Patriotic Strawberries

Well, this is a short post. Just wanted to share these awesome snacks!!

I took some strawberries and cleaned them and let them dry.

Then I melted some white chocolate. I dipped the end of the berries into the chocolate and then rolled them into some blue sprinkles. Be sure to not get sprinkles on all the white chocolate so you have a the red/white/blue combo! Set them on foil or wax paper and let harden!! They are pretty and delicious!!

And the coupons keep coming...

To a couponer, there is nothing better than watching your grocery bill decrease from all your hard earned work. 

The newspaper has always been the number one way to gather coupons. Now with technology, you can also print them at home. 

I am always on the lookout for new ways to get coupons. All You magazine usually has great coupons. I look around the store for special coupons they offer. I try to find people handing them out along with samples. 

Recently, I discovered another way to get some AMAZING coupons. 

I just ask for them!

I email the companies and ask them if they would send me coupons. 

Some companies responded and were not able to send any, but a lot of them said they would, and they did!! Some even stated that I could ask again in a month, three months, or six months. (figuring out how to keep track of that is for another day and another blog).

The easiest way to request the coupons is to go to the website of a product that you use or want a good deal on. Once you are on the site find the contact us/email us button. Send them an honest and nice message. I always let them know that I love their product and that given the chance I choose their brand. Then I ask if there would be any chance that they could send me some samples and/or coupons. Make sure to always include your address in the message even if you do have to enter it in the contact form. 

I copy and paste the first message that I write and then I can copy and paste it into the other emails and just change a few words or lines. 

Here is a list of companies that have sent me coupons. Please keep in mind that these are all subject to change. Companies sometimes have coupons for a limited time, until supplies run out, or just for special promotions. And just because I did not include a company does not mean that they do not send coupons. 

If you receive a coupon in the mail from a company that I don't have listed please comment with the name and what kind of coupon they sent!! I can use it to update the list!! On the same note, if someone on this list is not able to send any, let me know that too!! 

8th Continent Soymilk - (2) $1/64 oz product

Aleve and Bayer Healthcare - They sent a coupon book full of coupons from all of their items. They even called to check on me because on my email I sent them I put that I was a frequent consumer. (I forgot to change some wording when I copied it). They wanted to verify that I was not taking too many Aleve. It was slightly embarrassing. "No mam, I am not a pill popper, just a coupon junkie"

Apple and Eve - (4) $.55/any product

Aussie - Free Aussie product (from P&G, can only request 1-2 every few months)

Band-aid (2) $1/any Band-aid product

Barber Foods - (1) $1/any Barber Foods

Beech-Nut - (4) $1/2 Beech-Nut product

Benadryl - (2) $1/any Benadryl product

Bigelow Tea - (1) $1/any Bigelow product

Blue Bunny - (6) $.55/any Blue Bunny product  (can contact every 6 months for coupons)

Blue Diamond Growers - (3) $1/12 oz bag, (3) $.75/2 Artisan Nut Thins

Bolthouse Farms - (4) $1/any Bolthouse Farms product

Borden - (1) $.55/Borden Cheese

Bounce - Free Bounce item (from P&G, can only request 1-2 every few months)

Breyers Ice Cream - Unilever coupon book

Bubba Burger - (4) $1/Bubba Burger product and some awesome Bubba Burger stickers

Burt's Bees - (2) $1/Burt's Bees product

Bush's Baked Beans - (2) $.55/ off  Bush's bean product

Chobani - (3) $.30/any Chobani product (can contact them every month for coupons)

Daisy - (4) $.45/any sour cream

Earthbound Farm - (4) $1/1Earthbound Farm

Fleischmann's - (2) $.50/any yeast package

Folgers - (2) $1/ any Folgers product

Glad - (2) $1/any Glad product

Honeysuckle White - (2) $1/Honeysuckle White product

Johnsonville Sausage - (1) $1/Johnsonville product

Land O'Lakes - (4) $.55/Land O'Lakes products

Lipton Tea - Unilever coupon book

McCormick - (2) $.50/Zattarans product

Ocean Spray - Free juice up to 94 ounces

Ore-Ida - (4) $.75/Ore-Ida product

Seeds of Change - Free item up to $4.00

Smuckers - (2) $.55/any Smuckers product

So go now! Make me proud! Get your coupons and save some money!!! 

White Chocolate Candy Corn Fudge

As I sit and try to catch up on my blogs since I have not done one in over two months, I realized that I like white chocolate. So forgive me for the abundance of posts that include them, but it is just so delicious and easy!!

This one turned out much cuter than I had planned, and it is so yummy! Very rich, though, so cut it in small pieces.

Candy corns are a big hit at my house this time of the year, so it just felt right to make a dessert based around it!!

Ingredients -

12 oz of white chocolate
1 container of vanilla frosting
orange and yellow food coloring
a handful of candy corns

Line an 8x8 glass pan with foil and spray with nonstick spray

Take a microwave safe bowl and melt 1/3 of the white chocolate. Once melted add in 1/3 of the frosting container and yellow food coloring. Mix well and add yellow coloring until it is the desired shade. Pour into the pan, spread until even and place in refrigerator until that layer is hard.

Repeat steps, replacing yellow food coloring with orange. Spread on top of hardened yellow layer and put back in the fridge to let that layer harden. 

Repeat with remaining ingredients and leave this layer white. Spread evenly over top of other layers and place candy corn on top of white layer whole still soft. 

