Frugal Friday–Deals, deals and more deals

Hey everyone–happy frickin Friday! Why does it seem like when I have a short week, it goes so much slower than a normal week? Maybe I am the only one like this? Who knows, it sucks so I’m stoked Friday is here! Thanks everyone for putting in your two cents on how you keep things organized–I got alot of good tips and ideas out of it!

Some of my deals from this past week….

 *Chick Fil A yogurt parfait +Dasani water for free thanks to my snazzy Chick Fil A calendar

It was a good size but I was expecting more than just one fruit, like some blueberries as well

And I finally got a chance to check out their new ketchup packaging!

I had to snag some for the road

Also, be sure to check out Chick Fil A’s Fry Day next Friday March 4th!

*Free dog treats

Ok, so Lincoln barks his non existent balls off anytime someone is near my front door or knocks on it. And I guess this applies to when my mailman/woman visits each day. He or she puts dog treats on top of my mailbox for Lincoln since I guess they can hear him everyday. At first I had no clue what these were and naturally thought I had a stalker since I am so awesome but I finally took one, sniffed it and realized they were dog treats. How sweet is that?

*Double coupons at Harris Teeter

I found the following:

Silk Pure Almond Milk – $.50

Minute  Brown Rice-$.55

Yo Crunch Fruit Parfait-free!

These are yummy but so tiny they end up being only four spoonfuls

*Sabra Hummus-$2

Athenos Greek Yogurt-$.65 each

Two packs of chicken breasts $7.88

 

Old El Paso tortillas $1

*Free dinner from Earthfare

I signed up for Earthfare’s email club and got this free dinner coupon. You spend $10 and you get a bag of baby carrots, mashed potatoes and either whole chicken or veggie burgers for free!

I spent $12 on the following

Vegan nuggets

Carolina Slaw

Bigelow White Chocolate Kisses hot tea

Yogi Bar

then got all of this for free

The vegan nuggets were absolutely terrific–just like chicken taste and consistency wise-win!

This was a fantastic value and worked out to about four to five meals!

What deals have you found this week?

Interested in guest posting for Frugal Friday on how you save money? Let me know–simplyshaka@gmail.com

Happy Savings!

I wanna molest your face

That is what a homeless man told me when I was walking to the bus this afternoon. As if I wasn’t having a bad enough day as is.

Ummm thank you? I walk with my headphones on just so people won’t bother me but don’t have music playing alot of the time for safety reasons. This dude though stopped me to tell that he wanted to molest my face and I just looked at him, smiled and pranced away. It must be my new Benefit makeup I got this wknd!

And then I came home to a refridgerator that wasn’t working.

And then Lincoln almost got into some chocolate.

UGH! But it got better soon after!

I’ll start with my food from earlier today:

I didn’t have my normal breakfast of oats, granola or yogurt. I had leftovers of eggs, mushrooms, onions, veggie crumbles and spinach from BFD last night so nuked that and put it on a Trader Joe’s Habenero Lime tortilla with ketchup.

Holy yum! I’ve always been skeeved my reheating eggs but it didn’t taste funky at all.

The snacks

Lunch was chicken cakes and carrot and parsley salad

My afternoon snackage was a Clif Cool Mint Chocolate Bar—which really was refreshing and cool mint. Yay for no false advertising!

 

Fast forward to getting home to a dog wanting to try out chocolate and fridge not working. After that happened, I sat on my floor and wanted to cry after todays events but I just couldn’t. I don’t what was going on but I somehow knew that I would be ok. I can’t really explain it. Thanks everyone for your kind words….I need to figure out a way to go over this with my supervisor the next time I have a review. By that I mean, in a way where I don’t start dropping the F bomb or crying out of frustration!

I decided to make  the one thing that always makes me feel better —homemade pizza with Trader Joe’s Whole Wheat Pizza Dough!

The veggies cooking

I bought  Smart Deli Pepperoni Style Veggie Protein Slices awhile back and have been meaning to try

The pizza dough—which isn’t in a funky shape for once!

I used Trader Joe’s Traditional Marina Sauce

Sadly had no cheese though 😦

I snacked on these babies while the pizza was cooking

Fresh outta the oven!

I made up for my lack o’ dairy….I tried Trader Joe’s 4% Milkfat Cottage Cheese for a snack. Thumbs down.  I didn’t like the texture at  all, it was too chunky and creamy for my taste. I don’t add anything to my cottage cheese-I enjoy the flavor on its own and don’t know how people add fruit to it! I normally get the generic brand at the supermarket and will stick to that from now on.

