Ghoulish Gathering

We are having family over for Halloween tonight. With the kids being so little, we're not doing trick or treating yet. Of course, they will dress up in their costumes, though! (The adults are coming in costume, too!)

I found this recipe for Mummy Dogs and thought they'd be perfect for our party (especially since I've got lots of hot dogs in my freezer!). We'll add some baked beans on the side. To drink, I'm going to pick up some purple and/or green sodas (Safeway brand 2 liters of grape soda are $0.81 each!). For dessert, we're having pizookie: chocolate chip cookies baked in a round, pizza shape. You slightly underbake the cookies, top with vanilla ice cream, and serve immediately. Oh my goodness...so good.

For decorations, I needed to keep things on the low cost side. Read: basically use things from around the house (or that I could borrow!). I'll post some pictures of what I was able to rustle up on Monday.

Have a fun and safe Halloween!

Buy 5, Save $5...cheap cereal!

Buy 5, Save $5 deal:
Buy 5 Cheerios (18oz.), at $2.99 each and get $5 off your total, bringing the cost down to only $1.99 per box.
Buy 5 Kellogg's Frosted MiniWheats (24oz.) at $2.99 each and get $5 off your total. Use 5 $1 off coupons here, and that brings your cost down to only $0.99/box.

**Remember that deal I mentioned about getting some free produce from Kellogg's? Well, if you haven't used that coupon (or you managed to get your hands on another one, now may be the time to use it. Kellogg's Smart Start Strawberry Oat Bites is a participating product in the Buy 5, Save $5.

Scenario:
Buy 1 box Kellogg's Smart Start Strawberry Oat Bites, $3.99
Buy 1 box Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats, $2.99
Buy 3 more boxes participating products, like Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats, $2.99 each
Subtotal: $15.95
Use 5 $1 off coupons
Get $5 off your total
New subtotal: $5.95 (that's $1.19/box)
Use your $1 off produce coupon (maybe get 1lb. of apples?)
Submit your receipt to get $3.99 back for trying Smart Start Strawberry Oat Bites
That's $1.96 for 5 boxes of cereal and $1 worth of produce for free!

**By the way, check online to see if there are any other products participating in the Buy 5, Save $5. Last time they had this, I checked and there were way more items online than they could fit in the ad. I was able to save some money by doing this!

48 Hour Sale

Safeway has been running their "48 Hour Sale" promos for awhile now, and I've found some great deals doing this. I've switched my grocery shopping day to Saturday, leave the girls with Husband, and get some serious shopping done.

This week's 48 Hour Sale is a great one, so I thought I'd give you a heads up:
Yoplait Adult Multi-packs, 8-pack, 6oz., selected varieties, $2.99 (37 cents per cup!)
Betty Crocker Cake Mix, $0.59 each (limit 10)
10lb. bag of Russet Potatoes, $1.99 each
Safeway Frozen Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, 4lb. bag, $7.16 ($1.79/lb., the lowest I've seen!)

**Has anyone seen a coupon for the Yoplait or the cake mixes?**

Safeway also has some Super Coupons in this week's ad. Two I'm looking to use:
Safeway Apple Juice, 64oz., $0.99 (limit 1 with minimum $10 purchase)
Tony Roma's Baby Back Ribs, 24oz., fully cooked, $7.99 (limit 1 with minimum $10 purchase)

Other sweet deals:
Progresso Soup, selected varieties, 10/$10 (use with $1.10 off coupon here)
Organic Braeburn Apples, $0.88/lb. (good chance to get some organic produce!)
Healthy Choice Steamers, 2/$5. I think there was a $1 off coupon in Sunday's paper.

For Trader Joe's Fans...

I came across a new blog, Organized Mommy. Since I am not so organized, I thought I'd stop in and see if Organized Mommy could give me some tips. One of the things that caught my attention right away was her collection of recipes using ingredients found at Trader Joe's.

Being a TJ's fan myself, I looked through her recipes and have to say I found a few that I know I can use. I actually have some TJ's salmon in my freezer right now!

Halvsies

Husband and I have long been miffed at the enormous amount of food that restaurants give diners these days. The price tags are nothing to laugh at either. Quite often, after bringing home some take out (and finding lots of it left over), Husband will say, "we should have just ordered one entree and split it".

