Uncategorized | With a Side of Hope

Superman, Mexican Food & Father’s Day!!…

Posted on June 17, 2013 by withasideofhope

Hi there! Happy Monday to you! I don’t know how happy it is that it is Monday and the start of another work week but let’s try to make it a happy one. I really didn’t want to get up this morning. I had trouble sleeping last night. I went to sleep too late and then woke up a couple of times throughout the night. I’m hoping to get more sleep tonight. Although, Monday nights are reserved for the Bachelorette. So we will see how much earlier I actually go to bed. How was your weekend and your Father’s Day?

Let’s get started on recapping my weekend, shall we? On Friday when I got home from work, Mike was already home because he is working summer hours. That means he works an hour or so later during the week so that he is able to leave several hours earlier on Friday. He is lucky. My work doesn’t do that. It would be nice if they did though. I think they tried it several years ago and it just didn’t work out so they cancelled the whole idea. Anyway, he had purchased tickets to see Man of Steel for that night for us.

I wasn’t that thrilled to see this movie but I was happy to spend time with Mike and watch a movie with him. I honestly couldn’t remember the last movie I saw in the movie theater. It’s been a very long time since I’ve been to the theater. I personally wait until they come out on dvd to rent. Unless, I am dying to see a movie than that is really the only time I’ll go to the theater or if someone asks me to go.

Before our movie, we stopped for dinner. We both had won $5 gift cards to iHop on twitter and I also had a 20% off coupon so it definitely made for a cheap dinner! We only had to end up paying $5 for both of us to eat and drink. I ended up getting double blueberry pancakes.

Mike ordered their new brioche bananas foster french toast.

Oh my gosh! I tried his and I almost died and went to heaven. It was the most incredible thing I ever tasted in my life. I regretted my boring pancakes and wanted to have what Mike ordered. I think the next time we go, I will be definitely ordering that! It is quite decadent, but you can live a little! It tasted THAT good. Yum! What is your favorite thing to order for breakfast at a restaurant? We had some time to spare before the movie, so we decided to just walk around the mall for a little bit and then venture over to the theater.

I actually thought the movie was quite good. I thought it was WAY too long. They could have easily cut about 45 minutes of out of the movie and it would have been fine. I love that Amy Adams was in the movie. She is one of my favorite actresses. The guy that played Superman was a good actor too. I swear I’ve seen him in something before but I couldn’t figure out what it was.

On Saturday, I relaxed most of the morning and when Mike got home from the gym, we went to a new Mexican restaurant that is officially opening tomorrow for lunch. We got a reservation for their training event. You were able to order two drinks, an appetizer to share, an entrée, and a dessert to share for free. It was part of their training before the restaurant actually opens. We started off with guacamole.

Guacamole

I ordered chicken quesadillas

Chicken Quesadillas

They were way too hot and were completely falling apart. I couldn’t pick them up. So I ate parts of the inside until a server dropped part of Mike’s drink onto my plate and didn’t say anything afterwards. Whoops. I guess they need more training! The drinks were really good and the dessert of fried ice cream was tasty. Our waiter was excellent and the manager was really nice that came over and talked to us. He invited me back the next day. So I decided to take my mom and Melissa to try it out.

After our lunch, Mike and I had some errands to run that included going back to the mall and then going to Aldi to get some items for the week. We were both tired so we went home and caught up on the dvr for a while. We made a simple dinner and went out for ice cream! Ice cream twice in one day? Yay!

On Sunday, Melissa, my mom and I went back to the Mexican restaurant and it was awful this time. The waitress we got didn’t know what she was doing at all and looked incredibly nervous. We waited so long for everything and I was served raw chicken. I didn’t bother saying anything because it was training. I just hope they learn to cook it properly before tomorrow. I really think this place is a better happy hour or late night place to go to. The margaritas are good and appetizers are probably good but as for entrée’s, I don’t think so much. I guess we will see what happens when it opens.

Melissa and I went out to eat with our dad for Father’s Day. It was nice to spend time together with him and Melissa. The restaurant we went to took forever to seat us and then our food took forever to come out. I didn’t like what I ordered at all and didn’t bother taking a picture of it. It was disappointing but we really didn’t know where to go to eat. Our dad lives about 15-20 minutes away from us and we were trying to go somewhere near him so it was easier. It’s hard trying to pick out a good restaurant these days. I feel like service is slipping and the food quality has gone down so much. It’s a shame really.

Well that was my weekend. Remember tomorrow is the last day of my giveaway. So if you are interested, enter today!

Have a great Monday!

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: bananas foster, blueberry pancakes, french toast | 1 Comment »

Fun Finds Friday: Condiment Edition!!…

Posted on June 14, 2013 by withasideofhope

Hi there! Happy Friday to you!!! We finally made it! This week has sure felt like a long one filled with a lot of crummy weather. I’m looking forward to catching up on some sleep this weekend and relaxing. It’s also Father’s Day. So Happy Early Father’s Day to any of you father’s that might be reading! What are you doing this weekend? I don’t really have very many plans. I promised Mike I would go see the new Superman movie that comes out tonight with him. I don’t really want to see it but I will see it to be with him and go to the movies. I can’t even remember the last movie I saw in the theater. Isn’t that sad? That’s how long it’s been since I’ve been there. There hasn’t really been many movies that I’ve wanted to see. I’d rather wait until they come out on Redbox and then I can rent them. I am not a huge fan of going to the movies especially when it’s really crowded. I don’t like feeling crammed into a seat with a bunch of people around me. It’s too claustrophobic.

Anyway, let’s move on to something else! Today is Fun Finds Friday and I thought it would be fun to feature a condiment edition of new condiments that have come out! So let’s get started!

