Upcoming Events at K-Mart / Wal*Mart

I don't appear to live in an area that gets to participate in either of these events, but for those of you that do, I thought I would pass it on.

Super Double Coupons
K-mart is doing Super Double coupons, starting today through 9/8. They are doubling coupons up to $2, with a limit of 4 of the same coupon and 75 total coupons per customer per day. In addition, if you go here, you can sign up to get $5 off coupons. Chances are your Sunday flyer included this sale, but your best bet is to call your local store to confirm. I am jealous, I don't shop at K-mart often, but would definitely head there for this event. We only have one store locally that ever doubles coupons and only up to 99cents.

***Update Merecedes over at Common Sense with Money has a list of participating K-mart stores.

Come stuff a toy puppy take-home with the softness of COTTONELLE®
Wal*Mart is having a Stuff a COTTONELLE Brand Toy Puppy on Saturday, September 6th. You can go here, to find a store near you that is participating. My kids would love this event. It doesn't mention the size of the puppy, but I'm envisioning the small Build A Bear size. The nearest participating Wal*Mart to me is about 1/2 an hour away. I'm just not sure we can fit it into our schedule on Saturday. If it was local, we would be there.

How do you keep produce fresh all week?

Rocks in My Dryer is hosting Works For Me Wednesday, Backwards Edition.
Instead of the usual sharing a tip that has worked for you, you’re supposed to post a dilemma that you have and ask for suggestions on what has worked for others. Here goes:

I like to do one big weekly grocery shopping trip on the weekend. I like to keep fresh fruits and vegetables around for cooking and eating raw. How do you select/handle/store your produce to keep it fresh all week? It always seems to me that much of the produce will be soft or wilted or mushy by mid-week. I tend to front load my weekly meal plan with the fresh items, but miss them at the end of the week.

Leave your solution in the comments. For other dilemmas and suggestions, check out Rocks In My Dryer: Works for Me: Backwards Edition.

Cheeseburger Pasta

I really enjoy to bake, but especially to cook. When you cook, it is so easy to take a standard recipe and tweak it to make it your own. I read recipes everywhere and clip the ones that sound good to me. The only problem I run into is if I don't try it soon, I wind up with it in a pile of recipes to try and eventually, in the interest of maintaining some organization, they get tossed. Generally, I will follow the recipe the first time or two and then, I will start to make it my own. Sometimes this is shortcutting, sometimes I'm making it a tad healthier with a substitution, sometimes I'm stretching the meal and sometimes I'm simply enhancing the flavor.

Recently, one of my local grocery stores featured an in ad recipe from Campbell's Soup for Cheeseburger Pasta. It is a really simple recipe. It has a good flavor, but I already have tweaks in mind, but first the recipe:

1# ground meat
1 can Campbell's Condensed Cheddar Cheese Soup
1 can Campbell's Condensed Tomato Soup
1 1/2 c water
2 c uncooked shells or macaroni pasta (about 1/2#)

Cook beef in skillet until well browned, drain. Add soups, water and pasta and stir. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for 10 minutes, or until pasta is done.

Stirring while it is simmering is key, otherwise with the reduced water compared to normal pasta prep, your pasta will stick to the bottom.

I would serve it topped with shredded cheddar and a dill pickle spear on the side.

Now, for the tweaks I plan to try next time. I think that I will had a can of diced tomatoes. The Tomato soup provided a tomato flavor, but not that fresh sliced tomato flavor that I associate with a Cheeseburger. In addition to providing a contrast flavor, I think it will also help stretch the meal a little further.

There is a similar, but different version of Cheeseburger Pasta on the Cheddar Cheese Soup. It uses ketchup and Beef Broth in place of tomato soup. I'm guessing this will up the beefiness of the meal and the ketchup, again, a better representative of a flavor you associate with a cheeseburger. This makes me consider adding some beef bouillon to the dish as well.

For other new recipes to try, check out the Mmm Monday recipe swap at Mommies with Cents. There are also recipe ideas at The Grocery Cart Challenge weekly Recipe Swap.