Upon heading to the airport to fly home from Utah, we decided to employ this idea. We knew it would be awhile before we got some good food in our tummies and we were not interested in the high fast food prices at the airport.

We decided to stop at Cracker Barrel. We placed an order to go: Homestyle Chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy, fried apples, two YUMMY buttermilk biscuits, and a root beer to share. Total price: $11.91.

We ate our meal in the car (while the babies slept!) and it was so delicious. We finished it, too. It was the perfect amount for each of us. I think we've hit on a beautiful new strategy!

It All Adds Up to a Great Trip

This past weekend Husband and I took our adorable one-year-old twins to Utah to visit family. We love visiting, we just don't love the traveling that much! Here are the pluses and minuses from that trip:

Minuses:

• Running a little bit late at Oakland Airport and parking in the wrong lot...for four days...at a cost of $22 PER DAY! Big minus!
• Somehow losing container of baby wipes on board airplane. Had to wait for luggage with backup wipes before being able to change both girls (who both leaked through their diapers!).
• Going to Wal-Mart for the All You sampling spectacular only to find out that this Wal-Mart didn't get the memo.
• Going to the grocery store 3 times to buy milk for the babies because we are still making the transition to cow's milk and I don't quite know how much milk we go through in a day, yet. (PS: Organic milk is almost non-existent in Utah. And, it is more expensive there than it is here, which is hard to believe! I guess it is true that the more people buy something, the lower the cost will be.)

Pluses:

• Finding some cute clothes (for me) at great deals at some Utah-only clothing stores.
• Cafe Rio (You haven't eaten there? Oh, it's a must for your next Utah visit.)
• Stocking up on Stephen's hot chocolate at Wal-Mart. (Yes, I came home with 6 pounds of it, okay?)
• Getting a great deal on our hotel through Expedia, which included a fantastic breakfast buffet.
• Someone else cleaned up after the babies' meals! (We ate out quite a bit.)
• Getting my hair cut for almost 1/2 of what I would pay here.

We're glad we were able to go, but we were so tired when we got back! Dinners are going to be light this week because we ate out so much over the weekend.

75th Birthday on a Slim Budget

My grandmother's friend is turning 75 and her daughter wanted to throw a surprise party for her, but doesn't have a huge budget to do it. Grandmother asked me if I had any ideas. Since I love throwing parties, I gave her a few ideas of what I thought would work best for this situation.

1. A picnic is a great idea for larger groups. Go to a nice park that has tables and benches, easy access, etc. (Remember this is a "mature" group.) To make it festive, make the lunches yourself (or buy the pieces) and assemble it into a cute little individual takeout boxes.

(via Oh Happy Day)

2. Hold a potluck at someone's home. Ask guests to bring a dish that reminds them of the birthday girl (one of her favorites, something that she always makes, a dish from a treasured trip, etc.). It will be cozy and an atmosphere that inspires reminiscing.

3. My favorite idea is the one I saw on frolic: the Pie Party! I think this would be so cute for the season and this group. Invite each guest to bring a pie (it can be a tart or a quiche, too). Set out the pies on a long buffet table. The hostess provides ice cream and whipped cream for all these delicious desserts. Invitations should be made to look like recipe cards. Decorations are inspired by the season: apples, pumpkins, squash, fall leaves and branches, etc. Cheery red checked table cloths would be adorable. Take a look at the design board provided by snippet & ink.



When working in a small budget, it's important to focus more on bringing everyone together than making a big show, if you know what I mean. These ideas can help do that.

Budget Makers and Budget Breakers

Every so often I find something that totally helps me stay in budget...and something that totally doesn't. A recurring series on this blog will be a highlight of a "budget maker" and a "budget breaker".

This week's budget breaker is a 4 lb. bag of oranges I bought at Safeway when they were on sale for $1.88. What a deal! I thought. Trying to buy fruit that's in season (and usually the least expensive) I snapped up the 4 lb. bag and brought it home, thinking it would fill in the holes in our fresh fruit basket as summer is turning into fall. I quickly realized the problem with buying a large bag of oranges: it is very hard to tell what kind of quality you are getting. Because you can't hand-pick each orange, you are stuck with the luck of the draw...and some rather untasty fruit.

Since they really aren't good enough to eat, I've been using recipes that call for orange juice (which is pretty good) or orange zest. Yesterday I made this chicken recipe (which was so good!).

