Enjoy the Summer with Everyday Dairy & Safeway #EverydayDairy

*I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®  and Neptune Retail #cbias #SocialFabric #EverydayDairy All opinions expressed in this post are my own.


To celebrate that the Summer is here in CA and the special offer from Safeway for Dairy products I enjoyed a BBQ dinner with my family. Every year as June arrives I am reminded of several things. The most important is that my Mother and mother in law have birthdays this month, second its officially the Summer in CA (the warm weather has started!) and third Safeway will be having Dairy products on sale with a new special each summer. This summer from 5/29 to 7/2 when you Buy $15 in specially marked items you get $5 back coupon for your next shopping trip. Each summer we stock up on Dairy products that we can use everyday for appetizers, toppings, side dishes, snacks and desserts for the hot summer month.

We are having a BBQ by the pool on my day off. I love to be outdoors doing stuff during the summer. I purchased many items we needed for the BBQ and for later in the work week, enough to get my $5 off coupon for my next shopping trip. I love to save money!! I had digital coupons loaded on to my Safeway card and many items were on sale making this a money saving trip. The Safeway deal includes Dairy items and other items like juice and easy to bake items. I like buying Dairy for my family because I know its a great way to get calcium and protein. My son can be a little picky with food but thankfully cheese, yogurt and other dairy products he loves.

I wanted to make an appetizer that was light and refreshing to be a contrast to the savory meat we would be serving at the BBQ. I enjoy Philadelphia Cream Cheese so I decide to make a favorite in our house, Cream Cheese Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes with garlic and basil. We grow the basil in our garden, the scent of fresh basil is wonderful.

My husband grilled up the steak for my mini soft tacos with home made salsa and Kraft Mexican style Cheese Blend. I like to incorporate cheese into our dinners as a topping. Cheese is often a way my son will try something if it has cheese on it. Making them mini is easier to eat pool side than a big burrito. I love mini foods they are so fun to eat!

My cream cheese appetizer turned out delicious! I love them texture of the cream cheese with the tomatoes. I like to buy the Philadelphia brand of cream cheese since its the brand of cream cheese my husband used to make me homemade cheesecakes when we were dating. His good looks along with the cheesecakes won me over! We like to make homemade cheesecakes in the summer since it reminds us of our dating years and it is always a welcomed dessert anywhere you take it.

We had a wonderful day at the pool having a BBQ and enjoying the time together as a family. I know my son is learning food habits from my husband and I daily and I want him to see we enjoy Dairy products each day to get the servings of protein, calcium and vitamin D. We have milk with breakfast and dinner, yogurt in our smoothies and cheese sticks for snacks all year long. I love that I can shop at Safeway and easily get the items I need and get money back on products we already plan to buy.

A perfect way to end a day of being in the sun is with a cool Dannon yogurt Fresh Fruit and Yogurt Parfait. I love to add items to a yogurt to make it a dessert. Its good for us and taste great. The blueberry yogurt paired with fresh raspberries and a crunch of granola was delicious. I plan to make this again and take to work!

How will you include Dairy in your Summer Plans? If your looking for more recipe ideas using dairy check out Everyday Dairy. See why I shop at Safeway for deals and great products by reading my Google+ story.

You can stay updated with the deals and recipes at Safeway by following them on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Safeway June Dairy Ice Age Continental Drift Movie Voucher

Last week I went shopping at Safeway to buy Dairy products for a new recipe I wanted to create. I found inspiration in a cookbook and altered it based on what I found on sale at Safeway. For the month of June Safeway is having a Dairy Promotion for 2 Free Movie Tickets to the new Ice Age Continental Drift movie when you spend $40 in a month on specially marked Dairy products. It also includes a few non dairy items such as Simply Cranberry juice and select Pillsbury products. The tags with the cute Ice Age characters will show you which products to buy. 

It was simple to redeem the voucher. It was printed out when I got my receipt for my purchase and I took it home to redeem it online. I went to the site and selected the store I shopped at, for me Safeway. Then I entered my code in the box with basics like name, email and zip code.

