Cheerios Apple Cinnamon Crisp

My parents have a couple of apple trees in their backyard, and when the apples are ripe, we eat apple EVERYTHING. I love it at first – fresh apples, apple pie, apple cobbler, baked apples, apple chips …. after a few days, I’m appled out. This year, we’ll be using the apples from our backyard and Cheerios coupons to make this Apple Oat Crumble, courtesy of the recipe people at General Mills. Having one more recipe might stretch my apple-consumption capacity a bit.

INGREDIENTS

         4 cups sliced, unpeeled apples (3-4 medium apples)

         2 cups Cheerios cereal

         ½ cup quick cook oats

         ½ cup brown sugar, packed

         ¾ teaspoon cinnamon

         1/3 cup butter, firm and unmelted

HOW-TO:

         Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

         Arrange the apple slices evenly on the bottom of an ungreased 8 or 9 inch square pan. In a medium bowl, crush the cereal and then mix in oats, brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut in butter – small slivers work best. Sprinkle this mixture over the apples.

         Bake 30-35 minutes. Cover with foil and bake another 10 minutes.

        

         I like this recipe because it takes about ten minutes to throw together, and with ice cream, it takes about as long to disappear. With a few Cheerios coupons and the apples from my parent’s yard, this recipe is almost free to make – and it’s yummy enough that I’m actually excited for those apples to get ripe.

         

Dr Pepper Cupcakes are Delicious, Duh!

Cupcakes are all the rage right now. Dr. Pepper is delicious. Soda coupons rock. Tell me something I don’t know, right? Well, here’s a recipe that combines all three of those excellent things to create a treat greater than the sum of its parts: Dr. Pepper Cupcakes!!!!! There are more ingredients in this recipe than in the usual cupcake recipe – perhaps because there are 23 flavors in Dr Pepper? Don’t be intimidated, though – the cupcakes are yummy enough to be worth the work!

Here are the ingredients you’ll need to get cooking:
FOR THE CUPCAKES
1 cup of butter or margarine
1 cup Dr Pepper soda
½ cup buttermilk (or, ½ cup milk and 1 tablespoon orange juice)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
2 cups flour
2 cups white sugar
FOR THE ICING
¼ cup butter
3 tablespoon cocoa
¼ cup Dr Pepper soda
1 bag powdered sugar (you won’t need it all, but enough to make the frosting thick)
Here’s how ot make the cupcakes:
Heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
Heat 1 Cup of butter and Dr Pepper in medium saucepan. When butter is melted, pout into a bowl and add cocoa, cinnamon, flour and sugar.
Mix eggs, buttermilk, soda and vanilla in a bowl. Add this mixture to the butter mixture, then pout into paper-lined cupcake tins.
Bake for 30 minutes. remove cupcakes from pan, and cool while you prepare the icing.
To make the icing, heat remaining Dr. Pepper, butter, and cocoa in a saucepan and stir until well blended. Stir in the remaining ingredients, adding sugar as needed until the icing reaches a thick consistency. Ice cupcakes and serve.
These are a fun twist on traditional cupcakes, and the finished product definitely carries the flavor of the soda it’s named for. It may seem weird to eat Dr Pepper at first, but I can promise you’ve never had anything like it! If you’ll be making these cupcakes, don’t miss out on these soda coupons – just because you’re going all-out in the kitchen doesn’t mean you have to go for broke at the grocery store!

What do chicken sandwiches and moving trucks have to do with military wives?

Every May, the Friday before Mother’s Day is dedicated to a lesser-known celebration: Military Spouse Day. You probably didn’t even know the holiday existed, so I’m sure you don’t know how Penske coupons and chicken sandwiches play into it – but if you read on, you will!

The day was established to celebrate the hard work of husbands and wives who are charged with maintaining their homes, caring for wounded soldiers and carrying on the memory of the soldiers who fight for our freedom. The holiday was established in 1984 by President Ronald Reagan.

This year, Chick-Fil-A and Penske Truck Rental did their part to make this year’s celebration special by collecting and delivering donated gifts to military spouses who are waiting for their loved ones to return from overseas.

Chick-Fil-A hosted a gift drive, encouraging local families to donate small gifts which would serve as tokens of appreciation to military spouses. After collecting thousands of gifts, those presents had to be delivered – so Penske donated trucks to pick up and distribute the gift boxes.

I was unaware of this holiday until I saw information about the gift drive online while hunting for Penske coupons, but I definitely want to do my part to celebrate unsung home-front heroes when Military Spouse Day 2012 rolls around. If you want to do your part to help military spouses before then, you can get involved with Mission Heart Hug (a project that recognizes the dedication of military wives and husbands) at http://supportmilitaryspouses.com/

An anti-chemical activist's drugstore sting

If you used Mitchum coupons in the Manhattan area last month, you might have seen the handiwork of an inventive and opinionated young activist who is determined to warn consumers that, when they buy deodorants, chemicals, or cleaning supplies, they may be getting more than they bargained for.

The activist’s name is Jessica Assaf, and she’s a New York University student who believes that consumers are uninformed about the potentially harmful chemicals that are present in many common household products.

Yassaf printed and placed toxicity warning labels on hundreds of sticks of Secret deodorant at NY drugstores to draw attention to the presence of chemicals like butane (linked to allergies) and aluminum chlorohydrate (linked to reproductive toxicity) in this and other brands.

Yassaf said she targeted Secret because it is one of the best-selling deodorant brands among young women, and because, according to Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep, Secret ranks relatively high for chemical content among other deodorant brands.