(Grilled Chicken Legs with Orange and Rosemary from Real Simple)

On the other hand, this week's budget maker was a surprise to me. Safeway had boneless pork loin chops on sale a little while ago for $1.99/lb. The package was 3lbs. and had 6 chops in it. (This is not the package with the thinly sliced chops. These were pretty meaty.) I put three chops in a freezer bag for later and cooked three chops using this recipe. (Again, so good!)

Sunday night's dinner was the pork chops. I cut each one in half, so we had six good sized chops. Husband and I each had one. Monday night we had leftovers, again, each eating about one chop each. Tuesday night I made what we call "sanchos" in our family, but are basically soft tacos, cutting up a chop for the meat. Husband took a sancho to work for lunch the next day. Later in the week, I made a breakfast hash with one of the chops, potatoes, and eggs with a side of roasted cherry tomatoes. Friday night I made pork fried rice with the rest.

I was amazed that those three large pork chops were able to last as long as they did! It was so great! They definitely made our budget!

It's time for you to share: What are some of your budget makers/breakers?

Crunching the diaper numbers

I bought my diapers at Rite Aid last night and was so pleased with my purchase. When I told my sister, she said, "aren't you going to get the diapers at Babies R Us, what with their new Rewards and all..." Hmmm, I wonder which is the better deal?

I decided to crunch the numbers so you can see for yourselves which is the better deal. With Babies R Us' new rewards program, when you buy 9 value boxes of Pampers diapers, you get the 10th box free. On top of that, you get $5 for every $150 you spend.

There are three different sized value boxes of Pampers for size 3 (what my girls wear):
Cruisers 160/$40.69 (25.4 cents per diaper)
Baby Dry 204/$40.69 (19.9 cents per diaper)
Baby Dry 144/$31.69 (22 cents per diaper)

Often, Babies R Us has a coupon for $5 off a value box of Pampers. If I were to use this coupon in conjunction with a $1 off mfr. coupon (yes, you can stack at BRU), then the prices would be:
Cruisers 160/$34.69 (21.7 cents per diaper)
Baby Dry 204/$34.69 (17 cents per diaper)
Baby Dry 144/$25.69 (17.8 cents per diaper)

If I were to buy each of the 9 boxes with the above mentioned coupons, then by buying the lowest priced box per diaper (204 Baby Dry), my total cost for 9 boxes (and then 1 free) would be $312.21. I would get $10 in rewards ($5 for each $150). Essentially I would be getting 2,040 diapers for $302.21 and that would equal 14.8 cents per diaper.

Whew!

So now it's up to you to decide. Me? I'm still pretty happy with my Rite Aid deal. (Huggies rebate is good through this Saturday.)

Save on snacks

I love this post by fellow Bay Area Mommy Nicole over at Frugal is Fab on how to save money on snacks. Such a smart idea! I'm always looking for things that I can throw in my purse to eat on the run...especially healthy options. This way I can have a wider assortment of healthy snacks to choose from. I think this will help Husband in his lunch making, too! : )

Huggies deal at Rite Aid

This week at Rite Aid, Huggies Jumbo Pack diapers are 3/$33 with a $10 rebate. This is the perfect opportunity to use the $5 off $25 coupon (found by Erica over at iheartriteaid). Combined with three $1 off mfr. coupons found in the paper a few weeks ago, this works out to be a pretty sweet deal!

Summary:
3 Jumbo packs Huggies diapers $33
Use $5 off $25 coupon
Use 3 $1 off mfr. coupons

Subtotal: $25.00

Submit for rebate #1 and get $10 back.

Total for 120 diapers (size 3)=$15.00 (or 12.5 cents each)

Using Whole Foods' Coupon

I used Whole Foods' coupon today because we were out of milk for the babies. I was pleasantly surprised (again) at how low a lot of their prices were. For example, Yo Baby multi-pack yogurt was on sale for $2.99 (normally $3.49). At Safeway it was $4.59! Here's how I used my coupon:

Organic Apple Juice, 64oz., $3.99
2 cans organic kidney beans, 99 cents each
2 cans organic black beans, 99 cents each
Annie's Bunny Grahams $3.19
2 gallons organic whole milk, $6.29 each
multipack Yo Baby yogurt, $2.99
Strawberries, 1lb., $2.50

I had a $0.50 coupon for the Yo Baby yogurt that I printed here (email required). After my $5 off coupon, my total was only $23.71. For 10 items, that's a lot. But I would have had to buy the organic milk anyway, so I might as well get a discount for it when I can!

