Mocha Chocolate Icebox Cake

As I confessed in an earlier post, I'm always looking for quick and easy recipes that are also yummy and presentable. Earlier this week, I was watching the Today show when Ina Garten of Barefoot Contessa fame came on and shared three recipes out of her new cookbook How Easy is That? One of the recipes was for her Mocha Chocolate Icebox Cake, and she had me at the ingredients list.... Kahlua, Espresso, Cocoa... how could you go wrong? Well, I decided to try it out since it was my turn to bring a snack to our weekly military wives Bible study. I think I've found one of my new staple desserts... it was quick, painless and delicious! Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of the cake before it was devoured, but here's one from the Barefoot Contessa website. I'll admit, mine wasn't quite as pretty.

Here's the recipe:


2 cups cold heavy cream
12 ounces Italian mascarpone cheese
½ cup sugar
¼ cup Kahlúa liqueur
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, such as Pernigotti
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 (8-ounce) packages Tate’s Bake Shop chocolate chip cookies
Shaved semisweet chocolate, for garnish


In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the heavy cream, mascarpone, sugar, Kahlúa, cocoa powder, espresso powder, and vanilla. Mix on low speed to combine and then slowly raise the speed, until it forms firm peaks.


To assemble the cake, arrange chocolate chip cookies flat in an 8-inch springform pan, covering the bottom as much as possible. (I break some cookies to fill in the spaces.) Spread a fifth of the mocha whipped cream evenly over the cookies. Place another layer of cookies on top, lying flat and touching, followed by another fifth of the cream. Continue layering cookies and cream until there are 5 layers of each, ending with a layer of cream. Smooth the top, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.


Run a small sharp knife around the outside of the cake and remove the sides of the pan. Sprinkle the top with the chocolate, cut in wedges, and serve cold 

Now, a few tips from my experience. First, this cake does not travel well! If you're driving somewhere, make sure you have somebody else with you who can hold the cake, otherwise be prepared for the cake to slip and slide across the platter (and potentially your car!) as you make turns! I learned this one the hard way :) Also, the recipe calls for Tate's Bake Shop chocolate chip cookies - you can really use any chocolate chip cookies. I baked my own gluten-free cookies from a Betty Crocker mix. Last, I found that the whipped cream wasn't enough to make five layers. I ended up with three layers and was scraping the sides of the bowl. Also, I think that next time I make this I will go for more filling and less cookies. The general consensus was that the filling is the absolute best part of the cake!


Bon appétit!

Pilates... the perfect excuse for a new wardrobe!

If you're anything like me, you're always looking for an excuse to add new items to your wardrobe. Well, I've recently started taking Pilates classes and I am loving it. In addition to getting myself back in shape, this has given me an excuse to shop around for some more yoga pants and leggings. Here are some of my favorite finds!

Lilly Pulitzer Half-Moon Crop Pant - These are also available in pink, and the waistband is kind of hard to see, but it's an adorable swirly flower pattern! 

Victoria's Secret Yoga Foldover Crop Legging - They have these in tons of different colors and patterns with cute matching shirts!

Victoria's Secret Foldover Pant - Ok, so these may not be the most practical, but I would definitely stand out amongst all the military men at the gym on base! Plus, I think sequins make anything more fun ;)

Old Navy Fold-Over Yoga Capris - I feel like the fit of Old Navy's clothes can be a little hit or miss, but for less than $20, I think these cute argyle capris are worth a shot!

What are your favorite brands and styles of yoga and athletic wear?

FreeVS!

It all started with SoyJoy bars. I was looking for a good, healthy afternoon snack and decided to try them out. Since the closest Publix was 45 minutes away, I ran into CVS to pick up a box, and at the end of my receipt was a coupon like thing that said "$4 Extra Bucks." I was intrigued. I did some research, and I discovered that CVS was much more than a drug store that I ran into for contact solution or candy bars - it was my ticket to lots and lots of free items. Extra Bucks would soon become my best friends, and I'm about to fill you in on the secret of how CVS (or "Free"VS as some avid CVS fans call it!) can help you to start couponing and stockpiling necessities.

