The Coupon Goddess

Winner!

2012-02-23T08:43:00.002-08:00

Congrats to Trish M. from MA. You are the winner of the Stop & Shop giveaway! Please send your mailing info to thecoupongoddessblog@yahoo.com. Thanks to all for entering!

Blissdom Day One

2012-02-23T08:35:00.001-08:00

I woke up bright and early Wednesday morning to get ready for my trip to Blissdom. Everything was going just fine until I grabbed the door handle to leave the house. Right at that point Shannon puked her brains out. Why is it that kids get sick at the least opportune time? Is it to trigger Mom guilt? If so, it works.

I've shared before that I don't like to fly. So much so in fact that I usually take medication to make it tolerable. Well, this trip I decided to leave my purse at home and carry my camera bag instead. After transferring my lipsticks, ID, and credit card from my purse to my camera bag, I zipped it up and off I went.

After arriving at the airport, I made my way to the gate where I was greeted by an airline agent who asked to take my carry on luggage because the overhead was too small to accommodate it. When I asked the agent why it was too small, she said it's a "regional jet" sweetie. And that's when I discovered that I left my medication at home.

I took the time to circle my plane in the Delta magazine to show you what a regional jet looks like, lest you think I'm a total pansy. You'll notice that it's one of the smallest planes in the fleet. Or as I jokingly told the flight attendant, a glorified sling shot.

My flight was a morning flight which didn't help my cause. I had a free coupon for a drink, which certainly would've soothed my frazzled nerves, but I couldn't justify drinking at 10:00 am. But boy did I think about it.

Five bumpy hours later (I had a layover), I arrived in one piece here in Nashville, ready to hone my blogging skills, meet up with friends, make some new ones, and drink margaritas. Not necessarily in that order.

Over the next four days I will be blogging about my Blissdom conference adventures. One of the perks of these blogging conferences is that brands come here to promote their products. Often times, they give us samples so that we can share them with our readers. Of course I will put together a lovely giveaway for my awesome readers (ahem, that means you) while I'm here, so be sure to check back and see what goodies I dig up!

Time to start my adventure...

Listerine Healthy Habits Oral Care Challenge

2012-02-21T17:10:00.000-08:00

Recently I was asked if I'd like to participate in the Listerine Healthy Habits For A Lifetime Challenge. The challenge consists of committing to an oral care routine not only for my kids, but for our whole family.

Now us adults do a fine job taking care of our teeth, but the little ones? It's a bit of a struggle to get them excited about opening their mouth for dental care. Food? Yes. Yelling and screeching? Oh, heck yes. Flossing? Not so much.

To prepare us for our challenge, we were sent some Reach floss, Reach toothbrushes, and Listerine Smart Rinse. Coincidentally, we already have Smart Rinse in the house because our dentist recommends it. And our dentist knows his stuff, so we listen to him.

Getting the kids to brush their teeth is painless enough. Getting them to floss is another story. But recently I learned that brushing alone misses 75% of your mouth. 75%!! That's a whole lot. Flossing and rinsing are so important in getting whatever brushing doesn't. From this challenge I've learned that it's important to floss once daily and rinse for thirty seconds twice a day.

We all know how important it is to clean your teeth after every meal. But I'll be honest with you, if I can get the kids to do it twice a day, I'm pretty thrilled. However, since I signed up for the challenge, I'm going to try really hard to stick with the three times a day thing.

It helps that the kids like the Smart Rinse.

Really, it's their favorite part of the bedtime teeth cleaning routine.

I think they just like making funny squishy sounds at each other and puffing their cheeks up.

Which is fine with me because in the end they have beautiful smiles and I don't have to pay to have cavities filled. Win-win.

Over the next four weeks, we are pledging to make regular oral care part of our daily routine with the hopes that it will foster excellent dental habits for years to come. I'll be posting our results and hopefully blinding white smiles a few weeks from now!

This is a sponsored post. I received product to facilitate my review. All opinions and experiences are my own.

Too Much of a Round Thing

2012-02-20T06:26:00.000-08:00

Leela woke up yesterday with a rumbly tummy. Jeff opened up the pantry and asked what cereal she'd like for breakfast. After perusing the available options, she just stood there shaking her head. He asked what the problem was, because there were plenty of options to choose from. There were at least six boxes of various flavors and surely there had to be one that she'd like.

"It's all round" she exclaimed. "Round, round, round" and with an exasperated huff, she left the kitchen. This is a good thing because Jeff almost broke a rib laughing. Indeed, all of the cereal on the shelf was round. Apple Cinnamon Cheerios, Peanut Butter Cheerios, Honey Nut Cheerios, Chocolate Cheerios, Dulce de Leche Cheerios, and even Cascadian Farms Chocolate O's.

And upon further inspection, the stockpile is full of round cereal as well.

Clearly Shannon is not shape biased.

Leela, you've got me there. Our current cereal options are all circular. Luckily for you, Kellogg's put out some amazing coupons this past week and odds are good that there will be some type of square, rectangle, trapezoid, hexagon or other cereal with an edge on sale in the not too distant future.

It's funny how sales and promotions dictate what's in our stockpiles. And thinking back on recent weeks, General Mills has had some great coupons specifically for Cheerios. So many good coupons in fact, that it's all we've got on the shelves.

How about you? Do your shelves runneth over with Cheerios? What's your favorite flavor?

