Ralphs Free Friday Download: Chobani Smooth!

Screen Shot 2018-01-17 at 8.16.21 PM.pngThis week, you can download an offer for a two pack of Chobani Smooth!I love Greek Yogurt, and I can’t wait to try this kind!

If you are new to Free Friday Downloads from Ralph’s, here is more info about how it works:

WHAT IS FREE FRIDAY DOWNLOAD? An exclusive benefit to having an account online at ralphs.com is FREE products (yes, we said FREE!). When you download the free product coupon, it will be loaded directly to your Shopper’s Card and applied at checkout in-store.

HOW DOES IT WORK? Visit this page on Fridays

DOWNLOAD the digital coupon for the free product (make sure to download between 12:01 am and 11:59pm PT). View the coupon under ‘My Coupons’ in your account online or in the mobile app.

You have two weeks to redeem this coupon in store! Pick up the product at your local Ralphs store and digital coupon will automatically apply at checkout.

Don’t forget to check out the Kroger affiliate in your area, if you don’t have a Ralphs. There are usually freebies for all of the stores!

Zuppa Tuscana Soup CopyCat Recipe

IMG_5194.JPGThis is one of my favorite recipes to make and freeze. It makes a great meal to take to someone who is sick, bereaved, or just had a baby.

I discovered the recipe while I was pregnant with Lil’ Man and craved soup. I’ve tweaked it a bit from the original that I discovered online to fit more of our families tastes and sensibilities (the original recipe called for a lot of butter, half and half, and pork Italian sausage).

It’s gluten free naturally, and can be easily made vegetarian. I’ll include substitutions under the recipe.

 

Creamy Tuscan Soup

(Zuppa Toscana Copy Cat from Olive Garden)

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb turkey Italian sausage, crumbled (not in the casing)
  • 1½ tsp crushed red peppers (that’s 1/2 packet of the pepper flakes that come with take out pizza)
  • 1 large diced white onion (about 1 cup)
  • 1/4 cup bacon crumbles (I like the ones from Costco)
  • 2 tsp chopped garlic
  • 4 large cartons of chicken broth (your favorite brand/variety)- it’s about 12-ish cups of liquid. You could also do boullion cubes and water if you prefer.
  • 1 can evaporated milk
  • 3 large potatoes sliced (skin left on)
  • 1/2 bunch Kale or spinach, roughly chopped

Directions:

  1. Cook sausage in a large stockpot, crumble it up as you cook it.
  2. Once sausage is cooked, add bacon, onions, and garlic, and cook until onions are soft and clear (about 10 minutes).
  3. Add the broth, and cook on medium until the soup boils.
  4. Lower stove to low add sliced potatoes and cook over low heat until potatoes are tender, about 30-45 minutes.
  5. Stir in the milk, red pepper, and the kale/spinach and cook on low for 10-15 minutes, until kale/spinach is tender.

Makes about 10-12 servings.

To make this dish vegetarian, use soy italian crumbles and vegetable stock.

To make this dish vegan, use the variation above, and also substitute the evaporated milk for your choice of non-dairy milk.

As you store this soup in the fridge, it will become spicier, so I recommend no more than 2 days in the fridge before freezing it.

Support your New Years Resolutions with our Uplifting Prize Pack!

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Three weeks into the new Year and there are so many of us that are settling into our routines that incorporate our New Year Resolutions (NYR). One thing that really helped me is posting our family’s weekly meal plan. I love the Weekly Meal Planner pad from Shutterfly- It’s easy to use!

I’ve partnered with my friend Brooke, over at Crying Out Loud to help one lucky winner with their NYR with an awesome Uplifting Prize Pack!

This Prize pack includes:

  • Yoga Toe Socks
  • Adult Coloring Coffee Tumbler (I go one of these for Christmas and I love it! I use it daily- it helps me stay out of the coffee shop). I’ve stuffed it with some of my favorite tea bags!
  • The Gratitude Journal for Women
  • Weekly Meal Planner pad (30 pages)- That’s enough for a whole year, plus a few extras.
  • Multi-color Unicorn Pen
  • $25 Tiny Tags Gift Certificate
  • $10 Starbucks GC (not shown)

To Enter to win, Click here or here to enter.  We’ll randomly choose a winner on 1/27/18. Giveaway is open to all US residents.