Jif Natural Creamy Peanut Butter with Honey

Creamy Peanut Butter Spread and Honey Contains 80% Peanuts

Jif has come out with a new product in their natural line, it’s Honey peanut butter. This peanut butter is creamy and it contains honey as a sweetener. I think it sounds interesting. I’m not a huge honey fan so I’m not sure that I would like this particular peanut butter but it might be a good choice for those of you who do love honey. Plus, it’s from their natural line so if you look at the ingredients, they only contain: peanuts, sugar, palm oil, 2% or less of salt & molasses, and honey.

Jif Creamy Whipped Peanut Butter

Creamy Whipped Peanut Butter

This is a new Whipped Peanut Butter from Jif! It has a smooth and fluffy whipped texture perfect for dipping, snacking, and spreading. I think this peanut butter sounds amazing!! I definitely want to try it out. I’m a huge fan of whipped tasting peanut butters and I think from Jif, this would be a winner! Definitely need to find this!

Jif Whipped Peanut Butter & Chocolate

Whipped Peanut Butter & Chocolate

This is exactly like the whipped peanut butter that I posted above except it has chocolate in it!! This sounds so incredible. I’d love to dip strawberries or apples in this! I bet it would taste incredible. I think I need to try this one from Jif too. They both just sound amazing to me.

French’s Flavor Infuser

French’s, known for their mustard’s has come out with a completely different product. This is a Flavor Infuser. When you open the container it contains a tip that you press into meat and it will inject the flavor into the meat and then you pour the rest of the marinade over the meat. Each tube is a single use, so you will want to use the entire thing. They come in four flavors: Zesty Italian, Sweet & Tangy Teriyaki, Caribbean Jack, and Classic Steakhouse. Their website has a lot of recipe ideas as well as a $1.00 off coupon that you can print out. I think these sound good! I would like to try the Zesty Italian and the Tangy Teriyaki. I think those two sound the best.

Smucker’s Magic Shell Two New Flavors

Magic Shell

I used to have Smucker’s Magic Shell Chocolate all the time growing up! I love the fact that you put it on your ice cream and it freezes and hardens into a shell in a matter of minutes! I haven’t had this in years. They have come out with two new interesting flavors. They are Pink Lemonade and Root Beer! I’d be interested to see what they taste like. I think for the Pink Lemonade it would probably taste best on vanilla ice cream or strawberry. I think that is the one that I might not like. I think Root Beer would go with a lot more flavors of ice cream.

Skippy Natural Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter

It seems like a lot of peanut butter brands are coming out with chocolate and Skippy is no exception. They have come out with Skippy Natural Dark Chocolate Creamy Peanut Butter spread. I love that it’s a part of their natural line. I like that peanut butte companies are having natural products. It’s a lot healthier to the consumer. I think this sounds delicious!! I love dark chocolate and peanut butter together. It’s a match made in heaven.

Sweet Baby Ray’s Cola-Q

Sweet Baby Ray’s has come out with a new barbecue sauce called Cola-Q. I’ve never tried any of their products so I’m not sure how they taste but I think this one sounds interesting. It’s infused with Cola flavoring! I can imagine that it would taste best on beef or pork.

Breyers Ice Cream Toppings

Breyers ice cream sauces - hot fudge, chocolate and caramel Breyers Real Fruit ice cream topping Breyers rainbow sprinkles and chocolate sprinkles

Breyer’s the ice cream company has come out with their own line of ice cream toppers! How exciting! As you can see they have quite a few products. They have sauces such as: Chocolate Flavored, Hot Fudge Flavored, and Caramel Flavored and you can see they don’t contain high fructose corn syrup which is great! They also have Real Fruit Toppings: Mixed Berry, Cherry and Strawberry. In addition to that, they have Rainbow and Chocolate Sprinkles! So exciting! There are so many options to choose from. I’d want to try them all!

Heinz Ketchup Blended with Real Jalapeno

Heinz has come out with a limited edition ketchup that contains jalapeno’s mixed in! Eeek! I don’t know if I’d be able to handle a ketchup like that but it might be a good option for those of you spicy food lovers!!

Wishbone Dressing & Seasoning Mixes

Italian Dressing & Seasoning Mix Robusto Italian Dressing & Seasoning Mix House Italian Dressing & Seasoning Mix

These are three new products from Wishbone. They are a blend of herbs and Parmesan and Romano cheeses. It can be made into a dressing, rub, dip, marinade or seasoning. They come in three varieties: Italian, Robusto Italian, and House Italian. I think they sound great!

So there you have some new products in the condiment world! Have you tried any of these products? Which ones would you most want to try?

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway to win 3 coupons for free Stubb’s products of your choice. Giveaway ends on Tuesday.

Have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend!!

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: crummy weather, dessert, honey peanut | 6 Comments »

Mini-Chicken Parmesan Cupcakes!!…

Posted on June 13, 2013 by withasideofhope

Hi there! Happy Thursday to you. I am so incredibly exhausted today. I cannot wait to go to sleep tonight. I also have a very bad headache which I’m hoping will go away. I didn’t sleep very well last night so I’m hoping I will get more sleep tonight or I will catch up this weekend. The weather is supposed to be incredibly bad today. I’m kind of nervous about that. I keep hearing torrential rain, hail, and even the possibility of a tornado. That really scares me!

Anyway, I’m kind of shocked that no one has entered my giveaway so before I talk about anything today, I’m going to remind you to enter my giveaway to win three coupons for free Stubb’s products! You will find the rules on how to enter at the bottom of my post from yesterday. So definitely enter and spread the word! The giveaway is going on until next Tuesday. I’m hoping people enter. They really have wonderful products that I think a lot of you would enjoy.

Moving on to something else, I’ve been trying to cook more recipes that I have been pinning on my Pinterest boards. I pin so many amazing sounding recipes and then I never try them. So I have printed out several recipes that I am dying to try to this is the first one that I tried making last night.

