AO Opinions is another Market Research company that I get information from. Right now they are recruiting for an upcoming research study. This Survey is about beverages (specifically energy drinks/caffinated beverages)
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I saw a video online someplace (I want to say Facebook, but it could have been on Reddit too), and it showed how to make tomato bisque using freshly roasted tomatoes.
I was excited to try it since we’ve been getting tons of big tomatoes in our CSA box over the past two weeks and I had them sitting on the counter.
This recipe is simple, but it does involve a few steps and does take some time.
It’s worth it in my opinion.
Roasted Onion and Caramelized Onion Bisque
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
Directions:
Note: If you don’t have an emersion blender, pour tomatoes and onions into a blender and pulse until smooth.
This recipe does not make a ton of soup, as most of my soup recipes do. This recipe takes time, but it’s so good. It’s worth the time and effort for sure.
I recommend my 4-way grilled cheese to go with this soup too!
If you are into Organic/Natural/Healthy products, then Social Nature is up your alley. Sign up and apply to sample products that you are interested in. I get probably 1-2 products to sample each month. And most of the time it’s full-size products, not just a tiny sample.
Social Nature has rounded up products that are available to try at a Whole Foods Market near you. Apply to Try the products that interest you to see if you’re a match here. All of these products are available at Whole Foods. 
And one of the things I love about Social Nature is that they don’t leave our friends with food allergies out.
There are sampling offers for Gluten-free, nut-free, meat-free foods frequently.
Canadian Friends- You are in luck, there are sampling opportunities for you too! So if you love trying new products, check out Social Nature!
Spring to it! Millions of points are waiting.
There’s never been a better time to get into the snap habit. That’s because Fetch Rewards is giving away over 2.5 million points!
Snap all your receipts between 5/9 and 5/16 for a chance to win a share of the pot. That could be up to 50,000 points in your Fetch account, or thousands of other prizes, just for snapping a receipt. Winners will be awarded points on 5/18. Get to it!
If you haven’t signed up for Fetch Rewards yet, or want to learn more, check out my post here. Find the Fetch Rewards app in your app store, and when you download it and scan any receipt, use my code ND2TB when you sign up and you’ll score 2,000 bonus points.
Here 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™
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!
Bitmo is an app that I don’t use too often, but when I do, I save money and it makes me feel good!
It’s an app that you can use to send and receive gift cards.
You can also earn rewards when you shop through the app at specific retailers, like a lot of other apps (Dosh and Ibotta to name a few).
And one other thing that Bitmo does is it donates 2% of your gifting spend (that’s how much you spend on gift cards for others) to a charity- there are currently eight, including the San Diego Zoo, Rady’s Children’s Hospital, Feeding America, and The Salvation Army.
Right now they are offering bonus points when you refer new friends. 20,000 bonus points (that’s a $20 gift card) for everyone that joins, connects a card, and does a transaction. THey run referral bonuses a few times a year, but it’s usually for a $2-$5 Dunkin’ gift card or something small- Never a $20 bonus! And as far as I can tell, there is no limit on how many bonuses you can earn!
They are a San Diego, CA area business too. It’s cool to support local businesses, especially right now when a lot of small, local businesses could use the help.
I’ve been doing surveys and research studies with Digsite for a little over a year. Right now, they are looking for new members!
Join the Digsite Crew today to earn rewards for sharing your valuable opinions with today’s leading brands! You’ll earn points for completing short surveys, even if you don’t end up qualifying for the research study.
A typical Digsite survey is 5 minutes long and worth 100 points. Every time you earn 1,000 points, you’ll be able to choose the $10 reward you’d like to receive.
You’ll earn additional gift card rewards for participating in research communities, typically ranging from $10-$50. You’ll also have opportunities to participate in video interviews where you can earn $50 or more!
Sign up here and start earning points today!
I do 1-2 research studies per month, most of them are at home, either testing products or online.
If you are looking to get hooked up with companies that do research studies, I recommend the following, in addition to Digsite above:
In San Diego there are the following research companies:
I try to post opportunities for Research Studies when I run across them, either here on the blog, or on my Facebook Page.
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
Directions
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.
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.
Please stay safe you guys!
Talk Back: What are you cooking for dinner this week?
Hewes Family Fun 