Samples and Freebies

Requested:
Breathe Right sample
Garnier Nutritioniste
Dove Shampoo/Conditioner
Dentek Floss Picks

Received:
Coupon for free Herbal Essence product

Taco Night and Family Games

At our house, family dinner is an important part of our daily routine. We also like to play games together as a family. Now, with the new El Tacodor Dinner Game from Old El Paso, you can enjoy family game time during family dinner time. You can download a free copy of El Tacodor including instructions, a scorecard and a challenge sheet.

The game consists of 5 categories of challenges. With each challenge won, you get to check off an ingredient. The winner, El Tacodor, is the first person to check off all of the ingredients. El Tacodor can use the site to create their very own El Tacodor Decree - setting up their own game rules, custom toppings and more.

Some examples of the challenges include:

Crunch Time (Beat the clock): Name at least 10 animated movies within 1 minute

Meat-N-Greet (Family Fun): Name 5 things that you’d bring home from your favorite vacation place and let the table guess where you traveled

Lettuce Play (Pantomime): Act out different animals – no noises! Your partner must guess 3

Lime Light (Performance): Cheer, “We love tacos, yes we do! We love tacos, how ‘bout you?”

Say Cheese (Wordplay): Pronounce the name of everyone at the table backwards!

As you can probably imagine, you can learn about your other family members, their acting skills, how well they know you, and more. You will also likely spend a large amount of time giggling together. Making for a memorable family meal.

When you visit the El Tacodor website, in addition to downloading the game, you can also enter the Old El Paso El Tacodor Sweepstakes for a chance to win $5,000 just for having fun with your family. Other prizes include monthly giveaways of $300 cash cards, and weekly giveaways of gift certificates for Old El Paso products for the next five months. In addition, you will find a link to coupons, a calendar to schedule your next taco night, topping choice chart and more!

Giveaway
Thanks to Old El Paso and My Blog Spark, I have the opportunity to share an El Tacodor Game prize pack with one A Busy Mom of Two reader.

The winner will receive the instructions, scorecard and challenge sheet so that you don’t have to download them. In addition, you will receive (2) two coupons to purchase Old El Paso dinner kits and a $10 gift card to purchase any additional meal needs (i.e. meat, cheese, lettuce, etc).

How to enter:

Primary entry - Leave a comment sharing your favorite family game.

Bonus entries -
Follow me on Twitter (@ABusyMomofTwo) and tweet about this giveaway. Can be done once per day, be sure to leave a separate comment for each tweet.

Sign up for daily updates by RSS feed or e-mail. Leave me a comment letting me know you subscribe.

Add my button to your sidebar or my blog to blog roll. Leave me a comment letting me know you did, with a link to your blog.

Post about this giveaway on your blog with a link back. Leave a comment letting me know you blogged, with a link to your post.

Giveaway will remain open until Monday, November 16th at 9 pm Eastern. Winner will be selected using a random number generator. Winner will be contacted by e-mail and have 36 hours to respond or a new winner will be selected.

I did not receive any compensation for this post, but did receive my own El Tacodor pack to enjoy a taco dinner and game with my family.

CVS $5/$20 coupon

Well, this one is just a bit better than the $5/$30 coupon I shared the other day, it's $5/$20.

To get this coupon, head here. Then, roll your mouse across the papers to peel them up to reveal the coupon.

Thanks Deal Seeking Mom.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

I used to always make my own pasta sauce. I would use a mix of sausage and ground meat and brown that and add a number of ingredients, including bourbon to make my sauce. It was a lot of work, so over time I stopped making it. Then a few years ago, I clipped a recipe for Spaghetti and Meatballs from a local paper. I hung onto it for a while, but never made it. Then I decided that I really needed to start trying the recipes I clipped and either keep them or throw them out, I was just accumulating too many. About 4 months ago, I made the Spaghetti and Meatball recipe I had clipped and it is now a favorite of mine. Unlike the meatballs I make for Lasagna, the meatballs for this dish are cooked right in the sauce, no frying or baking required. After eating this a few times, when I made pasta with jarred sauce, my husband commented on how sweet the sauce seems. I guess we were all growing accustomed to this rich tomato-y sauce.

I like to make a big pan of this up, have it for dinner and pack up the rest for the freezer. Then, we can have homemade spaghetti and meatball sauce anytime.