"I believe that consumers should know the truth about the ingredients in their everyday products. This is a completely unregulated industry, and most people do not know that cosmetic companies can put any chemical in their products and with no labeling requirements or safety testing, sell these toxic products to the public. I'm not going to wait for legislation to protect our health because we don't have any time to wait. These chemicals are accumulating in our bodies and no one is stepping up to stop it," says Assaf.

Despite being caught and incurring the anger of the retailers she targeted, Assaf says she will continue this project until the FDA steps up to regulate the personal care products industry. I have to admit that I’ve never thought twice when using Mitchum coupons, but this news item sparked my interest enough that I’ve begun paying attention to the products I buy. Her methods may not be legal, but I think Jessica is effectively getting her message across! 

An Ode To Magnificent Marbits

The problem with Lucky Charms is the same problem that every cereal has -- there just aren't enough marshmallows in it. Lucky Charms has an undeniable advantage over almost every cereal on the market in that is does have some marshmallows in it -- I just wish there were more. I think Lucky Charms also has an advantage over its marshmallow-containing competitors in that it bears the distinction of being the original marshmallow breakfast cereal -- sorry, Count Chocula and Marshamllow Mateys, but you're kind of encroaching on Lucky's turf. Plus, I always seem to find the best Lucky Charms coupons, so I'm biased towards it in that regard. Anyway....

I knew I was not the only person to have thought that cereal marshmallows are quite possibly the world's most perfect food, so I did a bit of research online and found all sorts of marshmallow madness is just waiting for those who choose to pursue it. There are sites where you can buy giant bags of nothing but cereal marshmallows -- see those bags in the picture above? Nothing but mallows!! These bags look like the result of the kind of cereal-factory production accident that children dream of, and they only cost eight dollars a pop. And if you think these little babies are only good for cereal enhancement, you're thinking too much inside the box.

The marshmallow's manufacturers suggest dozens of delicious things one could do with an endless supply of marshmallows. Just imagine: with all the time you'll save ordering marshmallows direct instead of using Lucky Charms coupons to buy multiple boxes of cereal just to get enough marshmallows, you'll be able to whip up such exotic creations as cereal marshmallow mac n' cheese (i'm not kidding -- they list it on the site) and cereal marshmallow pancakes. Or, you could put them in your hot cocoa, mix them into a batch of brownies, or make a bowl of Wheaties edible -- whatever suits your fancy. How? Get your cereal marshmallow fix at www.cerealmarshmallows.com.

Who Would Want To Play With Diapers?!

When I think about all of the things that are fun about having a baby, diaper changing is not one of them. Actually, diaper changing might be at the top of my “Things That Aren’t Fun About Having A Baby,” list. Yes, I get excited about Luvs coupons – but that’s because I like to save money, not because a stinky diaper is my idea of a good time.

But for whatever reason, toy manufacturers seem to think that there’s something really enjoyable about changing a diaper – which is obvious when you look at how many diaper-changing toys are out there.

A search for “Diaper” in the Amazon.com toy store turns up a staggering 1500 results, including Zhu Zhu pets in diapers, Barbies that change diapers, dolls that wet themselves, prank dirty diapers, and mini toy babies that come in their very own diaper bag carrying case.

I don’t know who is coming up with this stuff, but I guess there are a lot of kids out there who want to play grown-up – even if that means changing diapers. I guess it’s no crazier than the toy washing machine I had as a kid – I loved washing my sleeping beauty dress in the Fisher Price washer/dryer due two decades ago, and I really hate doing laundry now. It’s funny, really – the things that are so boring to kids, like Luvs coupons and shopping, are fun for adults. And the things adults dread most seem really fun to kids. Can you think of other things like this – that you loved to lay when you were little, but hate now? 

The Amazing Three-Tiered Trix Cake

Inspired by an episode of Extreme Couponing, I went a little grocery-crazy. I bought enough cereal, canned soup, and deodorant to keep and army well-fed and smelling fresh for a fortnight. Unable to resist awesome Trix coupons, I created a bit of a problem for myself: I over-stocked my pantry to the point that I had to start keeping groceries on my bookshelf, in my dresser, and even under the couch. I really cant resist a deal! I understand that true extreme couponers create store-rooms to remedy this problem, but my apartment is too small for me to dedicate extra space to my excess cereal. When faced with a glut of boxed breakfast, I decided to look up alternative ways to eat cereal. This recipe is my favorite of all the ones I found, because it’s a piece of cake (literally and figuratively, of course!).

Ingredients:
2/3 cup butter or margarine
14 cups marshmallows (yep—fourteen! You’ll see why)
20 cups of Trix Cereal
2 boxes Fruit Roll-Ups, for decorating
Directions:
Line three round cake pans with foil, leaving foil hanging over the edge of each pan for easy cake removal. You’ll need a 6x2” round pan, a 8x2” round pan, and a 10x2” round pan to make the cake tiers.
Melt 1/3 cup butter in a 4 quart microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high for about one minute, add 7 cups of marshmallows ad mix. Microwave another 2 minutes, or until marshmallows are metled. Add 10 cups of cereal and mix to coat.
Press into the biggest cake pan. Repeat the above melt-and-mix procedure using the remaining cereal, butter, and marshmallows and spread remaining mixture between the two smaller pans. Allow to cool for at least one hour.
To assemble, remove the layers and stack on a large cake plate. You can use fruit snacks and extra cereal to create the frosting-like decorations – get creative!
To serve the cake, you’ll need a serrated knife to cut the pieces – serve by layer and enjoy!

I know you want to get your hands on some Trix coupons after seeing this recipe, right?! It’s so simple, but the combination of colors in the cereal and the fancy presentation really packs a punch. I think this cake would be perfect for a kid’s birthday party – what do you think? Would you make this cake?