Today was ONLY 97 degrees and with the humidity, probably much hotter than that!  The best way to cool off, besides taking a swim (and you ain’t gonna see me in a swimsuit), is to eat some ice cream!!  With a toddler and two teens, I’m sure you can understand why our freezer is jam packed with Popsicles and ice cream.  My guys spend almost the entire day outside in the heat fixin’ fence, ridin’ horses, and other chores.  The first thing they do when they get home is head to the freezer!  And me? Well, there’s something about ice cream that makes me feel like a kid.  Do you feel like that too?

Anyways, probably my absolute favorite kind is the drumstick.  Oh I know you know what I’m talking about.  You eat that crunch chocolate topping, lick the ice cream, bite the cone down because you know that when you get the bottom of it, there’s some deliciousness down there!  Oh man, I wish I had some right now!

My husband LOVES the ice cream sandwiches and the boys love anything.  I don’t know not one kid who is picky when it comes to ice cream! I recommend variety ice cream packs though because everyone can choose the one kind they are craving at that moment.

Now where do you shop and how do you get it home?  Sometimes we buy ours at the local store but we really try to buy at Sam’s Club because for the amount you get, it’s sooo much cheaper!  And remember when I shared the Insulated Freezer Bag freebie? Did you get one?  Well I did and I was surprised at how big it was! Great for bringing home the ice cream in.  I can definitely say that we are fully prepared for ice cream season!  What about you though? Do you have a good freezer to store yours in?

HOW TO ENTER

Leave a comment sharing which one of these yummy ice creams are your favorite to keep you cool during the Summer heat.  Skinny Cow, The Original Drumstick, Lil’ Drums or Dibs.  OR, tell me what occasion you would incorporate some of this ice cream in to make it an even more awesome occasion!  <–ANSWERING ONE OR THE OTHER IS A DAILY ENTRY

Additional entries optional. Please leave each one in a separate comment to count.

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Giveaway ends on June 10th.  You will have 24hrs to claim prize. Will go by email time stamp.  It’s important to claim within that time frame otherwise you forfeit your prize.

Disclosure: A gift card was given for hosting the giveaway as part of an ice cream campaign.  Sam’s Club nor GE (<–registered trademark) are sponsors of the giveaway/prize.  Opinions are my own, always have been, always will be.  Read about my blogging ethics on my disclosure page.

One of the hardest things for me to find in my quest to get fit, is healthier sweet treats that are actually good and I’ve tried a lot. I had the chance to try Skinny Cow a long time ago and have been hooked ever since! Have you tried it? I LOVE the fudgesicles. Man those are good. Anyways, one of the places we buy ours at is Sam’s Club, especially since we buy so many other things in bulk from there due to how far we live from town.

And of course, the one thing you always have to worry about is getting that ice cream home without melting right? You know what I’m talking about…and when you get home, the first thing you do is run the ice cream in the house and stick in the freezer. Thankfully, Sam’s Club has these nifty insulated freezer bags ! Yep, I said insulated so even I can make it back to the ranch without them melting! Nothing against some of the other bags you can find in stores these days but for ice cream, this is perfect!  I live an hour away and that’s a true test.

Now to the tasty stuff.  Have you seen some of the Skinny Cow Ice Cream?  Oh my……I could eat it all day but what I really love is that my kids have NO CLUE that it’s healthier than regular ice cream and devour it like there’s no tomorrow.  Seriously!  That makes me feel good because they like it and yet they aren’t taking in all those unnecessary calories and since the fatter genes run in our family a little bit, every tasty, low fat treat I can find to cut down those calories helps.  Anyways, some of the other flavors include the following and if you notice there are some new ones. ((drool))

Disclosure: I received compensation in the form of a gift card for my time and efforts. All opinions are of my own, always have been, always will be.  Read my full disclosure for my blogging ethics.

I’ve made DiGornio Pizza with BLT Topping, South of the Border Chicken and Pasta Skillet, and today I bring you Creamy Chicken Pot Pie.    This was an easy meal and was wondering how all the kiddos would react since the mixed vegetables but they LOVED it. In fact, my husband who wasn’t hungry at the time, got only a spoonful by the time he was!

All these recipes came from the 2-Week Meal Planner that Sam’s Club and Kraft put together.  The really cool thing for Sam’s Club members is that you can create a personalized cookbook, valued at $25.  If you’re not a member, don’t fret because you can win a membership later.  I encourage you to go make your personalized cookbook because there’s nothing like having one with all your favorites and after trying out all these recipes from the planner, I’ll be adding a few to my own cookbook.