Mini-Chicken Parmesan Cupcakes from here

Makes around 16 give or take

Ingredients:

1 cup panko
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 egg
1 pound ground chicken
~~1/2 cup diced red bell pepper~~ (**did not use this because I didn’t have it)
~~1/2 cup diced white onion~~ (** did not use this because I didn’t have it. I used 1/4 teaspoon of onion powder instead)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon dried oregano
~~6 fresh basil leaves, torn~~ (**did not use this because I didn’t have it)
1 pinch salt and pepper
16 small mozzarella cubes, cut from a block
2 cups tomato sauce

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 F.

In a small bowl, combine the panko, half of the Parmesan cheese, and the olive oil. Using your fingers, combine the mixture until it’s evenly coated. Set aside.

In a large bowl, lightly beat the egg. Then add the chicken, ~~red bell pepper~~, onion powder, garlic, oregano, the remaining Parmesan, ~~basil~~, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix well with your hands.

Lightly coat a mini muffin tin with cooking spray. Place a couple of tablespoons of the chicken mixture in each well.

Nestle a cube of mozzarella in the center of the mixture. Pat the chicken over the cheese to completely cover it.

Sprinkle the panko/Parmesan mixture on top of each chicken mound, lightly pressing it into the meat.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the panko is golden brown and the chicken is cooked through. If needed, you may broil the panko to further brown it.

Let rest 5 minutes. Then using a knife, lightly loosen each cupcake from the muffin tin.

In the meantime, warm the sauce in a small saucepan.

Serve meatloaf cupcakes with warmed sauce.

Mini-Chicken Parmesan Cupcakes!

Served with pasta and vegetables

So cute!

I didn’t warm the tomato sauce because I mixed some of the sauce in with the pasta that I was making and then I just poured a dollop as you can see by the mess on the cupcakes. They turned out incredible! I loved the surprise of mozzarella cheese in the center after you take a bite. It really does taste like a mini chicken parm! It’s a lot healthier too because it’s baked and not fried. I was surprised how much flavor the ground chicken had especially since I didn’t have some of the ingredients. The onion powder, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper really did work well. I don’t even think it needed the onion, pepper or basil. I mean I would probably like to try it with it the next time.

I ended up making 12 big cupcakes instead of the 16. I didn’t feel like making another muffin tin dirty for only 4 more cupcakes. So I just made a few of them extra big for Mike. He didn’t mind. I really thought this was a unique idea to make it in a muffin tin. I’ve never made something like this before and I’m glad that Pinterest inspired me to try it. I like trying new things and I’m excited to try some of the amazing things that I have been pinning.

I tell ya, Pinterest really is addicting! I only wish they would stop changing around the format of the app on the iPhone. It’s really irritating how they keep changing what you have to do to pin something. I wish they would just keep it the same. You get used to one way and then they change it. It’s enough with the changing.

Have you ever tried making something savory in a muffin tin? Would you?

Alright, well don’t forget to enter my giveaway and I’ll see you tomorrow! Have a great day and stay dry and safe!

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: cloves garlic, cup parmesan cheese, dinner | 2 Comments »

Stubb’s Legendary BBQ Review & Giveaway!!!!….

Posted on June 12, 2013 by withasideofhope

Hi there! Happy Wednesday to you!! I hope your week is going well. We made to the middle of the week and the weekend is near! I’m so glad about that. I could use some relaxation time. I’m very excited for today’s blog post! I think you will be too because it includes a giveaway and who doesn’t like a giveaway?! I know I do!! This is a good one too!

I was contacted by Stubb’s to try out some of their products and offer a review on my blog. I jumped at the chance because I’ve heard of Stubb’s before but I’ve actually never tried any of their products. Stubb’s was started in 1968 when C.B. Stubblefield, “Stubb,” started his first restaurant in Lubbock, Texas. Over the course of his life, Stubb perfected the art of barbecue, including making the sauces, marinades and rubs that today bring legendary Texas flavor to homes everywhere.

Stubb’s products are all-natural, certified gluten-free and contain no high fructose corn syrup, yet retain their deep-rooted, authentic Texas tastes and barbecue cook-off credibility. They off a great way for people to add flavor and interest to sandwiches, burgers, and grilled meats, fish and veggies, while avoiding the fat, calories or artificial flavors, sweeteners, colors or preservatives often found on the condiment aisle. Stubb’s actually created an interesting guide to the condiment aisle that you can find here.

Normal
0

false
false
false

EN-US
X-NONE
X-NONE

MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

On their website, you can find a list of the product offerings that they have such as Bar-B-Q Sauces, Marinades, and Rubs. They also have a section for recipes so you can figure out what you’d like to try making with each particular sauce, marinade or rub.

I was given the opportunity to select some items that I wanted to try. Since I have eliminated beef from my diet and I don’t eat pork, I selected all items that could be used on chicken, fish, or vegetables.

My Stubb’s Goodies!

Moppin’ Sauce

Stubb’s Moppin’ Sauce is a special basting sauce to keep meat moist and tender. You just ‘mop’ it on whatever meat item you would like to baste.

Chicken Spice Rub

Stubb’s Chicken Rub is a blend of sea salt, honey, garlic and mustard.

Texas Butter Injectable

This true Texas blend boasts the perfect amount of heat mixed with butter, mustard, onion, garlic and spices.

Original BBQ Sauce

This is Stubb’s original sauce that he created. I contains tangy tomato, vinegar, molasses and black pepper.

Chicken Marinade

This sauce is a blend of citrus, onion and garlic.

I couldn’t wait to try out these items! So I decided to partially follow a recipe I found on their site for Citrus Chicken! I listed my changes below.

Citrus Chicken from Stubb’s website

Ingredients:

4-5 chicken breasts

Stubb’s Chicken Marinade

1 orange

Stubb’s Moppin’ Sauce

Directions:

Fill dish with Stubb’s Chicken Marinade and the juice of one large orange. Marinate chicken breasts in it for 1 hour up to overnight.

