Fruit deals, yeah!

Here's some miscellaneous fruit deals to be had;

Safeway has cantaloupes at $1 a piece through tomorrow only, I'm sorry I didn't tell you that sooner, I totally missed it in the ad.

Sam's has 12oz raspberries for $2.98.

And, hurray for fruit coupons, here is one for .50 off a Dole pineapple. Save this for a little while, I bet Safeway will have a good sale soon, and this will double! While you're at coupons.com, check out the 1.75 off 2 Mariani dried fruit; I'm not sure how these are priced, but this is a high value coupon.

My inagural garage sale experience....

Wow, you gotta be tough for this garage sale thing! We went to the Sumerset garage sales today, and if you have kids, that is the place to go! I was most excited to get a sit & stand stroller to accomodate 2 kids, for $10, maternity jeans for $1.50/pair, and the next 2 years supply of pajamas for my son for $2.

It runs through tomorrow at 4pm I think, and there were tons of people selling today, but I bet there will be even more tomorrow. Bring sunscreen!

Any good garage sale finds you have to report?

Top 10 6/23-6/29

Safeway

• Safeway Select Artisan Fresh Bread is .99, load the e-coupon here and it should be free! Once you load the e-coupon, you might want to print the list of what you have loaded just in case it doesn't come off. The e-coupon is not very specific as to what is included.
• Gorton’s Large or Value pack selections at 2.49 when you buy 2 on SATURDAY AND SUNDAY ONLY with coupon here.
• Red, yellow or orange bell peppers are $1 each.
Haggar’s
• Red or green grapes, .99/lb
Don’s
• Broccoli, .99/lb
• Cauliflower, 1.69 each!
• 1 doz eggs, .79
Family Thrift (ends 6/26)
• You already know how excited I am about the $3 off 5 store brand products coupon in the ad, so I’ll just remind you of my top 3 picks for that! These prices are assuming that you buy 5 items. Pick up extra coupons to use next week!
• Brown rice, .35/lb
• Butter, 1.29/lb, limit 2
• Dried beans, .49/lb

Cauliflower Spaghetti

I read somewhere about this idea, putting plain old cauliflower in a red sauce and serving it over spaghetti, and the idea stuck with me. I promised an update once I made it, so I thought I'd try and convince you all to make it too! It's really quite easy, perfect for a busy weeknight. I would make a couple of changes to what I first did with it, and the recipe reflects that.

1/2-2/3 head of cauliflower, chop into small pieces (think meatball size or smaller)
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
Olive oil for the pan
1 jar marinara sauce, commercial or homemade
Red pepper flakes to taste
1lb spaghetti or angel hair pasta
Cheddar and Parmesan cheese to serve

If time allows, oil, salt and roast cauliflower on a cookie sheet, in a hot oven until you get some color on it, then add to saucepan with additional olive oil and garlic, and saute until almost tender. (If you prefer, saute it in olive oil, with garlic, over medium heat in a large saucepan until it is almost tender.) Add red sauce and red pepper, and heat through while you cook pasta according to package directions. To serve, top spaghetti with sauce, cheddar and Parmesan cheese.

So this will be a regular in our meatless Monday rotation; it's really easy, and although my husband found the idea a bit odd, he thought it tasted fine. You really don't taste the cauliflower very distinctly, but it has a nice texture. I didn't add any red pepper to my first batch, but it needs it. From now on I will serve junior, and then add the pepper and cook for a couple more minutes before I serve the adults. I love pasta with cheddar on it, next time you have leftover chili, throw it on spaghetti, dump cheese over the top, and watch everyone hush up and eat. Yummy. Black olives might be a nice addition to this too, but I don't want to completely freak your family out!

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Quick FTC note

I stopped this morning at the Omaha/8th street store, because I wanted to see if they carry brown rice, Westside only had white rice. Score!!! The Omaha store has brown rice, 1lb for .95, so I paid less than $2 for 5lbs!

We recently had my family over for dinner, and my dad thought the rice was white (it was brown); he commented that white rice is poison. Since when is my father a flippin' dietitian? Seriously, I was expecting him to suggest that I could join him for T'ai Chi in the park at 5am the next day, after a light breakfast of miso soup. Weird.

Shopping trip 6/22

I picked up some items at a variety of stores today, and I thought I would hit the highlights for you.

Safeway is actually a good place to find diaper deals, in limited quantities anyway. I have told you that we cloth diaper, right? Well, we are planning a weeklong trip this August, and as strongly as I feel about cloth, I am not hauling them, clean or dirty, on an airplane trip. Sorry mother earth. So I am on the lookout for deals, and I try to pay $4 or less per Jumbo pack. Safeway had the in-ad coupon to bring Pampers down to 7.99/pack, then I used an e-coupon from P&G esaver, which took off $2, and then a paper coupon to take off another $2. I also got a cash register tape coupon or CRT, for $3 off my next pack, so I'll hold on to that!

So at Safeway, I bought;

Wheaties Fuel (overage after e-coupons)
16oz bottle Coke (free after mycokerewards coupon, yes I have been known to pick up bottles off the side of the road, just for the code on the cap!)
Uncle Bens Rice Medley (free coupon, no longer available)
6 Yoplait yogurt (paper and e-coupons available)
4pk YoPlus yogurt (paper coupon available)
4pk Yoplait Fiber One yogurt (I previously mentioned where to find paper and e-coupons for this)
2 gallons milk (1.98/ea through today only)
Pampers diapers
2lbs red grapes at .99/lb

Total out of pocket with tax was $11.68.

Then at FTC, I did my best to find great ways to use the in-ad coupon. My son had other plans, so I didn't make it far! I bought,

2lbs black beans, 1.09/lb, so only .49 after coupon! That's a good price!
1 can sauerkraut, .09 after coupon.
2lbs of beautiful butter, 1.29 after coupon.

Total out of pocket with tax was 4.05.

Finally I ran into Haggar's for potatoes, and I grabbed some marked down ground beef too. $9.64 out of pocket, it's funny how quickly meat drives up your food costs.

So, other things I spotted at FTC that you should consider using the in-ad coupon for included white rice, 1lb at .87, pretty much all the dried beans are 1.09/lb, if you have a coukout coming up, they have lots of disposable plates, cups, cutlery, etc. that would be cheap or free, the single cups of yogurt, sorry I can't remember how much they were, small cans of fruit, can't remember the exact price on those either. I'm going to have to write things down! I'll be loading the freezer with butter, definitely will pick up some more beans, and need to check the price on slices black olives, which are often more expensive than any of the other ingredients I use for pizza.

Menu Plan 6/21-6/27

I had planned to post this yesterday, but got so excited about the FTC sales, I had to get that up first! I am trying to use up some boxed meal helper type items, which I should just stop buying b/c I don't use them. Actually, I should donate them, shouldn't I. I'll work on that. I will not be sticking to my usual plan very closely this week, but that's okay.

Monday; Chicken and asparagus on the grill, some pasta mix stuff.
Tuesday; Cauliflower pasta (this is an experiment...), salad.
Wednesday; Leftovers from Father's day (pulled pork, baked beans).
Thursday; Chicken Helper.
Friday; Mom and baby play date at my lovely friend Jody's. I'll bring veggie appetizer pizza, or maybe a cheese ball?
Saturday; 4 Seasons pizza (deli ham, black olives, artichokes, and mushrooms).

Happy eating!