First things first - what is an Extra Buck? Here's a picture:

Extra Bucks (ECBs) are basically coupons that can be spent more or less like a gift card on anything in the store except prescriptions, alcohol, tobacco and a few other things. This means it's basically free money because once you earn it you can go in and spend it on things you would normally buy anyway like milk, toothpaste, etc. However, you can also roll Extra Bucks from week to week, which is how you can start to get things for free, or even make money on them.

All you need to start earning Extra Bucks is an Extra Care Card, which you can pick up for free at any CVS:

There are four main ways to earn Extra Bucks. First, you earn Extra Bucks based on your spending at CVS. You earn 2% back on every purchase you make at CVS and $1 ECB for every two prescriptions you have filled there. These ECBs print quarterly at the end of your receipt. You can also earn Extra Bucks by getting a "Green Bag Tag." These cost $0.99 and you tie them onto your reusable bag. For every fourth visit that you use a reusable bag and have your tag scanned, you get $1 ECB back. Another way you can earn some ECBs is by signing up to be a CVS Advisor here. Periodically they will send out surveys you can fill out in exchange for ECBs. The way that you will likely earn most of your ECBs, though, is on weekly and monthly ECB deals.

Each week, CVS has a variety of deals where you earn a certain amount of ECBs back on various items throughout the store. These can range from $1 ECB back all the way up to earning the full cost of the item back in ECBs. In addition to getting Extra Bucks back, you can use coupons on these items as well to make it an even sweeter deal. Websites like AFullCup and I Heart CVS post weekly and monthly deals as well as coupon match ups. You have a full month to spend your ECBs after they're issued, which gives you lots of time to wait for a good deal. I often feel like the deals come in waves, and unfortunately the next two weeks are shaping up to be a little slow. I'm hopeful that in November I'll have some better deals to post, but I wanted to give you all a heads up so you know more about what Extra Bucks are and how you can definitely use them to your advantage! Make sure you have your Extra Care Cards ready and you join the CVS advisor panel, because I'll hopefully have some good deals to share with yall soon!

Christmas Countdown: 63 days!

Time is completely flying by, and before we know it the stores will be in full blown Christmas mode. I'm already starting to see hints of Christmas when I'm out shopping, and it's making me really excited. Hobby Lobby has started putting out their gift wrap, and they have LOTS of pink and green! I almost bought these the other day when I was there shopping, but decided to hold off for when I had a 40% off coupon! How adorable is this wrap, though?

Sorry for the picture quality... I only had my cell phone with me at the time! I will definitely be going back to buy the pink wrap with the Christmas trees on it!

Sadly, our move will be right in the middle of the holiday season, which means that I probably won't get to do much decorating and baking! I know that it will be hectic time of trying to get settled and learn a new area, so I've been picking up Christmas gifts throughout the year and plan to have most of my shopping done and gifts wrapped before Thanksgiving! I'm almost done with the shopping, and I'll let you in on a little secret. Thanks to Target's wonderful clearance, we've bought over $500 worth of gifts for just over $100! At the beginning of this summer, I started discovering "perimeter perusing," which is where you keep an eye on certain items of clearance at Target, and also just browse their clearance (usually found around the perimeter of the store on end caps) for good deals. You can get some amazing deals, but be warned - it is very addictive!

You can find Target's general markdown schedule here, as well as a list of recent deals people have found. Target usually starts by marking things at 15% off, then it goes to 30%, 50% and finally 75%. Certain items will go to 90% off, but usually that's just holiday items, etc. I'm usually at Target two to three times a week anyway, so I just make it a point to check out the clearance areas to see what's being marked down. Once I find something I really want, I make sure to check back each week on the day it's supposed to be marked down. For example, right now I have my eye on a Garmin GPS unit, so I've been checking every Monday around mid-morning until I can hopefully find it at 75% off! This doesn't always work, since sometimes people will buy all of the item before it's marked all the way down or somebody will beat me to the good deal. However, I've been pretty lucky with my finds! Here are some of the things I've found and the prices that I paid for them:

Sony Pocket Reader - Originally $150, I paid $37! 

Kodak D830 Digital Picture Frame - Originally $130, I paid $32! We also bought two other digital frames that were originally $100 and we paid $25. 

