Grocery Shopping I'll Actually Do

I absolutely hate grocery shopping. I think I lack “grocery intuition” – I am never able to find the exact product I need and I usually spend countless minutes roaming up and down the rows looking for what I need (or tracking down employees to point me in the right direction). I also have to call my mother at least two times every time I go grocery shopping to ask her exactly where I might find something, never mind the fact she lives five hours away and has never set foot into the store where I am standing.

My deficiency in grocery skills does nothing but encourage my poor eating habits. For instance, when I bought my house, my mom and aunt stocked my cupboards with some staples…..and I proceeded to not set foot in a grocery store for the next four months (my poor eating habits have been well documented on this blog….). I end up eating way too many overly-processed or frozen foods.

This summer I started a new grocery shopping habit. It almost happened by accident: I had an especially busy week and I needed to get food for a weekend at the cabin with friends. My only chance to get to the store was also the night my roommate called to see if I wanted to enjoy the beautiful night and play tennis. Of course, I chose tennis. Later that night, I went online and signed up for Coborn’s Delivers. In a matter of 20 minutes (about the amount of time it takes me to drive to the store and back) I had bought all of my groceries for the weekend! I knew I was onto something….something I would just love! I’ve been using Coborn’s Delivers ever since. Here is what I love:

• There is NO charge for pick up, and the charge for delivery is only $5.00. At the pick up, you drive over a sensor to alert them you are there, and all of your groceries are loaded into your car for you - never having to leave your car.
• You can save your shopping lists, so if there are items you get frequently, they will be ready for you to click and buy.
• One page has a list of all of the special sale items (for example: I would normally have gotten Diet Coke, but I saw that Pepsi products had a great sale, so I got those instead).
• You can type in any coupons at the checkout screen, so you still are saving if you are a coupon clipper.
• Many nights after work I am just too tired to make myself walk around the grocery store and stand in line at the checkout. I can go online and shop while I'm in my pajamas watching TV - in about the same amount of time it takes me to drive to the store anyway.
• You can find specific items SO much faster - just type them into the search box. I wasted at least ten minutes walking around the grocery store last week looking for Rotella (for a delicious dip recipe my sister gave me) and the whole time I was thinking "if I was shopping online I would already be done with this!!"...but I hadn't planned ahead enough to do that.
• Also, when you search an item (like "pickles"), you get an entire page of results with all of the prices and specials listed as well. More than a few times I've gone with a different brand because of specials that I wouldn't have noticed in the grocery store (though more seasoned grocery shoppers may have noticed them).

All that to say....Coborn's Delivers is my new best friend!

State Fair Adventures

I LOVE THE STATE FAIR!

I was lucky enough to go twice this year - which was great, because I felt like I had two totally different Fair experiences.

The first visit was for the Carrie Underwood concert. I went with my older sister and a few friends. Of course we went early to eat some food....I tried the pork chop on a stick for the first time and it was very tasty! Obviously I ate some cheese curds, had a yummy shake, and a HUGE glass of lemonade...some of my faves! I really liked the concert - it was basically just Carrie singing song after song. I really like her voice and her music and I think she is CUTE as a button, so that was great. I was hoping for some outfit changes and for a little more talking between songs, but I guess she didn't have enough time with the fireworks after her show or something (speaking of which...the fireworks were AWESOME!). So, basically, I loved my quick night at the Fair!

The next visit was the annual sisters' visit. We always go on the Friday before Labor Day and then head up to the cabin. We decided to go in the morning this year and get to the cabin early, which was a really good decision, I think. Thing is, IT WAS SO COLD! I've never had a cold Fair experience, and it really changed what I was in the mood to eat....which was kinda nice, because I tried all kinds of new things! Admittedly, I could have dressed more appropriately for the day, but I survived (I'm pretty much a wimp when it comes to the cold...). We started with crepes for breakfast and I also had coffee to warm me up. We've never had crepes and we liked them! Then I tried a gizmo (seasoned beef with red sauce and melted mozzarella on a hoagie bun) for the first time, as well as a fudge puppy (Belgian waffle on a stick dipped in dark chocolate with whipped cream and sprinkles on top). Another first time food was a deep fried cheeseburger (yum) as well as garlic fries (okay) shared with the sisters and my uncle and cousin who met up with us. I had some chocolate covered fruit instead of cheese curds this time, and I had cheese on a stick (DELICIOUS) instead of the pronto pups and corn on the cob the others ate. While my sisters stood in line for Sweet Martha's (mmmmmmm.....), I got a mocha from French Meadow to enjoy with the cookies. All in all, I'd say we ate our Fair share (get it??) in the few hours we were there!! I already miss the food, and can't wait to try all kinds of new things next year, too! I've added in some new favorites, and discovered the beauty of using the Blue Ribbon Bargain Book (I ended up saving at least a few pennies).

