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Busy Day Baked Chicken

March 1, 2020 by Laura 2 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Bring on the Busy Day Baked Chicken!

Every day is a busy day! (Though it’s important that we are intentional about taking time to slow down and find restful days too!)

But for those extra-busy days – I am loving this idea for Busy-Day Baked Chicken!

This idea came from Anne, a cherished HeavenlyHomemakers.com reader. She says:

Laura, I have a favorite recipe idea to share! It was a lifesaver for me when I was a working mother (now retired). We call it “Wishbone Chicken.”

Wash and trim the fat on a whole chicken and place it in a pan. Sprinkle it with Lawry’s Seasoned Salt and slather it with Wishbone Italian Dressing. That’s it. Bake about an  hour at 350 degrees. Smells divine! Easy peasy!

As a working mom, I’d buy 3 or 4 whole chickens when on sale. I’d lay each cleaned chicken in foil and cover with the salt and dressing. Then I’d wrap each tightly in the foil and put in the freezer. On a work day, I’d take one out before I left for work, unwrap it, place in a pan, and put it in the oven (frozen). I’d set the oven to come on at 2:00 pm at 325 degrees. The chicken would be partly thawed when the oven came on. The kids and I came home from school around 3:30. We’d walk into a luscious smelling house and a delicious homemade dinner was all ready for us! – Anne

I’ve taken Anne’s great idea and we love it so much! I especially love the idea of buying the chickens on sale and making several ahead of time to freeze, then pull out and bake as needed!

This chicken is delicious and ridiculously easy!!

Busy-Day Baked ChickenYum

5.0 from 1 reviews
Busy Day Baked Chicken
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Serves: 4-6 servings
Ingredients
  • Whole chicken
  • Seasoning Salt
  • 1½ cups Italian Dressing
Instructions
  1. Place a whole chicken on a rack, placed on a baking sheet.
  2. Sprinkle liberally with seasoning salt.
  3. Drizzle Italian Dressing over the chicken.
  4. Cover and bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.
3.5.3229

This is my favorite Seasoning Salt. And here’s our great and easy recipe for Homemade Italian Dressing if you’d like!

Do yourself a favor and make this chicken! Serve it with a salad and steamed veggie and you have the easiest meal in the world that is extremely delicious and nourishing.

Thank you, Anne!

Psssst! Everyone be sure to grab our Simple Real Food Recipes cookbook full of amazingly tasty and simple real food recipes like this one!

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

Is it Worth the Money to Buy an Instant Pot?

February 27, 2020 by Laura 5 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

What do you think? Is it worth the money to buy an Instant Pot? Here’s what I think…

Is it worth the money to buy an Instant Pot?

I stubbornly refused to get an Instant Pot for several years after they became popular (silly me), and now I am one of the biggest advocates for them! This gem saves so much time and keeps us eating healthy too!

I love that it makes wholesome, rich beef or chicken broth with so little effort on my part. I LOVE that I can cook 7 pounds of frozen hamburger meat in it in just 30 minutes!! And I love the many meals and side dishes I can make in it within just a few minutes.

So in my opinion, yes, it is worth the money to buy an Instant Pot. Not only has mine saved me time, it truly saves me money! So your investment in this appliance can be paid back and earning money for you in no time!

How? Well, think of all the convenience foods or fast food options one might fall back on when time is limited at mealtime! This money-saving perk alone makes the Instant Pot worth it.

In addition, the Instant Pot allows you to make wonderful, rich broth for soups that offer super nourishment and costs very, very little!

If you can swing it, get yourself an Instant Pot. I have the 8-quart variety for my large family. Here’s the 6-quart Instant Pot if that fits your needs more!

Recipes you’ll need for your Instant Pot:

Here are our favorites so far!

