Jambalaya!

Oh how I love Jamabalaya! It's one of those dishes that doesn't really require a lot of ingredients and everything can be altered to what you like to eat!

And the best thing is it makes a lot and it's so delicious!

I start with a few chicken breasts cut into cubes and pan seared in butter and cajun seasoning.
Once the chicken is cooked through remove from pan, saute 1 chopped onion and green pepper, 2 stalks of celery, and garlic. Season with Cayenne, salt, and pepper.

In a dutch oven or stock pot, bring 4 cups of chicken stock to a slight boil, add 2 cups of white rice, veggies, chicken, and sliced kielbasa. You can add 2 bay leaves for a little more flavor. Then season with hot pepper sauce. Simmer for about 20 minutes. When your rice is tender it's time to eat!!

Crock Pot Beef Stew

It's been a fantastic Saturday! My children and the sun, allowed me to sleep until 9:30! Then, we had a wonderful HUGE brunch complete with bacon, sausage, pancakes, eggs, biscuits....you catch where I'm going with this...and to top if off, I was able to clean the house, rest a bit and all while the kids were playing quietly.

I'm pretty sure I've told you how much I adore slow cookin' in my crock pot, but what the hey..I love it...there I said it again. So, I decided I'd throw some ingredients in and make a beef stew for this evening.

This post isn't so much about the recipe itself as it is some tips to help you think ahead while grocery shopping.

One of the nearest supermarkets has some great Buy 1 Get 1, Buy 1 Get 2 deals, which is really great if you actually cash in on them. It basically comes down to 50% or more! That's so awesome when you factor in coupons! I love clipping coupons because it saves me so much and when you cook for 7, that adds up. The best thing about the coupons is the store automatically doubles them, which saves me even more on things I would've bought anyway. So, for example, frozen waffles are regularly $2.50 per box. This week they were on sale B1G1, and with my coupon for $1.50 off of two boxes, I was able to get them for .... 50 cents per box!

So, this week, I hopped on over to the store, with my grocery list and coupons in hand. I was able to save roughly $40 on this week's trip.

Okay Okay, back to the stew.... one of their best specials is on meat! That's where I usually need the savings anyway. London Broil was B1G1, so I planned ahead to make one and use the other in 2 dishes. I diced the roast myself and used half for the stew and half I plan to make Beef and French Onion soup later this week.

I roughly chopped some root veggies and used my seasonings to create a meal that was very filling and I'm sure will be eaten for lunch sometime this week.

Always use the store ad in conjuction with your coupons and you can create your menu and grocery list and manage to save a little extra. Shopping for our large family is quite a challenge, but with some determination, we can still eat hearty dinners!