Homemade Sushi : Guest Post By Marissa

Homemade Sushi
By Marissa (Sue's daughter)

Homemade Sushi is waaaay better then the stuff you get at the store and healthy too!
You'll need:
1 cup white rice
half piece of imitation crab
half avocado
1/3 a cucumber
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp sugar
1tsp salt
3 pieces of Nori seaweed

Also:
Sushi mat (Its a long row of sticks tied together)

To make the Sushi:
I use a rice cooker so I don't know the rules for the pot. With a rice cooker you put in one cup of rice and 1 3/4 cup of water. This should make your rice sticky.
When the rice is cooked add the rice vinegar, sugar and salt and stir them together. Now it should to start smelling like Sushi! (I ask that you don't drool on the food)
Take a piece of Nori and set it on your Sushi mat. (Make sure the shiny side is facing down) Add a thin layer of rice and gently spread evenly.  (Probably half a centimeter thick) The thicker your rice is the thicker your Sushi is so be careful.
When rice is spread line the crab, avocado and cucumber in a straight line in the center of the rice.
Carefully, using sushi mat, roll the rice into long log. It should look a lot like a cinnamon roll. And like a cinnamon roll you carefully cut it into about 6-7 pieces. For each cut wet the knife. The water makes it easier to cut through the nori. Also, I find the end pieces always fall apart so I cut those first and save it as a treat for the cook ;)
Continue with the other three pieces of Nori or until you've used your rice. Depending on how thick you spread the rice these rules will very.
You should have about 22 piece in the end! Enjoy!
Warning: Chew carefully, Nori can be a bit hard to chew at times. Also don't eat too many pieces! Over a dozen and you will undoubtedly get sick!

Thanks Marissa! Awesome job! Just a note to the money conscious. The Nori I found in the ethnic aisle in Superstore 20 sheets for $2.48. That's .15/sheet. 
Want a grand tally?
Sushi costs
Nori .45
Rice .25(this is a guess)
Cucumber .25
Avocado .35
salt and sugar .05
crab .15
rice vinegar .25
Grand Total $1.75 makes about 22 pieces, not included the cook's ends. This is 8 cents/roll!!!

Makes Me Crazy!

I took this picture at Safeway on Saturday. This kind of stuff makes me crazy. I am sure when you go grocery shopping you are usually busy and maybe preoccupied. You probably are trying to remember where you put your list. What was it you were supposed to pick up that you are sure you are forgetting? What aisle is peanut butter in?Why do your kids keep asking for things? What did you need for supper? Then you run into this. You need crackers and look,they are on sale! If you buy 2 the tag on the 450 g of crackers says you can get them for $2.50/box, normally $2.99. Below it says if you buy the 900 g it's $3.99. It  looks at first glance that the small box might be the better deal because you have to buy 2 to get the low price! Well, as you have already figured out 2 boxes of 450 g would be $5. The equivalent amount(900 g) box is $3.99! This saves you $1.01. I know it's not a lot but many of these misleading sales could add up. It makes me crazy because people have to pay such close attention in order to not waste their hard earned money. There. My rant for the day. Thanks for listening. :)

Easy Valentine's Day Brownie Cupcakes

I wanted to make something fun for Valentine's Day. I needed it to be easy! So, remember how we love Costco's brownie mix? Well, they are kind of on sale(not the same price I blogged about when I wrote this article!). So, I got a box and asked to borrow some marbles from my kids. Years ago I had come across this idea to make heart shaped cupcakes(I think it was from The Tightwad Gazette). The hardest part was getting some marbles, as people were skeptical as to what would happen to their precious collection if mom put it in the oven! That problem was quickly solved by Google  and permission was granted! One package of brownie mix made 9 brownie cakes. I use jumbo liners.

I tried it with putting the marble in the top first and then filling it as well as filling the liner first and then putting in the marble. Both work fine.

My family is happy and my house smells yummy! Happy Valentine's Day!

