Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Join Our Surrendered Heart Marriage Builder Series!

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Calling all married couples! Join our Surrendered Heart Marriage Builder Series! (FREE for one week only!)

The tools you’ll receive each week during this special 6-week email series are designed to offer you and God meaningful, quiet, reflective time to help you surrender your heart to His work in and through you.

Want to build a stronger marriage? Of course, we all do! Think it takes hard work? I beg to differ. Here’s what I’ve learned: I can work and work and work at strengthening my marriage, but what I’m really doing through that work is relying on self. And unfortunately, my self is pretty weak and powerless.

But Spirit? Oh, the Holy Spirit living inside of us and working in and through Christians is powerful and strong! The real work is the Lord’s, and He can do ANYTHING. (He already won the victory over all sin and death for all time, praise God!)

So what is our role? Our role is to surrender. Stop trying and working and striving and being constantly disappointed when your fleshly self can’t live up to what you know you want and need to be in your marriage. Surrender. Breathe deeply at the thought! Let go of striving and let God know that you’re ready for Him to do His work.

This 6-week email series will guide you through this wonderful process and you are sure to be amazed at His work in you and in your marriage. Our Surrendered Heart series includes lessons, printables, and journaling guides. We’ll dig into scripture and dig deep in our hearts seeking healing, wholeness, and joy that only Christ can bring.

Sign up for this free Surrendered Heart email series here.

For one week only, we are opening up registration for this series and giving it all to you for free! Spread the word, get everyone on board!

Signing up is easy (and free)! We’ll start right away by sending you weekly emails filled with lessons, encouragement, scripture, journaling pages, and printables to help you build a binder that will help you build your marriage on the One True Source of good.

Don’t miss this great opportunity! (Registration closes February 24.)

Sign up for this free Surrendered Heart email series here.

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

How to Fight Off Winter Blues

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Every winter, by the end of January/early February the winter blues threaten to set in. Lack of sunshine, frigid weather, feeling cooped up – these all attribute to the blah feelings that seem to come and go sometime between Christmas and Springtime. Here’s what I’ve found through the years to be helpful.

How to Fight Off Winter Blues

Some of what I’m going to share may seem trite, you know, like when I say, “Hey, you should pray about it.” But don’t read this list while thinking “Well yeah, duh, I’ve already tried that.” Read this with an open heart, praying while you read, to see what God might offer you if you also struggle through winter blues. And please leave a comment to add to the list, sharing what has worked for you too!

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Note: I feel I should add a disclaimer. Winter blues are nothing like depression. I am not an expert and am not suggesting that those struggling with severe depression simply “drink some water and you’ll be just fine.” Reach out for big help – it is there and God will provide! I’ve been there and have been so grateful for what God has healed (and continues to heal).

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Well, since I already mentioned it, how about we start with:

1. Hey, you should pray about it.

What I want to suggest though is that we don’t simply pray, “God, help me get through this winter. Help me get through this day. Help me get through until lunch…”

Those are fine prayers, but here’s what I’ve found to be more effective to help free my mind when the enemy tries to get me down:

  • “God, clear my mind of lies and help me to hear your voice of Truth. Help me to believe your Truth and live fully in it.”
  • In the name of Jesus, empty me of self-pity, sadness, despair, and discouragement. Fill me instead with your Spirit, and let the fruit of your Spirit pour out. Your joy, your peace, your goodness, your love…”
  • “God, help me to see life and people through your eyes today.”
  • “Lord God, change me. I need you. I’ve been trying to live through my flesh and it lands me in a place of pain. Work through me so that instead, I will live through your Spirit where there is hope and goodness in abundance!”
  • “God, please open my eyes and my heart to all the goodness you are providing today.”

And then breathe deeply and see that He will absolutely answer these prayers in fullness! God always says yes to everything we ask for that is for our spiritual good! He has already fought every battle and won! He will help us to live in this victory!

2. Dig into the Word.

Yep, we already knew this one too. But what if we dug in and read page after page of Scripture as if our life, our health, and our well-being depended on it. Because it does.

