Greg’s birthday is coming up. And it never fails, all my boys ONLY want Tunnel of fudge cake.
Greg has had this cake since he was in Vietnam. His mom used to make them and ship them to him, wrapped in tin foil, and in a fruit cake tin. By the time he got it, it had been a month. And he said it was as good as the day it was made. Kind of scary, actually!
It’s the 1966 Pillsbury bake-off winner. And it IS a winner. My friend, Kathy Langnehs is in the finals this year! I’m SO excited! Imagine, her name and her recipe her Pecan Thumbprint Cookies will be SO famous!!!!
You can make it as is, but I do a few things different. And here are my tips after making it several times a year for 29 years:
I only use 2 cups of flour, while their recipe calls for 2-1/4.I use pecans instead of walnuts.Take the butter out of the fridge for at least an hour. It’s hard to beat, unless it’s really soft.And we bake for 50 minutes. I usually have to use a knife all around the sides to loosen the sides. And all around the inner sides, around the center post. It sticks really bad. We normally don’t frost it, or use the glaze, unless it falls apart when I take it out of the pan. In which case, I piece it back together and glaze it. Nobody cares. It ALL gets eaten. And it’s awesome re-heated in the microwave with ice cream in the days to follow.Notice the only liquid is butter and eggs. So it’s important to follow the directions on slowly adding and beating.I hope you enjoy it!http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/showrecipe.aspx?rid=11510
Lots of people are going through some tough economic times. That’s the understatement of the decade! But the silver lining of this cloud is that tough economic times usually gives birth to innovation.
Over the years, I’ve had alot of people ask me about how I started my web business and for general advice. But since these times have hit, I bet those requests have increased 10 fold! And that’s a good thing! We’re thinking!
I just answered an email with alot of the usual questions. So I decided to share my response here, in hopes that if anyone is thinking of getting something off the ground, this may shed some light on the subject.
If you have money to burn, you can do it better. But for me, in the beginning, it was just “fly by the seat of my pants”. And probably still is!
As you read this, please realize that I’m not techy, or software savvy. I didn’t even know how to do email and had never been on the internet when I built my own first website almost 10 years ago. So this will sound juvenile to a web developer. But this is how I understand it in my little brain…
I built my own first website, and had no custom software. Growing out of our platform was the problem that we had after about 6 months. I was using shared application software running on a host site. It started crashing when I got too many members. But it got me started on a shoestring. Which is actually a good visual… Picture me with one shoestring with both feet tied together and trying to walk!
I knew I needed a better platform. So I reinvested everything I was making so that I could lease better software, and switched to a more robust host. Neither one of those companies exists anymore. In fact, the first one went under overnight and disappeared along with all my data. Poof! In my mind, it was floating out there somewhere in cyberspace, and I wished I could capture it with a space shuttle, and re-attach it to the mother ship. Seriously. That’s about all I knew. Fortunately, I had everything backed up on my computer to rebuild. So…
Backup, backup, backup! Never trust a server that is not your own. And even then, now that we’re on our own servers, (12 of them I think now all load balanced), our web developer backs up everything on a schedule, and in more than one geographic location.
For the last 8+ years, we’ve been on our own servers and custom software. Millions of dollars in software and web development. And it’s an on-going full time work in progress, keeping up with new developments of ours and updated everyday to accomodate changes to the web, and better technology. So it’s all been dynamic for some time, and our web developers work full time for us to keep us rolling smooth and safe.
I hope that helps someone. “Now” is as good a time as ever. Just DO it!
I have lots more details about how I started in my book:
http://www.thegrocerygame.com/con_Shop_Smart_Save_More_Book.cfm
I wish you all the best of success!
The Centers for Disease Control and prevention survey recently released disturbing, but not surprising statistics regarding our teens. Fewer than 1 in 10 US high schoolers are consuming the recommended daily amounts of fruits and vegetables. (sigh) I worry. I wish teens and parents would begin to make smart choices. So…
You’ve probably seen the new “Smart Choices” with a checkmark logo on some grocery products. And you’ve probably heard alot of negative press. I’ve read alot about this over the last few months before and after it came out on the shelves. My final conclusion is that we need to be “smart” to make good “choices”. I’m providing a link to an article that has spun a negative argument about the checkmark logo. But…
Please, before you read this article, let me tell you that while this article may contain some revealing information, it is extremely biased against major food manufacturers. In all fairness, the article doesn’t really tell the whole story. Many of the products bearing that “Smart Choices” checkmark, have indeed been improved to a notable degree to include more fiber, and/or less sugar, and/or less fat. But those same products may not be deemed “healthy” or a “smart choice” by your standards or mine.