  • Bone Broth
  • Simple Creamy Chicken Soup
  • Simple 10-Minute Mac and Cheese
  • Simple One Dish Chicken Florentine
  • Mashed Potatoes
  • Beef Roast
  • Simple Chili Mac
  • Simple Lasagna Casserole
  • How to Cook 5 lbs of Frozen Hamburger Meat in 30 minutes
  • Simple Hashbrown Casserole

Psst: I highly recommend that you bookmark our Instant Pot Recipes page for easy access as we continue to update it!

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

Introducing, Keith Coppinger!

February 21, 2020 by Laura 2 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Here’s the precious face I’ve been looking forward to sharing with you!

He’s learning to feed himself, and he’s oh-so proud.

His name is Keith, and as of today, he is Coppinger Boy #6.

Foster care and adoption is an emotional experience in at least a thousand ways. There’s joy and there’s sorrow. Adding to the family also means there is loss in some form. We don’t take that lightly.

But today, we fully embrace the joy of adding to our family. We embrace it so much that the tears won’t stop. This little boy, who has been a part of our family since he was just 2 months old, has overcome so much in his short life. That we get to be a part of this and learn more about victory in Jesus because of him humbles us greatly.

Keith loves Mommy and Daddy. He thinks all of his older brothers are THE BEST. But when Brayden walks into the room, there’s no doubt who he thinks is the BEST BEST.

These two have a special bond – so much so that Keith’s first word was actually “Brayden.” I was lobbying for “mama.” We all asssumed it would be “dada.” But when the big day came, Keith looked up at his beloved Brayden and said, “Dudden! Dudden!” It is the sweetest thing ever.

We continue to foster Boy Babe #2. Our older sons continue to embrace this new life with grace and love. Matt and I stand in amazement as we experience all God is doing and teaching us through this.

Thank you for walking this journey with us. Your love and support has meant so much – and I’ll thank you by sharing lots of adorable Keith pictures now that I can!!!

Here he is with Justus, age 20. Because yes, we now have sons aged 1-22!!!!!

He’s already learning to cook. I’m pretty sure he was making me some coffee…

Keith got to wear Elias’ hat!

Yes, he truly is as sweet as he looks.

And most days, he’s happy as can be!

God bless YOU in whatever ways He is working in YOUR lives. I have no doubt He is doing great things!

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Peanut Butter Chocolate Crunch Cups – 4 Ingredients

February 19, 2020 by Laura Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

These Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Cups are practically begging for you to make them!

With college students joining us for lunch, I was searching the internet for ways to treat them, and I had rice krispie cereal that I needed to use up. All the recipes called for marshmallows, of course. But hey, I don’t keep those in my pantry regularly, much to my kids’ dismay.

Therefore, after wading through all of the marshmallow-y options, I finally found this winner! I tweaked it just a bit, and that is how these Peanut Butter Chocolate Crunch Cups were born.

These are incredibly easy and they were a hit with the college students! Who needs marshmallows?! (Well, they are helpful if you’re making smores…) But for rice krispie cereal treats, it’s amazing that we can do other fun things and use more wholesome ingredients to make treats!

Speaking of “other fun things” – I highly encourage that you also put these 4-Ingredient Chocolate Crunch Bars on your list of awesome rice krispie treats to make. These are hugely popular when I serve them to guests! It’s worth noting that the ingredient list in that recipe and in this one are very similar, making life easier. They just turn out two different and fun treats!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Crunch CupsYum

Peanut Butter Chocolate Crunch Cups - 4 Ingredients
 
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Author: Laura
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 1 cup Natural Peanut Butter
  • 4 Tablespoons Honey
  • 2½ cups Crisp Rice Cereal
  • 1½ cups any variety Chocolate Chips
Instructions
  1. In a saucepan, stir peanut butter and honey together over low heat until melted.
  2. Remove from heat and stir in rice crispy cereal.
  3. Press mixture into 12 muffin cups. (I recommend silicone cups to make them easy to remove.)
  4. Melt chocolate chips on the stovetop, stirring until melted and smooth.
  5. Spoon and spread melted chocolate over each peanut butter crispy cup.
  6. Refrigerate for at least an hour until chocolate has hardened.
  7. Remove cups and serve!
  8. Store Peanut Butter Chocolate Crispy Cups in an air tight container.
3.5.3229

 

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Meatless, Egg Free, Dairy-Free Recipes

February 16, 2020 by Laura 1 Comment

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Yes indeed. Here’s a list of Meatless, Egg Free, Dairy Free Recipes that are still fun. Mostly.

