Best Buys this Week

Good Buys This Week - Sept. 1st

Fred Meyer Aug. 30 - Sept. 5

Beef Loin T-Bone Steak $4.77

Green Beans 99c/lb

Personal Watermelon 3/$5

12oz Fresh Express Salad 79c

Leaf Lettuce 99c

FM Hamburger/Hot Dog buns 39c (2)

Aqua Fresh Toothpaste 99c (2)

32oz Gatorade 88c
w/ ad coupon
Nabisco snack Crackers 4/$5 (4)

FM Butter 2/$3 (4)

FM 64oz Milk/ O J 10/$10 (10)

Bar-S Meat Hot Dogs 88c (6)

Sweet Baby Ray's Sauce 79c (3)

18lbs FM Charcoal Briquets $3.99 (2)

Kroger 2 lb Cheese 2/$7 (2)

Safeway
$10 Coupon off $50 Purchase (Food Day Ad) Sept 2 - 8

w/Store Card

RR Beef Loin T-Bone/NY Steak $4.77/lb
Whole Seedless Watermelon $2.88
Iceberg Lettuce 68c
32 oz Sobe/Gatorade 79c
Corn 3/$1
Hass Avocado 68c
Dreyer's Ice Cream 2/$5

w/ad coupon $5 off $20 Purchase of RR (Rancher's Reserve) beef item
w/$20 purchase Kraft Singles 99c (1)
10lb bag Russet Potatoes 99c (1)
10 lb Box Imported Pork Spareribs 99c/lb (3)

Thriftway

Vine Tomatoes 99c/lb
Hass Avocados 2/$1
Cantaloupe 39c/lb
Angus Beef T-Bone Steak , Advantage Pack $4.99/lb
Fresh Whole Fryers 79c/lb
Organic Celery 59c/lb
Zuchinis 79c/lb
Bell Peppers 2/$1
w/ad coupon Umpqua Ice Cream $2.99 (2)
16oz Tillamook Sour Cream 99c (2)
Lay's Potato chips, 10.5 - 11oz 2/$3 (2)
Darigold Butter $1.88 (2)
16oz Bar S Jumbo Franks 88c (2)

Fri-Mon sale
Thriftway/Western Family Gal Milk 3/$5 (3) W/coupon
Fresh Shrimp Meat $2.99/lb
38 oz Lemon Meringue Pie $3.99
Gala Apples 68c/lb

Haggen
Cantaloupe 33c/lb
Bananas 49c/lb
Med Hass Avocados 69c
Haggen 32 oz Mayonnaise/Salad Dressing $1.49
Haggen Butter $1.69
Franz selected Varieties Pan Bread $1.69
Fryer Drumsticks/Thighs 99c/lb

w/ad coupon Haggen lg AA Eggs 99c (2)

Best Buys this Week August 23-29

Fred Meyer Aug 23 - 29

Red/Green/Black grapes 88c/lb
Cucumber/Green Peppers 3/$1
Fred Meywe lg AA doz Eggs 5/$5
Mountain Dairy gal milk $1.99
80% lean 3# pkg Ground Beef $1.28/lb
Fryer Legs/Thighs 99c/lb
w/ad coupon
Bandon 2 # mild Chadder Cheese $4.99 (2)
Cottonelle Bath Tissue 12 double roll $4.99 (2)

Safeway Aug 26-Sept. 1

w/store card
Pork Loin Half Slied Rib 99c/lb
London Broil Beef $1.99/lb
Chicken Drum Sticks/Thighs 99c/lb
Wishbone 16 oz Salad Dressing 99c
Breyers Ice Cream 2/$5

Thriftway
Red/Green Grapes 99c/lb
Hot House Tomatoes 88c/lb
Leaf/Romaine Lettuce 69c/lb

w/$10 purchase & ad coupon
Yoplait Yogurt 39c (6)
Selected Franz Bread $2/$3 (2)

Fri-Sat
Bone-in Pork sirlion Chops 99c/lb
PersonalWatermeoln 2/$4
Dreyer's Ice Cream $1.99

Haggen
Pork Loin 1/2 sliced Ribs 99c/lb
Black/.Green Grapes 95c/lb
Gala Apples 85c/lb
Betty Crocker Cake Mix 88c

w/ad coupon Haggen lg Eggs 99c (2)

Healthy Cooking Class

This month we learned about making healthy choices with the foods we prepare and eat. Merilee Cameron taught the class and referenced the Word of Wisdom found in the Doctrine & Covenants. One way to eat healthier is to buy fruits and vegetables that are fresh which have more vitamins in them. Supporting your local Farmer's market is one way to get local fresh fruits and vegetables. There are two that are close to us.