Not sure where to start? This can help.

During some of my most difficult days, God’s Word has served to be so much more than a bandaid on my emotional wounds. It holds real answers to real needs in the perfect way that only God can offer.

3. Serve someone.

I have been amazed by how much better my mood can be when I ask God to tell me who I can serve and how I can serve them. He brings someone (or multiple people) to mind and tells me how to reach out. Even something as simple as baking and delivering treats to someone can help me get out of my own head and instead help me to focus outward on others’ needs. Encouraging others, seeing others, loving on others, giving something to others, talking to others, asking about others’ needs – this is an incredible way to take our minds from melancholy to meaningfulness.

P.S. Get your kids involved. ;)

4. Try to get enough sleep.

This is often easier said than done depending on our season of life. But wow do I feel like a different woman (emotionally and physically) if I’ve gotten the rest I need. When I’m tired, I often cry more easily, feel sorry for myself, feel discouraged, can’t think straight, wonder what’s wrong with me…

Then I get a power nap or a better night’s sleep and suddenly I feel so much better overall.

I guess it’s worth it to say this based on what I’ve personally experienced: Maybe we aren’t down or depressed, maybe we’re just tired. If that’s the case, work extra hard to get to bed at a decent time, to let others help you more, and to get as much needed rest as possible.

5. Ask for help.

Please learn to do this. Asking for help has been incredible and necessary for me, and I think it’s necessary for every person, no matter what. We can’t do life alone. We aren’t good at it. It doesn’t work. God created us to need people.

I have to ask for help with my kids, with my housework, with my emotional needs (praise God for my Christian therapist!), with my blog work – everything. It’s amazing to watch God work through others. Ask for help. You will be so glad you did!

(This is Justus and his girlfriend Kelsey in a pile-up on our floor with our 7-year old and 5-year old. These darlings and many other college students and friends are on call to come help when and if they are available. I’m so very thankful!)

6. Eat your vegetables. Drink your water.

Man, in the wintertime those cookies just seem so much more appealing. But sugar can really kick in the winter blues, so be sure you’re focused on nourishing food that keeps your heart and mind happy instead of sad and sluggish.

Don’t forget: Spring’s a comin’! Look for the beauty in every day. Let’s not get stuck thinking that we’ll feel like this forever. And again, if you’re experiencing more than winter blues, reach out for deeper help.

It’s time to tell the enemy to get out and then ask God to fill our minds with His joy and peace! Winter doesn’t win, and the enemy certainly doesn’t! Nope. No way. Not today Satan. (Or tomorrow. So there.)

Breathe deeply of God’s goodness and let Him walk you through each day. That sun is going to shine soon and boy are we going to ENJOY EVERY MINUTE!!!

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

How to Make Chicken Wings

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Here’s how to make chicken wings at home. You’ll wonder why you never tried this before!

Truly, this is as easy as the “Just Dump Some Sauce on Some Chicken” idea I shared a while ago. I’ll share a recipe below, but if you don’t even want to read that far let me just give you the simple instructions now:

How to Make Chicken WingsYum

  1. Put chicken wings in a crock pot. Who cares if they are still frozen?
  2. Dump on some sauce. Use whatever sauce you have. The final plops of three different bottles will work just fine.
  3. Cook this on low for a few hours.
  4. Eat the chicken as it falls off the bones.
  5. Smile and wipe yo mouth.

Chicken wings seem to be something we only order at restaurants. They seem like one of those hard-to-make special foods when in fact, all you have to do is dump some sauce on some chicken and let your crock pot do the rest.

I love fun food like this. {Sheds a tear.}

Oh, and if you serve your Chicken Wings with some Homemade Sweet Potato Fries, you will make your family feel like they’ve gone to a restaurant when in fact you’ve all stayed home and spent a total of $5.78 to feed your entire family.

