Checkout 51

A couple weeks back friends of ours mentioned Checkout 51 and how they love it. I had heard a brief mention about it before but never really looked into it until about two weeks ago. I finally signed up for it and used it for the first time last week and so far I'm impressed. I already do price matching and this is an extra way to save a little more money.

Each week starting on Thursdays Checkout 51 has new offers. You can buy items from any store in Canada (except Quebec), and as long as the offer does not run out by the time you make your purchase and submit your receipt, you get money back. This applies to even Costco and the Bulk Barn.  Once you have made your purchases, you take a photo of your receipt and submit it to be processed. Once it is accepted they credit your account and when you hit $20, you can request a cheque to get your cash back. We just started this so I have not yet received any money back, but our friends have been doing it for a couple months now and they say they have received a couple cheques and they love how easy and convenient the whole process is.

Last week I combined a little bit of price matting and an item that was on sale and I really optimized our savings. Loblaws had Maple Leaf bacon on sale for $3.49, so I price matched it when I was at the grocery store.
 

 

Our local Superstore sells it for $5.49 regular price. That is a savings of $2.00 just with price matching. In addition Checkout 51 had an offer for $2.00 off on the same bacon.  We ended up saving $4.00 in total on the bacon alone.

 

The bacon only cost $1.49 for the package. I must say that's a good deal for a 500g package of brand name bacon.

Checkout 51 also had a $0.50 offer on Unico Beans last week. The Superstore also had Unico beans on sale for $0.97 (they were $0.18 off their regular price). The can of beans ended up costing $0.47 instead of $1.15 (that's a $0.68 savings).

In addition to the two above items Checkout 51 also had an offer this past week were you get $1.00 back if you spend over $60.00. Which we are always over every week already. I was happy when I saw this. Who does not want money back for something you are already doing?

In total with Checkout 51 alone we saved $3.50. Which has been credited to our account!

  

Overall, with price matching, the regular store sale and Checkout 51 we saved $5.68 on the above two items alone and going grocery shopping. I also price matched other items but I did not factor them into the calculation. I must say not bad. If we can save that much each week that's over $20.00 a month!

 

Date Day {April}

March has come and gone without a date day. It was a bit of a busy month. This month, however, we thought we would get our date day in earlier in the month since we really had to find the material for the blinds for the boler. So we had our April date day this past weekend - April 13, 2013.

We just went to Fabricland and I was quite surprised (once we really started look) with the variety of material and patterns they carry and their prices  weren't too bad either. Surprisingly I have not yet snapped a photo of the material, but once I do I will post pictures. I was going to do it when we were in the store, but it was crazy busy.

I did however, take some photos of our lunch as I always do. (I probably look a bit weird doing it, but oh well).

This time we went to Milestones. It was our first time eating at a Milestones restaurant and we found the atmosphere really reminded us of Moxy's (which we really enjoy). Their menu on the other hand reminded us of Kelsey's but more pricey.

 

Byron ordered the Prime Rib Beef Dip (thinly sliced AAA Prime Rib on a Ciabatta bread with Gorgonzola butter and crispy onion strings. Served with roasted garlic au jus) and a side of roasted garlic Caesar salad and coffee of course. He found his lunch choice was a bit plain for his liking.

 

 

 

 



I ordered the Smoked Turkey Ciabatta Club (double-smoked bacon, house-made avocado salsa, diced Roma tomato, and whole grain mustard mayonnaise dressing on pumpkin seed and cranberry ciabatta bread). I had a side of roasted garlic Caesar salad and ice tea to drink. I was unable to finish all of my sandwich so Byron finished it for me and he said my lunch choice was better.


Overall, the atmosphere was nice at this restaurant, but we were not particular crazy about the meal ... it was OK. It was edible and their was a fair amount of food on our plate, but for the price it cost, I do not think we will be returning there for lunch. I did not look at their dinner menu, so I do not  know about returning there for dinner (We are a bit picky when it comes to our food).

Have you eaten at Milestones? What's your favourite dish if you have? Maybe we just ordered the wrong dish.

