Dinner Revealed leads to eBay Rant

I made Crockpot Pot Roast.
Just cut your veggies; the traditional mire poix(celery, onions, carrots), red potatoes, mushrooms and red bell peper is what I used.
Throw them in your crock, salt and pepper your roast(or season whichever way you like it)& add the meat. Then pour in a can of a carbonated cola beverage. I would use a can of cane sugar JONES Soda but I didn't have any, so good ol' HFCS Pepsi has to do in a pinch.

Put the lid on, turn on the crockpot, and as my husband's relatives might say, "fuggettaboutit"!lol Seriously, let it cook all day.

When done, I hack the meat up into chunks, throw some of the onion in a pan to carmelize, then throw that on top of the meat. Make a roux with the juices and flour and seasoning and pour over the meat. Serve the veggies alongside and maybe a little crusty garlic bread or make some garlic masheds out of the potatoes you cooked. Mmmmm.
I made extra this time, so I have enough for Pot Roast Sandwiches, which will be a quick & easy dinner for Saturday.

After cleaning up from dinner I toddled back up to the grocery store and finished my cheese buying marathon. 48 blocks of cheese! Good grief.
It should last us oh.....3 weeks.lol Kidding......4 weeks. *snort*

I just looked at the new ad and I'll be able to use the leftover bacon Qs I didn't use a couple of weeks back when they were on sale there before. The Qs expire Saturday so I have a couple days if I can find any more room in the freezer. Heck, with the artic cold here I could just put them in the garage until spring but the Beagles would find a way to get it if I did that. Beagles never met a meat they didn't like and ours are no exception.lol

I still have to haul in the bags in the car from my CVS trip this week.
It's been quite busy around here between the oldest son's schedule for high school & college, his job and #2 son's 2 different band practices & daughter's play practice. Now I have to get the dr. to fit in appointments for the younger 2 for physicals for the track & field teams they want to join because practice starts Monday. At least no one wants to do baseball too!

I've GOT to get some more revenue coming in via eBay in I'm going to have any hope of getting somewhere near my Savings Goal Challenge. As with all other parts of the economy, eBay sales are really slumping. The Holidays season is good for making some money on eBay, but usually I have great success after the Christmas Holidays on there....people are flush with gift money and go out and buy what they want themselves, instead of spending it on gifts for others. I can say with authority that this winter has been the WORST for sales on eBay in the last 10 yrs. All the sellers that I have talked to are complaining. It just mirrors the real world and what is going on with the economy.

I just feel sorry for anyone who sells on eBay for their livelihood. It's turning into a buyer's market online. I've got things it would profit me more to just donate them and take a tax write-off than to sell them now. The fees just eat you up between auction management/picture services, eBay & paypal. And the shipping!....don't even go there. Shipping has gotten so high in the last few yrs. that I now have people leaving me Neutral feedback for something I have NO control over-shipping costs!
Simply.
Excellent.

And the international shipping rates! I realize that the USPS rates were so NOT commensurate with the private carrier rates & needed to go up but it has totally KILLED my overseas sales. When the dollar's value lowered against the euro before Christmas 2007, I saw a modest resurgence in sales from Europe but last spring when the USPS raised rates again, the overseas sales took a nosedive. This new package postal rate hike in Jan. finished off any business I had left.
Between the fees for postage and the spectre of customs fees that my overseas buyers have to worry about, it's just not worth it anymore to buy from US sellers on eBay for them.

I wonder how much longer until eBay goes belly up for good?

Egads, this turned into an eBay rant, didn't it?
Sorry....
It's late and I'm tired and cranky now. This temporary filling on my tooth hurts and now I've got to call the dentist and get it looked at asap.
Off to go find some oil of clove so I can get to sleep.

sluggy

Guess What's for Dinner?

Ok, anybody? I'll post a photo of the finished product later tonight with my recipe.

Today is the last day of the Weis/Mr.Z's grocery store sale. All the other grocery stores run sale ads from Sunday to Saturday, but this regional chain has to be different and run ads from Thursday to Wednesday. Go figure!

Anyway, like I posted a few days back, outside of a few ingredients I need for my meals, I am using the bulk of my food budget this week to stock up on things we use often.

