food

Free Sample Offer from Kabrita!

Abby H.

** This post also contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

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When my littles were wee, they both had delicate tummies. It’s hard to know what kinds of formula to trust, so after lots of research, trying samples, and talking to other moms (really our pediatrician was ZERO help- she’s a nice lady, but formula wasn’t her wheelhouse), I stumbled upon Kabrita.

Our pediatrician is really big on making sure babies get prebiotics and probiotics, especially if they are formula fed. Kabrita has prebiotics, which are a natural digestive aid.

I like Kabrita because it doesn’t have any added white or processed sugar- just lactose, the sweetener from milk! Also, Kabrita formula smells like goats milk and tastes like goats milk. I will confess: after smelling some formulas I wouldn’t want to taste them, but I tried an ounce of Kabrita once just to see. It tastes like goats milk.

I’ve been telling moms about it for a few years now, and one thing I love is that they have a really great sample program.

Sign up here, and you’ll receive:

  • 5.3 oz carton of Goat Milk Toddler Formula
  • 7 oz bag of Organic Goat Milk Porridge
  • 0.53 oz bag of Snack Puffs with Goat Cheese

*$4.99 Shipping & Handling applies at check-out, limited to one offer per household. This is not a subscription. Please note, our Trial Offer may include either the Apple Cinnamon or Multigrain Porridge.

All thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own. I’ve used Kabrita for both of my kids. This post contains affiliate links and I may be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

Free Food Resources for May 2021 (San Diego County)

Abby H.

A new month means that it’s time for the monthly update of free food resources in San Diego.

You can still find resources here for Central and East County, and Here for North County.

If you are located outside San Diego County, call 211. If you are not familiar with 211, here is their website and it can point you in the right direction.

Neighborhood Distributions for May 2021:

 

These Distributions are primarily fruits & veg, however, some locations may also distribute canned goods, dairy, and bread.

Super Pantry Locations can be found here (this listing is countywide). The San Diego Foodbank website also has resources for Diaper banks, free food resources for seniors, and more.

If you know of other resources, please leave a comment! And feel free to share this post with anyone you may know in need.

May 2021-New Month, 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 websites 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 Smartphone apps that can save you the big bucks! New offers are added on the Smartphone Savings Apps all the time!

May is here! It’s National bike month, so there will be deals on bikes, scooters, helmets, and other safety gear. It’s also the beginning of BBQ season, so no doubt there will be deals on BBQ’s and other outdoor furniture and pool toys. For a complete list of types of foods and items that will be on sale, check out this post on the cycle of sales.

Here are a few of my favorite new coupons:

Save $1.25 on any ONE (1) NEW Talenti® Gelato & Sorbetto jar
Save $3.00 ONE Venus® Razor (excludes Venus® Disposable Razors and trial/travel size)
Save $0.75 on ONE (1) 3.15 lb or larger bag of Cat Chow® Dry Cat Food
Save $1.00 on any ONE (1) package of Green Giant® New Frozen Product, Any Variety
Save $1.00 on any ONE (1) package of Green Giant Veggie Spirals™

New PinchMe Samples Drop 5/4/2021

Abby H.

Sample Tuesday is Coming 5/4/2021- Mark your calendars, set an alarm on your phone!

Don’t have any idea what I am talking about? PinchMe! Join PINCHme and receive free samples that you can provide feedback on.

PinchMe is awesome! Once you are signed up, they will email you reminders when new samples are about to drop, and remind you when it’s time to leave feedback.

May’s Samples include:

Moroccanoil, ONE MINIS™ Bars, Nature Nate’s, Eva NYC, Organic Valley, Hartz, John Frieda, Bella, Compeed®, Lumify, Sebastian, Bahlsen, Biotrue®, Living Proof, SSkeeter Hawk, and MORE!

Answer a series of questions about your household and shopping habits in the Member Profile. PinchMe learns what you like and offer samples just for you.

Once you’ve had a chance to try the samples, complete a short feedback survey to tell PinchMe what you think of the samples.

What are you waiting for? Sign up here and get on the free sample bandwagon! I’ve gotten all kinds of awesome sample/trial size items, as well as full-sized items to try out from PinchMe!

Pizza Hut Book It Enrollment (2021-2022) is Open!

Abby H.

BOOK-IT.pngWoo Hoo! My Kids are stoked.

Enrollment is now open for the 2021-22 BOOK IT! Program year. Homeschool parents can now enroll their children!

Enrollment is also open to all parents for Camp BOOK IT!, which will run June-August, 2021.

