Carlie C's IGA Deals 7/19-7/25/10

So I'm a little late in the sales week posting the deals. I've had to spend the evenings working on other projects so it wasn't until tonight that I was able to get to this particular project. I haven't made it to the store yet either, so I don't have a picture to add this week.

Here are some of the deals for this week:

Starkist Tuna, 5oz in water, $0.39 (time to stockpile!)

Comet Long Grain Rice, 14-16oz, $0.79

IGA Instant Oatmeal, 10oz, 2/$3

IGA All Purpose or IGA Self Rising Flour, 5lb, 2/$3

Kellogg's Pop-Tarts, 22oz Family Pk, 2/$5

Print one $1/2 coupon (you can print two coupons)

Final price: 2/$4

Honey Nut Cheerios, 12.25oz, $2.78

Print one $1/2 coupon (you can print two coupons)

Final price: $2.28 ea

Orville Redenbacher's Popcorn, 10-ct, 2/$6

Print one $1.25 off coupon (good when you also buy M&Ms candy, 9.9z-42oz)

Final price: $1.75 ea

Chex Mix Snack Mix, 7-8.75oz, $2.18

Print one $0.55 off coupon (you can print two coupons)

Final price: $1.63

Pork Loin Chops, Family Pk, $1.58/lb

Trans Ocean Crab Classic Flake Style, 8oz, 2/$3

Print two $1 off coupons (link is in upper-right corner of website)

Final price: 2/$1

Valley Dale Old Fashioned Hot Dogs or Red Hot Dogs, 12oz, $0.69

Country Crock Spread, 15-16oz bowls or quarters, 4/$5 (or $1.25 each)

Use $0.40 coupon from All You magazine (I have a subscription but you can also get the magazine from Wal-mart)

or print two $0.40 off coupons

Final price: $0.85 ea

Yoplait GoGurt, 18oz 8-count, $2.59

Print one $0.75/2 coupon (you can print 2 copies)

Final price: $2.22 ea

Morning Fresh Farms Jumbo Biscuits, 10oz, 5/$5 (you can buy just 1 and pay just $1!)

Weight Watchers Yogurt, 6oz, 10/$6

Use one BOGO Free coupon from All You magazine

Final price: 2/$0.60

Rome Apples, 3lb bag, $2.59

I always weigh my apple bags and buy the heaviest bag so I can maximize my purchase

Colgate Toothpaste, 6-6.4oz, $1.88

print 1 $0.75 off coupon

Final price: $1.13

or save more when you buy

Aim Toothpaste, 6oz, $0.89

or save even more when you buy

Pepsodent Toothpaste, 6oz, $0.79

Click here for more Carlie C's IGA deals this week!

Wok's For Dinner: Spicy Tex-Mex Roast & Vegetables

We've had an absolute over-abundance of peppers in our garden this year. I don't mean the bell pepper variety either. My husband's father gave us two flats of hot & spicy varieties, and they are thriving! I had bought a huge roast and needed a way to cook it up, and the thought occurred to me to try out the spicy peppers with this roast. And it worked! The flavor was absolutely delicious. It packed heat, but not so spicy that you would burn your tongue off (and I do not like spicy-burn-your-tongue-'til-it-bursts-in-flames food) so it definitely received my stamp of approval. The roast and natural juices muted the spicy bite so you had the heat and tons of pure, delicious flavor.

Literally, it was delicious! And since it was a large roast, I have plenty of leftovers for another meal.

Spicy Tex-Mex Roast & Vegetables

Ingredients:

1 large beef roast, 6-8 lbs

4 med. potatoes, peeled & quartered

4 jalapeno peppers, seeded and diced

4 hot banana peppers, seeded and chopped

2 sweet banana peppers, seeded and chopped

4 cayenne peppers, seeded and chopped

1 med. onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

12 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

Directions:

Place potatoes on bottom of 6-qt slow cooker and add roast. Cover roast with remaining ingredients. Add lid and slow-cook for 8-10 hours.

