You're going to spend my college money on those ugly shoes?

I guess not cutie. Rest easy.

OMG, how 'bout these?

I NEED these shoes. Anybody got 130 bucks I can borrow?

Dear Lord, they're like a piece of art! Does anyone understand where I'm coming from?

Sunday ad picks, 9/12-9/18

Safeway has a Sunday ad that has a couple of good deals.

• 10lb of potatoes are $1.99. Cheap eats people, I am planning to share some potato recipes too.
• Cantaloupes are .99/ea with in-ad coupon. If you didn't get a paper today, and therefore don't actually have this Sunday ad, you may or may not find it in the store. Just be forewarned, but if you strike out check with customer service.
• Whole wheat sandwich bread is .99/loaf with in-ad coupon, hurray! Now I'm hoping that they will be sold out when I go in to the store, so I can rain check that baby. My freezer continues to be quite full. I keep thinking I need to cook that stupid turkey. Please don't ask how long it's been in there. This message will now self destruct.
• Store brand creamer is $1.69/32oz, again with in-ad coupon.
• Organic people; 1/2 gallons of milk are $1.99 with in-ad coupon, I love that Organic milk tends to have a really long storage time. Is it longer than regular milk? Maybe it's a carton vs. gallon thing? Feel free to weigh in, I'm even more rambly than usual tonight. You can ramble too!

Family Thrift Center gets a pass this week. I didn't see a single thing that I felt would be a good deal. Target was a snooze too, but I didn't really look very close, I'll holler if I see anything.

Greek Chicken, authenticity not guaranteed.

I really know very little about Greek food; Spanakopita, Feta cheese, olive oil and the healthiest diet in the world, right? That's about the extent of my knowledge. But I love trying new things, I think because I have about 25 years of picky eating to make up for (sorry about that Mom, I'm starting to see what a pain in the butt I must have been!) So, thanks to a great deal on Feta, (thanks Merissa!), I have been inspired to use my fabulous, salty cheese for more than just salads. Here's what I made last night.

Greek Chicken

2 chicken breasts, cut in half lengthwise and salt and peppered
1 TBSP olive oil (not extra virgin)
1 can diced tomatoes (14 1/2 oz)
1 can tomato sauce (8 oz)
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 cup chicken stock, or white wine
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
3/4 cup or so of artichokes from a can or jar (water packed, not marinated), drained, quarter them if they're big
1 can sliced black olives, or a handful of pitted Kalamata olives chopped
8 oz Orzo pasta

Put a big pot of water on to boil for the pasta. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat, and add the oil. Once it's hot, put the chicken breasts. Don't move them, just let them cook for a few minutes so they get some color. Once they're golden, flip and brown them until they're cooked through. Remove the chicken to a plate. Throw the onion and garlic in to cook until translucent, add more oil if need be. Pour in the stock to deglaze all the little bits off then pan, then add the tomatoes and tomato sauce, the basil and oregano and let it all simmer for a few minutes. At this point, your water should be boiling for the Orzo, so throw that in the pot with some salt and cook according to directions. Once the sauce has been simmering long enough for the diced tomatoes to be cooked, taste it and adjust seasonings, then add the artichoke hearts, and the olives, and put the chicken back in with any juices from the plate it's been resting on. Stir it carefully once the 'chokes are in, you don't want to break them apart. When the Orzo is done, plate it all up and put some Feta on top.

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Cook's ramblings

• If you have a lemon, I would squeeze some juice in just before serving; a little acid would definitely brighten it up.
• Orzo is a very small pasta, shaped somewhat like a grain of rice.
• This would be great with shrimp. I was also think grilling the chicken would be really nice. But I can tell you my hubs raved about it just the way it is.
• The great deal I got for the Feta is a buy one, get one free coupon that I used at Safeway, where the 24oz packages are only 5.99. The great bogo Athenos coupon still shows up on Facebook, so grab yourself one! Just like Athenos cheese, and then click on the coupon tab to find it. The sale at Safeway runs through 10/31, (I think) so plenty of time to use it! If you are not a Facebook user and you want a coupon, let me know, I still have one left. 2 big tubs for $5.99 is a great price!

Wednesday Ad Picks, 9/8-9/13

Safeway has lots of in-ad coupons this week! Remember, you CAN combine a Safeway store coupon with a manufacturer's coupon.