Place chicken on grill over direct heat, mopping with Stubb’s Moppin’ Sauce while cooking. Grill 5-10 minutes on each side until fully cooked (the internal temperature should be 165 degrees).

I let my chicken marinate overnight and let me start off by saying that I am not the grillmaster in the house. I will leave that to Mike from now on. I prefer cooking indoors and he can do the grilling. I tried though!

Chicken & Veggies on the grill

I seasoned the string beans and zucchini with the Chicken Spice Rub.

Another look at the grill

Beautiful Citrus Chicken!

My dinner plate

I really enjoyed the chicken! The smells that were coming off of the grill were fantastic! There was a lot of citrus flavor and the chicken stayed nice and moist from the Moppin’ Sauce. The sauce was not overpowering at all. It just gave it that extra punch of flavor that sometimes chicken needs. I couldn’t get over how great it smelled. I really enjoyed the marinade, the Moppin’ sauce and the spice rub! I am looking forward to trying out the other sauces that I got. I already see crockpot bbq pulled chicken in my future with that bbq sauce!

Thank you Stubb’s for allowing me to try your great products! I love that they are all natural and are gluten-free. I am always looking for ways to incorporate healthy and natural ingredients into my cooking and now I can do it safely with these sauces, marinades and rubs.

Have you ever tried Stubb’s? Which products would you most want to try? Now here is your chance to try it out!

The winner will receive 3 coupons for free Stubb’s (good for any sauce, marinade, or rub, a $12-15 value). This contest is only open to US residents. I apologize for that!

To enter:

1.) Mandatory- Leave a comment telling me which Stubb’s product you would most like to try.

2.) Mandatory – Follow me on twitter and leave a comment that you did.

3.) Optional – Tweet the following: “I entered to win 3 coupons for Stubb’s prodcuts from @withasideofhope!” Leave a comment saying you did.

The giveaway closes on Tuesday, June 18th! Good luck to you!

Stubb’s provided the prizing and information for this giveaway. I received products for my own review; however, all thoughts and opinions here are my own.

Have a great Wednesday!

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: food | 6 Comments »

An Interesting Look At Jobs…

Posted on June 11, 2013 by withasideofhope

Hi there! Happy Tuesday to you! I hope your week is going well and you are experiencing nice weather. It’s been awful here. Yesterday was more torrential downpours. I think we’ve seen enough rain! The sun is actually outside now for once but I heard there is a possibility of storms today. I’m hoping they are wrong. I’d like to see the sun for more than just a few hours. I think the rest of the week should be nice so I can live with that I suppose.

Last night for dinner, Mike and I had our enchilada leftovers. So I’m not going to bore you with another picture of that. I’m looking forward to dinner tonight! I am trying out a new recipe with some new sauces that I received in the mail which include a giveaway for all of you!! So stay tuned tomorrow for a nice giveaway. It’s perfect for those of you who like to cook in the summer and that is all I am giving away! You’ll just have to wait and see.

Moving on to something else, I’m always looking for interesting articles to share that I come across. I find reading articles about jobs to be interesting. I like to hear what are the newest up and coming jobs or jobs that are doing particularly well or even pay well. I also like hearing what other people do for a living. I just like reading about this in general. So I found an interesting article today that features seven high-paying jobs that do not require you to go to grad school. I thought this would be interesting to share.

Career #1 – Accountant – The US Department of Labor says that the median income for accountants as $63,550, while the 90th percentile earns $111,510, and the 10th percentile earns $39,930. They also say that you’ll need a bachelor’s degree in accounting or a related field for most accountant positions. Most accountants further their education by becoming a certified CPA because that has the potential to boost your income.

Career #2- Registered Nurse – The US Department of Labor says registered nurses make a median wage of $65,470 annually, $94,720 for those in the 90th percentile, and $45,040 in the 10th percentile. This is a great job for someone who wants to be in the healthcare field but does not want to go to school for an extended period of time. There are three education options you can choose from to qualify for an entry-level position as a registered nurse, and a bachelor’s degree in nursing is one of them. The other options are an associate’s degree in nursing, or a diploma. All registered nurses must also be licensed.

Career #3 – Civil Engineer – If you aren’t sure what a civil engineer does, they oversee the building of things like roads, airports, and water supply systems. The median wage for civil engineers is $79,340, and the 90th or 10th percentile of earners, they report $122,020 and $51,280 salaries, respectively. A bachelor’s degree in civil engineering is required and your degree should be from a program that is accredited by ABET – (formerly the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology).

Career #4- Human Resources Manager – The median wage for human resources managers is $99,720 a year and at the 90th percentile, they typically earn $173,140, while the 10th percentile earns $59,020. You will most likely need a degree in human resources or business administration.

Career #5- Public Relations Manager – Public relations managers earn a median of $95,450 annually, while the 90th percentile of earners makes $180,480, and the 10th percentile earns $51,630. A bachelor’s degree in public relations is typical for a career as a public relations manager, but the Department of Labor also says you could earn a degree in journalism, communications, English, or business instead.

Career #6 – Financial Analyst – The median range of payouts see $76,950 annually and the 10th percentile earns $47,130, while the 90th percentile earns $148,430. You’ll need a bachelor’s degree in a field like accounting, economics, finance, statistics, or business administration for this type of position.

Career # 7- Medical and Health Services Manager – The median salary range for this career is $88,580 annually, and the 90th percentile earns $150,560, while the 10th percentile earns $53,940. Most people for this position have a degree in health care administration.

So what do you think? Do you agree with any of this? Are you in any of this positions? I find some of them interesting. I thought for financial careers you might require more education such as a masters or things of that nature. That was really the only surprising thing for me. Sadly, I am not in any of these careers. The salary for all of these careers are nice though. I think it’s just an interesting thing to learn about other careers and what they make and what is required for them. It’s always nice to just have addition knowledge for the future because you never know.