You can go here to see the website for the Beaverton Farmer's market

SATURDAYS
5/9/09 - 10/31/09
8am - 1:30pm

WEDNESDAYS
6/17/09 - 8/26/09
3pm - 6pm

HARVEST MARKET
11/21/09
8am - 1:30pm

And here is the website for the Hillsboro Farmer's Market

Saturdays, May - October
8:00am to 1:30pm
Downtown Hillsboro

Sunday, May - October
10:00am to 2:00pm
Orenco Station

Here are some recipes for all of you to try

CHOCOLATE BANANA BREAD
www.RecipeGirl.com

10 ounces pitted dried prunes
¾ cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 medium)
2 large eggs
1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1½ tsp baking soda
½ cup banana chips, chopped coarsely
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. In a small saucepan, bring prunes and 2 cups of water to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until prunes are very soft, about 20 minutes. Drain.

2. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter a 5×9-inch loaf pan and line bottom with a piece of parchment paper, cut to fit.

3. In a food processor, whirl prunes and bananas until very smooth. Add eggs and whirl to combine.

4. In a large bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, cinnamon, and baking soda. Stir in banana mixture until evenly moistened. Stir in banana chips and chocolate chips. Scrape the thick batter into pan and spread level.

5. Bake bread until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out a little chocolatey but not gooey, 40 to 50 minutes. Loosen bread from pan with a knife and invert onto a rack. Remove parchment. Turn bread right-side-up and let cool at least 1 hour before slicing.

Servings: 16
Yield: 16 slices

Cooking Tips
*Shortcut: Sub 10 oz. (1 1/4 cups) unsweetened prune baby food for the pitted prunes, and omit water and cooking in step 1.

Nutrition Facts
Amount Per Serving
Calories 162
Calories From Fat (28%) 45
Total Fat 5.58g
Saturated Fat 3.35g
Cholesterol 26.44mg
Sodium 190.53mg
Potassium 267.71mg
Carbohydrates 29.79g
Dietary Fiber 4.39g
Sugar 9.43g
Net Carbohydrates 25.40g
Protein 3.38g

WW Points: 4.5

Angel Food Cake

Ingredients

Serves 8

• 1 cup cake flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 12 large egg whites, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place flour and salt in a sieve set over a bowl; sift into bowl, and set aside. With a mixer, beat egg whites on mediumhigh until foamy, about 1 minute. Add cream of tartar; beat until soft peaks form. Continue to beat, gradually adding sugar; beat until stiff peaks form (see below), about 2 minutes. Add vanilla; beat to combine.

Gently transfer eggwhite mixture to a large, wide bowl. In four batches, using the sieve again, sift flour mixture over egg-white mixture. While turning the bowl, use a rubber spatula to fold in the mixture by cutting down the center and coming up the sides.

Gently spoon batter into an ungreased angel-food cake pan with a removable bottom; smooth top. Cut a knife or small spatula through batter to release air bubbles. Bake until cake is golden and springs back when lightly pressed, 35 to 40 minutes. Invert pan; let cool in pan, 1 hour. Run a knife around the inside of the pan and around the tube to release cake, and unmold. Use knife to release cake from bottom of pan, and remove.

Citrus Beet Salad
6 clementines, skin removed and sliced thin
4 0z Mache mix of lettuces (couple big handfuls)
crumbled goat cheese or feta
3 Trader Joes baby beets (comes in box or you can steam your own)
Any herb vinagrette dressing

Layer everything except dressing in bowl or plate and then serve with dressing.

We also talked about healthy snacks. A lot of us wondered what to feed those hungry kids of ours after school. Here are a few suggestions that we came up with.

