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New Years Resolutions

mycoupons | 03 January, 2008 10:12

Hi everybody! Well the holidays are over, and as I can see from our shopping boards so is the holiday cheer! It’s January now and for those who've made one, you all started your New Year’s Resolutions! We all say we are going to lose weight, quit smoking, or budget our money better, but how many of us actually stick to it and reach our goals?

Each year I say I’m going to lose 10 lbs, stop cursing or start my retirement fund because, as my mother would say, even at 25 years young, it’s never too early! This year, I am determined to change some things in my life. I have ordered NutriSystem to help me get my diet back on track, I have started a curse jar where I’ll put in a dollar every time I swear, and I’m putting away a couple hundred dollars each paycheck to start saving money. After the scare with my dad, I’m also going to start going back to church (which should also aid in me talking like a sailor less, or let’s hope!)

Have you made a resolution? How successful have your past resolutions been? Visit The Café in our shopping boards and share your stories. And remember ladies, play nice

~Shauna~

One of my favorite party dips -- Spinach and Artichoke

mycoupons | 11 December, 2007 09:50

I discovered this recipe a few years ago and I've made it a few times for friends. The last time was this past Saturday and it was gobbled up again with delight. Spinach and artichoke dip is a favorite of my wife and I and we use it as a bit of a test when dining out a casual restaurant. If the dip fails the test, the chances are we wouldn't go back, unless of course our diners are amazing.

This recipe is based upon the taste of a fantastic dip from the restaurant chain Houston's. It's really based upon a recipe I found at:
http://robbiehaf.com/Recipes/H/77.htm She has some great copy-cat recipes on her site for a bunch of dishes from popular restaurants.

It takes about 45 minutes or so to prepare and is enough for 10 to 12 people -- depending on how much the like it. The great thing is you can do all of the hard prep ahead of time and simply use your microwave when it's time for the party.

The ingredients include:

2 cloves garlic - minced
2 Tbls. minced onion
1/4 cup real butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups heavy cream -- I usually use half and half versus the heavy cream.
1/4 cup chicken broth
2/3 cup fresh-grated Romano cheese
2 tsp. fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1/2 tsp. hot sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup sour cream
Two 10 oz. boxes frozen chopped spinach - thawed, squeezed dry through a fine sieve. It's vital that you get the spinach as dried as possible.
12 oz. jar artichoke hearts - drained and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup shredded white cheddar cheese

To get things started, sauté the onion and garlic in the butter using a 2-quart saucepan over medium heat. You want them to be golden brown and this will take about 5 minutes.
Once the onion and garlic are golden, stir in flour and cook for about a minute.
Next, slowly whisk in the cream and the broth and bring it up to a low boil.
Once it starts to boil, stir in the Romano cheese, lemon juice, hot sauce, and season with salt. Keep stirring until cheese has melted and then remove from heat and allow it to cool for about 5 minutes.
When it has cooled down, stir in the sour cream and fold in the dried spinach and the artichoke hearts.
Finally, fold the mixture into a microwave-safe serving dish and cover evenly with the cheddar cheese. Enjoy a glass of wine, the hard work is done.
Now you can store it in the fridge until you are ready to serve. Then all you need to do is pop it into the microwave on 50% power until the cheese melts.

I typically serve this great dip with pita, tortilla or bagel chips. It usually doesn't take too long for it to vanish. I also like to serve it up with a nice bottle of Chardonnay.

I've got another recipe I've used a couple of times that is much easier to make than this one -- less work, less time but also less tasty. It's fine but nothing special. This is the one I use when entertaining friends on a cold winter evening.

B.F.F.

mycoupons | 17 April, 2007 06:30

Monday night, 10:00. I am sad. My best friend in the whole entire universe has packed her bags and is leaving on a jet plane early tomorrow morning.

On Thursday, Philadelphia Ginger arrived with Herr’s potato chips in tow. Ginger was smart enough this time to cut a small hole in the bags of chips to let out the air out before she transported them.

She learned this lesson the hard way. When she last visited me in December, she carried two family size bags of chips on board with her. Two hours into the flight, thirty-five thousand feet over Atlanta, the bags popped like cannons and exploded sour cream and onion all over the cabin.

Ginger said the sound from the explosion was loud enough to make people onboard scream. She wanted to crawl under her seat with embarrassment. When she deplaned, I met her with excited anticipation. She handed me two deflated, three quarter empty bags of chips.

According to Ginger, chips went flying everywhere. I am sure Southwest is still vacuuming up the crumbs. If you fly Southwest, check your seat back pockets for crumbs. If you find them, think of me.

