H-E-B has a great summer reading club. Just have your child read 10 books or read 10 books to them if they are too young. Write each book on the form and initial it as the child reads the books. After your child has read 10 books mail in this form by October 1st. Your child should receive their t-shirt in 3-4 weeks.
(thanks savethecoupons!)
This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Mission Foods. All opinions are 100% mine.
Sometimes the best meals are the simplest. Mission Foods recently sent us some tortillas and a challenge to cook a meal for a large group for under $10. This became even more challenging adding in our new healthy eating diets. When I think of tortillas my brain instantly goes to melted cheese and sour cream. So I tried to rethink a fajita and make it as healthy as possible.
My plan:
- Load up on the peppers and onions! These are zero points for us weight watcher folks (super healthy for everyone else).
- Don’t use Olive Oil from a bottle, but instead Olive Oil or Vegetable oil spray. You will use a lot less and thereby not add a ton of fat and calories.
- Grab Fat Free Sour Cream and Cheese made with 2% milk.
- Most Salsas are also zero points (super healthy) but we went another step with black bean salsa to add some more fiber and protein.
- Skip the chips or rice, just add steamed green beans or another vegetable on the side.
Ingredients:
1 lb of boneless skinless chicken breast
1 teaspoon of honey
1 teaspoon of Chili pepper
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 onion
1 second spray of Olive Oil Cooking Spray
Mission Tortillas
Sour Cream
Salsa
Shredded Cheese, 2% milk,
First put the meat, honey and chili pepper together. Then throw it all in one big pan.
7 minutes later dinner is ready!
The grand total for this meal: $6.64 and it made enough to serve 5 people easy.
Total points for the meal = 5
If you are up for a tortilla menu challenge then check out the Mission Menus Challenge. Now through August 9th, you can enter for a chance to participate in a cook-off in The Hard Rock Cafe in Los Angeles. The winner of the cook-off will receive a $10,000 kitchen makeover!
To enter, send in a “budget-friendly” recipe. The meal must cost less than $10, be able to feed 5 people, include Mission Tortillas, and be your own unique creation.
I know you guys can handle the $10 part of the challenge so get your gears working. Let’s see if a Southern Saver can win a round-trip to LA and hotel accommodations for two and then win that kitchen! Feel free to use the comments below to do some brainstorming.
This Friday, July 9th, you can go to any Chic-fil-A dressed as a cow to receive a free Chic-fil-A meal. This one should be fun (totally embarrassing) for the whole family! You should probably call ahead but, in all seriousness, what kind of manager would say “no” if you walked into Chic-fil-A dressed like a cow and asked for a Chic-fil-A meal? Find the closest Chic-fil-A to you.
Also, just in case your costume is really good, there is a photo competition on Facebook. Simply upload your best picture of you or your kids dressed as cows on July 9th . The picture to get the most votes before July 31st gets free Chic-fil-A for a year!
Many of you have asked for an update on the Food Bank nominations for the June All You Fundraiser donation. Remember you can still vote (as many times as you like) through Wednesday night at 6pm.
The top Food Banks so far (in no particular order are):
- Community Helping Place
- Crosspointe Community Food Pantry
- Fortified Hills Baptist Church Bread of Life Ministry
- Foodbank Of Virginia Peninsula, Inc.
- Grace Klein Community
- Greer Relief Agency
- Helping Hands
- Lawrenceville Co-op
- Lighthouse Food Pantry
- Lowcountry Food Bank
- St Vincent De Paul
The form is working again at the link above, please do not leave nominations in the comments here I will not be able to compile them together.
Southern Savers readers continue to amaze me. Today we are getting some help from fellow reader Damien. Apparently everything you need for Ratatouille is on sale at Publix this week, excluding the Sun Dried Tomato Vinaigrette, Red Onion, and the seasonings. Make sure to go to the full Publix list to find the items on sale.