That's a little bit of a rambling post about our time at the Fair, but I know I'll be looking back at this next year when we (literally) make a list of what we want to eat (my uncle got a good eye-roll in when we pulled out our lists........)!

Even More Suggestions

In response to my last post, my sister sent me a link to an awesome source for even more fun suggestions of things to do in the cities. Enjoy!

Some Tasty Suggestions

I love living close to fun places to eat - the problem is that I don't take advantage of it enough! I told myself that I wanted to get to few more of these fun places that I've never visited sometime this summer, and so far I've done pretty well (checked off the list: Brasa, Matt's Bar, Psycho Suzy's). I also like getting a few magazines that inform me of these places. The August MN Monthly Mag had a list of 24 great places to eat or drink outdoors:

The Drive-In, Taylors Falls

Al Vento, Mpls

The Kitchen, Stillwater

Bar Lurcat, Mpls

The Dakota Jazz Bar and Restaurant, Mpls

Aperitif, Woodbury

Aster Cafe, Mpls

Bricks American Pub, Blaine

Campiello, Eden Prairie

D'amico Kitchen, Mpls

Black Forest Inn, Mpls

La Grolla, St Paul

Molly Cool's Seafood Tavern, Lakeville

Moto-I, Mpls

Happy Gnome, St Paul

Muffaletta, St Paul

Northcoast, Wayzata

Uptown Cafeteria, Mpls

Sea Change, Mpls

Meritage, St Paul

The Sample Room, Mpls

Tria Restaurant Bar and Market, North Oaks

W.A. Frost, St Paul

I've been to a number of those places, but there are definitely a few on that list that I've been hearing about and I want to get to sometime soon!

I also subscribe to the Groupon emails, and I've gotten a few coupons to places I've been wanting to try (Stabby's Cafe is one of them; Town Talk Diner is another. Both are so close to my house, and I've heard that the TTD has the best cheese curds short of being at the State Fair! Can't wait to check those out!)

I can't remember which magazine I found the following list in, but I wanted to include it in this post so that I can remember a few of these places to get to at some point (like to Dave's Popcorn - I've driven past it every day for almost four years and I've never tried anything from there!):

Least Inviting BBQ Place that has Great BBQ: JC’s BBQ 2117 W Broadway Ave, Mpls
Business Worthiest of the mantra, “Cavities are Temporary, Carmelcorn is Forever”: Dave’s Popcorn 1848 E 38th St, Mpls
Best Pit-Stop Meal: Hot City Pizza (specialty is white pizza with garlic sauce)
Best View of Downtown St. Paul: River Boat Grill 105 Harriet Island Rd, St Paul
Best Soul Food: The Favor Café 913 W Lake St, Mpls
Best Road Trip-worthy Burger Place with a Slightly Misleading Name: The Ox Yoke Inn, 261 CR 92, Maple Plain

It's Not Too Late!

My best friend from high school loves fast food almost as much as me. The only fast food chains in our small town were Dairy Queen and Hardee's, so we used to drive almost 30 miles one way just to grab a burger at Burger King or cheesy bread at Pizza Hut. I loved those times....sometimes I think I love fast food due to my nostalgia more than anything else.

Regardless, because of her fast-food-love and current state of being pregnant, I wasn't surprised when she told me last night that she enjoyed a six-piece chicken strip basket and a blizzard from DQ for dinner. What did surprise me was when she said her husband got his blizzard for 25 cents!!! Apparently DQ is running a promotion for the 25th birthday of the Blizzard where you buy one Blizzard and get the second for 25 cents. AMAZING. The deal is good, with no coupon, from April 19-25. The bad news is that I've already missed a few days of the deal, but the good news is that it's not too late. We still have Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to enjoy the treat!

The whole fam is headed to my sister's for the weekend, and I may or may not have called her to make sure her small town has a DQ. It does, so we'll definitely be headed there on Saturday!

In other DQ news, I enjoyed the best ice cream cake on Monday for little sister's bday. I don't really like cake (not a big fan of the grainy/sugary frostings, but I can handle the more whipped-creamy versions) so I usually am thrilled to have ice cream cake as a substitute.....and even more so when it's the new Cookie Dough Blizzard Ice Cream Cake! DELICIOUS!!!!

