Friday, April 29, 2011

Creating Your Own Coupon Binder!

Usually I will post couponing things on Thursday, but I had a midterm today so, it is Couponing Friday instead!  We should be back on track next week though!  This weeks coupon post is the first step to being a coupon user, creating your binder.  The only way to really save money using coupons, is to have a plan and be organized.  I hope you all are excited (I was)!

Supplies:

  • 3 inch, 3 ring binder

  • Pencil pocket
    • Scissors  
    • Mini Post-it Notes
    • Calculator
    • Pencil
    • Pen
    • Marker
    • Paper Clips                                                                                                                  
  • Notebook or Notebook Paper
  • Dividers with Pockets (either one package of 5 with 2 pockets each or two packages of 5 with 1 pocket each)


 *Note: the baseball card holder sheets and binders have been hard to find since couponing has become a popular hobby, so you might have to try three or four different stores.  For Wal-Mart: they are in the "As Seen on TV" isle, up in the front of the store.  Mejier: they are in the back of the store in the toy section.  Target: they are on the last full wall facing the cash registers.  

Once you have gathered all your supplies, that is when the fun begins.  

Assembly:
Step 1:
Print out all the things you need online.  The section organizers, the store polices, and anything else you think might come in handy.  For example I just recently learned that you can tell how fresh a loaf of bread is by the color of the twist tie.  So I keep that article in the front pocket for future reference.

Step 2:
Let's start the assembling process!  

     1.  First thing that goes in is your pencil pocket.  Fill it with a pair of scissors, mini-post it notes, a small ziplock bag of paperclips, pen, pencil and marker. The scissors, of course, for clipping coupons, mini-post it notes for little notes you may need to write down, paper clips to attach coupons to their weekly add, and writing utensils to have handy and never be without. How do you expect to be organized if you don't even have something to write with?  Once it has everything in it, let it be the first thing you put in your binder


     2. Add your notebook or notebook paper.  This is for weekly lists.  You should keep a list for everything.
     
     3. One baseball card holder sheet, this lonesome sheet is for rewards cards.  If you get a rewards card for every store you shop at your ignition might get ripped out of your car!
     
     4.  Dividers with pockets, to store each weekly add seperately. 
     
     5.  Then comes your Krazy Coupon Lady Table of Contents

     6.  Krazy Coupon Lady Section Organizers 1-40 in sheet protectors.  
    
     7.  After each section page you should place two baseball card holder sheets.  
     
     8.  Last but not least, store coupon polices in sheet protectors at the very back!

Now that you have your binder ready, it is time to clip coupons!  Next Thursday's blog will go over where and what to clip.  What is a good buy and what is not.  I hope everyone has a good weekend!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Easter Weekend and Blog Schedule

 



Hello All!
I don't know about you all, but my Easter weekend was CRAZY!  I hosted dinner with my parents and sister at my house on Saturday, before we went to church, and then I hosted dinner at the in-laws house on Sunday after church.  Before I give you the two different menus, I have been debating on what my blogging schedule should be and this is what I have come up with:

Tuesday: A day in the Kitchen:  I will post either a recipe or full dinner each Tuesday.

Thursday: Home & Garden; Thursday's will consist of cleaning tips, gardening tips, decorating ideas, and anything else pertaining to your home or yard that I happen to come across.

Sunday:  Couponing Sunday, I have recently started couponing, so I will post the best deal of the week and some Couponing 101

Now that we have gotten that out of the way, here are the two menus that I served this Easter weekend!  Please leave a comment if you would like any of the recipes.  I will be posting the recipe to Pear butter on Tuesday!


Classic Easter Dinner
Honey Baked Ham
Three Different Potato Salads:
German Potato Salad (Mom)
Mayonnaise Based Potato Salad (Myself)
Mustard Basted Potato Salad (Dad & Josh)
Fruit Salad
Macaroni and Cheese
 Stuffing 
               Yeast Rolls              
Orange Juice Cake



Surf and Turf Easter Dinner
Grilled Flank Steak
Grilled Garlic Shrimp
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Steamed Vegetables
Parmesan Biscuits
Salad
Raspberry Coffee Cake
Fruit Kebabs with honey yogurt dip

Sunday, April 17, 2011

APPLE BUTTER THAT IS TO DIE FOR!

Yesterday I made apple butter, it is so delicious that I thought it would be the perfect recipe to start this blog out with!  It is very simple and very inexpensive.