Is it possible? Is this meat-loving, dairy-loving mama going to share some Vegan recipes with you?

Well, funny story. (Yeah. So, so funny.)

Twas the night before Christmas Eve, 2019, and my darling husband decided to watch a documentary. Why, Matt, why? You couldn’t have just watched Elf??

But no. He watched the one about why we should probably not be eating as much or any meat, eggs, or dairy. The next day, he stood in the kitchen telling me about it – you know – while I was cooking seven pounds of hamburger meat in my Instant Pot and whipping cream for pies. Dude, you have got to be kidding me. No meat or dairy? Do you even know me at all?

But alas, the documentary had convinced him. Not that we should all go vegan (BECAUSE MAMA NEEDS HER BUTTER!!!!!). But he wondered if he might need to cut out animal products as an experiment to see if the change helped some of the minor health issues he’d been experiencing.

I almost got mad (she admits, sheepishly). It’s just that with two one-year-old babies toddling around and crawling on the floor eating food I hadn’t found time to sweep up yet, and a 6-year old who constantly demands attention and needs a lot of re-training, and all the others and everything else plus a freezer full of MEAT  – I didn’t know what to do with the words he’d just spoken.

It’s a Wonderful Life, Matt. Now THAT’S a great Christmas movie. Documentary, schmocumentary. Stop trying to learn new things.

So after the 5-minute tantrum I had inside my head, I half-smiled and told him that after Christmas I’d consider thinking about thinking about how I could possibly accommodate this idea. But for today, we were eating meatballs. God bless us, everyone.

Anyway, after Christmas was over and we started to settle into a new routine, I became intrigued by the challenge of figuring out tasty ways to feed my favorite guy. After all, man cannot live on peanut butter alone.

And that, my friends, is the story of why I’m sharing this list of Meatless, Egg Free, Dairy-Free Recipes. Mind you, I just ate a slice of homemade pizza that was heavily topped with cheese and two kinds of meat. (I don’t watch documentaries that tell me things I don’t want to hear. Heh.)

Meatless, Egg Free, Dairy-Free Recipes

Here are some of the recipes I’ve adapted by leaving out ALL OF THE GOOD STUFF. (I mean, by excluding potentially harmful ingredients in an effort to bless my husband’s health.) I am so proud that the recipe links in this list made it into the double-digits. I wasn’t sure I could do it. Because have you seen my recipes??!! Cream cheese rules! Butter and beef for days!!!! But not in these recipes:

  • Black Bean Salsa
  • Bean Burritos (cheeseless)
  • Calico Beans (without meat)
  • Calzones (made with lots of veggies!)
  • Easy Noodle Stir Fry
  • Last-Minute Lentil Chili (Matt’s favorite so far.)
  • Pizza Boats
  • Skillet Taco Pasta (no meat, no cheese, basically just pasta and salsa.)
  • Simple Taco Rice Dinner (meatless, so I guess we should just call this Spanish Rice.)
  • Pancakes (but with eggs, because I couldn’t even. and Matt was ok with that.)
  • Waffles (same as above.)
  • Baked Potatoes (with no butter, cheese, or sour cream. Blah.)
  • No-Bake Chocolate Fudge Cookie Bites
  • No-Bake Snickerdoodle Bites
  • No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookie Bites
  • No-Bake Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites

Can you believe it? Out of the hundreds of recipes on my site, this tiny list is all I could come up with. Send help!