Don’t forget to leave a comment as part of the mandatory first entry! Have you turned your NYR into a habit yet? If so, how? If not, Do you need support?

Freebies & Amazing Deals at Vons!

Vons has really been stepping up their game recently. Log on to your Vons account (either on vons.com or the Vons app), click the Just4U button, and search FREE in the search bar.

What you’ll get varies, but my free offers this week are:

A free Pizza and free yogurt! In addition to these great freebies I’ve also got a $5/$25!

Screen Shot 2018-01-18 at 9.46.43 AM.pngThis week Smart Ones Frozen Entrees are .99 when you buy four or more. I have a few buy 7, get 2 free peelie coupons from the last time I bought Smart Ones- I tend to buy the ones that have coupons on them, so I can save the extra coupons for future purchases.

We’ve been eating a lot at home lately, so we’ve pretty much emptied the freezer. I re-arranged some stuff, so I’ve got tons of room for an onslaught of entrees!

Here is my plan:

Buy 27 Smart Ones Entrees @ .99/each= $26.73

Redeem $5/$25 Coupon on Vons Club

Use 3 Buy 7, get 2 free Peelie coupons

Total OOP= $15.79

And as a double dip, I’ll submit my receipt to Fetch Rewards where I’ll earn points for my purchase.

 

 

 

Why I Love…. My Smartphone

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I am not what is referred to as an early adopter of technology. I held onto my flip phone until about 2 1/2 years ago. Seriously. My Flip Phone didn’t even have a camera.

Now that I have  smartphone, I don’t know what the hell was wrong with me. My phone does everything! My purse is a lot lighter now that I no longer carry a planner, memo pad, and a few dozen pens with me. I also carry a lot fewer coupons too.

That is mostly because of all of the amazing apps out there. Check it out:

This is just the first page of the Money Saving screens. I have one other that’s mostly grocery store apps (Ralphs, Food4Less,), and also apps like Shopkick.

What I love is that a lot of these apps can be used together, and with paper coupons in some cases.

I recently posted about Dosh. I love that I was able to take advantage of a 10% cash back offer from Denny’s through Dosh, after I had used a $5 off coupon in the restaurant. Then I uploaded the receipt to Receipt Hog to earn points (that I redeem for cash sent to my paypal account), and there was a Cash Dash offer of 2% back.

My full list of Smartphone apps can be found here. 

In addition I use my talk to text multiple times a day. I also have “Hey Siri” enabled, so she can send texts, take notes (frequently ideas for posts or articles), and answer stupid questions while my hands are occupied. I do a lot of work while I’m driving. Siri is like the secretary I’ve always wanted.

I’d like to think that I am more productive with my phone- and my hands free phone holder.

 

Earn Cash back with Dosh!

Screen Shot 2018-01-17 at 1.42.28 PM.pngI love a good cash back app.  Dosh is the latest, and it’s a little different than the others out there right now. Dosh is primarily for restaurants (including Denny’s, which is the kid’s favorite), but there are retailers like Hallmark, Forever 21, Cost Plus World Market, and Sam’s Club.

Signing up is easy, and there are no receipts to scan, or photos to take.  Sign up here, then link your credit and debit cards.  Once you use one of the cards at a participating retailer, you’ll get a push notification from Dosh, and in just a few days, you’ll have cash back!  The Cash Out threshold is $15.00 which is pretty easy to get.

Right now when you sign up and link at least two cards, you’ll get a $10 bonus!  Refer friends and receive $5 per referral that signs up and receives their first cash back!

Thanks to my kids and their love of Denny’s, plus all of the other great extra ways to earn money with the app, I’ve already cashed out $20!