• 7-Up 6 packs are $1.49 with in-ad coupon. Just a heads up, I was going to pick some up today (a splurge, usually I only buy soda if it's free), and the 8th Street store does not carry them. I guess I didn't really need it!
• Mission chips are $1.29 with the in-ad coupon, and there are e-coupons at Cellfire for any Mission product. If anybody ever finds the MDA booklet, there are .55 off coupons in there that will double to make these only .29/bag, but again I didn't spot any of the booklets, bummer.
• Welch's Healthy Start juice is $1.99 with the in-ad coupon, and there are coupons on coupons.com for $1.50 off, so only .50! I use this in smoothies all the time.
• Hormel Lunch Meat is $1.99/8 oz package with the in-ad coupon from the smaller Safeway pull-out ad, and there is a coupon here for .55 off, which will double and give you a price of .99. I plan to buy a few of these, it's tough to get lunch meat in quantity, so while this isn't a mind blowing price, I'll still stock up. These usually have a sell-by of at least a couple of months out, so they'll be fine in the fridge for a while. There are also blinkie coupons in the 8th Street store for .55 off, but I can tell you these WILL NOT double. If you want to use them, just go to customer service after you check out and they'll reimburse you (I prefer to avoid the hassle)
• Broccoli and cauliflower are .99/lb.
• Sandwich bread is $1.25/loaf for the whole wheat, this seems to be the best price they're offering lately.
• Frozen chicken breasts are $7.96 for a 4lb bag, and there is an e-coupon you can load here to take off $2. Remember, the e-coupons that you load from Safeway are notorious for not coming off, so if you choose to do this, I would definitely print your list of loaded coupons and be prepared to go to customer service. I'm not sure I want to deal with the hassle, but I can tell you these are really convenient; I used to be kind of snotty about frozen chicken (I honestly have no idea why, I sincerely doubt it's any different than the fresh stuff, maybe even better since it's not been frozen and thawed like the "fresh" stuff usually is), but I am a convert. I just used some of this tonight for Greek Chicken (no, that was not the menu plan, a deviation was required). Very handy!

Haggar's has some great produce sales!

• Onions are 3lbs for .98, God bless you Haggar's! Paying .99/lb for them has been chapping my rear.
• Pears are .99/lb, as are Gala apples.
• Red potatoes are 1.48/5lb.
• Gronions are 3 for $1.
• Carrots are 2lbs for .99.
• Cabbage is .29/lb.
• Split chicken breasts are .99/lb.

Don's didn't really impress me, some decent produce prices but nothing I'd make a trip for. Haggar's definitely has them beat this week!

Family Thrift is on my list. And I don't mean my shopping list. Remember the pasta and pasta sauce prices I posted here? Well I printed the coupons, and you actually save .50 on 2, not 1. So price is .75 each, nothing special. I really found this to be misleading in the ad, and even on the coupon page on-line, it said nothing about buying 2 until you actually print the coupon. Grrr!

Menu Plan, 9/6-9/11

I thought I'd see if I can make this more of a habit, we'll see how I do. This post will be retroactive since it's already Tuesday!

Sunday; broccoli/cauliflower cheese soup and homemade bread (I save all my broc/caul trimmings in the freezer for this, broccoli stems in particular are great to use and you can keep them out of the garbage.
Monday; we had tentatively planned a family get together at my Mom's, so I didn't plan anything; we ended up having to reschedule the get together, so I pulled out my secret stash of cheater products from the freezer and pantry, breaded fish, french fries, and a can of corn. I am definitely not above doing this!
Tuesday; tacos and homemade refried beans
Wednesday; chicken and mushrooms in a creamy pink sauce, roasted potatoes, green salad
Thursday; Hawaiian meatballs over rice, green salad
Friday; chicken tacos, guac, green salad (I'll think of you when I make these tacos Bubbles! Do you want the recipe for the marinade?)
Saturday; my adorable hubs turns 32 (!), so dinner is at mom-in-laws; what should I bring?

I would really like for my son to eat salad, so I'm going to try the immersion tactic and throw it on the table 3 nights in a row, with the hopes that he'll give it a try. Anyone interested in betting how well this works?

I made magic cookies yesterday, and I'm going to make raspberry-lime sherbet (or sorbet maybe) sometime this week too. Have you ever made magic cookies before? They are super easy, and produce no dishes, you mix graham cracker crumbs with butter, press it into a pan, throw whatever chips (chocolate or otherwise) and nuts you want on top, then pour sweetened condensed milk all over the top. I use homemade sweetened condensed milk, so I can't be sure, but I think the recipe is on the can of the name brand stuff (of course I have to do it a bit differently!)