Sam’s club is great for bulk buying and us folks who live way out here on the ranch.  If you’ve never done any shopping by bulk, you should learn.  You can save so much money in the long run and once you get a stockpile going, you won’t spend much of anything later on.  So worth it!

CREAMY CHICKEN POT PIE

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pkg. (8 oz.) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, cubed
• 1⁄2 cup chicken broth
• 1 lb. cooked Tyson® boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed (about 3 cups)
• 1 6 oz. frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
• 1⁄2 tsp. garlic salt
• 1 egg
• 1⁄2 cup milk
• 1 cup all-purpose baking mix

DIRECTIONS

Heat oven to 400°F.  Cook cream cheese and broth in large saucepan on low heat until cream cheese is completely melted and mixture is well blended, stirring frequently with whisk.  Stir in chicken, vegetables and garlic salt.
spoon into 9-inch pie plate. Beat egg and milk in medium bowl with whisk until well blended; stir in baking mix just until moistened. Spoon over chicken mixture.  Place pie plate on baking sheet.  Bake 25 to 30 min. or until golden brown.

Find your your local Sam’s Club

I am loving this menu planning! It’s no wonder so many people do it. It really simplifies the whole shopping and cooking process. I’m really bad about just buying whatever I see whether we need it or not but I told myself I was gonna stick to the 2-week menu planner shopping list from Kraft. I went in with my list, browsed a bit, then pulled out the list and began to shop. I found everything with no problem, with plenty to cook for more than two weeks.

It was time to decide on what to cook. There are a ton of recipes & tips and everything looked very good! Since the first day was a hurried mess, we cooked the pizza which was a hit with the guys! Please tell me I’m not the only one that spends an hour trying to decide what to cook….I’m not am I? This is what I loved about the menu plan, all the ideas were ready and waiting to be cooked. AND, it even gave me creative ideas for future meals. We all took turns picking out what we wanted to try from the 2-week planner. We even let little man pick one!

This week, we tried the South of the Border Chicken and Pasta Skillet and it was soooooo good! While my guys are meat eaters, they really loved this chicken dish. I think it’s because I don’t normally cook like this so it was a nice change for them. It was also a much simpler meal to make and *I* liked that. I usually go overboard when cooking a meal and I think with the hot weather, they appreciated that I didn’t with this.

South of the Border Chicken and Pasta Skillet

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups medium-size pasta, uncooked
• 2 Tyson® Boneless skinless Chicken Breast halves (about 1 lb.), thawed, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 6 oz. salsa
• 1 0 oz. frozen corn, unthawed (about 2 cups)
• 4 oz. (1⁄2 of 8-oz. pkg.) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, cubed
• 1⁄4 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 cup Kraft Mexican Style Finely Shredded Four Cheese, divided

DIRECTIONS

Cook pasta as directed on package.  Meanwhile, cook and stir chicken in large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat 6 min. or until done. Add salsa, corn, cream cheese and cumin; simmer on medium-low heat 6 min. or until corn is heated through
and cream cheese is melted, stirring occasionally.  Drain pasta; add to skillet with half the shredded cheese. Simmer 3 min. or until heated through. Top with remaining shredded cheese; cover. Remove from heat; let stand 5 min. or until cheese is melted.

You can download the 2-week menu planner and find out about in-store recipe demonstrations at a Sam’s Club location near you and do your shopping and feel free to join right in with me in making these recipes. We can swap stories!

OVER TO YOU

Give your top 3 tips for menu planning and shopping for groceries.  Share with us what works for you!

Menu planning is essential for keeping your pantry stocked and budget in check. I don’t know about you guys but with the kids out for Summer, they are eating EVERYTHING in sight which means I’m spending more on food. I’m terrible at menu planning and prefer to fly by the seat of my pants when grocery shopping or have a menu plan made for me.

This is where Kraft & Sam’s Club come into play. Both companies have partnered together to bring you a 2-Week Meal Planner. Their goal is to get you to the store  once and have meals to last 2 whole weeks, saving you money on frivolous grocery spending and gas to go back and forth! As an added bonus for Sam’s Club members, you can create a personalized cookbook!  If you’re not a member, you should be.  You can find a location near you with your zip code.  We love shopping at ours and it’s very handy for us to buy in bulk since we live out in the boonies so to speak.

Back to the meal planner.  I have downloaded it and already begun to make the recipes included in it.  They are very easy and have been very good!  I love that I have the meals all planned out for me but most of all, I love that they are easy to make.