Or not, because Matt’s not living and dying by this lifestyle. He’s just experimenting to see if it makes a difference. Meanwhile, he’s making lots of veggie stir-fries for himself, spreading peanut butter on bread or apples or bananas, and really focusing on eating lots of veggies and fruits in general.

Long live the cow. And all of the cow’s friends. I like beef. The end.

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

Groceries I Order From Azure Standard

February 12, 2020 by Laura 1 Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Curious about what groceries I regularly order from Azure Standard? Today I’ll share what’s often on my list!

Real Food Groceries I Buy From Azure Standard

First, let’s review.

Here’s a post to share what Azure Standard is and why I shop with them regularly. (Spoiler: They’re a food co-op that delivers even to small towns all over the U.S. Their prices on whole foods are fantastic!! More details here.)

Real Food Groceries I Buy from Azure Standard

  • 5-Pound Bags of Frozen Organic Peas, Green Beans, and Corn

We usually go through two bags each of frozen green beans and peas each month and one bag of corn. These are fabulous to have on hand!

  • 5-Pound Bag of Dry Roast, Unsalted Peanuts

I (used to) buy one of these each month to make several jars of Creamy Peanut Butter for my family. If you want to make your own peanut butter, I highly recommend buying nuts here!

  • 10-Inch Tortillas

Yes, I used to make them. But during this season in our lives, I am so grateful to have ready-made tortillas in our freezer! I buy them by the case and use them for Meat and Cheese Burritos, Breakfast Burritos, and Quesadillas. My favorite brand of tortillas from Azure is Stacey’s.

  • Frozen Potatoes

I have been getting 30-pound boxes of Frozen Hashbrowns, Southern Style, and I use them in so many ways! They are wonderful in casseroles like this and in my Easy Breakfast Casserole. Recently I realized I could even make them into these Mashed Potatoes and wow! Game changer! They are also a favorite in this Awesome Potato Soup.

  • Hard and Soft White Wheat

I used to grind our wheat fresh in my Nutrimill, so I liked to buy 25 pounds of hard white wheat and soft white wheat every month or two from Azure so I can always make whole wheat flour as needed. Read more about grinding wheat and which flour works best in various recipes here.

UPDATE: I don’t have time to grind flour anymore. So instead, I buy Azure’s flour: Whole Wheat Pastry Flour (for non-yeast baking) and Hard White Wheat Flour (for yeast recipes).

  • Oats

It’s so nice to buy a 25-pound bag of rolled oats to have for Homemade Instant Oatmeal, Breakfast Bars, Granola, and Cookies! I keep the oats in our extra freezers to pull out as needed. (Here’s a list of other great food I make with oats!)

  • Brown Rice

Just like oats and wheat, I like to buy 25-pound sacks of rice (if I still have room in my freezer!).

  • Active Dry Yeast

It’s awesome to buy a 5-pound bag of yeast to keep in the freezer and use it for baking as needed!

  • Fresh Produce

Some of their organic fresh produce is too pricey for my budget. But I find that most of the time their yellow potatoes, varieties of apples, peaches, and pears are usually super reasonably priced! And depending on the season, other produce options are a great price too!

  • Sale Items

Azure runs monthly discounts so I always scroll through them to see what is marked down 20% or or more and take advantage if I feel it will benefit my family!

I used to always buy butter and cheese from Azure Standard also, but the prices on those have gone up so now I just get those at a regular grocery store.

How Azure Standard works:

  1. Become a member. It is completely free.
  2. Join a local drop point (or start one).
  3. Order online each month according to your needs. There is no obligation to order if you don’t need or want anything. Just shop any or all months of the year as needed.
  4. The drop coordinator for your group will be informed of the truck delivery time each month. He/she will send information to let you know when/where to meet.
  5. Meet at the designated pick-up time and location to help unload the truck and take home your order! This unloading and sorting process usually only takes 15 minutes.

