Tag Archives: Sam’s Club

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My simple Pasta Salad – HaliPawz

Italian Dressing, Rotini, Colby Jack

You can read the whole story of my experience with Crouton Cups and Pasta Salad here, but I thought I would share my recipe for my favorite pasta salad. I’m not a fan of salads made with mayonnaise, so I like the freshness of this one.  It’s pretty quick to make and goes quickly at every event I take it too.

Italian Dressing, Rotini, Colby Jack

Simple, Fresh, Pasta Salad with Bacon, Cucumber, and Cheese

Ingredients:

Pasta – I generally use Barilla Tri-Color Rotini but I have used Wal-Mart’s Great Value as well.

Italian Dressing – I have always used Wishbone Robusto Italian Dressing but this past one, I used Olive Garden’s Italian Dressing because that’s what Sam’s Club had and I didn’t want to go anywhere else. I liked it ok but will stick with the Wishbone in the future. If you’re a fan of Olive Garden, you’ll like either one.

Bacon – Just eliminate if you want vegetarian style

Cucumber

Colby Jack Cheese – I do the block of cheese from Sam’s Club and cut it to save some money, but you can also buy the cubes.  You can mix sharp cheddar cubes and Colby Jack cubes as well.

If you use the block cheese, I highly recommend a great cheese knife. I use the wavy pampered chef one, but couldn’t find it on their site to share, so not sure if it’s still available.

cheese knife, michigan, cutting, board

Pampered Chef Cheese Knife on Michigan Cutting Board

I throw the bacon on my Pampered Chef bar pan on 350 degrees.  After about 20-25 minutes, I check it.  For this salad, you’ll want it more on the crispy side, so it may take a little longer or shorter depending on your oven and how crispy you want it.
While the bacon is in the oven, I start my water to boiling. Prepare your pasta to the directions on the box.  Drain and rinse with cold water.

In a large bowl, add about a quarter of the dressing to the pasta.

Peel the cucumber and cut into small bite size pieces.  I generally quarter it lengthwise then slice it. Add to the pasta, stir.

Next add your cheese.  Again, bite size.  Big enough to taste the cheese though. Stir in about another quarter of the dressing bottle at this time.

Stir well then cover and place in the refrigerator until the bacon cools and you can add it.  This gives the pasta time to absorb the dressing.

Once the bacon is ready, if you went extra crispy, just crumble it into the salad. I like mine crispy, but not crumbly, so I usually tear and crumble.

Add more dressing, stir, and place back in the refrigerator.

As I have said, I am not a “pretty” cook.  My dishes don’t look perfectly made, things aren’t evenly sliced, but for me, as long as it tastes great, I’m happy!

Leave in the refrigerator for at least one to two hours, giving time for the pasta to truly take on the flavor of the dressing.  You can prepare it the day before, just add a little more dressing in the morning.

Before serving, add a little more dressing to keep it from tasting dry, stir it up again.  Taste.  If you want more flavor, add more dressing.

I usually use one whole bottle (16 oz) per box of pasta.  Just remember to not add as much the day you are preparing if you are serving it the following day.

I will add, I don’t think the Olive Garden dressing sticks to the pasta as well as the Wishbone dressing does. It tasted good the first day but I could barely taste it the next night.  I was surprised because, to me, the Olive Garden dressing has a little bite to it.

Either way, it is a great salad for a hot day.  Fresh and, with the cucumber, nice and crisp.

Enjoy!

If you like this and want to stay up to date with my posts, follow me on Twitter @HaliPawz  or Like me on Facebook.com/HaliPawz 

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Shopping Safely, Online and In Person – HaliPawz

