Campbell’s Classic Green Bean Casserole

Ever tried Campbell’s Classic Green Bean Casserole?! YUM! It’s super delish and a great way to use that Campbell’s soup in your pantry!

Prep: 10 Minutes

Cook Time: 30 Minutes

Makes: approx (6) 3/4 cup servings

Ingredients:

• 1  can (10 3/4 oz.) Campbell’s Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
• 1/2 cup  milk
• 1  teaspoon  soy sauce
• Dash ground black pepper
• 4  cups cooked cut green beans
• 1 1/3 cups  French’s® French Fried Onions

Directions:

• Stir the soup, milk, soy sauce, black pepper, beans and 2/3 cup onions in a 1 1/2-quart casserole dish.
• Bake at 350°F. for 25 minutes or until the bean mixture is hot and bubbling.  Stir the bean mixture.  Sprinkle with the remaining onions.
• Bake for 5 minutes or until the onions are golden brown. Easy peasy!!

Recipe Tips:

• Easy Substitution: Use 1 bag (16 to 20 ounces) frozen green beans, thawed, 2 packages (9 ounces each) frozen green beans, thawed, 2 cans (about 16 ounces each) green beans, drained or about 1 1/2 pounds fresh green beans for this recipe.  (I am going to use Libby’s canned green beans from my stockpile)
• Easy Substitution: For Broccoli Casserole, substitute 4 cups cooked broccoli florets for the green beans.
• Flavor Variation: For cheese lovers, stir in 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese with the soup. Omit the soy sauce. Sprinkle with an additional 1/4 cup Cheddar cheese when adding the remaining onions.
• Flavor Variation: To add a festive touch, stir in 1/4 cup chopped red pepper with the soup.
• Flavor Variation: To add crunch, add 1/4 cup toasted sliced almonds to the onion topping.
• Flavor Variation: For bacon lovers, add 2 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled, to the bean mixture.
• Flavor Variation: For Golden Green Bean Casserole, substitute Campbell’s Condensed Golden Mushroom Soup for the Cream of Mushroom Soup. Omit the soy sauce. Stir in 1/4 cup chopped red pepper with the green beans.

Print this recipe!

Recipe and Photo Credit: Campbell’s Kitchen

Chicken & Black Bean Chili

Chicken and Black Bean Chili

(recipe from my family cookbook)

Ingredients:

1 Tbs. Vegetable Oil
1 Medium Onion, chopped (I used a red onion)
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cooked and shredded (I used my Zaycon chicken!)
(2) 14 1/2 oz. cans diced tomatoes (undrained)
(1) 15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 Tbs. chopped fresh Cilantro
Hot Sauce or Chili powder to taste (or whatever seasonings you like)

Directions:

In deep pot/skillet, heat oil. Add onion and saute until tender and translucent. Add all remaining ingredients except cilantro. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in cilantro. Makes aprox 5 1/2 cups.

(To make a bigger batch, sometimes I’ll add in a second can of black beans or canned corn.)

Top with grated cheese and/or sour cream and serve hot with warm rolls, corn bread or tortilla chips!

Banana Banana Bread Recipe

The very best thing about this recipe?
I had every single ingredient in my stockpile!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter (last week at Fred Meyers)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten (Target)
• 2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas (about 5 bananas)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan (I like the “Baking” Pam, coupon here)
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt.
3. In a separate mixing bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar.
4. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended.
5. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten (about 10-20 seconds on medium in a KitchenAid Mixer).
6. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean.
8. Let bread cool in Loaf Pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

I originally found this here, before adding it to my “favorites” collection!
Check out Amber’s favorite banana bread recipe here

Servings: 12
Calories: 229
Total Fat: 8.8g
Cholesterol: 56mg

Zevia All Natural Soda is only $0.50 at Whole Foods

* Sweetened with Stevia
* Stevia Soda
* Zero Sugar
* Zero Calories
* 100% Natural

Whole Food Deal

★Zevia Soda 6pk $3.50
$3.00 Printable Coupon
Final Price: $0.50

Click here to find a Whole Food Store near you!

Don’t have a Whole Food?  Click here to find a store that carries Zevia!

Thanks Jennifer, with Healthy Life Deals!

Stocking Up: How Much is TOO Much?

Did you notice the $1.00/1 Ken’s Salad Dressing Coupon in the 8/14 Smart Source last week?

Did you know that, with that coupon, the chances of you getting FREE Salad Dressing are pretty good?  If you missed that coupon, or need a few more, may I suggest turning to eBay or Coupon Clipper services for some of these great coupons…. sooner than later (it expires next month!).