Meow

2012-02-18T17:38:00.000-08:00

This week at Shaw's there's a great sale which I had planned to jump on right away. It's very important in my town to get to the store on the first day of the sale because there are quite a few mini Coupon Goddesses around here.

Not to mention, Peanut Butter Cheerios are free after coupons this week, and holy heck, have your tried them? Scrumptious. So, I knew time would be of the essence if I wanted to get some free boxes of those little o's of happiness.

But when I remembered that my kids have school break next week, all my food shopping plans were put on the shelf. I had a much more important item to shop for.

Next week I'm heading to BlissDom. BlissDom is one of the larger blogging conferences and yours truly is one of the community leaders for the frugal niche. What does that mean? The goal is that I'm going to help mentor and guide other frugal living bloggers to get the most they can out of the conference, be there to help answer questions, and be a smiling face for those who feel intimidated or alone.

When I was chosen as a community leader, my first thought was how honored I was that they thought of me. My second thought was what the heck am I going to wear to the parties? Now I know that seems strange, but hear me out....

Due to the accident, I have a moderate disfiguration of my right thigh. Where the car hit me I now have a large hematoma. It used to be fruit loopin' huge, like the size of an eggplant. Today it's about the size of an orange. Very noticeable when I wear jeans, and even more noticeable in a fitted dress. And to say that it has made me feel less than sexy is an understatement.

Therefore, I knew that I would have to search high and low for a dress that would hide Herman. Oh, I forgot to mention that the hematoma is so large that my children named him. For awhile it was a fight between Herman and Kermit. Herman won by popular vote.

So instead of chasing down free boxes of cereal, I went on a hunt for a dress that would hide Herman. I went to so many stores that I lost count. Dress after dress seemed to have neon arrows pointing to the large lump on my thigh. I was really starting to get discouraged, but then it happened. I found THE dress.....

Never in my life did I ever think I'd wear cheetah print.

I'll show you the rest of the dress next week, but for today I wanted to show you how well the print hides Herman. I bet you can't spot him in the picture, can you?

I did finally get to the store to pick up my beloved PB Cheerios. I also got a ton of close to free yogurt, dirt cheap Barilla pasta and sauce, and more of the 50% off beans I found last week. A very successful shop if I do say so myself.

But I still think my find of the week is my cheetah print dress. By no stretch of the imagination was it a bargain, but it sure makes me feel like a sexy woman again. And that is worth a million free boxes of Peanut Butter Cheerios in my book.

A Fine Wine for Any Occasion

2012-02-16T07:31:00.000-08:00

As I was strolling down the aisles at my local wine shop this past week, I realized I have a problem. I don't drink white wine. Ever. So, in my quest to showcase affordable, good wine options for you that are indeed white, I'm going to have to seek outside help. But until then, you're stuck with red wine reviews. So sorry!

Today's bottle of choice is Santa Rita 120 Cabernet Sauvignon. I'm not sure what it is about Chilean wines that so totally do it for me. Because let me tell you, this wine does it for me. A medium bodied, smoky wine with a rich dark berry/fruity flavor and a hint of vanilla. After just a couple of sips, I was hooked. And if I had to sum it up with one word, I think I'd use lusty. That about explains it perfectly.

The price? A whopping $7.99.

I'm always on the hunt for what I call spaghetti and meatball wine. Or what you could also call table wine. Wine that's affordable that I can have with dinner any night of the week without going broke. I also wouldn't hesitate bringing this to a dinner party as a gift. If I hadn't known better, I would've guessed that this was a pricier bottle of wine going by the taste. Delicious.

Now if that isn't newsworthy enough, I'm going to share with you what meal I paired it with. Remember those beans I bought last week? Well, while reading one of my favorite food blogs recently, I stumbled across this incredible recipe that I knew would be good, but not nearly as good as it turned out.

My kids are very good eaters, but they are not jazzed about bean based recipes. So, when they came home from school to the aroma of ham and beans simmering away on the stovetop, they weren't sure what to think. It sure smelled good, but there's that bean predicament. And since I have a policy of "you eat what I cook", they had no other choice but to partake.

And for that one meal, I converted my bean hating kids to lovers. It was a beautiful thing.

The perfect meal for a cold February night. Nothing expensive. Home cooked food with a bottle of good wine. Simple and splendid at the same time.

Birthday Girl

2012-02-15T07:07:00.000-08:00

From December through the end of February, it seems like one big ole celebration around here. Christmas, New Years, Leela's birthday, my birthday, Valentine's Day, and today, Shannon's birthday. One continuous party which has me either buying presents or baking something non-stop.

And before you tell me that summer is coming, we've got Michael, Jeff, and Aidan's birthdays between June and August. Oh, let's not forget the 4th of July. Not like I'd forget that date anytime soon.

But that's not the focus of today. Today is Shannon's 9th birthday, which amazes me since she was just born yesterday. In my mind anyway. I've never shared any of Shannon's story with you, so let me tell you why her birthday is so extraordinary.

When Shannon was five weeks old, her bowels started to separate. This is a very grave condition which made her so anemic that it wasn't clear if she would survive. There were some other conditions surrounding her birth which further complicated things, and at just under five pounds at five weeks of age, the doctors weren't certain if she would make it. An emergency blood transfusion was performed and while it was going on, I held her tiny little hand in my larger shaking one.

Now, I'm a believer in prayer, and that day (and many thereafter) I spent most of my time begging God for a miracle. After the transfusion, I did the whole kangaroo care thing. For those of you who don't know what that is, I placed her naked body onto my bare chest which is supposed to help stimulate preemie babies. I rocked her for countless hours just like that and all the while I prayed that she would rally.