If freezing: After slow-cooking the roast and vegetables, divide the roast up into meals. Serve roast for first meal, and place remaining meals in freezer bag or food saver, then freeze. I got 8 meals out of my roast. I probably would have gotten a 9th meal, but the roast was sooo good! We definitely ate our fair share. :)

Visit Dining With Debbie for lots of creative ideas for dinner!

July Monthly Menu

I've still been doing freezer meals, although on a smaller scale. I have not had a free Saturday to do a complete months' worth of meals, but I have created a menu to work with, and I have made several freezer meals. We went on vacation in June, and I even made freezer meals for that week, so we were able to avoid eating out the entire time, excluding one lunch trip to a seafood restaurant (we were, after all, in the Outer Banks of NC, so of course we had to go out for seafood).

Here are the meals that I have planned for July.

Chicken & Turkey (the turkey is leftover from a turkey I cooked earlier this year and froze the leftovers)
Grilled Chicken Salad
Turkey Mushroom Tetrazzini
Garden Ranch Chicken Pasta Salad
Chicken Apple Salad Sandwiches
Chicken Spaghetti
Chicken Divan
Chicken Stir Fry
Herbed Chicken
Chicken in Sour Cream
Grilled Chicken
Honey BBQ Chicken Leg Quarters
Arroz Con Pollo (Chicken & Rice)
Chicken & Egg Noodles

Ground Turkey
Turkey & Bean Tostadas
Barbecues

Ground Beef
Meatballs & Gravy
Pizza Casserole (I made this for a church potluck and got rave reviews!!)

Ground Sausage
Sausage & Zucchini Skillet (over rice, not mashed potatoes as shown in the linked post for this recipe)

Seafood
Honey Garlic Shrimp
Pasta Scallop Casserole

Pork
Crispy Mustard Pork Chops
Apple Pork Kebabs
Mu Shu Pork
Family-Size Baked Burrito (with pulled pork instead of chicken)

Beef Roast
Spicy Tex-Mex Beef Roast
Slow-Cooked Beef Tacos
Beef Medallions
Creamy Beef Over Noodles
Pineapple Beef Kabobs
Grilled Steak Salad
Hungarian Goulash

Menu Plan Monday: 7/12-7/18/10

Perhaps I should call this one Menu Plan Thursday! haha Better late than never. :)

Here's the plan for this week:

Monday--Meatballs & Gravy, Mashed Potatoes

Tuesday--Party Pizzas

Wednesday--Apple-Cherry Stuffed Pork Chops, French-Style Green Beans

Thursday--Spicy Tex-Mex Roast & Vegetables

Friday--eating out
The kids have been attending Vacation Bible School at their grandparents' church this week and their program is this evening with a hot dog supper afterwards

Saturday--Slow-Grilled Pork Picnic, Fried Eggplant, Stewed Okra & Tomatoes

Sunday--
Breakfast: Fresh Cherry Muffins
Dinner: Salad Shrimp & Orange Salad

Make sure to visit Laura at Org Junkie for over 300 menu plan options!

Carlie C's IGA Deals 7/12-7/18

As promised, I am posting the deals for the local grocery stores for the benefit of my friends in the area. Now I know a lot of you do not live in Eastern NC. Never fear, because I am including links to coupons since I am matching them up with the sales ad, so you just might find something that you can use! :)

For this week's sales ad, visit the Carlie C's website.

Here's what I found to be the "best of the best" and worth investing my money into.

my Carlie C's purchases this week, total cost $27.83 after coupons and before tax--not too bad! Oh, and do you like my new counter top? It is soooo much better than the fake wood laminate I used to have!

Deals That I Bought

17oz Cinnamon Toast Crunch $3.15/ea
print two $0.60/1 coupons
Final price: $2.55 ea

5.4oz Betty Crocker Fruit Gushers $2.14/ea
print one $0.50/2 coupon
Final price: 2/$3.68

20oz IGA Squeeze Mustard 2/$1

14.5oz IGA Canned Tomatoes $2/1
The ad says "Diced" tomatoes, but stewed and whole tomatoes are also included in the sale

9.8-10.9oz Totino's Party Pizzas 4/$5
print two $1.00/2 coupons after referring 3 friends when you Share & Save
Final price: 2/$1.50 or $0.75 ea