I just saw over at Money Saving Mom that you can get four boxes of free soup after rebate at Whole Foods! Find the rebate form here. (Thanks to Amanda!) Don't forget: the Whole Foods coupon expires October 22nd.

Babies R Us Rewards!

Toys R Us/Babies R Us has hopped on the rewards bandwagon and is now offering some great benefits to members who join their Rewards R Us program! Some highlights:

• Earn $5 for every $150 spent between October 15th and December 24th on all your Babies R Us/Toys R Us purchases (online and in-store).
• Buy 9 value boxes of Pampers diapers and get the 10th box free.
• Member-only discounts
• Member shopping nights
• Recall notification

Best of all, membership is free. I only wish they'd had this when I was spending $150 a month on formula! This is especially great for those of you who will be doing lots of Christmas shopping at Toys R Us, too! Click here to sign up!

Save on produce at Safeway

Kellogg's has a coupon for $1 off produce when you buy two participating cereals. With the abundance of $1 off Kellogg's cereal coupons over at coupons.com, now is the time to strike over at Safeway! Several Kellogg's cereals are on sale for $2.50 each.

Purchase Smart Start Strawberry Oat Bites ($3.99 sale) and use $1 off coupon. Purchase another participating cereal, like Frosted Mini Wheats Blueberry Muffin ($2.50 sale) and use $1 off coupon. Hand over your $1 off produce coupon (of course, you need to buy produce!) .

Send in your receipt to get a $3.99 rebate on the Smart Start (form is here). You end up getting the cereal for free and make $0.50 in the end (ymmv).

I'm a Lookiloo...How 'bout You?

I found this new website: http://www.lookiloos.com/ and I thought I'd share it with you. It's the opportunity to peek inside some of the best decorated homes in the Bay Area. I love open houses and getting decorating ideas that way and now I don't even have to leave the house to do it!

I especially loved the tour of "A Decorator's Daughter" in Willow Glen. From the curving walkway that welcomes you to the ivy covered front porch to the subway tile in the kitchen, this house is beautiful. My favorite feature of the kitchen was this little chalkboard. So cute! I'm trying to think of a way to work something like that into my kitchen.

Lookiloos is a great place to visit if you are looking for some decorating inspiration!

Oh, Walgreens...

I'm disappointed. Now it's $5 off $25 instead of off $20? Hmmm. I'm trying really hard to stay in my budget this month and I'm doing so well. I'm not sure if I'll take Walgreen's up on their offer, especially since I'd like to take Whole Foods up on theirs.

But if I were to use that coupon, here's what I might do:

2 Zout b1g1 free $3.79
2 Hefty gallon size storage bags b1g1 free $3.29
2 Glade gel warmers $1.99 each
Rimmel foundation $7.49
3 Walgreen's ibuprofen 3/$10
Infinity pads $4.99

subtotal $33.54

Use the following coupons:

2 $0.55 off Zout (from 8/10 inserts)
B1G1 free Glade warmer printable
$1 off peelie from Glade warmer
$1 off Rimmel cosmetic product (can't remember insert date)
$2 off Infinity pads (P&G insert, 10/12)

new total: $26.45, minus $5 off equals $21.45
Get $1 in RR's and $14.49 in rebates. Send in for Zout MIR of $3.99

Total out of pocket = $1.97

Affordable Organic?

Did anyone else watch Oprah the other day on the difference between caged animals and cage-free or free-range? I have read some books on the subject, but seeing it was a whole different story. I started wondering how much extra I would really have to pay if I bought organic produce, milk, and eggs. (I already buy organic milk for the babies at $5.99 a gallon. Yikes!)

I do my grocery shopping mostly at Safeway and love that they have (most) items online. It helps me to plan out my shopping list more precisely. I started to lay out the items I buy most often and noticed that the price for organic wasn't that much more, in most cases.

On a whim, I thought I'd check out Whole Foods' website to see if they had any specials (even though I don't usually shop there). Lo and behold, I saw a coupon! That's right! Whole Foods has coupons good for $5 off your purchase of $25 or more. Get yours here. Now if that's not a good incentive to buy some healthy stuff, I don't know what is!