Well I hope I didn’t bore you too much today. I’ll be back tomorrow with a giveaway!

Have a great Tuesday!

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: business, economy, education | 2 Comments »

A Weekend Filled With Strawberry Picking & Goat Feeding!!..

Posted on June 10, 2013 by withasideofhope

Hi there! Happy Monday to you! I hope you had a nice weekend. What did you do this weekend? The weather on Friday was absolutely atrocious! I couldn’t see how to drive home. It was torrential downpours and it made for really bad driving conditions. It took me about an hour and a half to get home. I was so afraid driving on the highways because when a large truck splashed your car, you literally couldn’t see anything on the windshield in front of you until it cleared. That was very scary. I don’t like feeling like you are loosing control of your car. I am so thankful that a couple of months ago, I replaced the tires on my car. If I didn’t that would have made for an even scarier drive home. I am so glad that I decided to get new tires.

Once I finally got home, the entire outside of our house was flooded. So my shoes, and pants were drenched. It was quite gross. We sat at home for a little while and then decided to grab dinner once the rain slowed down. It slowed down until we approached the restaurant and then we got soaked running into Red Robin. We hadn’t been there in a while and we both wanted burgers. Mike tried a new burger that they came out with for the movie Wolverine. He really liked it. It went with my usual turkey burger.

An old picture of the same turkey burger

After dinner, we went right home because my stomach was bothering me and the rain didn’t look like it was going to stop any time soon. We actually went to bed kind of early on Friday night. We were both exhausted and it was nice to fall asleep to the sound of rain.

On Saturday morning, we both got up somewhat early and made plans to head to iHop for breakfast! I had a coupon for a free breakfast. So all we had to pay for were our drinks and Mike’s breakfast. I completely forgot to take a picture of my breakfast. I got 2 blueberry pancakes, eggs and home fries. I think next time I will get just the double blueberry pancakes. Those are my favorite. Mike, Melissa and I each won $5 gift cards from iHop on twitter! So I’m looking forward to going back there soon and getting my pancakes! I love going out for breakfast.

After breakfast, we ran some errands and stocked up on items at Aldi, and grabbed a rotisserie chicken at Sam’s Club. We didn’t have to fight for this one! Yay! We ran home and dropped things off and ventured to a local farm. At the farm, I was able to feed a goat!! I should have taken a picture but sadly I didn’t. We also went strawberry picking. It probably wasn’t the wisest choice going after a massive rain storm. We were both covered in mud! EW! However, the strawberries were 99 cents a pound! So we got well over 3 pounds of strawberries and they had a huge bag of string beans for $1.32. We have almost 3 pounds of string beans! Not a bad deal if you ask me.

This looks small in the picture but trust me, it is a LOT bigger in person

We cleaned off at home and started on roasting some veggies for dinner. We had our rotisserie chicken, roasted veggies and some french fries leftover from Red Robin.

My dinner plate

For dessert, we got gelati’s from our new favorite local water ice place. I swear they really have the best water ice. It’s becoming my favorite place to go for dessert. Next time, I want to try their frozen yogurt in a cone. I keep seeing people order it and it looks delicious!

On Sunday, I spent the day with Melissa and my mom. We went shopping and had lots of laughs. Melissa finally got me to try smelling the “bacon” candle at Yankee Candle. EW! I HATE the way bacon smells and tastes so it was torture to smell it but I did it to be a good sport. I didn’t enjoy it! Haha! I didn’t get many good deals to feature tomorrow. ShopRite didn’t have very good sales this week and we didn’t need that much stuff. I got a few random things to incorporate into meals. I want to try making some meals I’ve seen on Pinterest this week. I’m excited!

I decided to take some of the rotisserie chicken and made enchiladas with it. I sauteed spinach and mushrooms and mixed them with the chicken and some enchilada sauce. That was the filling. I was using foods that Mike and I like and that more specifically would be gentle on my stomach. Then I rolled up the enchiladas and covered them with more enchilada sauce and cheese and some sliced tomatoes. I shouldn’t have used as much enchilada sauce because it was WAY too spicy.

Enchiladas

We roasted vegetables and I made our favorite Chi Chi’s Corn Cake!

Corn Cake Mix

Corn Cake!

My plate

We have leftovers for dinner tonight. I’m going to try overcooking the enchiladas a bit to make them more crispy tonight and maybe since it will be sitting in the fridge, the sauce won’t be as strong. Fingers crossed!

Do you remember Chi Chi’s restaurant? It was seriously my favorite Mexican restaurant. I would go there ALL the time! I would beg my parents for us to go there. We celebrated numerous pictures there. I remember they would put a sombrero on you and bring out fried ice cream for dessert and take a family picture! It was so much fun. I also remember, I guess it was on Friday night’s, Melissa and I would sing karaoke. It really was fun. I was devastated when Chi Chi’s closed. I always hope, wish and pray that one day it will come back. It really was the best atmosphere and had great food. I think it would do well if it were open now. One can dream

Oh and if you haven’t had a chance, check out Google today! They are celebrating Maurice Sendak’s 85th birthday with images from his book! I used to love “Where the Wild Things Are!” So fun!

Have a great Monday!

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: blueberry pancakes, home fries, sound of rain, turkey burger | 8 Comments »

Fun Finds Friday: Breakfast, Part 2!!!

Posted on June 7, 2013 by withasideofhope

Hi there! Happy Friday to you!! I’m so glad that it’s Friday. I’m not glad that it’s a crazy mess outside all thanks to Andrea. It was pouring ran while driving into work today. That doesn’t exactly make for the best driving conditions. It’s even worse when driving home from work. I’m dreading that drive. Hopefully, it will stop for a brief period but I’m not sure that it’s even supposed to do that. Gr! I hate the rain! What are you doing this weekend? I don’t have any plans for this weekend. I know Mike and I want to go out to breakfast on either Saturday or Sunday because I have a coupon for a free breakfast. We will only have to pay for drinks and one of our breakfasts. The other one will be free. So that makes for a good deal. I love going out for breakfast. It’s one of my favorite meals to dine out for.

