BBQ Dessert

So I am going to a fun little BBQ tomorrow for an end of summer get-together with friends from work.  All the normal fixin's will be there but I am going to bring a dessert. But what kind of dessert!??!  Obviously from what I am reading, something fruity and "cool" is best for this type of occasion.  So I headed over to some of my favorites sites and looked for ideas. 

Here's what I've found so far:

Strawberry Angel Food Dessert

Blueberry Buckle

Homemade Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Any suggestions??

Some of my savings this week: CVS and BILO

Before Savings at BI-LO: $298.66 (This was my first "normal" big shopping trip since beginning couponing and so I had a lot of things to get. I tried hard to combine the most coupons and savings I could while still getting all the meat and other necessisties I needed)
BI-LO Card savings and deals: $77.34
Coupon savings: $48.45
*********************
FINAL TOTAL: $181.85  ($121.79 savings)
plus I earned an additional $.50 per gallon in Fuelperks bringing my current total to $.65



Ok, now today at CVS:
I had to do this in 3 separate transactions in order to use my Extra Care Bucks.  The downside was that I didn't get any additional $5.00 off $25 coupons in my orders which would've helped tremendously.  Several items were big ticket items (as far as cost) so I was pleased!
Well, here are the totals.

TOTAL BEFORE SAVINGS: $108.28
Total Spent: $41.44
Saved: $66.84 (plus I have $7.00 ECB to use for my next trip)

Venus Razor, Hydro 3 refill blades, Covergirl eyeliner, mascara, Tide, 3 boxes of cereal, 6pk Dove soap, tampons and pads, Pantene shampoo and conditioner, Dove Body Wash (bonus 33% more) and shampoo.

What do you do with a zucchini?

...when you don't like vegetables!?!?  You make cake!

This time of year, the gardens are growing and the folks that started out their gardens a few months ago are starting to reap the harvest!  My friend Jackie brought in some HUGE zucchinis from her garden to share and I couldn't pass it up!  So i grabbed a nice fat one and brought it home. Then stared at it for 5 days.  What am i going to do with a zucchini the size of my forearm??  So I remembered back to the early years of my previous marriage to when my ex brought home zucchinis one day.  He never stepped foot in the kitchen except to make saturday morning pancakes or to make zucchini cake!  So that's what I did tonight.  My first zucchini cake!!  Of course I counted on my good friends at allrecipes.com to hook me up with a good recipe.  One of the greatest things about allrecipes.com is the rating system.  Since the site has been around for sooooooo long (I think I only had 2 kids back when I first discovered it... as allcookies.com or something like that) the number of people who submit recipes, try recipes and are good enough to rate and comment make this the best site to find tried and true recipes.  This recipe is called Zucchini Cake I.  4 1/2 star rating, 41 reviews, and over 700 people have saved this recipe so I knew it must be a good one.


ZUCCHINI CAKE I

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 cups white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 3 cups grated zucchini

Frosting

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease and flour three 9 inch round cake pans.
2. In a medium size bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, white sugar, and salt. Mix well.
3. In another bowl beat eggs, vegetable oil, and 1 teaspoon vanilla together. Pour into egg mixture into the flour mixture and mix well. Stir in the shredded zucchini. Pour batter into prepared pans.
4. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 25 minutes. Allow cakes to cool in pans. Stack and frost into a 3 layer cake using Cream Cheese Frosting.
5. To Make Frosting: Cream together the cream cheese, butter or margarine. Add the confectioner's sugar, a little at a time. Add 2 teaspoons vanilla and mix well. Spread on cool cake layers.

Tis the Season for Fresh Blueberries

Just about everyone knows that July is the best month for blueberries in the South.  So it's no surprise that I am about to post a recipe that I used yesterday that incorporates these gorgeous berries!  But the best part is how I obtained them.  Through the power of social networking, I heard of a man who's backyard is nothing but blueberry trees and he allows people to come and pick them and charges minimal cost for his berries (I paid $4.00 for a quart).  He doesn't advertise to my knowledge, other than 8x10 size on his garage, so word of mouth is how he's getting his customers.  So, I see the post on Facebook about it and decide to map out his location.  He's only a few blocks from my work!  How convienant!  So on my lunch hour, in my dress pants and heels (in the 90 degree heat!) I head over and pick my berries.  30 minutes and $4.00 later... I have my beautiful fresh blueberries!

The plan? I turn to my good friend, Barefoot Contessa (also known as Ina Garten) from the Food Network.  Sure enough she has a very easy and refreshing recipe using blueberries... her Blueberry Crumb Cake.








This recipe was soooo easy to make!!!  And it uses nothing out of the ordinary which is great if you need to make something right away. As long as you have a typically stocked pantry and some blueberries, you can pull this baby off!  In less than an hour, you can have a beautiful and delicious dessert.  Or in my case, breakfast! 

CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE!!! (Also saved under My Recipe Box Tab at the top of my site)