Apples with peanut butter or honey
Rice cakes with almond butter or peanut butter
Yogurt Frozen yogurt
Try new fruits
Popcorn
Homemade trail mix (dried cranberries with dark chocolate chips and walnuts)
Healthy granola bars
Pita chips with hummus or other dips
Vegetables with Hummus
Edamame
Vegetables and dip
Fruit leather (watch sugar content)
Whole grain pretzels
Flatout (bread you can buy in the bread aisle) with vegetables and salsa
Tortilla chips with salsa
Nuts

Dry Pack Canning

For the month of March we went to the dry pack cannery in Clackamas. It was so much fun. Some of the things we canned were spaghetti, hot cocoa mix, wheat, flour and sugar. I think it was a learning experience for all of us too. I don't think any of us had ever gone with such a large group before and it was a little confusing at times. One thing I learned about taking organizing a large group is that it's necessary at all to find out ahead of time what people want to order. But it is helpful to have everyone fill out the order form with how many cans of each item they want before they get there. Each person filled a sheet out with what they wanted and then the workers at the cannery entered it all into a computer and then that told them exactly how much of each item we needed to do as a group. Genius. Then they stuck all of our individual order forms along the wall and we went to work filling boxes with our items as we canned them.

Here are some pictures of our day:

Brother Lloyd making boxes



Our assembly line



Filling the cans


Finished!

Hand dipped chocolates

What goes hand in hand with Valentines day? Chocolate! Whether you like chocolate or not you will like my recipe for homemade hand dipped chocolates. I have an entire handout for this that is 3 pages long and has lots of recipes. I am putting my most used one here.

1 cup butter
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 tsp. vanilla
2 lbs. powder sugar
2 tsp. salt

Mix your butter and sweetened condensed milk at medium speed with an electric mixer. This is not a recipe to do by hand. You will see why in a little bit. Add your vanilla. Then add your powder sugar and salt. From here you can make your various different flavors.

I will give you the 3 flavors that we did at today's class

Cookies and Cream

Add 1 package double stuff oreo cookies that have been crushed really well. To do this I put the cookies in a gallon ziploc bag and hammer away. It feels good to do this. Pick a day when you feel particularly stressed. It helps. Add the cookies to your mixture and mix at a low speed. This where you need that electric mixer. It is very thick and you need the power. Roll or scoop into balls. I recommend a 1.25 inch scoop. Think melon baller and you will be good. Or just roll them by hand, that works great. Refrigerate for one hour and then you are good to dip these bad boys. I will tell you about the dipping at the end.

Cherry Divine

I call these divine because they are. For this one you are going to substitue 1 tsp of cherry flavoring from your local cake decorating store for the vanilla in the basic recipe. Or just do it to taste. The flavorings that they have at these stores are much stronger than the extracts that you can buy at the supermarket. Or you can use almond extract. It has a similar taste and smell. I also add one drop of pink food coloring at this point. Then take one jar of maraschino cherries ( I don't remember what size it was. It wasn't the huge jar, i know that) and chop them up pretty small. Then press with paper towels to get the excess juice out. Add the cherries at the end. Refrigerate for 2 hours before rolling. And then refrigerate again for at least an hour before dipping.

Maple Walnut

Substitue maple flavoring (i bought mine at Winco) for the vanilla. And add 2 cups chopped walnuts. Refrigerate for one hour before rolling and refrigerate for one hour before dipping.

Dipping

I use the smooth and melties from Winco bulk section. They are the best. I buy the dark chocolate which is not a real dark taste and the vanilla. I like the maple walnut dipped in the vanilla and the cookies and cream and the cherry dipped in the chocolate. Although the cherry dipped in the vanilla with a dash of red or pink sprinkles on top was gorgeous.

I put my chocolate in the double boiler and start melting at a low temp. When 75% melted turn donw to the lowest temperature possible until completely melted. I use a dipping tool but you can use a fork and a toothpick. Set your center on the fork, dip in the chocolate and use the toothpick to run underneath to get the excess off. Put on wax paper or aluminum foil to set.

Some tips about chocolate:

Do not ever get water into it, it will ruin the chocolate
Do not melt too quickly or at too high a heat. It will start breaking down and look curdly.
You should be able to touch it. If it is too hot to touch it is too hot to dip.
If you get pools of chocolate around the bottoms of the chocolates you can just trim away with a knife.


Rolling cookies and cream
This is Sarah getting ready to dip the cherry ones in vanilla.

This is Diana and Sarah dipping in chocolate

mmmmmm, maple walnut dipped in vanilla.

Homemade Pizza

Everyone who left this class left feeling very full and with great ideas. Ellen Fisher and Sarah Smith gave us some wonderful recipes.