The bottom line is, know what you’re buying. You should take the time to read the ingredients of those items you purchase. Then YOU make the smart choice.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/05/business/05smart.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&adxnnlx=1255619130-RjQuUpvC4ePQUXt80JhyKw
I posted on Facebook that I was tackling “ratpiles”. Someone asked, “What’s a ratpile?”
To understand ratpiles, you have to first understand rats. A ratpile is created by a family of rats. Once started, ratpiles grow almost organically. One item mislaid on a counter by one rat is an open invitation to the other rats to add their odds and ends to the ratpile. The motivation to contribute to a ratpile is due to one or more of the following reasons:
1. It’s an ”ignorant rat” and doesn’t know where it’s supposed to go. Or…
2. It’s a ”lazy rat”, and simply doesn’t want to bother. Or…
3. It’s a “busy rat”, and doesn’t have time to put it away.
Note: While there’s no legitimate excuse for any of the three ratpile motivations, alot of rats will claim to be a “busy rat”, but really is just a “lazy rat”. Either way, HE, err, I mean “it” is just a “RAT”!!!
Here’s the pathetic thing. I’m the Rat who started the ratpile on our laundry room counter. But it was purely innocent, and not attributed to any of the three reasons that categorize me as a rat in the truest sense. I laid the dogleash on the counter, because it’s by the backdoor that leads outside. I wanted to keep it there, so that when I take Marley in the car, I can grab the leash on the way out the door. See? I did it on purpose, and it was purely innocent. I wanted the leash to be able to “live” there, alone. Ha! Fat rat chance! In the flash of an instant when I first laid the leash there a few weeks ago, I thought, ”The rats are going to think I’m starting a ratpile. But I’m not! This cannot, and should not become a ratpile! I simply won’t allow it.” But the invitation was made, and the rats RSVPed. In the eyes of the rats, a ratpile was in its infant stages and had to grow into a full grown ratpile!
The next day, I noticed the leash on the counter was accompanied by a flashlight. I let it go. Big mistake… I went out of town for four days, and when I came back and wanted to put Marley on his leash, I had to plow under a huge ratpile consisting of: A tape measure, a sash for a robe, a hammer, a dish towel, a half empty water bottle, swim trunks, and a baseball belt. A baseball belt? It’s not even baseball season!
If you’re considering starting a rat family and allowing ratpiles, just know this… In rat families, there are designated areas that are grandfather-ed in as ratpile zones. Even I will turn a blind eye for days or even weeks, as long as the ratpile is starting and building in a designated ratpile zone. A designated ratpile zone is one of usually about two or three areas of the house that typically are proned to be hosts to ratpiles. It doesn’t make it quite so bad, if you’re accustomed to seeing ratpiles beginning and thriving in a desgnated ratpile zone. They almost become invisible over time. But…
Don’t try to start a new ratpile zone! For a few days in a row, Greg started laying a jacket and hat on a chair near our entry way. That chair was becoming his new coat rack! First of all, this is a “ratpile foul”, as there has never been a ratpile zone in our entry way! And it’s NOT going to start now! To make matters worse, I could see it coming… There was a small end table next to the chair. Nothing had been laid on it yet. But horror of horrors! I KNEW what would become of that chair and end table, if I let it go for even a moment. Not going to happen on my watch. “Either hang it up, or start a ratpile in a designated ratpile zone!”
Phew! So glad I nipped that in the bud!