PreK students (age 4 by Sept. 1st, 2021) are now eligible for all BOOK IT! programs. Be sure to include those students in your enrollment!

The nice part about BOOK IT is that each teacher can choose to participate, it’s no longer a school wide program. Everything is done online, and certificates are emailed when they are earned.  With the digital program, parents can use digital certificates in person, over the phone, or online, for carryout, delivery or dine in providing even more ways for them to celebrate their child’s reading accomplishments.

Get Started here!  And remember to share this post with your teacher friends!

Everyone loves pizza- and nothing is better than FREE PIZZA!

Recipe: Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Abby H.

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The kids have been begging for homemade cookies lately, and I’ve been busy with other stuff, so I haven’t had tons of time to make cookies.

I dug through the cupboard last week and realized that I had all of the ingredients except baking soda. I used the last half box I had to deodorize the kids bathroom.

So I turned to an old favorite, Kodiak Cakes Power Cakes Flapjack & Waffle Mix. and because of the other ingredients, I used a smidge of baking powder (please remember that soda and powder are not interchangeable in recipes- it has a lot to do with the other ingredients and their pH/chemical makeup) and the cookies turned out perfect!

Kodiak Cakes Power Cakes Flapjack & Waffle Mix contains leavening, so the added baking powder was just a little *bump* to make sure the cookies didn’t come out flat.

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

  • One stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter, smooth preferred
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • 1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup white/granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups Kodiak Cakes Power Cakes Flapjack & Waffle Mix
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 cups quick oats, uncooked
  • 2 cups of chocolate chips

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and peanut butter.
  3. Add sugars one at a time and mix until fluffy.
  4. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until incorporated fully.
  5. Mix in baking powder, salt, flour, and oats. Once all are blended into the dough, add chocolate chips.
  6. Drop tablespoon-sized dough balls on cookie sheets that have been greased or are lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking pad.  I prefer silicone baking pads.
  7. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.  Let cookies rest 1-2 minutes before transferring to the cooling rack.

This recipe makes approx. 3 dozen cookies. If you are allergic to peanuts, you can substitute sunbutter or your favorite nut butter. Do Not use Nutella- It contains a lot of sugar and other ingredients that will throw off the chemistry of the recipe and you won’t get yummy cookies.

4/26/2021 Weekly Meal Plan

Abby H.

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The CSA emails us in advance to give us a heads up as to what may be in our boxes each week, and that really gives me an upper hand when it comes to meal planning for the week.

Veggies and fruit are delivered each Monday by Yasukochi Family Farms CSA. For $25, it’s a great deal. I don’t have to pick anything, go to the store, or carry it upstairs. I can’t go to the store and get the same amount we get weekly for $25. Seriously. It’s a deal. I spend about an hour on Monday afternoon cleaning and prepping veggies for the rest of the week.

Over the weekend, I did some meal prep: I made a batch of potato cheese soup on Saturday evening, and yesterday I cooked rice, made a big salad, cooked marinated chicken thighs, and refilled the snack/school lunch box to make morning lunch prep even easier.

I’m planning on making a couple batches of soup today or tomorrow. I’ll freeze half, and the other half will go into the fridge for my lunch throughout the week. Broccoli Cheese Soup and Copycat Zuppa Toscana are planned (most of the ingredients will be coming in the CSA box today).

For those of you that are new to meal planning, I’ve got an easy 101 style post here with super easy tips and steps. After you get that down, here is info about batch or freezer cooking.

I’ve gotten a pretty good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge done (I try to update it after every shopping trip), so I’m able to plan meals and use up what we’ve got with little waste. If you are looking for a kitchen inventory printable, I like the kitchen inventories here. They are great printables.

I only post our dinner plans for the week, because our other meals are usually the same each day.

Breakfast: Coffee with 1/2 and 1/2  for me, and pancakes or something along those lines for the kids.  The kids are nuts about pancakes. The Big Kid has been on a protein shake kick in the AM.

Lunch: Kids take lunch to school. I eat leftovers. Everyone rejoices.

Dinner: Usually, I do a crockpot meal on Mondays, but now that we are home all the time, we’ve been having an odd combination of fully home-cooked, scratch meals, and frozen entrees and veggies. I have been posting our meal plans on Instagram too- As well as pics of stuff we are doing to keep busy.