Speaking of breakfast, this transitions nicely into what I am going to feature today. Today’s Fun Finds Friday is Breakfast! There are a few new items that I am looking forward to sharing with you and hoping to actually try myself! So let’s get started!!

Vanilla Chex

Chex, one of my favorite cereal brands has come out with a new flavor, Vanilla!! I am a huge fan of Chex because I’ve been eating gluten-free cereals for breakfast lately and having good luck with it. All of Chex cereal’s are gluten-free! It’s great because they have so many different varieties to choose from. Now they have another flavor to choose from and that is vanilla! I think it sounds delicious! If you are looking to try this new cereal and want to save money, there is a .75 cents off coupon and you can find that and print it out here. I can’t wait to pick this up and try it out!

Hershey’s Cookies ‘n’ Creme

I apologize for the small picture. I was unable to find a decent sized picture of this new cereal. As you can see, this is a new cereal from Hershey’s called Cookies ‘n’ Creme! I think it sounds SO good and it reminds of me of the old cereal Oreo’s that they used to have out. I am dying to try this cereal too. I think it would make for a perfect dessert or a snack even! I bet it would taste great to snack on dry as well. I definitely want to try this. If you are looking to save money, there is also a .75 cents off coupon of a box of this cereal that you can print. You can find it here.

Kashi Go Lean Vanilla Graham Clusters

Package shot for Kashi® GOLEAN® Vanilla Graham Clusters

Kashi Go Lean has come out with another variety of their cereal, and it’s Vanilla Graham Clusters! I have actually tried this cereal and have been eating it all week. I’m obsessed!! I love it. It has a subtle vanilla flavor and has crunch to it. It tastes great in almond milk. I really enjoy this cereal a lot. I highly recommend it. You can’t go wrong with Kashi. You can also save money on this box of cereal. You can print a $1.00 off coupon that you can find here.

Honey Bunches of Oats Greek Honey Crunch

Honey Bunches of Oats has come out with a new cereal, called Greek Honey Crunch. I think this cereal sounds delicious! It looks like it has clusters of greek yogurt in the cereal. I swear greek yogurt is taking over these days. I think it would be a great cereal to try if you are greek yogurt fan.

Weight Watchers Smart Ones Smart Beginnings Maple & Brown Sugar Oatmeal

Smart Ones has come out with new oatmeal for breakfast! I think it’s a pretty neat idea that it comes frozen and then you can just throw it in the microwave and cook it for breakfast. It looks like each serving has 190 calories and it seems like something that you could take with you to work and heat up for breakfast. I think it sounds pretty good. I’d be interested in trying it if I could find it on sale.

Special K Nourish Hot Cereal

Special K has created a new line of products called Nourish. This line is going to contain hot cereal and bars, as well as Kellogg’s To Go breakfast shakes. The Nourish hot cereal contains quinoa, oats, barley and wheat. It is available in three varieties: maple brown sugar crunch, cranberry almond, and cinnamon raisin pecan. This is the first hot cereal from Special K and comes in a two-pack of single-serve cups. I’d love to try this! I think it sounds fantastic!

Dunkin’ Donuts Glazed Donut Breakfast Sandwich

file

Dunkin’ Donuts just released this week, a new breakfast sandwich. It’s a fried egg, and cherry-wood smoked bacon inside a split yeast ring donut for 360 calories. I don’t know about you but this doesn’t appeal to me at all. I don’t think it sounds like a very healthy breakfast. Eating eggs and bacon in-between a donut sounds quite gross to me actually. I thought it would be interesting to feature today though and see what you think. Would you ever try this?

I’ve also heard rumors that Thomas is going to release a limited edition Apple Pie bagel! I haven’t been able to find pictures of this but I think it sounds delicious! I am a big fan of Thomas limited edition bagels especially the pumpkin spice! I wanted to try the banana bread but I was able to find it anywhere. I was disappointed!

Alright well there are some new breakfast items for you to try out! Have you tried any of these items? Which ones would you most want to try?

Have a great Friday and weekend!

which consists of a fried egg and cherrywood-smoked bacon inside a split glazed yeast ring donut for 360 calories – See more at: http://www.dunkindonuts.com/DDBlog/2013/06/the_insidde_scoopt.html#sthash.Jbov3pWh.dpuf

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: breakfast, chex cereal, new flavor | 4 Comments »

Raspberry Lemonade Crumb Muffins & New Chicken Meatballs!!…

Posted on June 6, 2013 by withasideofhope

Hi there! Happy Thursday to you! I apologize for the lack of posting yesterday. I had a really busy day and I just didn’t have time to sit down and write a post. So I’m really sorry about that! It was not my intention to skip blogging and by the time I finally had some downtime, I just didn’t feel like sitting at the computer anymore. I first want to say that my heart goes out to those affected by the building collapse in Philly yesterday! That was so incredibly scary to watch unfold on television. It’s very scary when it hits close to home and in a city that you grew up in. So I am thinking of all of those people who might have been affected yesterday or even today.

The weather has been absolutely stunning the past two days! I wish I could bottle up this weather and keep it this way for a very long time. However, our weather is going to change drastically tomorrow. It’s going to pour all day and then pour for some of Saturday. So I’m planning on enjoying this weather as much as I can. I’m looking forward to checking out a local farmer’s market with Melissa after work. We went once last year and it was awful. The year before there were so many beautiful things and last year was disappointing. I hope this year is back to their old ways with beautiful and cheap produce! I could use some good produce deals.

In my shopping trip that I posted about the other day, you might have seen a package of chicken meatballs. The company Aidells was doing a sampling at the supermarket when Mike and I were there. We ended up trying the Teriyaki & Pineapple Chicken Meatballs. We instantly fell in love with it and picked up a package of our own, along with a few coupons.