Some Deals

Some Safeway Deals!
Milk is 2L for $2 limit 2(you can get all flavors, choc, buttermilk, homo)
Safeway Farm Blends salad greens are $2.50 and you can get a $2 off coupon here making it .50! The Kraft Dinner was $1.67(Smart) plus I had a .75 off coupon and Checkout 51 is offer .50 making it .42. The Cheese strings were $5.99 and marked down to 50% off. There were coupons right under them for .75 off and Checkout 51 is offering $1, so they were $1.24 for a  336g package! The angel food cake was 50% off making it $2.90. The yogurts also were 50% off making them .35 each!

At Canadian Tire they have 6 packs of Royale Facial tissues on for $3.99. If you have the $2 off coupon from go coupons that would make them $1.99 for 6 or .33/box!

Walmart has the Smucker's Simple Blend jam for $3.27. There are $1 off coupons out there, plus Checkout 51 is offering $2. That makes it .27 a jar!

Checkout 51

This week's Checkout 51 offers! There are coupons for the Smucker's.  

There are coupons for the Kraft dinner! There may be the possibility for some free things this week! I am out and about today and tomorrow, so I will go see what prices are like and update this post!

Bonus Air Miles at Shell this Weekend

There is an air miles deal this weekend at Shell.


 This Weekend Only!


 On Saturday February 9th and Sunday February 10th, Shell sites Nationwide will enjoy special bonus reward miles offers: This Weekend Only! On Saturday February 9th and Sunday February 10th, Shell sites Nationwide will enjoy special bonus reward miles offers: Spend $50 on any purchase, including a minimum $20 V-Power Fuel purchase and earn 50 AIR MILES reward miles Spend $50 on any purchase, including a minimum $20 Shell Bronze, Silver or Diesel fuel purchase and earn 25 AIR MILES reward miles Note: No Coupon required All Convenience Store Food Store Items and Car Wash are eligible Tobacco Products and Service Bay repairs are excluded


So, I decided to look into the air miles cash and see about changing over to it. We have been using our air miles to get the night out coupons but there are a few problems with that. One, it seems there are only a few movies a year that we want to see in the theatre. We are much more comfy at home with popcorn and jammies! And secondly, I am a Secret Shopper for Cineplex so we already have to go see movies!

 The nice thing about deciding whether to use air miles rewards(the original method) or air miles cash is that you can go into your on-line air miles account and change it any time. So, say I am not happy using the cash method I can go back and change to 100% rewards or a combination of cash and reward miles.

 We have about $30 worth of cash rewards. 95 air miles =$10 cash rewards. I have been reading in a forum on Smart Canucks, about air miles,  and it had been mentioned that they use their  air miles cash to buy gift cards at Shell! So, I decided to figure out how to combine that with this deal. Here's my figuring. Let me know if you figure it different. I have 2 choices.

25 Air Miles                                                                     50 Air Miles

$20 Bronze Gas($1.20/L)=16.6 Litres                   $20 V-Power Gas($1.35/L)=14.8 Litres
$30 Gift Cards                                                          $30 Gift Cards
  $50                                                                           $50
-$30 Air miles cash                                                 -$30 Air miles cash
 $20 out of pocket                                                   $20 out of pocket
-$2.63 air miles value                                                -$5.26 air miles value                                         
  $17.37                                                                        $14.74   
                                                                                     $2.16(to make up for the difference in litres)
                                                                                     $16.90
The difference in litres is due to the difference in price between the bronze and the V-Power, $1.20/L and $1.35L. You could also get silver of diesel. The extra $2.16 was calculated for the difference in litres 16.6-14.8. I took the 1.8 litre difference and multiplied it by $1.20/L to get the $2.16. So, all of this to figure out which is the best use of our money. The second option seems to be the best deal, not by much, .47!  I probably need to buy $50 worth of gift cards as they probably won't have $10 cards.  I don't know how this will go. I plan to do it Friday, so I will try and update this then. Leave a comment if you have an idea for me! Thanks!

Just a side note for those of you who read my earlier post about gas purchases . If I was to buy this same $20 worth of gas at  Superstore I would get $1.16(16.6L X 7cents/L) in gas bucks and .20(worth of PC points) so a grand total of $1.26.