Ginger and I have enjoyed five days of buffoonery and laughs. I can honestly say that my face hurts from laughing. Of course, with me around, most things are funny, but when you add Ginger to Cici you get comedy gold.

We have caused a ruckus in many eating establishments across my county, and were asked to leave the mall.

I feel somewhat sorry for the teenage Burger King drive-thru cashier, but let’s face the facts here; handing her monopoly money to pay for our order WAS funny.

Of course, most of the stories from our long weekend are not fit for public posting, as MyCoupons IS a family site, but I will share a true gem.

Yesterday, we decided to visit my favorite store, Goldman and Woodstein’s. You may have them in you area, under the name Goodwill. Going to the Goodwill is something I try to do weekly, as I usually find something worth buying.

Ginger, dressed in her Prada shoes felt like the proverbial fish out of water, but tried to put on her best face. She followed me around the store with her hands in the pockets of her $200 slacks; lest she touch any thrift store germs.

When I found a Blue’s Clues toy for my son marked $4, I was so excited. I turned it on, but it didn’t work. I took it to the front, and asked the sales clerk how I could test the toy before purchasing it.

She informed me that they had no way to test the merchandise, but offered me the good news, toys were 50% off!

When I pointed out that at $2 the toy was indeed a good deal, yet if it didn’t work, would be a bad purchase, she informed me I could purchase batteries at the rack at the back of the store.

I inquired about the return policy, and was told that electronics were sold as is, and were not returnable.

Here’s where things got ugly. I asked how much batteries were and was floored to learn they were $4 for an eight pack. FOUR DOLLARS!

Since it was half priced toy day, we were now looking at a hefty mark-up on the price of the toy, just to purchase batteries to test it.

Something about this situation appeared fishy, and Ginger asked the clerk what kind of battery trafficking racket they were running here.

As if we were in a cartoon, a light bulb came on over my head. I grabbed Ginger by the

purse strap and headed towards the tool department. I found a flat head and a Phillips head screwdriver and carried them back to the toy department.

Once there, I unscrewed the battery compartment from the back of the Blue’s Clue’s toy and removed the defunct batteries. I then searched through the other toys until I came across a singing Elmo doll. I unscrewed Elmo’s battery cover and removed HIS batteries.

I then pulled the old switcheroo, and put Elmo’s batteries in Blue. Instantly, the sound of Steve singing ‘Here’s the mail, it never fails, makes me want to wag my tail,’ filled the air.

I was victorious! I fought the Goodwill, and I won!

As we were checking out, the clerk reminded me that the toy was not returnable if it didn’t work.

In timing that could never be duplicated, Ginger reached over, pressed a button on the toy and we laughed our tushies off as Steve belted out ‘Thanks for doing your part; you sure are smart……we can do anything, we want to do!’

Out I walked with my $2 toy. I asked Ginger if she wanted to go to dinner, and she insisted I take her home for a shower.

That was a little over twenty-four hours ago. The toy has since had the batteries removed from it, because I swear if I heard the song one more time, I was going to snap.

I hope YOU have a bestest friend out there. They sure make life more bearable.

Until we meet again,

Cici

Cici@MyCoupons.com

P.S. I am having some dental work done today (Tuesday) and will most likely be passed out in a Vicodin coma for the rest of the day. There will be no blog tomorrow as I recover. Please check back Thursday morning!

Creature from the blue lagoon

mycoupons | 10 April, 2007 06:45

Being that I am wholesome girl who was reared with proper morals and a sense of decency, I did not spend a night with my husband until we was my husband.

<B.S. Detector goes crazy> (Hey! My parents read this!)

Ok, so I spent a few nights with him.

I noticed his snoring right away. It was cute.

In a sleeping puppy kind of way.

Once we were married for a couple of years, the snoring become slightly more annoying.

I would solve the issue by gently nudging my sleeping prince. He would roll over and I

would fall back asleep.

By the time we hit our sixth anniversary last year, the snoring became so annoying that I contemplated smothering him in his sleep.

Instead of giving my prince a gentle nudge, I started kicking and elbowing the grizzly bear next to me.

I would wake up cranky and irritated every morning due to his snoring.

It was like sleeping in a really bad motel with thin walls on the interstate. The man snored like eighteen –wheelers downshifting.

As if the sound of the snoring wasn’t enough, I noticed he had a mild case of sleep apnea. He would stop snoring for a few seconds, and then like a swimmer coming up for air, gasp loudly for a breath.

