How To: Make a Doggie Birthday Cake

I didn’t think that my first recipe on Little Green Me would be for the dogs, but here it is!  This past weekend our Siberian Husky, Meiko, celebrated her 13th birthday.  I decided to make her a birthday cake…

Peanut Butter Carrot Birthday Cake

• 1 cup flour

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1/4 cup peanut butter

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

• 1 cup shredded carrots

• 1 tsp. vanilla

• 1/3 cup honey

• 1 egg

Mix flour and baking soda. Add remaining ingredients. Pour into greased 8″ round cake pan and bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Let cool.

Puree 1 cup cottage cheese and 2 tbs. peanut butter for frosting. Decorate with carrots.

Troopons

Wondering what to do with all those expired coupons or coupons you just won’t use?  Send them to our troops!

Troopons is a coupon program that enhances the welfare of overseas military families by sending them food and non-food manufacturer coupons to make their dollar go farther.  Here at home it’s easy — our papers arrive full of coupons.  Overseas, for military families, it doesn’t.  But the military stores on their base where they shop accept manufacturer coupons from here – even expired ones (up to 6 months past the expiration date!) 

We can all pitch in to help these amazing men and women and families reduce their grocery bills.  Especially when they are living in countries where the US dollar exchange rate is low at off-base stores.

For example, off-base, a military family’s dollar is worth following:

• England: 65¢
• Germany:  72¢
• Japan:  90¢

So every dollar you can help them save in their on-store base store, makes their American dollar worth more to them for things off-base.

• Most families prefer food coupons first
• Baby supplies second
• Common household goods third

Here are a few things to remember:

1. Expired coupons are accepted until they are two months old – coupons older than two (2) months expired on the date of mailing are no good. People at the base must have time to process them there, and families need time to use them in their budget stream.
2. ONLY “Manufacturer’s Coupons” can be used – they can be from the newspaper, dispensers in grocery stores, tear-pads, and elsewhere as long as they state “Manufacturer’s Coupon” on them.  Internet printables are NOT accepted anymore due to fraud. Store coupons are NOT accepted either.
3. Separate the Food and Non-Food coupons into separate bags, mark the bags as Food or Non-Food and the estimated value, and mail them the cheapest way you can to:  Support Our Troops, P. O. Box 70, Daytona Beach, FL 32115-0070

For any additional information, visit Support Our Troops

How To: Decide What to Buy Organic

OK, so you can’t budget an all organic diet.  Most of us can’t!  But you can start to incorporate some organic – every little bit counts.  This is especially important for children (because they eat more produce per pound of body weight than adults) or if you are pregnant/nursing.  

Below are the foods that you should spend the extra money on to get organic.   Many mainstream supermarkets have a great selection of organic produce and you can always visit your local Farmers’ Market, too.  I think you will find that organic produce tastes better – sweet potatoes are sweeter!  Buy organic fruit frozen – it is cheaper and perfect for smoothies!  One of my favorite treats is to mix frozen cherries with plain/vanilla organic yogurt – the yogurt freezes around the cherries and its kind of like a healthy version of  Cherry Garcia!  Top it with a little granola for some crunch…YUM!

Download a wallet size shopping guide or the iPhone app HERE

12 Most Contaminated

• Peaches – frozen is cheaper! 
• Apples
• Sweet Bell Peppers
• Celery
• Nectarines
• Berries (especially Strawberries) – frozen is cheaper!
• Cherries – frozen is cheaper!
• Pears
• Grapes (Imported)
• Spinach
• Lettuce
• Potatoes

16 Least Contaminated

• Onions
• Avocado
• Frozen Sweet Corn
• Pineapples
• Mango
• Asparagus
• Frozen Sweet Peas
• Kiwi Fruit
• Bananas – I buy organic bananas because we eat so many and they taste better!
• Cabbage
• Broccoli
• Papaya
• Tomatoes
• Grapefruit
• Eggplant
• Watermelon

How To: Shop at Walgreens

Let me start off by saying that I have not been coupon shopping at drug stores, so this is still a learning process for me.  There is a great Walgreens starter guide HERE and other tips HERE.    