 

Nike Vapor Headphones - Originally $30, I paid $7.50! I was going to give these to Mr. C in his stocking, but I'm terrible at holding onto gifts so I gave them to him the afternoon I bought them! Oops!

I've always been a big fan of Target, but now I'm loving it even more! Have yall found any great deals on clearance lately?

(Photos from here, here and here.)

Life getting in the way...

Ok, so I lied. It was another week (or so...) before I posted again! The weather here has been amazing, and time has had a tendency to get away from me. Can yall believe it's already October?! I have officially switched out my Bath and Body Works Wallflowers to fabulous fall scents like "Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin" and "Leaves" and made the most fabulous pumpkin fudge! Fall is here, and I couldn't be more excited.

Anyway, as promised, I'll finally offer you an introduction into couponing! I'll preface all of this by saying that the wonderful thing about coupons is that it can take up as much or as little time as you want it to, and it's a very tangible way to save a little cash! Even if you only save $5 each week on groceries, that will add up to over $260 in a year... more than enough to buy a new Lilly!

I initially tried writing this post last week but wrote way too much, which lead to me getting overwhelmed and eventually closing out Blogger and doing some online (window) shopping! Hopefully this attempt will be a little shorter and more successful...

The first thing you need to know about coupons is where to get them! The best place to find coupons is still in your Sunday newspaper. Each week (with a few exceptions like holidays) there will be at least two coupon inserts - Smart Source (or SS) and Red Plum (RP.) There will sometimes be an insert by Proctor and Gamble (P&G) and occasionally one by General Mills. I always buy at least two papers, so that way I have two coupons if an item is buy one, get one free (BOGO) because then you have a coupon for each item, which can lead to some great deals! This is especially important for those of you that live in areas with Publix, which has lots of weekly BOGO deals.

You can also find great coupons on the internet, on websites like coupons.com and on brand websites. If there's a particular product that you use a lot or are planning on buying, just go to their website and see if they have any coupons on there. This is a simple and quick way to save some money.

I've found that the quickest and easiest way to save money is by going to websites where people can post good deals they've found, coupon match-ups for the latest ads, and also previews of upcoming ads. My favorite website is called A Full Cup, and it has forums for almost every store you might visit. This site has been a huge blessing to me, and I guarantee that you will start saving money if you visit this site before you shop! There are also some great store specific websites and blogs. My favorite of these are I Heart Publix, Totally Target, and I Heart CVS! These are also great resources to help you get started in couponing.

The other important thing you need to start couponing is an organization system for all of your "Qs!" There are two main ways that people do this, and which one you use is totally a personal preference. The first way, which is the one I use, involves clipping all of your coupons from the inserts, internet, etc, and then filing them in trading card inserts into a binder. Be warned: this way takes much more time up front! I would say that I spend an hour or two (sometimes more!) each week clipping and organizing my coupons. I then sort them by expiration date into categories like "breakfast foods," "dairy," and "shaving items." The finished result looks like this:

The advantage to using this way is that I can bring all of my coupons with me when I shop, so if I find a great clearance deal, unexpected sale or impulse buy (chocolate? yes please!) I can quickly and easily flip through and see if I can save even more money. The downside is, of course, the time it takes to keep this system running!

The other method that a lot of people use is filing the whole insert by date in a file folder or binder, and then either only printing internet printed coupons (IPs for short) when they need them or printing and filing them as well for a later date. The plus side to using this method is that it takes a lot less time, and it's easy to find coupons when you're looking at a coupon match-up online. Match-ups will list the sale price of a product and then list any coupons you may have for that product by insert and date. There is also a coupon database on A Full Cup that you can use to search for a specific coupon for an item like "butter" or "Land O'Lakes." The downside to this method is that you won't have easy access to your coupons if you're at the store and find that you need ones other than what you already clipped and prepared.

No matter what method you use, you're sure to end up saving lots of money on groceries, cleaning supplies and other necessities so you have more money to spend on fun things or to save!

