Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Be Warm and Well Fed? How to Actually Help Feed People in Need…

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Want to help feed people in need? Let’s move beyond an attitude of “be warm and well fed…” and actually help!

We all have different gifts given to us by our Creator. One of my gifts is food. I LOVE FOOD and I’m good at food.

You may not be good at food. That means you’re good at something else, and I bet it’s something I marvel at! I love this about God’s people. But even if you don’t love food as I do, or if you don’t consider yourself to be “good at food” – what we are all called to be good at is:

Loving our neighbor.

Every one of us. We can show this love in various forms, especially according to the gifts God has given us. This is so beautiful!

But today I am going to talk about loving our neighbor – with food.

Those of us who have never experienced food insecurity probably don’t think about those who suffer from it daily. How will we feed our family tomorrow? How will I make this food last until the next paycheck? How many meals can I skip so that my kids can eat?

I CAN’T EVEN.

Those of us who have plenty? We have to share.

First, Ask God

My food-loving heart is on high alert for those who don’t have enough to eat and feed their families. (Just like your gifted heart jumps on needs according to what God has blessed you to know and to do!)

If you don’t know anyone in your community who might be experiencing food insecurity or have needs in other ways, please prayerfully begin to get to know more people. Expand your circle.

If you only hang out with people who live like you, act like you, look like you, talk like you – you might be resting in a place that is comfortable instead of doing what Jesus did. He spent most of His time with the least of these. Walking with the marginalized. Seeing the poor and the lonely and the hurting and showing them love in the ways they needed love.

So my gift is food? Your gift might be something else. And WE ARE ALL CALLED TO LOVE.

Don’t tell me that you’re shy. (Laura used to hide behind that too.) Don’t explain what it’s like to be an introvert. (Laura laughs out loud at this as she hides in her quiet alone spot to refresh her introverted self and write this post.) Most importantly: Don’t be afraid.

God will be in every effort you make as you listen to His direction for reaching out to those around you who have needs of all kinds. This is very much something you’ll do with God. Not because it’s a nice thing to do. Not because good deeds are cool. Loving God and loving others is the only thing that’s cool. His way. Actually loving them.

So back to how to feed people in need.

Whatever your gifts, please be alerted to the fact that many in our communities face constant food insecurity. And many are hesitant to reach out and ask for help. I am learning this by painful experience, and friends, I live in York, Nebraska. This is a middle class, lovely small town of 8,000 and while it seems like everyone in our town is doing just fine, God has opened my eyes and heart and taught me that many people around me have big needs.

Thanks to Him, I now have multiple families or widows that I check in with regularly to make sure they have enough food to get them through until the next check or the next community food distribution.

If you don’t know anyone who is lacking – ask God to show you. He is faithful and He will do it. I know this from beautiful experience.

Then He will also show you what to do about it.

It starts with relationship. Love is more important than even a bag of groceries. So keep that in mind as you serve. People need food, but they need God’s love more. Looking into people’s eyes and learning more about their lives and sharing genuine laughs and tears and care? It is life-changing on all sides.

Bags of groceries are nice too.

Or prepared casseroles or a bucket of soup.

Ask God to show you. He is faithful and He will do it.

Soon, seeing the hurting and the hungry will become easy. Having conversations and reaching out and meeting new friends and getting to know people needs? Natural. It’s God’s way, after all.

What does this look like?

Well, I don’t know what God will do through you, but I can’t wait to hear!

Here are a couple of examples from my neck of the woods:

This week I took a fully prepared meal to a family in our community with six kids. One parent is sick. The other is trying to hold down the entire fort. They didn’t even care what food I prepared – they were just thankful to check “cook dinner” off the list for the night. This is meeting a different need compared to sharing groceries with people who have nothing. But it is still a need, and God will show you who and how. (Yep, ordering pizza for someone counts. There are no bonus points in heaven for making homemade meals. Just obey God and love people.)

Later in the same week, I babysat for a single mom so she could have a tiny break. When I dropped off her daughter later, I learned that she had cereal. As in…that’s it. She had in her house – cereal – to get her and her daughter through nine more days of the month before the next check.

NOT ON MY WATCH.

I went home and filled some bags and took them back to my friend. Thank you, God, for helping me learn of this need! 

Friends, ask God to show you who needs food. Money. Clothing. LOVE.

He will show you. And He will provide.

We are not called to be saviors.