Cauliflower Soup with Sharp Cheddar & Thyme

The other day I wanted to make a different soup, so I went on a search for a cauliflower soup and stumbled upon the following recipe from Big Girls Small Kitchen. I made a couple revisions to their recipe and the end product turned out great!

 

 

 

Recipe adapted from Big Girls Small Kitchen

Cauliflower Soup with Sharp Cheddar & Thyme

[Makes 4 servings]

 Ingredients

1 tbsp unsalted butter [I had a bit of salted butter that need to be used, so I used that instead]
1 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 celery stalks, chopped [I added this in]
1 small carrot, chopped  [I added this in]
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 large russet potato, peeled and cut into small cubes
1/2 teaspoon salt [I omitted the salt- as butter already has salt]
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves [only had dried – used ¼ tsp dried]
1 quart (4 cups) chicken or veggie stock
2 1/2 cups chopped cauliflower florets (should be the same size as the potatoes) [I had a small head of cauliflower and used it all]
2/3 cup finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

In a medium Dutch oven or lidded saucepan, heat the butter and olive oil over a medium heat. Cook the celery, carrot and onions until onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Add the potatoes, cover, and cook until just beginning to soften, about 4 minutes. Uncover, stir in the salt, garlic, thyme and broth. Bring to a boil. Cook for two minutes, then check the potatoes to make sure they are tender. If so, add the cauliflower, cover, and cook for another 10 minutes.

Remove from the heat and puree with an immersion or standing blender. Stir in half of the cheddar cheese and the mustard. Taste for seasoning and add more salt as needed. Serve in individual bowls, topped with the remaining cheese.

This was my very first time making a cauliflower soup. It's not really a type of soup I thought I would enjoy, but it did turn out good. Have you made Cauliflower soup before? If so, what recipe do you use?

Real Whip Cream from Scratch

It took a while but as promised, here is the recipe I used to make Real Whip Cream from scratch. It worked out great for the Peanut Butter Cream Cheese frosting and for putting a bit on top of coffee or hot chocolate (just had to add a bit of icing sugar). I have made this recipe again since I used it in the frosting in a different recipe and it didn't work. I had to fold the whip cream in with other ingredients, and it fell apart. Just wanted to make note - this recipe works well for some things, but not everything, so keep in mind.

Whip it ...

End result ... nice and fluffy whip cream!

If you're in a pinch, like I was with the frosting recipe or if you need it for - potato soup, alfredo sauce, etc., this recipe works as a substitution for MOST recipes, (keep in mind it's not that great for  simple recipes were cream is a main ingredient).

The recipe for Heavy Cream Substitute is from  - CDKitchen


Heavy Cream Substitute
 
Ingredients:
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup butter
 
Directions:
Use in place of one cup heavy cream.
 
Heat together over low heat until the butter is melted into the milk. Do not boil. Blend. Refrigerate for 24 hours or longer. Whip it as you would cream. If you need to thicken up the cream due to using low fat milk, add about 1 tablespoon of flour!

Looks like a bowl of ice cream.

Cesar Dressing - Opps I Forgot

The other day we decided to have chicken Cesar salad for dinner ... sounds like a good idea, we have everything at home to make it or so we thought we did. Everything was ready to go ... only one problem --- we didn't have any Cesar dressing at home, we had finished it and since it didn't get put on the shopping list I forgot to grab it during my grocery shopping run. The sad part about this whole thing ... I was staring at the cesar dressing when I was grabbing thousand island and it didn't dawn on me. Oh well, I'm getting old {insert upside down smile}.

Byron quickly went searching for a homemade recipe and found so many, however, they all called for anchovy fillets which we do not have in our pantry. We found the following one for perfect cesar dressing and we had everything at home to make it so it won. 

Overall it was not a bad recipe [we only made 1/2 the recipe though]. Next time we make it, we will make some slight changes -- add a bit more garlic [we like things garlicky], cut back on the lemon juice, and omit the salt [we really can't handle salt any more], and then I think it will be perfect for our liking.

