Parmesan Knots

I am a lover of bread and always have been, so when a soon to be in law posted on facebook that she had just made parmesan knots and they were delicious... I was very intrigued. I looked the recipe up and when I saw they were made with canned biscuits I was very excited. I had not-so-recently bought a TON of canned biscuits because they were on sale plus coupon. The only problem was they were in cans of 8... and there is only two of us. So I had been saving them for recipes... recipes which I had not tried looking for because I have so many other things going on.

The original recipe is on allrecipes.com and makes 60 knots. I scaled it down quite a bit, but it did say they freeze/reheat wonderfully if you want to go ahead and make 60.

Parmesan Knots
allrecipes.com - with slight changes

one 16.something oz can of Grands Buttermilk biscuits (8 biscuits)
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon evoo
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons parmesan (shaker parm)
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
pepper

preheat oven to 450*

cut each biscuit in half, roll each half out into a 6-8 inch rope, tie in a knot, set on baking sheet/stone. mix the rest of the ingredients.

here is where my recipe differs from theirs - theirs says to bake the biscuits and THEN brush on the mix. i brushed on the mix, baked and then made another batch of mix and brushed on again. do which ever you like. I can only attest to my method and I was very pleased with my results.

Either way, they bake for about 10 minutes, watch for browning around 8 minutes and take them out a little early if necessary.

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These were SO good. You could of never guessed that they were made from biscuits. This recipe is one of those that transforms something everyday into something totally different. It's also very easy and very addicting. I made 16, planned on freezing the leftovers and there were only 6 left over!


Camera phone picture - sorry!! I'm pretty certain I accidentally threw my camera battery charger away....

Spin Off

My go to beer bread recipe is wonderful. But like everything else, it gets old after a while. Its just so darn easy to whip up though, so I thought I would put a spin on it and create something new.

I was inspired by this recipe, but just did not have the time or ingredients to make biscuit dough from scratch.

Bacon Cheddar Beer Muffins
recipe by me, inspired by TPW

2 and 2/3 a cup self rising flour
one 12 oz beer (i always use michelob ultra when making bread)
half pound bacon, fried and roughly chopped
1 and 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar

preheat the oven to 375*

spray 12 muffin wells with non stick cooking spray

mix all ingredients with a rubber spatula, being sure to scrape the bottom so there isn't any dry flour. divide the mixture evenly into the 12 muffin wells. bake for 25 minutes. let them cool a little in the muffin wells, and then "flip" them onto their side in the well to cool a little longer. best eaten warm.

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These were really good! A great spin off!

Bring it on!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!! There are ref's that are yelling and kitchens are smelling and every one's telling you be a good cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer..... it's the most wonderful time OF THE YEARRRRRR!!!

Football season, baby. Bring on the yummy hand foods. This one is a sweet dish, because that is what I crave lately. Sweets. My thighs are so happy. So happy that they are beginning to share the wealth with my calves. I would be concerned if I could see either of them.

Best Ever Apple Dip
recipe courtesy of a friend

8 ounces cream cheese (whipped is easiest to work with)
1 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 bag heath bits

Cream the first 3 ingredients with a hand mixer on low speed until combined. Pour in the bag of heath brickle and mix on low speed until combined. Refrigerate.

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This dip is awesome. I'm not just saying that because I'm pregnant. I had it before I was pregnant and loved it then too. I also think adding some mini chocolate chips couldn't hurt!

Best Yet!

I'm still learning but picked up a GOOD tip today in grocery shopping. Really stock up on "money making" items. Meaning items where the coupon discount is for more than you are actually paying for that item. That will put you in the negative and you'll have to use "filler items" to bring you back to the positive, aka - FREE GROCERIES!

I literally had ten minutes and 9 dollars for today's Publix trip and I plan on going back Sunday or Monday when I will have more time and can take advantage of the penny item, which I never get to do because I am always so impatient about going to the grocery and seeing how much I can save. Since we are back on the full side in our stockpile I can focus more on buying only the deals and trying to beat my best savings. This weeks best deal for our family was the Beneful dog food. The 3.5 pound bags were bogo making them $2.74 and I had 5 coupons worth $3.50 each, meaning that each coupon would put me negative $1.50. I actually got paid to buy dog food, and when you have to feed an 80 pound rottweiler... well, you can imagine how thrilling that may be. I really could of saved even more if I had of "bought" a couple more bags of dog food, but live and learn.

Once again, I only bought what was on sale and had a coupon for everything but the bread. My bread coupon was for bunny bread and they didn't carry bunny. Is that odd to anyone else but me? Our Piggly Wiggly carries bunny bread but I hate shopping where coupons aren't doubled. It seems like a waste to me. But if Publix doesn't carry the bread, I don't want the coupon to expire so I will probably use it at the Pig sometime. Luckily Sara Lee bread was on advantage buy making it cheaper than the other brands by $0.20

5 3.5 pound bags of Beneful dog food
4 packs of Knorr pasta/rice sides
2 boxes general mills cereal
2 loaves Sara Lee white wheat bread

Can you believe that without sales or coupons that little bit of groceries would of cost me $49.08??? Instead it only cost me $8.37 which is an 87% savings! If I had of picked up 5 more bags of dog food my total would of been under $1. I'm not too bright, am I? :)

Eat Fresh

And I don't mean at subway. I love seafood, we both do. But store bought just usually isn't as good as eating it at the beach. My father in law recently went deep sea fishing and his team caught an enormous amount of fish. He gave us some fresh amberjack steaks to tide us over until the big fish fry and we could not of been more excited!!