Exercise and prevention go hand in hand. Thinking about it today, especially, for a lot of reasons…
When Greg was a stuntman, wrecking cars, motorcycles, doing stair falls, ladder falls, etc., his secret weapon was lifting weights. He said that building muscle protects the bones and holds you together. SO true!…
I have neck and back issues from a snow skiing accident in 96. Then, in Sept. 2006, I fell down some stairs and landed so hard that my ears were ringing for about an hour, and I couldn’t see straight. It was bad! But I didn’t go to the doctor, because I didn’t know how bad I was. I “recovered” well enough to move on. I was able to go on, because I was in such great shape. I dealt with on-going pain, traveled all over the map, and continued to work out. (Probably not a good idea in hindsight). Eventually, I hurt my neck again in May of this year just doing my normal routine in the gym. But this time, it was so bad that I went to the doctor and got an MRI. And low and behold, I had a 9 mm herniated disk in my neck, which partially paralyzed my left arm. Since I had been experiencing pain in that arm and shoulder from my fall in 06, the doctor said I probably herniated that disk in that 06 fall. My doctor and therapist attribute my resilience and recovery to my commitment to being strong and staying strong.
Yesterday, Sami and I were out at the pool. Our two big Dobermans ran into her from behind, and knocked her feet out from under her. I can still see it in slow motion… She flipped into the air, and her back and head hit the pavement with a loud “whack”!!! As I rushed over to her, I feared she could be dead, paralyzed, or at least unconscious. But she spoke to me and said she just wanted to lay there for a few minutes. When I helped her up, she said her neck and head hurt, but that she was fine. Sami works out. She does palates 4 days a week, and tons of core work on top of it. She’s in her late 50’s. She’s resilient, energetic, and… (Drum roll please)… she still looks hot!
Since May, I got out of shape while I was going through all this physical therapy and pain from my disk. I kept working out, but very light weights, and cardio, because that’s all I could do. It was dis-heartening, because I was gaining weight, and hated slipping backwards. But I resolved to be patient and follow doctor’s orders. Slowly but surely, I’ve gotten stronger. Now, I’ve been back to my normal weekly routine for about 3 weeks: Pilates 2 days, free weights 2 days, 35 min. cardio 4 days. And I’m feeling great again! I know that 3 weeks is the magical number. It’s really hard when you’re out of shape to work out consistently for 3 weeks. But once you get over that hump, you begin to look forward to how good it makes you feel.
On top of protecting from injury and promoting fast recovery, exercise helps the immune system. And that’s great news as we approach flu season.
If you’re going to start back to a workout routine, be sure to eat healthy and feed your body what it needs to be strong. And take supplements as needed for recovery from the workouts. And it’s a good idea to get a physical from your doctor before starting to work out again. Especially if you’re really out of shape or it’s been awhile.
In finality, if you’ve been putting off getting back into a workout routine, I hope my story today will encourage you to just suck it up for 3 weeks. Yes, it will be hard! But… you’ll start feeling a reward by the 4th week. I promise! Contact me on Facebook in 3 weeks, and let me know how you’re feeling. And tell me I was right!
Someone just asked me about shopping at WalMart instead of her local supermarkets, which are Albertsons and Safeway. It got me thinking it’s time for another tutorial on EDLP vs. Hi-Lo marketing strategies.
WM has the #1 market share in the country for groceries. So, that in itself proves that they have the public believing that they are the lowest. Lowest overall? Depending on where you live, maybe. But no matter where you live, being the lowest overall is not important to those winning The Grocery Game. Shopping at WalMart will lend some level of savings on all categories at all times = EDLP (every day low prices). However, when those same items go on sale at a hi-lo supermarket, such as Albertsons, Safeway, Kroger, etc, the low end of the Hi-Lo sales will most often dip lower than WM’s EDLP.
But wait! You’ve been told that WM matches the sales of their competitors! Tricky wording indeed…
Yes, WM does match sales, but not all sales. I’ll say it this way, “Only some sales”. And the ones they skip are costing you big time! They don’t match the BOGOs or % off, or any UN-advertised sales. BOGOs are “buy 1 get 1 free”, which is half off. That’s a biggie. And your local Hi-Lo major supermarket probably has twice as many UN-advertised sales as they do advertised. So when a Hi-Lo store hits many of those rock bottom sales, WM doesn’t match them, and that’s when we get the better deals. (And that’s why the Hi-Lo stores are The Grocery Game’s playing fields for those who want to save the most with the least amount of time invested.)
