walked with mom for 50 min

Got all the paperwork together for the Del Monte rebate and sent it out today.

Got a sample of Advil PM in the mail

Tried a new recipe called Grandmother's chowder. I really liked it so it goes in my keep pile. Plus it let me use up 4 of my cans of Del Monte veggies

Cost per serving = .35 cents

1 1b ground beef = 1.00
1 med onion = .25
3 cans diced potatoes = .90 (or free if using the rebate cans)
3 cups water = free
2 cups milk = .80
1 can corn = .30 (or free)
1 cup sour cream = .80
2 Teaspoons dried parsley, salt and pepper .10

Total = 4.10/12 servings

Finished reading the library book The Younger Gods by David and Leigh Eddings. Sci/Fi Very good.

I was watching Semi-homemade on the Food Network while I was making out my grocery list this morning. She was making a dish that I thought looked pretty good, so I added the ingredients to my grocery list.

Coleslaw, mixed with mandarin oranges, cashews and chicken tenders from the deli. I had it for supper and it was really good. I liked the oranges and coleslaw combination. I think I might try it with a leftover chicken breast instead of a chicken tender next time.

I spent $37.71 at the grocery store and will get $10 back in rebates. I saved 39% according to the receipt. That's before the rebate.

Met my parents at a new Mexican place that opened a half a block from me. It was really good. I spent $11. I walked to the restaurant but it was so cold and the wind was blowing like crazy so mom and I decided to skip our walk.

I checked my taxes again and decided all the numbers are right so put them in the envelopes ready to mail.

I started working on the rebates for my computer. Got about 6 ready to send, have 4-5 left to do. They take so long to get all the pieces together, but it's definitly worth it. The smallest rebate is for $20. One of the rebates for $150 I just had to go to the Best Buy website and type in a couple of numbers plus my personal information and it's done. That's the way to go, I wish they were all like that.

I finished reading my book, Lara Croft Tomb Raider. Sci/Fi. Very good. Much better than the movie, but I almost always like books better than a movie, they explain so much more.

Mailed my half.com book, spent $1.59 then saw that I sold another one this evening for $2 so will have to make another trip to the Post office tomorrow.

Total spent this month = $286.32

Sent off the January Walgreens rebate for $14.49 and got the December Walgreens rebate for $10 in the mail. I also got a free sample of BIZ detergent.

I made the Olive Garden Pasta E Fagioli soup from the Top Secret Recipes Lite book by Todd Wilbut that I got from the library. I only sampled it, since I made it for lunches this week, but I thought it was fantastic. Really liked it. It's replacing my earlier version of this recipe.

It makes 8 1 1/2 cup servings at a cost of .77 cents per serving.

1 lb super-lean ground beef (7% fat) - .99 cents /lb
1 small onion, diced (1 cup) - .47 cents
1 large carrot, julienned (1 cup) - .20 cents
3 stalks celery, chopped (1 cup) - .60 cents
2 cloves garlic, minced - .10 cents
2 14.5-oz cans diced tomatoes - 1.00
1 15-oz can red kidney beans (with liquid) - .50 cents
1 15-oz can great northern beans (with liquid) - .50 cents
1 15-oz can Tomato sauce - .40 cents
1 12-oz can V-8 juice - .67 cents
1 tablespoon white vinegar - .02 cents
1 ½ teaspoons salt - .01 cents
1 teaspoon dried oregano - .05 cents
1 teaspoon dried basil - .05 cents
½ teaspoon pepper - .02 cents
½ teaspoon dried thyme - .05 cents
½ lb ditali pasta - .50 cents

1. Brown the ground beef in a very large saucepan or soup pot over medium heat. Drain off the fat.
2. Add the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic and simmer for 10 minutes
3. Add the remaining ingredients, except the pasta and simmer for 1 hour
4. About 50 minutes into the simmer time, cook pasta in 1 ½ to 2 quarts of boiling water over high heat. Cook for 10 minutes or just until pasta is al dente, or slightly tough. Drain.
5. Add the pasta to the large pot of soup. Simmer for 5 minutes and serve.

Still haven't had time to put my new computer together, maybe tomorrow night. This is the final week of our project at work, so having to push hard right now. Tired at the end of the day and don't want to mess with another computer.

walked with mom for 55 min

I've been showing my dad the rebate deals for Walgreens in the ads and telling him what a good deal they are. So he went to Walgreens and got the Pepsi, Frito Lay one and made mom fill out the rebate form and send it in. He's hooked Mom's not very excited about it, she doesn't think it's worth the effort. He's more along the lines of it's free money that you're throwing away, because they buy the stuff anyways. Ah well, one at a time. I did get my mom using some printable coupons online.

Got another $5 survey check from Pinecone in the mail today.

Got groceries, but forgot the celery so will have to get that when I pick up a newspaper tomorrow. Spent $32.74. I'll be glad when the frozen macaroni and cheese goes off sale. It's normally .90 cents but it's on 'sale' now for 10/10 so it's $1. I guess people fall for it and stock up at that price. Fortunately I have my price book to tell me it's not a real sale

Total spent this month = $268.38

Sold another book at half.com for $6, this has been a good week for half.com sales.

I tried to come up with a way to eat better meals using the glycemic index. My biggest problem is having to think about it all the time. What to have today, is it thawed, do I have all the ingredients, etc. So I decided to come up with a list of 15 dinners that I like and that are easy to make and that I usually have the ingredients for. I plan to go through the list and then start over. If I go out to eat, I'll just have the next dinner on the list the next night. I also planned 5 lunches. Hopefully by making this decision once, it will be easier to stick to.

Breakfast is always the same - oatmeal, with slivered almonds, cinnamon, sugar-free maple syrup, milk and a piece of fruit. (I've read that eating a 1/4 tsp of cinnamon each day is helpful with diabetes, who knows? But since I like cinnamon, I decided to try it)

Lunch can be one of the following 5

1. soup and piece of fruit
2. Peanut butter and celery and a piece of fruit
3. Macaroni and Cheese and a piece of fruit
4. Tuna salad, multigrain cracker and a piece of fruit
5. thin crust veggie pizza

Dinners - includes fruit juice with each meal

1. Tomato soup, grilled salmon, pasta
2. Chicken breast, coleslaw, potato salad (use boiled potatoes and don't mash them, makes this ok for the glycemic diet)
3. pinto beans and 4 lil smokies sausages
4. egg scramble with onions and tomatoes and 4 lil smokies sausages and fruit
5. chili pasta
6. fish fillet, pinto beans, coleslaw
7. taco salad (no bread bowl, just taco meat with kernal corn mixed in and lettuce and tomato and mixed together with low-fat ranch dressing)
8. lasagna, green beans
9. mandarin chicken salad
10. meat loaf, corn on cob, coleslaw
11. tomato soup, lemon grilled shrimp, pasta
12. chili
13. chicken breast, mac n cheese, pinto beans
14. pork chop, corn on cob, green beans
15. tacos

It's probably still light on the vegetables, but I don't like vegetables, so one thing at a time, eat good meals that I like and lose some weight first and then mayyyyybe introduce more vegetables later.

Finished reading my book Pendragon by Stephen R. Lawhead. Sci/Fi Very good - book 4 in the King Arthur series.