Jesus. Is. Savior. But we are called to let the light of the Savior shine through us as we love those around us in any way He calls us to love.

Often, I show love with food. I do this because it meets a real need and provides the opportunity to share the Real Source of Strength.

How can you love? How can you serve? How can you see the needs of those around you and care for them?

Ask God. Then watch Him work – while you get to be a part of the delivery!

How to Help Feed People in Need…

Here is what works for me as I help make sure people have enough food to eat:

  • I ask what people like. Sure, sometimes if a person is hungry, they’ll eat anything. But I also know that a mama has to feed picky kids sometimes and I want to make that easier. I try to get a good idea of what families eat so that when I pick up groceries for them (or grab from our well-stocked pantry and freezers) I give them what I know will bless them and help them most.
  • I regularly buy more than what we need. Thankfully, we can afford this, and we want to use what God has given us to share with others. I always have a nice supply of just about everything from groceries to kleenex. This makes it easy to grab some boxes or bags and fill them from our own food supply. I especially appreciate this right now because, with all of our little ones, it’s hard for me to go to the store right away when I learn of a need. So shopping my own well-stocked food supply and dropping it off to our friends can happen regularly when I over-buy, on purpose.
  • I don’t give away weird stuff. As in, I don’t grab the can-of-whatever-no-one-in-my-family-likes and give it away. Nor do I give away crazy-organic-mega-health-food-no-one-has-heard-of. My goal is to bless people, not to give away our cast-offs or to make life hard because I’ve given them something confusing called “maca root…” Stick with the basics; bless people with what’s easy and what tastes good!

What have you found that works for you? How do you help people around you who are in need?

One more tip: Consider the times you have been the one in need. How have people helped you? What would have been helpful during those times? Tuck these thoughts away in your heart as you consider how you can help others!

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The Surprising Reason I Spent Money on a Bosch Mixer

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I’m not even sure if I’ve even told you that I bought a Bosch Mixer! So hey guess what?! I bought a Bosch Mixer. Here’s why…

Yum

First of all, I could spend a few words telling you why it took me so long to finally break down and spend the money on a Bosch Mixer. But it’s mostly because of this:

  • These beauties are pricey!
  • I’ve stirred my bread dough and cookie dough and brownie batter by arms for well over 40 years. Why did I need an expensive mixer seeing as I still have working arms and hands?

But all of you friends who have a Bosch or a Kitchen Aid have said to me, “With all the cooking and baking you do, how in the world do you actually survive without a mixer?” And I always went back to…

  • Expensive.
  • My arm works fine.

Yes, investing in a nice mixer has been in my mind for quite some time, and my desire for one went up a notch every time one of you told me how great they are.

So what finally pushed me over the edge to fork out the money for a Bosch Mixer?

It was a conversation with my friend Rhonda (and then it still took me several months to ruminate over it, but whatever).

Here’s what Rhonda said – and I will tell you that when Rhonda speaks, I listen. She knows things. She’s an awesome friend and has raised awesome kids and she says smart things.

Rhonda was sharing with me how she had recently become the recipient of a used but still wonderful Kitchen Aid Mixer. She was loving it and decided it was fantastic and then she said:

I wish I would have had this in my kitchen when my kids were still at home growing up.

She went on to talk about how much time it saved and about how nicely it mixed up batters and while I really liked hearing this part of her review, I just couldn’t let go of this thought:

Moms. We sacrifice. We skimp. We save. We make do. And God bless us for it!! I mean, after all, regarding the cooking and the baking and the batters and the doughs – I do have arms that work. My grandma used her arms. Why do I need to spend money on a mixer? I can make do.

But there I stood with Rhonda in the church foyer, with my adult and teen kids hanging out with their friends in the background and my new set of littles playing at my feet. And I realized yet again: I AM STARTING OVER!!! Just when I thought I was almost done raising kids, God started us fresh with new fellas, and friends? That means I’m going to be working at this “feeding a family” thing for a very long time.

Add to that all the friends we feed regularly, plus the daughters-in-law and grandbabes I’d like to think are a part of our future and I’m pretty sure I will be cranking food and food and more food out of my kitchen for many more years!

Shucks, here I’m tearing up again at the beauty of this life we didn’t know God had planned for us.

Well anyway. I chewed on Rhonda’s statement for several months, watched in awe as my teens and littles shared meals, and I decided to run it by Matt. This wouldn’t be just a small purchase, and would it be worth it?