I answered a few questions about my purchase and if I was going to see the Ice Age Continental Drift Movie with my voucher. You can use it on a different movie if you would like. We plan to save our voucher until the movie comes to theaters. My son loves the Ice Age movies. The first movie always makes me cry at the part where Manny gives back the baby they found to the humans, the look on the Dads face as it lights up with pure joy, so makes me cry. My son thinks the characters are funny. He makes the cutest "pphhhhrrrrfff" sound about the "elephant". I tell him its a mammoth but he tells me its an elephant. We have seen the other Ice Age movies too and this will be a special day to go see the new one. My son will be having his first official movie theater experience. Like me he loves to watch movies. He has his favorites and ones he loves to dance to. I look forward to sitting next to him eating popcorn and candy seeing the new Ice Age movie.

 After answering the questions and selecting the theater I wanted to use my voucher at I was awarded my movie voucher to print. I did not have my printer set up and I was worried that if I closed the window I would lose my tickets. But thankfully I was emailed a link to my voucher to print at my convenience.

#JuneDairyMovies

I look forward to going to see the movie with my little guy. He is growing up so fast and movies are a fun way to create memories. I will have his favorite banana pudding cakes that I made with the June Dairy items we bought to get our tickets waiting for us to enjoy together when we get home from our movie adventure. Even if he does not sit through the whole movie and we have to leave early I will be happy just to of had the experience of the smile on his face when we stand in line for popcorn, him clapping when the movie starts ( he always claps at the beginning when he sees the opening credits of a movie, so funny) and to hear him yell "yeah" and "wow" or "oh no" during epic parts of the movie. I love how animated he gets about a movie. He really gets lost into the story. Hes my little movie critic and love to be able to share the experience with him.

There is still plenty of time to go shopping for your June Dairy items at Safeway stores to get your voucher for 2 Free movie tickets. You have the whole month of June to accumulate $40 of the June Dairy marked items. We purchased items we normally buy and a few extras that I had a wonderful time creating a recipe with. You can find recipes for your June Dairy products online at Easy Home Meals and on their facebook page.


*This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias.
All opinions expressed in this shop are my own and your experience may vary. #Cbias #SocialFabric #JuneDairyMovies

Celebrating Safeway June Dairy Month with Spinach Ricotta Bread & Banana Pudding Cakes

Safeway has been a store I have shopped since I was a teenager. My mom shops there and I would go with her. I have had my own Safeway Club card for 15 years now. I love to get great BOGO deals, digital coupons and personalized deals on my club card. The savings stack up at Safeway. Plus there is often great coupons that print out after you check out. We often get the $10 when you spend $75 deal when its offered. I am all about saving money.

This month Safeway is running a June Dairy Month promotion for the movie Ice Age Continental Drift. When you spend $40 on select Dairy products at Safeway and their affiliate stores you will get a voucher for 2 FREE Movie tickets to go see the movie. My son likes the other Ice Age movies and we are so excited to be able to see the new one when it comes to theaters.

Look for the displays and specially marked items with the Ice Age June Dairy tags on the products that count towards your $40 to earn your tickets. You have all month to accumulate the $40 worth of the June Dairy products. Your Safeway Club card will keep track of your purchases. I wanted to get my tickets right away so I spent $40 on the select Safeway June Dairy products in one trip.

I made a few items with my Dairy products. Some are simple such as fruit and cheese sticks. My son loves them. He wont eat some items alone but if I put it on a stick he loves it. He also loves smoothies. I make them daily with yogurt, milk and whatever fruits I have on hand.

I am having my mother in law over for dinner tonight so I am making a few favorites and something I have never tried before. After flipping through my new cookbook The Farm to the Table I saw a spinach and feta filo pocket appetizer and thought I would like to make something similar but simpler to do.

Spinach to me is special. Sounds funny I know but its the green veggie that led me to like other green veggies. As a kid and even a teenager I refused to eat lettuce of any sort. The texture and the flavor was not for me. As an adult I knew this was silly and I needed to eat my veggies. After having a spinach salad I was amazed. The flavor was so good and the texture was great. That started my love affair with all things spinach. I now love all veggies and have been using spinach in all sorts of recipes to get my son to eat it. I sneak it into smoothies sometimes too! 