I had a rule. I went to bed when I was tired, and Joey was NOT allowed to come to bed for at least forty-five minutes after me. That would give me adequate time to fall into a deep sleep, so once he revved up his engines; I would be deaf to the world.

When September came, I had reached my breaking point. I gave him an ultimatum- go for a sleep study and get this fixed, or he was moving into the guest room.

I have a king sized waterbed, you didn’t think I would move, did you?

He scheduled the sleep study- which entailed him spending the night at a sleep center.

The technician advised him that they would monitor his vitals while he slept all night, and then determine what if anything could be done.

He fell asleep at 10:15. By 12:30, the technician woke him up.

He had stopped breathing 264 times! TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY FOUR!! That’s 1.76 times PER MINUTE.

The technician also told him that he never entered deep or REM sleep.

She placed a CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machine on him at that point.

He slept until 6:45 the next morning, and did not stop breathing once. He also entered deep sleep almost immediately.

When he came home the next morning, he told me he had sleep apnea.

I didn’t go to medical school, but I knew that already.

A few weeks later, his very own CPAP machine was delivered to our front door. He now wears it to sleep every night. He no longer stops breathing and his snoring is very light and rhythmic.

Although he looks like a creature from the deep while wearing it, we are both sleeping better. Our son is deathly afraid of it, and if he sees his daddy wearing it, he runs away crying.

Joey has stopped having headaches, has lost weight, and feels more rested.

There are still plenty of nights when I contemplate smothering him with a pillow.

But not because of the snoring.

Until we meet again,

Cici

Cici@MyCoupons.com

Why would you WANT to eat just one?

mycoupons | 03 April, 2007 06:37

Much to the dismay of my zippers, I am a potato chip connoisseur.

There is something so delicious and perfect about a potato plucked out of the ground, sliced thin and deep fried.

I don’t know who designed the original potato chip, or how he did it, but wherever he is, I applaud him. The planets were obviously aligned in perfect symmetry on that sweet day.

Sure, I have my favorites. Salt and Vinegar Lays, Sour Cream & Onion Herr’s, and original flavor Cape Cod.

But, I do not discriminate. I am an equal opportunity eater.

I will try new flavors with an open mind. That’s the great thing about life; you never know what the future holds.

I put potato chips on sandwiches, am not above eating them for breakfast, and was once asked to leave a movie theater for sneaking ‘contra-ban’ in.

My friend, Ginger who lives in Philadelphia visits me every few months. She thinks I invite her because I enjoy her company. She would be sadly disheartened to find that I invite her because she can BUY Herr’s potato chips in Philadelphia.

We mere mortals from the sunshine state are denied the pleasure.

When I get to the airport, Ginger knows that before she is allowed to put her luggage in my trunk, she must produce proof that she smuggled potato chips over state lines. No chips. No ride.

I do not deny I have a problem. My pants shrink by the day, and last week when I coughed, my button went flying off my jeans like a projectile.

But, I can’t stop.

I had settled into my comfort zone. I was happy with what I had.

Then, Pringles decided to get all fancy.

They introduced Pringles Select. These little chips from heaven boast ZERO trans-fat.

They come in four flavors. Szechwan barbecue, Parmesan garlic, Cinnamon sweet potato and Sun dried tomato.

All in the name of research, I purchased a bag of each. I also filled out an expense report for reimbursement, but for some reason, my boss has yet to approve it.

I ate them all. All four bags.

Not in one sitting! I’m not a pig!

I ate them in TWO sittings.

I sat, I ate. I got up, played with my kids for an hour and sat again. Two sittings.

First for the good.

Szechwan barbeque is actually made of rice, not potato. Who cares? A carb by any other name is just as sweet. These babies are GOOD. They are tangy, yet spicy. It was like a little party in my mouth. They definitely earned a spot on my regular grocery list.

The parmesan garlic is parmesany and garlicky. And delish! Finger licking good, delish. They are putting up the good fight to knock Salt & Vinegar Lays out of first place for my heart.

And now for the not so good.

The cinnamon and sweet potato taste neither like a potato, nor cinnamon. Discuss.

They actually taste like cardboard with cinnamon flavored baby powder on them. And excuse me for pointing out the obvious here, but aren’t potato chips supposed to be salty?

If I wanted dessert (which I do) I will eat cake (which I do)

The sun dried tomato and basil wins the blech award.

I like the sun. I like tomatoes. I like basil. I just don’t like them all baked on to a chip.

But, don’t take my word for it. Head over and buy yourself a bag or two!

Send me the receipt! I’ll see if I can get you reimbursed!

Until we meet again,

Cici

Cici@MyCoupons.com