Shop The HUGE Safeway Anniversary Sale For Great Savings

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #AHugeSale #CollectiveBias #Safeway

Do you love a good sale? You can bet I do, so I'm excited to share with you about the Safeway Anniversary sale. There are so many great items on sale, including 24-can Pepsi cubes, 8-pack bottles of Gatorade, and the party size bags of Lays Potato Chips. And I'm totally loving these chicken breasts that are on sale, too!

Since Safeway opened a new store that's only a quick drive away for me, it's become my favorite place to do my grocery shopping. I can always count on finding my favorite products, gorgeous fruits and veggies, and a super friendly group of employees who are always so helpful.

Of course, if you are like me and my family, saving money on my grocery bills is pretty important. We are very price-conscious shoppers, so shopping at Safeway every week has become what we do to save grocery dollars, while still buying what our family wants and needs.

Since my daughter's birthday is coming up very soon, I'm stocking up on our favorite items for a birthday barbeque for her. I can almost taste those yummy barbequed chicken breasts. Not only will they be great for her birthday dinner, but because they are on sale, I can stock up and freeze them for other meals, too.

I live with my daughter and her family, which includes my three grandchildren. I had forgotten how much kids eat, and boy, do they! So it's great to save money on our grocery bills, which seem to get higher as the kids get older.

The Safeway Anniversary sale runs July 29 - August 11. I shopped the Safeway Huge Anniversary sale, but be sure to check out what great deals are available at Albertsons, Vons, Star Market, and Shaws too!

Since my son-in-law is such a big Pepsi lover, I was happy to get the Pepsi cubes on sale for a great price. When we have friends and family over for barbeques, I love putting lots of cans in a big tub of ice, and everyone just helps themselves to a drink.

Oh how I love Lays Potato Chips! They have been my favorite brand for many years, and I love all four kinds.

They are a big must at our house for barbeques, picnics, and just plain snacking. The Party size is a terrific value, and the Anniversary sale makes it easy to stock up on them.

Since my five kids are all grown-up, it can be a challenge to buy them a birthday gift that they will really like. Safeway offers the biggest selection of gift cards that I have ever seen, so I've been giving gift cards, which seems to make everyone happy. And no returns needed!

I can pick up a gift card here to some of my kid's favorite stores and restaurants. It's super convenient and one of the reasons why Safeway is my favorite grocery store.

We are all Gatorade fans, and stocking our pantry with it while it's on sale is a must. There are so many flavors to choose from now, and I have quite a few favorites.

Seattle is experiencing record breaking heat right now, and like lots of people here, our house doesn't have air conditioning. The house gets hot and stuffy, so we have been spending lots of time out on the deck.

It's great during the day, and especially during the evening. And we love our Lays Potato Chips and our favorite dip to enjoy no matter what time it is!

I make an onion flavored dip to eat with the wavy or regular chips. I don't make it as spicy as I used to because my grandchildren don't like it that way.

Of course these two little partners in crime had to get in on the chips and drinks. My two youngest grandchildren are only a little over a year apart. So when they aren't arguing, they are best buddies.

We love our Pepsi and Gatorade, and with the heat wave we have been having, we sure are going through a lot of beverages.

I'm so glad I can stock up at Safeway right now and take advantage of those great Anniversary sale prices.

Since I live in the Seattle area, it's very often cold and rainy during the fall and winter. Getting your groceries into the car after shopping can mean you are soaked by the time you're finished. That's why I am so happy my new Safeway has underground parking. It really makes all the difference, and my grandchildren love taking the elevator and pushing the buttons.

Safeway is my go to grocer. Shop the HUGE Anniversary sale and stock up on your favorite brands 7/29 - 8/11.

I'd love to hear how your family will stock up!

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.

Healthy On The Go Meals with Kidfresh

Since I have started working full time and my schedule is never the same it seems we are always having meals at odd times and not always together as a family. As all moms do I worry that my son is not eating right. Not being home to prepare him meals I wonder through out the day if he is eating the right foods to keep him healthy.

I wanted to find ways to be able to eat as a family during a work shift. We started looking for healthy on the go meals as an option. I recently read about Kidfresh meals that are in the frozen section at my local Safeway. I have tried frozen meals before with my son but they were full of sugar or sodium and I did not like that.

