Just wish to let my readers know that Prohomemaker was hacked briefly today in which the site would forward to another one. But the problem has been fixed today, and additional safety precautions taken. Thank you to those readers who let me know, and please know we were on it like flies on you know what.

I love recipes that are incredibly easy but still deliver bang-up results, and I found a new one last night for chicken breasts on allrecipes.com. I read the reviews and altered the recipe accordingly, but was so surprised that five ingredients could net a dang-good dinner that took zero brain power.

I served the chicken breasts over rice (made simple with this recipe) and a vegetable on the side (this time I did broccoli), and I was done. The best part was I didn’t even need to defrost the boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but you could easily adapt it for fresh, bone-in ones. And the results were wonderful!

Try this recipe next time you are not in the mood to cook, but want a comforting dinner.

Creamy Chicken Breasts

Ingredients

Four frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 10.75 oz. can of Cream of Chicken soup
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 a packet of onion soup mix
Two splashes of milk to thin slightly

Directions:

1. Spray 9-12 inch casserole dish with Pam or oil lightly.
2. Put frozen breasts in dish.
3. In a small mixing bowl, combine cream of chicken soup, onion soup, sour cream and two splashes of milk.
4. Pour soup mixture over breasts.
5. Bake at 325 degrees, uncovered for 55 minutes.

To serve: Place breasts over cooked rice, spoon extra sauce over and garnish with parsley or a dash of paprika, and vegetable on the side. Voila! Dinner in an hour!

Note: For fresh, bone-in chicken breasts, raise oven temperature to 350 and bake for 35-40 minutes.

Hopefully you will never need this information, but I did this week, when my wallet was stolen from my car. Sure, it’s a pain — new driver’s license, re-ordering credit cards, etc., but it’s also an easy way in which to get your “identity” stolen.

Think about it — the bad guy has your name, address, birth date, and probably a lot more personal information. It would be simple to take that and order items online, open new accounts or even order a new cell phone (as happened to a friend of mine).

But there is a simple way to protect yourself.

The police officer who took the burglary report advised me to contact all three major credit bureaus — Trans Union, Experian and Equifax — and instruct them to put what is known as a “fraud alert” on my name and aspects of my identification.

This is a free service, and provides you with so much protection. The fraud alert was instantaneous, flagging my personal information for 90 days of the possibility of fraud. If someone now attempts to gain credit with my name, I will be called to verify that it is indeed me.

I completed the process online, as well as through automated services for two of the other credit bureaus. It took all of about 15 minutes, but it was a small price to pay in terms of time that I would not be a crime victim again in the future.

Feel free to share this information. I never knew, and am glad I know now.

I’ve been using coupons with a vengence for about three years now, and am saving thousands of dollars every year and have more food and sundry items than ever before. In this time, I learned that couponing is a skill that can save a lot of money, and requires only a little bit of knowledge and about an hour to 90 minutes a week in prep time.

I am always surprised when people don’t think it’s worth their time to use coupons. Look at this shop from today. I spent only $22.86! That was 71 percent off! Among other items, this included 4 pounds of boneless chicken breasts, 2 pounds of ground turkey, 5 Healthy Choice entrees, a nearly 2 pound bag of frozen Taquitos, Progresso soup, etc. If I had just shopped the specials — without coupons — this same shop would have cost $47.17 — more than 50 percent more. (By the way, I got the Quaker snacks, Gatorade, and Yakasobi noodles for free. The Progresso soups were only 27 cents each for three cans!)

I’ve learned over the years that the newspapers flyers give you some great coupons, but if you want to net the big savings, you need to add in three more venues for high-value coupons — the Internet, Facebook, and online saving specials.

Let me explain these areas:

Anyone who wants to save money or who is facing tough times should use coupons. I literally save more than $3,000 a year for a family of two. Doesn’t make any difference? Wouldn’t that help you pay off a credit card, or maybe help a lot on a car payment?

I hope these tips help you to refine your skills so you can save even more. I tell you, it’s fun! Even the cashier today told me how good I did. You can do it, too, see the “Coupon Shopping” and Grocery Store Tactics” link on my web site for more.

I love these kind of challenges! Can one person eat breakfast, lunch and dinner for a week for $25? Yes, it can be done — and the food will last more than a week!

I have several friends who are single-person households who are not big converts to using coupons, so I added to the challenge that I had to make it as easy as possible. My strategy? Combine in-ad coupons, with grocery store specials and Internet coupons. So all they will need to do is rip the coupons from the ad and use their printer at home.

But this time, unlike my last challenge, I added in that they must only have to visit one store. And I still did it! Sure, they may need to visit a farmer’s market for a vegetable or two, and they may wish to add in milk, but I am sure it will still end up under $30. That’s still only $120 for a month.

But the best part is several of the purchases are stock-up buys, meaning the price hit so low it’s time to think week’s ahead. That brings the savings back to $25 easily.

The final result — this shop saves them 50 percent off the same bill if they were not smart shopping! (I went today, and my savings for my similar purchases was 69 percent, because I also used newspaper coupons, but we are going to go baby steps.)

But just using this shopping strategy, here are the numbers:

$49.96 in merchandise for only $24.73!

The store this week is Vons (Safeway in many other parts of the country), and here are the items to buy (click the headline to print out this post individually for a shopping list). Also, to print the coupons, click the link where it says “with this coupon” and you will be taken to the site. You may need to install the coupon printer, but let me tell you, it’s easy and will save you a lot of money.