Now, with that said…

You don’t need 30, 40, or even 50 bottles of Salad Dressing!

I have a family of 9.  When I can get it for free, I will only buy about 8 bottles of salad dressing. 

WHY!?

• We aren’t huge salad people in my house.
• We like ranch for dipping veggies
• We like Italian dressing for marinade
• We like Ranch dressing for baking (see one of my favorites here - sorry to distract you)
• We occasionally eat salad
• We take salad to family dinners sometimes
• I’ll double check the “best if used by” date… keep in mind that if the bottle was never opened, the life of your salad dressing will extend for months after this date.

Things to Keep in Mind When Building Your Stockpile

• EXPIRATION DATES.  In our coupon class, Monica brings her expired bottle of salad dressing to show her mistake…  she thought it would be fun to try several different varieties.  What she learned though was that her little family of 4 didn’t use salad dressing as much as she thought they did.  Some of it went bad.  :(
• HOW OFTEN DOES THIS ITEM GO ON SALE?  You’ll find the best deals on salad dressing (for example) during the summer.  So you may want to get a 9 months supply.  Although, keep in mind, January tends to have “health food” items on sale, and you’ll see a coupon and some decent sales then.  If I was stocking up on cereal, I know I could get by with just a 1 month supply… because there is ALWAYS a cereal sale!
• FAMILY SIZE:  Think about portion size and family size when you plan your shopping list.
• HOW OFTEN  will we consume this?  In the case of salad dressing, I’d guess people don’t use it quite as much in the fall/winter as they do in the summer.  When fresh veggies abound in our gardens, we’re using the salad dressing more.  When it’s freezing cold outside, usually a salad isn’t calling my name.
• SUPPLY vs DEMAND:  If the store is running low on stock, then don’t be “THAT PERSON” that gives couponers a bad reputation.  Pace yourself.  Maybe just buy two and hit another store and just buy 2.
• SHARE the COUPONS:  If you are getting coupons on eBay or a Coupon Clipper, consider splitting a lot of 20 with a friend.
• SPACE:  Do you really have room for 60 bottles of salad dressing you probably won’t use?

What am I missing?  What other things do you factor in when deciding how much to buy?

Mondays With Mavis… {Updated with Scenarios!}

How was your weekend?  Did you do go anywhere/do anything exciting?  I went to a Renaissance Fair.  It was weird… Or maybe I’m the one that’s weird.  I just don’t understand why someone would want to buy an animal tail. Do you?

Aside from the fact I don’t think I’d fare well in Medieval Times (no coupons, baby wipes or shampoo for that matter) I did pick up milk and OJ @ Fred Meyer for $3.75 last Wednesday.

I’m not normally a Safeway shopper but I couldn’t resist the “perfect storm” of coupons for this deal. Early last week there was a $3 Breyers Blast Ice cream ecoupon available to load to my Safeway shopper card.  Also available, $2 off 1 pint of Starbucks ice cream and $2 off Reese’s ice cream cups {NLA}.I also used 2 $1 New York coupons and the $5 off $15 frozen foods coupon and paid $1.47 for everything above.  Let’s just say… my kids were VERY happy to accompany me to the store for this deal. 

Garden fresh green and purple beans from the garden.

15 zucchini and our first small basket of tomatoes.  We also harvested another basket of beans and a few raspberries but I forgot to take a picture.

Read more

93% Savings At Albertson’s-Step by Step Instructions!

So, I know we all look forward to Mavis’ Double coupon post, but it’s been a while since we’ve had step by step instructions on how to shop at Albies. (EDIT: this is a how to post to show people new to couponing how to roll transactions/catalina’s for the most profit.) A quick note: I get 9 papers, so I had 27 doubles to play with. If you get 5, I suggest leaving off 1 of the Totino’s Pizzas transactions and 3 of the Soup/Pizza Rolls Transactions.

Also, I FORGOT all my printed coupons at home, and was SHOCKED to find 3 doubles instead of 2, so I had to re-do my list on the fly.  This is what I came up with:

What I bought, and the Original Prices:

20 Boxes Totino’s Party Pizzas 2/$3
12 Totino’s Pizza Rolls $2.39 each
3 Hot Pocket Snacker, $2.79 each
20 Boxes Hamburger Helper, $2.39 each
38 Progresso Vegetable Classics Soup $2.79 each
4 Dreyers 1/2 Gallons of Ice Cream $6.99 each
3 Snickers Bars, $.89
Total: $251.50

How I did it:

Transaction #1:
10 Boxes Hamburger Helper
$23.90
Preferred Savings: $13.90
Used 3 $.75 off 3 HH Coupons 7/16 SS ($2.25)
Doubled all three ($2.25)
Total: $5.50
Received $2 Cat and $5 Cat, and 35 box tops

Transaction #2
10 Boxes Hamburger Helper
1 Snickers
$24.79
Preferred Savings: $12.61
Used 3 $.75 off 3 HH Coupons 7/16 SS ($2.25)
Doubled all three ($2.25)
Used $7 in Cats from T1
Total: $.08
Received $2 Cat and $5 Cat and 35 box tops

Transaction #3
10 Totino’s Party Pizzas
Total: $15
Preferred Savings: $2.50
Used: 2 $1/5 Totino’s Coupons from 8/7 GM ($2)
Doubled 2 ($2)
Used $7 cat from T2
Total: $1.50
Received $5 cat and 35 box tops

Transaction #4
10 Totino’s Party Pizzas
Total: $15
Preferred Savings: $2.50
Used: 2 $1/5 Totino’s Coupons from 8/7 GM ($2)
Doubled 2 ($2)
Used $5 cat from T3
Total: $3.50
Received $5 cat and 35 box tops

Transaction #5
I was in a hurry for this one, threw it up last minute, and messed it up!!  GRR, so frustrating, but, it does happen to everyone!!   So after checking out, this I went away (to my favorite pet food isle), and re-organized everything.
6 Progresso Soups
4 Totino’s Pizza Rolls
$26.30
Preferred Savings: $16.30
Used: $1/4 Progresso Soup coupon from 8/7 GM and 2 $.40/2 Totino’s Pizza Rolls 8/7 GM ($1.80)
Doubled: 3 ($1.80)
Used $5 cat from T4
Total: $1.40
Received $5 cat and 35 box tops

Transaction #6, 7, 8, 9 (This is what I wanted to do with T5… it took me 20 minutes to figure out why I had 2 extra cans of soup, and was missing 2 Totino’s Rolls!)
8 Progresso Soups
2 Totino’s Pizza Rolls
$27.10
Preferred Savings: $17.10
Used 2 $1/4 and 1 $.40/1 (8/7 GM) ($2.40)
Doubled 2 $1/4 coupons ($2)
Used: $5 Cat from previous transaction
Total: $.60
Received $5 cat and 35 box tops

Transaction #10:
4 Dreyers Ice Cream
$27.96
Preferred Savings: $15.96
Used 2 $1/2 Dreyers from 6/12 SS ($2)
Doubled 2 ($2)
Used: $5 Cat from T9
Total: $3
Received: $4 cat

Transaction #11:
2 Snickers Bars
3 Hot Pocket Snackers
$10.15
Preferred Savings: $.20
Used $1/1 Snackers coupon from 6/26 SS ($3)
Doubled 3 ($3)
$4 cat from T10
Total $.05 MM!!! (I love my Albies Cashier!!!)

Final Breakdown:

Total Pre-Savings/Coupons: $251.50
Total Amount Paid: $17.43 or 6.9%
Saving: 93.1% or $234.07

I LOVE rolling Catalina’s!

Mock Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Confession time: I don’t like most vegetables.  In fact I’m one of the pickiest eaters I know.  Partly because I’m allergic to a bunch of them, and partly because I just don’t like them . And it’s LAME!!  I hate going to a BBQ or potluck and not knowing if there will be anything there I like to eat.  So, my Honey and I are on a mission to ensure that our daughter is not.  We want her to eat everything!!  One way we do that is show her that we eat everything.  Which means we have to disguise it so I’ll actually eat it.  This is my FAVORITE way to eat cauliflower.  I can seriously sit down and eat the whole thing it’s so yummy!!  And this is my least favorite veggie!!  I originally got the recipe HERE, but have switched it up a bit .  Plus, it requires only about 5 minutes of actual work, which fits in well with my schedule!  And, except the cauliflower (because it’s fresh), I keep everything else in stock.

Ingredients

• 1 medium head cauliflower
• 1/4 cup cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup grated Parmesan
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1/8 teaspoon straight chicken base or bullion
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh or dry chives, for garnish (I never do this)
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter (I never do this either)

Directions

Cut cauliflower into small pieces.  Steam cauliflower until very tender.  Pat cauliflower dry, and place in food processor with the cream cheese, Parmesan, garlic, bullion, and pepper.  Blend until almost smooth.  Serve.

Makes 4 servings.