I was already planning on going to Trader Joe's, which is nearby, so I thought I'd stop in and do a little price comparison of Whole Foods. I was happy to see that while Trader Joe's was definitely the least expensive option as far as organic produce goes, there wasn't a big price difference between them and Whole Foods. And with a $5 coupon to boot...

It gets better from here...Whole Foods has always had a flyer near the door with recipes and their weekly specials. The one available now is sixteen pages of ways to make more affordable meals, including recipes by Martha Stewart herself! And there are over $40 worth of coupons inside.

I've been making the old excuse that organic food is too expensive for awhile now...and I've just had that excuse taken away from me. Fine by me!

Tight Times

Husband and I had a conversation last night that is making me think...and think and think. It wasn't an argument at all, rather a "meeting of the minds". I came in with a picture of a beautiful headboard I had found online at Pottery Barn that was on sale for $299. I have been desperately wanting a headboard for awhile now and this seemed like a great opportunity. He expressed concern that there were other things that we needed (like a new, properly working car for him) on which the money would be better spent. I told him I agreed, but also wanted a bedroom that felt like I had taken some time to put the elements together (and for goodness sakes, get rid of his Rubbermaid "dresser" in the corner!).

We've been talking a lot recently about ways that we can cut back and we have decided to let those thoughts simmer until we have a "board meeting" in January. Husband gets his raise then and it will be time to revamp the current budget as well as a time to more fully implement our money saving strategies.

In the meantime, I've been looking for things that I can do right now to ease the strain. I was happy to see this post over on Money Saving Mom by guest blogger Jennifer Duenes from Life From the Roof (who is also in the Bay Area). What I took away from her post was to be content with what you have and not get new things just to "have" them.

So I have decided to try to spruce up our bedroom without buying the $300 headboard and make the best of what we've got. I'm going to make a design plan for the bedroom from start to finish so that I can add things along the way instead of making a large purchase all at once. I'll update my progress as I go and maybe you can help out with some tips of your own.

Medicine Cabinet Time

Rite Aid has some crazy good stock-ups this week and I am excited to get them! The best thing about it is many are all free after rebate. Whoo-hoo! I am most looking forward to:
1. Theraflu Warming Relief $3.99 (free after rebate) (There is a printable coupon, but I've heard Rite Aid's don't take printables, so that's a bummer.)

2. Bee M.D. Natural Cough Drops $2.49 (free after rebate) (I've been a Hall's fan for awhile now, but it's always nice to have a change.)

3. Little Noses Saline $3.99 (free after rebate) (We use this a lot when the girls get stuffed up!)

4. SoftLips Lip Conditioner $2.99 (free after rebate) I've always wanted to try this stuff.

There are lots more if you want to stock up on things for your medicine cabinet. Don't forget that you must purchase these items this week (ending 10/18) in order to qualify for the rebate.

Babies R Us Super Sale

Babies R Us' Super Sale ends today (10/13) and there are a few noteworthy items:

1. Save $3 on any 3 Johnson's, Aveeno, or Desitin items, no coupon needed. Combine that with the coupon for $2 off when you buy three of the above items, and you get an even sweeter deal!

2. Good Start Formula (yeah, the kind that I'm now weaning my daughters off of?) is on a sweet deal: Save $8 when you buy 2 of the 24.5oz. or larger. Usually those are $24.59 each. Look for the Bonus 20% more cans of the regular Good Start (in the orange can). Those cans have 30oz. for the same price.

3. Pampers and Huggies diapers (big boxes) are $5 off with coupon. I think it's less expensive to get them at Walgreen's, Target, or Rite Aid though, even with the coupon. Check out Baby Cheapskate for a chart that shows the cost per diaper for each of the different sized packages.

Pumpkins in the Park

A friend sent me this link about "Pumpkins in the Park" in Downtown San Jose at Discovery Meadow this Saturday. This event will feature a big pumpkin patch as well as children's entertainment. There will be booths offering fresh pressed apple cider (yum!) and other goodies.

The fun starts at 10am and goes until 4pm. Parking is available nearby, but there is also easy access from the light rail. Admission is free.

Babies R Us 10/03-10/16

There are a lot of deals to be had over at Babies R Us right now. They sent out a mailer with lots of coupons, but I'm having trouble finding those coupons online. If anyone has a link to them, let me know!