We decided yes. I should get a mixer because I was embracing Rhonda’s advice about “oh how nice it would have been to have when my kids were at home growing up.”

Little Boys #round2

Before purchasing, I spend some time researching. One does not drop several hundred dollars on a kitchen tool without doing her homework. I landed on purchasing a Bosch Universal Plus. If I was going to spend big, I was going to get the best of the best. (Also, I purchased from Paula’s Bread because she’s a small business I trust and I wanted to support her with my big purchase!)

You guys. How did I ever get along with this? Well shucks, I used my arms I guess. :)

But Rhonda was right. This is a wonderful tool to have when you do a lot of cooking and baking,  for a family. My Bosch Mixer has already paid for itself in its efficiency and ease and time-saving gifts that it has given me as I work to take care of so many kids of different ages and while I feed many college kids and other guests too. I’m totally in love with it and am 100% grateful that we made this investment!

As for using my arms to stir and mix? Well, I’m going to focus on using my arms for more important endeavors. :)

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Cream Cheese Pastries – the Healthier Way

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Cream Cheese Pastries were one of my favorite treats when I was a kid. I finally got the idea to try and make them at home with freshly ground flour!

Have I ever told you how I like to keep recipes as simple as possible? Oh yes. I think I’ve mentioned that here a time or two. ;)

So that is why I decided to make these with my Stir-and-Pour Bread recipe. SO EASY! Mix the bread ingredients together. Walk away. Then you spoon the bread dough onto a pan, scoop on some cream cheese filling, and bake. Drizzle on the glaze. Enjoy your delicious treat!

I was thrilled with how these turned out, and I love that they are made with whole grain flour and less sugar than a typical pastry recipe. My pickiest eater ate three right in a row. :) Ready to give them a try?

Cream Cheese PastriesYum

Cream Cheese Pastries - the Healthier Way
 
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Author:
Serves: 15
Ingredients
  • 4 cups whole grain flour (I use freshly ground hard white wheat)
  • 2 teaspoons active rise yeast
  • 2 Tablespoons sucanat or sugar or honey
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 egg (optional)
  • ¼ cup heavy cream (optional)
  • 2 cups warm water
  • CREAM CHEESE FILLING:
  • 8-ounces softened cream cheese
  • 3 Tablespoons lemon juice
  • ¼ cup sugar or maple syrup
  • 1 egg
  • GLAZE:
  • ¾ cup powdered sugar
  • 3 Tablespoons milk
Instructions
  1. Mix together the bread ingredients.
  2. Cover and allow the bread dough to rise for at least 30 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, blend Cream Cheese Filling ingredients until smooth.
  4. Scoop small mounds of bread dough onto a buttered cookie sheet.
  5. Spoon the cream cheese filling onto each bread dough mound evenly.
  6. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until the bread is golden brown.
  7. Meanwhile mix up the glaze.
  8. Drizzle glaze over the baked pastries and serve.

One more quick piece of info:

I finally invested in a Bosch Stand Mixer. I can’t even tell you how much I love it! I used it to mix the dough for these Cream Cheese Pastries so of course, that made this recipe even easier to make, if that’s even possible. More about my Bosch coming up soon!

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Simple Homemade Pizza

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Pizza might be one of my favorite meals, so of course, we need to have Simple Homemade Pizza recipe options!

Confession: I order pizza more often than I used to now that we have little ones again. Ok, that’s not really a confession, it’s just truth, but I don’t actually feel that it needs to be confessed. As if ordering pizza is evil??

Sure, I don’t make every single thing from scratch anymore. Sure, not everything we eat is top-notch anymore. We still strive to eat nourishing foods so we can stay healthy. How else are we going to keep up with this tribe?! But God’s strength is bigger than ours, and that’s the real way we’re thriving through this journey.

So. I order pizza sometimes. Guilt-free. I praise God for this option on busy days I have to be at court hearings or team meetings while juggling littles and bigs.

Also, we eat it on paper plates. This is a beautiful thing.

Well anyway, pizza. The homemade kind. It truly tastes better, and we have fun building it to our liking. Here are my top three homemade pizza methods, from easiest to hardest. But the hardest way isn’t really hard, because do you even know me at all?

How to make simple homemade pizzaYum

  1. Buy pre-made crusts. Keep them in your freezer. Add toppings and bake. SO EASY. Plus cheaper and better tasting than ordering pizza.
  2. Make crust from Stir and Pour Bread recipe. Flour your hands and press it onto a pan. Add toppings and bake. VERY EASY.
  3. Make Whole Wheat Pizza Crust, because it is the most delicious. Make crusts ahead and freeze them if you’re as ambitious as I used to be and may be again sometime. Add toppings and bake. STILL EASY.

