Here are the produce sales you will find this week at Safeway, NW Albertsons and TOP Food & Drug.


NW Albertsons

Red, Yellow or Orange Bell Peppers - $1.99 each

Anjou or Red Anjou Pears - $1.29 per pound

Bosc Pears - $1.29 per pound

Broccoli or Cauliflower - $1.49 per pound

Strawberries (4 pounds) - $7.99 each

Fuji Apples - $1.49 per pound

Farm Stand Iceberg Lettuce - $1.29 each

Navel Oranges - $.99 per pound

Sweet Onions - $1.29 per pound

Zucchini or Yellow Squash - $1.49 per pound

Cucumbers - $.79 each

Farm Stand Red Potatoes (5 pounds) - $3.99 each

Farm Stand Grape Tomatoes (1 pint) – 2 for $5.00

Jalapeno Peppers - $1.49 per pound

Wild Harvest Baby-Cut Carrots (1 pound) - $1.99 each

Cantaloupe - $.58 per pound



TOP Food & Drug

Broccoli or Cauliflower - $1.00 per pound

Asparagus - $1.98 per pound

Hass Avocados - $.89 each

Organic Peeled Carrots (1 pound) – 2 for $3.00

Organic Kiwi – 5 for $2.00

Cherry or Sunburst Tomatoes (10.5 oz) – 2 for $5.00

Strawberries (2 pounds) - $3.79 each

Organic Strawberries (1 pound) - $3.49 each

Raspberries (12 oz) - $6.98

Honey Mango - $.50 each



Safeway

Organic Fuji or Gala Apples - $1.79 per pound

O Organics Romaine Hearts (3 pack) – 2 for $6.00

Organic Navel Oranges - $1.49 per pound

Organic Zucchini - $1.79 per pound

Asian Pears - $1.99 each

Vine Ripe Tomatoes - $2.49 per pound

Texas Sweet Onions - $.99 per pound

Hass Avocados – 2 for $3.00

Yellow or White Corn – 2 for $1.00

Strawberries (1 pound) – 2 for $5.00

Hot House English Cucumbers – 2 for $3.00

Green, red, yellow or Orange Bell Peppers – 10 for $10.00

Mini Watermelons - $2.99 each

_

From now until April 24, Albertsons is having another of their Round Up & Save events. This means extra savings!

Here is how it works:

The face value of coupons valued at $.24 or less will be quadrupled.
Coupons with a face value of $.25 to $.99 will be rounded up to $1.00.
Coupons with a face value of $1.00 or more will be redeemed at face value (like usual).

Here is one deal that might be of interest to vegans:

Frank's Original Hot Sauce - Buy 2, Get 1 Free (final price would be $.99 each before coupons)
Use these printable vegan coupons:
$0.35 off one Frank's Hot Sauce

These coupons round up to $1.00 off during the Albertsons Round Up & Save event.
Final Price: FREE

Remember: Hit that back button after the first printing to print these vegan coupons two times per computer.

I just wanted to thank everyone who took the time to vote in the poll about where you shop for vegan and organic foods.

Here are the results (for anyone who might be interested):

PCC Natural Markets -- 35%
Whole Foods -- 23.5%
Fred Meyer -- 11.8%
Safeway/Pavilions/Vons -- 5.9%
Grocery Outlet -- 5.9%
Other -- 17%
Stores listed under other included Trader Joe's, Sunflower Market, Central Co-Op and Kroger (which is the same family of stores as Fred Meyer).

This printable vegan coupon for $1.50 off any one Silk product is sure to be popular, so get over there and print it out before it disappears! (coupon no longer available)

Don't forget to hit your back button to get two of these vegan coupons for even more savings on Silk soy milk, almond milk, coconut milk and more.

A high-value coupon like this is usually only for larger products, but this one is good on a single serve, 4-pack, quart or half gallon product, which means you could end up getting a free Silk non-dairy beverage with these vegan coupons.

Well, apparently lots of folks. Just not me. For years I dried my clothes with dryer sheets without once giving a thought to animal products being in them. Of course, I was naturally concerned about the company producing them and whether or not they tested on animals, but it never even occurred to me that I was drying my clothes with animal tallow. Dis-gust-ing.