Online Auction
Shopping can be a sport to some, a pain to others.  I have to admit, I’m not a shopper except at Christmas time, then I love to shop!  When I do shop, for the most part, I will do a lot of it online.  Sometimes it is easier to find what I am looking for online.  For example, Luke, my horse, is a draft horse, so I can’t just walk into any tack shop & buy stuff for him.  Sometimes, it is easier to purchase items from smaller companies than it is from a big box company.  Because of this, you want to make sure you are being SAFE and SMART with your purchases.
Here are some tips:
1.  Whenever possible, look for the little padlock icon in the URL (where it says  http://www…..). That padlock tells you the company is using a secure website.  It is more secure, your information is more protected.
padlock icon
Notice the padlock next to the word “PayPal”
2.  If it’s not a secure site, use PayPal or Google Wallet. Both of them offer the consumer protection against fraud.  Make sure you read their terms and conditions.  Understand there are time limits to request your funds back.  Scammers know the terms and conditions better than you do, so if they are dishonest, they will try to stretch it past that time or try to catch you up and get you to do something that goes against the company policy.  You are responsible for knowing all the details.  I wish I could say everyone is good and honest, but in reality, they aren’t.
3.  Never Never Never wire someone money.  If they don’t use the above, you don’t want what they are selling.  I wish I could say this more than once or have you repeat it over and over.  They will come up with great reasons why you should wire the money.  DO NOT LISTEN!   The same is true for using money orders.  Keep the same mindset.
4.  The old adage “If something is too good to be true….” Definitely applies here.  Sometimes the cheapest isn’t the best.  Make sure to look for hidden “maintenance” fees or outrageous shipping.  One example of this happening is with online contact lens companies.  They will advertise crazy inexpensive pricing for their contacts, when you go to check out, there will be ridiculous shipping charges or a “maintenance fee” tacked on.  It might have another name, like “processing fee.”  No matter what cute name they put on it, it adds to the price and it might not be cheaper.  Too often, by the time you get to that point, you see the amount but you have already put in your information and you don’t want the hassle of starting over.  They capitalize on the psychology of some behavior and still get the business.
4.  Auctions are another great way to get something for a good, or even great, price. I use them often, but again, use only secure sites or PayPal, etc.  Do your homework. Don’t get so caught up in the bidding that you end up spending more than you can find it elsewhere for.  Take a minute, look up the item online, see what price you can get it for, then pick a price you’re willing to spend and don’t go over it.  A lot of the better auction sites offer proxy bidding so you can put in the price you’re willing to spend and then walk away. Have the mindset you might lose, but you’ll be happy if you win.  One of my favorite online auction is Samsclub.com.  This is a fun one because you know the product, you know it’s backed by the company, and, for the most part, it is all brand new merchandise.  It made it to the auction because the item is low in the club or the on hand numbers on-line are too low to keep it on their website, so they move it to the auction to clear it out. For the dog and horse owners, another great one is Horseloverz.com.  One nice feature is you can wait up to four days to actually purchase your winning items, so if you’re bidding on quite a few items, you can pay for them all at once and have them shipped out with less shipping costs.  It is a little messy to wade through all of the items, but once you get comfortable with it, you can learn to use the filters to find what you are looking for.  It’s not as easy to find the dog stuff, but they have it from time to time, so keep checking back, items vary all the time.  Another tried and true site you can find a variety of items is ebay.com.  If you have any other favorites, please put them in the comments below to share with the readers.
5.  When I do shop in person, I like to support small businesses so I always make sure to grab their business card the first time.  Some of the them now use PayPal Here, square trade, or some other form of mobile credit card processing.  Sometimes these are connected to a smart phone or tablet.  It doesn’t mean they are not safe, but if you don’t recognize the company they are using, it is OK to ask them.  Pay attention to your credit card statements.
6. If at a Brick & Mortar (Wal-Mart, Target, etc) always always run your card as credit, not debit (even if it is a debit card).  By doing this, you are protecting yourself from someone seeing you key in your pin.  The person standing beside you on their phone “texting” could be snapping pictures of your credit card and memorizing your pin.  It also protects you more as a consumer.
7.  Make sure you have complicated passwords for anything and anyplace you would be putting your personal info into. This includes social media. If you use a smart phone to shop, always lock it (you should anyway) and don’t use 1,2,3,4 as a password. Make it something only YOU know, not family & friends. Don’t use birthday!  LOL  It is important to use something unique.
8.  Trust your gut! If something seems shady, don’t buy! No purchase is worth it.
9. Last, but not least, if you are truly concerned, get a second card / account that you use for online shopping / small business purchases.  Be careful of the fees that are involved.  I don’t do this because I follow the above steps. I probably purchase 60+% of non food / household items online.  It saves me time & allows for me to find the best price.
Oh….bonus tip….if you find something online that you really like from a larger company, put it in the shopping cart but don’t purchase.  A lot of times, within 24 hours you’ll get a “Did you forget something?” Email and they’ll offer free shipping with a code.  I hardly ever pay for shipping or very little.  Also check the site “RetailMeNot” for specials or just google the Business name with the word coupon after it and you may find some online. They don’t always work, but it’s worth a shot!
I hope these tips help! Happy shopping!
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Organization: Code Pantry

I hate mice! Seriously hate mice. I have been battling a mouse problem for a couple of months now. I think it’s time to bring in an expert.

Always one to look at the positive, this problem has kickstarted me into cleaning / organizing my house. Visit my tips for organization: Organization for a Messy Person

Because of the rodent problem, I decided to start with my pantry. It helps that my mom bought me the Oxo soft works 12 piece kit from Sam’s Club for Christmas. I wanted the Oxo brand because I did a lot of research on the Internet and was impressed with their ratings as well as the fact they were square & rectangular instead of round. I liked the pop top feature. As I opened it, was so happy with the size varieties in the pack. Too often, when you buy the multiple piece kits you end up with a bunch of useless sizes. Not the case with this pack. Sam’s Club 12 piece Oxo Pack

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I loved that Oxo included a booklet with suggestions as to what would fit in it each canister. Since I am not an organized person, I’m not great at figuring those things out. Using the guide Oxo provided, I was able to put some thought into each one and maximize the set.

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I also made out labels of the key items I wanted to put in the containers. By doing this, I could pick the ones I needed for each item and was able to best utilize each container. Is it perfect? Of course not, I am NOT the perfect organizer. Is it perfect for me? YES. The best part is now the mice will not smell all the pantry goodies and hopefully stay out of there. Of course, I’ll keep using the peppermint spray and Altoids! 😄

Even though I labeled most of the items, I also put a recipe on the French’s French Fried Onions (also purchased at Sam’s Club) container so I would have it handy. If I try it and don’t like it, I’ll just throw the recipe away.

I still need a couple more containers. Now I just need to decide if I’m going to buy them individually or just purchase another 12 piece set from Sam’s Club.

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