 

Mondays With Mavis

My husband was out of town last week so I decided to take advantage and sleep late, play in the garden, and organize a few things around the house.  As you can guess I didn’t do a whole lot of couponing.   It appears I’ve pretty much taken a break from extreme couponing as of late… But don’t worry, it won’t last.   I’m down to 5 bottles of shampoo, a few tubes of toothpaste and  I think it’s been about 3 months since I’ve walked into a Rite Aid store.  So on Saturday night I logged into my Rite Aid account and watched all the July Video Values to get caught up. I just finished watching the August ones this morning and so I should be ready to go the next time a great deal comes along.

Taking a month or two off from couponing (especially in the summer) is easy to do when you have a stockpile to fall back on.  It’s nice to have a little cushion  for those time when you’d rather stay home and make do with what you have in the cupboard rather than hop in the car to pick up dinner.

There were a few deals however that I did manage to pick up.  Like 2 containers of Real Fruit Pectin for $2.33. I paid $1.19 each after the $1/1  6/12 SS coupon and less a .05 bag credit at Fred Meyer).

On the last day of double coupons at Albertsons last week I picked up 2 Kettle chips & 1 Mac and Cheese and paid $1.00 oop after coupons. (I used double coupons plus a $1 catalina coupon PLUS I got back a $1 catalina).

I also Paid $ .98 (I used double coupons and a $1.00 catalina PLUS I got back a $1.00 catalina).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also snagged the Emerald Harmony Banana Chips and Trail Mix from Amazon.com. My order was FREE thanks to a Amazon card I earned from my SWAGBUCKS.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also spent a lot of time baking last week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Staying in has it’s advantages.

I also picked/collected FREE produce and eggs from the backyard.

And redeemed a few free doughnuts thanks to the Albertsons Sizzlin’ summer sweepstakes.  I paid .62 cents for the fruit (I used a $1.00 catalina).

Free doughnuts and paper towels (Albertsons Summer Sizzlin’ Sweepstakes)

More free produce from the backyard.

I don’t know about you… But I always glance over at the shopping carts before I head into the grocery store… Especially at Albertsons. You never know what you’re going to find.

Yesterday when I went in I found a $2 catalina and a coupon for a FREE bag of carrots in one cart!  Hot Diggity!  In another I found a coupon for 1 dozen FREE eggs and a FREE pizza with any $10 purchase.  It kinda felt like Christmas.  I was only planning on buying a few things… but once I got a hold of the FREE coupons I quickly decided I’d go ahead and spend $10 (after coupons) so I could pick up the free pizza,carrots and eggs.

But before I started shopping, I headed over to the customer service desk and redeemed my latest Albertsons Summer Sizzlin’ prize. A $2 CASH PRIZE.  (If you’re trying to win the $2 prize… the hardest ticket to find is C184 (the left side of the ice cream container).

Anyway… after my $2 cat, $2 prize money and free coupons… I paid $10.37 for everything above.  I really wanted to buy more peaches (to freeze) and I still might go back and buy more… But I’m kinda hoping I get a call from Zaycon.  When I went to sign up for a 36lb box of peaches, they were already sold out in my area… so I’m on the waiting list.  They’re offering peaches for $ .79 cents a pound… which is a bargain in my opinion.  But we LOVE peaches… we NEED peaches… especially to freeze for winter smoothies… So I might just cave in and go back and buy more for $ .99 a lb at Albertsons tomorrow.  We’ll see.

All in all… not bad for a pretty lazy week of couponing.

How about YOU?  Did you buy anything exciting last week?

Total Spent This Week $ 15.30

Total Spent Year To Date $731.76

Couponing in a Small Space, Part 3

To be honest, I sort of forgot about this series… then lovely Kristina sent in this photo:

Okay, she might have sent this to me in JUNE, but it’s been sitting there in the back of my mind, and as I sit in my hotel room, unable to watch TV for fear of waking my sleeping daughter up, it popped into my head.  How brilliant is this idea?!?  Put a tension rod under your sink, and hang all your spray bottles!!  Then you don’t have to search for the ones you want, buried in a million other cleaning supplies!

Another reader sent in this picture, sharing the way she organizes her linen closet! This is simply a 24 pocket shoe rack, filled with various toiletries! It totally makes room in the linen closet for the actual linens!

We’ve got one of these at home, we use it to hold movies, but we’ve also used it for scrapbooking supplies, and to hold food!  Target has them on sale this week for $39.99, which is about 1/3 less than what we paid for ours! Plus, if you get the little fabric drawers, no one is the wiser as to what’s in it!

What do you do with your stockpile?

How do you make it work in your space?

Email pictures (or even just ideas) to becky at fabulesslyfrugal dot com!  I’d love to share them with everyone else!

Check out Part 1 HERE

Check out Part 2 HERE

Next Page »