Obviously, as soon as I realized that even my eco-friendly dryer sheets were not-so-animal-friendly, I immediately set out to find a solution to my laundry dilemma. Fortunately, there are a number of vegan dryer sheets on the market now -- thanks to increased awareness and demand -- but you can also make your own or just not use them at all. At first I switched to using distilled white vinegar as a fabric softener and I was pretty happy with it. It seems to get the soap out better and left our clothes and linens soft and fluffy, but my partner didn't like how the house smelled like vinegar every time I did laundry, or the little bit of vinegar smell still on the clothes after they came out of the dryer (although I swear I can't smell it). So, now I'm using nothing in the washer and just dryer balls that fluff the clothes up in the dryer.

We haven't had any problems with static cling and this seems to be a good solution for us. You can check out some other options for vegan, eco-friendly fabric softeners and dryer sheets (store bought and DIY) here.

(This was originally posted on my old blog in September 2008.)

_Vegan pumpkin pie is actually quite easy to make and takes very few ingredients. There are a few different ways to make a vegan pumpkin pie and, of course, you can easily make your own vegan pie crust or use separate spices rather than a pumpkin pie spice blend. However, since this particular vegan pumpkin pie recipe is geared towards folks who are looking for a way to make a super easy vegan pumpkin pie, this recipe is about simple as it can get.


What you need:
1 pre-made vegan pie crust (graham cracker is a good, easy choice)
1 package of firm silken tofu
1 can pumpkin (organic, if possible)
1 ¼ cups brown sugar
¼ cup vegan sweetener of choice
4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice blend


What you do:
Step 1: Preheat oven (or toaster oven) to 425 degrees (Fahrenheit)

Step 2: Break up tofu and combine with the pumpkin. Blend with a hand mixer, blender, food processor or whatever mixing tool you prefer.

Step 3: Add brown sugar, sweetener and pumpkin pie spice and mix well.

Step 4: Pour mixture into pre-made vegan pie crust and place in the oven or toaster oven.

Step 5: Bake your vegan pumpkin pie at 425 for about 15 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350 and bake for about 45-50 minutes. Baking time will differ depending on your oven, elevation and all that, so keep an eye on your pie.

Step 6: If your pie isn’t quite as firm as you would like, place it in the refrigerator until time to serve. Otherwise, this vegan pumpkin pie can be served warm or cold and goes quite well with vegan ice cream. I particularly love serving it with vegan Soyatoo whipped topping; however, I just heard that Safeway's store brand whipped topping in a can is vegan, and I plan to try that out very soon.

This recipe was originally posted on my old blog (Miss Mavyn's Vegan Blog) back in 2009, but I figured it was time to move it over to this blog.

_Since the rain has returned, and cloudy days call for hearty soups at my house, I thought I would share another vegan soup recipe that is easy to make with inexpensive ingredients.

Easy Vegan Bean & Potato Soup Recipe

What you need:
2 cups dry beans soaked and drained, or 2 cans of beans
3-5 red potatoes (depending on size and how much you like potatoes)
2 carrots
2 stalks of celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tsp minced garlic
1 can organic diced tomatoes
1/2 cup pearled barley (optional)
4 cups vegetable broth (organic, low-sodium if possible)
4 cups water
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp thyme


What you do:
1. Put the 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in your soup pot (a regular dutch oven that comes with pretty much every cooking set will work -- it will just be really full).

2. Add your onions and garlic, and saute on low heat while you cut up the rest of your vegetables, open your cans, etc.

3. Add your vegetable broth to the pot (but hold off on the water -- I will explain in a second).

4. Turn the heat to high and add your vegetables, beans, barley and spices, then stir.

5. Now that you have everything but the water in your pot, you can determine how much room you have left and add water accordingly. Four cups of water will fill a regular dutch oven to just below the top, which is fine as long as you aren't prone to boiling things over, but by adding your water last, you can see how high the level is in your pot and add water accordingly.

6. Once you have achieved a rolling boil, turn your heat down to a nice simmer that you feel comfortable leaving alone. Allow your vegan soup to simmer until the beans and veggies reach your desired level of tenderness -- for me, this is about an hour, but it can be up to 1 1/2 hours if I'm using older beans.