Here are the crust recipes for you!

Stir-and-Pour Pizza Crust

Simple Homemade Pizza
 
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Author:
Serves: 2 large pizzas
Ingredients
  • 4 cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground hard white wheat)
  • 2 teaspoons active rise yeast
  • 2 Tablespoons sucanat or sugar or honey
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 cups warm water
Instructions
  1. Stir all ingredients together.
  2. Cover and allow it to sit for 30 minutes.
  3. Spread dough on two *well-buttered* large pizza pans (three if you want a thinner crust)
  4. Bake in a 375° oven for 10 minutes.
  5. Pull partially baked crust out of the oven and top it however you like.
  6. Bake for 10-15 minutes more or until cheese has melted and becomes bubbly.

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

Simple Homemade Pizza
 
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Author:
Serves: 2 large pizzas
Ingredients
  • 5 cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground flour from hard white wheat)
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 4½ teaspoons active dry yeast (or 2 pouches)
  • 2 cups warm water (The water should feel warm, but not hot.)
Instructions
  1. Mix all ingredients together, knead for 3-4 minutes, then allow the dough to “rest” for about 10 minutes (give or take).
  2. This dough makes 2 large pizzas, or 18 mini pizzas.
  3. Shape dough into desired pizza sizes and place on baking sheets.
  4. Bake in a 375° oven for 5-7 minutes.
  5. Remove crusts from oven, allow them to cool, then freeze in freezer bags.
  6. Or, top hot pizza crusts with desired pizza toppings.
  7. When you're ready, bake the pizzas at 375° for 10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown.

What’s your favorite kind of pizza?

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How to Start Reading Your Bible Regularly

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Ever since I shared about how my daily time in God’s Word and in prayer has been so lifechanging, people have asked: Can you share how you started reading your Bible regularly?

If you haven’t yet, please read this. It’s important for people to know about, I think. How the old me was such a go-getter and how I relied on my own strength more than God’s (because I thought that being a good Christian meant that I needed to do all the right things – like I needed to somehow save myself instead of relying on the One who already saved me). How I used to be anxious and worried constantly. How I have been a Christian for my entire life but didn’t really start craving God’s Word and true fellowship with Him until just a few years ago.

How now I have found myself at a point in my life that is busier than ever before – and because of that, I realize that I MUST find time to sit in the quiet with God in prayer. I am not ok without this time with Him.

Please do read this —>

In short, I’m too busy not to find time to spend with God each day. I’m too challenged to try to do life on my own strength. And I’m too filled with joy over what God offers to hold back on seeking more and more through His perfect Truth.

His Word is Life

Now let’s talk about how to regularly start spending time in the Word and in prayer – even if it’s not something you crave (yet). Especially if it’s not something you don’t think you have time for.

Nobody “has time.” That’s why we have to do this. We are so busy that we HAVE to do this. We can’t do this busy life without God. And we can’t be at peace if we’re trying to do any of it without His constant guidance from Scripture and from communication with Him through the Spirit.

How to Start Reading Your Bible Regularly

1. Decide that you want this.

Deep down, I think we all really do want this. But we have to decide that we want it enough to actually do it. Eventually, time in the Word and in constant communion with God is something we will all desire so much that we can’t get through a day without it.

But until then, make the decision to want it. Make the decision today. Not at the first of the year as some kind of “I’m gonna do better” resolution. Not after you finish that big thing you’re doing so that you’ll finally have more time available. Decide today that today is the day you will be intentional about reading the Word and talking to God intimately.

2. Pray about a time and space in your day that you can make this happen.

God wants this for you. So no matter what season in life you are in and how many tasks fill your day, He will provide time for you to spend in focused conversation with Him. Mornings work best for me, but if that doesn’t work for you, find what does.

At this point, our littlest guys sleep through the night. So if I can get to bed at a decent time at night, I can get up at least an hour before they get up in the mornings so that I can spend that entire time in prayer, reading the Word, and journaling what God is teaching me and telling me.

The time of day that God works out for YOU doesn’t matter – what matters is that you do make time in your day. God will do this for you. Choose to do this with Him.

3. Know that sometimes it’s uncomfortable.

Other tasks and to-dos are going to tug at you. Saying yes to this means saying no to something else.