I do not want to dedicate too much time to drug store couponing because it is more complicated, so for my sanity I made a few rules for myself.  In order for me to make the extra trip to the store these are the criteria that must be met:

• Has to be an item we use regularly (we are brand specific)
• Must have a coupon for the item
• Preferably get RR back for the purchase

My family is very brand specific on what we like to use for personal care products.  So, I just scan through the weekly ad and see if anything jumps out at me.  There are some great deals on personal care items, toilet paper, paper towels, diapers and baby care, plus they have a rewards program.  Walgreens issues Register Rewards (RR) which are manufacturer’s coupons that you use like cash on your next purchase.  You are required to have as many items as you do coupons, so you have to buy filler items (gum, candy, pen, card, etc.) to use your RR if you have a coupon for each item you are purchasing.  I have been working it to my advantage the past couple weeks. 

 

Last week 3/20-3/26

Get $5 in RR with (1) Almay Eye Makeup Remover on sale for $4.19

I bought 3 and used the following:

• (3) $2 off Almay product from Walgreens Beauty Booklet
• (1) $2 Almay product found in the 3/06 SmartSource

Final cost: $5.53 (96 cents was tax) 

Plus I received $15 in RR – so I made a profit of almost $10!

  

This week 3/27-4/2

Get $2 in RR with (2) Edge or Skintimate Shave Gel on sale for $2

I bought:

• 2 Edge Shave Gel @ $2
• 1 Skintimate Shave Gel @ $1.69 (was supposed to be $2, but I’m not complaining)
• 1 travel size Dove deodorant @ $1.49 (I needed one for my gym bag, so this was my filler item)

I used:

• $5 RR from last week
• (2) .55/1 Edge Shave gel, SS 3/20 
• .55/1 Skintimate shave gel, SS 3/27

Final Cost: $1.09 (56 cents tax)

Plus I received $2 in RR, so I made a 91 cent profit!

 

Next week 4/3-4/9

$5 RR with $20 purchase or $2 RR with $10 purchase of participating Pampers products:  Pampers Jumbo Pack Swaddlers, Cruisers, Easy Ups or Baby Dry at $8.99 ea.

I truly prefer Pampers over Huggies, so I am excited about this!  I plan on buying 3 Jumbo Packs of Swaddlers and will probably get some Easter candy singles as my fillers.  I haven’t had a Cadbury Egg yet!

I will use:

• (3) $2 off Pampers Cruisers, Swaddlers, or Swaddlers Sensitive diapers big or jumbo pk.,  Walgreens Infant Care Booklet
• (3) $1.50 off Pampers diapers, P&G 4/03
• (2) $5 RR from the first week (will need 2 filler items)
• (1) $2 RR from the previous week (will need 1 filler item)

Final estimated cost: $5.97 (with $1.50  in filler items factored in) +tax

I will get $5 in RR so that’s like getting 3 packs of diapers for about $1!

How To: Get Coupons

It seems basic, right?  Well, I learned that my local paper had lame inserts and on some weeks, my coupons wouldn’t even be in the paper!  Argh!  So, I started ordering the entire insert from this site, Whole Coupon Inserts.  They get the inserts on Thursday or Friday (not sure how) and if you order by Friday night you usually get them by Monday.  They list a preview of all the coupons in each insert so you can decide how many of each insert you want.  This week, the Proctor and Gamble insert comes out, so I ordered (3) P&G inserts and (2) SmartSource (no RedPlum this week.)

Also, today is the 1st of the month (insert Bone Thugs-n-Harmony song) so be sure to check the sites I have listed over to the right, and print any coupons you may need before they are gone.  Coupons.com and Target will typically let you print a coupon TWICE, so “get it while the getting’s good!”  The other sites usually only let you print once.

One more thing…you can usually get brand specific coupons from the company’s website or Facebook page, so be sure to “like” them on Facebook and visit their site.  These are the brand sites I visit every couple of weeks to get some coupons for organics:

• Kashi
• Muir Glen
• Earth’s Best
• Stonyfield Farms
• Organic Valley
• Seventh Generation
• Newman’s Own
• Newman’s Own Organics
• Sprout
• Horizon

Etsy ReUser’s Guide

Reduce – REUSE – Recycle

Before you toss that water bottle, wine bottle, soda can or cereal box in the recycling bin, or throw that old t-shirt in the yard sale box, check out Etsy’s ReUser’s Guide HERE. 

Here is one of my favorites – a way to reuse all those cereal boxes that you got with coupons!

Repurposed Cereal Box Cards – see how to make them HERE