Other great side dishes to serve with your Chicken Wings

How to Make Chicken Wings

How to Make Chicken Wings
 
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Author:
Serves: 4-8
Ingredients
  • 2-5 pounds of chicken wings
  • 8-16 ounces of sauce (barbecue, teriyaki, sweet and sour, anything you like!)
Instructions
  1. Put chicken and sauce in a crock pot.
  2. Cook on low heat for 6 hours or until chicken is falling off the bone.

I wish I could give more specific instructions but truly there are no perfect measurements for such a simple recipe idea. Just put your chicken in your crock pot. Cover it with sauce. Let your crock pot do the rest. You’re going to love this!

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

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!

How to get these fun resources for FREE!

For two days only (January 26-27) they’ve brought back the Healthy Meal Planning Bundle I love so much. Many of you took advantage of this offer in August. But if you missed it, you can get it again if you hurry!

It includes 60 amazing resources to help you easily plan meals for your family. And then after you purchase, email me your receipt and I’ll send you the High Five Recipes Flipbook file (worth $15) and 52-Week Simple Meals Planning Packets Collection 2 (worth $52) for FREE!!

  1. Get your Healthy Meal Planning Bundle here before midnight, January 27.
  2. Email me your receipt and I’ll send you the High Five Recipes Flipbook and 52-Week Simple Meals Planning Packets Collection 2! (These are both digital so you’ll get them right away!)
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

How to Still Eat Healthy When You’re in Survival Mode

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Sometimes we enjoy a season of calm. Sometimes we’re enduring a season that is more hectic, difficult, or even traumatic. For the times you feel you are simply surviving from day to day, here are some ideas to help you still eat healthy and stay physically strong.

Times of Being in Survival Mode

Being in survival mode doesn’t always mean we’re going through something difficult. Sometimes it means there’s a new baby on the way or a new baby who doesn’t sleep much at night. Sometimes it means you’re a family in transition, perhaps because of a new job or a new house or another new life situation.

Or sometimes it does mean that we’re going through something quite difficult. Someone is sick, someone has died, something tragic took place. Putting one foot in front of the other is all we can do, so making healthy meals takes a back burner – just as it should do.

Here’s what I’ve considered lately as our family has spent several months in survival mode (not because of tragedy but because of additional foster babes and a job transition for my husband that requires extra time):

Seasons of survival make it harder to eat well – at a time that we need healthy foods more than ever so that we can stay physically strong!

This is super tricky. While we feel that we are just surviving from day to day and have very little time to think about food or health, this is actually the time when we know that we need to stay healthy. Ack, what in the world?

In our family’s situation, we haven’t been getting quite enough sleep for several months. Our meal prep time is super limited and is almost done while holding a baby or three. If ever there was a time to order pizza – this is it. But also, if ever there was a time that Mom and Dad need to not get sick – this is also it. So is it hopeless, or are there ways to survive and stay healthy?

How to Still Eat Healthy When You’re in Survival Mode

Here’s what our family has been doing the past few months during a season of survival:

1. We drink our salads.

I cannot share more adamantly about how great this is. This is my lunch most days and if I didn’t have it, I’m not sure where I’d be. It takes about 5 minutes for me to make a big blenderful of smoothie packed with greens and fruit. It makes about a half gallon for Matt and me to enjoy for a couple of days. I pour myself a glass when I get hungry mid-morning and drink it while I take care of all the kids. It is loaded with nutrients but I don’t have to stop and eat. And yes, stopping to eat is better – but I am simply not able to do that in the middle of the day right now.

Likewise, Matt runs home for a quick lunch each day and “drinks his salad” while he warms up leftovers to eat. Then he’s back out the door to work again.

Packing smoothies full of greens is truly a wonderful way to keep our bodies functioning well when we have very little time to eat mid-day. For the record, these are also a wonderful way to keep our bodies functioning well when we DO have time to eat. So there’s that. :)

2. We spend a little more for convenience produce items.

Yes, it’s cheaper to buy the carrots and cut them into sticks. But when I attempt that right now, my carrots stay at the bottom of the drawer of my fridge and they stare at me until I return their stare with a dirty look message of “are you kidding me right now?”