I figured I would end this post with a good coupon and deal to get you started. With fall here and Christmas fast approaching, who doesn't love coffee creamer in yummy flavors like Pumpkin Spice or Peppermint Mocha?! Well, right now you can get the CoffeeMate Creamers for $0.16 at Publix or $0.29 at Target! All you have to do is go the CoffeeMate website, sign in or sign up (I use my "junk" e-mail address) and print off the coupon. You can print a total of two (hit the back button after it prints the first time!) from each computer you have. One misconception with coupons is that it's ok to make copies of printed coupons... that's not the case at all! Making copies of printed coupons is illegal and actually fraud, so it's much better to beg friends and family to print you extra copies so you can scoop up lots of a good deal... I definitely plan on doing that to feed my love of fall and winter flavored coffee :)

Better late than never!

First off, I MUST apologize that it's been over two weeks since I last blogged! Isn't it crazy how time seems to get away from us? I can hardly believe that it's nearly October. In the two weeks since I last blogged, however, Mr. C and I have accomplished a lot as far as our move is concerned. In addition to getting the move paperwork done (fingers and toes crossed that it all goes smoothly when December arrives!) we also took a brief trip out to San Antonio to see the city and to find a place to live. Neither of us had ever been to Texas before, let alone San Antonio, so we were both really excited to see if it lived up to the hype. We both really loved the city, and are now even more ecstatic to move in December! We decided on a townhouse that is walking distance (on a nice day, if you feel like some exercise!) to a new shopping center with restaurants, a movie theater and shops! The area feels really safe and friendly, and we can't wait to make it our new home! It seems like everything with the move is coming together quite nicely, so now we just wait until we're a little bit closer to December so I can start packing things up! Mr. C has also started school, which means I will have a lot more free time on my hands to blog and take on a few projects that I've been wanting to do. I'm sure yall will get to hear all about my latest endeavor of making all of our Christmas cards by hand! There are sure to be some good stories that come out of that, since I'm not the most crafty person in the world. Thankfully a dear friend here in Pensacola is a Stampin' Up demonstrator and will serve as my fearless mentor and ensure that I don't burn the house down as I try to emboss for the first time!

Anyway, I know that in my last post I said I would introduce you to the fabulous world of couponing! I promise I'll get to that tomorrow (yes, it really WILL be tomorrow... not three weeks from now!) but today I want to blog about something else, so bear with me. How many times are you in a store, at a festival or perusing online and you see advertisements to enter a sweepstakes or drawing to win some sort of fabulous prize? How often do you think to yourself, "nobody ever wins those... all that's going to happen is that I'm going to get a ton of junk mail and solicitors!" Well, I'm here to tell you that's not entirely the truth.

You see, I've never considered myself a super lucky person. I would occasionally enter sweepstakes but never won anything and pretty much thought there was no point in entering. Well, enter Pensacola and me having lots of free time on my hands to peruse the internet and all of its vast knowledge. I found a website all about people who earn their livings by entering sweepstakes! Who knew? After a fleeting moment of envisioning myself sailing around the world in my yacht, with my private butler and fabulous wardrobe that I had all won by filling out some online forms, I crashed back to reality. However, I was intrigued. If people are out there winning cars and boats and thousands of dollars, why not give it a shot? So I did. I'll share with you what I've learned and how you may be able to go sailing around the world in your yacht, or at least get some free groceries!

First, I learned that some contests are way more "winnable" than others. For example, if it's a highly advertised contest that's open to the entire country with one grand prize and nothing else... you're probably not going to win. However, if it's a contest only open to residents of a few states or only open to people attending a certain festival, and there are lots of prizes to be won, then you have a pretty good shot! The key is to focusing on these contests, and entering as often as you're allowed to. For example, Publix (our local grocery store chain for you non-Floridians) constantly has online contests going on that you can enter daily. They often give out hundreds of Publix gift cards, with the grand prize often being thousands of dollars in free groceries. Well, I started entering these daily (or at least whenever I happened to remember!) a couple of months ago, and I've already won a $50 Publix gift card and yesterday I checked my mail to find a $100 Publix gift card! That's like $150 in free money, since goodness knows Mr. C and I spend a lot of money already at Publix! The blog "I Heart Publix" has a listing of various Publix sweepstakes going on that you can find here.