The recipe is from Natasha's Kitchen

 

Perfect Cesar Dressing Recipe

Serving: 1 pint (2 cups)

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp mayo
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 2 large garlic cloves, pressed
• ½ cup lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1½ cups mild olive oil
• ½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. Place 2 tbsp mayo, 2 tsp Dijon, 2 pressed garlic cloves, ½ cup lemon juice 1 tsp salt and ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper in the bowl of an electric food processor. (Press garlic and squeeze juice right into the food processor; think dish factor),
2. Process until smooth and well blended. While the food processor is still on, very slowly pour in the 1½ cups olive oil. Process until thick and creamy.
3. Add Parmesan cheese and pulse 5 or 6 times, and, it’s done!

 

 

 

 When I was almost done eating, I realised we forgot to add our Costco croutons {insert frown}. They are just so tasty and such a good price for the quantity you get. I don't think I will ever grab them from the grocery store again. The salad was still good though.

 

If you give this recipe a try, let us know how it turned out for you.

 

 

 

 

DATE. DAY.

I can't believe the weekend has already came and gone. Time sure does fly when you are having a good time! Had a busy but productive weekend. Friday evening my cousins from the city came up for a visit and picked up my goddaughter on the way here. We had a lovely visit. We must try and do it more often! When I found out they were coming I quickly prepped a Kelsey's Four Cheese Spinach Dip (not very healthy, but oh so creamy and tasty to enjoy with others).

I used fresh spinach

All mixed up nicely.

It's so good that it disappeared before I could take a picture of the end product!


Saturday was another great day -- it was a date day. This year we are trying to either have a date day or date night once a month. On date days we usually go to Barrie and run a bunch of errands (i.e. go to Costco and anywhere else we need to grab stuff from), and then we go to a restaurant and have a sit down lunch. The day seems to be so productive because Grandma and Grandpa look after Hugo, so we are so much quicker running from one place to another. On a date night we will go out for a nice dinner. It's nice having a couple hours were it's just Hubby and me. It also gives Hugo an opportunity to spend some time away from me {you know how horrible it is to be around me 24/7}. So far this year we have been able to do it for both January and February. We'll see how long we will be able to keep it up.

We went to Kelsey's for Lunch. I had the Kelsey's Lunch Trio - 1/2 of their Smoked Turkey Club Sandwich, served with Broccoli Cheddar Soup, and a Caesar Salad ...

Byron had their Messy Chicken Parm Sandwich ...

Overall lunch wasn't bad. We did enjoy the lunch we had at Swiss Chalet {I had the Rotisserie Chicken Club Wrap and Byron had the Southwest Rotisserie Chicken Flatbread} at our last date day though more. I've been craving a St-Hubert white meat Club Sandwich since spring last year, but the only place we can get them is in Quebec {insert sad face}. They are sooooooo good.  I often  think about my in-laws driving through Quebec last summer and just driving past St-Hubert each time they saw one and not stopping in for a bit to eat because they thought it was like KFC {insert head shake}, if only we had informed them.

I guess for now the closest I will get to one of these is by looking at this picture {insert tear}, unless we head to Quebec this summer for Byron to attend the Mountain Bike event at Mont-Sainte-Anne. We shall see how the lil man is in the car.


While we were in Barrie, we also went to Bonnie Togs and found some great deals for the Lil Man on winter and some summer clothing. We were able to grab him a Columbia snowsuit for 70% off for next winter!! We aren't the type to buy brand name stuff at regular price, especially for kids clothing items because they outgrow it so fast {a snowsuit only lasts one season}, but when we find a deal, we snatch it!!!  MUST MARK MY CALENDAR FOR NEXT YEAR ... I went to Bonnie Togs around this time last year and they had good deals then too!!


Sunday was also a good day -- productive ... did laundry, cooking and finally got around to something we've been meaning to do for a while. I'm getting closer to launching my small business venture, finally {my initial goal was to get it up and running at the beginning of January this year, but it didn't happen}. Once things are up and running I will post info here.

And that was our weekend in a nutshell!