Kidfresh Meals are healthy and easy to prepare meals that can be enjoyed on the go.They are all natural with hidden veggies. I felt like this was the product for my son. He can be a picky eater like I was when I was a kid. Not being home as much I also worry that he will find ways not to eat his veggies without me making sure he does. The hidden veggie idea is brilliant! I purchased 3 of the 4 varieties. I bought the Mac + Cheese, Rainbow Rice + Chicken and the Spaghetti Loops Bolognese. They have the Cheesy Quesadillas but I make those all the time at home for my son. The other three I knew my son would enjoy and it would save time not having to prepare a meal. He loves the Spaghetti Loops Bolognese. I like that it contains carrots, celery and sweet potatoes! How awesome is that, all that vitamin A I know he needs. Plus Kidfresh contains no artificial flavors, colors and no preservatives.

Since we do not all have the chance to eat meals together we do our best to meet up for lunch or dinner at a near by park where I work. We sometimes grab fast food but that can be unhealthy and costly for just junk food. We have been looking for a way to have our son eat right when we are on the go. He enjoyed the Spaghetti Loops Bolognese at the park one afternoon and when I told him there was sweet potatoes in it (thankfully he loves those) he wanted to look at the box. He cant read just yet but he sure did check out that box. I like to think that me starting to be a label reader will rub off on him.

Another time we met for lunch my son had the Rainbow Rice + Chicken. It smelled wonderful, it looked just like when I get fried rice dishes on my lunches but this was a healthy version just for him. When I tried to take a bite to see how it tasted he told me that it was his not for Mom. He does not care for peas but he ate them all in this dish. I love that we can meet up for lunch and I can know that my son is having a healthy meal that we get to enjoy eating together on the go.I can ease my mind more at work that he has had at least one good meal for the day! My husband warmed up the food, put it back in the box, placed it in a bag and brought it with him to meet me. Easy peasy and good for our little guy.


You can read about my shopping trip to Safeway for Kidfresh Meals in my Google+ story.

Learn more about Kidfresh Frozen Meals by being a fan on Facebook and following on Twitter. Dont forget your $1.00 off coupon available on Facebook for Kidfresh meals. (I did forget mine on the table! I will be saving it for next weeks shopping trip to Safeway)

*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 Kidfresh #CBias #SocialFabric #KFHealthyKids

Tropical Fruit Coconut Pizza Recipe with Dole and Safeway

Getting my son to consistently eat anything is a challenge. He will love something all week then tell me "yucky" the next week when I give him the same thing. I have found I need to be creative in serving him the same items in a different way. Fruit is one of my favorite things, even my mom knows green grapes will cheer me up any day! My son is a bit more picky about the fruit he eats. He seems to like berries, pineapples and bananas. Thankfully they are all healthy for him. I have been finding new recipes online looking for ways to give my son the fruit servings he needs but in new fun ways.

We get the Sunday paper every week for the coupons, being a frugal mom I love to save money. I think even if I won the lotto I would still use coupons! Who does not like to save money right?!? lol

I found a great coupon for Dole Tropical Canned Fruit that had a recipe on the coupon insert. I often make meals or desserts from recipes I find in coupon inserts. Its easy to have the ingredients list and coupon all on one paper. The Dole coupon had a recipe for Tropical Coconut Pizza. I was intrigued by the pizza part, my first thought was classic pizza, but then I read the recipe to realize it would be a creamy fluffy dessert pizza.

We went shopping at Safeway for the ingredients for our dessert for later in the week. We made plans for a few friends to come over and play video games and I thought it would be the perfect time to share my Tropical Coconut Pizza. I like shopping at Safeway for the Just for U savings that I can combined with my paper coupons. I save a lot of money shopping at Safeway and they always have friendly checkers.

We needed a few other items at the store along with the ingredients. I even grabbed a product new to me, Dole Aguas Frescas Watermelon. There was a $1 off coupon and on sale for $2. Awesome to get a juice with no HFCS in it for just a dollar!

A few days later I made the Dole Tropical Pizza for my family and friends. I started the Pizza Crust part of the recipe in the morning so it could freeze for a few hours. 

