Coupon Spotlight -- Fruit Snacks

And because I missed the entire month of May, here's a Coupon Spotlight.

Remke Biggs has Betty Crocker fruit snacks (think Gushers) on sale for $.99. Here's the weekly ad, see page 2. (Random aside, why isn't there a cent symbol on the keyboard?)

This is already a good deal because they are normally $2.99.

But you can make it even better with a coupon.

Coupons.com has a printable coupon for these products. It's $.50 off two. Sorry, I don't how (or if I can) link directly to the coupon.

Anyway, Remke biggs will accept that coupon, and in fact double that coupon. So it's $1 off two. So as long as you buy an even number (Remke Biggs allows up to six of the same coupon in a transaction), you're getting them for about $.50 a box instead of $2.99.

You can stock up for either next school year or summer day camp lunches.

Cookies and Cream Puppy Chow

I didn't really have a reason for making this particular item. My man and I were going on a trip and I wanted to take along a sweet snack. I also happened to have Chex cereal (when don't I, really?) and Oreos sounded really good.

Oreos sounded *really* good.

So I went and bought a bag.

And then the trip got postponed before I made the puppy chow, so I started eating the Oreos and by the time we actually went on the trip a few weeks later, I had to go buy another bag of Oreos.

Sad day? Only for my wallet.

I followed the directions exactly, except for perhaps the type of chocolate chips. I used a combination of milk chocolate and semi-sweet because, first, I had both types, and second, I didn't want the sweet to be any more overwhelming than it was already on track to be.

So I made the mix. And I packaged up most of it to go to Gatlinburg.

I didn't try it until we got to Gatlinburg.

Where I found that it satisfied a need for something sweet, but didn't really taste anything like Oreos. Unless you got a bit of cookie. I think I should have added more cookies.

I feel no need to make this again.

Sesame Ginger Brittle

I love peanut brittle.

I love ginger.

I have no aversion to sesame seeds, and in fact, it's my favorite type of bagel.

So when I saw Martha's Stewart's recipe for ginger-seasame brittle in her holiday edition of Living magazine last year (or maybe the year before?), I knew I would have to make it.

I covet Martha Stewart's food stylists.

Thus started my hunt for reasonably priced sesame seeds.

I hunted for more than a year. Obviously I wasn't hunting very hard. But all I kept finding was the small bottles in the spice aisle, and those are ridiculously over-priced.

I finally found a bag at a reasonable price in the bulk food aisle at Jungle Jim's Eastgate. Near the oatmeals, rices and flours, behind the tea aisle. It was so much more affordable! I think I paid less than $3 for a half pound instead of $6 for a little jar.

So, I went to make the brittle. I had already purchased a candy thermometer for the fudge, so I'd be able to get it to the right temperature without a problem. I roasted the sesame seeds first, chopped the ginger while that was happening, and got all the other ingredients together so I wouldn't be scrambling while the substance was boiling. I do so hate that.

Then I followed the directions, brought it all to a boil, let it boil and boil and boil until it FINALLY got to the right temperature, and then followed the directions some more.

I didn't have the parchment paper just on the counter top to pour the brittle out all free-form and what not. No, I put the parchment paper on a cookie sheet and poured it that way.

Then let it set for quite a while. I don't even remember how long, I just know I wanted it to harden and I didn't want to burn my fingers.

Eventually I came around, broke it up, packaged it up for gift-giving. And, of course, eating.

Turns out, I don't care for it so much. I don't mind the ginger giving it a bit of spice. I dislike the smokiness that toasting the sesame seeds created. I don't care for smokiness in general, I just had no idea toasting seeds would have such an affect.

I didn't hear any rave reviews. I won't be making this again.

Now I just need to figure out what to do with all those sesame seeds.

Fantasy Fudge

I have had this fudge many, many times. This is the recipe my mother uses and she makes it every year.

I comes right off the side of the container of marshmallow fluff.

But while I have eaten this many times, I've never had to make it myself.

Until this year.

I no longer live at home (yay!), but I still needed to give some to my lawyers as gifts. The previous year I had just taken some Mom had made.

So I went out and bought a candy thermometer. Because I don't trust/remember Mom's tips for determining when the fudge has reached "soft tack". I don't even remember them. Something involving a glass of water. Or velvety texture. Don't know. I bought the thermometer.

So I followed the directions almost exactly. The differences being, I did  not line the pan with foil. In our family, we take the wrapper from the butter needed for the recipe and and smear the pan with it. There is enough residual butter on the wrapper to make the pan adequately non-stick. DO NOT USE SPRAY! (Although I don't know why, I just assume Mom has made that mistake before and the results were so unpleasant she can't talk about them.)