Hello From Lithuania!

We made it! It was a LONG day(s?) of travel, but so far the trip has been WONDERFUL, and it is just starting!

I have lots and lots of things to blog about. I've been reading, listening to music, and watching movies while we traveled, and my brain has been in major processing mode, so some of those thoughts will make it to the blog, and some will not. But for now I am blogging as a way to waste time and hopefully make me sleepy.....it's after 4AM in Lithuania and I'm the only one still awake. Probably because I didn't get out of bed until 3PM today after sleeping over 15 hours (to make up for basically missing an entire night's sleep on the way here). I guess I have to force myself out of bed tomorrow (Beav and I are headed into town to explore) to get myself on the right schedule.

We may or may not have eaten McDonald's twice before we were even in Lithuania for three hours (once in Finland and once in Vilinus) but DON'T WORRY....the McDonald's in Finland was more of an "emergency meal" situation (since we were FREEZING and we needed to get back to the airport to catch our flight, so we couldn't do too much looking for lunch) and our McDonald's in Vilinus only came after we had more of an "authentic Lithuanian" meal (chicken and cheese wrapped in a pancake) and we needed to buy an ice cream treat in order to use the McD's bathroom before we got on our four hour bus ride.

We were thankful for smooth and safe travel (pretty much one of the best flights I've ever been on was from JFK to Helsinki). We lucked out with the best gate agent ever in MSP - we originally didn't have seats from MSP to JFK, so at the gate we needed to figure that out. As we approached the agent, I happened to be humming (or maybe singing out loud....) a song, and that made him laugh. Neither my sister nor I even realized I was singing (maybe a sign that I do it too often??) but he thought it was great, and I think he went the extra mile for us because we were pleasant to him. We got the best seats on all of our flights, sitting right by each other, and he was able to get us boarding passes all the way through to Lithuania (something he even surprised himself by doing), which was great, since we wanted to leave the airport in Finland to explore a little. S and L met us at the Vilinus airport to get us back to their home, which was wonderful, since Beav and I were hanging on by a thread at that point and we would have had a difficult time trying to figure out the bus/train/etc.

So we're here, we're exploring, and I'll maybe update as I have a chance.

Brain Unload

I have many very random things on my mind after a weekend where I spent much of my time in bed sick. I went through my Reader this weekend and realized that I had over 60 "starred items" that I had wanted to get back to at some point: either to read through again, comment about on my blog, etc. Don't worry, I won't share all 60 items in this post, but I will play a little catch-up with a post that has a little to do with everything on mind (from "starred items" to "Life in General").

So here, in no particular order, is my brain unload:

• Last Sunday a friend and I decided to hold each other accountable to losing 20 pounds by my birthday (we decided on that because it was 19 weeks away, so one pound/week). This Sunday I had lunch with her and I had already completely forgotten about our decision. So...apparently I wasn't thinking about it much over the last week. Oops. I needed to write it down somewhere to make it more real for myself - so there it is. Now I have to actually do it. Ugh.
• Why do I have 14 socks that have no matches? I FINALLY did laundry today (hadn't done it since I got back from my trip....) and I ended up putting ANOTHER sock in my basket of no-matches. Annoying.
• I went to the grocery store today for the first time in 2010. Not kidding. I'm also not kidding when I say that I only went because I was tagging-along to spend some time with a friend. I keep thinking that it's useless to buy groceries when I'm about to go on a trip, so I just don't buy any. Needless to say, my eating habits have been less-than-healthy. Need to change that when I get back from Lithuania.
• The Olympics started. I mentioned the last time the Olympics came around how I don't seem to get as excited about them as other people do (especially the Winter Olympics). But again, I was in bed a lot this weekend, and I happened to be watching when a Canadian won the mogul race (Canada's first ever gold medal won in an Olympics held in Canada) and then talked about his handicapped brother who motivates him to do his best. I cried (of course). I was hooked.
• I signed up for a free program at my gym where you wore a pedometer for a week, turned it in, and would receive a gift. After I sent in the pedometer, I forgot about the mystery gift that was on it's way, so imagine my surprise when I opened a box a few weeks later and found this:
A shirt, a towel, a bag, a water bottle, etc. The water bottle is AWESOME and probably worth at least $15, so I was pretty pumped I got it all for free. Too bad I already lost the water bottle. I used it at least once for both tennis and basketball, but I have no idea where it is now. Scatterbrain.