Let all three layers harden and then remove from pan, cut, and serve. 

Store in the refrigerator! 

Rock-A-Bye baby shower for the future Miss Payslee

My brother is going to have a baby. Well, not him physically, Kaila will be doing all the pushing and laboring. He IS going to be a daddy soon, though.

We all know how much I love throwing baby showers. The more I do, the more I learn about doing them.

This one was special. It was for my soon to be niece, so it meant I had to go all out. Plus, I had my mom to do this one with me, which proved to be more fun!!

Because my brother is our rock star, I could not think of a better theme than something to do with rock and roll.

We thrift store shopped and scored a milk crate full of records for $5. They even threw some old cassettes in for free.

It was not a large turnout, but we had a great time anyway.

Sorry that the pictures are subpar. I REALLY need to invest in a good camera so I don't have to just rely on my iPhone.

I cut black circles out of card stock. I wish I had a circle cutter, and that will be my next purchase after a project like this. But, I didn't have one so I just used a bowl for a pattern. Then I created a circle shaped inside with all the wording that I wanted! I just used paint to create a circle and then filled it with text and text art until I had what I liked. You could do it any way you like, this was just what fit the best on this project. (The mustache was not on the invites originally, it's to keep my phone number from circulating the web)

Punch a hole in the middle and you have a record invitation.

I made cupcakes instead of having a cake, it is just easier to serve and my cupcake decorating skills are slightly better than my cake decorating.

I used a new frosting recipe that you can find here.
The P's are just white chocolate in an alphabet mold and the other cupcakes have guitar pics with a P painted on with puff paint. I really need to invest in a few more of the alphabet molds because it was time-consuming to do one at a time.

In all my pinteresting time, I have come across these bowls and such made from old records. I have always wanted to try it but never had a good enough reason. This baby shower was that reason.

In Tonya fashion, I just did it myself without reading all the articles posted on it.

I preheated the over to 200 degrees and put the record over an upside down bowl in the oven. Apparently the bowl was too short and all I had was a weird looking melted album. Next try I hung it over a big glass jar. It worked perfectly. After 10 minutes, the record was nice and soft and pliable. I took it out with a potholder and started to mold it the way I needed it. I wasn't fast enough and ended up putting it on the inside of a bowl and putting it back in for a few minutes to get a good form to it. Then next few I didn't require the extra steps!!

Then I realized I was light headed and thought I should research a little into melting these things. Apparently, you need to do it in a well-ventilated area. The fumes can make you light headed and nauseous. Good to know...

But they turned out so cute!!!

We also needed trophies for the winners of the baby shower games. We glued baby bottles to small records and spray painted them gold!! it turned out much cooler than I had ever imagined.

We made small holders out of the cassette tapes. We just glued them together and had perfect little decorations!

We made some wall decor by just gluing a bunch of records together. You could make it as big or small as you wanted!!

The games were "Match the star to their baby picture" and guess how much money is in the piggy bank.

The guest signed in on an album. They put their gifts in and around a guitar case.

The centerpieces were mason jars with foil stuffed in them and stars and music notes stuck on dal-rods and stuffed inside. I added some curly ribbon and they were complete. Stick them on white tablecloths lined with records and you have the perfect cheap and easy table for a music themed party. The parents to be table had pink and black table cloths and the cassette tape holders with chocolate dipped pretzels.

We glued records to random vases for trays and stuck records in any blank space we could find!

Complete the decor with a Payslee banner and a "baby you rock our world" picture and I was in love with the room!

Mummy-Dogs

My kid loves hot dogs. Actually, we all do! 

I'm a mom that restricts how much food my child can have that has dye in it, doesn't allow her much sugar, and convinced her, at 2, that quinoa was the best thing since sliced bread... So, you would think I would ban things like hot dogs... But they are just too delicious!! (And cheap... And easy) 

So, here we are in Halloween season!! And there is nothing more fun than making food for holidays!! 

And that is how we wound up with these cute little creatures! 

All you do is carefully cut arms and legs into the hot dog wiener, then wrap it in slices of crescent dough. (Be careful and don't cut yourself)

I bought the crescent roll sheet and it made it so much easier!! 

Bake them at 350 degrees until the crescent rolls are nice and brown!!

 

White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

I am always on the hunt for an EASY but delicious homemade frosting recipe. I came across this and it was a big hit!

1 c. white chocolate (chips or block)
2 sticks butter (not margerine)

Melt together over low heat in small pan. Once completely melted put in bowl and place in fridge. Let harden completely (about 30 minutes) and then remove from refrigerator. Beat on low to medium speed until creamy and smooth.

That's it!! That is all it takes!!

Grilled Cheese Rolls

Autumn seems to be giving us a sneak peak of my favorite season. Today it was below 80 and all I could think of was cool weather, bonfires, Halloween, and the takeover of pumpkin flavoring. The cooler weather makes me want that great comfort food that we all love. One of the best, in my opinion, is soup and grilled cheese sandwiches! So in celebration of fall being just around the corner, I bring you.....


Grilled Cheese Rolls

These were a huge hit in my house and will be a favorite through the next two seasons of cooler temps!! And they are so easy!!

I just took pieces of bread and rolled them out flat with my trusty rolling pin!! Once they were flat, I buttered one side, then laid the cheese on the other side. (this can get messy, sorry)

Roll them up like a burrito, then toss in the skillet on medium to medium high!!

After just a few minutes they will be brown and delicious!!!