So right now, I buy the packages of fantastic little petite organic baby carrots. They probably cost twice as much as the whole carrots, but good grief, they are still just $1.99/pound and we are actually eating them because they are easy. So bring on the petite carrots in a bag. I love you, petite carrots.

Also, mini sweet peppers, carrot chips, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, grapes, bananas, clementines, and apples.

Whole pineapple? Not right now. After all, that requires the use of two hands, a knife, and a bowl.

3. We buy applesauce pouches in bulk.

These incredible squeezable applesauce pouches save us every day. All of my little ones love them. All of my big ones love them. I buy all different 100% fruit varieties (including the kind with added veggies!) and the family guzzles them down with breakfast or lunch or for snacks. Be my BFF, applesauce squeezies.

4. We also buy prepared fruit cups.

I don’t want to talk about their price compared to fresh fruit or even canned fruit. :/ But right now, the cups of peaches, pears, mandarins, and pineapple in 100% juice have a prominent place on my countertop and I don’t feel bad about it. Yes, I also buy fresh fruit (see #2 above). But I also keep a big supply of fruit cups on hand because they have been an incredible resource to help me feed all the little ones when they are all hangry at once.

Fun fact: Sometimes my teens aren’t interested in fresh fruit but they will happily eat a peach cup. If it’s a peach cup compared to no fruit, I’ll happily give them a peach cup. Amen.

5. I regularly dump sauce on chicken.

This is pretty much the easiest meal idea in the entire world so no one can ever say they don’t have time to cook a healthy meal. Use a pyrex, use the crock pot, use the grill. Just dump sauce on chicken and cook it. Get out the mixed greens and add dressing (or drink your salad as encouraged in #1). Get out fresh strawberries and wash them. This meal is the most delicious and extremely nourishing without even trying.

6. If I buy and serve convenience food, we all choose a healthy side or two to go with it.

I’ve admitted that we sometimes eat nuggets from a bag right now. See also: mac and cheese from a box and pizza from the freezer. These feed us on extra busy/hard days, but first we choose a fruit and veggie to eat with our boxed or bagged food. Worrying over what’s in the box won’t bless our health, by the way. So I eat it with relief and joy, knowing that God is bigger!

7. I know this isn’t our forever season in life, so I recognize that this is not my forever lifestyle.

Someday I’ll sleep through the night again and I won’t have three kids in diapers. Someday my arms will be available (sniff) and I’ll even be able to turn more kitchen and household tasks over to the littles who will eventually be bigs. Things will get easier again. And then they might get harder and then easier and then harder and then easier. Friends, this is why they’re called “seasons.”

We all have times that are tougher and times that are easier. When we’re surviving, we can do our best with healthy food choices and smile at the fruit cup. When we’re breathing more easily, we can cut the pineapple and cut the carrot sticks. Or not. Or whatever, because who even cares about the free-range chicken?

What God calls us to do today, He will provide and equip us for. If you’re surviving, good for you! If you can enjoy an applesauce squeezy and a green smoothie to help you survive a little better, awesome.

What ways have you found to still eat healthy when you’re in survival mode?

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

10 Fun Ideas to Try This Year

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It’s too easy to put off trying fun new ideas! So I’ve made it easy for you. I made you a list. Which of these have you already tried? Which have you thought about trying but still haven’t? Now’s the time!! These are all so much fun!

10 Fun Ideas to Try This Year

1. Make Homemade Vanilla. I hear from many of you that you have thought about it many times but still haven’t tried this fun idea. Maybe now’s the time!! Here’s the “old fashioned way” to make vanilla. Here’s how to make Vanilla Extract in your Instant Pot. You’re going to love this!

2. Drink a Green Smoothie. It’s the best way to eat lots of greens every day. Just do it!! (Or eat a salad, whichever you prefer!)

3. Make Frozen Muffin Batter. This idea is so fun and practical that if you haven’t tried it yet, you simply must. Freeze your muffin batter. Pull out batter balls and easily bake fresh muffins with no effort!