Inspired by the cookbook and what I found at Safeway on sale I decided to make Spinach Ricotta Bread. It tastes great and made the house smell delicious.

Spinach Ricotta Bread

Ingredients:

6 oz. Frozen Safeway Chopped Spinach (little more than half the box)
5 oz. Precious Ricotta Cheese (1/3 of the container of 15oz)
1/4 cup of dry Parmesan Cheese Powder
1/4 cup of milk
2 tablespoons of minced garlic (more or less for your own preference)
2 pinches of ground pepper
1 Loaf of Pillsbury French Bread
 1/4 cup of shredded Sargento Cheddar Jack Cheese


First set out the frozen spinach on the counter top to defrost. If you are in a hurry like I was you can heat it up in a sauce pan with water to melt it. Drain and allow the spinach to cool while you make the cheese mixture.

In a separate bowl from the spinach add the ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese and milk. Mix until all the powdered cheese and milk are incorporated into the ricotta. After the spinach has cooled add the garlic and pepper. Mix the cheese mix and spinach together. Taste as you make it. If you need more garlic or parmesan cheese add as needed to your own taste.

After opening the Pillsbury French bread dough cut it into small even portions. Flatten out the bread to make a flat circle. Scoop in a spoon size amount of spinach cheese mixture. Fold the sides of the dough over the mixture and pinch to close. They will open as you cook them. Pinching them close will make it so the mixture will not fall out and the bread will cook around it.

Bake on 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes depending on your oven. When the bread is almost done and the dough starts to look golden pull them out and sprinkle the Sargento Shredded Cheddar Jack on the middle of the bread and put back in the oven to melt.

I also wanted to make a quick and easy dessert that is inspired by my husband. As a kid his mom would make a simple treat for him. Bananas, milk and sugar mashed together. My husband makes it for me all the time. Its simple but so good! I wanted to make it into something nice to be able to serve to my mother in law and son. Plus when you buy the cakes and pudding already made its just simply putting it together.

Banana Pudding Cakes

Ingredients:

2 Jello Pudding Chocolate and Vanilla cups
3 Bananas
1/2 Milk
1/4 Sugar
4 Hostess Shortcakes
Dark Chocolate for topping

 I like to use the bananas that have the spots on the outside. The banana is really sweet. I make this dish often when no one has eaten the bananas and I do not want them to be wasted.

Mash 2 1/2 bananas in a bowl. Save half of one banana for topping the cake. Its easiest to mash the banana by itself then add the milk and sugar. Mix together until the sugar and milk are incorporated. That alone is a great treat. Good to add to yogurt and ice cream too.

Next I add the pudding first to the cake, the other way around and the pudding will slide off the top of the banana mixture. ( I realized that the messy way!) Add half of the pudding cup to each shortcake. Then add a spoonful of banana mixture to each pudding cake. Top with banana slices to hold it all together. Then grate dark chocolate over the top of the cakes and set in the fridge 10 minutes before serving.

The Safeway June Dairy products include some of the Simply juices and Yoplait yogurt. I made smoothies with them. Its a simple way to get fruit, juice and yogurt. I added orange juice, milk, bananas, peach yogurt and blueberries. The other is cranberry juice, milk, bananas, cherry yogurt and blueberries. So simple and delicious. #JuneDairyMovies

For dinner I kept it simple with Johnsonville Chicken Sausage with peppers and cheese sprinkled with Sargento Cheddar Jack.

All the items I made from my purchase at Safeway for the June Dairy Ice Age Movie promotion. Easy to do and so good!

The two recipe items I made with my Safeway June Dairy products #JuneDairyMovies

For ideas on what to make with your June Dairy products you can visit Easy Home Meals for recipes.




*This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias.
All opinions expressed in this shop are my own and your experience may vary. #Cbias #SocialFabric #JuneDairyMovies