Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Wednesday, November 11, 2009 - Sale at Safeway


Wow...its been awhile. I can only tell you that I have every intention of continuing to find good deals but am just having a hard time finding time to get posts up. I do have some fun recipes to share with you and will be posting them up soon!

Here are this week's deals at Safeway:

Shady Farms Turkey - $0.79 per lb
Boneless Beef Bottom Round Roast - $1.88 per lb
Pork Loin Chops - $1.88 per lb
Red Delicious and Braeburn Apples - $0.99 per lb
Avocados - $0.99 each
Pepsi Products - $0.88 per 2-litre
Lucerne Butter - $1.99 per package
Hillshire Farms Lil' Smokies - $3 each package
Green and White Asparagus - $2.99 per lb
Red Grapefruit - $0.99 each
Pineapple - $2.99 each
Yams - $0.99 per lb

Please note that each Safeway location is different. Please check Safeway.com to see your local specials.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

DC Food Blogger Happy Hour

I will be stopping by here tonight. Please join us. RSVP here.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Good Ole Bakes Sales and Spice Cupcakes

The Bake Sale was a success! Its been a few days since the first DC Food Bloggers Bake Sale and I have already gotten several requests from people to do this again. We raised over $500 for Martha's Table and I'm just so happy with how everything turned out. The baked goods were delicious, everyone who promised to donate baked goods came through, and I got to meet a lot of really nice people! I got to see Modern Domestic again, I got to talk Culinary School talk with Mango & Tomato and Capital Spice. I got to meet State Dinner, French Twist DC, Gradually Greener, and Metrocurean for the first time. The couple from Pete Bakes! stopped by to check out our baked goods. So many others came and supported us such as Urban Bohemian, DC Brit from Endless Simmer, and thanks to Stopthepota for doing the heavy lifting. (Yes, I am shamelessly name dropping.)

A big thank you to Adventures in Shaw for coming up with the idea and organizing. Thank you to Arugula Files for helping recruit great Food Bloggers to participate and for having great energy at the booth. Another big thank to my friends Joy, Rachel, and Anna who donated delicious baked goods for the cause (these girls are some of the best bakers I know.) For more pictures and info about the event, please check out these write-ups:

Adventures in Shaw
Arugula Files
Modern Domestic
Gradually Greener


This is a picture of the table towards the end of the day when we had already sold most of the baked goods. The two tables were COVERED with delicious things such as Caramel Bars, Heath Candy Bar cookies, Congo Bars, Mint Chocolate Whoppie pies, Snickerdoodle Cookies, Peanut Butter Cupcakes, Chocolate Chip Cookies, and so much more.


Thank you ACKC for donating coffee. It was so nice to sip a hot cup of coffee while it was drizzling and we were shivering from the cold wind.


One of the items that I baked for the Bake Sale were Spice Cupcakes. This recipe was given to me by a good friend's mom. She would like to stay anonymous but I can tell you that this lady is one of the sweetest and coolest moms I know. I hope she comes to visit us often!


The recipe calls for one box of Pillbury Plus Yellow Cake Mix. I have been told that this is the best boxed cake mix that you can buy because it produces the most moist cake. Lucky for me, they were on sale for $1 per box at Giant last week. The secret to using boxed cake mixes is to add a little bit of flavor to each batch. I added a teaspoon of vanilla that my cousin Stephanie got for me from Mexico. Its a very strong vanilla. Also added to these cupcakes are a variety of spices: nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, allspice and cloves. I ended up using pumpkin spice because I didn't have any allspice or cloves in the house.


Did you know that you are suppose to remove the paper wrappers from the foil wrappers? I always baked my cupcakes with the paper wrappers in the foil. I guess that just doubles the value of those foil wrappers because I will just use the paper ones the next time I make cupcakes.

They come out so pretty and so moist.



The topping is a Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting. Its pretty awesome. Here is the recipe:

Cake:

1 Pillsbury Plus Yellow Cake Mix
1/2 tsp each of cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and cloves
1-2 tsp vanilla, depending on taste

Mix cake as directed and add the spices and vanilla. Mix it all together. Pour into baking cups and bake for approximately 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely. Frost with cinnamon cream cheese frosting.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
8oz cream cheese softened
1/2 stick butter, softened
1 lb powdered sugar
1tsp vanilla
1/2 - 1 tsp cinnamon, depending on taste

Mix all ingredients together at medium speed until light and fluffy.

