The Urban Canning Company – St. Pete, FL

Lance and I did our wedding registry different than most people.  We live in a tiny condo and it doesn’t have a square inch of space left for stuff.  Plus, since he works for Macy’s, he already gets a big discount on most things you’d see on a traditional registry.  So when I came across this website Zola, I was really excited!  You can register for anything you want, and even set up cash funds for experiences.  Plus, it keeps track of everyone’s addresses & what they bought you for thank-you notes which I love.

One of the things we put on our registry was money towards The Urban Canning Company.  It’s a local company that makes the BEST jams you’ll ever have.  They also have really great mustards that they sell at Green Bench Brewing, and pickled veggies (I’m not as big on pickled foods, but Lance is pretty excited about them). 

They are $10 a jar, which is a splurge for us, but it’s 1000% better than your boring Smuckers jellies.  They have unique flavor combinations and everything is natural.  They don’t use artificial preservatives, dyes, or any artificial ingredients.  Plus, you’re supporting a local business, and I’m all for that. 

My friend Lynn Pham, who runs the restaurant Bamboozle, was super sweet to contribute towards our wedding registry fund for The Urban Canning Company!  And while we aren’t getting married until next April, I didn’t wait to wait until then to redeem our gift. 

Now that I have weekends off I can actually go to our local farmers markets.  St. Pete has a fantastic one on Saturday mornings – even during the summer it draws a huge crowd.  I ended up getting a nice variety of canned goodies – Mixed Berry & Thyme Jam, Smoked Paprika Tomato & Basil Jam, Surrealist IPA Sour Beer Pickles, Strawberry Bourbon & Vanilla Jam, and Blueberry Lavender & Vanilla Jam.  I can’t wait to make the most exciting PB&J sandwich ever for work on Monday. 

 

Another thing I love about The Urban Canning Company is that they themselves support local businesses.  The beer they use in the pickles is an IPA from Green Bench Brewing (one of Lance’s favorite beers…) and the produce is locally sourced.  You can read more about them on their Etsy page. 

If you don’t live here in the Tampa Bay area, you can actually purchase some of their canned goods on Etsy.  They even give you food pairing suggestions. 

And for you local people, go buy their products at these locations:

-      Brew D Licious - 667 Central Ave. – St. Pete, FL - carries a variety of their artisan jams.

-      Green Bench Brewing Co. – 1133 Baum Ave. - St. Pete, FL – carries their mustard, and serves it in their tasting room.  Also serving Surrealist IPA Sour Beer Pickles.

-      Duckweed Urban Market – 803 N Tampa Street - Downtown Tampa, FL – carries a variety of their artisan jams, mustards and pickles.

-      Squeeze Juice Works – 675 30 Ave. N - St. Pete, FL – serves their pickles on their grab-n-go menu items, carries a variety of their artisanal jams and pickles.

-      Rare Hues – 10005 N Dale Mabry Hwy Tampa 33618 – carries a variety of their artisanal jams.

-      Local Public House + Provisions – 32750 Pennsylvania Ave. San Antonio, FL – http://www.sanannlocal.com/ - carries a variety of their artisanal jams.

FARMERS MARKET SCHEDULE: (check their websites for updated information)

-      SATURDAY MORNING MARKET
AL Lang Stadium Parking Lot 1 Ave. S + 1 Street - St. Pete, FL
9am-2pm every Saturday October – May, moved to Williams Park June – August (this is where I picked up the jams this morning)

-       

-      ST. PETE INDIE MARKET AT THE LOCAL 662
662 Central Ave. - St. Pete, FL
12-6pm First Saturday of every month.

-      HYDE PARK FRESH MARKET
742 South Village Circle - Tampa, FL
10am-3pm First Sunday of every month.

-      FRESH MARKET AT WIREGRASS
28211 Paseo Dr. - Wesley Chapel, FL
10am-2pm First Saturday of every month.

-     SEMINOLE HEIGHTS SUNDAY MORNING MARKET
The front lawn of Hillsborough High School
5000 N. Central Ave. Tampa, FL 33603
9am - 2pm The second Sunday of every month (this summer through September it’s actually 11am – 4pm at Southern Brewing & Wine Making on Nebraska Ave)

Save Money with the Ibotta App

I always try to be thrifty when I shop – we get the Sunday paper so we can clip coupons, and I love Publix and Winn Dixie BOGOs.  But the thing I hate about most coupons in the paper is that most of the savings are for products I’d never buy – or you have to buy so many it’s not worth it. 

But recently, I discovered an awesome app called Ibotta.  It’s available free for iPhone or Android.  It has hundreds of coupons, and the best part is that many of them are for foods you’d buy normally at the store, like eggs, milk, cereal, fruits and vegetables.  They do have some brand name coupons like Kashi granola bars and Blue Diamond almonds, but the coupons I use most are for the “Any Brand” items. 

You can use them at pretty much any store (unfortunately Trader Joe’s isn’t on the list…but locally I can get rebates from Walmart, Publix, Target, Winn-Dixie, Whole Foods, Fresh Market, and more).  They even have rebates for purchases you make at stores like Express, Sephora, and JCPenney. 