4. Make a High Five Recipe. Scroll through these recipes that only call for 5 or fewer ingredients. These are so easy and good!! Make one or two of them. And if you love them (which you will, of course) go get our lovely printed High Five Recipes Cookbook!

5. Make a Five Minute Recipe. Most of these recipes call for very few ingredients also! Most of them take just a few minutes to prepare. Yet they are all made with real, healthy ingredients! Pick one to make soon. They are so good and easy! Here’s our Simple Real Food Recipes Cookbook filled with recipes that are ridiculously easy to make.

6. Make mashed Potatoes in the Crock Pot or Instant Pot. I’d stopped making mashed potatoes because they felt too messy and hard. Then I learned how to make them in the Crock Pot. Then I learned to make them in my Instant Pot. Life-changing!!

7. Make Stir and Pour Bread. Have you been thinking about trying this but still haven’t taken the time (haha, this hardly takes any time!!)? Go get the recipe and make your family some bread! You will all be amazed at the goodness!

8. Read your Bible regularly. It’s easier and way more amazing than you think. Here’s how.

9. Make one simple, healthy change in your kitchen. It’s as easy as switching from margarine to butter. Truly, there are so many healthy changes that won’t rock your world one bit!

10. Make Coffee Ice Cubes. This is simply too much fun not to try! People are amazed when they find these in my freezer. What a fun way to enjoy iced coffee at home!

Which one of these ideas will you try first?

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How to Drink Your Salad (and love it!)

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Today I will teach you how to drink your salad. I’m quite sure you will love this idea as much as I do!

See, here’s the thing:

Matt and I like to eat a big salad every day. Scratch that. Matt and I know we need to eat a big salad every day. It’s amazing for our overall health as leafy greens are so incredibly nourishing! But shucks if eating a big salad isn’t actually as much fun as we all wish that it was.


As our family has grown and my hands have become more full of little ones again, I’ve been known to frequently grab greens out of a container in the fridge and eat them on the fly – no dressing, no extras – simply because I rarely have time to build a salad in a bowl and then sit down to chomp it down. Does it takes good, these greens straight out of the fridge? Well, it doesn’t taste bad. But it’s not as fun as eating other food. Again, I just do it because I know my body needs it. Every single day.

Most of us have heard about throwing leafy greens in smoothies. I’ve done it off and on for years, but I never really bought into it as a great daily habit until last summer.

Our three littlest boys and I would go on super long walks every day (before our girls moved in). We’d come home and enjoy chilled smoothies to refresh us. I loaded them with frozen fruit and greens. The boys drank them without hesitation. Matt and I loved them. And finally it hit us: Why should we ever eat salad again?

Well, we did wonder: Would smoothies made with frozen fruit and greens be as wonderful during the cold winter months? Would we get burned out on green smoothies? Was this only a temporary wonderful idea?

Many months and hundreds of smoothies later, I’m happy to report that we are still so very happy with the fact that we can drink our salad every day! It goes down easy. It tastes like fruit. We can drink it on the fly, which is incredibly important during this very busy season in our lives full of both big kids and many little kids.

How to Drink your Salad (and love it!)

  1. Stuff as many leafy greens into your blender as you dare. I put in way more greens than we would typically eat in a regular bowl of salad and our bodies are very happy about this. I also have and highly recommend a Blendtec blender as this will blend your greens into complete smoothness and oblivion.
  2. Add your choice of frozen fruit. I buy big bags of mixed fruit for a fun variety. It includes berries, peaches, and pineapple. Super delicious!
  3. Pour in milk to fill the blender half-full or whatever liquid amount is recommended for your blender so that your smoothie doesn’t explode to the ceiling of your kitchen. Whole milk yogurt is also an awesome “liquid” to include.
  4. Add sweetener or protein powder if you like. Matt and I have found that the fruit alone makes the smoothie sweet enough, so I don’t add any maple syrup or stevia anymore. During the summer we added protein powder to make the smoothie more like a meal. But this winter we’ve left it out.
  5. Put the lid on and blend until smooth. Drink your salad and love it.