I decided to go for a run tonight to get some frustration from the day out. I must have thought it was alot warmer than it was because it was freezing out! I don’t know if it’s because I didn’t wear my gloves (which I didn’t tonight because I get sweaty and it feels gross) but holy hell, it was bad out. I only did about 2 miles but it felt good to get out there! And I got a few car honks while doing so lol

I came home and made a green monster but with something new—Kefir!

 I’ve never had this before but have seen it on Stephanie’s site so thought I would give it a whirl!

I added a couple of oz of soy milk, ice cubes, baby spinach and chocolate whey to make this beauty

Thoughts on Kefir? Absolutely loved it! It was thick and creamy, just like using greek yogurt in a smoothie. And the strawberry flavor was really smooth and went well with the chocolate whey.

 And I’m spent. Im going to relax in the buble then lounge for the rest of the night—hope y’all had a happy hump day 🙂

The Green Meal

Literally dinner tonight was green. Not aqua but green-which I absolute love!

I was supposed to go out tonight but my stomach was hurting earlier today and therefore didn’t feel too social. But it’s all good because I got a lot accomplished later this evening!

I got a notice saying I had a package in the apartment complex office waiting for me and it was a Valentine’s Day package from my older sister in Indiana.

Mind you, I am 30 years old and she still sends me stuff. I love it though 🙂 Let’s check out the goodies….

Vanilla Creme Peeps—OMG! I so wanted to tear into these bad boys so bad but had some self-control (we will see how long that lasts)

 Heart shaped measuring spoons–how adorable!

She also sent me a necklace and pair of earrings she only wore once and she said they were more “me” than her-yes indeed. 🙂

I had to try on right away!!

I am in love ….with the necklace…..not myself (although I am pretty awesome!) 🙂

Snack was a Luna Cookie- Chocolate Mint

Grrr…..need to give myself a manicure before night end. Anywho, this was alot better than I expected. Not rubber-y at all as some bars are and the chocolate wasn’t too artificial. I got this bad boy on sale at Earthfare for $1 each.

As I love Mexican food +quick dishes, I made my take on this Chicken Tamale Casserole  dish.

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

• 1  cup  (4 ounces) preshredded 4-cheese Mexican blend cheese, divided—I used 3/4 cup total
• 1/3  cup  fat-free milk–I used 1/4 cup Soymilk
• 1/4  cup  egg substitute
• 1  teaspoon  ground cumin
• 1/8  teaspoon  ground red pepper
• 1  (14 3/4-ounce) can cream-style corn –thought cream corn in this sounded nasty so chose regular kernel corn
• 1  (8.5-ounce) box corn muffin mix (such as Martha White)—used 1/2 the box
• 1  (4-ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained— I used jalapenos, Im spicy like that
• Cooking spray
• 1  (10-ounce) can red enchilada sauce (such as Old El Paso)
• 2  cups  shredded cooked chicken breast
• 1/2  cup  fat-free sour cream

I cooked two chicken breasts on the stove top before hand then threw in the food processor on low. This made about three cups when the recipe called for two so I stashed one cup in the fridge for later this week.

This is the base before adding the sauce, chicken and majority of cheese. I could have just eaten it like this!

 And right out of the oven…..

 I am stoked to try this, I will definitely be having it for lunch or dinner a few times this wk!

And now the great green meal of the night. I had a zucchini sitting in my fridge that needed to be used so I decided to make zucchini cakes. I peeled the zucchini then cut it up and put it in the food processor. It made a HUGE bowl of zucchini to be used (I would have never guesses that much!)

I put on a paper towel and rung out all the liquid then mixed 1/2 breadcrumbs, 1/2 cup liquid eggs, pepper, garlic and bbq seasoning and formed into patties (three, not too shabby for one zucchini!)

I put on the stove top with a tbsp of veggie oil

 As a side, I had leftover mashed potatoes from my gnocchi last night and an avocado-hello new creation I have never tried! I mixed the avocado and taters with 2 tbsp of fat-free sour cream and voila-my new favorite thing!

All together now…..

 Green green green! And fabulous fabulous fabulous!!!! I liked the zucchini cakes because they were crispy on the outside but mushy on the inside. I will definitely make this again!

Now that I think about it, I really haven’t had meat in the past two days and am fine with that. Wow. Freaky. For a girl who used to down quarter pounders that just sounds weird.

I went for a run/walk afterwards (which I did really good even though it was frickin freezing out!) for about 35 minutes. I definitely need to revamp my playlist for the wk and add some more upbeat.motivational songs. Anyone have any suggestions??

I came home and refueled with a smoothie consisting of

-1.2 cup frozen strawberries

-10 baby spinach leaves

1 cup Light Solymilk

1/2 scoop chocolate whey protein

And having it in this glass just made me smile 🙂