After two days, she regained the color in her skin. What was once a tiny white chalky face, became a peach cheeked gurgling bundle of joy. Prior to the transfusion, she was very lethargic and slept most of the time. After the transfusion, she nearly kicked the NICU isolette over. I'm not sure whose blood she received, but they must've been an athlete or something because this kid hasn't stopped moving since.

Each year on her birthday I think back on those early days. About how lucky we both are. And as much as her life was saved on that day of her transfusion, so was mine. Two miracles granted at the same time. We have so much to be thankful for.

Now, on a lighter note, I want to share with you what happened today. Shannon woke up bright and early to see what birthday gift was waiting for her on the kitchen table. We thought we'd totally surprise her this year with a new bike. Her old one forced her knees up to her chin, so we thought a new bike would put her over the edge into birthday nirvana.

When she turned the corner and saw her new bike, she stopped in her tracks. She glanced at the bike and then looked at us. "Oh! But I wanted a Pillow Pet." Without missing a beat, Leela offered her Pillow Pet in trade. Leela is very self sacrificing, don't you think?

Just when I think I have these kids figured out, I realize I don't know Jack.

Happy Birthday Shannon! We love you more than you will ever realize and look forward to many more balloon filled birthdays with you in the years to come.

Stop & Shop Giveaway!

2012-02-13T18:12:00.000-08:00

Stop & Shop recently reached out and asked if I'd like to try their private label products called Guaranteed Value. They sent an assortment of products including fruit juice, pasta sauce, salad dressing, sandwich cookies (not pictured, we ate them), and some seasonings.

As I mentioned, we scarfed down the cookies. They were good. Actually, we were all pleasantly surprised by how good they were. We also opened the apple juice which tasted just like, wait for it, apple juice! Yummy! Even though the products are a house brand, we really thought they were quite good.

Here's what Stop & Shop has to say about the line:

With tightened family budgets, Stop & Shop is re-introducing its Guaranteed Value product line with a new look and new products all at compelling prices to help customers cut costs on a variety of products that every household needs.

All of the approximately 200 Guaranteed Value products have been quality tested and Stop & Shop will continuously be adding new items to help customers save throughout the store. Customers will find Guaranteed Value products at prices averaging 20 to 25 percent less than what they would pay for similar national brands and more than 60 percent of the line is sold for $2 or less.

How would you like to try out some of the Guaranteed Value products? Stop & Shop is offering a similar assortment (may vary), a $25.00 Stop & Shop gift card, and a reusable grocery tote to one lucky reader.

To enter, leave your first name, last initial and the state you are from in the comment section of this post. Entries must be received by Monday, February 20th 11:59 pm ET. Good luck!

Stop & Shop sent me the products you see above and a gift card to facilitate my review. All opinions are my own.

Winner!

2012-02-13T17:53:00.001-08:00

Congrats to Brooke A. from MA! You are the winner of the Vicks giveaway! Please forward your mailing info to thecoupongoddessblog@yahoo.com. Thanks to all for entering!

Pepperoni Pull Bread

2012-02-12T14:49:00.000-08:00

When I posted the pictures of my Super Bowl spread last weekend, a bunch of people wanted to know what in Sam Heck was that Bundt looking thing. Because, clearly it wasn't a sweet, and if it was a savory, why was I holding out on some yummy unmentionable?

Anyone who does food photography knows that once the sun sets, food pics are hopeless. Therefore, I waited for another day so that I could do the recipe justice. This recipe screams "take pictures of me"!

The inspiration for this recipe came from the Pillsbury website. A ring of dough stuffed with cheese and pepperoni. The original recipe calls for Grands biscuits, but I knew I could do something a little more magnificent than that.

Garlic, Asiago cheese, and chunks of mozzarella floated through my head. A hot melty mess of happiness. Calories be damned. It was the Super Bowl after all. Not a day to be on a diet.

The first thing I did was run to a local pizza joint called Papa Gino's. I love, love their pizza crust. And at $1.99 for a 20oz dough ball, I was not going to make my own. I could have, but there are only so many hours in the day and I had several other recipes to make. So, I paid for two dough balls and merrily went on my way.

When I got home, I divided the dough into a bunch of small hunks which I stuffed with pepperoni and cubes of mozzarella cheese. Then I rolled them into a ball and plunked them into a pan....

coated with olive oil, lots of garlic, and oregano. Don't drool on the keyboard, yet.

Oh, and shredded Asiago cheese. You could use Parmesan, or any other hard cheese you like. I, however, am in love with Asiago. Are you familiar with the Asiago bagels at Panera? I'm intimate with them.

Two tiers of stuffed dough balls and liberal handfuls of fresh shredded Asiago cheese. I also gave it a few more shakes of oregano. It's green after all. Aren't herbs related to veggies? Am I reaching here?

About 45 minutes later, your family will have their faces pressed against the oven glass wondering what the heck is going on in there. The smell is a killer.

And when you pop it out, people will hug you.

Are you still with me or did you run out to buy pizza dough?

Oozy, garlicky, and a whole lot of lip smacking goodness here.