Happy Valentine's Day

Hugo checking out if his Kissing booth sign is Proper.

 

 

We hope you enjoy your day with your special someone. 

 



I came across this quote on amazon and it reminded me of our wedding day ...

October 4, 2008

And then I remembered the following ...

Photo Taken By Nat Caron

 

... Last month I was on pinterest and I came across a very cute idea - - on every wedding anniversary you take a picture with your husband and then you can watch yourselves grow old together. I wish I would have seen this 5 years ago because I love this idea. I have to see what photos I have taken in the last 4 years and go from there. 

The above photo is from our engagement shoot with Nat Caron from Nat Caron Photography. If you are looking for a photographer in the Barrie area, we highly recommend her. She took our engagement, wedding and first family pics when Hugo was born. She has an amazing ability of capturing the moment in her beautiful photographs.

I also came across this photo recently and thought I would share it ... this is no longer true once you have kids ...

Our Wedding Day - October 4, 2008

(Shirts were a gift from Byron's Cousin - We Love them!)

Came across the following quotes on pinterest and thought today would be a good day to share them, because they are so very true ...

... and this one too ...

 

I couldn't decide which picture I liked most, so I decided to post both ...

 

 



 

Remember Valentine’s Day should be everyday ... always begin and end your day with "I Love You"!!

Birthday Surprise

This past Tuesday I celebrated my birthday. Besides being another year older, it was a lovely day.

Temperatures outside were warm, like a spring day -- +12^oC. I can't remember ever celebrating a birthday with such warm weather. Usually there is either a winter storm happening, or freezing rain ... never this mild. You get the point ... I was shocked.  It was a pleasant surprise! Today on the other hand, we woke-up to reality ... old man winter dumped close to 40 cm of snow overnight and there is still a snow squall warning in effect, and the temperature outside is -19^oC with the windchill. The snow was almost as high as Roxy and she wasn't to sure she wanted to get off the deck ...

The day started with this clue from Byron ...

 

 

Hugo woke up just as I finished reading it and I wasn't able to start my search.

When Hugo went for his nap I made ...

 

Chocolate covered strawberries ... mmmm .... one of my favourites!

Then I saw some more hints ...

Then Byron came home with dinner ...

A family chicken deal from the superstore. It was so nice not having to cook. He also brought home a delicious cake!!I guess I didn't need to make the strawberries ... but I had a craving for them.

Then I received some more clues and I continued my search with my wonderful search dog -- Roxy. She is such a good helper. I had to get through this tiny space in the garage and Roxy looked at me ... "You expect me to get through there ..."

 

With some encouraging words, she got through and we found the door we were to look behind ...

... and then we found my gift {insert super excited & jumping for joy with a big smile on my face}!!!

Roxy had to sniff it to ensure it was safe for me to bring it into the house. I love it! Now I just need to learn how to use it!!!!

And then after all that hard work we had dessert and it was wonderful! Hugo had a little bit {big mistake}, it was 9:00 p.m. and he wanted nothing to do with going to bed!

We would definitely get this again.

I had a wonderful day with my awesome family!!!! Thanks to my amazing husband.

What's For Dinner?

Saturday was one of those days were you just don't know what to have for dinner. We had a busy day running errands & we didn't take anything out for dinner. Most importantly though we didn't feel like cooking!! What do we have for dinner? After pondering over a couple ideas we kept coming back to ordering in pizza ... so pizza it was!! Next decision, where to order from.

 
When possible we try to support our local businesses. We decided to order pizza from a quaint little pizzeria in town - La Pizzeria located on the main street!! We find La Pizzeria pizza is very similar to homemade pizza (without all the work of course). They always load their pizzas with a lot of fresh toppings, unlike other places we've ordered from and the veggies are nice and crunchy!

Can't have pizza without a glass of wine - Merlot to be exact!

 

Large Vegetarian Pizza with Black Olives ... yum!

 Thanks La Pizzeria for making a delicious vegetarian pizza & delivering it right to our door on Saturday! It made for a perfect end to a very busy day!!!!