I've Got Lots of Oranges and Orange Juice

As you know oranges and orange juice have been on sale. It got me thinking about these
easy, tasty, orange muffins my friend Louisa passed onto me years ago.

Orange Blender Muffins
1 Orange with the peel left on(just wash it really good) cut into 14 pieces
1/2 cup orange juice
Put these in the blender and puree.

1/2 cup margarine
1 egg
1/2 cup raisins(optional)
Add these to the blender also and blend

In a separate bowl add
1 cup flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

Add the blended orange mix to the flour mixture.

Bake for 20 minutes at 400
Let sit for 5 minutes.

These are not only tasty, but they smell divine! Enjoy!

Reading the Fine Print

I was looking at the Walmart flyer online last night. I noticed that the Black Diamond
Cheese was on for $5.97 for 340g-1Kg.
 I thought 1Kg that's fantastic! So, today after I
dropped off hubby(he works sooo close to Walmart!) I popped in and met up with my
favorite dairy manager again! I showed her the flyer and asked where I could find a 1Kg brick.
She said they don't carry that size just the 907g, and it wasn't on for $5.97. So, she went and talked to her supervisor and came
back and said I could have 2 of the 907g packages at that price and then they would issue a correction notice.  While it won't
help you if you live in Kelowna, it might if you live on the Westside or anywhere else in Canada. Take your
flyer with you and show them and see if they will let you have 2 at that price! Hope you get some!

Chicken Breasts in the $8/package bin were marked down 30% to $5.60. Make sure and
pick the biggest package so you get the best deal. Celery is .88. Grapes both red and
green are $1.47/lb(they are really tasty!). Cucumbers and .57. Red cabbage was .49/lb. Bagels are 5/$2.

Classes at Parenting with Pizzazz Conference

Are you interested in taking a shopping course?  I am teaching at the Parenting with Pizzazz Conference at the end of the month. Here's a link to all the classes you can choose from. There are lots of great presenters as well as a keynote speaker. Registration is now open. See the bottom of this post for the details. Everyone is welcome.
Here's the info on my class.


4.  Shopping Smart with Sue  (All ages)10:30-11:30
This workshop is designed to help you reduce the amount you
spend on groceries and increase the nutrition you provide for
your family. During this workshop you will learn valuable skills
such as determining when a sale is a sale and how to build
your own Price book to help track ever changing grocery prices.
You will find out when it is a good time to bulk buy, learn a
different method of meal planning and how to feed your family
while making healthy choices

Conference info:
March 31
8:30-1:00pm
Cost $25/person or $45/couple
Includes 2 workshops, key note speaker, and refreshments
and door prizes
Free on-site child minding



Register  Mon – Fri 10:00 am – 1:00 pm
Call: 250-762-3989 ext:102
In Person: Martin Avenue Community Centre
1434 Graham Street, Kelowna BC, V1Y 3A
The Okanagan Boys and Girls Club

Orange Juice at Walmart $1

I went to Walmart early this morning. While I was in the dairy area I came across this
orange juice for $1. The dairy manager, Claudine, was kind enough to come over while I
was shopping and tell me that the reason it's a dollar is because they have changed the packaging and
can no longer sell it with the old packaging. The expiry date is May! I got some for us and some for our food coop!

Some of the meats had been marked 30% off.
Walmart is fantastic about ad matching as well as competitor coupon matching.
I bought the Safeway egg deal and they happily rung them in at $1.33 each.(If you haven't got this yet, today is the last day.) I have been so impressed by how Walmart employees go out of their way to be friendly and helpful!

Seafood Chowder

Once a week I try to include a soup, bread and salad in our menu plan. This week we had one of our favorites...Seafood Chowder.

The ingredients are as pictured above. The small, square, white container is chicken broth. The bowls contain: 3 green onions chopped, one potato cut small, and some frozen mixed veggies(if I had had just corn, I would have used that.)

To start use a bit of butter or oil and soften the green onions and garlic, about 2-3 minutes. The bigger bits of green in here are broccoli stems chopped up. I added them on a whim.

Add 1 cup of chicken broth and 1 cup of water. Then add the cut up potato and  simmer until the potato is
tender about 15 minutes.

Add a package of seafood medley and the frozen
vegetables. Continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until seafood is cooked through, 5 minutes. The red bits are pieces of red pepper that I added...you guessed it, on a whim.

Stir in the milk and heat. Season with pepper and salt.

This recipe feed us(4)with a tiny bit (not even enough for a whole bowl)left over. We had a green salad and some, yummy, easy Cuban bread that I blogged about here.
Enjoy!

The Beauty All Around......

It's spring break and I am excited to have 2 weeks off from schooling. My son said that he thought maybe he'd just take one week off. Being the nurturing mother I am I said, "You can take one week off if you want, but I'm taking two, so you'll have to teach yourself!"

Yesterday we had no snow and temperatures were to be in the double digits. This morning we awoke to LOTS of snow. It's absolutely gorgeous as it's heavy and makes beautiful designs on the trees. I thought I'd share some photos. Above is a solar garden light covered in snow.(I still enjoy these so much and always think of you, Ruth, when they change colors all night long!)

The Japanese maple...(.I think that's what it's called.)

The walnut tree looking regal.

This tree looks beautiful covered in snow.

Most of the year it throws, what I call, helicopter leaves all over the yard and deck....they are a bit annoying.

The grape vines covered in snow.

The bird feeder, where just yesterday a flock of finches tried a game of how many birds can fit on one feeder. They are fussy eaters and we laughed as we watched them spit out the
seeds they don't like!

My attempt at artsy photography.
Those of you who know us, know that our driveway is a bit of a nightmare...especially when
it snows! We are thankful that our vehicle is 4 wheel drive as we would be stuck otherwise. The sun is out and
so we are hopeful that the driveway will be clear shortly! I wonder who is going to shovel it???
Guess it's a baking day! Banana cookies anyone?

Freezing Bananas

This past week at 10% off at Safeway they had bananas on 2lbs for $1.00.(That works out to .45/lb!) I bought them, we ate some and then I froze the rest.

I took off the peel and put them on cookie sheets. You can just throw them in the freezer in their skins, but it is far from appetizing when you defrost them and then try and get them out of the skins.

Once they are frozen I just put them in a large Ziploc. Most of my recipes seem to need 3 large bananas. With them prefrozen on the cookie sheet they don't stick together in the bag and they are easy to take out one at a time. Besides, they look nicer! Guess it's time to do some I've Got Lots of Bananas recipes.....What kind of banana recipes are your favorite? Any one have ones that take more than 3 bananas???