Chicken Meatballs

I love the fact that these meatballs contain no msg, no nitrates, and no added hormones. That is important to me. Plus, they taste fantastic! We decided to pair them with some pasta and a new sauce that we bought.

New sauce from Ronzoni

My dinner bowl

I have to say, the sauce ruined my dinner for me. I didn’t like the sauce at all and Mike wasn’t a fan either. I don’t like when my tomato sauce has chunks of tomatoes in it. I prefer a smoother sauce. I also just didn’t like the flavors in it at all. It had a strong basil taste. I will definitely not be buying this sauce again. I was really disappointed. The highlight was the meatballs and they actually went quite well with a sauce. It may sound like an odd combination but it worked.

Last night for dinner, we decided to have an old favorite, Sweet Potato Gnocchi from Trader Joe’s.

My dinner plate

You seriously can’t go wrong with the sweet potato gnocchi. It’s SO good and I love the sage butter sauce that it comes in. The package is plenty for Mike and I to share and we roasted some vegetables to serve along with it. It was a quick and simple dinner.

Yesterday, I also decided to bake some muffins that I have been wanting to try since I saw the recipe on Kristin’s blog. I am a huge fan of her recipes and any that I make always turn out excellent. This one was no exception!

Raspberry Lemonade Crumb Muffins from Iowa Girl Eats

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup milk
1 Tablespoon lemon zest (about 2 lemons worth)
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups frozen raspberries

For the crumb topping:
1/4 cup flour
2 Tablespoons butter, melted and slightly cooled
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
Pinch salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees then line a muffin tin with liners and set aside. Combine butter, unsweetened applesauce and sugar in a large mixing bowl then beat for 1 minute (mixture will look curdled.) Add eggs then beat to combine. Add milk, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla then beat to combine.
In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to wet ingredients in three batches, mixing until just combined before adding the next batch. Add frozen raspberries then gently fold into batter.
Fill prepared muffin tin cups 3/4 of the way full with batter. In a separate bowl mix crumb topping ingredients together with a fork until crumbly. Sprinkle on top of muffins then bake for 23-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in muffin tin completely.

Although for some reason, my crumb topping didn’t turn out as beautiful as Kristin’s did, it still tasted fabulous!

My muffin!

Top of a muffin that I took a bite out of

Look at the raspberry center!

These muffins are really fantastic! They have so much lemon and raspberry flavor. I think they are the perfect muffin to serve at a brunch or breakfast or even for dessert! I will definitely be making these again! What is your favorite type of muffin?

Have a great Thursday!

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: breakfast, chicken meatballs, pineapple chicken | 4 Comments »

Banana Bread & Another Amazing Shopping Trip!!…

Posted on June 4, 2013 by withasideofhope

Hi there! Happy Tuesday to you! I hope your week is going well so far. Today is absolutely beautiful outside! It’s crisp and cool this morning with bright sunshine. It’s such a beautiful way to start the day especially since it’s been so hot and humid here. I believe today is only supposed to be in the 70′s which will be a really nice change. I’m loving it! I like the cool breeze with the sun. It makes for a pleasant morning and hopefully the rest of the day will be just as pleasant.

So yesterday, I mentioned that I had another successful trip at the supermarket with couponing and combining those coupons with sales. Mike and I went to ShopRite, which is my trusted store of choice.

We have been going to a ShopRite which is about 25 minutes away from our house because they do triple coupons! I think I’ve mentioned this before. That means if you have a .75 cents off coupon and it triples, you are getting $2.25 off your item! That makes for incredible deals and overage to apply to other items that you are purchasing that you might not have coupons for or you have coupons that aren’t as high of value as the .75 cents off ones are. The store also takes Giant coupons. That makes for even better deals because Giant has been sending me coupons in the mail as well as putting them in their circular. So you are able to use those coupons in addition to all of your other coupons at this particular ShopRite. All stores are different so check with yours about their coupon policy before you go in.

I made sure to add store coupons to my Price Plus Card and print out the coupons that I needed as well as organize all of the coupons that Melissa gives me from the newspaper since Mike and I don’t get the paper. I was armed and ready with my coupons and the knowledge that I learned from the couponing site that I frequent and we were ready to go! Do you cut out coupons? Would you use coupons or do you think it’s a hassle?

The pictures that I am going to show you are everything that we brought home with us. Our total before coupons was $60.00 and after coupons it came down to $19! So for everything you see in the pictures below, we paid $19 for. Not a bad deal if you ask me!

Our entire haul of items

A closer look

Those chicken meatballs were supposed to be over $5 alone!

We also got deli turkey and a package of boneless skinless chicken breasts which is a little hard to see in the picture

Another view of the boxes of cereal, pasta, chips, and ice cream bars

As you can see, there are several items which are not cheap that we were able to get by couponing and sales. For example, the Kashi cereal’s alone should have been at least $4 a box. The Food Should Taste Good chips are over $2. All of those Dole Smoothie Shakers were completely free and gave us overage as well as the ice cream bars. That box was completely free with overage. The muffins were free because I had a free coupon. The bag of chips were 25 cents. The Chobani’s were 10 cents each. So you can see, we got really good deals. Yes, we got a few items that may be “unhealthy,” but I don’t necessarily eat those items and it’s good to treat yourself every once in a while.

Oh and I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this before, ALWAYS bring your own bags! You get 5 cents a bag that you use at ShopRite and that gets applied to your total! So every little bit helps. I was very proud of our trip! I think Mike was even happier because I saw him getting nervous when our total was $60. I told him not to worry and just wait to see the total go down. Hard work really does pay off!