Weis is running a sale on Heluva Good Cheese at $2 a block. Pretty decent price for cheese lately. I traded for Heluva Good coupons worth 50 cents off/1 when I saw the sale-50 coupons. The nice thing is Weis doubles everyday up to $1. So I've been buying cheese for $1 a block! We eat A LOT of cheese in this house as I have a 13 yr old Grilled Cheese addict living here. I also have freezer space to store large quantities.....so bring it on!

The problem is Weis only double 4 'like coupons' per order.....so I've had to make lots of trips to the store over the course of the week.

I try to go to the self check-out if I'm only getting the cheese. That way I can get 12 blocks & break up the purchases into separate transactions of 4 blocks of cheese each and get ALL the coupons doubled without hassling a cashier and holding up her line. The self check-outs around here are hardly ever used. People in this town are afraid of change so the idea of handling your own transactions without a cashier is weird to them.lol

The only bad thing about this cheese sale is the fact that the grocery store doesn't carry mozzarella cheese in this brand. Gee, I don't even know if they make mozzarella! If I could get mozzarella for $1 a block, I would have gotten 100 coupons.

Sluggy

Meal Plan Monday

Last week was a good one for the food budget. I used up a lot of foodstuffs I had on hand. I hope to do the same with this budget so I can concentrate on spending the bulk of the week's money on stocking up on sale items. The only items I'll need to buy for this menu are shrimp for the grits and some carrots & celery for the Pot Roast.

I do still need to come up with a monthly/weekly food budget for the year. I've never operated on a written down food budget in all my 26 yrs. of marriage. Even in the early lean years, hubby & I always ate well. We spent extra on food before most any other 'want'.
After Feb. is over, I'm sitting down with my Jan/Feb. receipts to see what our average monthly food costs are so far this yr.
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Here's what is on the Menu at Sluggy's house this week.

Monday-Pretzel Dogs, Macaroni Salad, Corn

Tuesday-Chicken Parmesan, Spinach Salad

Wednesday-Pot Roast with Roasted Vegetables & Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Thursday-Shrimp & Grits, Sauteed Cabbage

Friday-Tacos, Spanish Rice

Saturday-Pot Roast Sandwiches, leftover Macaroni Salad, New Pickles

Desserts for the Week-Lentil Brownies, Ice Cream

Organizing Junkie is the home to Menu Plan Monday. Go see what's on her and many other Home Cooks' Menus for the week at Organizing Junkie's website.





Sluggy

Chicken Wing Pizza

We had homemade Pizzas last week for one of our dinners. We hardly ever buy take-out pizza anymore. We find the quality of a homemade pie is so much better. Plus buying take-out pizza is somewhat limiting in topping choices for us. We are 5 different people here, with very different ideas of what tastes G-O-O-D. Oh, for the days of old, when the kids were little and Pepperoni and Cheese was good enough for them all!

And the cost of a good Take-out Pizza seems to be rising faster than the yeast in the dough.lol That use to be the lure of Pizza-it was cheap, quick & easy to eat. Now a pizza will cost you $10 and the frozen ones in the grocery stores are not much less than that!


Making pizza at home can be a most frugal of meals. If you don't have the time or bravery to make your crust from scratch & have a pizza parlor nearby, ask to buy a hunk of dough from them. Usually they will sell you a piece large enough for a couple of pies for $1 or so. If you have to, use a premade crust from the grocers. Boboli is pricey but there are other regional quality crusts a bit cheaper and just as good. Heck, grab a loaf of foccaccia at the grocers bakery dept. or your local bakery if you are blessed enough to live near one. If you have leftover pieces of other breads-english muffins, bagel halves, french bread chunks, etc. In a pinch, most any bread product can be used as your pizza base.

Don't buy premade jarred pizza sauce either. Save yourself some money here and make your own. Have you looked at what's in a can/jar of pizza sauce? All you need is a can of tomato paste, some italian herbs, garlic and a pinch of sugar. Dump the paste in a bowl, along with 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder & italian herbs to taste. Add enough water to the mix until you have the consistency of pizza sauce. You have just made pizza sauce! If you like your sauce chunky, add some diced or crushed tomato pieces, either canned or fresh.
Why pay double the price for something you already have the ingredients to make, that takes 1 minute of your time and costs so little?