And just like that, you have one or two days worth of salad to drink. Perhaps you’ve been doing this all along. Perhaps this is a new idea for you. Perhaps you knew about it but needed the reminder about what a great idea it is!

Here’s what my blender looks like before I get all the goodies mixed up. :)

Give this a try and let me know how you like it!

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

Who Even Cares Anymore About Free Range Chicken?

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Would you look at this? My first post of 2021 is about our beloved Free Range Chicken. I bet you’re wondering how I feel about this subject now…

What I’m about to share may surprise you. It might even disappoint you. But well, life has taken a huge shift for us and while I wouldn’t have believed it myself had you told me I’d feel this way in 2021, here we are, and here is how I feel.

I don’t actually care about free-range chicken anymore. This is the truth.

What am I even talking about?

This free-range chicken chatter all started back in 2014 with my God is Bigger than a Free Range Chicken post. Remember that? In my early healthy-eating days,  was allllll into organic and free-range and fermented and all the best of the best. Then God reminded me that He is bigger and biggest and real food is still real food, even when it wasn’t raised at Harvard and sung to from the womb. So I wrote this to encourage us to focus on eating healthy food without stress.


Oh look. It’s a couple of free-range chickens.

Then God taught me even more, so the next post on this subject in 2018 turned out: Beyond the Free Range Chicken. God had shown me in hundreds of ways how loving people is much more important than loving food. That focusing on Him is a better choice and much healthier and more balanced than focusing on organic salad and grass-fed beef. That while eating well is important – the only reason for it is so that we are healthy enough to serve in all the ways He asks us to serve. You can read the full post here.

So now here we are in 2021. As we’ve sought God in new ways and opened our hearts to His plans for us, He surprised us by starting our family over again. Just when we thought our grocery budget would finally go down as our big boys launched the nest, the grocery budget stayed the same and maybe even went up a little as God moved more kids into our home.

We’ve currently adopted two and have three others in foster care with many unknowns as we walk forward each day. (Those pesky unknowns? These are all completely known to God. We just don’t know the full plans yet. We wait and we pray and sometimes we cry because unknowns on earth are hard if we focus on the flesh instead of looking down from our seat in the Heavenly Realms.)

So here we are, with nine kids at the time of this writing. (Three are launched from the nest. Three are under the age of 2. Some are healing from intense trauma. One has some minor medical issues. You don’t want to know how many diapers we go through in one day.)

Our foster care/adoption journey has taken us on a beautiful, wild, challenging, ever learning-to-trust-God ride since April of 2018. Every day of that ride, God shows us more about what is truly important and what we need to let go of so that we can focus on what actually matters for the Kingdom.

What does actually matter?

Love. Trusting the One who loves us beyond what we can possibly understand.

But the truth is also this: It’s easy to think about how beautiful that is – the loving and the trusting – but it is hard to actually live fully in that truth.

While love overflows from our hearts because of the Spirit living in us, what currently overflows from my house is a big pile of dirty laundry or on a good day, a big pile of clean laundry unfolded on top of and falling off of my dresser. Our toddlers can destroy the house from top to bottom in five short minutes. The dishes don’t ever get washed efficiently, and even if the kitchen floor gets swept, it’s dirty again after the next meal or snack.

Keeping up with so many little ones is a big job in and of itself, but then we’ll throw in all of the many meetings and court dates and appointments brought on by foster care life. It takes me from my regular homemaking duties and sometimes leaves me emotionally drained.

I am complaining about none of this. I will live in a filthy house with zero domestic accomplishments for the rest of my life if it means that I get to love on and live with all these children. But it is all worth mentioning to explain why I have come to the conclusion that, when talking about the beloved free-range chicken:

I don’t really care much anymore about what we eat. I’m just so happy to actually put any variety of food on the table every day (for my toddlers to smear on their head and drop onto the floor under their chairs).

Happy 2nd birthday to Keith!