• I meant to put a picture on here of a cake I made for a friend's birthday, so here it is:
I got the idea online somewhere. It turned out pretty good!

• I mentioned that I was having a funky attitude last week, mostly having to do with being single, etc. I was reminded how unpredictable and hard relationships can be when I read this article about a couple I've been "blog stalking" for....maybe two years? I'm always encouraged by the grace, wisdom, honesty, and humility I see displayed in their lives. They have an incredible story, and an incredibly hard story. Their faith is so encouraging to me.
• There was a little Super Bowl Ad that generated a lot of publicity even before it was shown. I was reminded of a moment when I was watching ESPN from a treadmill at the gym and I almost started crying. Here's a news clip about the moment that I was reminded of during all the hype over that ad:
  
  
• So. The Vikings lost. I was really bummed, but it's not the end of the world. Sports have been a big part of my life and I'm extremely thankful for that, but I always want to make sure that I don't have the wrong priorities when it comes to sports. I liked a lot of the points about sports and faith in this article, so I wanted to link to it. That's all.
• Time. I think I need to rethink how I spend my time. Two quotes that have me thinking about time: "The grass is not greener on the other side of the fence, the grass is greener where you water it." (Anonymous?) and "The primary reason we do too much is that we have never taken the time to discover the portion of what we do that makes the biggest difference." (Andy Stanley). Hmmmmm.
• This video made me cry
  

Okay. That's PLENTY. Brain unloaded. Time to focus on work for the week and get going to LITHUANIA!

Hawaiian Highlights

What a WONDERFUL vacation! I had high hopes for this vacation thanks to last year's amazing adventures, and it did not disappoint. Well, there were a few disappointments (more on that shortly), but overall, there can be no frustration when one is enjoying the sun thousands of miles away from a job of any sort. AHHHHHH.


I'll start with a list of disappointments, since I want to end on the happy notes:

• No lava. Our first weekend was spent in Hilo, near Volcanoes National Park. We were told about an AMAZING hike you can take at dusk to see flowing lava and bursting lava bubbles against the night sky. The lava flow shifted ten days before we got to the island and it is currently only visible from a helicopter. BOO.
• No SuperBowl. Some football game ruined my Sunday. If you must, look at the box score and see how one team was better than the other team in basically EVERY stat (significantly, in some cases) except TURNOVERS. Okay, moving on...........
• No manta rays. We went on the Manta Ray Night Dive, but saw no manta rays. Our originally scheduled date for the dive was cancelled due to a significant swell that came in, which also ended up effecting the dive we went on the next night. The boat was being tossed by waves and a few of us tossed our cookies. While it was pretty cool to be snorkeling at night, the experience was marred by the sea-sickness and lack of manta sightings. Maybe next time.

NOW. On to the HIGHLIGHTS:

