Chicken and Rice Soup

Chicken and Rice Soup
2 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 stalk celery

1 onion

2 tbs. olive Oil

1/4 tsp. Pepper

1/2 tsp paprika

1/4 cup rice

1 quart water

1 quart chicken stock

2 skinless chicken breasts

1 cup cauliflower puree

1/2 cup carrot puree

1 tbls cornstarch

2 tbls cream cheese at room temperature

1/4 cup lemon juice

1)  Chop veggies.  Heat olive oil in large stockpot over medium-high heat.  Add veggies, pepper, and paprika.  Cook until the veggies soften but do not brown, 6-8 minutes.  Add the rice and cook 1-2 minutes more.

2)  Add the water and broth and bring to a boil.  Add the chicken and cover.  Turn off the heat and let the chicken cook in the hot water until it's no longer pink, 25-30 minutes.  Once chicken is cooked through, remove and shred, then return to the pot.

3)  Stir the purees into the soup.  In a small bowl, mash the cornstarch into the cream cheese.  Remove 1 cup of the soup and whisk it into the cream cheese mixture until it is smooth and all lumps are gone.  Stir the soup and cream-cheese mixture back into the pot and warm through if necessary.  Stir in the lemon juice just before serving.

Chicken Stuffing Casserole

Chicken Stuffing Casserole
6 oz. (one pk.) chicken stuffing mix
1 can cream of mushroom soupo
1/2 cup milk
2 cups cubed cooked chicken
1 cup veggies (optional)
2 cups cheddar cheese

1) Prepare the stuffing mix according to package directions.  Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine soup and milk; set aside.  Spread the stuffing into two greased 8-in. square baking dishes.  Layer wit the chicken, veggies, soup mixture and cheese.

2)  Cover and bake the casserole at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Coupon Trip- Triple Coupons

This week at Harris Teeter they did a triple coupon week.  Yea!!  There are some sites that will tell you what is for sale and what coupon from which insert you should use.  That's great and very helpful but everybody and their DOG finds out about it and 2 minutes after the store opens (at Harris Teeter at least) the shelves are empty.  I waited until the last day of the sale and missed some really great deals a.k.a. free deals but that's okay.  I was still able to get some really great stuff for a fraction of the price.

Here's what I was able to get:

Halloween Sugar Cookies

Refrigerated chocolate chip cookies

Phineas and Ferb Band-aids

3 boxes of frozen veggies

Flosser wand thingy

Bisquick

Sunny Delight

Refrigerated cinnamon rolls

Refrigerated Orange sweet rolls

2 Refrigerated crescent rolls

2 Refrigerated biscuits

Refrigerated pizza crust

Refrigerated french bread loaf

Fiber one brownies

2 boxes of Nature Valley granola bars (12 pk)

Lucky Charms treats

2 Boxes of flavored potatoes

Twizzlers

2 boxes of Fruit roll ups

Box of Cake mix

Frosting

Bag of Cookie mix

The grand total before coupons and store sales was: $102.32

The total after coupons and store sales was: $31.34

Percent savings (if my math is correct) :  about 69% SAVINGS (I think my other calculations on other pages may be wrong.  I'll have to go back and correct it now.)

Yes, a fair amount of this I would've bought anyway only over time and not in one stop.  We were completely out of snacks and easy to grab items.  This certainly helped.

Dinning Room Chair Project

Our chairs have been horrible since the first time someone spilled on them.  Duh I guess but at the time we didn't have a carpet cleaner and the stain just kinda stayed.  We've since had 3 kids and spilled anything you can think of on our chairs.  It's been embarrassing to have people come over to eat or be somewhere that they can see our chairs.
So, I decided to finally do something about it.  All it took was a staple gun, staples, and a plastic table cloth cut into 4 pieces.
Total Cost: $5

After: Couldn't keep the kids off

Before: Eww, gross, embarrassing

                         

Home Made Baby Food- Pears

\At Costco the other day, we saw some delicious looking pears which we decided would make our tummies very happy.
We bought that case of pears for less than $7.  Hubby and daughter ate 1.  What was I going to do with all those pears.  Well, my baby needs to eat too doesn't he?  Into the blender they went.  Washed and seeded of course.  I pureed them into a semi-chunky state and poured them into silicon muffin cups, covered them with plastic wrap, and stuck them in the freezer.  I also filled 3 ice cube trays.

If I were to have bought pear baby food at the store, it would've cost me $0.90 to $1 (Stage 2 size package with 2 "jars" in pack) for the equivalent of 2 muffin cups.  I have about 32 muffin cups of  homemade pear baby food (estimating 2 ice cubes equals 1 muffin cup; muffin cups are not all the way full).
That would've cost me about $16 dollars at the cheapest store (a.k.a Wal-Mart) only cost me $7.  Whoo, Hoo!!

I've been making all of Baby's baby food since day 1 but it's nice to see that I'm actually saving!

Just pop it out of the containers and into a freezer bag, label, and stick in freezer until ready to serve.  It'll last for about 3 months.  I usually microwave for 30 seconds or thaw in fridge if I know early enough what I'm going to serve him.
Simple!
-Taryn