This is worth noting: Most mornings I roll right out of bed. But sometimes, if I’ve gotten to bed late the night before or if I didn’t sleep well for some reason, I have a hard time waking up early enough to head to my Bible-reading chair. But if I feel like I can (as in, if I know that I got a healthy amount of sleep in order to avoid sickness and exhaustion) I push myself out of bed anyway because friends, I NEED THIS. I know that if I don’t have this time with God in the morning, I’m missing the most important piece of my day that brings the calm and peace and Truth that keeps me going each day.

What I’m saying is, sometimes you won’t feel like making this happen. Do it anyway, as if your life depends on it. Because truth: your life depends on it.

4. Discover what you need to read and go for it!

Pray for God’s perfect guidance and direction for you in this. If you’re reading your Bible, you can’t go wrong no matter what you read and where you start. Just read. And read for relationship more than knowledge. You’ll gain knowledge, no doubt. But I’ve found that if my focus in reading is to hear directly from God and to get to know Him better, this changes how I read and understand scripture.

When I finally quit reading to prove a point and instead started reading to get to know my Savior – this changed my spiritual life completely. THAT’S WHEN I STARTED LOVING THE WORD!!

If you truly aren’t sure where to start, here are my first suggestions:

  • Read the book of John to get to know Jesus and how He loved people.
  • Read the book of Luke to get to know Jesus and how He served people.

Those two books, read through fresh eyes and a fresh heart, changed me. I got to know Jesus in a beautiful way while digging into those books. I was introduced more fully to the Holy Spirit – life-changing! And then, my journey through other parts of the Bible have been richer because I’ve been more able to see how the entire Bible and God’s plan came together to bring us our Savior!

5. Ask for fresh eyes and a fresh heart.

Since I just mentioned this above, let me encourage you to also ask God for this. I didn’t know it was possible to read words I’d read so many times and to understand them so differently than I had before!

See, I was raised in a Christian home (praise God) and had been taught a lot of scripture. But because of this, I struggled to read many passages without “already knowing what they meant.” I found myself wishing that I had never read the Bible before so that I could just read it and come to understand it for myself instead of through the lens of teaching I’d received. The teaching wasn’t bad, I just wanted to read it like it was brand new!

I had no idea it was even possible, but I did pray and ask God to help me read His word with a brand new set of lenses. Well, of COURSE it’s possible. God wanted that for me too!

So if you want this too – ask God for it. He’ll help you read His word as if you’ve never read it before and it will come to LIFE for you. It will become your life!

6. Be open to what you will learn.

If you’re truly ready to dig in, you will discover a Power at work that is mightier than anything you can imagine. You will find a God who loves you more than you realize, a Jesus who saved you before you knew you need it, and a Spirit who guides you and longs to be your everything in every way through every day.

In short, be ready for amazing things to happen in your life because THIS IS THE GOD YOU’RE GOING TO GET TO KNOW!

7. So be ready for battle.

The enemy liked you better before you started digging into the Word more fully. He’d rather you stay where you are, not growing, not learning, not meeting Jesus like this every day.

So be aware that he’s going to try to fill you with lies, discouragement, and pretty much do everything he can to keep you stagnant in your faith. Nope. Not today. Not ever. Jesus wins. Jesus already won. We are in Him and He is in us. We have nothing to fear. We choose God’s way!

Arm yourself: Read and pray Ephesians 6:10-20 and Psalm 91 over yourself, your family, and your home. Focus on the Truth that we live under God’s powerful protection and that all He offers is mighty over the enemy! Stand up. Stand firm.

8. Take note of what you’re learning. Literally.

I realize that not everyone loves to journal. But I find myself being filled with such incredible Truth that it really helps me to write down what I’m learning and what God is telling me. Otherwise, I may forget or not listen to Him in a focused way. Also, I love to look back and re-read Truths that I’ve learned that He wants me to walk in and live by.

So I keep a journal with my Bible and I write what I’m learning. Some days I write two words. Some days I write two pages. Always I write the scripture references that God led me to for the day so that I can look back if I need to.

There’s not just one way to use a journal. But I do feel that it’s effective to have and use them in any way God helps you to use them.