• Not winter. I missed a little over a week of THAT season (great post, Becca). Sunny and eighty degrees everyday is SO wonderful and refreshing. My cheeks are freckled, my skin is light brown (not pasty white), and I felt a wonderful breeze that didn't give me frostbite. Loved every second of it. Every. second. The sun even seemed to heal my football wounds. A little bit.
• Cliffs. They are beautiful, and I jumped off of them. The southern most part of Hawaii is the southern most part of the United States (and is aptly named South Point). South Point has 35-40ft cliffs that locals jump off of into the most phenomenally clear water and then climb up through caves under the cliffs. I stood at the edge of the cliff and thought about it for more than five minutes, but I jumped, and I am SO glad I did (other than the enema part of it). Thanks to a local, I made the climb back up the cliff (and I couldn't have done it without him). Thanks to my sister, it's all on video.
• Filthy Chacos. We did some exploring around Volcanoes National Park, which dirtied my Chacos a bit, but the real filth came from our AMAZING hike into the Waipi'o Valley. We were told that the hike was not for the faint of heart, which was NO JOKE. There was better than a 25% grade for over 1 mile (and unless you've done the hike, I can't explain how difficult that is). In the valley was the most amazing black sand beach surrounded by outrageous cliffs that made me feel like I was in the show Lost. Being on that beach was one of my favorite parts of the trip.
• Whales. At South Point, the whales were about 25-30 yards from us - flapping their tails and spouting like crazy. It was so awesome! When we were on our way to the manta ray dive, we saw a FULL BREACH (like you see on TV shows or in pictures). Even the captain of our boat stopped to get out his camera and was VERY excited.
• Waves. Thanks to the swell, the waves were HUGE, and we had one very fun afternoon of getting owned by them while we tried to body surf. There were some pretty amazing surfers at the black sand beach, too. Very fun to watch them. I also loved sitting on the beach in the early mornings and listening to the waves while I read. So calming.
• Waterfalls. It has been pretty dry on the Big Island recently, so the waterfalls weren't as dramatic as they looked on any postcards, but that allowed us the opportunity to climb the rocks right out to the edge of some waterfalls. At one point, there were four of us sitting at the top of about a 100ft waterfall drop (don't worry, Mom. We were safe.). The view was awesome.
• Kindle. It's probably stupid to say that my new Kindle was one of my favorite things about Hawaii, but it totally was! I was able to read seven books (two that I had started some of before we left) while I was gone, and I only brought two actual books with me! The Kindle was definitely handy-dandy and convenient to travel with, so I'm totally sold. I'm also totally sold on doing nothing but laying by the pool and reading all day. So wonderful.
• Food. Our rule on vacation is to not eat anywhere you can eat while you are at home. We pretty much stuck to our rule, other than our need to grab a speedy McDonald's lunch one day (which didn't bug me at all!). We always do cheap and easy breakfast and lunch in our rooms (HI, I LOVE PB&J) and then we go out and have a nice or fun dinner. We didn't have a single meal that disappointed, and we happened upon some really fun local places. I never even had "order regret", which is practically a miracle for me!
• Laughing. Lots and lots of laughing. Of course you "had to be there" for some of the laughs, but one of my favorite sayings from the week was: Laying at the pool I turned over and said "oh MAN, I am so dizzy!!" (I was dizzy all week, maybe from my cliff jump on day one) and what my friends thought I said was "oh MAN, I am so BUSY!!" which was funny because it was 2pm and the only thing I had done so far that day was read and sit at the pool.

I'm thankful for a restful and fun week, because the week I just had at home playing catch-up was ANYTHING but restful and fun (well, I did hang out with a few different groups of friends this week, and that was fun). I can't believe I will be on another overseas flight in 14 days. FOURTEEN DAYS! Better load up my Kindle......

P.S. The dog survived his surgeries, our flight issue got figured out so that our travel went very smoothly, and I did not come home to a toilet-water-flooded home, so everything from this post turned out fine in the end. Except for that stupid football game........

Stomach Full; Heart Even More So

Going home for Thanksgiving always leaves me with a FULL stomach and an even more FULL heart.

My stomach was full of all the greatest things ever: mashed potatoes, dressing, scalloped corn, green bean casserole, wild rice, pumpkin pie, pecan pie with ice cream, chocolate walnut pie (YES, I didn't eat any turkey (no room for it) and I HAD THREE PIECES OF PIE - DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT?!). Then it was on to the next house where I did actually eat turkey and almond pie, snickerdoodles, oatmeal cookies, crackers and dip, seven layer bars.....the list literally goes ON AND ON AND ON. I also had leftover dressing for breakfast on Friday because THAT'S HOW I ROLL and IT WAS SO DELICIOUS (next year I will try this awesome idea so that my dressing is actually a little bit breakfasty).

My heart was also full of all the greatest things ever: playing cards at 1 AM, catching up with friends, singing in the car with my sister, talking wedding with my cousin's betrothed, watching football with the fam, playing trucks with little boys, looking through bridal magazines with my "brother's" fiance, catching up on life with all of the "Moms" in my life, helping my actual Mom with her work-filled Friday, eating all kinds of cookies on Christmas cookie baking day, seeing far-away friends on Skype, getting random gifts just because someone thought of me, having time to myself to think and write and pray, having dinner with my cutie grandparents and aunt and uncle and Dad, watching the Gophers with Grandpa and Dad, seeing tons of "old teachers" (I was instructed to call them "former teachers") while in town, chatting with my cousin while working at the concession stand on Saturday, listening to great and encouraging sermons in the car, enjoying the wonderful weather while I drove......this list could also go ON AND ON AND ON.

I am SO THANKFUL for the reminders of the many things I have to be thankful for whenever I go home for Thanksgiving. I am so blessed and my heart is SO FULL.

Hope your Thanksgiving was blessed, as well.

Love This Map

LOOK! It's a map of McDonald's locations!

And the Winner Is....

.....the Old Fashioned Ice Cream (Cookies and Cream flavor)!!