Pepperoni Pull Bread

2 balls of pizza dough
2 cups shredded Asiago, Parmesan or any other hard cheese
1 pound mozzarella, cut into 1" cubes
1 package of sliced pepperoni
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cloves fresh pressed garlic
1 tsp dried oregano

Preheat oven to 375. In a small bowl, combine olive oil, garlic, and oregano. Coat a Bundt pan with one Tbsp. of this mixture. Cut dough into golf ball sized dough balls. Flatten with hands. Place two pepperoni slices on top and one mozzarella cube. Pinch dough around filling to form a ball.

Scatter a handful of Asiago on bottom of Bundt pan. Place one layer of balls on bottom of pan. Brush balls with garlic mixture. Scatter more Asiago on top. Place second tier of balls on top of first. Brush more of the garlic mixture on top and finish off with another handful of Asiago. Shake some more oregano on top to make yourself feel good about adding something green.

Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly. Serve and be hailed Queen Of All Kitchens In The Kingdom. Don't forget to extend your hand for a royal kiss. You deserve it.

Sunday Coupon Shopping

2012-02-12T13:54:00.000-08:00

I ran out to Walgreen's today for only two items. Toilet paper and Hefty food storage bags. The toilet paper turned out to be a no go deal, but I was quite pleased with my $1.14 Hefty bags. That would've made the trip worth it in and of itself, but I figured I'd walk the aisles to see if there was anything else that had to come home with me.

As luck would have it, I stumbled across a killer deal on clearanced Jose Cuervo margarita mix. $3.99 for both the regular and sugar free jugs of mix......

Now that is a deal you don't see every day. No coupons needed!

I also found Quaker instant oatmeal clearanced for $1.24. Another amazing deal!

Do you use artificial sweeteners? If you do, you'll have to watch for these party packs in your stores.

Even the Valentine's stuff is starting to be clearanced. I grabbed these cuties for my girls.

It pays to walk up and down the aisles. You just never know what you might find. Oh, and before I forget... if you got the $3.00/1 got2b coupon in your paper today, some of those products are 50% off at Rite Aid this week. I know that they are free at Walgreen's, but people are reporting problems with the coupons scanning at Wag's. Just another option if you don't want to deal with the issues with the Wag's computers. Boy, do I hope they fix those computers soon.

How about you? What are you excited about this week?

A Reflection Of Love

2012-02-11T16:29:00.000-08:00

As far as days go, I was having a pretty decent one today. First of all, I organized every single coupon in my entire house. And let me tell you, that was a lot of work. It's my biggest struggle as a couponer. Clutter. It makes me nuts. But as you know, it's part of the couponer's life. Unfortunately.

I also uncovered this chair. This is the laundry chair. Do you have one of those? A piece of furniture where you stack folded clothing with the hopes that someone, anyone, will help you carry it up? Well, this is my laundry chair, and I cleared it. A picture worth taking since it will last only a moment.

It snowed last night. When it snows I usually bake while the kids play outside. I'm fixated on the idea of the kids coming in from the snow into a house scented by warm sugar and chocolate. It's an odd OCD thing of mine.

I also cleaned out my purse. You have no idea how much of a miracle this is. I counted 12 tubes of lipstick in my purse. 12. And I wonder why my shoulder hurts.

But the best part of my day? The mirror above. When I got out of the shower today, I saw "I love you Mom" written in the foggy mirror glass. I stood there dripping for a moment. Then my eyes welled up with tears. How I needed that message from that child.

I took that picture not only for you, but also for myself. As much as this blog is here to entertain you, it's also here as a legacy for my children. My online diary, if you will. And I want you to know that this message is better than any epic coupon haul, any picture perfect recipe, or anything else you've ever seen on this blog. Ever.

For my little one that wrote that much needed message.....

Thank you. I saw that message just when I needed to. When I was beginning to wonder if I was doing anything right. With your index finger and a foggy piece of glass, you gave me a gift that isn't possible to buy. Your heart expressed in condensation and I will never forget it for the rest of my life. I love you too.

But I Just Went For Popcorn

2012-02-09T17:57:00.000-08:00

When I woke up this morning, I got the kids off to school and then crawled back into bed. I pulled the covers tight up under my chin and burrowed down. I clenched my eyes shut, trying to will sleep to come. I was so tired, but could not convince my body to go back to sleep. Once up, I'm up. There's no way around it.

Preparing for that cooking show was a lot of work. I know it looks simple, but it really wasn't. And this morning I felt like a slug. As much as I wanted to just crash, there was too much to do. Thursday is the last day of the sale for grocery stores in my area, and Shaw's was having a crazy deal on Orville Redenbacher popcorn. Buy one box, get one free, plus TWO free 2 liters of A&W Root Beer or 7 Up. How awesome is that?

So I forced myself to head out and grab the popcorn/soda deal before it was too late. When I got to the store, I decided to go up and down the aisles to see if there were any unadvertised specials. And I'm glad I did. There were bargains to be had left and right, but what should've been a cheapo shopping trip escalated quickly.

The first thing I stumbled across was the pumpkin pie filling you see above. $1 is a stock up price for me. And stock up I did.

Then I came across this cooking twine. $1.50? Sold.

And then these organic dried beans. I've been craving ham and bean soup, so I figured no time like the present. Not to mention, one of the bean varieties in the blend is cranberry beans. I've never had a cranberry bean. Have you?

Look at the price of the generic version! The organic beans were a better deal.

Have you ever made fish stock? It's a pain in the butt. Many of these went into my cart. I live in New England after all. Chowder is a staple in these here parts.

I heart Better Than Bouillon. Big Love.

$1.75 for flax seed? Bargain!