Our first night of cooking with the meal planner was actually quite surprising. We chose to make the Di Giorno Pizza with BLT Topping.  We never buy just a cheese pizza, we always buy one with tons of toppings but this recipe called for the Rising Crust-Four Cheese.  It never occurred to us to add fresh toppings like the recipe called for which was a great way to add a little coolness during the hot day, not to mention the addition of veges.  My husband insisted that we start making our pizzas this way instead of buying one that’s loaded with other toppings. WHOA!  I think he must have fell in love with the bacon and ranch, don’t you?

Di Giorno Pizza with BLT Topping

INGREDIENTS

• 1 Di Giorno Rising Crust Pizza-Four Cheese
• 1⁄2 cup shredded lettuce
• 1⁄4 cup chopped tomatoes
• 4 slices Oscar May er Bacon, cooked, crumbled
• 2 Tbsp. ranch dressing

DIRECTIONS

Heat oven to 400°F.  Bake pizza as directed on package.  Serve topped with remaining ingredients.

I’ll be sharing more of the recipes over the next couple of weeks but I hope that you’ll go and download the 2-week meal planner yourself so we can try them together!!  How fun would that be. Then when I talk about one of the recipes, you can tell me if you’ve tried it and how you liked it!

OVER TO YOU

Are you a meal planner?  If not, do you think having a meal plan at your fingertips would make a difference, cooking & budgeting wise?  I love that it gives me new creative meal ideas for the future because I’m always running out of ideas on what to cook.  I’d love to hear your thoughts!

You might be surprised to know that there was a time when we had to send our kids off to their grandparent’s due to lack of food and money.  It was hard and I never want to revisit that time again but it did teach me something.  It taught me to stock up on the most important & most eaten things and everything else comes after.  It also taught me that you don’t have to go without flavor just because you’re rationing or because you are trying to be frugal.

I’ve compiled a list of tips to help you cut costs on your grocery bill, stock up and still be able to add some flavor to the menu!

Pantry items to have on hand for flavor!  I buy a lot of this at Sam’s Club in bulk and supersized to save money.  Just be cautious and make sure you’re getting a good deal.

• Ground Pepper  (MUCH cheaper at Sam’s than at the grocery store.)
• Garlic Powder
• Ground Cinnamon
• Chili Powder
• Sugar
• Minced Garlic in a jar.  I know, I know..fresh is the best but this lasts longer and has just as much flavor!
• Oil (Olive & Canola)
• Onions (They last a long time and they are inexpensive)

Tips to help you cut the costs on your grocery bill.

• *Cut the beef out. Fortunately, our beef is supplied as part of our income here on the ranch so we don’t have that expense, but if you want to save some money, buy chicken or even go meatless.  Eat more rice, beans, and pastas.  They are more filling anyhow and and easy on the pocketbook even in their super-size, which I recommend.
• *Buy big and in bulk. Like I mentioned above, a regular size can of pepper runs me around $3.50.  At Sam’s Club, I pay $4.00 for almost 3 times the amount!!!  HUGE savings.  This applies to so many things.  Cereal, milk (I freeze gallons of milk all the time), eggs, rice, and pasta.  I know those Quaker Oats Instant packets are handy but try buying a big container of oatmeal and add your own flavors, using fresh or frozen fruit.  It’s just as easy and you can make as little or as much oatmeal for more than half the cost as buying one of those box of packets!
• MAKE A LIST! Something that has reduced my grocery bill is my handy dandy notebook Smartshopper.  Yes you can use a notebook, and that is perfectly fine but I have to say, I LOVE my Smartshopper.  When I need something, I just record it in and print it out.  Having  a list reduces the chances of you buying items you don’t need or not sure if you’re out of or not.  This  can be a huge money saver.  I find that most people lose their list or forget to write it down because you don’t have a pen or paper handy but with the smartshopper, I walk over immediately and add it to the list.

Finally, COUPONS!!! I can’t say it enough people.  Even if you only have a coupon for $.55 off, it adds up over the month/year and can reduce your grocery bills by quite a bit.  I always check out Alyssa for updates on the upcoming inserts in your Sunday paper.  She knows the scoop ahead of the time and can help you determine if it’s worth getting a paper at all or getting 3 or 4!  You can always print coupons, just be sure to check back regularly because they are always adding new ones.

Check out womansday.com for more ideas on cutting costs and recipes to help you save money by not buying premade!