February Total Costs

Here are the totals for February.  We can keep track of the costs of the meals too, so if one seems to be consistently more expensive, we can choose to eliminate it.  Not too shabby though for our first round and for having only 1 week to prepare!!  It can only get better from here!

 

(Click on the image to see it larger)

First Exchange

Well, how do you think we did for our first go around???  I for one thought it was SUPER fun!!  It was like Halloween for grown ups! 

If you have any suggestions as to how we can make it better/easier for next month, leave a quick comment.  Thanks so much for all your hard work!!  I can't wait to get chowin' down!!

Meeting Notes 2/20

We made a few key decisions at our first meeting.  Here is a brief synopsis of what we discussed.

• We will be choosing 3 meals at a time to prepare over the next few months.  This will give us an opportunity to keep our costs low by watching and buying ingredients when they are on sale.

• We will have a $60 cap to the dollar amount of the meals you are preparing.  Do your best to make it as cheap as possible (the whole point of this group), but in rare occasions you can spend a little more on meats, etc.  Should be around $50 each meal, but no more than $60.

• You will email Jen (jcrewmommy@cox.net) on the last Monday of the month your total amount spent.  

• Jen will email you on Wednesday how much you will owe or be refunded at the exchange.  If you owe, please bring exact change in cash since the amounts will zero out at the end.

• We will meet to exchange meals on the last Thursday of each month at 8pm at the Topaz Chapel on Pebble and Topaz.

• Everyone will have authorship on this blog.  Please make comments under the recipes if they took a long time to prepare, if there were some ingredients that didn't work out, or if something didn't freeze very well.  

• We will put polls up for each recipe for the month and you can vote on whether or not we will keep that recipe in our "recipe box" or if it will be retired.  

• When adding recipes, please put a label on the post that begins: Recipe-blah, blah, blah.  This will make it easy for us to look up the recipe when we need it. 

Finding Great Deals

I thought I would put a little tutorial together on the best way to watch for the sales.  

Every Wednesday, the new ads come out for the grocery stores.  Go to www.grocerysmarts.com and put in my code g89cjm.  When you get the NV page, follow the red arrow to the store selection and choose "All In One".  This will pull EVERY list for NV, and will make it very easy to compare prices for different stores.  (Note: The Alphabetical Coupon Index is a great place to look and see if there are coupons for any of the ingredients you need, just click on that and start typing in your ingredient - pretty cool).

When you get to the All In One list, click the START button in the top right, then click on each store heading.  Then go back and look for the meat or other product you want to compare.  In this example, I was looking for prices on pork chops.  So, I selected each store's deal for pork chops.  Then clicked on the SHRINK button back at the top.  Now, I can clearly view all my options and see that Vons has the best deal this week so that's where I will get the meat (unless Costco or Sam's Club is somehow cheaper). 

Hopefully that helps you a little, so get your list together for the next few recipes you are preparing and watch the ads for great prices!  Happy Cooking!!

Peaches and Cream Stuffed Pork Chops

2 cup diced fresh peaches [1 cup]
4 Cornbread muffins - or 4 thick slices [2 muffins or 2 slice]
2/3 cup Ricotta Cheese [1/3 cup]
2/3 cup Sugar [1/3 cup]
2 egg, beaten [1 egg]
4 tsp minced onions [2 tsp]
1 tsp poultry seasoning [1/2 tsp]
1 tsp nutmeg [1/2 tsp]
8 pork loin chops 1" thick [4 chops]

Materials: 1 - 9x13 foil pan, tin foil to cover

ASSEMBLY [Half]
In a large bowl, mix peaches, muffins, ricotta cheese, sugar, egg, onion, poultry seasoning, and nutmeg.  Slice pork chops in  half to form a pocket.  Stuff a spoonful into each pork chop (you will have extra stuffing).  Press chops to close and place in 9x13 foil pan.  Sprinkle remaining stuffing and jam over pork chops.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

COOKING INSRUCTIONS
Defrost in refrigerator overnight.  Place chops in baking dish and top each chop with a tsp of peach jam. You can put the extra stuffing underneath the chops or bake it in a separate dish. Bake  at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

Canned Goods Sale

Hey ladies - Need canned veggies for one of your meals?  Alberstons has a promo on Del Monte canned vegetables that is running from 2/7 - 2/20.  You can earn a $1 Catalina when you buy 3-4 cans, $1.50 for buying 5, and when you buy 6 cans you get a $2 Catalina to use on your next purchase.  

The best way to take advantage of this would be to do a few transactions of 6 cans, and roll the Catalinas to pay for the next set of 6 cans.  Make sense?  AND don't forget to keep an eye out for coupons to add to this deal.  Right now, you can get a $1 off 4 coupon at this link.  You have to register for this one, but don't forget to print it a few times.  

Your transaction should look like this:  

6 Cans Del Monte Veggies = $6 (and some change depending on the price)

-$1/4 coupon

-$2 Catalina (from previous transaction)

TOTAL: $3 (+) for 6 cans!  Should be about 1/2 off... 

You can do this scenerio as many times as you have coupons.  Good Luck!

Pork Medallions with Pears

6 (or 1 1/2 lbs) 1 inch slices pork loin [3 or 3/4 lb]
2 cups yellow onions, thinly sliced [1 cup]
1 (15 oz) can pears with syrup [1/2 can]
2 tsp minced garlic [1 tsp]
1/4 cup dried cranberries [2 Tbsp]
1/2 cup white wine [1/4 cup]
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar [2 Tbsp]
1 Tbsp olive oil [1 1/2 tsp]
1 tsp dried thyme [1/2 tsp]
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg [1/8 tsp]
1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger [1/4 tsp]
1 tsp salt [1/2 tsp]
1 tsp pepper [1/2 tsp]

Materials: 1 large freezer bag

ASSEMBLY [Half Size]
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients (except pork loin) and mix until incorporated.  Place 6 pork loin slices, and bowl mixture into freezer bag, label, and freeze.

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS
Thaw in the refrigerator.  If you are using a baking dish, preheat oven to 325.  Cover the dish with foil and bake for 2 hours or until internal temperature of the pork reads 160 degrees on meat thermometer.  OR, place all ingredients in slow cooker on low heat for 5-6 hours or until pork is tender.