Now you'll most likely chuckle over this one. We all have French's coming out the bottom, right? But here's the thing, I like really good mustard. There is nothing like a sandwich with spicy brown mustard, but at $3.50+ I rarely buy it. At 50% off, I will.

Grey Poupon for $1.71? Awesome! That's some good stuff!

I've never tried Maille. Sure looks fancy pants. It even had a coupon attached. $1.25 for fancy pants mustard is exciting stuff.

After filling my cart up with all of these amazing finds, I grabbed my popcorn deal and off I went to checkout. I was so excited about my deals that I didn't mentally prepare myself for the checkout total.

I don't know about you, but I have a good idea of what my total should be before I roll up to the register. And in my mind, that total was to be around $20.00. Whenever the cashier said $95.00, I about had a heart attack.

Are you sure? I said incredulously. That can't be right. But as I looked at the conveyor belt overflowing with good deals, I realized that it was indeed correct.

Sometimes stockpiling can be expensive if you get too excited over a deal. It's sort of like shopping at a club store. You go in expecting to spend $30 or so, but if you get side tracked for even a moment, you end up paying $100+. It's crazy how that happens.

Even though my end total was so much higher than what I'd normally spend, I got some really great products that rarely have coupon deals. So I am very happy overall, but I will admit that I damn near hacked up a fur ball when I heard the total.

Have you ever been taken by surprise at the register?

Recipes from The Coupon Goddess Cooks

2012-02-08T10:36:00.000-08:00

As promised, here are the recipes from today's The Coupon Goddess Cooks show which was hosted by The Motherhood. Like I said yesterday, the whole point of the show is to give you some ideas on what to do with some of the products we can get for free or discounted with coupons.

The two products featured today, Nasoya and Johnsonville, both have coupon campaigns going on right now and are on sale in many stores. I used both products as the base for a delicious Asian inspired meal.

If you watched the end of the show, you'll notice that I tossed in a bonus recipe for the new Nasoya noodles. Those Nasoya noodles are yummy.

Easy Ginger Pork Pot Stickers

1 pkg Johnsonville Pork and Chicken sausage
1 pkg Nasoya egg roll or wonton wrappers
1 cup mushrooms, finely chopped
1/2 cup water chestnuts, finely chopped
3 scallions diced
2 garlic cloves minced
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp ginger, freshly grated
water for sealing

Remove sausage from casings. Cook in a large pan over medium heat for a few minutes. Add all other ingredients. (except water) Cook for five minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool enough to work with.

Take a wrapper and fill with enough meat that when the wrapper folds over, it isn't bulging. Otherwise it will split. Using your fingertip, dip it in the water and run your finger around the edge of the wrapper. Fold the wrapper over and press to seal. Do this for all of the pot stickers.

In a large skillet, heat three tablespoons of water. Place pot stickers in the pan and cook for a couple of minutes on each side. Just long enough to cook the dough. Remove from skillet. Wipe skillet clean and add two tablespoons of vegetable oil. Put pot stickers back in and cook over medium-high heat until each side is golden. They will brown quickly.

Scallion Lime Long Grain Rice

2 cups water
1 cup long grain rice
3 scallions, finely diced
1 tsp lime zest
the juice of 1/2 lime
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp sugar
2 tsp rice vinegar

Cook rice according to package directions. In a small bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients. Add to fully cooked rice. Mix until incorporated.

The Coupon Goddess Cooks On The Motherhood

2012-02-07T10:49:00.000-08:00

I'm sure you've noticed the heavy emphasis on cooking here at TCG lately. The reason for this is that I'm starting a cooking show which is going to be aired on The Motherhood tomorrow at 1:00pm ET. Pretty exciting stuff.

My goal for the show is to teach people how to use products that we get with coupons and turn them into a delicious dish that the whole family can enjoy. So often I hear people say that they would buy products if they only knew what to do with them. And that's where I step in. To provide some inspiration on what to do with this stuff we get with our coupons.

Because I love you so much, I'm giving you a sneak peek at my ingredients for tomorrow. Easy Ginger Pork Pot Stickers with Scallion Lime Long Grain Rice. Sound good to you? I sure hope so.

Be sure to watch the show tomorrow to pick up some good tips and come back here for the actual recipes after. Wish me luck! Oh, and do me a favor.... no one say break a leg. Crazier things have happened. :)

The Not So Super Bowl

2012-02-06T06:54:00.000-08:00

First of all, forgive the quality of the photos in this post. They are all iPhone photos and shot in the evening. Never a good combination. Sort of like last night. The Patriots and the Giants. Not a good combination.

You'll also notice that there are no pictures of the guys in this post. That's because I didn't think bulging veins and gaping mouths would be something you'd like to see. I also thought about grabbing my Flip camera for a little Youtube action, but quickly put it away when the guys started screaming in anguish. Instead, I retreated to the kitchen. It's safer there.

Before the game, I asked each kid what they'd like for Super Bowl snacks. And for the most part they kept it simple, except Shannon who wanted cocktail shrimp. There's always one kid in the family with champagne taste, but we have two of them.

Shannon and Michael are the reason why we don't go out to eat very often. One would order the shrimp scampi, the other the filet Oscar, and we'd get a $200.00 bill. Once again, it's much safer in my kitchen.

The one dish I made for myself was this thing of beauty. None of the kids thought they'd like it, but they quickly changed their minds after one scoop on a pita chip. This is going to be a permanent addition to my appetizer repertoire. It really was that good.