The second thing I learned is that it's a good idea to create a separate e-mail address just for entering contests. I'll be honest, I very rarely receive any spam in my "sweepstakes" e-mail address, since most sweepstakes you enter will give you the option of not receiving any e-mails from the company. Regardless, it does help give me peace of mind about giving out my e-mail knowing that I'm keeping my personal e-mail address safe. You do usually have to give out your address and phone number so you can be notified if you win, so it's important to make sure you're entering a legitimate sweepstakes. I make sure to only enter contests from companies that I know are legitimate and that are hosted on the company's main web page. Just use common sense, and if it seems fishy or too good to be true, it probably is! The website Sweeties Sweeps is run by a woman who enters sweepstakes as a hobby and has won everything from trips to cars to cash and everything in between. She posts a list, called Sweeties Picks, of sweepstakes that she deems to be most "winnable" based on the number of prizes, etc. It's a great place to start if you're feeling lucky and want to try your hand at this whole thing!

Now, I know this may sound like I've gone a little bit crazy, however I wouldn't be telling you about all of this for no reason. Just in the past six months, I've won $150 in groceries, various other gift cards, coupons for free products, a lot of random other things, and what really inspired me to write this post is that this morning I woke up to a phone call telling me that I had won a $200 gas card that I entered to win at the Pensacola Seafood Festival this weekend! Who doesn't love free stuff, especially if it's free money?! Trust me, after all of this, I'll be making sure I enter every local contest and sweepstakes I find, and even give some bigger ones a shot too! Who knows, maybe my dream of sailing around the world will become a reality!!!

Have any of you won anything great in a contest or drawing?

Couponing... not just for little old ladies!

I know that when I mention coupons, it may conjure up images of cute little old ladies pushing their carts through the grocery store at a snail's pace. However, couponing is definitely not just for little old ladies! What if I told you that I got everything pictured above (10 SoBe Lifewaters, Dove for Men Body Wash, Dove Shampoo and Conditioner, two Degree deodorants, two packs of Trident Layers, and a sample of Skintimate shaving cream) for a whopping 50 cents? Well it's true, and it was really easy to do! Since I started couponing earlier this year, we have not paid for any toothpaste, body wash, mouthwash, deodorant, razors or shaving cream, yet the area under our sinks are overflowing with extras of each product! These are all things that you can easily get for free with coupons, and each week I get lots of other fun things for free or next to nothing as well.

Now, you may be thinking, "Eh... coupons... not really worth my time and effort!" but let me put it into perspective for you. Let's look at the things I mentioned above that you can stop paying for if you put a little time and effort into couponing:

Toothpaste (bought 6x a year at $3.50 per tube) - $21

Body Wash (bought 6x a year at $5 a bottle) - $30

Mouthwash (bought 12x a year at $4 a bottle) - $48

Deodorant (bought 6x a year at $3 a stick) - $18

Razors (bought 12x a year at $7 a razor/cartridge) - $84

Shaving Cream (bought 6x a year at $4 a can) - $24

Grand Total: $225

That's a Lilly dress, or a lot of consignment shopping ;) Those are conservative estimates, too, and are for only one person. If you're married, you could double that and save $450 a year just by couponing and getting those items for free. Other things that I rarely, if ever, pay for include detergent, paper towels, tissues, lip gloss, and lots more! If I were to factor all of those things in and add them up, I would say that you could easily save well over $1000 a year, and there are some couponers who save way more than that. No matter where you are in life or what your income is, who couldn't use an extra grand? 

I know that when I first got into couponing, I was really worried about switching the brands that I loved. I was always a Crest girl, for example, and didn't ever branch out when going down the toothpaste aisle. With coupons, you get the opportunity to try different brands if you want, and if you don't like them you really have nothing to lose since they were free in the first place. Also, most brands put out great coupons, so we currently have a stockpile of every type of Crest and Colgate toothpaste you could think of! I'm still a Crest fan, but I'll admit that Colgate isn't too bad either! I also have more scents of body wash than you could ever imagine :) 

So are you convinced and ready to get started? Over the next couple of days, I'll give you a crash course in couponing so you can start saving. Before tomorrow's post, make sure you buy a copy of your Sunday newspaper, since that's still the best place to get coupons.

Let me leave you with this question... what would you spend an extra $1000 on?