Here is Ellen's recipe and her ideas:

Basic Crust:

In a large bowl and using a wire whisk mix: 2 cups flour, 2 T or pkg, yeast, 2 T sugar and 2 tsp salt. Then add 2 cups hot water and 2 T olive oil. Finally, using a large rubber spatula or metal spoon, add 2 additional heaping cups of flour and mix it until you can knead the dough without getting your hands sticky (about 5 minutes.) This dough will make enough crust for 2 family sized pizzas. Divide the dough in half and roll out on a board dusted with cornmeal. The cornmeal makes a nice, crispy bottom.

Sauce Ideas:

Bottled pizza sauce, bottled barbecue sauce, or a quick sauce using 1 can tomato sauce with 1 tsp dry basil or oregano and a dash of pepper.

Black Bean Sauce:

1 can black beans
2 cloves garlic-minced
1 T olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
1/4 cup finely chopped green pepper

Saute garlic, onion and green pepper in olive oil until vegetables are well cooked. Stir into a semi-drained can of black beans.

Baking instructions:

Bake all pizzas at 450 for 15-20 minutes.

Barbecue Chicken Pizza:

Spread crust with bottled barbecue sauce, then top with grilled chicken, onions and cheese. Bake then sprinkle with chopped fresh cilantro.


Sarah's Pizza Recipe:

Dough:

Mix 1 3/4 cup water with 2 tsp. olive oil, 1 tsp. sugar and 2 Tbsp yeast. Blend 3 cups flour with 2 tsp. salt and then mix in with wet ingredients. Continue to kneed in 1 more cup to the consistency you desire. Kneed until mixed and then let rest 10 min. and kneed again. Spray your pan with Olive oil and sprinkle with corn meal. Pull dough flat and then spread over pan. I like mine as thin as i can make it because it does raise.

Spread olive oil over dough. sprinkle with chopped fresh basil and oregano or any Italian seasoning mixes you like. Pull apart one chunk fresh mozzarella in pieces. Finish with Romano, regular mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. Top with prosciutto Italian ham or any toppings.

Bake 400 for 20 min.

Gifts from the Kitchen

What a fun morning we had. Thanks to everyone who came and all those who so graciously gave us the wonderful tips that you did for making inexpensive gifts for Christmas. Here are some of the highlights of our morning:

Rachael showed us how to make Kettle Korn. She uses a whirlyjig (I think that's how you spell it) or you can make it on the stove if you shake it constantly.

Rachael's Kettle Korn

1/4 Cup oil
1/4 cup popcorn
1/2 cup sugar

Put it all in the pan over medium high heat and when the first one pops start shaking vigorously or turning the handle until it finishes popping. Rachael puts it in containers from the dollar store and delivers them to friends and neighbors with a card.

Stephanie's tortilla snowflakes

Take a tortilla and microwave for a few seconds until just soft. Then fold it like you would a piece of paper for cutting a snow flake and cut your snowflake. When done fry it in some oil on the stove and then drizzle melted white chocolate over it, let set for a few minutes and then sprinkle with powdered sugar. Very beautiful.

My battery died at this point so I dont have anymore pictures. Julie showed us some dipped pretzels in caramel and chocolate that tasted really good. Merilee showed us some adorable packaging that I wish I had pictures of. We all left inspired to go home and try a few new things in our kitchen.

Cherry Eggnog Tea Bread

Bread

3/4 cup maraschine cherries, chopped and well drained
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp ground nutmeg
3/4 tsp. salt
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup butter softened
3 eggs
1 cup eggnog

Glaze

1/2 cup powdered sugar
3-4 tsp. eggnog
1/4 cup toasted sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 325. Pray bottom of your loaf pan with cooking spray. Chop your maraschino cherries and lay on paper towel and pat dry. In a medium bowl combine four, baking powder, nutmeg and salt. Set aside. Beat together your sugar and butter on a high speed of electric mixer until mixture is light and fluffy. On medium speed add eggs one at a time, beating until blended. Add one third of the flour mixture, beating on low speed just until combined. Beat in half of the eggnog. Add another one third of the flour mixture, the remaining eggnog, and then the remaining flour mixture beating after each addition just until combined. Gently stir cherries into batter, pour batter into pan.

Bake one hour, 15 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and top is golden brown. Cool in pan for 5 minutes. Lossen sides of loaf. Remove from pan to cooling rack and cool completely.

For glaze mix powdered sugar and eggnog until smooth. Drizzle half of the mixture over the cooled loaf. Sprinkle evenly with almonds. Drizzle remaining glaze over almonds.