A Thanksgiving Bounty from Sweetwater

I am very thankful for the absolutely gorgeous array of fresh vegetables I picked up today from Sweetwater Organic Community Farm. Today's share included: cherry tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, squash, cucumber, beans, kale, collard greens, mustard greens, oak leaf lettuce, magenta lettuce, vulcan lettuce, parsley, and two enormous heads of butter leaf lettuce. The total cost for the share is $27.

My husband and I had a big salad for dinner and everything was so flavorful. So far, I'm very pleased with my experience at Sweetwater.

Click HERE for more information about Sweetwater and community-supported agriculture.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin Roll-Out Cookies

Here's a recipe for pumpkin cookies that you can roll-out and cut with cookie cutters. I made these tonight with my husband and children using the pumpkin puree I froze after Halloween.

My children loved making them and eating them. Since they contain pumpkin and minimal sugar, I was happy to let them have their fill!

The recipe came from allrecipes.com.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup unsalted butter 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 1 tablespoon orange zest 1/2 cup solid pack pumpkin puree 1 egg yolk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1 pinch salt

Directions:

1.	In a medium bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar, and orange zest. Stir in the pumpkin. Add the eggs and vanilla, mix well. Sift together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt; stir into the pumpkin mixture. Chill dough for 30 minutes.
2.	Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
3.	On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes and place onto an unprepared cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Decorate with frosting or candy.

Coinstar: Get Rid of Change & Earn $10 More

I never used these coin-counting machines in the past because they took such a big percentage of the total amount. However, I was so happy to discover that the Coinstar machines give you 100% of your total if you get store credit at a participating retailer (instead of cash). Participating stores include Lowes, Amazon, and Starbucks.

Even better.... Coinstar will give you an extra $10 if you process $40 in change before December 6.

I took my jar of coins to Coinstar a couple months ago and got a credit at Lowes for more than $200!!!

Click HERE to find a Coinstar machine near you.

Borders: 30% Off + 10% Cash Back

Ebates is offering 10% cash back today at Borders. If you are not familiar with Ebates, click HERE to read my post about this awesome online rewards program.

You can get 30% off one item with this code: BSA6925B
If you'd rather have an in-store coupon, click HERE.

Free shipping on orders more than $25.

Annie's Coupons

Click HERE for coupons for Annie's organic cereal and cracker/cookie products.

My kids love the little bunny cookies. They make a perfect little treat anytime you need a reward for your little one. I used them when I was potty training my son. They are also great for putting in the plastic eggs during Easter.

Thanks Organic Deals and Coupons.

Publix Specials - November 19 to 25

There are lots of good deals on Thanksgiving food at Publix this week. Click HERE to view the Publix weekly ad.

My bill this week was $139.99 and my savings was $86.20. Not too bad considering I got 4 bottles of wine.

• Sweet Potatoes - 37 cents a pound. It's rare to see the price this low! Click HERE to see my November 19 post about sweet potatoes.
  
• Fresh Pineapple - $2.99 each, cored and peeled or whole. This is about as low as it goes. Click HERE to see my blog from earlier today about pineapple. If you were able to print the 75-cent-0ff coupons I told you about on October 25, you can get an even better price of $2.24! Unfortunately, those coupons appear to be gone now.
• Kraft Cracker Barrel Cheese - 2 for $5. $1-off-2 coupon in 11/22 paper.
  
• Bird's Eye Vegetables - 50% Off. Click HERE for coupon. I'll be stocking up on lima beans.
  
• Breyers Ice Cream - BOGO
• Triscuit - BOGO. Click HERE for coupons and rebate information.
  
• Planter Nuts - 2 for $5. Click HERE for a $10 rebate when you buy 10 Nabisco products.
  
• Crisco Pure Canola Oil - BOGO 55-cents-off 11/08 paper
  

Lots of smoothie ingredients on sale this week. Stock up and freeze! Click HERE for stockpiling ideas:

• Fresh Pineapple - $2.99
• Greenwise Organic Spinach - $2.50
• Bolthouse Farms 100% Carrot Juice -
  Advantage Buy for $3

Good deals on wine:

• St Francis Chardonnay Wine - BOGO (regular price $14.99)
• Mondavi Wine - on advantage buy for $8.99. $1.50-off coupon in 11/15 paper.
• FREE wine carrier when you buy three bottles of wine.
  

A few reminders about your next trip to Publix:

• Use your Discover card to get 5% cash back on groceries (through December). Make sure you sign up for the program first. Click HERE for more information.
• You can use two coupons on the BOGO items (one for each item). You can usually print the internet coupons at least two times.
• Get a FREE movie from Blockbuster Express with code: GT11A (exp 1/31/10).
  

Good Deal on Triscuit

Although Triscuits are not organic, they have a number of healthy characteristics. They contain only three ingredients: whole wheat, soybean and/or palm oil, and salt. A serving of 6 crackers contains 3 grams of protein, 3 grams of fiber, and only 1 gram of saturated fat.

Now is a great time to stock up. Here are some of the great discounts available right now. You can combine these for a really good price.

• Publix - BOGO (regular price is $2.79)
  
• Target - Click HERE for a $1-off Target coupon. The Target coupon is for the family size, which is regularly priced at $3.49. You can use a manufacturer coupon along side the Target coupon.
  
• Walgreens - 5 for $10 with a $3RR, for a final price of 5 for $7. Combine that manufacturer coupons and rebate for a really good price.
  
• Manufacturer coupon in the 11/8 newspaper ($1 off 1)
  
• Manufacturer coupon HERE ($1 off 2)
• Manufacturer coupon HERE ($1 off 2) on the Kraft website (on the "Jingle Tips and Tricks" page, click on "get started" and look for a green "coupon" tab on the upper right side of the page).

• $10 rebate HERE when you buy 10 Nabisco products.
  
• Planter's nuts (on sale at Publix for 2 for $5) also qualify for the rebate offer.
  

Stockpile Smoothie Ingredients and Save

Publix sells pineapple cored and peeled. You could also buy it whole to use for a nice holiday centerpiece before you eat it. If you do this, you can plant the top of the pineapple and grow your own fruit-bearing tree. Click HERE to find out how.

If you use pineapple for smoothies stock up when it's on sale and freeze it. To stockpile pineapple for smoothies, cut it up into small pieces and divide into portions of about one cup. If you don't divide it, it will just freeze into a big clump that you won't be able to use easily. Pineapple is a great ingredient for smoothies, since it's sweet flavor covers over things like spinach and carrots.

Another favorite smoothie ingredient of mine, Bolthouse Farms 100% Carrot Juice, can also be stockpiled. Pour it into an ice cube tray. Then you can add your cubes to your smoothie.

Really, you can freeze most any fresh fruit or vegetable that will go rotten before you can use it. I find that it's easier to cut the fruits and peel the bananas before they are frozen.

Fresh Greenwise Organic Spinach also freezes beautifully. They fall into the smoothie like like green snowflakes.

Using a few frozen ingredients is a nice way to make a smoothie more cold and icy without actually having to use ice (which might make it taste watered down).

Click HERE for my favorite green smoothie recipe.

Coupon for Driscoll's Berries

Click HERE for 50-cents-off coupon for Driscoll's berries. Look for the "Click for E-Coupon" link at the bottom right corner of the Driscoll's homepage. I was able to print the coupon twice.

Thanks Thrifty Mama.

BOGO Wine at Publix

St Francis Chardonnay Wine is BOGO (buy one get one free) at Publix until Wednesday, November 25. I don't think I've ever seen BOGO wine before! I've never had this brand, but I'm willing to give it a try. It would also make a nice hostess gift to have on hand for the holiday season.