Here is my pro-saving tip for the day: Double or triple dip on this by using coupons (There were Denny’s coupons in the mail recently, and many of the retailers that participate also have coupons out there) to lower your Out of Pocket (OOP), and then scan your receipt into Receipt Hog, and check apps like Cash Dash to see if there are any cash back opportunities. And if you shop at Sam’s Club, check out Ibotta, Fetch Rewards, and Checkout51 for more rebate/cash back opportunities! You’ll be earning in NO TIME!!

(The Dosh Link is my personal link, if you sign up and complete an offer, I may earn $5. This money helps me run the site and offer contests and giveaways. You can see my Disclosure  info here.)

100 Business Cards from Vistaprint- Just $5!

Screen Shot 2018-01-17 at 12.34.57 PM.pngI’ve talked to quite a few people over the past week who have started a new business or endeavor this year.

Screen Shot 2018-01-17 at 12.46.10 PM.pngNew businesses mean time for new business cards! And if you aren’t in need of business cards, they have some really great mom/parent cards that list your contact info, kids names, and any allergies. Great for handing out when you meet moms and kids you “click” with at parks and playdates!

Vistaprint has a great sale right now- 100 Business Cards for $5.00 (plus shipping, which starts at $6.99). There are Pearl business cards and Square business cards available. And if you need anything else, you can click here and get 40-50% off your purchase on many other items!

I took advantage of this deal to re-order my cards. I’ve been giving a lot of them out lately!

New Freebies!


Let’s start the week with some freebies! I’m ordering freebies that we can use around the house, and also to put into blessing bags to help out some local homeless outreach groups.

Free Samples

 

Free Magazine Subscriptions

1/15/18 Meal Plan Monday

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I hope everyone enjoys their Martin Luther King Jr. Day Holiday! The kids and I are going to be spending the day getting out into nature, after we pick up some school supplies for his teacher (I like to buy new supplies mid-year). Rehearsals for the play Husband is directing starts tonight, so a lot of our meals will be stuff that tastes good reheated, or makes good leftovers. He will be home later than usual for the next few weeks.

I’m just posting dinners for our meal plan. The kiddos lately have been having protein pancakes (I like Kodiak Cakes mix- it’s yummy and very versatile) with butter and Peanut butter. Hubs likes Oatmeal (my recipe for an easy almost instant oatmeal mix can be found here) if he’s got time, otherwise he and I have protein shakes. We mix it up, and have different flavors and mix in all kinds of stuff into our shakes, so as not to get bored. Here area few of our favorite recipes.

Lunches for Lil’ Man are usually Peanut butter and crackers, fruit, milk, a protein muffin (aka a kid cupcake), and applesauce cup. He takes his lunch every day! Hubs usually has a protein shake or I pack him leftovers or a frozen entree.

Bitty Bird and I usually have leftovers from the night before, or soup, sandwiches, quesadillas. She eats almost anything!

Monday:

  • D: Cheese and veggie enchiladas

Tuesday:

  • D: Roast Pork & Roasted veggies

Weds:

  • D: Chef Salad

Thursday:

  • D: Soup and Salad (Probably a fruit salad)

Friday:

  • D:  Date Night (dinner out)

Saturday:

  • D:   Stir Fry with cauliflower rice

Sunday:

  • D:  Home Made Pizza

The menu may change, as  I pull stuff out of the pantry to rotate what we’ve got (I am trying to cut down on waste, and put the older stuff up front to get eaten first).  It’s cold and rainy here in San Diego right now, so we may end up having more soup and salads if I don’t feel like cooking or get busy doing other stuff.

New Birthday Freebies!

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Ya’ll know I love a good birthday freebie (you can see my previous posts on the subject here and here).  I discovered a new site with tons of great offers:I Birthday Club. They have offers in San Diego, Orange, LA, San Bernadino, Riverside, and Santa Clara Counties.

There are so many great restaurants and other businesses (free car wash, heck yes) offering birthday freebies.

Just a few that sparked my interest:

If you know of other cool Birthday Freebies, please share in the comments!