Archive for August 30, 2011

Free Sesame Street music sampler today

FREE 5-Track Sesame Street Amazon Music Sampler MP3 Album available 8/30!

Link: http://www.amazon.com/Sesame-Stre…04&sr=1-10

Features such musical luminaries as Bert & Ernie and Big Bird!Track Listing:Song Title Artist 1. The Wheels On The Bus Bert & Ernie & The Kid Chorus 2. Ladybugs’ Picnic Sesame Street3. Let’s Go Tubbin’ The Bath Boys 4. Oh Look What Our Baby Can Do! Humphrey. Ingrid & Natasha 5. What’s the Name of That Song? Big Bird, Oscar, Savion, Bob, Gina, Gordon, Lillian, Luis, Maria, Merry Monster, Mr. Hanford, Prairie Dawn, Rosita, Susan, Telly Monster

Thanks MattRaven of sd

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AMC movie tickets at Costco

With the kids going back to school and weather starting to cool down, it might be a good time to think about buying some movie tickets. Costco has a 10 pack for only $63.00

(must add to cart and proceed through checkout to see discount). Shipping is freeThere is a $4 fee for non-members. Also available in-store only is 2 AMC Gold Experience Tickets for $12.

Thanks ooshoe1231

AMC Theaters has 50% Off Large Popcorn & Fountain Drink Combo after Printable Coupon. Offer valid now through Sept 8th Thanks yuds

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Pea Salad

 We harvested our peas yesterday.  Peas are one of those crops that take up a lot of room and really don’t produce that much.  I planted a whole pack of peas and didn’t end up harvesting enough for one dish.  They really are super good though, and really sweet.  We ate a bunch raw as we were picking, pods and all. I ended up making a pea salad.  Nothing fancy or gourmet,  but we like it just the same.

4 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled (I make at least 2 extra slices because I can’t resist eating some)

4 C. cooked peas (I steam them)
1 C. shredded cheddar
1/2 C. diced red onion
3/4 C. ranch dressing

Run cold water over the cooked peas to cool them off.  Drain in a colander. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and serve.  Super easy, surprisingly good..

Make your own pectin

It’s the time of year when we are all looking for ways to preserve the lovely fresh fruits and berries we are enjoying. I’ve made my own pectin before from crab apples. Here’s how:

Apple Pectin
3 pounds sliced, washed tart crabapples
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
4 cups water

Wash, but don’t peel apples.
Add four cups of water and two tablespoons of lemon juice.
Boil the mixture until it reduces almost in half (about 30 to 45 minutes), then
Strain it through cheesecloth or a jelly bag.
Boil the juice for another 20 minutes

If you want to test your pectin you can do so with denatured alcohol (just don’t taste it after you add it though, it’s poisonous). You add 1 T alcohol to 1 tsp of your pectin water. If it is high in pectin it will form a gelatinou material. It was kinda fun doing this and seeing it gel up. You can test the pectin level of any fruit using this method. If it’s ready to go, pour it into sanitized jars, and seal them to store in the refrigerator, freezer or process in a water bath.

Knowing how much to use depends on the fruit you are trying to jam. Some fruit have more natural pectin than others. The more ripe the fruit is, the lower the pectin levels. See this page for the pectin content of fruits.

To test, remove a spoonful of the jam, and hold an ice cube against the bottom of the spoon to cool the jam. If the spoonful sets to your liking, you can fill the jars, seal them . If the spoonful does not set, add more pectin, cook and try again.

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Wilted Lettuce

My parents are southern folks.  We grew up drinking sweet tea, put salt on our watermelon, peanuts in our cokes and ate Charles Chips by the barrel full. Fried chicken was a weekly occurrence with sides of mashed potatoes and pan gravy, white bread, homemade bread-and-butter pickles, tomato and cucumber salad, and wilted lettuce.  My  mom used to keep a can of bacon grease next to the stove and she’d use it for adding flavor to a pot of green beans and potatoes, making wilted lettuce or just for frying. This was, of course, before we knew of the dangers of saturated fat, sleeping in the back window of the car, or riding your bike behind the bug spray truck.

Since my garden has produced an unreasonable amount of leaf lettuce this year, and my folks were coming over for dinner, I thought this would be a great time to make wilted lettuce.  This recipe is my mom’s classic version (although the bacon grease is now substituted with vegetable oil).

8 cups of leaf lettuce
2 T. sugar
Salt and Pepper
1/4 C. thinly sliced onion
1/4 C. vegetable oil
2 T. apple cider vinegar
3 strips of cooked bacon, crumbled

Wash and spin the lettuce and put in a large bowl along with the onions.  Sprinkle the sugar on top of the lettuce and add the salt and pepper.  In a small pan, heat the oil until medium hot.  Remove the pan from the heat and being very careful, pour in the vinegar – it will spatter!  Pour the hot oil/vinegar mixture all over the lettuce, add the bacon and toss.

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Coming this Sunday……….

There will be two inserts and THREE Albertson’s Twice the Value coupons (doublers) in this Sunday’s paper! Check out your favorite blog for all the Albertson’s coupon and doubler matchups.  Our favs are listed under “My Blog List” down on the right.

Subscribe to the  Tacoma News Tribune (1-800-289-8711) and get the Sunday paper for only $1 (minimum order of 3 papers) by mentioning “2frugal” or “2chicks”..

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