But the star of the show? The MVP of the game? These bars. Holy smokes were they fantastic. There's nothing light about them with two cups of peanut butter, two cups of honey, sugar, and a ton of Rice Krispies in the mix, BUT they blow away the traditional Rice Krispies treats.

So, the Pats lost. I will say that it was an excellent game to watch. It really was. Yes, we lost, but it was tooth and nail the entire time. That's the kind of game I like best. Of course winning would've been nice, but it wasn't meant to be.

Congratulations to all my readers who are Giants fans. You have good reason to celebrate. Good game my friends.

Slow Cooked Pulled Garlic Ginger Pork

2012-02-04T09:29:00.000-08:00

Do you have a crock pot? To be honest with you, I've never been a huge fan of the appliance. Yes, I pull it out on occasion, especially when I'm entertaining a crowd. It keeps food hot and it holds a ton of food.

I've made the occasional batch of spaghetti sauce in it and of course there's soup. Crock pots are pretty excellent for soup. But that's about the extent of the foods I've cooked in the crock pot. The reason for this being that I find foods cooked in a crock pot are sort of stewy. Water logged. Soggy. Bleck.

I know I represent the minority when it comes to my meh feelings about the crock pot. The whole world seems to be in love with it. There are many websites dedicated to the beloved crock pot and everywhere I go, people are going on and on about the wonderful meals they are making with it.

After taking part in a recent chat about crock pot cooking, I decided to give it another try. But this time without a recipe to follow. Just my own instincts of what I thought could work. A science experiment, if you will.

I was curious to see if I could slow cook an entire hunk of meat without drowning it in a sea of liquid. I wondered if the meat would just fall apart due to the hours and hours of slow heat. It works on a grill, so I figured it could work in the slow cooker as well.

Yes, I've cooked chicken successfully in the crock pot, but that too came out stewy. This time I decided to try a whole pork loin. Pulled pork has always been a favorite of mine, but for this dish I wanted an Asian version of pulled pork. Have you ever had Mu Shu Pork? That's what I was thinking of when I came up with this.

I bought a big ole pork loin roast. I chose a bone in roast because it was clearanced. $7.00 for a four pound roast. I can live with that.

I sprinkled kosher salt all over the roast and then a few cranks of fresh ground black pepper.

Then I smeared a mixture of lite soy sauce, grated ginger, garlic, and sesame oil all over it.

I poured 3/4 cup of water into the bottom of my crock pot, just in case. I didn't want to burn the house down with my experiment. It wasn't much liquid and I figured it would evaporate.

The cover went on and it sat like that the entire day. Nine hours to be exact.

Seven hours into it, I flipped the roast over and scraped at the meat to see if it was loose yet. It was starting to fall off the bone. The meat itself made a lovely liquid which I worried would make it stewy. I worry a lot.

Another two hours later, I realized I worried over nothing. It was fall apart perfect. Not soupy, stewy or water logged. Just tender pieces of pork and a house that smelled like a Chinese food restaurant. Minus the red leather booths and the chopsticks.

A sprinkle of scallions and sesame seeds really made this something special. And this could have been just perfect ladled over rice. Really, you could just stop with this and be very happy. But why stop there?

I found this sauce at Trader Joe's. Just a little bit poured on top of the meat adds another layer of flavor.

Are you drooling yet?

Sure, you could ladle this goodness over rice, but do you want to know what's even better? Homemade Mu Shu pancakes. They are so easy to make. I pinky swear.

If you love bean sprouts as much as I do, toss them onboard too. It gives it a lovely crunch!

Slow Cooked Pulled Garlic Ginger Pork

1 3-4 pound pork loin roast (note, this makes a lot of pork, two meals later we are still eating it)
1/4 cup lite soy sauce
2 Tbsp sesame oil
8 garlic cloves, pressed
2 Tbsp ginger, grated (use fresh)
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
3/4 cup water for bottom of slow cooker

In a mixing bowl, combine soy sauce, oil, garlic, and ginger. Set aside. Sprinkle salt over meat, and follow with some good cranks of fresh ground black pepper. Rub soy mixture all over meat to coat.

Pour water into crock pot. Place roast into crock pot and cook over low heat for seven hours. At the seven hour mark, flip the roast over and pull at meat to separate whatever is ready to fall off the bone. Pour some of the liquid over the top of the meat. Cover and allow to cook for another two hours.

At the nine hour mark, take two forks and shred the meat. The meat should completely fall apart.

Serve over rice or with homemade Mu Shu pancakes. Garnish with scallions, bean sprouts and sesame seeds. Enjoy!

Vicks To The Rescue Giveaway!

2012-02-02T10:57:00.000-08:00

Has the ick invaded your house yet this winter? Ick as in a hacking cough, green drippy nose, and even worse, the dreaded fever? As a Mom, it's one of my biggest struggles. It's no fun at all to see your little ones suffering. And while the cold and flu season is hard to avoid, there are some good tools to assist you with caring for your kids.

Recently, I had the opportunity to check out the latest Vicks products. When I think of Vicks, I think of Vicks Vapor Rub. My Mom used to slather that stuff all over me when I had a cold. Vicks and chicken noodle soup. I remember them hand in hand.

Years later, Vicks has added some cool new products to their line which are a must have for every home. The Vicks Starry Night Cool Moisture Humidifier (ARV $54.99) not only offers moisture to help combat congestion, but a projector that transforms your child's bedroom ceiling into a star filled sky. Useful and comforting. How cool is that?

