Winner #1 is comment number 13, Vera S, who said: “I love a good quick easy StirFry.”
Winner #2 is comment number 15, Ruth, who said: “Our favorite quick and simple food is actually a salmon chowder with a white sauce base, leeks, onions, clam stock.”
Winner #3 is comment number 37, DeeAnn S, who said: “A quick and easy meal for us is a swiss cheese, bacon and mushroom omelet along with a toasted bagel topped with cream cheese and pepper jelly. Thanks.”
This week, I was approached on behalf of Philadelphia Cooking Creme to run a fun giveaway for my readers. I can’t think of a better way to kick of the weekend than a chance to win free coupons, so of course I took them up on the offer! Philadelphia Cooking Creme is a new product that can be used as a base for quick recipes. To learn more, you can watch the funny video above where Emeril Lagasse’s attorney makes creamy chicken Florentine. I was also provided with a selection of recipes to share, so that you can get some ideas on how to use this product if you are the lucky winner:
Creamy Chicken Florentine
Prep Time: 10 min. | Total Time: 22 min. | Makes: 4 servings, 1-1/4 cups each.
What You Need
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1/2 cup halved red pepper strips
1 pkg. (6 oz.) baby spinach leaves
1 tub (10 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Savory Garlic Cooking Creme
2 cups hot cooked penne pasta
2 Tbsp. toasted pine nuts
Make It
COOK chicken and peppers in large nonstick skillet on medium heat 5 to 6 min. or until chicken is done. Add spinach; cook and stir 2 to 3 min. or until wilted. Drain all but 1 Tbsp. liquid.
ADD cooking creme; cook and stir 3 min.
STIR in pasta; top with nuts.
Variation:
Substitute uncooked deveined peeled medium shrimp for the chicken; cook and stir 2 to 3 min. or until shrimp turn pink. Continue as directed.
Lemon-Broccoli Rice with Chicken
Prep Time: 15 min. | Total Time: 24 min. | Makes: 4 servings, 1-1/2 cups each.
What You Need
1 Tbsp. oil
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tub (10 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Original Cooking Creme
2 cups frozen broccoli florets, thawed
2 tsp. lemon zest
2 cups hot cooked rice
Make It
HEAT oil in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add chicken, garlic and pepper; cook 5 to 6 min. or until chicken is done, stirring frequently.
ADD cooking creme and broccoli; cook and stir 2 min. Stir in lemon zest.
SERVE over rice.
Special Extra:
Cook and crumble 3 slices OSCAR MAYER Bacon. Stir into chicken mixture with the lemon zest.
Creamy Chicken Fajitas
Prep Time: 15 min. | Total Time: 24 min. | Makes: 4 servings.
What You Need
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 cup each thin onion slices and green pepper strips
1 tub (10 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Santa Fe Blend Cooking Creme
8 flour tortillas (6 inch), warmed
1 cup KRAFT Mexican Style Finely Shredded Four Cheese
Make It
COOK chicken and vegetables in large nonstick skillet on medium heat 6 to 7 min. or until chicken is done.
ADD cooking creme; cook and stir 2 min.
SPOON down centers of tortillas; top with shredded cheese. Fold over.
Substitute:
Substitute flank steak or pork cutlets for the chicken.
Giveaway time!
THREE lucky readers will each win one (1) coupon good for a free tub of Philadelphia Cooking Creme! Here’s how to enter:
1. For your first entry, just leave a comment on this post and tell me: What is your favorite quick and easy meal to make?
Want extra entries? Do any of the following, and leave a separate comment for each one:
2. Link to this post on your blog, then come back here and leave me the link!
3. Write about this on Twitter, then come back and leave me the link to your tweet! One Twitter entry per person. You can use the button at the bottom of this post to tweet with one click!
4. Post my button on your website – just copy and paste the following code, and let me know where you put it:
Rules, regulations, and other important stuff: Giveaway ends on February 27th at 11:59 PM, PST. Winners will be chosen the following day via Random.org. Giveaway is open to US & Canadian residents. I received no compensation for this post – other than the joy of giving a prize to one of my loyal readers!
I’ve been keeping my eyes peeled for coupons while I’m here in England, and today I got ahold of some. My dad got this flier in the mail with a free sample and two coupons for 50p off Nescafe instant coffee. I have no idea what this product normally retails for, but I’ll keep these in my wallet just in case I spot any deals!
I just wanted to extend my thanks to everyone for your kind condolences. My uncle’s funeral was on Thursday, so it’s been a very eventful week. I’m going to get some rest this weekend and get back into a more normal routine on Monday. Thanks for your understanding – have a good weekend, everyone.
On Tuesday evening, we got the news that my uncle Anthony had passed away suddenly. Anthony was my dad’s brother, and everyone on the paternal side of my family live here in England, so I’ll be spending the coming days with family and attending his service. I’ll be online as time allows, but I know you’ll all understand if it takes me longer than usual to blog and answer emails. I’m dedicating this with love to the memory of my “Uncle Tony”.