That's pretty much it -- see how easy that was? Now you just kick back and relax for an hour or so, checking on your soup every so often to stir and see how soft your beans and veggies are.


Mixing it up:

For a fat-free vegan soup, simply nix the vegetable oil. You can toss the onions and garlic in the pot with the rest of the veggies and it will cook up just fine.

I use low-sodium vegetable broth and we have never felt a need to add salt. So, this flavorful little number is good for folks on a low-sodium diet. Just remember that if you use canned beans there may be salt added.

The pearled barley isn't necessary, we just really like a hearty soup, and this recipe was an offshoot of my barley bean soup recipe, so we just decided to leave some barley in there. Folks on a gluten-free diet can cut the barley out and still have a tasty vegan bean and vegetable soup.

_I felt like eating soup yesterday, but wasn't in much of a mood for doing a lot of cooking -- so I threw together this easy vegan lentil soup recipe and let it simmer in my slow cooker for about six hours.


Easy Vegan Lentil Soup Recipe

What you need:
4 cups vegetable broth (organic, low-sodium if possible)
6 cups water
4 carrots
3 celery stalks
2 cups lentils (washed and sorted)
1/2 of a medium onion
1-2 garlic cloves (depending on how much you like garlic - I used two.)
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon cumin
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon olive oil (optional)


What you do:
1. Chop onions, carrot, garlic and celery.
2. Heat olive oil (if using) in a pan.
3. Saute onions and celery.
4. Put all ingredients in the slow cooker, and let it do it's thing for about six hours.

That's it!

You can include the garlic when you start cooking everything else, but to receive the most healthful benefits from the garlic, it is better to wait until close to the end of cooking to add it.

When you are ready to add your garlic, chop it up, and then let it sit for about 10 minutes before adding it to whatever you are cooking. This allows time for allicin to form, which is the sulfur-based compound that is credited with most of the health benefits of garlic.

I'm not entirely thrilled with the RSS feed option provided on this blog platform, so I have added a new email subscription option (via FeedBurner).

You can now subscribe to this blog and receive a daily email with the latest posts, allowing you to stay up to date on vegan deals, vegan coupons, store sales, DIY goodness and more.

I hope this will make following the blog a bit more convenient for folks!

You can enter your email in the box on the sidebar, or click on this link to subscribe:

Thanks!
AJ

_Here is the third installment of the mini-series I am currently working on to share some easy ways to make extra money (or earn gift cards and products) online. This one pays cold, hard cash (or at least cold, hard digital cash by way of PayPal deposits) by the end of the next business day, so it is a great way to earn extra cash fast. I know one person who uses this site as part of her regular income-earning activities on a daily basis, as well as several who pick up some extra gigs through this site in between freelance projects. I've also tested it out myself, so I can verify that it is legit, pays on time and is an easy way to pick up short tasks whenever you feel like earning a few extra bucks.

What it is: CloudCrowd is a workspace where you get paid for completing tasks, such as writing articles and product descriptions, finding quotes online, editing or data entry. While this is still what most people would likely consider low-paying work, they did just increase the pay offered for different projects -- and they offer small bonuses. According to their site, workers can now earn $15-$25 per hour. The big plus on this one is that they pay either the same day or the next day (via PayPal), so if you are in a tight spot and need some fast money, this is one site where you can get it.

How to Earn: You must have a Facebook account. Complete tasks, including writing articles, writing product descriptions, creating resumes, summarizing business guides, evaluating website experiences, verifying data, data entry, translation, performing research tasks, editing documents and more.

Rewards: Money! (deposited in your PayPal account by the end of the next business day)

My Experience: I signed up for CloudCrowd just to check it out -- and confirm that it was legit -- before recommending it to others. I completed a few tasks and was paid promptly. I typically stay a bit too busy with my freelance work to hit up sites like this for extra money, so I have not spent a lot of time there, but I can definitely see how people could easily use CloudCrowd to make money between gigs or as a side job. It's definitely staying on my list of possibilities.

Getting Started: Sign up here. Remember: You must have a Facebook account in order to pick up easy gigs off of CloudCrowd. If you do not have one, you can sign up for free.