You can top your pie with most anything you like. Be creative with your toppings. It's a great way to use up bits of produce or those couple of stray pieces of lunch meat in the fridge. Got a Hickory Farms beef stick laying around from a Holiday gift you got from your Uncle Bob? Slice it up and you've got a meat topping. 5 Mushrooms left in the produce bin?....marinate them for an hour in olive oil and balsamic vinegar and you've got gourmet sliced mushrooms for another topping. Sauteed onions or peppers are other tasty & cheap toppings.



At the family's request, I made Chicken Wing Pizza last week. It was a great hit!
Well, after they doused it with MORE hot sauce....YIKES!
Here's the recipe. It's not really chicken wings, but any chicken you have on hand. You can use fresh shredded breast meat or even breaded chicken like nuggets or filets. Just make sure it's cooked before putting on the pie. There is no tomato products in this pizza either so you don't even have to make your sauce. Just crack open a bottle of blue cheese salad dressing....or ranch will do in a pinch.



Chicken Wing Pizza
Makes 1 Large Pie


1 Pizza Shell or Dough to make 1 Shell
1 & 1/2 cups chicken-shredded, cut, torn up or diced
3/4 cup blue cheese dressing
1/8 cup Butter, melted
1/2 cup Hot Sauce
3/4 cup Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
Olive Oil
Bleu Cheese crumbles, Optional


Preheat over to 350 degrees.
Mix the Butter & Hot Sauce. Set aside.
Coat your pizza pan with Olive Oil. Place your shell or spread out your dough to cover the pan. Apply a 'glug' or two of oil on the top and rub into the shell.
Put chicken pieces into your butter/hot sauce mixture to coat.(If you like it real spicy, use more hot sauce in your mix.)
Spread blue cheese dressing evenly over your shell.
Arrange chicken pieces on your shell.
Layer Mozzarella cheese over your shell.
OPTIONAL-Sprinkle more Hot Sauce on top of pie. Sprinkle crumbled Bleu Cheese pieces on top of pie.

Cook in a preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, until lightly golden brown.

Pair with any Salad Greens splashed with a Vinaigrette Dressing and Mange!



Sluggy

Rite-Aid Weekend Goodies...OOP $1.76, for now

So I made 2 trips to Rite-Aid this weekend. It's a good thing the store is just down the road from me, huh?

I had a 2 day only, $5 off $20 coupon so I took it up on friday to build an order.

Transaction #1

Dishwasher Detergent reg. price $4.99

2 huge jars of dry roasted peanuts on sale Buy 1/Get 1 (reg. price $5.99)

4 Speed Stick Deodorants on sale for 4 for $9.00

Total with tax=$26.75

I used....

$5 off $20 Rite Aid coupon
Buy 1,Get 1 Free Peanuts $5.99
Free Certificate for 1 jar of Peanuts(value up to $5.00)
$1/2 Manu.Coupon Speed Stick Deodorants

Total $11 in coupons + $5.99 Rite Aid B1G1 sale



$26.75-$11-$5.99=$9.76


I used the $10 Gift Card from the Buy $25, get $10 back Kimberly Clark Deal at Rite-Aid in Jan, so NO OOP with 24 cents left on the GC.


PLUS, I get $2 for the Dishwasher Powder & $5 for the Deodorants in my RA Rebate check for Feb.



Transaction #2
This week(2/22-2/29)Soy Joy bars are 50 cents each at Rite Aid. Buy 10(for a $5 total) and you can get a $5 rebate in your Feb. rebate check. That's 10 FREE bars after rebate!


I also used a $3 off 10 bars coupon from one of the Jan. coupon inserts, so I paid $2 for 10 bars(20 cents a bar) and I'll get back $5 next month, making this deal better than free. It's like the store said, "Here, take these 10 bars and these 3 $1 bills....no charge!"lol

$5-$3 coupon-$.24 Gift card=$1.76 Out of Pocket.

Grand total....
$25.76 merchandise value(reg. price value of $45.61)
-$14.00 in coupons
-$10.00 on gift card
=$1.76 cash OOP +12.00 additional cash in my Feb. Rebate check

I figure I'm UP $10.24 on these 2 transactions.

Go check out the good deals the other Drugstore Divas are finding over at The "CENTS"SIBLE SAWYER!

sluggy