Coffee-Mate is giving away 100,000 free coupons at 9:00 AM PST today, February 4th. You can sign up via their website or Facebook page. I’m sure this will be a popular offer, so the coupons will probably disappear quickly!
In true frugal fashion, I’ve picked up loyalty cards to all sorts of stores during my travels. Somewhere in my wallet is a Fry’s Shopper Card from the last time I was in Arizona, as well as a punch card for a coffee shop in London. Today, I ran an errand for my dad at the grocery store Tesco, and picked up a Tesco Club Card while I was there. With Tesco’s system, you earn 2 points for every £1 you spend, and after you collect 150 points, you receive a voucher for £1.50 off your next purchase. I can’t imagine I’ll ever spend enough at Tesco to earn any vouchers, but it doesn’t hurt to add another rewards card to my arsenal – hey, you never know when they’ll come in handy!
Last Friday, I did some grocery shopping to pick up ingredients that I needed for a big meal. I wanted to cook a few of my specialties for my family while I’m here, so I made burritos and nachos on Saturday and spaghetti and meatballs on Sunday. Coupons are few and far between here in England, so I was eager to see what sort of deals I could get. Since this is a special occasion, I needed very specific ingredients, which I knew would be more expensive than if I had based my menu around sale items. So here’s a special UK edition of my shopping trip recaps, with purchases from Sainsbury’s, Home Bargains, and Aldi:
Total spent: £23.14 (With the current exchange rate, that’s about $37.54)
Sainsbury’s:
4 packages of ground beef – .97p each, £3.88 total
1 head of lettuce – .57p
2 bags of fair trade coffee – £1.39 each, £2.78 for both
2 packages of tomatoes – .72p each, £1.44 total
1 bunch of spring onions – .72p
1 package of cilantro – £1.00
2 heads of romaine lettuce hearts – £1.00
1 package of yeast – .79p
1 package of red Leicester cheese – £1.42
1 package of cheddar cheese – £2.96
1 package of black beans – .65p
1 tub of sour cream – £1.00
1 small bag of flour – .70p
Aldi:
1 loaf of bread – .47p
3 heads of garlic – .59p
Home Bargains:
Multipack of Monster Munch crisps (AKA chips to my US readers) – .99p
2 bags of tortilla chips – .50p each, £1.00 total
1 bag of oatmeal – .49p
1 package of tortillas – .69p
Click the photo above to see it full-size. A picture of my receipts will have to do, since my dad doesn’t have a scanner! 🙂
This wasn’t exceptionally cheap, but since this was a special occasion I had very particular needs for my menu. Had I based my meals off different items, I could have stretched my money a lot further. Also, I’m not terribly familiar with what each store carries, so I don’t necessarily know which place has the best buys for everything.
So here’s what I made:
I cooked half the ground beef with onion, garlic, and seasoning, and spooned it into tortillas with two kinds of shredded cheese, cilantro, and tomato, then topped it with sour cream and shredded lettuce. For the nachos, I layered tortilla chips, black beans, onion, tomato, cilantro, both cheeses, sour cream, and green onion into a dish and baked. I forgot to take a picture of the second meal, but I made large meatballs by mixing the rest of the ground beef with onion, garlic, seasonings, two eggs and oatmeal, which I baked for about half an hour. I served them on top of pasta and homemade spaghetti sauce made by cooking tomatoes, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, water and olive oil. I served this with salad and a homemade no-knead bread that I made using this recipe. The bread turned out OK, given that my dad doesn’t have any measuring spoons and I had to guess how much yeast to put in. 😉 This food served three people and we have LOTS of leftovers!
While I’m in England, Jai is taking care of business for me stateside. We talk on Skype daily, and he updates me periodically on what mail has arrived while I’ve been away. One of the pieces of mail which arrived recently was a flier of great coupons from Safeway, including several for totally free items. These coupons were only good through the 31st, so Jai decided he would stop by Safeway and use the coupons himself so that they wouldn’t go to waste. He went coupon shopping on my behalf once before when I was sick, and that was a resounding success, so I was looking forward to seeing what he got.
I told Jai that these Safeway coupons require a minimum $10 purchase, so he should pick up $10 worth of stuff that he needed in addition to the free-after-coupon items. He smartly picked up essentials like milk, butter, and a bag of cheese to meet the purchase requirement. He even took a picture of what he bought, and scanned the receipt!
(And yes, that is a mattress behind the kitchen table. Apparently, Jai is working on some renovations while I am away and has been moving things around. ;))
Total spent: $13.86
Total before coupons: $20.73 View receipt
Jai got:
1 jar of Safeway salsa – normally $2.19, used one free coupon; final price: Free! 1 package of Mission tortillas – Jai had a free coupon for these also, but realized afterward that it was not deducted at the checkout, so he was overcharged by $1.89. 1 bag of Mission tortilla chips – regularly $3.29, used one free coupon; final price: Free! 1 package of butter – price: $2.99 1 bag of cheese – price: $6.99 1 bag of Safeway frozen vegetables – normally $1.39, used one free coupon; final price: Free! 1 gallon of milk – price: $1.99
So there you have it – Jai did an awesome job of filling in for Super Coupon Girl!