Are you a regular Azure Standard customer? What do you like to buy?

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

Easy Heart-Shaped Food for Valentine’s Day

February 5, 2020 by Laura 1 Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

It’s pretty easy to make heart-shaped food for Valentine’s Day! I’m pretty sure this is the least expensive way to treat your family and show them extra love!


Our family hardly ever spends extra money on Valentine’s Day, but we do like to make our food fun!

I recommend getting an inexpensive set of Heart-Shaped cookie cutters in a variety of sizes like this one. Then you and your family can be creative with all the ways you can make heart-shaped food!

Easy Heart-Shaped Food for Valentine’s DayYum

Food you can easily shape into hearts (with or without cookie cutters) before serving it to your family on Valentine’s Day:

  1. Simple Whole Wheat Pancakes
  2. Whole Wheat Waffles
  3. Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
  4. Quesadillas
  5. Pizza
  6. Whole Wheat Donuts
  7. Poptarts
  8. Quick Mix Biscuits
  9. Soft Pretzels
  10. Cream Cheese Cookie Cutouts
  11. The Easiest Chocolate Fudge
  12. Peanut Butter Honey Fudge
  13. Chocolate Chip Brownies
  14. Chocolate Chip Cookies
  15. Cheesecake Brownies
  16. Butterscotch Bars

To go with your Heart-Shaped Foods, here are some bonus Valentine’s Day food ideas, you’ll enjoy looking through these lists…

Red and Pink Treats (No Food Dye!)

Sprinkles are fun, but not entirely necessary if you have naturally red and pink goodies like these:

  1. Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies
  2. Strawberry Cream Muffins
  3. Raspberry Oatmeal Bars
  4. Chocolate Whipped Cream on Strawberries
  5. Strawberry-Peach Slushies
  6. Strawberry-Kefir Smoothies
  7. Strawberry Yogurt
  8. Strawberry-Yogurt Fruit Dip
  9. Strawberry Christmas Salad (which obviously becomes Strawberry Valentine Salad on Feb. 14)
  10. Low Sugar Strawberry Cheesecake Parfait
  11. 7-Minute Strawberry Ice Cream
  12. Strawberry Creamsicles
  13. Strawberry Shortcake
  14. Strawberry Milkshakes
  15. Easy Raspberry Syrup (for your heart-shaped pancakes)
  16. Raspberry Lemon Cream Cups

Don’t forget obvious foods that are red – like tomatoes, sweet peppers, strawberries, grapes, cherries, or raspberries!

Chocolate Valentine’s Day Treats

Chocolate is always a hit on Valentine’s Day! (And if you’re me, it’s also a hit tomorrow and the day after that.) Here are some great chocolate treats you might consider making to share with your family:

  1. Warm Chocolate Soother
  2. Chocolate Whipped Cream on Strawberries (which I realize I mentioned above, but it is both red and chocolate, so it deserves to be in both categories)
  3. No-Bake Chocolate Fudge Bites
  4. Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins
  5. Peanut Butter or Caramel Chocolate Truffles
  6. Low Sugar Chocolate Cake
  7. Low Sugar Chocolate Cheesecake
  8. Dark Chocolate Peppermint Mousse
  9. No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake
  10. Homemade Chocolate Frappe
  11. Chocolate Cheesecake Pie
  12. Homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

What are some of your family’s Valentine’s Day traditions?

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The Best Hot Drinks for Fall and Winter

February 2, 2020 by Laura Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Spring isn’t here yet! It’s the cozy time of year that calls for hot drinks. Here are our favorites!

The Best Hot Drinks for Fall and Winter

1. Homemade Hot Cocoa

It’s pretty hard to beat Homemade Hot Cocoa. Well, unless you top it with fresh whipped cream. Then it’s even better!