Vicks also offers the Behind Ear Gentle Touch Thermometer with Fever InSight (ARV $29.84) which gives you a professional, accurate reading that is less invasive and easier to use on a sick and fussy child.

The behind the ear technology gives you a reading in just one second. A very helpful feature for when your kid is most likely not going to want to stay still for you to take their temperature.

While you may not be able to kiss away all of the sniffles and coughs, you can use tools like these to make things a little easier on your little one. For more information on these products, be sure to visit Vicks.

Want to win them? Vicks has offered both the Starry Night Cool Mist Humidifier and the Behind Ear Gentle Touch Thermometer with Fever InSight as a giveaway for one of my readers.

To enter this giveaway, comment on this post by leaving your first name, last initial, the state you are from and your best tip for keeping your child comfortable during cold and flu season. Entries must be received by Thursday, February 9th 11:59pm ET. Good luck!

Disclosure:
Vicks sent me the same products in order to facilitate my review. All opinions are my own.

Advertising Fail

2012-02-02T06:36:00.000-08:00

While I was out and about last night, I passed by this sign. And while it seems like an awesome freebie, I sure would've liked to have known about it the day before.

Winner!

2012-02-02T06:33:00.000-08:00

Kathy E. from Enfield CT is the lucky winner of the baking goodies! Congrats Kathy! Please send your mailing info to thecoupongoddessblog@yahoo.com. Thank you all for entering.

Game Day Virtual Cooking Class at Cooking Connections

2012-02-01T18:07:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, February 2nd at 1:00pm ET, The Motherhood is hosting a virtual cooking class called Game Day and Slow Cooker Recipes. This is a class that I'm looking forward to because I really want to use my slow cooker more often. And with the big game coming up, it's the perfect time to pull it out! Here's a little description about the class:

Get ready - and hungry - for Game Day! Cold weather and football puts us in the mood for some tasty slow cooker recipes. Join us to share your favorites and be inspired by suggestions from others!

Celebrity chef George Duran will host a live demonstration of a slow cooker recipe from the website Ready Set Eat while viewers have the chance to chat and ask questions via text.

The class is sponsored by Readyseteat.com and Conagra Foods, and is hosted by The Motherhood. You can get and share suggestions for crowd pleasing halftime recipes during this class and turn to recipe website Readyseteat.com for more quick and easy meal ideas.

Come join the fun and be inspired to try some new recipes for your big game day party!

Kitchen Therapy

2012-02-01T07:35:00.000-08:00

As much as I love to coupon, I love to cook even more. There's something beautiful about the possibilities of an egg, a mountain of flour, and some chocolate.

I've never considered myself the creative type. Put a glue gun in my hand and run for cover.

But give me a baking sheet and an hour alone. Not only does it calm my soul, the whole family benefits. Win-win.

Michael came home from school the other day and found this pain au chocolat waiting on the counter. What's up with the baking he asked?

My kids know that I'm not necessarily baking because I'm working on recipe development for a sponsor or baking for the school bake sale. They know that it's my self soothing technique.

Sure there are other self soothing techniques, but since it's not socially acceptable for an adult to walk around sucking on a binky, I'll stick with cooking.

There's only one problem with this type of self help. The kitchen aftermath is quite formidable. And even though the kids love to eat my creations, they sure disappear quickly when it comes time to wash the dishes. Funny how that happens.

A Peek Into My Cart

2012-01-31T18:54:00.000-08:00

It's the last day of the month. The last day to use any good coupons that expire on 1/31 and also the last day to print any coupons from coupons.com before they flip to the February offerings.

Like every other last day of the month, you can usually find me at Walmart. That's where I redeem my high value coupons if I haven't found a deal elsewhere by the end of the month. This is what I picked up today...

I was kicking myself over this one. If I wasn't so pooped, I would've redeemed this at BJ's Wholesale. It would've been a better value there. But a buck for apple juice is still a pretty decent deal.

$1.38 for Cabot cheese is pretty stellar. We love Cabot.

This will save my butt some night. A pizza in the freezer is Mom's ace in the hole.

This is one pricey little drink without coupons. $2.68 before coupon. .68 after. I would never pay $2.68 for this. It was good, but not worth that kind of money. I drank it on the way home which is pretty ironic since I stopped at McDonald's for lunch. I'm thinking the Sambazon people wouldn't be impressed since it's a health drink and all.

I'm curious to see how the kids like this. For .99 I thought we'd give it a try.

You can never, ever have enough butt wipes.

You can also never have enough napkins. Especially if they are free.

After I finished my shopping, I stopped at McDonald's. I've done so well on my diet and exercise plan that I thought it would be ok to indulge in a little treat. Have you tried the McBites yet? Holy yum. And at 310 calories for the snack size, I didn't feel terribly guilty. What I really wanted was the regular, bring on the chow size, but I was a good girl.

To further tempt me, Shamrock Shakes are back. I was shocked to see this because I thought that they only came out in March. Sadly, I didn't have enough calories left to indulge in my favorite shake, but you better believe I'll be sucking one of these down in the not too distant future.

I thought I'd leave you with a smiling, happy picture of me today. After my last post, half of my family and most of my friends called, texted, emailed, or Facebooked me, worrying that I was teetering on the edge of the sanity cliff. I'm fine. We all have our rough days and this past weekend I had two of them.

How about you? What are you after in the stores this week? I also hit Rite Aid today, but CVS seems to be where it's at this week. Did you find any treasure?