So I make it according to the recipe, other than how to prep the pan. I wait until the thermometer reads the proper temperature, although it takes longer than the amount of time given as a substitute for a thermometer.

I dumped it in the gorgeous green pan that was a birthday present, and let it set.

I think maybe a day later, when I was cutting it up to package it as gifts, is when I tried it.

And the fudge was great.

Success.

Later attempts were less successful, i.e., I tried with almonds and it tasted fine but looked odd, and then I made it a few weeks ago and didn't let it boil long enough and it had a gritty texture.

Coupon Spotlight: Pringles at Remke bigg's

I'm going out of town this weekend. A road trip to Chicago to be a good girlfriend and support my boyfriend at a gaming convention. Also known as, If I go this once, I can say I've been and don't ever have to go again if I don't like it.

Yes, that's one heck of a pseudonym.

Either way, I'm driving up myself, so I wanted to pick up something salty and crunchy for the car. Knowing that if I didn't pick something up before I actually left, I'd spend twice as much money in a gas station, I checked the grocery store circulars for a deal.

There's one on Pringles at bigg's.

Now, if you don't like Pringles, this obviously isn't a good deal. I like potato chips. A lot. Which is why they usually aren't in my house. But I'm running out of salty and crunchy things to pack for work, so I figured it would be okay this once.

Pringles are on sale, Buy 2, Get 1 Free. That's not a bad sale. Doing the math, a 10/$10 would be better, but how often do you see that on Pringles?

So, Pringles puts coupons out myabe every two-three months. Always the same three coupons. $1 on two reduced fat, $1 off four regular cans, $1 the snack size ones.

I still had the coupons that will expire April 21.

Now, if you're brain has jumped ahead, you'll note that for the sale, I have to buy a number that is divisible by 3. And you'll notice that if I use the first two coupons, that's a total of 6 cans.

So I went to the store with the intention of buying 2 reduced fat varieties and 4 regulars. It doesn't hurt at all that I think the reduced fat taste pretty darn good.

So, here's the math:

Usually, one can is $1.69. $1.69 x 6 = $10.14.

This week's sale means I only paid for four cans, and there were coupons. $1.69 x 4 = $6.76. $6.76 - $2 (in coupons) = $4.76.

That's a 53% savings on Pringles.

Reindeer Feed

My best friend was going to D.C to visit her sister who just gave birth.

I felt the need to send something sweet.

So I made reindeer feed.

I'm assuming the name is a take on "Puppy Chow". I have no idea why they call Puppy Chow, Puppy Chow, either, but this has peppermint, so I guess it needed a holiday name.

Anyway, I made it. I didn't particularly care for it. The combination of rice cereal and peppermint did not do it for me. So it was a very good thing most of the batch was going on a road trip. I think I took the rest to work, where it was eaten, probably without much comment.

Pineapple Orange Blossoms

I've started couponing. (Don't worry, that's relevant.) So when I see coupons lying around in the grocery store, I generally pick them up.

Much to the dismay of my friend who thinks it's really nice that they're left behind for someone else. I've read too many blogs in which couponers are warned to not leave coupons behind on the shelves because it creates more work for the people cleaning and stocking the grocery store. Not to mention, if you leave them in the frozen section and they fall, they can damage the drain system.

Not cool.

I generally file them with all my coupons and when I don't use them and they expire, I send them to someone who donates them to military families. Did you know the military commissary takes coupons up to six months expired? Yeah, I send all my expired coupons their way.

Anyway, so I'm at Target, checking out the price on Glade candles, when I see a coupon booklet. A whole, Target Easter coupon booklet that someone has left behind on the shelf.

Of course, I take it.

Glad I did, too, because I found a recipe I decided to make for Easter.

Mom was hosting this year, and I told her (before she started assigning things) that I was bringing something sweet.

Specifically, pineapple orange blossoms.

I had already purchased the cinnamon rolls, which were a steal at Target (on sale for $1.66 a tube, 40c off manufacturer coupon, 80c off Target coupon, so $2.12 for two tubes). The only thing I needed to buy was orange marmelade. Yes, I do keep crushed pineapple in my pantry. What?

I drained the pineapple in one of my new mesh strainers instead of on paper towels, but other than that, I believe I followed the recipe exactly. I let them bake a the whole time the recipe estimated because when I opened the over the first time, the dough just didn't look done enough.

I took them to Easter, created a label, and let the family have at them.

I thought they were all right. Not something I need to make again. They weren't necessarily bad, I'm just not the biggest fan of cream cheese in my breakfast pastires, so matter how often I try. And, the whole time I was eating one, I just kept thinking, "I wish this were just a plain cinnamon roll."

My family all liked them though. I think Mom sent some of the leftovers home with an uncle. (I doubled the batch, but there were so many coffee cakes, it looked like some people were taking just half of one to try it.)