So I bet you’re wondering:

Have I lost my actual mind? Do you even know who I am anymore? Do I still love butter? Have I started buying the high fructose corn syrup and the MSG and the hydrogenated oils?

Well, yes obviously about the butter. I still love it and always will. And no way about the HFCS and MSG. I’ve been at this real food, simple meals thing for long enough that much of this is an automatic no-brainer for me as I grocery shop. We still have a great source for grass-fed beef and raw milk, so I stick with this because I don’t have to do anything different or difficult.

But, well? If you open my freezers now, along with our lovely beef from the organic farm, you will also find bags of prepared french fries and several frozen pizzas. I haven’t made a homemade tortilla in years and I almost cried when I thought about trying to can any of the tomatoes from our weed-filled garden last summer.

The best I can truly is the best.

Did you know that? The best we can do really is best. :)

I’m doing the best I can to be sure we’re getting fruits and vegetables each day with whatever else we’re eating because I know we need the nourishment that fruits and veggies provide. What I also know is that food overall has taken a big back seat in my brain and heart, simply because it has to.

And it makes me wonder: Should it have been this way all along?

What if focusing on good health and perfect foods and ingredient labels keep us from freely fixing our eyes on Jesus? What if good health and good food is important, but only so that we are fueled with what we need so that we can serve as God asks us to each day?

I love all that I’ve learned about nutrition and good health. I love that I’ve been able to share what I’ve learned here and to learn from all of you too! This knowledge is carrying me through this season, and for that I am thankful. Real butter and vegetables are pretty great. But the more time I spend in the Word and with people, the more I recognize that Jesus is the bread of life and He is the one who brings real nourishment.

God’s call to love.

God calls all of us to love people. All people. Whatever that looks like in your life, whoever He has put in your path, on your porch, in your church, in your living room – He calls us to love, and He tells us that this is the most important. While there is glorious beauty in loving Him and His people in all the ways He calls us to love, there is also challenge and hardship. It takes time and energy – and I am becoming more and more convicted that this is time and energy that should be taken out of our kitchens and into the hurting world.

God doesn’t care if we make frozen pizza but He does care if we are resting in Him. He’s not concerned about what items in my fridge are organic. He cares about our hearts and He calls us to Him constantly to teach us to trust His ways as we walk this path with Him. He knows our weariness and our joys. He’s well aware of what each day holds and if my free-range chicken has turned into bags of dino nuggets? Well. When I serve them to my kids I sometimes actually cry tears of thanks for them because it means my family is fed and I still have the energy to smile at all these precious people at the end of the day.

So where do we land on the topic of eating healthy food?

I absolutely do still care about our health. I cook the most wholesome of food if and when I can, you can bet on it. Malachi (our only teen left at home) knows how to cook and is a huge help when he’s not working or at sports practice or play practice or youth group or…

I make smoothies daily and pack them with mixed greens so that we can “drink our salad” on the fly. I serve fruit with every meal and veggies with most. We aren’t giving up on good health; we’re simply focused on overall health now – emotional, spiritual, and yes, physical – but it begins and ends with a focus on love.

In summary:

God is bigger than ALLLLLL THE CHICKEN.

Struggling to find balance when it comes to healthy eating and healthy living in general? Ask God to show you what matters. He will show you. You may be at a point in your life where you have failing health and you NEED to focus on all things nourishing and good. You may be at a point where you need to get your emotional and spiritual life healthy and you need to find a Christian therapist to walk you through (best decision I’ve ever made and continue to make is to let my Christian therapist help me through challenges and spiritual cleansing and healing!). You may need both.

But we all need Jesus. And we all need to know that He is biggest. Bigger than any question we have about life and caring for our families.

Let Him direct you. This is not a cop-out (I’ll just eat whatever I want and let God take care of it please hand me another Snicker bar). This is a matter of choosing to surrender our hearts (God is bigger than anything I’m worried about or focused on this earth; I trust Him and will listen to Him).

Share with me.

What has God been teaching you about love? Who has He put on your path? How has He shown you ways to focus on what truly matters?

