Favorite Food Thursday

I love Sweet Potato Fries!

I think the first time I ever had this wonderful super food in french fry form was in a little cafe in Carrolton, Ga. Now I try to eat them every time I get a chance. You can spice them up with Rosemary and Taco Seasoning or sweeten them up with Cinnamon and Powdered Sugar. Either way they always are the perfect treat for me, and for the Husband too.

The first time I tried to make this side dish at home it was a disaster. It is really hard to cut the potatoes into the perfect shape so that they cook well. Now that is not a problem because I have found a much quicker and efficient way to get my sweet potato fix, I use Alexia Sweet Potatoes. They are about 3.00 a bag and they feed a family of four for sure. Just stick them in the oven and then walah! MMMmmm!

Just in case you want to try the harder way at home, here is the recipe I use:

Oven Baked Sweet Potato Fries
serves 4-6

1 - 1 1/2 lb sweet potatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Peal the sweet potatoes. Cut into strips.

Place the sweet potatoes into a sealable plastic bag. Add oil, salt, paprika and cinnamon or a pinck of salt and Taco Seasoning. Seal the bag and shake well to thoroughly coat the fries. Spread the potatoes out onto the baking sheet in a single layer.

Cook for 30 minutes, turning every 10 minutes. Transfer immediately to a paper towel lined plate and serve warm.

A Great Combo

Saturday Morning Coffee - by Hmedley2007 on Polyvore.com

Mismatched Socks

It is late in the evening and I am sitting on the couch, curled up, watching my television line up: Biggest Loser and then Life. The Husband sits down and I decide to stretch out to get more comfortable. "Hey!" He says, "Those are my socks!" He is so observant. I defensively say, "I could not find any of mine that matched so I went and got yours." Then I smile. He does not smile, and looks at the socks like this is the last time he will ever see them together.

This is so telling of us. He always has his stuff in the right place at the right time. Me, on the other hand, a totally different story. The truth is I spent a good 30 minutes this morning looking for two socks that matched. I had at least 25 single socks laid out on the bed, none of which I could I find a matching partner. So naturally, I put all my unmatched socks back in my drawer, suspecting that the washer has somehow swallowed up all of my lonely lost matches, and went straight for The Husbands stash.

I realize that I could have worn two unmatched socks today, but sometimes a perfect pair is what you need. I found a website that specializes in nothing but mismatched things. Their socks come in packs of three! Maybe I should start getting all my socks from there....

It is called Little Miss Matched. http://www.littlemissmatched.com/

I love CVS!

In the last few months I have been desperately trying to save our family money. Thanks to CVS and Extra Care Bucks, I now have enough toiletries for three years without spending very much money at all.

In case you have never heard of Extra Care Bucks, the jest of it is this: You spend money on things that you are able to receive ECB's back on, you then, when possible, pair coupons with those items, the result is then that you receive ECB, which are essentially like gift certificates to CVS. If you then take those ECB's and spend them on things that offer more ECB's, you spend no more money, but get more gift certificates. Does that make sense?

By using this system, and cutting many coupons, I have now seven baskets of toiletries that range from shampoo and toothpaste to ear rinse and back rub ointment. It has been great! A great website to learn more is www.couponmom.com

Here is an example of deals I got this month.

• I paid 7.99 for Ear Rinse and received 7.99 back in ECB's on the end of my receipt.
• I then went back and bought another Ear Rinse, but I paid with the 7.99 ECB's that I received in the previous transaction. I then received another 7.99 in ECB's back on my receipt.
• Next, I bought one energy drink for 4.99 and one children's aspirin for 1.99. I paid with the 7.99 ECB's and I then received back two ECB's, one for 4.99 and one for 1.99.
  
• I got $22.96 worth of items for 7.99, plus 6.98 in ECB's to spend on the next trip.

I will try to post more of the deals that I get along the way.

Beginnings

I have recently found myself following a variety of blogs. I have enjoyed it so much, so I have decided to begin blogging myself. We will see how this goes and what I will post about....