While many of the Hi-Lo stores’ rock bottom sales do beat WM’s EDLP, you don’t get all categories on sale every week at Hi-Lo stores. But that’s the basis of playing The Grocery Game. It’s like a game that we love to win… Hi-Lo stores run in Categorical Sales Trends. There’s about 15 major categories… Each category usually cycles through about once every 12 weeks, and each category stays on sale for about 1-3 weeks. By investing in those categories and items that you eat or use in your home when they are on a rock bottom sale and with a coupon at the Hi-Lo supermarket, you should be beating WM’s EDLP (every day low price).
The Grocery Game does work, if you are using it as intended. The blue items are expected to beat WM and warehouse club stores. So, if an item is blue or green, and if it’s something that you ever use, you should invest in it, whether you need it now or not. That way, when you run out of it, you don’t have to buy it at full price, or at a sub-standard price at WM.
We do offer WM LISTs in some areas, because people ask for it. Not because it’s the best place to save.
The Grocery Game is designed to save you the time of putting together the best weekly savings plan. You need to stay with it for twelve weeks, and invest in blues and greens to experience maximum savings. Then, you should begin to see that you are spending less money and less time on your grocery trips. And you’ll be shopping at a lovely store where you get great customer service. How nice is that?
Not surprisingly, according to recent food product and consumer studies by Information Resources Inc., this economy has brought on a significant grocery consumer mindshift. Those who were eating out more often, have shifted to more grocery shopping, and more meals at home. And those who were already cooking at home, have become more value concious.
But I’m worried… My concern is with the first group. Can they sustain it?
I liken it to a crash diet. How many people who are used to eating whatever they want, can sustain a super strict diet, compared to a more sensible eating plan? Not many. So by the same token, if those who are used to the convenience of having their meals made by someone else and no dishes, how long will they last? Not too long, I don’t think.
I have a plan to make this mindshift stick. And to some degree, it applies to anyone with a busy lifestyle who wants to cut food costs.
1. Buy convenient frozen meals - I’m not saying to eat TV dinners every night. And on that note, get out of the dark ages, if you cringe at the thought of something like a frozen lasagne. There are gourmet offerings in your supermarket’s freezer! So when a nice frozen lasagne or Alfredo Chicken is on sale, it will be half the regular price, and feeds a family of four for about $1.50 each. Add a coupon to make it even cheaper. Throw together a salad, and voila! Dinner is served! Alot of family size entrees include vegetables. So skip the salad and do nothing! On a busy day, or when you’re just plain tired, this dinner will cost one fourth of what it would cost to eat out.
2. One Dish Wonders - That’s a chapter title in my book, “Shop Smart Save More”. While the book is a great education on how to shop smart and save more on food, this chapter is all about making a one dish dinner that usually includes protein, vegetables, and carbohydrates. The “wonder-ful” part of a one dish meal is that it’s less pots and pans to wash. Besides, they’re some of my family’s favorite dinners! Yummy and easy. Think casseroles and crockpots, and you’ve got an easy winner! http://www.thegrocerygame.com/con_Shop_Smart_Save_More_Book.cfm
3. Buy a deep freezer - Use your grocery savings to re-invest in a deep freezer. I can’t say enough about how this makes you save more money. It’s a key foundation for playing The Grocery Game. In fact, most members save more than enough during their free four week trial to buy a deep freezer. Do it!
4. Learn to ”2x2” - It’s almost as easy to make two meals as it is to make one, since you have all the ingredients out already. So for two of your meals per week, make two. One for tonight, and one for the freezer. If I make a pot of chili, I make a double batch, and freeze one. Or a homemade chicken pot pie, same thing. This is a freebie on time savings! And it’s like you’re amassing a treasure of non-cooking nights in your freezer.
5. Eat out! - Yes, I did say that. Play The Grocery Game and save a ton of time, and hundreds of dollars a month. Then use your savings to treat yourself and your family to a night out once in a while! Or, just go out with your hubby, and leave the kids home with “babysitter food”, which is all that easy frozen stuff you invested in on sale with a coupon. And the kids love it!
In finality, if you’ve made a commitment to eat home more, just know this…
This new mindshift is totally do-able. It’s wonderful for you, fantastic for your family time, and awesome for your bank account!