(If you’re interested, here are the beautiful scripture journals I asked my friend Charlene to design for us if you’d like to enjoy these with me)

9. Enjoy falling in love with God all over again. Every day.

Spending time in the Word, talking to Him directly, sitting in the quiet to listen to His direction – I am so very thankful God has made me want this. This time with Him each day fills me and has walked me through some incredible challenges the past few years as God has brought so many wonderful changes in our lives. I NEED JESUS. Constantly.

10. Focus on the Bible. Relationship is the goal.

Devotional books and Bible study books can be great, for sure. But nothing beats reading directly from God’s word. Nothing. Remember, this is about relationship. Growing in our love for the Lord and for others. The Bible is everything. Prayer is everything. The Holy Spirit’s guidance is everything.

Share with us!

What works for you? How is God at work in you to grow His relationship with you?

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

When God’s People Dig In

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It’s time for God’s people to dig in. The real way. Like we mean it. After all, His plans are so much bigger and better!

When God’s People Dig in

Every year I have high hopes for myself. And every year I struggle to keep my flowers alive. The silly things expect to actually be watered regularly. Can you say high maintenance?

Meanwhile, our basketball hoop fell down during a storm a couple of weeks ago and the babies have enjoyed using it as a jungle gym. This is fine except for when one of them runs toward the street while the other tries to get himself stuck inside the net of the hoop.
All that to say, sorry flowers. I’m busy keeping a bunch of kids alive so sometimes I forget about you.
This is why we can’t get a dog.
Well anyway. I share this cute little tidbit about my life to remind you of this truth:
You can’t do it all. I can’t do it all. But we don’t need to do it all because we serve a Savior who already did it all. He continues to do it all and He works His power in and through us when we surrender ourselves and let Him do His work!
Embracing this Truth has changed everything about my days, how I feel about myself as a mom, wife, homemaker, friend, neighbor, and servant.
You all encourage me so much! After sharing this post on a few weeks ago, I’ve been so challenged to dig in more and learn more about what God wants to teach me. Your email responses have inspired me, and as I sit in the quiet with Him each morning, I’ve been reflecting more on this:
If all of us – ALL OF US – dig into the Word and fully seek Him daily, what might be the result of this for His Kingdom?? 
It blows my mind to try to imagine what I cannot possibly fathom. Our God is limitless, and together, we can be a part of something incredible.
Feeding our families good food is important. Taking care of our homes is important. Working hard is important.
But nothing is as important as leaning into what God has for us.
Our great efforts fall terribly short when we aren’t letting the Spirit be our guide and resting fully in His presence, walking humbly with Him, loving Him with our whole hearts.

Start preparing your heart now to dig in.

It’s time for us all to move out of our comfort zones and into the place that God has planned for us all along.
I’m preparing a post to share next: How to Spend Time in the Word Regularly. 
If this is a struggle for you, get ready. If prayer is hit and miss in your life, get ready. If you need encouragement, don’t know where to start, feel like you’re floundering in your relationship with God, get ready.
I’m prayerfully excited to share more about how God has helped me dig into His Word and LOVE IT. God will help you love it too. God will change your life. Get ready!
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73 Freezer Meal Ideas

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As we settle into a new school year, we thought it would be helpful to compile as many freezer meal ideas as we could!

No matter what your school year looks like this fall, having prepared food in our freezer for busy days never hurts!

Freezer Meal Ideas

49 Favorite Breakfast Freezer Foods

We’ll start by sharing great breakfast and snack food ideas that can be made ahead of time. Here are our favorites:

24 Main Dish Freezer Foods

My favorite freezer foods include meals that can be pulled out and baked without any additional prep. Here’s our big list:

What ways are you getting ready to stay ahead during the school year?

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After School Snacks to Have on Hand

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Even though we homeschool, I still need to have after school snacks on hand. After all, we’re hungry after we’ve finished our school day too!

Here are the snacks we like to have on hand to make our afternoons run more smoothly – especially if we’re heading out to soccer games in the evening!

After School Snacks to Have on HandYum

First, here are some little-to-no prep snack ideas:

  • Summer Sausage
  • Lunch Meat
  • Leftover Ham
  • Variety of cheese
  • Carrot Sticks with Ranch or Hummus
  • Cucumbers
  • Celery and Peanut Butter
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Olives
  • Pickles
  • Apples
  • Grapes
  • Bananas
  • Oranges
  • Strawberries
  • Blueberries
  • Cantaloupe
  • Raspberries
  • Pineapple
  • Peanuts
  • Almonds
  • Cashews
  • Crackers
  • Bread and Butter
  • Peanut Butter Honey Toast
  • Chips
  • Guacamole
  • Salsa
  • Smoothies
  • Popcorn

And if you have time to make or bake a fun recipe, here are some of our favorites!

