It's Official

The Disney trip has been booked!

The tickets have been ordered, the hotel reservations made (and paid), the airfare has been booked as well. Now I just need a way to curb my excitement til we get there!

Yay!

Yummy Soup

This is from Weight Watcher's magazine. Okay, so what if it is a weight watchers recipe? It is totally easy and yummy, and not even too expensive. Plus, it's very heartwarming on a day like today.

One thing, the recipe calls for Shirataki noodles. No, I've never heard of them either. But I found them at Sunset foods. They are made of soy, and they really taste like regular noodles. The difference is that Shirataki have almost no carbs, plus 20 calories per serving; while regular noodles have 210 calories per serving, and 42g. of carbs. So, they are worth looking for. I found them in the noodle section of the refrigerated department (with the fresh pasta.)

Chicken Shirataki Soup

1/2 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into thin strips
1 1/2 tsp. grated peeled fresh ginger
1 (32-oz) carton low-sodium chicken broth
2 (8-oz) packages spaghetti-shaped shirakaki tofu noodles, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 cup shredded carrots
2 tsp. Asian dark sesame oil
2 tsp. low-sodium soy sauce
1 small bunch watercress, trimmed
1/2 cup bean sprouts

1. Spray a non-stick Dutch oven with nonstick spray and set over medium heat. Add the chicken and the ginger; cook stirring constantly, until the chicken is no longer pink, about 1 minute.

2. Add the broth bring to a boil. Stir in the noodles, carrots, sesame oil, and soy sauce. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer until the carrots are tender, about 4 minutes.

3. Divide the soup among 4 bowls. Serve topped with watercress and sprouts.

Eat, yum!

Super Couponing

I've always been a leeetle bit skeptical of the folks who clip coupons, and shop sales, and buy hundreds of dollars worth of groceries for a buck. Lets face it, who can really do that? Well, I tried it this weekend. Look what I got for $19!*


If you want to know more about how to do this, you need to visit my friend Michelle's Bargains Rock! blog, and follow her links and advice.

One thing that I've learned is that it is worth looking and planning before buying. I know that this sounds elementary, and I usually have a list and a plan. But since I usually eschew regular grocery stores for Aldi, and name brand products for store brand, I don't usually even look to see if there are coupons that would be appropriate for me. Sure this is one more step, but I think it took me a total of 20 minutes or so to look at the sale flier, decide what I needed from it, check for coupons and print them out. Doing so saved me $97. That comes to $291 per hour to do this. Okay, so no one is actually paying me $291 an hour to check coupons, but you still get the idea.

The second thing I learned is to take a calulator to the store. I was busy jotting down numbers, and calculator would have made it so much easier to keep a running total.

*This is $19 after I subtract the $15 coupons I have still in my purse. Actually, the out of pocket was $34, which is still really good, considering that the regular price for all this stuff is about $116 bucks.

Halloween Fun

Halloween has come and gone at our house. The pumpkins have been carved,


The costumes have been made,


The crafts have been prepared.

Trick-o-treating was a lot of fun too. The kids came home with much candy, and watched movies and ate themselves sick.

Although we love Halloween here, I am thankful that it only comes around once a year.