Food Friday: Southwestern Chicken & Rice

I'm starting a new regular feature - Food Friday. Each Friday, I will post a new recipe from my file of tried and true recipes. Most of my recipes are super easy and cheap. This week's recipe was a favorite before we had our son. Unfortunately, our son is allergic to rice so I can no longer make it unless he is at his grandparents for the evening.

Southwestern Chicken & Rice

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1 cup chunky salsa
1 package taco seasoning
2 cups water
2 cups instant rice
1 cup black beans (drained)
2 cups Mexican style shredded cheese (I use whatever I have)

Boil chicken in salsa, taco seasoning and water, cover. Simmer 10 minutes and then return to a boil. Stir in uncooked rice and black beans. Sprinkle with cheese, cover, and cook on low for 5 minutes.


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Finance Books on Sale

I'm a huge advocate of Dave Ramsey and now through Sept.2, he is having a sale. All of his books and downloads are on sale for $10 each. Visit www.daveramsey.com to see all of the choices, but I highly recommend Total Money Makeover and Financial Peace. Although we have always been debt adverse, we have still learned some great tips from Dave. If you are in debt or struggling with living paycheck to paycheck, then you will get even more out of his books.

Swag Bucks

My current favorite search engine is Swag Bucks. You receive points for doing searches and can apply these towards prizes. Within a month I had earned enough for a $5 Starbucks gift card. I've also received a few gift cards for Amazon.com. Since we buy most of my husbands textbooks online, these have come in handy. This search engine is powered by Google and Ask.com. To sign up, click the banner below.

Free Chick-fil-A

On Labor Day, Chick-fil-A is giving away a free 3 pack of Chick-n-Strips to anyone who comes in wearing a football team logo or collegiate logo. This offer is good from 10:30 am until close so go dig out your favorite team's t-shirt or sweatshirt and enjoy some free food on Monday.

Waste Less Wednesday: Bananas

It seems like bananas go from green to brown on my way home from the grocery store. They never last as long as I would like them to. Instead of getting upset that they are browning early, I've started freezing them as soon as they start to turn. I learned the hard way, don't freeze them with the peel on. The first time I did this I spent about 30 minutes trying to peel it.

I keep whole frozen bananas to use in banana bread and banana cake. Thaw out about 3o minutes before you want to bake and they will be fine. I keep the little bits my son doesn't finish in a separate and labeled bag for smoothies. He is pretty picky about fruits and veggies but he will eat anything in a smoothie as long as there is some banana in it. My basic recipe is frozen banana, milk, a little sugar or honey if the fruit isn't very sweet, and any other fruit on the verge of going bad. I usually make this in my mini food processor so the cleanup is easy and the portion is just right. On warm summer days he thinks he is getting a treat and I am happy because he is eating fruit.

Organization

How many times have you dumped the house looking for a certain item? I'm horrible about knowing I have something but can't quite place it. Because of this, I'm working on organizing our house and keeping it that way. With a toddler, it is a constant battle, but I will never win the battle if I don't start.

I find I also save a lot of money by being organized because I know what I have. For instance, last time I cleaned out my pantry, I found duplicates of several spices. I'm sure I bought them for a certain recipe thinking I was out of that spice. If only I had dug awhile, I would have saved a little money. I make it a goal to clean out my pantry once a quarter. It is on my to do list this week. When I do it often, it doesn't take as long but when I wait, the task seems overwhelming. I challenge you to pick one area of your house that needs to be organized this week and start there. If the task is too large, break it down. Some weeks, I'm doing good to get one drawer cleaned out. If you work on one or two things a week, your house will never get too out of control.

Feel free to share your organizing tips or what you organized this week.

School Supply Sales

I figured most of the school supply sales would be over by now seeing as all of the local schools have started but Staples is having a great sale this week. Here are a few of the deals:

Manual pencil sharpener - free (limit 3)
2 pocket folders - free (limit 10)
Cap erasers - free (limit 3)
Glue sticks - .25 (4 pack)
Binder 3-hole punch - .25
Plastic binders - .25
Pencil box - .05 (these have great uses around the house and car for storing little things)

There are plenty more good sales but these are the ones that stand out the most. Don't forget to help out teacher or school by donating some of these great deals to them.