 

This Week's Sales

This Saturday is 20X the points at Shoppers Drug Mart. There are some good  Saturday only deals! Life Brand Facial Tissues 2-3ply with 6 boxes for $2.99...that's .50/box!limit 4
 Kraft Peanut butter is $3.99 for 750g-1Kg(there are $1 off coupons)limit 4
Christie Crackers are $1.69 limit 4
Ruffles or Cheetos are 2/$4 limit 4
Life brand mouthwash 1L $1.99
Colgate Optic Toothpaste 85-170ml $1.99(there are $1 off coupons)
Five Alive or Fruitopia 1.75L $1.49 limit 4
Royale Mega 9 or 12 rolls $5.88 limit 4(there are $2 off coupons)this is an ok deal with the coupon, not super.
All week
Everyday Market Eggs $2.29 limit 2(there are B2get $1 off coupons) also if you buy Tostitos and 2 dozen eggs there are coupons for $1.50 off, not sure if you can combine this.
There is a MIR below, that you could combine with 20X.

Save On Foods 1-7
Pork Picnic hams are .99/lb

Cooper's 1-7
Pork Picnic hams are .99/lb
10Lbs Navel Oranges $3.99!!!!

Safeway is having customer appreciation day on Tues Feb 5
Feb1-3
Wonder bread is 2/$4(there is a coupon for $2 WYB2)!
Lucerne Ice cream 1.89L 2/$5
These are just a few that looked like a good deal
Feb 1-7
boneless skinless chicken breasts $2.99/lb

Walmart 1-7
lemons .33
3lb onions or carrots $1.47
mushrooms 8oz $1

Extra Foods is having Family Appreciation Days Feb 4-5
Spend $25 get 10% off
          $50 get  12%off
         $100 get 15% off
NN Cheese Bars 800g $7.97(Superstore)
Cantaloupe $1.96(Superstore)
Mangoes 9lb case $7.98(Superstore)
20lb red or russet potatoes $4.88(Superstore)
Grape Tomatoes 2/$3(Superstore)
Chunky soup 540ml $1.48 limit 8(Superstore)
Country Harvest bread 2/$5(Superstore)
NN english muffins .98 limit 4(Superstore)
Cashews 908g $10.98 limit 2(Superstore)
Superstore has buy $250 get a $25 gift card

PEPSICO MIR Spend $20 get $20 in free product coupons


Participating products must be purchased between December 23, 2012 and February 18, 2013 and must all be purchased at the same time and in the same transaction to be eligible for the Coupon Booklet Offer. ALLOW 
6-8 WEEKS AFTER February 28, 2013 for delivery of Coupon Booklet by mail. Limit one (1) Coupon Booklet per address or household.
How to Get a $20 Coupon Booklet back by mail:
1. Purchase any combination of the following products for a total of $20 or more (before taxes) at participating retailers across Canada: Lay’s* potato chips, Doritos* tortilla chips, Tostitos* tortilla chips, Ruffles* potato chips 
(180g – 420g/any flavour), Tostitos* or Ruffles* salsa/dips (394mL – 645mL/425g – 432g/any flavour/variety), Pepsi*, Mountain Dew*, Mug*, 7UP*, Dr Pepper**, Crush**, Schweppes** soft drinks, Brisk
®
 beverages, Gatorade* 
and G2* beverages (any size/variety/flavour).
2. Enclose the original itemized store-identified cash register receipt dated between December 23, 2012 and February 18, 2013 with the purchase price of each participating product circled. All products must be purchased in 
the same transaction to be eligible for the offer.
3. Complete this official mail-in coupon offer with your full name, address (including city, province and postal code) and phone number.
4. Mail all of the above (with sufficient postage), postmarked by February 28, 2013 to: PEPSI/TOSTITOS $20 Super Bowl Coupon Booklet Offer, P.O. Box 12848, Saint John, New Brunswick, E2L 5E7.
INQUIRIES: Call 1-866-220-5534 to leave a message for a Customer Service representative or email pepsico-rebates@dhltd.com. Please allow 5 weeks for us to receive and process your form before checking your status.