I did end up eating mostly new foods while I was at the Fair last week, and the best new food was Old Fashioned Ice Cream (at Machinery Hill, churned by antique John Deere tractors). In addition to the ice cream, I had my standard favorites of CHEESE CURDS and THE BEST LEMONADE EVER. I also had a nacho on a stick and white chocolate gelati. Add in a bite or two of my sisters' chocolate covered bacon and deep-fried candy bar, and I was STUFFED. And not a single bite disappointed.

None of us saw anyone we knew (which has never happened) so no one won The State Fair Game. I was disappointed.

We did have some AMAZING people watching (the picture is on my sister's camera, or I would post it here) and I saw a new favorite T-shirt: it said "Imagine a World Without Wisconsin". I WANT THAT SHIRT!

That was about all. Pretty low-key year at the Fair, but it was still wonderful. Love the Fair. Love.

FAIRy Excited!

Tomorrow night my sisters and I will spend our annual 2-3 hours at the Great Minnesota Get-Together. I plan on winning The State Fair Game again this year.

I also plan to stuff my face with every bit of food possible in 2-3 hours. Although, I think I may make a drastic change this year. I have my tried-and-true list of regular things I eat, but after much consideration and many conversations with friends who have already been to the fair this year, I think I need to start my list from scratch and branch out. I will only keep the cheese curds, and everything else I eat will be new to me. Should be fun. And I hope not disappointing. I'm always that person who gets food regret at restaurants after you get your food and everyone else looks like they made better ordering choices than you. I HATE that. So. Fingers crossed.

I'm pretty sure nothing will top my live performance on the radio from last year, but we will definitely manage to have an awesome time.

Fiesta

Hosted a jewelry party last night. It was fun to plan; I decided on a Mexican theme - i had the BEST SALSA EVER at a friend's bday party a few weekends ago, so I came up with the menu surrounding that. Not as many people came as I wanted/hoped for, but we still had a good time!

This was the menu:

• Texas Caviar (that YUMMY salsa which was the inspiration for the theme. I'll share the recipe below since you will want to make it)
  
• Chips and Salsa
  
• Cinnamon Crisps (easy flour tortillas covered in butter and cinnamon sugar and baked for 10 min)
  
• Cream Cheese Rolls (with LOTS of olives - YUM)
  
• Mexican Wedding Cake Cookies (I honestly didn't know what to make for something sweet-ish to fit with the theme, so I googled Mexican treats and this recipe came up and it looked easy. Turns out they are Russian Tea Cakes - which I love - so that was a pleasant surprise)
  
• Lime Punch

So here is the recipe for Texas Caviar:

1 can pinto beans

1 can black beans

1 can black eyed peas

1 can shoe peg corn

1 small jar pimentos

1 cup celery (chopped)

1 cup diced yellow/red/orange peppers

1 cup diced red onion

1 1/2 cup cilantro

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1/2 tsp salt

Rinse and drain pinto beans, black beans, black eyed peas, shoe peg corn, pimentos. Combine pinto beans, black beans, black eyed peas, shoe peg corn, pimentos, celery, peppers, onion, and cilantro in a large bowl. In a sauce pan, combine olive oil, canola oil, sugar, cider vinegar, and salt. Boil until sugar is dissolved. Cool. Add the liquid to the bean mix and refrigerate for at least 8 hours. Drain oil and serve.

And here is a picture of the finished (leftover) product:

I will say that mine didn't turn out as "pretty" as my friend's because I used a food chopper instead of doing it by hand - so my chunks are a bit smaller and that makes it look less colorful. FYI.

Anyway, that's it. I'm headed to the kitchen to finish off the Mexican Wedding Cake. MMMM

Roundy's Reward Program

I have a new favorite reward program!

I've been known to be a member of every reward program known to man, but my two favorites are at Super America (I get iTunes cards after I accumulate enough points from buying gas, that way I don't ever spend money for music) and CVS (I've mentioned the Extra Bucks program before, and even though I'm not as diligent about it as I once was, I still save money there pretty consistently buying things I need - mostly toiletries).

My new favorite reward program is through Rainbow and BP. You can sign up for the program at Rainbow (it's called the Roundy's Reward Program because Roundy's is Rainbow's generic brand line). For every $50 of groceries you buy, you get $.10/gallon savings at BP. One great thing is that you don't have to carry your reward card with you, you just punch in your phone number at the checkout. Also, the money you spend is tracked, so you don't have to spend $50 each time you are at the store - it accumulates as you go. Then, whenever you like, you can use your card at participating BP stations to save on gas. Right now I'm at a savings of $.70/gallon, so I filled up a full tank for $20 (it would have cost me $30).