6oz Assorted Breyers Yogurt 3/$1
Carlie C's also has "bonus" cups of yogurt that are 6oz+10% free or 6.6oz so you can really maximize the savings

7.25oz Betty Crocker Suddenly Salad $1.77
print one $0.50/2 coupon
Final price: $1.47 ea

25ct Finish Gel Pacs BOGO Free
print two $1/1 coupons
Final price: $2.49 ea

4-6oz Colgate Toothpaste 2/$5
print one $0.75/1 Colgate Total coupon
Purchase one box of Colgate Total paste 6oz+1.2oz Free
Final price: $1.75/1

1lb Oven Fresh Bread $0.99 ea

Other Great Deals (I did not buy any of these bought thought they were really great bargains)

24pk 12oz cans Coca-Cola Products $5.00

36oz IGA Squeeze Ketchup $.88ea

100oz Better Valu Liquid Laundry Detergent $1.99ea

Pork Picnic $1.18/lb

50ct IGA Foam Plates 5/$5

16oz Blue Bonnet Margarine Quarters $0.58

Limes 4/$1

Kiwi Fruit 2/$

Wok's For Dinner: Apple-Cherry Stuffed Pork Chops

I've waited all year to make these chops. Waiting for the time when bing cherries are in season and their price drops to super low affordable! Last weekend, I picked up a bag of bing beauties for $1.99/lb. And that meant making some Apple-Cherry Stuffing, a delicious way to prepare baked pork chops.

Apple-Cherry Stuffed Pork Chops

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 celery stalks, chopped coarsely

1/2 large onion, chopped

2 Tbsp butter or margarine

1 1/2 cups water

1 6-oz pkg stuffing mix (I used low-sodium chicken flavor)

bing cherries, slicked in half with pit removed, enough to make about 1 cup

1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and chopped

4 boneless pork chops

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in chopped celery and onion; cook until just tender. Add butter and stir in water; bring to a boil. Stir in stuffing mix, cherries, and chopped apple; cover and remove from heat. Let sit about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, place chops into a baking dish. Cover chops with Apple-Cherry Stuffing. Place baking dish in oven and bake for 40-45 minutes.

Balancing Act Changes

You know how you get so far behind doing something, that you subconsciously ignore it because it becomes too overwhelming to handle?

Like sweeping and mopping the floors. More often than not, I sweep then mop, and admire the shine of the floor surface and the fresh clean scent. And the next day, the floor's dirty again. So rather than clean up the dirty floor, I prefer to ignore it at least a few weeks, knowing that to clean the floor would again cause it to get dirty once again.

I guess that's how me and blogging have been lately. I've been really bumming with working super long hours the past two months. Within the last few weeks, I've been working 10-11 hour days, sometimes longer, without the luxury of a lunch break. I finally broke down and told my boss today that I need to get a company laptop so I can work from home in the evenings. Not the preferred choice for me, but a necessary thing so I can at least be at home with my family.

As much as I have wanted to blog, it's been soooo hard to get the motivation! I'm afraid to commit to it again, knowing how tied up work is keeping me. This has been weighing on my mind more than you might believe. I really miss blogging! But I'm trying to maximize the precious few minutes I have with my family each evening.

So I have to make some changes in the blog. No, I'm not quitting. (hooray!!) I've been weighing my options, debating and arguing with myself, adding to & crossing off my list of ideas. There have to be changes so I can keep my sanity and my commitment to my family.

I'm going to keep blogging really simple, posting recipes here and there, but probably not every day. I do have a freezer menu for July that I've been working from and I will I'll try to get it posted for you all.

I have a lot of friends in my area that constantly ask me, "How do you do it?" when it comes to grocery sales and deals. So I've set a goal to match the sales & coupon deals for the local grocery stores and post those in the blog. I'm hoping to have a weekly post for this, but again that will depend on how I'm able to balance work/family.

I really want to keep this blog going strong and stay in contact with all of my readers. It has certainly been a struggle for me to figure out how I'm going to do this. As much as I want to do a daily post, it is next to impossible given my work and family schedule at this time, so I have to keep things real.

All part of the Balancing Act! Thank you to each of you for your patience as I try to iron out all the kinks! :)