Even though I was only picking up some formula, I had to check out the clothes for my baby girls. I love this little "Love" top from Amy Coe. They didn't have it in my store, but I'm hoping they will get it in soon!

Also, Carter's items are buy one item, get 50% off the second item. My store had a pretty limited selection of Carter's, but they did have some great little outfits for great prices.

Post-Party Plans

The party's over...and it was a great one! The theme was "Fairytales Can Come True" and I served food that related to a fairytale:
Candy Apples = poisoned apple from Snow White
Hershey's Kisses = True Love's Kiss from Sleeping Beauty
Spinach Dip with bread chunks for dipping = Hansel & Gretel (bread crumbs)
Little bags of M&M's = Jack and the Beanstalk (magic beans)

...you get the idea!

Because I had to spend extra on the party, it's time to pull in those reins these next couple weeks to make up for it. Here is my menu for this week:

Monday: BLT's (with tomatoes from our garden)
Tuesday: Crab Rangoon, salad
Wednesday: Soup from the freezer
Thursday: "On your own"
Friday: Teriyaki salmon (Trader Joe's) with rice
Saturday: Pizza Night
Sunday: maybe pot roast?

I'm headed to Babies R Us today to pick up what I hope to be the last cans of formula for a very long time!

Decor for your door

I just spruced up my front porch for Fall (and because it's the girls' birthday party tomorrow). Although it's been in the high 70's in the Bay Area this past week, it is officially Fall. I headed over to Michael's to pick up some supplies...and was delighted to find that so many items were on sale...

all Fall garland 50% off...
all Fall floral stems and bushes 50% off...
all faux fruit and vegetables 40% off (lots of pumpkins!)...
hay bales for $5.99...
cute little scarecrows for $5.99...

And if there's something you love that's not on sale, here is a coupon for 40% off one regular priced item. Hurry in, because the coupon expires today.

Michael's already has lots of Christmas decorations up too. I had to force myself to look straight ahead and walk away. That's for another trip!

Savings this weekend

Walgreen's has another $5 off $20 purchase coupon this weekend. (I wish I hadn't gone earlier this week!) Here's my scenario for this coupon:

Oral B toothbrush $4.49
Loreal Cleanser $7.99
2 packs Huggies diapers (size 3) $9.99 each
1 pack Huggies wipes $5.99

subtotal $38.45

minus the following coupons:
$0.75 off Oral B toothbrush (09/28 p&g)
$1 off Loreal Cleanser (I think there was one a week or two ago)
$1 off Huggies diapers x 2 (09/28 ss)
$1 off Huggies wipes (got in the mail)
$5 off $20

total $28.70
receive $7.99 in rebates
receive $9.50 in RR's
total oop: $11.21 (If I were to pay that much for only the 80 diapers, it would work out to 14 cents per diaper!)

Working for the weekend

I have family coming in this weekend for my daughters' birthday, so I'm trying to compile a menu that is easy on our budget (and easy for me to cook!).

Friday dinner: (still to be determined)
Saturday lunch: Apple Pecan Salad (We're serving more food at the party in the afternoon, so a light lunch works well.)
Saturday dinner: Take out!
Sunday breakfast: Cinnamon rolls, fruit, hot chocolate
Sunday lunch: Tortilla soup w/chicken (see recipe below)
Sunday dinner: Poppy seed chicken with noodles and peas (This has become one of my favorites!)

***I found a lower cost alternative to the bags of pre-frozen chicken breasts: If you buy the packages of fresh split breasts, a lot of the time it's much less expensive per pound. For example, this week at Safeway, a 4.5lb. package of split breasts is on sale for $1.64/pound. A 4lb. bag of frozen breasts is $2.50/lb. You can almost buy twice the fresh chicken for the price of one frozen bag!***

Speedy Tortilla Soup
1 can (15oz.) black beans
1 can (4oz.) diced green chiles
1 pkg. (14oz.) frozen southwest blend vegetables (or use your own mix of corn and peppers)
1 cup salsa
2 cups shredded chicken
1 can (28oz.) red enchilada sauce

In large pot, combine ingredients and cook over medium high heat until getting ready to bubble. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Spoon into bowls, sprinkle some grated cheddar or monterey jack cheese over the top, and serve with tortilla chips.

*Don't forget to enter Wedgie Free Wednesday over at Hanes for your chance to win a free pair of Hanes panties!