Thought I would pass on the info - especially if you already shop at Rainbow or live near one. I always love saving money, especially when it's on something (groceries and gas) that I have to buy anyway.

Favorite Fast Food Free = Fabulous!

I'm a fast food expert. It's probably not something a twenty-something female should be announcing to the entire internets, but oh well. It's true.

One of my favorite fast food places is Arby's. It's not always my first choice, though, because it tends to be a bit more expensive for me to eat there as opposed to McDonald's or Wendy's.

Until Wednesdays this summer.

For a few weeks (months?) Arby's has been running a promotion on Wednesdays where you get one free item with the purchase of another item. Each Wednesday the promotion is just a bit different: one week you could buy a soft drink and get a free sandwich (total cost: $1.82); one week you could buy a sandwich and get a free orange shake (total cost: around $3.00); one week you could buy a sandwich and get a free 'side kicker' item - I got the mozzarella sticks (total cost: around $3.00). Today you could choose any item on the menu (I bought a soft drink) and get a free roastburger (total cost: $1.82).

I thought I'd let you all know about it since I have been enjoying my favorite fast food for half the cost! I've also tried some items I normally wouldn't have chosen (the orange shake and the roastburger). And I think their promotion is working - each week I have waited in a longer line to get my free item! Worth it, though.

Did You Know....

Warning: this post has the potential to be EXTREMELY random. So, you can just pretend we were chatting in person, since chatting with me is about as random as it gets.

Sometimes I think, "They (whoever 'they' is) should create [fill in the blank]. Then life would be more convenient". Well, I have discovered that a few of these convenient "things" have indeed already been created. Maybe you've already been aware of them, but if not, here is some info.

• Have you ever been driving a car you aren't familiar with and you need to fill it with gas? You start craning your neck to see which side the gas tank is on, correct? Worst case scenario, you pull up to the pump, get out, and realize the tank is on the other side of the car. WELL, did you know that there is an arrow on the gas gauge in the car to indicate which side the tank is on?! All you have to do is look at the gauge and see which way the arrow is pointing! GENIUS! I had never noticed that before.
• Did you know that tin foil dispensers (and plastic wrap, et al.) have tabs on the end of the boxes that will keep the roll in the box as you pull out and tear off what you need? I have always thought that pulling out tin foil is so CLUMSY and then someone pointed out that little ingenious invention to me. Sweet.
• A friend of mine has a new favorite drink at Starbucks and I had a sip of it the last time we were together. I can't remember the exact name of it, but it was an apple-chai-tea-hot-drink-thing. It is delicious. I went ahead and figured out how to make it at home: heat up apple juice in a mug and then steep a packet of chai tea in the apple juice (I bought decaffeinated tea so I can have a glass at night). I think the Starbucks version might have something creamy in it, which you could easily add, but I have really enjoyed this yummy drink every night for the last week or so!
• And while we're on the topic of figuring out restaurant versions of stuff, I will tell you about my favorite cornbread muffins (from a great fast food place). All you do is get the Jiffy brand Cornbread Mix and the Jiffy brand Yellow Cake Mix. Combine both mixes and all their ingredients in a bowl, pour the batter into a 8X8 pan, and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. YUM! Tastes just like the restaurant.
• Did you know that April is National Poetry Month? My sister has been posting a poem each day. We had a College Prep teacher in high school who was a writer and had a great love of poetry. We started each class with a poem of the day and I'm thankful that he made me slow down enough to appreciate and start to love poetry. You should check out her blog for some great poems.
• Also, that same sister has A BIRTHDAY TODAY!!!!!!!!!!! Happy Birthday, Eva Joy. LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!

Now you know something new, I hope. You're welcome. If you already knew all of these things, then you should post a comment of some other helpful little inventions, or something else that you know about. I like to learn about these kinds of things.

Follow Up

I've gotten some great suggestions from my post on how to grocery shop for one.

I remember reading Jenna's post about green bags months ago and thinking "oh, I should try those". Still haven't tried them, but it seems like they are worth a try.

Kristie gave many pieces of great advice in response to my post. Menu planning is one area that I can really improve in! I just feel like my schedule is so flexible (one of the definite advantages of being single!) so I never really know what meals I will actually have to plan for. But I really can do a better job and that should help me to grocery shop. And yes, eggs in packs of 6 are my favorite! I actually say "YES!" out loud in the grocery store when I find them!

