Best Publix Trip

I went to Publix today and knew that it was going to be a good day. I had a $5 off $25 Rite Aid coupon and $4 in Register Rewards from Walgreens to use before I even got to my other coupons. I also had four Target $1 off produce coupons. I've never seen these before until this week and I was so excited to get some cheap produce.

Here's what my trip looked like.



Here's what my total and savings looked like.



So before tax I spent $30.26 and saved $45.71. I was super excited. I also went to Winn-Dixie to get B1G1 chicken, B1G1 avocados, 10/$10 Powerade and 10/$10 tuna.

Yay for saving money!

Parmesan Basil Tilapia

I love fish, and tilapia is one of my favorites. It has a very mild flavor and you can do so many things with it. I found this recipe at http://pbfingers.com/. My parents are on the low-carb diet right now so I was trying to find a tilapia recipe that was low-carb, but still something I could enjoy as well.

There wasn't really an ingredient list, but it's pretty self explanatory. Spray fillets with cooking spray. Sprinkle lightly with garlic salt. Broil fish until fully cooked (less than 10 minutes). Top fillets with mixture of parmesan cheese and basil (I used dried basil). Place back in oven to broil until cheese becomes slightly brown and crisp.

Sweet Potato Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I have an addiction.....to oatmeal. I'm obsessed and have been trying to find new ways to use oats. I came across this recipe in http://carrotsncake.com/ and knew that I had to try it. I love sweet potatoes and oats so I knew it had to be a winning combination.
This is a quick and easy recipe, and it made it even quicker because I just so happened to have a sweet potato in the fridge that I had baked a couple of nights ago but ended up not eating.

These are super healthy and not overly sweet, which I like. Plus you're getting your veggies in a cookie!

Ingredients:
1 cup old fashioned oats
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup applesauce
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup mashed sweet potato

Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350
2. Combine ingredients in a large bowl, blend well.
3. Spray a baking sheet non-stick cooking spray, line with parchment paper.
4. Use tablespoon to portion cookie on baking sheet. Flatten cookie with back of spoon.
5. Bake 18-20 minutes
6. Eat and enjoy!

Makes 24





I love the texture of these cookies. The exterior is a little crunchy while the inside is nice and chewy.

Enjoy!

Breakfast Oatmeal Cookie

In one of my first posts I wrote about overnight oats. Another oatmeal recipe that I've found in the blog world is breakfast oatmeal cookie. It's similar to overnight oats because you mix it up and let it sit overnight.

The one difference with the breakfast cookie is that you use less liquid and substance to mix it up. You want it to be more crumbled than regular thick oatmeal. So far I have used milk, peanut butter/applesauce to bind the cookie together.

With this cookie I used milk and applesauce to bind it together. I also added a packet of splenda, dash of cinnamon, and a few raisins. Once you mix it all up you put the mixture on a plate and flatten it out with the back of your spoon into a big cookie shape.

The next morning you can top it with yogurt, jam, peanut butter, fruit...anything you want really. :)

I forgot to take a picture of it before I put the toppings on. I topped it with Stonyfield fat free plain yogurt, strawberries, and a dash of cinnamon.





Breakfast Oatmeal Cookie:
1/3 cup old fashioned oats
1 tbsp nonfat milk
1 spoonful applesauce
1 packet of splenda
dash of cinnamon
few raisins

New Left Foot

I'm beginning to think I need a new left foot. Last summer my left foot started hurting a lot. As most of you know, I exercise and workout frequently. At the time I was doing a lot of jogging on the treadmill. Back then I would go through phases where I got hooked on doing one specific cardio workout. (Now I mix it up and do different things almost every day.)

Anyway, turns out I had a stress fracture in my foot. I had to wear a boot on my leg for 4 weeks and this other shoe thing for another 2 weeks. During those 6 weeks I realized how much I missed working out and exercising. I also realized that I have to take better care of my body and not put too much stress on it. It was a slow process, but I finally got back to working out again. All was well....or so I thought.

During this past Christmas break while I was home from school my foot started hurting again. I immediately thought that I had fractured it again. I went back to the doctor. This time I told him about my scoliosis and how I have one leg longer than the other (yes I know it's weird lol). So he thought that since my right leg was longer I was putting more stress on my left foot on impact. I was fitted for inserts for my tennis shoes to even things out. This seemed to help and I haven't had any problems....until now.

I have been working this summer on an average of 4 days a week (sometimes 5, but very rarely). Last week my foot started hurting again, and it's been pretty bad the past couple of days. I tried working out this morning and didn't get too far. It was just hurting too much. I'm going to give my foot a couple of days of rest and see if it gets any better. It isn't really swollen or anything, so hopefully that's a good sign.

