Thursday, March 29, 2012

Lone Star Steakhouse Coupon

For a limited time, you can "like" Lone Star Steakhouse on Facebook and access a $10 off a $20 purchase coupon.  I think this is a perfect excuse to go to Lone Star sometime soon...

http://www.facebook.com/lonestarsteakhouse/posts/10150667136393778?sk=nf#!/lonestarsteakhouse/app_375969242435820

Spend Time Bowling with Your Family and Save Money

For a limited time, you can score a $20 gift card to Herrin Bowl for only $10. There is a limited number of offers available, so hurry!  My kids love to go to Herrin Bowl, and we have used this deal before when it was available.  Herrin Bowl offers an alcohol-free, family-friendly environment.

http://thesouthern.upickem.net/r/8pERbCmX7ts

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Dark Chocolate Carrot Cupcakes

I came up with this recipe after finding shredded carrots on clearance for only 25 cents a bag.  Freezing carrots from the produce section of the grocery store when they are on clearance is a good way to save money.  Not only do they work well in stir fry and other recipes, I can throw them into a food processor and sneak them into some tasty cupcakes...

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Icing


Cupcake Ingredients:
2 cups shredded carrots
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup dark chocolate cocoa powder (or regular if you don't have dark chocolate...)
1 teaspoon sea salt (or whatever salt you prefer)
1 teaspoon garam masala (Indian spice blend)
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a cupcake pan with paper or foil liners.  Mix dry ingredients together and add the wet ingredients.  Fill cupcake liners 1/2 to 2/3 full and bake approximately 17 minutes.  Baking time may vary with oven and altitude.  Cupcakes are done when a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.  Allow cupcakes to cool before icing.

Icing Ingredients:
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar
1 medium container of whipped cream cheese
approximately 3 cups of powdered sugar (add as much as needed for desired stiffness)
1/2 to 1 whole vanilla bean (you will only use the inside seeds from the vanilla bean--if you don't have a vanilla bean, you may substitute a teaspon of vanilla extract)

Directions:
Beat cream and sugar until peaks form.  Scrape the insides of the vanilla bean with a knife (insides will resemble very fine coffee grounds) and put into the mixture.  Add remaining ingredients one at a time, beat each one into the icing.  Add as much powdered sugar as needed for desired stiffness needed for your chosen decorating technique.  Fill a parchment triangle or pastry bag with icing and pipe icing onto each cupcake in a spiral beginning at the center. 

Garnish:
Use a vegetable peeler to create small shavings or curls of chocolate, such as a dark chocolate candy bar and sprinkle over each cupcake.

Tip:
Don't just throw away the vanilla bean after you have scraped out the insides.  Place it into a smaller container of sugar to gradually flavor the sugar. 



Tuesday, March 20, 2012

From Day Old Bread to Pizza Subs...

I needed a quick dinner the other night.  So, I checked my freezer for inspiration. Fortunately, I keep a stash of frozen day old bread from grocery clearance carts. I thawed out my bolillo bread rolls, cut each in half lengthwise, and placed them onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. While I preheated the oven to 350 degrees Fairenheit, I made a quick pizza sauce by simmering tomato sauce, a healthy shake of the Tupperware Simple Indulgence Italian Seasoning, a few fennel seeds, about 2 teaspoons of sugar, a pinch of sea salt, and a bit of garlic powder. Then I spread my pizza sauce onto the bread halves and sprinkled each half with mozzarella cheese. I put mushrooms on a couple of the halves (only my portion as the kids won't touch them...) and topped each half with pepperoni. I baked The pizza sub halves just until the cheese melted. Once they were out of the oven, I put the halves together.  Not bad for saving time and money.  To make six pizza subs, I used a $1.00 package of bolillo rolls, two 33 cent cans of tomato sauce, about half a bag of mozzarella cheese that cost around $2.00 on sale, a can of 59 cent mushrooms, and a package of $1.00 pepperoni.  Final cost:  under $1.00 per pizza sub. 

