Bottle Caps: Good for Things Besides Drinking Games by Brookidy

I’m a Diet Coke addict. Seriously. When people at meetings ask how I take my coffee, I tell them, “in a Diet Coke can”. I drink 6-7 full glasses a day, and there’s one on the nightstand when I go to bed. I prefer it chilled, then poured over ice in an insulated cup so that the melting ice doesn’t dilute the pure, delicious flavor. I’m a junkie, it’s my crack, and I don’t care that it’s probably not that good for me.

Since my hubs suffers from the same addiction, I usually purchase ten to twelve 2-liter bottles per week. (I know it’s expensive – more on that later.) One day, while accidentally paying attention to what I was doing, I noticed a tiny code inscribed on the inside of the bottle cap.

Being a hardcore conspiracy theorist, I immediately assumed that the bottle was outfitted with some sort of tracking device, and promptly set it on fire. After my husband finished scraping the molten plastic from the bathtub, he calmly informed me that the code was part of the My Coke Rewards promotion, which he had been participating in behind my back for months.

Since he is quite possibly the cheapest man on the planet, the hubs had become obsessed with entering the codes at mycokerewards.com in the hope of accumulating enough points to get something for free. I assumed that the choices would be as follows: Coke T-shirts, Coke glasses, Coke cooler… anything branded with the Coke logo that I could carry around, making me an unwitting marketing tool for the man.

Wrong. The website does have lots of Coke branded merchandise, but it also has a lot of really useful, even cool stuff. Around Christmas of last year, we had accumulated over 3000 Coke points. I used a very small amount of them (150, I think) to order customized photo coffee mugs from Snapfish.com. My parents and in-laws loved them. And they were free.

Feeling flush from success, I continued entering codes weekly, saving up for something bigger, better, and most importantly, for myself. The payoff came earlier this week. I entered a few codes, then decided to browse the available awards. Jackpot: 2000 points got me a $50 Nike gift card. I had been pondering the purchase of a new pair of kicks anyway, so the prospect of a $50 savings sealed the deal. I purchased the card, and was immediately given a discount code good for use at Nikestore.com. No snail mail, no shipping fee, no 4-6 week processing time. Instant gratification, it’s what our generation demands. I got my new shoes, saved $50, and even got free shipping from Nike. No gas for a trip to the mall, no pushy sock upsell from the bishes at Lady Foot Locker, no $6 impulse trip to Cinnabon’s.

You may be wondering, “why should I spend $400 to get $50”. Listen, I buy a lot of shit that gives me JACK in return, so anything is a good thing. If you’re going to be buying the product anyway, you may as well let the company give you something for your loyalty. Sure, it takes a while to accumulate enough points for anything super, but it’s worth it. And, you’ll probably find that a lot of your friends, neighbors, and co-workers don’t save their caps, so you can take theirs and accumulate rewards at no cost to you.

As happy as I am with my freebies, I recently had to end my relationship with Diet Coke. I’m now buying the Publix brand “Diet Cola”, or the Sam’s Choice at Wal-Mart. It took some time to get used to, but now I really like the taste. Why? Diet Coke is going for about $1.75, and last week the Publix brand was 2 for $1.00. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Until I can afford to go back to my longtime lovah, I will continue to scrounge trash cans at the ball park, looking for forgotten caps, saving up to buy a subscription to O, The Oprah Magazine (257 points).

A Luxe Dinner for Two a la the Prettiest Pretty Princess

This is my favorite go-to meal when I want a sumptuous mouth party without a lot of fuss, prep, cleanup, or expense. In order to come in under budget there’s an assumption that you have some basic cooking paraphenalia in your lovely cupboards. Note: I usually just make this for myself with one steak and I get to have leftover veggies, but if you have someone you’d like to treat to a yummy meal, it’s a perfect date night dinner. If you already have most of the ingredients the dinner is less than $15 and both people will be VERY satisfied.

