cooking

Obol – The Champion of Breakfast Bowls

Abby H.

Hubs got one of these awesome Obol bowls a few years ago for Xmas, and they are super awesome! I can’t wait to get one and let Lil’ Man try it out!

Cereal Never Gets Soggy (important if you have kids and never get to finish anything in 1 sitting)!

Obol “The Original Crispy Bowl” made in the USA is the favorite for cereal
lovers around the world. Inspired by a playground slide, its Spiral Slide Design
changed the mundane cereal bowl into an everyday kitchen sensation. The
pleasure of eating cereal at the table, while watching TV or even is bed is easy,
just Swoop n Scoop!

Crispy cereal…your way, your pace.

Save 10% at obol.co Signup for instant discount code.

 

#obolco

Cooking Tutorial: Spaghetti Squash!

Abby H.2 Comments

We eat a lot of veggies. That was one of the huge lifestyle changes we made a few years ago that has helped us maintain healthier weights.

One healthy swap we made was to spaghetti squash instead of pasta.  A lot of healthy/food swap websites like Hungry Girl tout Spaghetti Squash as a good substitute for carb-y noodles.

Here is a quick tutorial on making spaghetti squash.

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  1. Select a squash that is firm and unblemished. Not sure what they look like? Here is the wikipedia article all about the vegetable with a few pictures.
  2. Chop the end with the stem off. You’ll need a good sharp knife. I love our Henckels Meat Cleaver.
  3. Chop the squash in half. I do it length-wise, so it takes less time to cook in the oven.
  4. Take a spoon and scoop out the stringy guts and seeds.  Discard them.
  5. In a large glass baking dish, place the squash halves cut side down.  Pour a 1/2 cup of water into the bottom of the baking dish.
  6. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes or until the squash are fork tender (about the same feeling as a baked potato).
  7. Remove baking dish from oven and set the squash halves on a cutting board.  Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes, or until you can comfortable handle the vegetable.
  8. With a fork, “rake” the interior of the veggie.  The “meat” of the interior should flake off in long strings that resemble broken spaghetti.
  9. Once complete, discard the exterior of the squash.
  10. Toss the “spaghetti” with the sauce of your choice.

1 medium sized spaghetti squash serves 2-3 people, with a serving size of about 1 1/2 cups. It’s yummy with sauce (Spaghetti/red sauce, pesto, or even a cheesy sauce), or just a little butter and herbs. It’s a great way to get extra veggies into your diet, or if you’re Gluten Intolerant, it’s cheaper (and tastier) than GF pasta.

Later today, I’ll be posting a recipe that uses spaghetti squash as a main ingredient! With winter veggies starting to make an appearance in grocery stores and farmers markets, you’ll start seeing more and more squash!

Print Coupons From Your Smart Phone!

Abby H.

SMARTPHONE 4It’s finally here! Coupons.com is offering printing from your Smartphones! It’s easy!

You can print directly from your Android and iOS devices to a WiFi connected printer. Coupons.com  will automatically detect a user on their mobile device and guide you through printing. Users will be texted an authentication code before they can print and must be connected to a wireless network with an AirPrint or Wireless enabled printer. Click here to get started!

Here are just a few of my favorite new coupons!

$0.25 off ONE Pampers Wipes 56 ct or higher
$1.00 off one Jar of Pearls Specialties Olives
$0.50 off Sugar In The Raw 100 ct Box or 2lb. Box
$0.75 off ONE Herbal Essences Body Wash

Amazing New Creations at Boudin!

Abby H.

IMG_1509I love bread. And cheese.Imagine my excitement when Lil’ Man and I went up to Boudin‘s on Monday night and enjoyed their new seasonal offerings!

If you don’t know about Boudin, you are missing out. Crusty, tender, chewy sourdough bread, and so much more! For over 160 years, Boudin has been baking up crazy good bread, and they also have an amzing

There are tons of locations all over California, serving up amazing sandwiches, salads, soups, and heavenly bakery treats! Find your closest location here.

We sampled three of the new Seasonal Selections:Ham ‘N Brie on Rosemary Focaccia, Sourdough Philly, and Roasted Butternut Squash & Kale Salad

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Did you know that Boudin also has a Loyalty Club? Each time you make a purchase and for every dollar spent you will be awarded one (1) reward point. For every 50 points accumulated you will receive $3 off reward. The $3 reward will be automatically loaded to your account and you will receive an email notification to let you it’s there. Oh, yeah, but it gets better- You’ll get a free 1 lb. loaf of Sourdough bread each month upon any purchase that month!

Boudin also caters! Check out the awesome sourdough bread shapes you can order 24 hours in IMG_1514advance of your event: IMG_1513Yup it’s a Crab and a Turtle. They also make smaller turtles. One of the moms mentioned that she gets them for their kids. They hollow them out and turn them into bread bowls for soup. Such a great idea! You could hollow out the big ones and fill them with any kind of dip or soup to serve  at a party! They even make a Jack O’ Lantern shaped Sourdough loaf for Halloween! IMG_1535

They have all kinds of healthy, delicious foods- perfect for a busy family on the go. Eat in, or take it to go! If you opt to eat in, they serve a selection of Kendall-Jackson Wines, and have perfect pairings for everything on the menu!

Lil’ Man enjoyed a pizza and a ghost cookie. He told me the pizza was crispy and cheesy. This is coming for a four year old pizza fanatic, so you know it was good!