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Don't Throw Away Free Food!

The next time you pick up fast food, don't just throw the receipt away.  Check it first to see if you can complete a quick survey for free food.  I've seen these most often on some receipts for Sonic, Arby's, and Burger King.  Surveys are usually available online and sometimes by phone and provide you with a validation code or coupon at completion.  They usually only take a couple minutes to complete and are worth the effort if it will get you a free drink or food.  I especially like the receipts that print randomly at Sonic for a free Route 44 drink that would normally cost a couple dollars.  Arby's offers a free value shake or turnover, and Burger King offers a free Whopper or chicken sandwich.  There may be a limit to how many times you can get the validation code during a period of time, so read any fine print.

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Sunday, March 11, 2012

Walgreens Paper Products on Sale This Week

If you time buying Tuf brand paper towels and Big Roll toliet paper with the Walgreens sales, this is your week...  This week, you can get 2 rolls of the Big Roll toliet paper for $1.00 and 4 rolls of the Tuf paper towels for $2.00 without a coupon.  I've found that one Big Roll of toliet paper tends to last as long in my family as one of the 4 packs of store brand or generic toliet paper.   I also like that each roll is individually wrapped and easy to stack for storage.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Fresh Pineapple and Sweet Mini Peppers

Last night, I went Krogering and found some awesome produce markdowns.  The Sweeties brand of mini sweet peppers were marked down to only $1.79 a bag when they normally run around $4.00.  This is awesome because I can use them in salsas, freeze some, make fajitas, or even stuff them with something.  The Costa Rican pineapple was also on sale for only $1.99.  Fresh grilled pineapple with some homemade vanilla bean whipped cream is wonderful stuff.  I also found some 1% half gallons of milk marked down to 99 cents...  Overall, it was a pretty productive shopping trip. 

Since I now have a fresh pineapple, I'm going to post one of my cake recipes that uses fresh pineapple...













Guanabana-Pineapple Cream Cake with Orange Vanilla Bean Icing and Sugared Rose Petals
Cake Ingredients:
1 box of white cake mix (and ingredients required except water)

1 can of guanabana juice (such as Jumex)

--you could also use the same process with another type of juice and cake mix

Directions: Prepare cake mix according to directions except substitute the

guanabana juice instead of water.

--use two 8 inch round pans (or another geometric shape) or one 10 inch cake pan

--if you use one pan instead of two, you will have to tort the cake once it is

completely cool.

--freeze the layers to allow for easier assembly and icing

Filling and Icing Ingredients:

half of a fresh pineapple, chopped

the remainder of the guanabana juice

approx. 2 tblsp sugar (or to taste) for the filling

2 cups of heavy whipping cream

the insides of half a vanilla bean

approx 1/4 cup sugar

1 small container of whipped/easy spread cream cheese

the juice of half of an orange

 

Directions:
Saute the pineapple over low heat, stirring as needed, with the

remainder of the guanabana juice and 2 tblsp. of sugar. Allow to cool. Then in a

deep bowl, mix the heavy cream, half of the 1/4 cup sugar, and the vanilla bean

insides until whipped cream consistency. Take approximately a fourth of the

whipped cream mixture and fold into the sauted pineapple once the pineapple has

cooled. To the remaining whipped cream, add the other half of the sugar, the

orange juice, and whipped cream cheese. Mix until desired icing consistency.

Sugared Rose Petals:

Ingredients:

organic rose petals (w/out any spray, etc. on them,) washed & dried on a paper

towel

butter flavored cooking spray, or similar

sugar

Directions: Spray both sides of each petal and dredge in the sugar. Allow to

dry/harden overnight. These may be frozen for quite some time for use later.

Assembly:

Place bottom layer of cake on a cake board or serving plate. Evenly spread the

pineapple cream mixture over the layer. Then place the other layer on top. Frost

with the icing and decorate with the sugared rose petals.