All I can say is that Food Bloggers are probably the nicest people on earth because they eat well and have good Karma for sharing the food love.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Friday, October 30, 2009 - Items on Sale at Giant


Here are some deals you can find at Giant this week:

New York Strip Steak - $4.99 per lb
Whole Boneless Pork Loin - $1.99 per lb
Green or White Asparagus - $1.77 per lb
Whole Roasting Chicken - $0.99 per lb
Barlett or Anjou Pearks - $1.89 per lb
Cauliflower - $2.99 each

Please check http://www.giantfood.com/ to see the specials at your local Giant Supermarket.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Wednesday, October 28, 2009 - Sale at Safeway


It surprises me when people tell me that they never tasted a Honey Crisp apple. Its just such a good apple. I had my first taste of a Honey Crisp about four years ago while visiting my best friend Caroline when she was studying at Northwestern University. She made all these great plans for us. We went to see a play, we ate at all her favorite restaurants, and she even drove us out to an orchard to go apple picking. Both of us were raised in California and there is not a whole lot of apple picking opportunities in California. We ran around grabbing all the apples we could find. Caroline looked and looked but she couldn't find any Honey Crisp apples. I didn't understand her obsession over these apples until she stopped by a grocery store on the way home and bought me some. I took a bite. It was slightly tart, sweet, and so juicy. I'm now in love with this apple. I just can't get enough of them. Farmers markets are selling them for about $2.49 per lb. Safeway has them on sale for $1.49 per lb (the one in Adams Morgan is selling them for $0.99 per lb.)

Here are some other deals you can find at Safeway this week:

Boneless Pork Loin - $1.69 per lb
Top Sirloin Steak - $2.99 per lb
93% Ground Beef - $2.49 per lb
Tomatoes on the Vine - $1.49 per lb
Pineapples - $1.99 each
Whole Chicken - $1.49 per lb
2-litre bottles of Coke Products - $0.88 each (must buy four)
Barrilla Pasta Sauce - $1.99 per jar
Barlett Pears - $1.49 per lb
Italian Zuchinni and Yellow Squash - $1.29 per lb
5-lb bag of Russett potatoes - $2.99
Pomegranates - $3 each

Please note that each Safeway location is different. Please check Safeway.com to see your local specials.

Monday, October 26, 2009

DC Food Bloggers Spooktacular Bake Sale - Halloween Day


My parents never baked. My dad roasted chickens, simmered soups, and made some mean barbeque but baking rarely happened at my house. So when there was a bake sale at school, I would rummage through my backpack (or my parents' bureau) for some spare quarters or dimes. I remember biting into a moist, sweet cupcake and loving every bite. These bake sales let me taste what it was like to be American. (I mean this in all seriousness.)

So when Adventures in Shaw asked me to join her and Arugula Files in running a bake sale to benefit Martha's Table, I was all in. I love doing work for charities but also, this would give me a good reason to make the treats that made me feel so good as a child. On my list so far are rice krispies treats, brownies, spice cupcakes and caramel apples.

Please come out and support us. We will be at the 14th and U Street Farmers market on Halloween day from 9am to 1pm. If you would like to donate some baked goods, please email me at thriftydccook@gmail.com

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Friday, October 16, 2009 - Items on Sale at Giant


This would be a great week to try making pulled pork or a carnitas recipe. Pork Shoulder Picnic is $1.29 a lb. One of my favorite crock pot dishes is to cover a pork shoulder with taco seasoning, throw it in a crock pot, add water until its 1/4 full, add onions, slices of jalapenos, and cook for 8 hours on low. Take out the pork, using a fork, pull it apart into shreds of meat, and add the meat back into the crock pot so it absorbs the juice. Heat up some tortillas, fill it with meat, and top with cilantro and diced onions. I like a dollop of sour cream on my tacos. Enjoy.

Here are the deals you can find at Giant this week:

Turkey Breast - $0.99 per lb
Iceberg Lettuce - $0.88 each
Gala Apples - $0.88 per lb
All Purpose Potatoes - $2 per 5 lb bag
Barilla Pasta - $1 per box

Please check http://www.giantfood.com/ to see the specials at your local Giant Supermarket.