  1. 4-Ingredient Chocolate Crunch Bars
  2. No Bake Cookie Cups (5 minute prep!)
  3. Cream Cheese Salsa Dip (2 ingredients!)
  4. Pineapple Coconut Quick Bread (blends together fast!)
  5. Parmesan Crisps (so easy you won’t believe it!)
  6. Sweet and Salty Almonds or Pecans
  7. Chocolate Cheesecake Fudge
  8. Creamy Italian Veggie Dip
  9. No Bake Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
  10. Honey Sweetened Flourless Peanut Butter Bars (3 ingredients!)
  11. Easy Cheesy Popcorn
  12. 3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Honey Rice Krispie Treats
  13. Homemade Chewy Granola Bars

It’s fun to have something homemade to treat the family with after a full day of learning!

Bonus: Here are 40 fun snack recipes that include peanut butter.

Want more? Here’s our 227 Healthy Snack Ideas eBook!

I also like to keep snacks like this on hand to grab and go to soccer games:

What are your favorite snacks to enjoy as After School treats?

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5 Easy Breakfast Ideas to Have Every Week

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Need breakfast ideas to have every week to make life easier?

How many decisions do we make in a day, I wonder? I’m guessing it would blow our minds to know the answer to that.

Tip: I’ve heard that it’s wise to always take the same “route” as you walk through the grocery store, simply to cut down on the decisions you have to make.

Hmmm, interesting. Hearing that tidbit of advice made me think about what other decisions I could cut out of my very full brain (that is so busy making decisions that it can’t help me remember where I set my pen).

So let’s talk about breakfast!

I’ve just figured out how wonderful it is to save my brain energy by planning the same basic breakfast meals every weekday!

Here’s the basic breakdown of what I now make or serve each weekday:

Monday – Muffins
Tuesday  – Toast
Wednesday – Oatmeal
Thursday – Eggs
Friday – Granola or Cereal

With this skeleton plan, I can now make fun adaptations each weekday to keep our menu fresh and fun! (I save pancakes or waffles or other special breakfast ideas for Saturdays.) :) And now I will give you more specifics about how this works for us…

5 Easy Breakfast Ideas to Have Every WeekYum

Monday – Muffins

I can choose from these 40 recipes so that Mondays are never boring. I shall call this “Muffin Monday” because cuteness in the kitchen is underrated.

Tuesday – Toast

Let’s hear it for “Toast Tuesday.” Though now I have to admit, my cute names for days of the week have now run out. Anyway though, we can make this Stir and Pour Bread and then top it however we like. Peanut butter and honey is a favorite for most of us. And homemade bread is tough to beat!

Wednesday – Oatmeal

I try to keep this Homemade Instant Oatmeal on hand, but sometimes I splurge and buy these too. Either way, this makes for a fast breakfast!

Thursday – Eggs

We mostly prefer scrambled cheesy eggs, but occasionally we’ll fry them. I love how easy eggs are to make!

Friday – Granola or Cereal

We like different kinds of homemade granola like:

Or, I can make these Homemade Chewy Granola Bars for a fun change of pace.

Always serve fruit

Fruit at breakfast is a given at our house. So with all of the above day-of-the-week breakfast ideas, everyone can choose what fruit they like best. I try to keep a variety on hand, depending on what is in season. Our favorites for breakfast are:

  • Blueberries
  • Cantaloupe
  • Apples
  • Oranges/Clementines
  • Bananas
  • Applesauce
  • Peaches
  • Pears
  • Strawberries

How might this idea work for your family?

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Tips and Tools to Make Menu Planning EASY

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It really is possible to make menu planning easy, even if it’s a task you’ve never enjoyed. Here are my best tips and recommended resources to help. :)

Tips and Tools to Make Menu Planning EASY

Let’s just dive right in, shall we? Here are some of the tips I’ve found that are really helpful for simple menu planning. After I share these, then I will present you with some really great tools. :)

When it comes to figuring out food for your family…

1. Decide to have a good attitude about menu planning.

If you’ve always hated figuring out what to feed your family every day, keeping a good attitude about it can be tough. Even if you don’t mind or even actually enjoy menu planning, the daily grind of it can sometimes get old and tiresome. But the truth is that we all need to eat every day; therefore we do need some sort of plan so that we don’t become stressed out over food.

