A longggg while back, Foodbuzz sent me a sample of Nabisco’s new Newton Fruit Thins as part of their Tastemaker Program.

Thanks www.nabiscoworld.com/newtons/fruit-thins-fig-honey.aspx

Not to be confused with Nabisco’s Newton Fruit Crisp bars, which have received truly awful reviews.

Way to rebound Nabisco because I thought these light snappy cookies were divine. Yep, that’s right, divine.

Sublime even.

But you’re talking to a weirdo who prefers vanilla over chocolate and oatmeal-raisin over most anything else.

While I was dreaming up fun ways to use these crisp, figgy gems, our hands kept reaching into the bag. But not in a bad way, in a couple-a-day-keeps-the-doctor-away kinda way. I caught Chris with his hand in the cookie bag more than once, and he is not a sweets person (but I married him anyway). What we loved most about these cookies was the spice and the subtle fruitiness. They are certainly not overly sweet, but more like a tea cookie.

Which made them the perfect compliment to some over-the-top, sweet overload that is Ben & Jerry’s Cinnamon Buns ice cream (sue me, I had a coupon):

Seriously fun site: http://www.benjerry.com/flavors/our-flavors/

Behold the gloriousness that is the marriage of Fig and Cinnamon:Its celebrity name is Figamon, and it’s damn sexy.

Fine Print: Though I received the Nabisco product for free through Foodbuzz, all opinions are my own though sometimes I listen to that guy I married, but not very often.

For those following WeightWatchers PointsPlus, Danica calculated the Thins at 4 PP for 3 cookies (I trust her). Half a cup of Ben Jerry’s is gonna cost you EIGHT PP, which includes 28 grams of sugar! (I just lost the Belly Fat Cure people too.) Like I said, I had a coupon for B&J’s and ate it 1/2 a cup at a time, counted the Points, and, before the carton was empty, I grew tired of it so the rest went in the trash. Big whoohoo for me.

I’ve been totally scattered between *still* looking for a job AND trying to get our new place in Portland put together. (“Scattered? You? No!” I can hear it now.)

This pretty much gives you an idea of life these days. It’s pretty glamorous, get ready:IPhone photo even though I had both my Point-and-Shoot and my DSLR with me. Nice.

That’s dinner (Veggie Pizza with Vegan Cheese) from HOTLIPS Pizza.

Chris built the table himself.

I’m having real cheese next time.

Anyway, what you really need to know about is the Candy Bus we discovered on our walk down Hawthorne. Like a lame-o, I didn’t even have my camera with me so you’ll just have to check out their Facebook page here.

The mini-school bus with a candy store inside is called Chalk-let.

Get it?

I bought a small bag of these:I try to make sure I eat enough fruit.

I promise more details to follow, and I will break out the camera and not be so lazy distracted.

I’m super excited for the photography class at Summer School Portland in June. If you’re also attending, please let me know!

Source

I’m not new to coupon clipping, but I have to say my jaw dropped to the floor when I saw the promo for TLC’s Extreme Couponing. I missed the special that aired in December, and now I can only wonder how much money I could have saved if I’d tuned in.

I’ve been adding up our monthly food bills since we had to get some financial info together for our condo purchase, and I was fairly shocked to see that we spend about $400/month on groceries for the two of us. Biggest recent culprit – Trader Joe’s. Love it, but not necessary. Joe’s now in the backseat. Everybody wave to Joe.

Here’s my take on coupon clipping: I get one circular (Red Plum) in the mail, whether I want to or not (we don’t subscribe to a newspaper). If I go through there and find a coupon for something we NEED or USE REGULARLY, I’d be a fool not to use it. Likewise, our regular grocery store (as opposed to our fancy grocery store) sends us coupons targeted to our purchases which they keep track of through our club card. Sometimes we get FREE coupons for things like eggs and toilet paper. I’d have a hole in my head if I didn’t use that, as long as I was going to the store anyway.

Am I going to subscribe to multiple newspapers or dumpster dive for circulars? Probably not. Am I going to turn my garage into stockpiling central, uh no. There are only two of us for goodness sake.