Spaghetti & Meatballs

Sauce:
2 Tbsp finely chopped onion
oil
2 large cans of crushed tomatoes
1 12oz can tomato paste
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 bay leaf

Meatballs:
2# ground meat
6 slices of bread (the recipe calls for day old, grated, but I use fresh bread, dampened, squeezed and torn)
2 1/2 Tbsp grated Parmesan or Romano
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
5 eggs
1 clove garlic, grated
1 small onion, grated
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp parsley

Put a little bit of oil in the bottom of a large pot and add the onions. Saute over medium heat. Add the crushed tomatoes and 1 1/2 large cans of water to the pot. Add the tomato paste and 2 cans of water (they suggest premixing, but I usually mix it in the pot). Add salt and pepper to taste and the bay leaf.

Make the meatballs by combining all ingredients with hands. Roll into meatballs (I keep mine smaller, so I get more). Drop into the sauce.

Bring sauce to a boil, then turn the heat down half way. Let it bubble for about 3 hours, stirring occasionally.

I will confess that I modified the recipe to meet my needs. The original called for whole tomatoes and had you squeeze out all of the juice and throw out the tomatoes. To me, this didn't sound right - first, it seemed the sauce would be too thin and second, it seemed like a waste of good tomatoes - so I substituted from the beginning with crushed tomatoes and use the whole thing. Same thing with the bread, I didn't read the recipe ahead of time, so I didn't have time to allow my bread to dry overnight. As such, I resorted to the way I incorporated the bread in my other meatball recipe, which was to dampen it, squeeze it out and tear it into the bowl. You get more bread pieces this way, but it is also less dry than a "bread crumb" filler that you would get by grating.

For more make ahead meals, check out the Ultimate Recipe Swap Make Ahead Meals edition, over at Life As Mom.

This recipe also shared at The Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap.

Weighing It Out

When I joined Weight Watchers two months ago, one of my concerns was how I was going to succeed on program without becoming a short order cook. I wanted to continue to make the same variety of meals that we had always eaten, only perhaps a little healthier. I also didn't want to be spending oodles of time in the kitchen portioning out my food; when it was dinner time, I wanted to be able to sit down with my family.

One of the tools that has been instrumental in my success on Weight Watchers this time around has been my kitchen scale. I find that it is a lot easier to simply place my plate on the scale and build my meal by weight. Sure, I could pull out a measuring cup and measure out 1 c of cereal or 1/4 c of cheese or 1/2 c of chicken, but as you can start to see, I would be constantly washing measuring cups and it would take a lot of time. Plus, one time, shortly after I purchased my scale, I contacted a cereal manufacturer to find out which measurement for portion was more accurate - the volume or the weight. They told me the weight was and that the volume could vary slightly based on how the cereal filled the cup. Since Points are calculated based on the calories, fat and fiber listed for that serving, I felt it was best to weigh things when I could.

So, as an example, when I am having burritos for dinner, I place a plate with my burrito shell on it on the scale. Then I add my 2 oz of chicken. Tare the scale and add 15g of light sour cream. Tare the scale and add 1 oz of cheese. The vegetables are all "free" (at least in the range of portion you would build on a burrito) so then I load it up with some lettuce, tomatoes and onions. It not only makes it quick and easy to assemble my plate, but makes it easier for me to calculate and record my points. With eTools, they let you enter in cups, ounces, grams, tablespoon, etc., so I have the flexibility to measure things the way that works for me.

Over time, I have started putting on my plate what feels like the right portion and then see how close I am to what I think it is. This helps me get a better feel for what food servings look like, making it easier for me to eyeball my food when I am away from home, because now I have a visual feel for what 1 oz of cheese or 2 oz of chicken looks like.

With the help of my scale, I have been able to continue to prepare the same family favorites and enjoy dinner with my family. The only difference is not the food is scaled to a healthier portion. That works for me.

For more that works, check out Works For Me Wednesday. (Of course, now I see that this was supposed to be Holiday Themed, so check out my post on saving money at the holidays here.)

CVS Coupon $5/$30

CVS is offering another coupon for completing a quiz. This time it is on Medicare Part D. Complete the quiz and you can print a coupon for $5/$30.

Attention Kohl's Charge Customers

Did you look at all of the leaflets that came in your Kohl's bill this month? I normally have a tendency to just throw them all out without looking very closely at the ads included with my monthly statment. Boy, am I glad that I looked this month, one of the leaflets was a $10 off of $10 coupon for loyal Kohl's customers.

That is great. I have some Kohl's Cash from the last sale and a 15% off coupon, so I guess I will need to do some shopping for some free stuff!