Visit www.TheGroceryGame.com to shop like I do every week! And get a free four week trial!
This week, I had a reporter asking whether store brands were good quality compared to name brands. She asked specifically about organics and conventional staples like flour, butter and sugar.
First, let’s address the issue of the old word, “generic”. Unfortunately, when we think “store brand”, it may still have a negative connotation, based on the initial emergence of the “generic” concept. I say, “Pshaw!”, which can be translated as, “the ‘generic’ of the 80’s is nothing like the ‘store brand’ of today.” So, now that that’s behind us…
USDA certified organic has to follow the same strict guidelines for all manufacturers, whether name brand or store brand. So, when name brand organics are not on sale, store brand organics are always a great alternative.
Store brand organic produce often costs much less than their name brand counterparts. The most dramatic difference I’ve found is on name brand organic mixed greens (salad), which are sometimes almost twice the cost of the store brand organic greens.
Now on to conventional staples (not organic)… Sugar, flour and butter are also very good items to buy as store brand in terms of quality and value.
Here’s just one example of flour from our Grocery Game databases:
At Jewel in Chicago:
Pillsbury 5 lb. flour – 4.39 – goes on sale for 2.49
Jewel 5 lb. flour – 2.79 – recently on sale for 1.99, and with store incentive, final price 1.24
However, when on sale with a coupon, the name brands can be cheaper.
OMG!!! OK, not like it’s anything new. But I still get a huge RUSH!!! And had to tell somebody!!!
And I don’t want to hear any excuses about how long it takes to save on groceries, or cut coupons… I timed myself:
3.5 minutes to cut 8 coupons + 4.5 minutes to fill out $10 rebate = 8 minutes to save $55!
Plus… almost everything I came for was on a special display right when I walked into Walgreens. I just started grabbing 2 of everything. The sweet man who rang me up was so excited that I got $13 back in register rewards, and I told him I was getting $10 more from Kellogg’s. He did quick mental math, and asked me how. OK, I told him. No lines. I was in and out in less than 10 minutes. I paid $27.98, less the $13 in RR, and $10 rebate… (drumroll please)
I GOT $60 WORTH OF GROCERIES FOR $4.98 !!!
Here’s what I got:
2 boxes Lipton Green Tea (40 count each)
2 jars Ragu pasta sauce
2 Skippy Peanut Butter
2 boxes Pop Tarts
2 packages Keebler Fudge cookies
2 boxes Rice Krispie Treats
2 boxes Special K Cereal
2 boxes NutriGrain bars
I know all you gamers did the same thing this week and every week. But I just had to shout it out!
71% of the public cook meat to it’s proper temperature.* That means that 29% of us are cooking meat in such a way that could cause sickness or even death, if it had anything in it like E Coli., Salmonella, or any other contaminant.
But here’s the good news…
Back in March, about 50 tons of potentially E. Coli contaminated meat was released to the public. Doesn’t sound like good news? Don’t worry. It’s already been consumed. The meat was sent to institutional distributors. And maybe that was a good thing because apparently, they cooked it right, or at least better than that 71% of us in the general public. Get this… only three people became ill from it. Three people! One can only suspect that because it went to institutions, maybe they had very strict food safety standards in place.
So let’s bring those practices into our homes…
I’ve always been good about food storage, cross contamination prevention, hand washing, etc. But my weakness was about “doneness”. I’m pretty good about using a meat thermometer in the oven. But I recently started using a meat thermometer for the BarBQ as well. Which is even more important than the oven, because BBQs don’t really cook as evenly. Chicken and pork are especially worthy of it. But so is beef and really, any meat, for that matter. Why not? It takes the guess work out of it. It’s cheap. It’s easy. You can pick one up on your next grocery shop for under $10.
But there’s lots of other important food safety guidelines, some of which I touched on above. To be really thorough, I recommend reading this page from the USDA. Print it. Study it. Review it. Learn it. Memorize it. Know it. Stick it on your refrigerator until you can recite it. There will be a test.
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Factsheets/Keep_Food_Safe_Food_Safety_Basics/index.asp
Now, don’t be paranoid. Just be smart. Cooking is fun. And besides, we have to keep cooking and eating!
*Statistics according to a survey recently released by The International Food Information Council Foundation