Albertsons Ad is Here!!

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving break.  We did.

Now back to the grind stone!!

Albertsons Ad Sneak Peak

Super Sample Sunday

A smaller collection this week. But, some very practical freebies. Stayfree and Always are good to keep for back-up (I do prefer the comfort of cloth...) and, the Mori-Nu coupons I got will be used up very soon by me!

What kind of freebies did you get this week??

Soap Bits are here!

My life is now just a little bit easier.

With a tip from Laura, I have now made some really great soap solution bits. Normally, when I would prepare my cloth baby wipes, It would consist of pulling out various bottles to create my concoction. I would use water, an oil, some type of cleanser and a fragrance. I would mix these together then pour them over a pile of clean cloth baby wipes in my Wipes Warmer.

Now, I just pour a cup of hot water over one of these little guys, and, voila! wipes are done.

Interested? Take a Peek!

just my vegetarian rant...

I have such a problem with the popular 'Turkey Pardon' done each year. President Bush Senior did not start a heartwarming tradition in my mind.

How can one feel so high and mighty making such a big deal pardoning ONE turkey its life? Later the next day supporting the killing of another. How about all the other 45 million turkeys killed each Thanksgiving?

Do something good Mr. President, pardon the rest of them as well.

thrift store buys

My favorite thrift store had a 50% off sale today.  I am on their email list and get notified a few days before big sales, so had been planning to go today.  This sale included probably 80% of their total items for sale.  

I was able to get some things we really needed for our little one for super cheap prices.  Many items were just $1.  The most expensive things were the shoes; 2 were $3.75 a piece and, ironically, the best quality, the Buster Browns, were only $2.  Oh, how I love a good bargain!!

11 board books

3 bath toys

2 bath mitts

1 cow stackable toy

11 pairs of quality socks (many Baby Gap)

4 pairs of jammies (one Hannah Anderson!!)

3 pairs shoes

1 pair short overalls (for next summer, I can't resist the dollar rack!)

All in all I spent $42.  You could say our Christmas shopping is done now!!

Menu Plan Monday

Menu Plan Monday

Monday

Boca burgers

Oven fries (usually I make w/out a recipe, but just like this!)

Tuesday

Spaghetti

Green salad

Wednesday

Something from the freezer.... we will be cleaning house for Thanksgiving here!!!

Thanksgiving;  (mom and I are splitting the work, shes doing the Tofurkey!)

Cranberries- regular with sugar

Cranberries, sugar free style w/ Stevia (recipe on right column)

Stuffing

Mashed Potatoes

Peas or green beans

cookies or brownies or other...

Friday

Pizza night

veg tray

Saturday

leftover thanksgiving

Sunday.....

Super Sample Sunday

I got a really unusual array this week! First came this shirt with the Swedish Fish sample, I barely even remember signing up for this forever ago! The Clif bar sample came with a pair of pants I exchanged for a different size via mail (thanks, REI). The Glad sample came in our Saturday newspaper this morning (one sample plus coupon, ONE baggie? I thought, how comical!) and the magazines, of course, I signed up for!!

What did you get this week??

Really healthy Friday night dinner.

Day 7 of our Healthy, Healthy Vegan Month;



What a great dinner we had last night. The vegan pizza turned out really well, and I am a little surprised after the bread dough incident.

I made this great whole wheat pizza dough recipe for the first time in my bread machine. When the dough was done it looked bad. Very runny and had sunk a ton after rising. I took it out, and after some advice from my mother, kneaded some white flour back into it. Well, it was a little hard to work with, kept falling apart, but I'd say it was still a success as we loved it. I am not sure if I made a mistake or the recipe was not designed for a bread machine and thats what caused it. If I try it again I will let you all know!!

What did turn out wonderful was the pizza sauce I made. I figured since we were going to be cheese-less, then the sauce better be darn good. Hunts Pasta Sauce in a can just wasn't going to cut it. I did double the oregano and the garlic in the recipe and we felt that was a very wise choice, it was to die for. I am planning to make this again and freeze a bunch.

We snacked on a fresh veggie tray and water while we cooked. My husband even put some peanut butter down some of the celery for a special treat. Mmmmmmm...

Next were the cookies. I have been searching for a good vegan, sugar free, fat free, whole wheat cookie. Oh, and I wont use artificial sugar 'substitutes' either, not even Splenda (NOT natural, by the way). Of course I could not find what I wanted on the web, so I adapted a recipe and came up with some pretty wonderful Oatmeal Cookies. Half the batch had raisins, half did not. We preferred the raisin batch. My daughter loved them both the same (she is one). I did put a little sugar in them, 1/4 cup, but that is not terrible dispersed out between a couple dozen big cookies.

Here is my recipe. (or scroll down to previous post) Try them, they are so very quick and easy to make. I was done with the dough before the oven was even warmed up!!

Oatmeal Cookies

Healthy Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup white flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 cups old fashioned oats

1 tsp baking soda

2 Tbs pumpkin pie spice

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup applesauce

1 tsp vanilla

1 Tbs liquid stevia
lots and lots of raisins

Preheat oven to 275 F degrees. Mix dry ingredients together. Add wet ingredients. Mix well. Stir in raisins. Drop onto greased cookie sheet by large spoonfuls. Be sure to flatten each (with the back of a greased spoon) a little bit as dough will not spread at all. Bake 23 minutes. Try to let them cool on rack before eating to avoid burnt fingers!