  • Sunday: Leftovers and roasted veggies (it was Brussels Sprouts and onions with bacon)
  • Monday:  Chef Salad, Grilled Croissants (halved, buttered and cooked on the flat top), smoothies
  • Tuesday:   Steak, Potatoes, Fruit, Roasted Veggies (probably broccoli)
  • Wednesday:  Nugget night (nuggets, fruit, crackers, milk)
  • Thursday: Dream Dinners and Roasted Veg
  • Friday:  Pizza/Takeout Night
  • Saturday: Meal o’ Snacks and /or leftovers

Please stay safe you guys!

Talk Back: What are you cooking for dinner this week?

4/22/2021 New Deals from Checkout 51!

Abby H.

unnamedCheckout 51 is one of my favorite cashback shopping apps! Most of the deals/cashback rebates are not store specific, so I can save at stores that don’t accept coupons, like Grocery Outlet and 99 Cents Only.  You can also stack with store sales and discounts.

Here are just a few of the offers for this week!

And in addition to sweet deals on groceries, you can also save on gas at select stations. Information and specific participating stations can be found in their app.

To learn more about all of the Cashback apps I use, click here.

Today is National Garlic Day!

Abby H.

Hot Damn! I love garlic. I decided to celebrate with a new recipe: Roasted Garlic (below), and a round-up of recipes that feature garlic.

Roasted Garlic is easy to make and is great in recipes that call for garlic. It’s very mellow, rich, dare I say, creamy? It’s also super good on toast or warm, crusty bread.

Roasted Garlic 

Ingredients:

  • 1 or more (I suggest more) heads of garlic
  • Your favorite cooking oil

Directions:

  1. Remove the excess papery skin on the garlic heads, leave the bulb intact.
  2. Slice off the pointy tops (about 1/4-1/2 inch)of the garlic bulbs. You want to expose the garlic.
  3. Brush the heads of garlic with oil and wrap them in foil.
  4. Bake at 400 degrees for 40-50 minutes. The garlic is cooked once it is tender (poke it with a toothpick or knife usually after 40-ish minutes). but you can continue to roast it until all of the sugars caramelize, and it turns a light brown color. This caramelization makes the garlic very mellow and slightly sweet.

You can store the garlic in the fridge for 10-14 days, but it won’t last that long. It’s good in dips (like hummus), on its own, in soups, or any recipe that calls for garlic. Use roasted garlic in recipes where garlic is called for 1:1.

Garlic Recipe Round-up:

4/18/2021 Weekly Meal Plan

Abby H.

0a5e9dab796cea8a07eabe4eb4795b9e.jpgThe CSA emails us in advance to give us a heads up as to what may be in our boxes on Monday, so that’s helped me be able to meal prep.

The kids and I went to the store this morning and picked up milk and some stuff for their school lunches. OH YEAH- School starts full-time TOMORROW!!!

This past week we didn’t follow the meal plan because a mystery illness swept the household. Everyone is better, so hopefully, this week will easier. and also now with 50% more SCHOOL!

Veggies and fruit are delivered each Monday by Yasukochi Family Farms CSA. For $25, it’s a great deal. I don’t have to pick anything, go to the store, or carry it upstairs. I can’t go to the store and get the same amount we get weekly for $25. Seriously. It’s a deal. I spend about an hour on Monday afternoon cleaning and prepping veggies for the rest of the week.

For those of you that are new to meal planning, I’ve got an easy 101 style post here with super easy tips and steps. After you get that down, here is info about batch or freezer cooking.

I’ve gotten a pretty good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge done (I try to update it after every shopping trip), so I’m able to plan meals and use up what we’ve got with little waste. If you are looking for a kitchen inventory printable, I like the kitchen inventories here. They are great printables.

I only post our dinner plans for the week, because our other meals are usually the same each day.

Breakfast: Coffee with 1/2 and 1/2  for me, and pancakes or something along those lines for the kids.  The kids are nuts about pancakes. The Big Kid has been on a protein shake kick in the AM.

Lunch: Kids take lunch to school. I eat leftovers. Everyone rejoices.

Dinner: Usually, I do a crockpot meal on Mondays, but now that we are home all the time, we’ve been having an odd combination of fully home-cooked, scratch meals, and frozen entrees and veggies. I have been posting our meal plans on Instagram too- As well as pics of stuff we are doing to keep busy.

  • Sunday: Leftovers and roasted veggies
  • Monday:  Breakfast for Dinner (Sausage, eggs, pancakes)
  • Tuesday:   Dream Dinners Meal and Salad
  • Wednesday:  Soup and Snacks!
  • Thursday: Dream Dinners and veggies
  • Friday:  Pizza/Takeout Night
  • Saturday: Meal o’ Snacks and Protein Shakes

Please stay safe you guys!

Talk Back: What are you cooking for dinner this week?