Another thing I didn't mention that has been AWESOME for me this month is Let's Dish. Hannah's sister invited me to come to her Let's Dish party earlier this month and I thought I would give it a try. I made 4 meals which I then split in half (each original meal makes 6 servings) and froze. The meals are very tasty, they are portion-controlled (I usually get a dinner and a lunch of leftovers out of the 3 servings I cook) and it is less expensive than a fast food meal. And much healthier! I love that I just need to pull the meal out of the freezer in the morning and it is ready to cook when I come home from work. Hardly any mess and NO wasted food or ingredients! So, if you have the freezer space, I would recommend it (even for couples - you can do the split meals as well, but you just won't have leftovers).

So, thanks for the input!

Can't Eat Fast Enough

I've been single for awhile (if you consider "my whole entire life" to be "awhile") and I still have no idea how to go about grocery shopping.

I cannot eat the food I buy before it goes bad. For instance, there is no way I will eat an entire loaf of bread before it grows mold, so I stopped buying it. I tried keeping it in the freezer, but I run out of room and I get sick of toasting it every time I want to eat it. So. No more bread. And eggs. I like to have eggs on hand in case I get the urge to make cookies. But I seriously don't eat a dozen eggs in....months! I think eggs do last for a long time, but sometimes I don't know how long, so I just toss them (someone just informed me of the "float rule" this week, so that should help). Also, MILK. ALL of the milk I buy goes bad. I would just buy a quart, and even THAT would go bad before I could drink it all, so now I just buy the single serving things from the gas station. Lame. Even those go bad sometimes.



And today I found this:

Okay, this onion had NOTHING GROWING OUT OF IT WHEN I BOUGHT IT! So over the course of however long (seriously can't remember when I bought it...) the onion grew....whatever that is. And now I'm not sure if the onion is actually "bad" or not, but I refuse to eat it. So. More wasted food. And I hate wasting food! (The other scary thing is that I haven't even noticed that something was growing on it until it got that large....gross)

I think part of the problem is that the home I grew up in doubled as a catering business, so we bought absolutely EVERYTHING in bulk. Because, you know, when my mom cooked and baked, she was cooking and baking for a couple hundred people (a couple times a day).

There probably is a great way to shop for food when you are single, but I just don't know it. So if you do, please enlighten me! And DON'T tell me to buy all those things that are packaged as single servings or whatever because that is a serious waste of money and all you are paying for is packaging.

Okay. End of rant.

Serve Food and Serve Using Food

I love my church.

One thing I love about my church is how when people have babies or people are sick, lots of people pitch in and bring food to those families. It must help a lot for new moms (or moms with a couple kids and a new baby) or families who are fighting cancer to not have to worry about all the groceries and cooking for a few weeks.

Usually the meals get organized with a stream of emails, going back and forth. Though this process seems to work fine, a friend who moved out of state to another church that also does 'the meal thing' said that the women at her new church took care of things online. She loved it because she was able to put any food allergies or favorites right on the website. It also helps with delivery scheduling and meal planning (you are prompted to enter what meal you plan on bringing so that the receiving family has a better chance of not eating chicken for weeks on end). Also, those contributing to the effort of feeding a family aren't inundated with emails in the inbox, but rather are directed to one website. Pretty great. I ran across the website, and thought I'd pass it on: Food Tidings.

I hope this is helpful for anyone who is usually put in charge of things like this. Or maybe it will inspire you to be in charge of a thing like this. It is an awesome way to serve a family.

I Love the Heartland

Not the Heartland as in the Midwest, although I do love that as well.

I'm talking about omelets here, people.

This morning I had breakfast at Perkins (paid for by my boss) and I was really craving an omelet. I always just order my own version, but I realized how expensive that is when I choose to get seven ingredients. I had never really looked at what is in the omelets that are already on the menu (assuming I wouldn't like them anyway) but today I did, and I COULDN'T HAVE BEEN HAPPIER.

Let me tell you about the Heartland Omelet. It has HAM, BACON, SAUSAGE, cheese, and onion. Some are probably tempted to call it The Meat Omelet. And those people wouldn't be crazy. There was so much meaty deliciousness going on. And I was so happy.

I was also treated to Caribou today. I only treat myself to Caribou on Sundays and I always get a White Chocolate Mocha. Earlier this week I saw a new drink advertised at Caribou - a Vanilla White Chocolate Mocha. I knew my boss would buy me Caribou today, so I had been waiting all week to try the new drink. And I wasn't disappointed! YES! I LOVE new favorite drinks (though I highly doubt it is a "new" drink, but they simply are advertising it now)!