Here is his recipe:
Ingredients:
1 Lg Eggplant
2 Medium Squash (Zucchini or yellow or one of each)
2 Bell Peppers (Green is on sale this week)
8oz of Sun Dried Tomato Vinaigrette (B1G1 Ken’s Dressing SS 5/09 exp 6/30)*
2-3 Fresh tomatoes (or you can use a 16 oz can of diced tomatoes from stock pile)
2 Tbsp. Garlic Powder
Salt, Pepper, Parsley, and Basil (to taste)
2 Tbs. Grated Parmesan Cheese
1-2 Cups of Shredded Mozzarella Cheese (Sargento is on sale)
*You can substitute a small can of tomato sauce for the vinaigrette if you do not want to purchase the vinaigrette and have tomato sauce in stock… although the taste will not be quite the same.
Instructions:
1.) Slice eggplant into rounds and then quarter the rounds. Slice squash into rounds. Dice onion. Slice peppers into strips and cut into smaller segments (2-3 slices per strip). Add all these ingredients to a large sauce pan or stock pot along with the Sun Dried Tomato Vinaigrette and cook on medium-high heat for 8 minutes.
2.) Meanwhile dice tomatoes if using fresh tomatoes or drain tomatoes if using canned tomatoes. After the 8 minutes of cooking from step 1, add tomatoes and seasonings, and cook for an additional 15 minutes.
3.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add contents of pot to a 13×9 casserole dish. Sprinkle the top with Parmesan Cheese and Mozzarella Cheese (really you can use as much cheese as you desire here). Then bake in the oven for about 15 minutes (until the cheese is nicely melted).
Note: for a Vegan version of this recipe, simply eliminate the cheese and baking step, and cook for a little longer on the stove-top until veggies are completely cooked through.
This makes a great vegetarian entree or can be dished out into smaller portions as a side dish (leftovers can be frozen for future meals). As an entree, this should serve about 6 people.
If you are a more visual person Damien even has a Youtube video walking through the recipe.
(thanks Damien!)
This is a guest post done by Heather at Clipping for a Cause.
“Clipping for a Cause” began out of a passion for couponing, saving money, and helping others. After realizing that coupons could help so many others in need, I decided to make it a personal mission to clip for a cause! Since its beginning, word has spread and others have been inspired to launch the same effort in their own areas!
There are several suggestions I have to help you get started:
1) If you are part of a church family, send an email or set up an appointment with the pastors to tell them about your idea for a new ministry. Explain that a box could be set out each Sunday in a designated spot at church. This is where congregation members would be invited to drop their unused coupon inserts each week. From there, announcements could be made about the new “Clipping for a Cause” ministry (through bulletins, mailouts, emails, or whatever way you think provides the best means of communication). After several weeks of building up a “coupon base” a group could begin to form regularly (every other week is what we do) to clip and shop for the items that are either free or just a few cents that week! Research your local food banks and other organizations in need. Currently, food banks everywhere are experiencing an increased demand for food due to the rise in the numbers of people needing to turn to them for food. Take into consideration also that organizations are not just in need of non-perishable food, they need anything from frozen food and personal care to cleaning items!
2) If you aren’t part of a church family, you can still get involved individually! One of our ministry members here in Atlanta began her own effort right in her neighborhood! She created a box and labeled it “Clipping for a Cause.” All neighbors were notified via email that if they did not use their coupons they could drop them off in the box each week on her front porch. The first week she got 17 inserts and 26 the second week! To be able to collect 26 separate coupons for something like “Mahatma Rice,” and then donate those bags to families greatly in need for FREE is an effortless way for all of us to give back! Even better, hardly anything ever comes out of pocket! To date, our local “Clipping for a Cause” chapter has donated nearly 3,000 items for around $30 while saving over $800 over a span of 4 months!