We’ll be going back to Boudin’s soon for lunch as a family! Big thanks to Boudin Bakery and Chef Alan Skversky for hosting a group of local bloggers on Monday night at their location on Balboa Drive. We had a great time! I received no monetary compensation for this post- I’m just sharing my experience!

 

 

 

Vegetarians- Rejoice!

Abby H.

I was scanning through all of the new printable coupons released over the past week or so, and I found a bunch of great new vegetarian meat alternative coupons!

$0.75 off any ONE MorningStar Farms Veggie Burgers
$0.75 off any 1 MorningStar Farms Grillers Burger
$0.75 off any ONE MorningStar Farms Veggie Patties
$0.75 off any 1 MorningStar Farms Original Patties
$0.75 off any 1 MorningStar Farms Chickpea Burger
$0.75 off any ONE MorningStar Farms Veggie Burgers

$1.50 OFF any ONE (1) Dominex brand product
Save $1.00 on any TWO (2) packages of Hilary's Veggie Burgers

I love how many different options there are for non-meat proteins!

What id your favorite non-meat protein?

Another way to receive high value coupons….

Abby H.

Everyone knows about the usual places to look for coupons, but have you heard about Brand Clubs? Some brands, like General Mills, Betty Crocker, and SC Johnson have e-clubs you can join. Each month or so, they’ll email you tips, trick, and recipes (usually), and also links to high value printable coupons you won’t find anywhere else online.

Here are a few of my favs:

SC Johnson’s Right@Home®

 Betty Crocker’sE-Club. Get exclusive coupons (up to $250 per year in savings), access to free samples (quantities limited – one per member), our hottest recipes, and more!

 

 
Tablespoon from General Mills! Subscribe and Get a daily dose of deliciousness right to your inbox!

Sign up for instant access to receive hot savings alerts for all of the latest General Mills coupons and deals as well as our BEST recipe ideas & ingredients, how to videos and new recipes right out of the oven and into your inbox!

Score some food freebies from Ralphs!

Abby H.1 Comment

I love that Ralphs has their Free Friday Download each week where you can score something free each week. This week, there are THREE freebies!

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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.

A New Month means New Coupons!

Abby H.

file000786402730Here is your monthly reminder!  A new month means new printable and electronic coupons!

Check out the following sites:

One of my favorite website is the Sunday Coupon Review.  It helps me plot out scenarios in advance and I can email friends to ask for coupons in advance. Remember if clipping coupons isn’t your thing, but saving money is, check out my list of https://hewesfamilyfun.wordpress.com/2015/03/04/saving-money-with-your-smartphone/Smartphone apps that can save you the big bucks!

Here are just a few of the new coupons that have me excited:

$0.50 off ONE (1) package of HUGGIES Wipes
$0.50 off 1 Reese's Puffs cereal It’s our favorite family snack!
$1.00 off any 1 BOCA Foods product
$1.00 off any one HORMEL ALWAYS TENDER Meats

Recipe: Corned Beef in the CrockPot

Abby H.2 Comments

file291242792789I usually save this recipe for right around St. Patrick’s Day, but there are people who enjoy Corned Beef all year, so I thought, Why not post this now?

I know a lot of people don’t like corned beef because every time they’ve had it, it was chewy or tough.  I’ll share a secret with you: bake it, don’t boil it!  When you bake the meat at a low temperature in a crock pot for hours and hours, the heat breaks up the collagen and fat, leaving you with a tender, falling apart yummy corned beef, not the rubbery mess you got at the pub last year with your annual Guinness.

If the crock pot isn’t your speed, you can bake the corned beef in the oven at a lower temperature over several hours and get the same effect.

Baked Corned Beef

Ingredients:

  • 1 Corned Beef Brisket (2-4 lbs),
  • 1 cup (not packed) brown sugar- Light or dark, use whatever you have
  • 1 jar Stone Ground Mustard (I like Ingelhoffer or Moorehouse)- DO NOT USE DIJON. USE STONE GROUND MUSTARD ONLY.

Directions:

For Crockpot: line your crockpot with a Crockpot liner and turn on to LOW.

For Oven: Preheat oven to 250 degrees

  1. Remove beef from package. Rinse meat. Discard packaging and spice envelope.
  2. In a small mixing bowl, combine sugar and mustard. Stir until combined. It’s ok if it’s lumpy.
  3. Place beef in crockpot or baking dish.
  4. Pour sugar/mustard mixture over meat.

Crockpot: Put lid on pot and cook for 6-8 hours on low.

Oven: Cover loosely with foil and bake at 250 degrees for 3-4 hours.  Remove foil for last hour of baking.

Serve with baked or boiled New Potatoes, cabbage, and carrots.  I dislike boiled cabbage, so I usually make Coleslaw with Walden Farms Coleslaw dressing.

If you have any leftovers (you probably won’t) it makes great corned beef hash too.

Oh, and Corned beef stays pink after it’s cooked because of how it is cured (or corned), so if you are squiffy about stuff like that, get a food thermometer. It should read 160 degrees or higher.

 

Learn a new Skill for Free from Craftsy!!

Abby H.1 Comment

Online Sewing ClassLooking for a good way to spend your weekend? Check out the new free mini classes from Crafsty.

Here are a few of the free mini-classes that are on my to-do list:

And here is another class I’m the MOST excited about taking…  the Perfect Pizza at Home will provide me with some tips and tricks to make our next pizza extra delish!

Want to check out the classes and see what the big deal is? Here’s the full list of Craftsy free mini classes to choose from!