I’m going to change gears before I sign off for the day. Last night we had some bananas that were definitely on their way out. So I decided to whip up some banana bread. I partially used a Martha Stewart recipe and I altered a few things to make it my own. One thing after making this bread that I would change is to definitely use less salt. I think she said to use way too much salt and next time I would definitely limit it to close to nothing. I’m not a huge salt fan to begin with but to each their own. I will list my changes and for the original recipe, you can check out the link I posted.

Banana Bread adapted from this recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt ** I would use less next time!

1 cup mashed very ripe bananas

1 container of vanilla Chobani

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray with cooking spray a 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan; set aside. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, and beat to incorporate.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add to the butter mixture, and mix until just combined. Add bananas, greek yogurt, and vanilla; mix to combine. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Let rest in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool.

** I baked my bread for a little under an hour and it was was completely cooked. Your oven time may vary so be sure to check on it around the 45 minute mark time**

Banana Bread

I really enjoyed the bread! The next time I will limit the salt though. It was entirely too much for my tasting!

Alright, well have a lovely Tuesday!

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: bright sunshine, shoprite, store coupons | 9 Comments »

The First Weekend in June!!…

Posted on June 3, 2013 by withasideofhope

Hi there! Happy Monday to you! I hope you had a great weekend and stayed cool! What did you do this weekend? I can hardly believe that it’s June already! I feel like months just fly by like crazy. The days go by slow but the months, they just fly right on by. This weekend was a heat wave for us here in the Philly area. It didn’t go below 90 degrees the entire weekend. Today is supposed to be the start of the temperature drop because it’s raining today. The rest of the week is supposed to be in the 70′s which will be a really nice change from this excessive heat. It was cool and then all of sudden the heat came. I need a gradual change into heat not all at once. I just really hate the humidity. I don’t mind so much the heat but the humidity, I cannot stand.

Anyway, let’s recap my weekend. On Friday, Mike was home when I got home from work. He injured his foot/ankle so he had to go to the doctor. Luckily, it’s just a bad sprain so he has been icing it and trying to stay off of it as much as possible. We did have a few errands to run on Friday so we decided to grab something to eat since we were already out. We ventured to Panera Bread. I got the you pick two. I got broccoli cheddar soup which I haven’t had in over a year and the strawberry poppy-seed salad.

My pick two dinner

Unsweetened hibiscus tea to drink

The highlight of my entire meal was my drink to be honest with you. The soup literally destroyed my stomach. I guess I should have continued to stay away from it. The salad, I hated. I couldn’t even finish it. It was SO sweet and the dressing just gave the entire salad a terrible flavor. I couldn’t manage to even get it down. I was so disappointed. I feel like every time I go to Panera, I’m disappointed in one way or another. I really think I’m done with that place now. I don’t ever get anything that I like and if I do get something I like, it destroys my stomach. So it’s best to just stay away completely. At least Mike liked his dinner.

On Saturday, I was finally able to sleep in a little bit. I did some things around the house and then Mike and I went out to get a few things that we needed. We got ready and met his parents at an italian restaurant for dinner. I didn’t take any pictures. My dinner wasn’t that great there either. I don’t know what it is with my food selections at restaurants this past weekend. I was making all of the wrong choices. It was nice to see my in-laws since we haven’t seen them in a while.

We came home to a loud, obnoxious party upstairs once again. I don’t get it. The people above us truly believe they are living in a frat house. I don’t understand why they need to act like that. They had a lot people over who were drinking and yelling and blasting music at like 10:30 at night. I don’t know about you but I enjoy my peace and quiet at night. I’d rather be sitting at home watching tv than hearing all of that or partaking in any of that. They are just so immature and I really hope this isn’t a preview of our summer. We are trying so hard to save so we can buy a house this time next year. I pray that will happen because we don’t know how much longer of this we can handle.

Moving on, on Sunday, I planned out my shopping trip so we could stock up with food for the week. I did an amazing job couponing again and I’m going to feature everything, along with pictures of our entire haul to show you tomorrow! So definitely look for that! We actually ran into Melissa and my mom at the store!! I love when that happens!!! When I saw Melissa, I like jumped into her arms! Haha! It was definitely unexpected to see them. Melissa and I make a very good couponing team so I had to show her what I had planned and she did the same. It’s really fun being able to bring home a ton of healthy food by paying close to nothing. I love it.

Mike and I decided to grill once we got home. It was so beautiful outside, how could we pass up the opportunity to grill, especially with the awful weather today.

Pretty flowers outside of our house

I had to take a picture of these while we were grilling. They really bloomed beautifully! I have no idea what they are. The condo association plants them for us.

Vegetables grilling

Flat-Out wrap pizzas grilling!

Another view of everything grilling

My pizza (the cheese looks weird because we ran out of mozzerella and we had to use some slices of cheese for my pizza. Whoops!)

My dinner plate

We both love using Flat-Out wraps to make a pizza! The wraps really do crisp up in the oven or on the grill and make for a nice, light and crispy individual pizza! It’s been so long since we made these and I really missed them. They are so quick and easy to make, we should really do it more often! Have you ever grilled a pizza?

Alright well have a lovely Monday! I’ll see you tomorrow to recap my shopping trip!

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: broccoli cheddar soup, poppy seed, temperature drop | 6 Comments »

With a Side of Hope

Pages

E-mail Me

Recent Posts

Superman, Mexican Food & Father’s Day!!…

Fun Finds Friday: Condiment Edition!!…

Mini-Chicken Parmesan Cupcakes!!…

Stubb’s Legendary BBQ Review & Giveaway!!!!….

An Interesting Look At Jobs…

A Weekend Filled With Strawberry Picking & Goat Feeding!!..

Fun Finds Friday: Breakfast, Part 2!!!

Raspberry Lemonade Crumb Muffins & New Chicken Meatballs!!…

Banana Bread & Another Amazing Shopping Trip!!…

The First Weekend in June!!…

Blogroll

Email Subscription

Add me to Twitter!

Follow “With a Side of Hope”