Grocery and Equipment List:
* Apples (17-20 small apples) 6 lbs, I use organic Fuji apples
* 1 1/2 Tbsp Cinnamon
* 1 tsp ground cloves
* 1/2 tsp allspice
* 2-3 cups of sugar, taste after two and add more to suit your taste
* Jar funnel
* 1 crockpot
* Large spoon and ladle
* Ball jars
* Large stock pot

                                                                  Homemade Applesauce

The fist step to apple butter is applesauce:

Step 1- Apples

This step is the most important!  I use organic Fuji apples, they are sweet and usually very juicy.  You can use whatever kind of apples you would like to use.  You really don't want to use Granny Smith apples because they aren't sweet enough.  You should you something like Red Delicious, Gala, Fuji, Rome.

Step 2- Wash the jars and lids

If you wash the jars now you won't have to worry about them later.  I wash them by hand, you can wash them in the dishwasher.  The lids and rings you don't have to wash, you can just boil them in hot water in a small saucepan. Once you have washed the jars they should be arranged in a large stock pot, fill the jars with water and pot with water.  The water level should be about an inch above the tops of the jars.  Boil the jars on high for 10 minuets.  Start the timer when the water begins a hard boil.

Step 3- Wash and Chop apples

You should start out with two bowls. I use the largest out of the three and the smallest out of three.  The largest is for the apples slices and the smallest is for the garbage (cores, bad spots and whatever else).




I am sure if you don't know already how to wash and apple you can figure it out.  All you need to do is run them under tap water.

Your time can be utilized much better if you use a corer/segmenter.  If you have never used one before, you just place the stem in the center of the center hole and press down.  I keep a small knife on hand to cut out any core that was left on the slices and also to cut out any bad spots.  YOU DO NOT NEED TO PEEL THE APPLES.

Step 4- Cook the Apples









Picture one represents the apples before them are cooked.  Once you have placed the apples into the stock put about one inch of water in the bottom of the pan.

Picture two is the apples cooking.  Once you have put the water in the bottom of the pan, then place a lid on the pot and cook on high until the water gets a really hard boil then you can turn the temperature down to medium/high.  Cook until the apples are really soft. It usually takes about an hour.

Picture three is what the apples should look like when they are done cooking.  DO NOT DRAIN THE JUICE.

Step 5- Puree the Apples

Things you can use:
*Large food processor (14 cup or bigger)
*Small food processor
*Food Mill
*Sieve/Grinder
Which ever of these things that you have will work.  Some may take longer than others, but they will work.  I use a 14 cup fp so I can put all of the apples in at one time, if you have a large fp it will take about 3 or so minutes.  All you are doing is pureeing the apples to the consistency of applesauce.  The picture below shows what it should look like once they are pureed.



*NOTE*  If you are making applesauce only, your applesauce is done. You may leave it plain or season it with some cinnamon. The only other thing you would need to do is fill your ball jars and put them in a hot water bath.  Arrange the jars in a caner or large stock pot, when the water comes to a rolling boil set your timer for 15 minutes if they are pint jars, 10 for quart jars, and 5 for jelly jars.  Voila, you have applesauce!!! ENJOY!

Step 6- Add the spices

Your applesauce should be in your crock pot now.
Add:

*1 1/2 TBSP Ground Cinnamon
*1 tsp Ground Cloves
*1/2 tsp Allspice
*2-3 cups of sugar (go off of taste, start with 2 cups and if you want it sweeter you can add either another cup of sugar or you can add apple juice)

 Add all of these to your crockpot and stir together well!

*NOTE* I used 2 TBSP of cinnamon, which was way too much so yours might look a little lighter.

Step 7- Cook the Apple butter

Set the crock pot to low or medium heat.

Cover it loosely or you can use two butter knifes laid across the top so that it doesn't too much of a mess, but the steam is still able to get out.  I cook mine usually overnight.  It takes awhile for the butter to thicken and reach the proper consistency.  Let it cook anywhere for 6-12 hours.  The time will depend on the size and power of your crockpot.  I stir mine occasionally but it really is not necessary.  It should reduce in volume by half.  If your crockpot can not originally fit all of the applesauce you have made, you can add the rest of it when the butter has reduced in half and cook for a couple more hours.




Step 8- Fill and seal the jars





From left to right: Jar tongs:  they help you remove the hot jars from the very hot water.  Ladle:  helps move the apple butter from the crockpot to the jars.  Jar funnel:  makes it very easy and clean to fill the jars.  Fill your jars to the bottom lip, seal and arrange in the stock pot.  Add water the the bottom of the metal ring and set your timer for 5 minutes when the water comes to a rolling boil.  Once your five minutes is over use the jar tongs to remove the jars from the water and set jars on a towel on the counter to cool and seal.  You should hear each jar pop. 


This shows you how full the jar needs to be and where the bottom lip of the metal ring is!

Once you have sealed your butter in a hot water bath for 5 minutes you are done!  ENJOY!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Gratituesday!

I am so thankful for the wonderful family that God has blessed me with and this beautiful weather!