3) If the first 2 ideas don’t really appeal to you there is still a 3rd way you can get involved! Another area of “Clipping for a Cause” is a monthly “Mobile Food Drive.” This could be your neighbors, co-workers, friends or family members. Each month set a specific date as to when you would like to do the mobile food drive. Then, ask everyone to set out one bag of non-perishables that could be picked up and delivered. This is yet another easy way for everyone to come together to “stock the shelves” of food banks across the nation!
If you have any questions or comments, visit clipping for a cause or leave a comment below.
Notes from Jenny:
If you are “rarin’ to go” to donate goods there is a way that you can shop for others and still not upset the coupon world around you. As Heather said above it’s awesome to grab 26 bags of rice to donate but also pause to consider the folks that are shopping around you that need one for their family this week.
The best way to be considerate and shop in bulk is to look at your sale flier the first day it starts and then go that day and ask your store to order you your own case etc. of the items you want. They will get a shipment in again before the end of the ad with your products on it. This makes it a win win moment:
- You get everything you want to donate.
- Your fellow shoppers still have products left to buy.
- Your store doesn’t get wiped clean and have to write a ton of rain checks (grocery stores lose money with rain checks).
If you are looking for places to donate other than food banks I got an email today from a parent at a Ronald McDonald House saying that they are in desperate need at many of these houses.
Ok everybody. I got busy with lists on Tuesday and Wednesday and waited till things calmed down.
Today is the final day of the Southern Savers Birthday celebration. For the last hoorah, we are offering a big one:
One reader will win a two night stay at a Bed & Breakfast of your choice!
Small print: Value up to $250 per night is covered by Southern Savers. If you choose a cheaper place I’m not going to send you money… so starting looking for a lavish location. Meals, travel and entertainment (and childcare) are on you.
To Enter you’ll have to answer these questions. I’ll pick one winner and announce it Friday night with Friday Finals.
You must enter using the form above. If you are seeing this in a reader or newsletter please click over to Southern Savers to enter.
Okay here’s a tip for question #4.
The winners for the Spa giveaway:
Rebekahulsaker@
Partyof9@
This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of NAVTEQ. All opinions are 100% mine.
We are now in the middle of summer, meaning that you have or will do one thing: travel. And all of us have amazing stories about getting lost. While they do provide endless entertainment at the dinner table, I would bet that most of us would like to avoid wasting that extra tank of gas trying to find your cousin’s house in the mountains that you were just sure you knew where it was.
If you have a GPS supported by NAVTEQ, take this time to update your map at www.updateyourmap.com. NAXTEQ sent us a new 2011 set of maps for our GPS last week and we updated everything before a trip to Macon. Thanks to the new information, our map took into account the current construction on the Macon Bypass coming in to I-75 and we were able to save a lot of time and pain searching for alternate routes.
The new update has more than 100,000 items updated, including gas stations, ATM’s, and restaurants. In case you are concerned it took 2 seconds to push in a new little card and we were good to go (literally).
NAVTEQ creates most of the navigational equipment in automobiles, so the odds are pretty good that if you have a GPS, it comes with NAVTEQ maps. Check to see what year maps you are using and if you’re out of date head over to www.updateyourmap.com and make it happen!
Two years ago yesterday, Southern Savers was born. I never really had a plan or even imagined where this would go. It was just a hobby. Today we have over 40,000 facebook fans and see over 1,000,000 hits each week. That’s just mind boggling. I’m so glad that the site helps so many people save money, and it’s been awesome and encouraging learning your stories.
To celebrate, we are hosting four days of 24 hour giveaways (today, Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday).
I have decided to take a break from just giving away grocery shopping money and giveaway some fun events that you can enjoy by yourself or with friends and family. You will want to pay attention to all the giveaways because the final giveaway is going to give you a chance to get away and do some relaxing!
For the first day, enjoy a night out browsing books and great coffee. Think of it as your personal quiet time.
5 Readers will win: 
(1) $25 Barnes & Noble gift card
(1) $10 Starbucks gift card
To Enter:
Leave a comment with a favorite book or one you would recommend. (Or anything else you would like comment it really doesn’t matter).