Fresh is the way to go, it was so mild, so light, not at all fishy. Bradley blackened it with our new favorite blackened seasoning recipe and we paired it with a simple baked potato. It was a great summer dinner!

Blackened Seasoning Recipe
found here

• 2 teaspoons ground paprika
• 4 teaspoons dried leaf thyme
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper, or to your taste (we used ground red pepper)
  
• 1 teaspoon dried leaf oregano
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Combine all into a ziploc bag or jar, seal, shake to combine. This makes a good bit - but you'll be thankful! Pat seasoning onto all sides of rinsed fish and blacken!

The way we blacken fish is to heat a cast iron skillet outside on the grill burner. You want it to get it really steaming. Then drop in a tablespoon or two of butter and when it melts lay the fish down into the pan. Watch the sides, when they start getting cooked through, flip and finish the job.

It's easy to over cook fish, especially when your pan is THIS hot! So keep a watchful eye!

three's a crowd

For some strange reason I thought it would be wise to hit up three stores for their sales in one day. And actually it wasn't even a day, it was after work. I will never do that again. The main reason being that once it was all said and done, I didn't see a big enough savings in adding an additional grocery store to my trip.

First up was Walgreen's. I was actually very excited about adding the walgreen's into my trip... until I read Publix sale ad and saw that most of the things on my walgreen's list were actually cheaper at Publix. My list of about 10 items dwindled down to 3, only one of which was on sale and the other two I had coupons for. I still did good, but it was thanks to my large discount coupons and not the sales. Doubt I will be going back. I bought Cascade gel which was on sale for $3.99 (discount of $1.50) two twix bars and an old spice deodorant. I had a 3 $1 coupons making my total $5.80 with a savings of $4.50.

I think the deciding factor in my "let's go to three stores!" idea was the face that we had been living off our stockpile and pretty much depleted it. We were out of everything. Literally I do not know what we would of eaten for dinner had I not gone to the store, and we still need a few things, but they either weren't on sale or I didn't have a coupon for them so they can wait until next week.

Winn Dixie was next. This is my opinion, "their sales... are not sales". At least not compared to Publix. Everything I bought was on sale except for one thing and I had a coupon for the full price so that doesn't count. I had a coupon for 7 of the on sale items and my total still shocked me. I will list out what I bought, since it wasn't that much:
2 packs of cole's garlic toast
2 big tubs of yoplait yogurt
2 tubs of breakstone's sour cream
3 16 slice packs of kraft singles
2 packs of ball park franks
2 packs of plumrose bacon
2 hillshire farms deli meats
3 martha white muffin mixes
cascade rinse agent
2 Tennessee pride pre-cut sausage patties
1 macaroni grill box dinner
2 bags of lays potato chips

My total was $53.29 and I saved $28.57, $18.73 in store savings and $9.84 in coupons.

Publix... ahhhhh! I wish I had of taken a picture of my buggy.... geez louise. Even the under carriage thingy was full. The cashier actually asked me how many people were in my house. But I got some awesome steals. Pop tarts were pretty much free when I combined a target coupon and a manufacturer's coupon, I got a free degree deodorant with a target coupon and I had several free coupons for baby items. Sadly I do not know my exact savings amount because she tore my receipt in the middle of my coupons. But I think it was $89.something and I spent $151.16. Much better!!!

Our pantry and fridge and even toiletries are well stocked back up now and I totally learned my lesson with taking on too much.

CVSaving

I've been trying my hand at CVS sales for a little while. Nothing major. Today I actually learned alot from my CVS trip. The most important thing being to READ FINE PRINT on the ECB earning. Most earnings are one per card. Now I'm not going to cheat the system and get multiple cards, but I definitely would not of bought an additional razor if I had of realized before hand that I was only going to get 2 ecb's and not 4. Either way I only paid $5 for a $10 razor.... but still. Next time I will know!
The second thing I learned is to go to the little hub that scans your card and prints out any coupons you have waiting to be used as soon as you walk in. I was all depressed because my $5 off $25 coupon expired on 7/23 but a new one printed out when I scanned my card! Yay!! I was hoping for a neutrogena coupon I had misplaced to print out, but I guess it had already expired as well.

I purchased:

one 12 pack coca cola
one 12 pack sprite
two twelve packs 12oz dasani
one Schick quattro for men
one Schick quattro for women
one Aussie shampoo
one Aussie conditioner
two Colgate 360 toothbrushes
one Colgate total advanced toothpaste
two Irish springs 3 pack soap bars
one Palmolive dish soap
one neutrogena mascara
one neutrogena lipstick
one gallon milk
one Gillette fusion for men shave gel

total (with tax) before any sales, coupons or ecb redemption - $101.90
total (with tax) after sales, coupons and ecb redemption - $46.58

I saved 54%! I know that is a good thing, but I just feel like it could of been more. Do any of you have tips on working the CVS sales ad? What is your average savings at CVS?

My next venture is to try out the Walgreen's sales. I have NEVER sale shopped there but they had some good deals that matched up with my coupons, so I plan on trying them out Friday. Woo Hoo Friday night out on the town - saving! Ha!!