I'm just frustrated and tired of this happening over and over again. I'm hoping and praying that maybe I've just over done it and it needs a few days off. I start my new job next Wednesday, so I want to be pain free and ready to go by then. :)

I'm a slacker...

So I know I said I was going to post more and try my best to keep this up to date. Truth is I just totally forget about posting. I've been busy with wedding planning and job hunting. Brandon and his mom were here last week to do some planning and find a place for the rehearsal dinner (which they found a great place).

I have good news though...I got a job! I got a call yesterday from Columbia Southern University, an online university in Orange Beach. I will be working in Admissions as a Customer Service Rep. I start on August 18 and I can't wait!

In other news, we have our location set for the wedding and reception. It's going to be at a plantation style house. Friends of ours from church live there and have been wanting to do weddings there. I will be the first wedding there and I can't wait. It's going to be fabulous!

To totally change the subject, I had my most successful trip to Publix ever last Saturday. Before tax I spent $34 and saved $38. After tax it was $38. I was super excited. I'm not sure how I will do this week. There isn't much in this week's ad that I need. I will probably be buying more produce than other grocery items. There are only a few BOGO deals and a lot of good produce deals this week. I am excited about the produce though. I think I'll be buying more from Winn-Dixie this week. Their ad seems to be a bit better.

I'm really going to try to post as much as I can in the next 3 weeks before I start my new job. I know after that I'm going to be so busy and tired that I'll be lucky to post every 2 weeks or so. Have a great day!

Publix Trip 7/8/10

I haven't really had any posts yet about couponing and the frugal side of me. It all started around 6 months ago when my mom started to really get into the coupon thing. It's really big down here. She started going to coupon classes and learned a lot about the grocery stores, drug stores, and their coupon policies. She also learned about cutting out coupons from the Sunday paper and printing out coupons online. She was told how to create a coupon book. This is basically a 3 ring binder that you fill with baseball card sheets to put your coupons in. You then buy dividers and label each section. For instance some of the labels are cereal, canned food, hygiene, medications, etc. It really helps having it all organized.

Anyway, after she had learned all of this she told me about it. I was still in college at the time and didn't think I would have much time for it. She got me a binder and dividers and while I was home for Spring Break I put mine together.

Once I started to see how much she was saving it got me hooked. The best grocery store for couponing has is Publix. They let you use 2 coupons on Buy 1 Get 1 Free items. The Publix in Fairhope accepts coupons from Target, Winn Dixie, Walgreens, CVS, and Brunos. You can also combine a Publix coupon with a manufacturer coupon, or a Competitor coupon with a manufacturer coupon on one item. They have really good B1G1 deals every week at Publix. Winn-Dixie usually has good B1G1 deals too. They also have better deals on meat than Publix most of the time.

Since I still don't have a job and have had too much time on my hands (unfortunately), I have been doing most of the grocery shopping to help my parents out. I made the weekly trip to Publix on Thursday.

Here's how I did...



As you can see before tax I spent $34.68 and saved $31.58. I was a little over $3 from saving as much as I spent....so close! I also made a trip to Winn-Dixie where I think I spent around $44 and saved $28..or somewhere around there.

I'm hoping to eventually get to where I save more than what I spend in total. It's going to come in handy once Brandon and I are married and are on a tight budget. :)

Triple Berry Brownie

My mom and I found a picture of this dessert in an insert in the newspaper a couple of weeks ago. We thought that it would be the perfect dessert for the 4th of July.

Triple Berry Brownie (Courtesy of Betty Crocker)

Ingredients:
1 box Betty Crocker® fudge brownie mix
Water, vegetable oil and eggs as called for on brownie mix box
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 1/3 cups halved fresh strawberries
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup fresh raspberries

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350° F (325° F for dark or nonstick pan). Grease or spray bottom only of 12-inch pizza pan. Make brownies as directed. Spread in pan.
2. Bake 20 to 26 minutes or until toothpick inserted 2 inches from side of pan comes out clean. Cool completely.
3. In medium bowl, beat cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla with electric mixer on high speed until smooth and creamy. Fold in whipped topping; spread on brownie. Arrange berries over cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate 1 hour. Store covered in refrigerator.

This was so good and not overly sweet, which I liked. The fruit really balances out the sweetness of the brownie and cream cheese mixture.

Here's how it turned out...





I love how it looked all festive for the 4th. Brandon came up with the design of the fruit, so I have to give him credit for that. :) It tasted as good as it looked and I'll definitely be making this again.