I'm Not Martha

2012-01-29T10:08:00.000-08:00

Some time ago, Jeff chided me over a blog post I had written. Not that it was anything really controversial, and honestly I can't remember what the topic was. I even think he said it in jest, but it really got to me. "They think you're Martha Stewart." Oh please, I said. I'm no Martha.

Maybe it was a post about the kids, in which case I made sure they looked somewhat clean and presentable. Truth be told, they are usually a mess from running around outside, or there's jam stuck to their cheeks, and half the time their bottoms are falling off because they Never. Stop. Moving.

Or it could've been a recipe post of some marvelous dinner or dessert I'd made that day. But let me assure you, there are days that the best I can do is make a box of Mac-N-Cheese with a side of chicken nuggets. No veggies at all. Because as important as it is to me that my kids eat well, life happens. Time has a way of killing the best of my intentions.

And even though I save a tremendous amount of money using coupons, occasionally I'll buy a full price steak just because I want to eat it. Cravings also have a way of messing with my intentions. I have moments of weakness. It's true.

That woman I present myself as? The positive, happy, spirited, snarky, me that you've gotten to know? Yup, that's part of me, but there's another side as well. I get discouraged. I cry. Actually, I cry a lot.

Lately it's been mostly over parenting issues. Maybe I look like super mom to you, but that isn't the case. I have two special needs kids that give me a run for my money. I have teens who keep me up at night worrying about their futures. I worry enough for both of my teens because I feel like they don't worry enough for themselves. Crazy, huh?

If you think I'm good at couponing and cooking, you'd be even more impressed with my skills at worrying. I'm an expert worrier.....

Will my kids grow up to be successful adults? What is successful?

Where am I going and how will I know when I get there?

Did I leave any type of favorable mark on the world (boy did I think on this 7 months ago in the hospital)?

Is my blog worth continuing? Does it even matter? (don't panic, all bloggers feel like this now and again)

Will I ever fit in my size 8 jeans again?

Will my kids ever learn to chew with their mouths closed? Eat with their elbows off the table? And what is so hard about putting the damn napkin on the lap? God, I hope they are civilized at other people's houses.

Are the kids trading their lunches for Twinkies?

Will Kraft cheese ever go on sale again?

Did I see a new wrinkle on my left eye this morning? What is that bump on my left butt cheek?? It wasn't there yesterday, was it?

When will I be able to walk on the sidewalk again? Spring is coming. I'm going to have to face this phobia or I'll never have a normal life again.

So, you see, not only am I not perfect, I'm not even close to normal. Today I'm supposed to be out coupon shopping like I do every other Sunday morning. It's part of my routine. But today I had a rough start.

Family issues, commitments, and other things that prohibited me from leaving the house this morning. All the while I was worried that I wouldn't have a Sunday couponing post up for you. And I guess that's a good thing. To show you that I'm not as together as you may think. Not by a long shot.

I'm not Martha. So please, keep that in mind when you see those beautiful food pics, those neat well dressed kids, all the products I get deals on, my smiling face. That it's only one slice of my life. One glimpse at that moment in time.

Know that there are tears, fears, and mistakes that are also part of this life I lead. Blogs have a way of making everything look glossy, don't they? Don't let that fool you. Behind every beautiful blog, there is a real person with real problems. I just wanted to make sure you know that.

Friday Night At The Mart

2012-01-28T08:32:00.000-08:00

Last night I had a couple of hours to kill while Michael was at his school dance. The drive to and from school is far enough that it didn't make any sense to go back and forth. Not to mention, I had a bunch of those awesome $3/3 Nabisco coupons which were set to expire yesterday, and I would've cried if I let those go to waste.

So, I decided to spend my Friday night at Walmart. Yes, I'm well aware that there is something very, very wrong with that. Terribly wrong. But I was encouraged to see other parents just like me, pushing their carts around with glazed over eyes, most likely wondering how they got there too.

As I strolled around the store, I spied a bunch of balloons floating above several aisles which were jam packed with toys and Christmas merchandise. Bright red balloons emblazoned with the word clearance, which is a festive word indeed. All stores should have balloons floating above clearanced merchandise. It certainly is a reason to celebrate.

Now, you'd think that if they took the time to make balloons for a clearance event, it would be something to write about. And considering it's a full month past Christmas, the deals should be amazing to clear the crap off the shelves. You would think, anyway.

But as it turns out, the rows of clearanced toys weren't even 50% off. Most were marked 25% off. And the Christmas merchandise that hit 90% off at Target forever ago? 50% off at Walmart.

Walmart could really learn a thing or two from Target. Don't you think?

But to be totally fair, there were a few good deals to be had. While checking out the toy aisle, I stumbled across this horn mounting kit. Now, I live in suburbia, mind you. And yes, I've seen a couple deer in these here parts, but nothing with antlers that would warrant mounting. Maybe this is why it's on clearance.

That said, I think this would make an excellent men's protective cup. It's even flocked. It could be the next greatest fashion trend. C'mon, look at it. Tell me that doesn't scream protective cup. You know it does.

Right next to the flocked cup I found a clearanced blood tracker, which made me acutely aware of how pathetic my life has become as I stood there on a Friday night, in Walmart, under clearance balloons, wondering not only what the hell someone would do with this, but why it was sitting next to a display of Zhu Zhu pets.

So, that was my Friday night. It doesn't get much better than that, does it?