Homemade Hot Cocoa

2. Warm Vanilla Soother

If the idea of drinking warm pudding appeals to you, then you are going to love this. This is fantastic comfort food, er drink. So nourishing and comforting!

warmvanillasoother2sm

3. Warm Chocolate Soother

How about drinking something that tastes like a brownie? That’s how amazing this Warm Chocolate Soother is. Drink it for breakfast and your day is off to a perfect, chocolaty start!

4. Chocolate Mint Soother

How soothing are these soothers? Truly.

5. Warm Pumpkin Custard Drink

This hot drink will blow your mind. What do you think about drinking what tastes like pumpkin pie? Yup.

Now let’s talk coffee. It’s probably no surprise that coffee is my favorite hot drink. :) Here are some great ways to sweeten up your mug of hot coffee!

6. Chocolate Caramel Coffee Creamer

This one is super sugary, so drink it at your own risk. :)

Chocolate Caramel Coffee Creamer

7. Chocolate Whipped Cream for Coffee

Now THIS is where it’s at. I make it with stevia so it is a completely sugarless and healthy option for sweetening your coffee. And it’s chocolate. So that means we can all survive even the coldest winter days with a genuine smile on our faces.

Chocolate Whipped Cream - Perfect For Your Coffee

8. Peppermint Cream for Cocoa and Coffee

Bookmark or pin this one to during the holidays. Or tomorrow (isn’t every day a holiday?). SO GOOD.

While cocoa and coffee are always a favorite, let’s now take a moment to look at a recipe for the best apple cider!

9. Crockpot Cranberry Apple Cider

This is extremely easy to make and makes your house smell incredible! Everyone I’ve served this to loves it!

What are your favorite hot drinks for fall and winter?

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

Did Tasha Pay off Her Huge Debt in One Year?

January 29, 2020 by Laura 2 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

I’m sure you’re all wondering: Did Tasha pay off her huge debt in just one year?! Read Part 1 of this compelling sage here! 

Did Tasha Pay Off Her Huge Debt in One Year?

by Tasha Hackett

I had decided that I was not going to be in debt forever and better yet, was going to scramble out of it as quickly as I possibly could. 

Could we live on half our income? Our one-salary-teacher’s-pay income?

Could we bust out a large portion of our debt in one year? It seemed drastic. But also super exciting because, as mentioned, I am highly motivated by challenges and numbers and worksheets and goals and if we pretended it was all just one big game maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

At the time, our take-home pay was $3,300 a month (Just under $40K a year). That meant we needed to live on $20,000. I knew it could be done because we had been living on that seven years ago… except we’d only had one kid and a smaller house and only one car and one phone and no internet and we never went out or did anything that cost money and ate potatoes and cabbage and beans and eggs and grape juice was a fancy treat. *Whew*

But I saw in my pencil-in-the-margin scribbles: So you’re saying there’s a chance. 

What about the rest of my family?

I have the gift of persuasion. Ask my three siblings. And I know what motivates Ben. (Dreams of vacations to Disney World, sport cars, steak…) He began listening to Dave Ramsey Podcasts in the shower and on the way to work, so he was definitely on board with my crazy plan. We named 2017 “Year of Plenty” to remind us that we really did have plenty and that we were making this choice. On purpose. 

I’ll skip to the end: It didn’t work. 

We couldn’t do it. 

By June of 2017 we had paid off only $3000 of the projected $20,000 goal. We had cars break down. A terrible leak in the basement. One thing after another.

In July I fell to my knees and prayed earnestly for God to pay these debts off. I began praying multiple times a day for this specific request. That’s when I realized my debt-pay-off goal was incredibly self-centered.

God did a number on my attitude about money that year. When I realigned my will with God’s and continued to petition his aid, He delivered. As he does over and over. I am no longer surprised by this, just expectant of his wonderful plans, though it took me 32 years to get there. 

By December 31, 2017 we had paid off a total of $29,000. 

Whaa!?!? I know. That’s nine thousand more than planned. I can’t even. God does amazing things. I’ll go into detail later on what living on half our income really looked like. For now just rest assured that what is impossible with man is possible with God. I’m not preaching a health and wealth gospel to you. 