Tropical Coconut Pizza

Freeze: 4 hr.

Prep: 20 min.

1 container (8 oz.) cream cheese with pineapple, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup thawed whipped topping
1/2 cup flaked coconut, toasted
1 can (15.25 oz.) DOLE® Tropical Fruit, drained
1 cup sliced DOLE Strawberries
1 kiwi fruit, peeled and sliced

Makes: 8 servings

Beat cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Fold in whipped topping and coconut.

Line baking sheet with waxed paper. Spread cream cheese mixture into 8-inch circle, on
baking sheet, building up sides slightly with back of spoon. Freeze 4 hours or until firm.

Place cream cheese crust on serving plate. Garnish crust with additional toasted coconut, if
desired. Arrange tropical fruit, strawberries and kiwi on crust. Serve immediately.

Set out the Cream Cheese for about 30 minutes before you plan to make this recipe to make it easier to mix with the pineapple. The recipe from Dole calls for Cream Cheese with Pineapple. I could not find any in my local store so I purchased plain cream cheese and added 3/4 cup drained Dole crushed pineapple. I toasted my coconut in the oven on 250 degrees on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes. (make sure to check it often to not burn it.) I also set out the whipped topping from the freezer on the counter for the 15 minutes while I was toasting the coconut.

 After mixing the pineapple, cream cheese and sugar I folded in the whipped topping with the toasted coconut. I love coconut and pineapple together. SO good! (just this mix alone with the Dole pineapple would be delicious for putting between some cookies and freezing them.YUM!)

 The recipe says to put the mix out on a cookie sheet to place in the freezer. For my recipe I used two pie tins. To be able to create a nice tall crust for my pizza and my cookie sheet was too big for the space I had in my freezer.

This little guy was keeping me busy while I waited for the tropical pizza crust to be ready. He makes a soft pile with pillows, blankets and stuffed animals everyday. Hes like a little animal!

I placed them into the freezer to wait the 4 hours. While I was waiting I cleaned the house in preparation for a few friends coming over to play some video games with my husband and son. I loaded the dishwasher and washing machine, vacuumed the house, fed my son his favorite Tyson Dino chicken nuggets and veggie tots for lunch, checked emails then watched a Cat in the Hat cartoon with my son before we picked up all his toys in the living room. When the 4 hours had gone by I was so ready to try the Dole Tropical Fruit Coconut Pizza!

After the tropical pizza crusts were ready I opened the can of Dole Tropical Fruit, Dole Strawberry cups, sliced the kiwi and toasted more coconut for the top of the crust (I love a lot of coconut). I used a butter knife around the edge of my pie tins to get the crust out, I turned it onto a plate tapped the bottom and it fell onto the plate, using another plate I turned the crust right side up to be able to use. This was easy and made it so I did not break the crust while getting it out of the tin. (The same as getting a cake out of a pan.)

I added extra coconut to the top of my crust. You can add it on top of your fruit as well. I wanted to have a bit of a crunch under the soft fruit.

My finished Dole Tropical Coconut Pizza #tropicalfruit

Thankfully I made two Dole Tropical Coconut Pizzas. I knew my son would grab the fruit as soon as I put it on the table. He loves strawberries! He even put his face into it so he could lick the sweet crust. There was a few oh wow and yummy comments from him. Just like any pizza he has, he picked off toppings before he took a bite of the whole thing. #tropicalfruit

 Just as he climbed onto the table to get me to continue letting him lick the pizza our friends arrived for dessert and video games. My son and I shared the one he licked lol and I sliced up and served the other one for everyone else.

 I love how this Dole Tropical Coconut Pizza turned out. Its sweet to eat and beautiful to look at. I can see us making this again using other fruit toppings too. Using the pie tin gave the pizza a nice tall crust.

You can find more Recipes from Dole on their website. They have all sorts of recipes that I want to make. I have seen a few other bloggers make a turkey burger with Dole Pineapple rings that look delicious! You can read my Google+ story about my shopping trip to Safeway and see how silly my kid gets when we go shopping.

*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 Dole #CBias #SocialFabric #tropicalfruit All opinions expressed in this post are 100% my own.

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