 

 

Costa Rican pineapple works well. It is easy to chop in the Tupperware Quick

Chef--much easier that way than by knife or having to clean a food

processor.

 

 

 

 

 





A Penny Saved...

Last Saturday, I got to attend the "A Penny Saved Mini Conference" at my church.  Two of my friends, Renee Furlow and Tracy Lake, shared their knowledge of saving money through couponing and household cleaning and food mixes that can be made for pennies on the dollar.  I even got to speak about the different ways you can save money over time by using various pieces of Tupperware instead of disposable bags and containers.  For a nominal price, the event even included a delicious baked potato bar and salad for lunch.  As their teaching style allowed lots of input from those of us in the class, we were all able to learn tips and tricks from each other. 

Tracy presented us each with folders containing a multitude of couponing basics and tips.  I learned so much I hadn't realized before about price matching and even how to tell if a coupon can be doubled or not.  Although I had to leave early to attend my daughter's dance team performance, I'm told that Renee had some awesome ideas for homemade mixes in the style of Hamburger Helper as well as homemade cleaning supplies that really work.  I've heard that her recipe for homemade laundry detergent that smells good and last for a year was absolutely awesome! 

Renee and Tracy are considering teaching this mini workshop at other locations within reasonable travel distance from Southern Illinois.  ( Well, for now anyway...maybe they could eventually be persuaded to travel farther.)  Please let me know at couponstocupcakes@gmail.com if you are interested in booking them and I will pass the message on to them. 

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Guava Nectar: A Pantry Favorite

For quite some time, I've been using the cans of Jumex Guava Nectar that I've been able to find at Kroger and Walmart for less than 50 cents a can.  On a recent trip to a Dollar Tree store, I was very excited to find the boxed (larger than the cans) of Jumex Guava Nectar.  If you are not familiar with Dollar Tree stores, all of their items cost one dollar or less.

So what exactly does one do with guava nectar?  Lots of things... One of my tricks to making better tasting cake from a mix is to substitute guava nectar (or another fruit juice) for the water.  I also like to use it in marinades/brines.  Some of the best homeade baked ribs I've done yet were marinated overnight in a brine of sorts made with guava nectar.  I boiled a box of guava nectar with equal parts of water that contained some sea salt, brown sugar, freshly cracked pepper, and cumin seeds until the salt disolved.  Then I cooled it down quickly with some ice and poured it over my prepped spare ribs in my Tupperware Season 'N Serve.  After the ribs marinated, I dried them off and rubbed them with my Smokey Sweet Sand before baking.  I've also used guava nectar with pork steaks and chicken. 

Jumex also makes other nectar that's pretty good and can be used the same way.  I'm somewhat partial to the guava nectar, but I do sometimes use the mango and guanabana nectars.  At Walmart, I've found the cans in the juice section of the store.  In Kroger, they are usually by the Mexican food.  I believe they were by other juices at Dollar Tree.



Pictured:  Jumex Mango Nectar--the Guava Nectar comes in the same type of box. 

Thursday, March 1, 2012

About Coupons to Cupcakes

From coupons to cupcakes, and lots of things in between, this blog is dedicated to what I refer to as culinary stewardship.  Stewardship basically means taking responsibility for something that has been entrusted to you.  Culinary, of course, refers to food.  Put the two together, and you get culinary stewardship.  I believe that I have a responsibility to make the most out of the resources God has given to me. 

Cooking is a passion of mine.  As a single mom, I see it as a creative outlet since my hobbies have to be functional (We have to eat, right?) to have time for my family, work, and other responsibilities.  I see couponing (small scale--nothing too "extreme") as another functional hobby.

I will likely post a link to my prior blog, maracuya87, as it has posts on ideas for saving money and preparing food.  Some of my favorite recipes, such as the Fire and Ice Ceviche and Dark Chocolate Carrot Cupcakes, may find there way onto the Coupons to Cupcakes blog as well...