It’s possible you hate menu planning because you don’t plan your menus. (Eh?) What I mean is, if you don’t decide on a simple meal plan before it is mealtime, you’ll find yourself trying to figure out food for your family at the point in which they are all hungry, you are too hungry to think of good ideas, and you’re trying to make plans AND make food in the middle of ALL THE HUNGER.

This is no fun. It does not work. And it gives our brains the message that meal planning is hard and awful.

Take a deep breath. Pray. Choose joy over stress and angst. Menu planning can become easier. Learn what works for you (lots of ideas below), and decide to believe the truth that YOU CAN DO THIS.

2. Recognize that there are many ways to plan – so figure out what works for you!

Some people make a menu plan for an entire month. Some for each weeknight. Some for every single meal and snack of the day. Some subscribe to a menu planning subscription. Some make a plan each morning to carry out through the day. Some write down all the specifics on meal planners. Some make plans on a marker board. Some don’t write anything down at all.

These are only some of the methods and options – which proves that there are many ways to plan and that no one way fits the needs and preferences of every person or family.

If I was a once-a-month menu planner (which I am not, but if I was), and I told you “you should do it just like I do it!!” and then you tried it and it didn’t work for you, you might decide that menu planning isn’t for you. But the truth is that while once-a-month menu planning (and all the other methods) works for some, it doesn’t work for everyone. Menu planning is definitely not a one-size-fits-all thing. Toy with ideas, use resources that are available – and there are many! – and find a method that works for you.

3. Keep it simple.

Unless you really love gourmet cooking and creating elaborate meal plans, there is no reason to make menu planning and cooking for a family more difficult than it needs to be.

Discover simple recipes that you know your family will enjoy and that will not take long to prepare. Keep them in your back pocket (literally, if it helps; see below for details!). Jot down meal choices in a notebook, in your daily planner or calendar, or on pretty printable menu planning pages to keep on your fridge.

Think about and decide on your main dish, then consider simple fruit and veggie side dishes to round out your meal with nourishment.

We’ve all gotta eat. But we do not all gotta spend hours every day to make this happen!

Now I’m going to show you some wonderful tools that can make menu planning much easier.

Tools to Make Menu Planning Easier

We’re going to look at some tools that:

  • Show you how to budget when grocery shopping
  • Provide kid-friendly menu and snack planning ideas
  • Give you hundreds of recipes that are both easy and healthy
  • Walk you through how to get started with menu planning
  • Offer printables and planners to make the job easier
  • Teach you about basic nutrition, weight loss options, and special dietary needs
  • Help you get organized, actually, easily :)

I have somewhere around 60 resources to tell you about, but first, take a look at one of my new favorite menu planning tools!

The Easiest Recipes, in a Flipbook!

A few weeks ago, I took the recipes from my High Five Recipes eCookbook (recipes that all call for only 5 or fewer real-food ingredients!) and I turned them into a super handy Recipe FlipBook. Man, I am loving this – and this is what I was referring to when I said, “Keep simple recipes in your back pocket!”

I formatted each recipe to fit onto a  color-coded 4×6 card – then I sent them all to Walgreens to be printed. Just a few dollars later, I had all 86 recipes printed onto cards. I punched a hole through them, put a ring in the corner to hold them together, and tada! A High Five Recipes Flipbook!

This little tool is really handy (and fun!) because I can just grab it and start flipping through it for easy meal or snack ideas. Each section is color-coded to make it easier to go directly to the section I need: Breakfast Ideas, Main Dish Ideas, or Snacks and Treats Ideas.

The cards make it easy to see at a quick glance which few ingredients I’d need if I chose that recipe. Annnnnd since all of the recipes call for just 5 or fewer basic ingredients, I likely have most of the ingredients on hand and I know that the recipes will all go together quickly too!

I just added this new resource to my shop, so be sure to check it out!

And look what else!

We just added our brand new 52-Week Simple Meals Planning Packets Collection 2!

Sometimes you just need someone to make the plan and tell you what to get at the grocery store, you know? We’ve been offering our Simple Meals Subscriptions here for several years to help with this – and they are awesome and well-loved! This collection includes 52-weeks worth of these Simple Meals planning packets – categorized in Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall sections to make your job even easier. They tell you what to make, what to buy at the store, and how to make the food in the easiest ways possible.

If you prefer the entire collection of 52-weeks worth of menu plans, you can grab those here!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!