Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Coupons=FUN & Savings!

Tylenol $4-$3= $1, VH Steamers (BOGO) $3, Slow Cooker Mixes (BOGO) $1.42, Oasis $1.25x2= $2.50-$1= $1.50, Stouffers $5.97-$2= $3.97, Listerine $4.77-$3= $1.77

For the past few weeks, I have been consumed by my latest hobby, couponing. I have never been serious about coupons until recently when I started to see other people's savings and there's this site among many other coupon sites that are very helpful when it comes to saving. I have spent so many hours on them lately putting Facebook the least of my priority these days. Well, I'm still as active on Facebook but only on the coupon pages to check on product match ups and freebies.

I have gone on several trips to use my coupons and have gotten some free by using them. So far, I got 5 boxes of Advil Cold and Sinus, Oasis juice and Listerine mouthwash all for free. Some items were buy one get one free and some $ off on certain products. It's not much yet but I'm learning how to best use those coupons. I have recently bought Tylenol for Lance just for a dollar instead of its full price.

Soon I'll have my own stockpile which will mostly contain of things we normally use and all these would come in handy for donations asked in school. If other people can do it, I can too :D

A Week of Yumminess


We have changed quite a bit of our grocery list for the past weeks. We are looking forward to more healthy meals and getting our grocery budget down. Those reasons and probably because we have grown tired of the usual meals. And also lately, I have been getting more and more food coupons so might as well try them.



We recently purchased a big styro pack of chicken breasts which my hubby loves. He prefers those over the other chicken parts since they're easier to fillet, delicious on stir fries and perfect for homemade chicken tenders that my son prefers over store bought frozen ones. I got to relax and let hubby cook several versions of his stir fries. So yeah, that chicken breast will definitely be on my grocery list again.



Aside from the chicken breasts, we also got some thick sliced pork chops without any fats/skin on. It was perfect for Pork Tonkatsu. The Panko bread crumbs is another must on our grocery list now. However, it's bottled Tonkatsu sauce for now, I'll do my own next time.





I also made Pancit Canton as I couldn't think of anything else to cook. We had a bag of shrimps, Mama Sita's mix and a bag of frozen veggies plus some fresh noodles so I threw them all in a pan and was done in under ten minutes. There were a lot of leftover rice the next day which I made into fried rice and partnered with fried chicken.


A new favorite of ours is the Tom Yum soup. We bought a bag of mixed seafood specifically for that. The last two batches that I have made were without noodles. The hot soup and white rice were just perfect for each other. Don't forget the fish sauce! This soup has so much flavor and easy to make. It's basically broth, tom yum paste, seafood and your choice of vegetables. Boil, season and you've got yourself the most flavorful soup ever.


Ever since I tried using ground pork for this adobo, I have never looked back. My daughter loves it and can eat three small bowls at a time. This time, I added hard boiled eggs just like you would on a normal adobo dish.


And there's this dish that my mom used to call beef stew but it's more of a version of Nilaga (Boiled Beef). The beef are sliced into small chunks, sauteed in garlic, onions and tomatoes, seasoned with fish sauce, boiled until tender before adding carrots, potatoes and cabbage. I added chinese cabbage for a change and some beef fats for more flavor (yikes!)


And before I forget, I finally used the raspberry cream cheese frosting over a tortilla. Healthy or not, new or old dish, a little tweak here and there, we had an awesome week eating all these yummy food :D

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Butter Cupcakes & Pandan Butter Cake


My daughter kept bugging me for muffins the other day. She only stopped whining when I told her I'm going to make cupcakes instead. I used this butter cake recipe, well not really I guess. More like based it on this recipe substituting all purpose flour for cake flour and regular milk for the buttermilk. I was so pleased with the result, it tasted like Mamon (Filipino sponge cake) and it was even more delicious the day after. I actually made a second batch today and decided on incorporating a few drops of pandan essence. They're so green and delicious :D

Leila's 4th Birthday

for the birthday girl

My daughter just turned 4. She didn't want a party the week before her birthday but days before, she started mentioning about having a birthday party with a few of her friends in school. That's how she drove me crazy during that time. I mean I couldn't possibly organize a birthday party given a limited time so I just brought red velvet cupcakes in school and she gave away loot bags to her classmates. She was so happy when we picked her up from school, it's as if she had a birthday party as well or maybe it was because of the birthday crown she was wearing. They make their own birthday crowns at the start of the school year making those birthday crowns more special.

Anyway, instead of eating out (that was our original plan) we opted to cook at home and invite a handful of our friends instead. It stressed me out a bit because I only had a couple of hours to prepare and we ended up inviting almost all of our friends. I just kept crossing my fingers and hoping that the food will be enough.

Never again will I throw an unplanned party! Or maybe I just need to loosen up a bit, LOL. And besides everything went well except that I couldn't sleep afterwards due to over fatigue. Remind me not to do that on my birthday. I would rather have a relaxing massage on my special day (keeping my fingers crossed again!)

Happy Birthday Leila! We love you very much ♥

Halloween 2011


I got so wrapped up with Halloween and Leila's birthday. Two fun occasions but then again, enough to stress out mommy. Thank God for the treats, mommy's smiling again :D


The kids brought home several treats from school that day and since they're both wearing their costumes (Lance dressed up as a pilot and Leila as an elephant) already, we brought them to the mall where they did a bit of trick or treating receiving mostly suckers. I have never seen our mall jam packed as it was during Halloween. Kids and adults were all wearing costumes except me :D


We then proceeded to our friends' neighborhood before trick or treating in our neighborhood. The end result? So much sweets, chips and various treats. What's funny is that the kids didn't seem excited about the chocolates afterwards. I think they were more excited on the act of trick or treating itself. A few candies after and they're like ignoring everything. I had to sort them out and place on different canisters to differentiate all the candies.


The kids had so much fun that day, me too I guess, except for the very cold weather that night. Seeing the kids so energetic and excited about Halloween, hearing them shout trick or treat and the smile on their faces every time they got treats, so priceless! I can't wait for next Halloween :D

More Wraps


Not that we've grown tired of the ham and cream cheese wraps, I just had to try something different on those tortillas. It's only now that I've started to appreciate these wraps since I am a rice/hamburger type of person so now that we have a whole bag in the refrigerator, I can freely experiment on the filling. I tried shredded roast beef, mozzarella cheese, garlic mayo and what did I achieve? Something close to Shawarma, which I miss and love by the way. Next thing I did was a soft taco with beef salsa. And for dessert? I would probably use the leftover raspberry cream cheese frosting as filling. Again, these wraps are just heavenly, they just taste so damn good with anything and everything :D