Purchase:

• 1-2 pre-packaged bacon-wrapped filets ($3.50-$3.99 each at Kroger)
• 1 Bag of cut vegetables (carrots, broccoli, cauliflower)
• 1 bottle of Red wine to cook with and serve
• 1 Lemon
• On hand: Salt Black Pepper Hot Sauce Garlic Olive Oil Possibly Veg oil Dill Weed (fresh is better, if you don’t mind paying for it!)
• Teryaki sauce, soy sauce (or worcestershire sauce)
• Mayo or Miracle whip
• Rinse one cup of Basmati rice in a pot to get any starch out by adding water, swirl, pour the water out, and repeat until all the water rinses clear. Cook the rice (with 2 cups of water) in your rice steamer. (For extra flavor, add 1-2 tablespoons of vegetable oil to the water and 3 pinches of salt before you turn on the rice steamer, or skip this step if you are trying to cook healthy).
• Note: Adding red pepper flakes to your rice before you cook it adds a yummy extra kick for no additional calories! Try it some time.

If you do not have a rice steamer, you can cook on the stove in a pot following these instructions:   http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Basmati-Rice-232006

Relax with a glass of wine for the next 15-20 mins. (Trashy Butt In:  This is my fave intsruction.)

Heat 1-2 tablespoon of olive oil in a small sautee pan over low-med heat. Using a garlic press, press one clove of garlic into the oil and sautee for 2 minutes. I always squeeze the clove and use a butter knife to slice off the garlic bits that come out of the press to tidily get the garlic particles into the pan. This is cleaner and requires less touching than either thinly slicing the garlic or grating it on the small holes of a cheese grater, which is what you will need to do if you do NOT have a fabulous soft-grip garlic press.

Add black pepper to the oil. I use a LOT of pepper, but you know how much you like, so use that much. If you like freshly ground pepper and have a pepper grinder, use it. Add a teaspoon of Sriracha sauce, chili paste, chili sauce, Louisiana Hot Sauce, or whatever hot sauce you have on hand as long as it is NOT SWEET. If you do not have any useful hot sauce, add red pepper flakes to the pan. If you do not like spicy food, just stick with the black pepper and get a grip. (Just kidding, I love my bland sisters too!)

Add a tablespoon of Teryaki sauce and half a tablespoon of soy sauce to the pan. Turn the heat up to medium. Take your bacon-wrapped filet and place it into the pan. (NOTE: I hate bacon and usually remove it and throw it away before cooking. If you have a dog, the bacon might be a nice treat for him.)

Add 2-4 tablespoons of either red or white wine. Cover and cook each side for 3 minutes (for a total cook time of 6-7 mins). GO TO VEGGIE STEP WHILE MEAT IS COOKING. Remove from heat and let the meat REST for a few minutes before serving. Puncture your bag of vegetables and microwave for 3 minutes. While it is cooking, whisk 3 tablespoons of low-fat mayo with the juice from half a lemon and a teaspoon of fresh dill. When the veggies have finished steaming in the microwave mix the mayo/dill/lemon juice fully with the vegetables. This is YUMMY. Miracle whip instead of mayo is also good. You can adjust the ratio of these ingredients up or down to taste, depending if you prefer creamier or more tart. Alternates to the veggie sauce: You can just drizzle the veggies with lemon juice or spritz with ‘I can’t believe it’s not butter’ spray. Everything should now be done cooking all at once. Serve the rice with the steak placed on top (with juice!) and arrange the veggies to the side. Squeeze a bit of lemon juice over the steaks. Serve with red wine OR Pear Cider to lighten up the flavor.

Alternate to sauteeing the steak: Marinade the steak for 3 hours in the sauce described above. Rub the dry ingredients (pressed garlic, pepper) into the steak before adding the wet ingredients to the marinade, leaving out the olive oil entirely. Broil in the oven in a GRILL PAN for 3 minutes on each side. ALWAYS let your steak rest for 3-5 minutes after you take it off the heat before serving.

Email me at PrettyPrincessG@gmail.com if you have any questions or want other ideas for substitutions! -PrettyPrettyPrincess