I’m telling you that I was sick of being where we were and so I asked and let God change our hearts. 

I was sick of “being poor” and realized, with a heavenly tap on the shoulder, that I wasn’t poor. I had plenty. More than plenty. I just needed a fire under me to get started. I needed a reason to do this hard thing. I needed to see a light at the end and begin to hope and plan and dream of a different kind of financial life. When a family requests money to fund their mission work in Ecuador I can say, “Absolutely!” and write off a thousand dollar check and not worry about feeding my family. We had one year of plenty which opened our eyes to enjoy a year of generosity, and early 2019, except for our home mortgage, we finished off all debt, including Ben’s MA degree and baby number four medical bills… and…. What are we going to do next? (besides buy that Blentec??) 

We’re going to Disneyland! 

All six of us, on a plane, to stay in a hotel, to enjoy the beach and frivolous theme park extravaganza. And we’re paying cash for all of it. The freedom we’re experiencing from 2 ½  years of “extreme” consumer sacrifices is TOTALLY WORTH IT. 

My seven year old recently asked me, “Mom, are we rich?” I answered without a pause. “Yes! We are rich.” My four year old chimed in, “What is rich?” I answered, “Rich is having enough money to buy all the things you need.”

Someday they’ll grow up and think maybe I lied to them. But I pray they always feel rich, that they can distinguish between need and want, that they learn at an early age how to tell their money what to do, that they will live generously with whatever God will provide.

We have new and challenging and exciting financial goals for 2020 because we now understand, because we have plenty and are so rich, that if we don’t have a set plan for our money it will walk away all by itself. 

I can’t wait to share with you all the things I’ve learned and am still learning on this journey. 

See ya ‘round, 

Tasha

P.S. I know you’re saying, “Wait! This was a why story, what about the how?” I know! This too shall come. In the meantime, drop a note below. Do you have a goal for your money this year? What motivates you to pay off your debt? Are you having trouble finding a motivator? Are you debt-free? How does it feel!? 

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

The Easiest Chocolate Fudge Recipe

January 26, 2020 by Laura 3 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

This Easiest Chocolate Fudge recipe is for real. I’ve never made an easier fudge recipe! (And you’ll love that these ingredients are REAL!)

You may notice that this Chocolate Fudge recipe looks strangely similar to our Chocolate Fudge Pie recipe. That’s because it is the exact same recipe minus the pie crust.

What can I say? One recipe always turns into another around here! It something works well for one recipe, it often makes sense that it will work well with a few minor adaptations. So it is with this Easiest Chocolate Fudge recipe.

When I first made the pie variety, I poured a little extra pie filling into a dish without a crust. It cut into pieces just like fudge, tasted amazing just like fudge, and so here we are with a recipe for the Easiest Chocolate Fudge.

Food really isn’t as hard as we like to think that it is. (This Simple Real Food Recipes Cookbook proves it. If you don’t already have it, you need it!! This will save you so much time and energy while you feed your family great meals!)

I figured you might need this fudge recipe this Valentine’s day as you make special treats for your special people. Use any chocolate chips you like best – milk chocolate, dark chocolate, bittersweet chocolate. So delicious!

Easiest Chocolate Fudge RecipeYum

1.0 from 1 reviews
The Easiest Chocolate Fudge Recipe
 
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Author: Laura
Serves: 40
Ingredients
  • 10-ounces chocolate chips
  • 4 Tablespoons butter
  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream
Instructions
  1. In a small saucepan, melt the chocolate chips and butter together.
  2. Once melted, whip the chocolate mixture and the cream with beaters or in a high power blender (like a Blendtec) until smooth and thick.
  3. Pour mixture into a 9x9 inch pan.
  4. Chill for at least two hours before cutting and serving.
3.5.3229

Chocolate Hint:

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