 or $1/2, I used $1/1) $.49ea
• Vidal Sasson Professionals Shampoo/Conditioner 2/$5 (BOGO coupon) $1.25ea
• V8 Splash $1.35
• Pedigree Denta Stix $1.99 ($1/2) $1.50ea
• Green Giant Frozen Veg. (boxes) $.99 ($.60/3) $.79ea

There are of course, other great deals that you can find on Publix website, but these are the ones that I think give you the most bang for your buck.  I really like the Bertolli sauce, so to get it for this price is a steal!

 Not all my buys are featured here...I had started putting groceries away when I remembered to snap the shot!

This week at Publix I spent $25.94 and saved $33.90!  That's a savings of 57%!  I love shopping at Publix! 

Toddler Time--2 Year Old Meal Plan Ideas

Some of the most popular posts here at Courtney Cooks It are my ideas for baby and toddler foods.  So back by popular demand, Toddler meal ideas!  Once a month I'll be posting recipes, meal plans and snack ideas for your toddler. 
Currently Miss. Sophie is two,

 

which means most of my ideas will be ideally suited toward kids of her own age.  This kid is an eater though, so portion wise some of these ideas might work well for kids toward three!

Before we talk about what I'm feeding her today let's talk about what I fed her last year. 

• When Sophie started eating solid foods I fed her what we ate.  I might pull back the seasoning a little and, of course cut it very small or puree it, but she basically ate the same thing we did. 
•  I made sure she had a wide exposure to different flavors and a minimal exposure to sweets and processed foods.
• I let her experiment with the food.  If she made a mess, well she made a mess!  They're babies, let them have fun!

Alright, back to the present.  Here are some great ideas for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.  Sophie will typically have just one snack in the afternoon (after nap) but some kids are two a day snackers (The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no more than 2 snacks a day). 

Disclaimer: I AM NOT a pediatrician, dietician or any other type of -tician.  I AM a concerned mom who cares what her daughter eats.  I am sharing with you what has worked well for us.  

Breakfast

• Greek yogurt and fruit or toast
• Oatmeal with applesauce or fruit mixed in, topped with a little honey
• Eggs, wheat toast and a fruit
• Fruit salad with toast
• Cereal, we like Chex or Fruity O's (from Cascadian Farms) topped with fruit

Lunch (one item from each category)

•  Lunch meat (Sophie likes the Oscar Meyer, Carving Board), hard boiled egg, meatballs, cheese, mac and cheese or shredded chicken breast
• Tomatoes, peas, corn, sugar snap peas or green beans
• Fruit  I buy whatever happens to be in season.  If the fruit is out of season, expensive or sub par I usually reach for a natural, no sugar added, applesauce or a Dole fruit cup in fruit juice (never one that has been sweetened with sugar or sugar substitutes).
• Pretzels, crackers, Triscuits or ghram crackers.

Snacks

• Dried fruits
• Chex Mix
• Fruit
• Fruit/Yogurt squeeze pouch (I love these)
• Smoothie
• Pita/Veggies and Hummus
• 1/2 a PB&J

Dinner

....Whatever we're eating.  It's very rare I make anything special for Sophie.  If we're having soup I may drain off the broth so it's easier to eat, if it's spicy I might back it down for her.  If we're having something she's really not a fan of I heat up something simple like cheese ravioli, oatmeal, pasta or a grilled ham and cheese sandwich.  I think it's important to expose kids to different foods.  If we feed them 'kid food' at every meal how are we supposed to one day just expect them to eat regular fare?
I also give her a fruit with dinner, regardless of whether we eat one.  She loves fruit and it's a healthy dessert option!

I hope this might help you decide what to feed your toddler today.  Check back Friday for a great, kid-friendly, pizza dinner!

Money Saving Tip--Read the Tag

I was shopping for some pinto beans at my local Kroger yesterday to make these slow cooker 'refried beans' from Pennies & Pancakes when I noticed something hinky.   

 It was cheaper to buy two, one pound bags, than one, two pound bag. 

  This isn't the first time I've noticed something like this in a grocery store.  I always buy 1lb bags of carrots from Kroger because it's cheaper to buy 2 of those than 1 of the 2lb bags.

Do I save a lot of money by reading the tags?

You betcha'!  It's always good to look at the price per unit and determine what makes more sense.  Why would I spend more money on the same amount of product?!  I also find that by buying the smaller size of a product and using the coupon on it I decrease the cost.  If I buy a smaller tube of toothpaste, but get it for free isn't that better than buying the larger tube and getting it for a dollar?

No matter what you're buying always take a quick peek at the tag--taking 10 seconds to do the math could add up to saving big bucks over the course of a year.