I'm ENGAGED!!

So this past weekend was the best 4th of July weekend of my life. I got engaged to my best friend. On Saturday Brandon and I went down to Orange Beach for a good date night, which we hadn't had in a long time. We had a great dinner at Cosmo's (which I recommend). After diner we went to The Wharf to walk around and then went down to the beach at sunset for a nice little walk.



At the end of our walk we stopped up by the sand dunes where no one was around. Brandon said that he had another present for me from his recent trip to Costa Rica. He reached into his pocket and gave me this puzzle box that you had to take apart. He said to open it, which I did, and the ring was in there. I was shocked, speechless, and so excited. I couldn't believe that this was actually happening. I know I sounded like a blubbering idiot, but I didn't care. He got down on one knee in the sand and asked me to marry him. Obviously I said YES!! We celebrated with some ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery. We both love ice cream.
We are super excited and couldn't be any happier.

Here's my ring...





Isn't it beautiful?

On Sunday we spent the first half of the day calling family and letting them all know the good news. We all went out to Moe's Original BBQ for lunch. It's a local BBQ place down here, and really good. That night my parents, Brandon, and I went down to Fairhope to watch the fireworks.

Here's my wonderful FIANCE (I love saying that hehe) waiting on the fireworks.



It was overall an amazing weekend and one that I will never forget. Brandon left to go back home today :( but he'll be back soon and until then I have plenty to do. The wedding planning has already begun and I'm still on the job hunt.

I'm going to get back to blogging more! Hope everyone has a great rest of the week! :)

Overnight Oats Recipe #1

I am tiiiiiired! It's been a long day of grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning. My boyfriend (who I haven't seen in a month) is coming into town tomorrow...yay!

Anyway, I said on Monday that I was going to try overnight oats that night for breakfast on Tuesday morning. Well....they turned out great! All you do is mix everything up the night before, cover it, put it in the fridge, and let it sit overnight. The next morning you will find a delicious, thick, and cold mixture which is perfect for a hot summer morning.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup oats (I used instant quick cooking)
1/3 cup Horizon organic milk
1/3 cup Stonyfield organic low-fat plain yogurt
1/2 banana, mashed
1 Splenda packet
Dash of cinnamon, to taste
Drizzle of honey


It looks kind of bland at first, but it tasted great...even before I added the toppings.


First I added some strawberries and blueberries.



Then I added 1/2 cup Multigrain Cheerios.
I would advise you to wait and add your fruit and other toppings the morning of just because you don't want them to get soggy overnight.


Here it is all mixed up. Yum!

There is also something called overnight oats in a jar. This is when you have an almost empty jar of nut butter and fill it up with the all the ingredients, put the lid on, and let it sit overnight. I'm waiting for an almost empty peanut butter jar to do this. I can't wait to try it!

I made this exact recipe again for in the morning. I think I'll try out some different toppings this time.

It's bed time and I have to get up super early. Good night! :)

I caved in....

So I'm sure some of you are wondering why I have a picture of Almond Butter posted above. I have been wanting to buy some almond butter for a while, but it's so much more expensive than peanut butter. Today after my workout I stopped by Publix to get a few things (kiwi, mangoes, protein bar, and gum). I went down the isle and saw the almond butter and decided to splurge on something for once.

This type of almond butter is all natural and great for you. There are so many ways you can use it. You can make almond butter oatmeal cookies, use it as a dip for fruit, put it on top of oatmeal....the uses are endless.

Tonight I came up with my own little idea of how to use it. This might sound like a weird combination, but it turned out to be quite tasty.
1/4 cup low fat cottage cheese
1 spoonful almond butter
3 strawberries, sliced
1 packet of splenda
cinnamon to taste
It was so good! I would have taken a picture but I was so ready to try it that I forgot.

After eating that I made my first attempt of preparing "overnight oats". I'll let you guys know how that turned out tomorrow.

Time for bed! :)

First Blog!

First blog post! Woo! I have been meaning to start a blog for about a month now. I was waiting until after graduation and after things calmed down.

I hope to update this as much as possible. My plans are to update whoever reads this on the happenings and adventures of my life. Now that I'm out of college there will be so many new and exciting things happening for me. I can't wait to share it with everyone! I also hope to have some blogs related to cooking and exercise. I absolutely love to cook! I'm an exercise and health freak (at least that's what my family says) haha.

Hopefully this doesn't sound too lame...I'm just getting started so this should get better as time goes on. Thanks to whoever might read this and happy blogging!