So, let’s get saving!:

Final price – 99 cents (when you use this coupon – enter 92025 for ZIP code)

Final price – 99 cents (when you use this coupon and buy 5 participating juice products)

Final price – 99 cents (when you use this coupon and print twice, and buy 5 participating juice products)

Final price - $1.49 (no coupon but part of the “Buy 5, Save 5″ deal)

Final price – 99 cents each (when you use this coupon - must buy 5)

Final price - $2 (when you use this coupon and it doubles)

Also be sure and clip the in-ad coupons with a minimum $10 purchase and get these great deals:

Here are my favorites with the coupon price:

I loved doing this post, in hopes that will help my friends, but it also goes to show you how a little planning can reap lots of savings. I specifically went off the grocery-saving lists found at the Grocery Gathering blog (just look on the left for Grocery Store Specials), which lists numerous specials state-by-state, and store-by-store. Check it out for more savings!

I know a lot of people have yet to jump on the couponing bandwagon (even though it is easy with sites, such as Couponmom and saves a lot of money), but anyone can benefit from the new wonder — E-coupons.

Look at this haul from tonight, including two gallons of milk, two Coffeemates, four boxes of Cherrios, Olay lotion, potatoes, carrots, cheese slices, snacks, a frozen pizza and even a frozen dinner entree. $85 in groceries for … $29! That’s a $55 savings!

I used my standard strategies, which is to combine store specials, with store coupons, with manufacturer coupons (both newspaper and Internet). But I started adding in one more saving strategy — E-coupons tied directly to your store club card.

The best news is now the stores are adding E-coupons available on their web sites! So before the shop, I stopped by my store’s site (Vons.com), added its E-coupons onto my Club card, and then went on over to Shortcuts.com, Cellfire.com and P&G.com for Proctor and Gamble savings. The best part is I never needed to leave the store’s web site — the links were right there under “coupons.” Now this is no-brainer savings!

To use them is nothing. Slide your card at checkout, and the savings is automatically deducted (usually noted as “Manufacturer E coupon”). The store makes it easy to remember what you loaded, by offering a printable shopping list on its web site.

Just with e-coupons (which take nothing to load), I saved $6.05. Adding them with regular coupons and the rebate, and my total coupon savings was $32.61 — more than what I spent!

But when you combine E-coupons with and/or store specials, store coupons and paper and Internet coupons, you can net some dang good deals!

How about these steals tonight:

Sorry for the holiday hiatus … lots to do, but I am back with a very eye-opening, personal post. And that is how being financially savvy can save your budget.

I am going to be sharing a lot of personal information here, but it shows very clearly that by watching your money, you can make it!

As you may know, my income dropped to one-fifth of what I was living on before — and I still watched my money then. What’s the numbers? I averaged a little over $100,000 for about four years, and have been living on $22,500 a year for the last two years, and only $7,000 in 2007. The reason? Need I say more? Real estate meltdown.

But we are surviving and with a very little impact on our day-to-day life! Sure, the days of 15-night cruises to Hawaii are history, but I still managed a three-night one to Ensenada this year!

The best news is that for the first time in two years, I did not need to pull $10,000 from savings in January to give me a head start on the coming year (and by that, I mean, I was out of money). I take that as a huge victory, and I chalk that up to the fact that my budget-saving measures are working — and well!

Not only that, I have six months’ living expenses in the bank!

To answer a couple questions/doubts, I am not living on credit cards. My total balance is less than $700 (and that was for real estate association fees). I’ve resigned myself I cannot pay those off in one fell swoop, but with a chunk payment here and there, I can pay ‘em off in a matter of three to four months.

I last hit savings in January 2009 for $10,000. Otherwise, it is intact (and actually improved, thanks to a stock market uptick).

How am I doing it? It’s the cumulative effect of watching our budget — and looking for savings wherever I can.

Here are some salient points on how I did it:

Bottom line — I ran $198 negative this year. Now that’s do-able. I just ran the numbers, and by just doing the above, I saved a little under $8,500. This underscores now what I know — why didn’t I need to hit savings for $10,000 this year! I just wish I would have done these measures even earlier, but I am so proud of myself.

Want an even better picture of how watching your money is a job — the savings I made this year is as if I worked 24+ hours a week all year long (tax free!) at a minimum wage job!

I hope this post gives you inspiration. It sure showed me that what I am doing is working!

Now this is too cool a rebate to pass up!!

Purchase any Olay Quench Body Lotion (other than travel size) before January 29, 2010, and get reimbursed for its total cost! And you can do this rebate twice! (You just need to submit the form separately, so have ‘em ring it up separately, if you do this.)

We all know lotion is costly, and Olay is a good brand. This rebate is worth bucks! It looks like the lotion is about $6 a bottle.

This is a great rebate for the cost of a stamp! I am getting rebates nearly weekly, so try it! And, in this case, it’s a totally free product!

Click here to get the link for the form.

I have come to learn that in a household, one person becomes the Christmas Elf — the one who makes a memorable holiday come about. We’re the ones who stay up late or get up early, and generally ensure that the holiday spirit is spread far and wide. The others think it just happens — as if the Christmas Elf just materialized as needed.

Yes, my name is Harry, and I am a Christmas Elf. But I love it, however …

I’ll admit it, I am pooped tonight. Yes, Prohomemaker is wiped. I’ll head to bed, now after the fudge is ready for the neighbors and I made another cornbread for dressing later this week. And, I’ll be back up tomorrow to go to work.

But just wanted to tip you off to do a to-do list. Start backing out the holidays to ensure you get the most important tasks done.

Yes, that means some get shoved aside.

These are my top priorities:

Everything else goes to B items, including my business Christmas cards. I’ll do my best, but it’s time to say what’s most important.

So the thought for the day is prioritize. How are you doing?

P.S. I was going to move the image up in this post that I changed from last year, but it’s time to prioritize.