Skinny 7 Layer Dip

Looking for more penny pinched recipes? Here you go!

It really is the little things in life that get me oh-so-excited! This week when I saw all the fantastic prices on PB&J at Publix & Kroger, it dawned on me (because I'm so smart? ~ahem~ ) that I should try out making homemade uncrustables.

Seriously folks, why has this taken so long????

I ordered my very own homemade-uncrustable-maker Monday from Amazon, it arrived in my mailbox today, and this afternoon I whipped up exactly 20 PB&J sandwiches all ready to go for school. (School that doesn't even start for two weeks. I was just too excited to wait.) 😉

WHY HAS IT TAKEN ME SO LONG TO FIGURE THIS OUT???

I absolutely hate racing around in the morning before school trying to put together sandwiches, but even more than that I hate paying so much for Smuckers to make Uncrustables for me, so this was brilliant. B.R.I.L.L.I.A.N.T., I'm telling you! Kinda sad that it took 14 years of mommying for me to figure this one out, but I'm going to teach you how to make them too now so that you can be just as smart as me, probably a whole lot sooner.

Ready? 😉

Gather up your ingredients.

Use your Wonder Sandwich Seal'R N' DeCruster.

Slather some peanut butter in the center part of your bread (not too close to the edges since you'll lose them – I like to put peanut butter on both sides of the bread so it keeps the sandwiches from getting soggy.)

Plop some jelly on each sandwich and spread it out. (The photo shows too much jelly, I ended up using a little less on each sandwich but was in a hurry taking the pictures!)

Then use the your de-cruster to remove the crusts. (I can't believe I missed getting a picture of trying it out! Be sure to press down on the outsides only of the de-cruster so you get a nice seal.

Then wrap in plastic bags, foil, or saran wrap, and place in larger freezer bag, being sure to label which type you've made if you have picky pb&j eaters like I do. (I have a crunchy-peanut-butter-and-jelly-eater, creamy-peanut-butter-only-eater, and creamy-peanut-butter-and-jelly-eater at home, so I love that I can make all of them at once this way!)

Pop those babies in the freezer, and your lunches are made for school. WOOOOHOOOOO!

(kinda sad, but I really am just that excited about this. I think I'll say it one more time  . . . WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!) 😉

Here are the best sales I see to watch for this week on PB&J so you can get your supplies ready too (as of 7/30/14):

Kroger

• Jif Peanut Butter Mega Sale $1.49, use $.50/1 coupon from the 7/13 Red Plum insert
• Smuckers Jelly $1.99, use $.35/1 coupon from the 6/29 REd Plum insert or $.50/1 coupon from the 7/13 Red Plum insert 
• Kroger Bread $1

Publix

• Peter Pan Peanut Butter $1.80, use $.25/1 Saving Star, also spend $30 on participating Conagra products, submit for $10 Publix gift card 
• Smuckers Jelly $1.62, use $.35/1 coupon from the 6/29 REd Plum insert or $.50/1 coupon from the 7/13 Red Plum insert

Winn Dixie

• Peter Pan Peanut Butter $1.99, use $.25/1 Saving Star 

Aldi

• Peanut Delight Peanut Butter $1.49
• Berryhill Grape Jelly $1.59

This post is linked up to Living Well Spending Less Thrifty Thursday – thanks for the opportunity to link up! Thanks to I Heart Publix for the coupon matchups. If you need a little more menu inspiration, go HERE. 

Looking for more penny pinched recipes? Here you go!

Corn Dog Muffins

I really (really) wanted to make this recipe to share with you today. I shopped my pantry for all the ingredients, had them right out on the counter (except for the beer ~ I planned to swap that one out with water. . . ), 😉 and had just about pulled down the bread machine from the top shelf.

But then I started thinking that lots of folks might not have a bread machine. Or the energy to put together pretzel hot dogs. Or would just figure that if you're going to wrap bread around a hot dog you might just as well make a pig-in-a-blanket with some crescent rolls out of the fridge.

So you're getting these instead. 😉

Please don't judge the fact that my kids eat corn dogs occasionally. In all reality they love them, and I figure that if you're heading to the ballpark where you're going to buy them a corn dog anyways, you can just as easily pop these in the oven and save at least a few calories since they're not fried. (And did I mention you'd pinch a few pennies too?)

You're welcome.

In just a few weeks I {hope!} we'll be all set up in our new kitchen and I'll be sharing a few 0h-so-fancy recipes that aren't made completely for folks under the age of 14.  But for now we're still keeping it simple around here making recipes with what I've got in the kitchen. Maybe it'll help you out too if you're feeling a little overdone this week!

Note: I made the mistake of putting the hot dogs in on top of the batter ~ I think if you'll place those in the muffin tins first, you'll have much prettier muffins! 😉 

Here are the best sales I see to watch for this week (as of 5/7/14:)

• Ball Park Hot Dogs BOGO $3.20 at Publix
• Sargento Shredded Cheese $2.99 at Publix, use $.70/1 Kroger ecoupon
• Kroger Bar-S Hot Dogs $1

Looking for more penny pinched recipes? Here you go!

Ever have a busy night but you just want something your kids will actually eat on the table? My kiddos love Pizza, so when I saw this idea for Pepperoni Pizza Quesadillas on Pinterest I knew it was right up their alley.

I made these for six kiddos earlier this week for lunch, and they ate up every last bite. It's quick, easy, and a great way to quickly get an easy meal done this week! Here's how to get cooking in your home.

Here are the best sales I see to watch for this week (as of 11/13/13):

• Kroger Azteca Flour Tortillas $.79
• Kroger Classico Pasta Sauce $1.79, use $1/3 Classico coupon
• Target Market Pantry Shredded Cheese 8 oz $2.25 
• Publix Kraft Shredded Cheese 8 oz $2

Recipe adapted from Snixy Kitchen. Thanks to I Heart Publix for the coupon matchups. If you need a little more menu inspiration, go HERE.