You have to answer a survey question, learn a fact, or watch a video to get the coupon.  Then when you buy something, you scan your items & upload your receipt to claim your money.  Once you reach $10, you can send it to your PayPal or Venmo account, or you can get the cash on a gift card to Walmart, Amazon, Starbucks, Best Buy, Express, Aeropostle, Regal Cinemas, or iTunes. 

I’ve had the app for less than 2 months and I’ve already made $23.85 off it without buying anything that wouldn’t already be on my list. One of the best coupons so far was $5 off a 6-pack of Shock Top (which only costs about $7, so that was pretty cheap beer).  Most of the food rebates are only for 20-50 cents, but when it’s food you already plan to buy, it really adds up.  Plus, you can combine it with store or manufacturer coupons, so if you have a coupon on a certain brand of cereal, you can get an even bigger discount with the Ibotta rebate.    

 

They also have team challenges (for instance, this month, I can get $2 free if I redeem $5 in rebates and my team gets $10 in rebates…)  So the more people on your team, the easier it is to get the bonus money. 

If you download the app, join my team by using the referral code “iadctyo”.  I’d highly recommend it!    

Trader Joe’s Wild Marinated Soy Ginger Cod

 

We always pick up new exciting foods on our Trader Joe’s trips.  Last time, we bought their Wild Marinated Soy Ginger Cod filets.  You can prepare them in the microwave, oven, or pan fry them – we baked them and it was so easy & delicious! 

We paired the fish with a caprese salad made with Trader Joe’s (Trader Giotto’s) marinated mozzarella cheese, which is soaked in olive oil and Italian spices.  The whole dinner took about 15 minutes to prepare!

Trader Joe's is located at 3808 W Swann Ave, Tampa, FL 33609 and is open 8am – 9pm every day.

Picnic at Honeymoon Island & Barley Mow Brewing

 

Lance’s sister & brother in law, Brandi & Jeremy, got us an awesome grill for Christmas, and we’ve been so busy we haven’t had the chance to use it until we brought it to Honeymoon Island the other day!  Before, we only had our little George Foreman, but this one is great because it’s compact enough for our small porch and it’s portable.

Last time we went to Honeymoon Island was back in 2011 – we had only been dating a month, and we took the ferry from there to Caladesi Island.  That was in the summer, so it was beautiful weather, but we didn’t plan for how cold it would be this time!  The highs were in the 50’s, but with the wind it felt more like the 40’s.  Luckily I brought a jacket, but it wasn’t really beach weather.  The ferry to Caladesi was closed due to the high wind. 

Originally we thought we’d set up by the water, but we moved to a picnic shelter to keep warm and make sure the grill stayed lit.    

 

Like most of our picnics, we made a run to Trader Joe’s first to pick up some food.  We bought their Spicy Italian Vino & Formaggio Chicken Sausages, baked beans, corn, peppers, and onions to grill.  We were going to just get some normal hot dog buns, but we saw that TJ’s had soft pretzel sticks, which was so much more exciting!  We topped the sausages with the veggies and Double Cream Gouda cheese (I also love the smoked gouda cheese at TJ’s!) 

We grilled the corn with Sriracha Kaffir Lime Rub from Williams Sonoma (a gift from my cousin Chris and his wife Marty). 

As an impulse buy, we bought some nuts to snack on – Thai Lime & Chili Cashews and Sesame Honey Almonds.  WOW they are both delicious.  The cashews at first bite didn’t seem all that spicy, but the chili hits you after a few seconds – make sure you have something to drink with these.  And the sesame almonds were really filling – they’d be a good snack to hold you over between meals. 

 

We had planned to grill pineapple as well, but we had way too much food already.  We walked it off on the Osprey Trail, which was a really nice little hike.  We saw an eagle in its nest – then another one joined carrying a fish!  There were also a bunch of armadillos along the trail. 

 

 

Lance’s niece, Lila, sent us a “Flat Stanley” a few weeks ago.  We had to bring him on adventures and document his experiences in a journal, then mail him back to her class in Pittsburgh so she could talk about his trip.  One of the pages asked what the landscape looked like in our area compared to Pennsylvania, so we brought him to the beach with us. 

 

Afterwards we checked another brewery off our map by visiting Barley Mow Brewing Company in Largo.  We kept hearing great things about their beer, and we weren’t disappointed.  The people were very friendly, and it was clear a lot of the patrons there were regulars. 

A photographer from Visit St. Pete Clearwater was there taking pictures of their Quackalope IPA, so Lance got a free beer for letting them take shots of him drinking one (I don’t think they’re online yet, but I did find a really great video they posted last month about the Craft Beer Trail!)

I especially liked the Son of a Seabiscuit – which is a sweet amber beer brewed with Serrano peppers.  I probably couldn’t drink more than one, but the small taste in the flight was the perfect way to warm up from the chilly weather. 

 

 

Honeymoon Island is located at 1 Causeway Blvd, Dunedin, FL 34698.

Barley Mow is located at 518 W Bay Dr, Largo, FL 33770 and is open 3pm – 2am Monday – Friday and 12pm – 2am Saturday – Sunday.