But here’s my point: night before last, we stopped at our fancy store (not even Whole Foods, which seems like a ultra-luxury now that I’ve been unemployed for almost a year) to grab some incidentals and something for dinner. Our bill: $115! Amazing how fast beer ($13), wine ($19 + $12), fancy salami ($8), salad bar ($6) add up, along with some fruits, veggies, butter, etc.

I was having a hard time stomaching the $115 bill, considering there were a lot of things I hadn’t purchased because I knew they’d be cheaper at our regular grocery store. Yesterday, I gathered all my coupons, pulled out the ones I needed, checked to see what specials our store was running this week, and headed off.

The upshot was that my final bill would have been $110.04. Once the in-store specials were applied along with my coupons, I paid $67.47. Now we’re talking. I saved 40%.

Whoo to the Hoo!

Anyway, there’s a ton more information (now more than ever) about couponing if you search the web. I’m currently fond of Live FabuLESS’s tips (and her sales match-up page) and QueenBeeCoupons who shops at the same store I do. Matching coupons to in-store markdowns is a really great way to save money without going to extremes.

Are you going to tune in to Extreme Couponing? (April 6th on TLC)

Do you currently clip coupons or stockpile?

don’t have to come to an end. That’s just silly.

Here are some of the good things I’ve had lately:

A few weeks after Christmas, I received my Merry-Christmas-to-Me camera bag from Porteen Gear. I love this bag so much it’s insane. And look how it arrived!

Yay Presents!

It was so hard choosing a design but I picked this one, and I LOVE it:*SWOON*

Meanwhile, Ink’s been acclimated into the family even though we’ve found that he has a penchant for biting and scratching (and my hands are a bit of a scratched up wreck right now).

Chris is more accommodating than I am.

Ink’s a BIG fan of my IPad, as am I. I think I’ve read eight books since Christmas. But enough blah blah, what have I been eating lately?

One very memorable dinner was Coconut Shrimp (as posted by Danica):These were soooo amazing! I made two changes to the recipe: 1) we were out of beer so I used diet Ginger Ale. (I have NO idea how we were out of beer. That’s Chris’ department.) Anyway, Ginger Ale worked great. 2) I used unsweetened coconut because that’s what I had on hand. Bad move. Go with the sweetened. You will not be sorry. And don’t bake for very long. They cook FAST!

Another big hit recently was my Seafood wraps, inspired by Mama Pea’s Crack Wraps:I made the traditional shrimp, crab, and artichoke dip:

10 large shrimp

4 oz cooked dungeness crab

16 oz canned artichoke hearts, without oil

1 cup(s) shredded parmesan cheese

1 cup(s) Follow Your Heart Reduced fat vegenaise with flaxseed & olive oil

Chop shrimp and mix into the rest of the ingredients in 9 x 9 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees, uncovered for 25 minutes. (9 servings for 4 WW PointsPlus per serving)

To make the wrap, I put a serving of dip in a Harvest Grain Flat Out, folded it up and grilled it on the George Forman. A little salty for my current tastebuds, but very yummy. (Can I just say how I’m a little afraid of how long a package of Flat Outs lasted in the fridge without going bad? It was a freakishly long time.)

And finally, here’s a dish with some color. You were beginning to suspect I was on some white food kick, weren’t you? To use up pantry ingredients (mainly black beans), I made Black Bean Polenta Casserole:Boy do I LOVE Enchilada sauce. I don’t know what makes it so addictive but I lurvvvve it! Anyway, I’d never made polenta before, but it wasn’t as scary as you’d think. I used a lactose-free yogurt cheese for Chris, but any cheese would work. I couldn’t really taste the cheese so maybe the stronger the better. Another recipe success!

I’ve lost  6.4 lbs in 9 weeks on Weight Watchers. It’s always slow going for me, but I’m getting there. When I got on the scale yesterday, I realized for the first time that I am going to reach goal this year. I don’t know what the road is going to look like exactly, but I’m definitely going to get there!

Happy weekend everybody! Tell me all about your exciting plans! Does it feel like Spring is coming yet where you are?