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Ready to Get Organized? (Exciting news for you!)

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Every year after Christmas I find myself ready to declutter and get organized for a fresh start. I tell myself that I’ll chill and enjoy the Christmas decorations all the way until January 1, but nope. I love Christmas, then it’s over and I’m like: CLEAN THE HOUSE!!!!!!

Who’s with me?

I was going to save this for a week or so, but I need it now and you might too. Soooooooo……

This fun and wonderful little packet comes at a perfect time!

The packet contains lovely printable pages to help you organize your kitchen and home life right now. I’ve already started using them and I love all they offer. My freezers are in much better shape and I know what’s in them so that I can meal plan better. My seven and five-year-olds (and even my two-year-old) have new chores on their fun new chart (found in the packet) that they are excited to tackle. Case in point:

I think you’ll enjoy and use this printable bundle as much as I am! The printables are simple, practical, fun, and all a part of the wonderful Heavenly Homemaker’s Club (where members have access to our eBooks, eCurriculum, menu planning resources, hundreds more printables, exclusive tips and posts and…).

There’s even better news!

This wonderful exclusive printable packet is just the first of many that we’ll be offering to our Heavenly Homemakers Club Members! We’ve decided to launch a brand new monthly printable surprise package which just makes our membership one step better. Every month, members will be given a brand new exclusive printable packet. This month’s is focused on home organization. What will next month bring? Just wait and see! Club members have so much to look forward to! Each month you can count on the printables being just like this – simple, practical, and fun!

Ready to join?!

What Club Members Enjoy…

You can read all about it here. But in short (if it’s possible to keep it short since it includes so much!!), our members get:

  • Access ALL of Heavenly Homemaker’s eBooks – anytime!
  • Access ALL of Heavenly Homemaker’s eCurriculum – anytime!
  • Access ALL of Heavenly Homemaker’s Printables – anytime!
  • Access 52 weeks of Simple Meals Planning Packets plus Meal and Snack Ideas Cheat Sheets, a Recipe Search Bar, and Menu Planners – anytime!
  • Access dozens of member-exclusive homemaking, kitchen, money-saving, family-life encouragement and tips – anytime!
  • Enjoy exclusive new eBooks, eCurriculum, printables, and content being added regularly.

Take advantage of our awesome membership offer and enjoy loads of incredible resources. Join us here —>

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

How to Make Perfect Hot Chocolate

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Want to learn how to make Perfect Hot Chocolate? You’ll want to learn these “tricks” so you can enjoy a mug of this during holiday break with your family!

I am so thrilled to have a huge houseful right now! We’ve got five littles, four bigs, plus two amazing girlfriends. Our holiday time food shared together has been simple but fun. And since I’ve got more big people around to help with all the littles, I find my hands are a little freer to make special treats.

That’s where the Perfect Hot Chocolate comes in. Sure, Christmas is over. But the fun treats and the special drinks will keep on coming until school and work starts again!

Now, to make Perfect Hot Chocolate, I believe it takes three perfect recipes:

Not to worry, these are all easy and fast. (Do you even know me at all?)

  1. Hot Cocoa
  2. Whipped Cream
  3. Homemade Hot Fudge

The Hot Cocoa whisks together quickly on the stove. I whip cream in my Blendtec, which takes 25 beautiful seconds of effortless “work.” I often have Homemade Hot Fudge already in the fridge that we can warm up and drizzle into our hot cocoa. If not, I can make that quickly too.

The ingredients in all these recipes overlap with one another. Plus they are ingredients I always have on hand. Simple but special – that’s what I love about treating our family and guests to this Perfect Hot Chocolate!

Once you’ve got your three recipes made: 1) Fill a mug with hot cocoa. 2) Add a generous amount of whipped cream. 3) Drizzle hot fudge over the cream.

If it all oozes out over the sides of the mug, well, this can’t be helped and it is one of the best problems you’ll have because you’ll have to lick the sides of your mug to “clean it up.”

And there you have it! The Perfect Hot Chocolate. Let me know how you like it!

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