Heavenly Homemakers

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7 Ideas to Make Your Home Extra Cozy

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It’s this time of year when I always start looking around my house, and brainstorming ways to make it a nicer, comfier place for my family. That’s why today I am sharing 10 ideas to make your home extra cozy, in case you, too, are feeling a bit cooped up in need of inspiration!
7 Ways to Make Your Home Extra Cozy
I always want my home to feel like a respite, a safe place, a comforting spot for my family to return to at the end of the day. But with littles underfoot, a very busy schedule, and a other committments it can feel super overwhelming to stay on top of all the homemaking tasks some days, anyone else?

However, I do think that with just a bit of effort, we can all create cozy, warm, and inviting homes for our families. Here are my top tips for creating a bit of extra coziness in your home this winter.

7 Ways to Make Your Home Extra Cozy

1. Declutter

One of the best ways to make your home feel better in the short term is to donate anything that you no longer use, need or like. The more I declutter each room, the happier I am with my home! January is the perfect time to start going through clothes, toys, and closets to rid of anything that no longer brings you joy.

2. Serve hot drinks to your family

Is there anything cozier than holding a hot mug while you watch the snow fly? Every winter I try to find a new, yummy drink to make every afternoon. It’s the best! Need inspiration? Here’s a list of the best hot drinks for fall and winter! Try a couple, and let me know which one is your favorite! Might I suggest this recipe for the perfect Hot Chocolate or a Warm Vanilla Soother!

3. Pull out the warm blankets

This is a great time of year to set a basket full of soft, fuzzy blankets in your living room. Even my toddlers like to cuddle under a blanket while they read books! In need of a few new blankets for your home? Here are a few of my favorites:
Ultra Soft Sherpa Blanket(comes in many colors!)
Plaid Throw Blanket
Fuzzy Large Fleece Blanket(great price!)

4. Bake some bread or other goodies

On especially cold days, I love mixing up a few loaves of bread, a couple dozen muffins, or a few pans worth of cookies. There’s nothing like the smell of warm bread or cookies in the house, when everyone is cooped up inside. Not sure what to bake? Here’s 111 recipes for you to choose from!

5. Play a board game with your family

Build family memories together while enjoying a fun board game! Pop popcorn, make hot cocoa, and then pull out one of your favorite games. Better yet, grab a new game to learn together! Here’s a list of our family’s favorite games!

6. Light a candle

Candles are one of my favorite ways to make a room feel extra welcoming. Grab a new candle or two, for the warmth, the scent, and the decor!

7. Start a new book as a family

I love choosing a new read aloud for my family! We open it up, and read a chapter or two every evening. When I was growing up, my Dad always read the Little House series to us or James Herriot books. Here is a great list of book ideasfor you and your kiddos!

How are you making your home extra cozy this time of year? Share your tips below!

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Christmas Make-Ahead Breakfast Ideas

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I love baking, but who wants to spend all day in the kitchen when there’s hot chocolate to sip, family memories to make, and stockings to open? I am all about doing the work days earlier so you have a stress-free, peaceful holiday with your family. That’s why I put together this list of Christmas make-ahead breakfast ideas, to encourage you to get that baking done ahead of time so you have more time with your family.

Just in case you, too, are looking for ways to spend less time in the kitchen this holiday season, here are a few of our favorite tried and true Christmas make-ahead breakfast ideas!

Christmas Make-Ahead Breakfast Ideas

Mix and Match Christmas Make-Ahead Breakfast Ideas

1.Make-Ahead Pumpkin Donuts

We can mix up the pumpkin donuts, roll out the dough, cut the shapes, then freeze the uncooked dough on parchment paper or silicone mat-lined cookie sheets. We transfer the frozen dough into freezer bags, then any time we want fresh donuts (and when would we notwant fresh donuts?), we can grab some out of the freezer and fry them up fresh to eat while sipping a cup of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate!

2. Yogurt Parfait Bar

Simply purchase the ingredients beforehand, make the granola or other add-ins a few days beforehand, chop up the fruit the day before, and you are set!

Here are some of my favorite toppings:

3. Make-Ahead Muffins

I have to know:  Is this “freezing muffin batter” a brand new idea to you, or have you tried it before?  Once I tried this and learned how well it worked, I went on a muffin freezing frenzy (as confessed above). I now have Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffin batter, Blueberry Muffin batter, Chocolate Chip Muffin batter (recipe in Kids in the Kitchen eBook), and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffin batter in my freezers. What a time saver!

Looking for a few new recipes to try for Christmas morning? Check out this list of 23 Muffin recipes!

4. Frozen Yogurt Cups

This recipe is easy enough for your kiddos to make! Invite them into the kitchen, and whip these up together!

5. Homemade Poptarts


I love to make these poptarts and freeze them before I bake them. On a day I declare to be a Poptart Morning, I pull a few out and bake enough for each person to have a couple with our eggs and fruit. So good!

6. Giant Breakfast Cookies

Make the dough ahead of time, scoop the cookies out unto cookie sheets, freeze the cookie dough balls, and you’re set! Hot breakfast cookies on Christmas morning! Serve with fruit, and bacon (of course).

7. Biscuits with Sausage Gravy

Biscuits and gravy is one of my favorite special breakfasts. Make your biscuits ahead of time, and pop them in the freezer then make your gravy the day before, and heat it up in the morning. Easy peasy!

8. Cinnamon Rolls

I couldn’t make a list of Christmas breakfasts without including Cinnamon Rolls! These are deliciously easy, and mostly low in sugar! They kind of resemble those frozen orange rolls you can buy in the freezer section – except that these have a little bit of nutritional value and not nearly as much sugar, so we can all rejoice.

What is your favorite breakfast to make for Christmas morning?

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12 Christmas Cookie Recipes

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Is there anything better than a plate full of Christmas cookies? This is a great time of year to spend a Saturday making several different types of cookies, wrapping them up, and gifting them to your friends, family or neighbors!

1. Low Sugar Frosted Christmas Cookies

Some might say that Christmas desserts are treats that should not be messed with. Perhaps whole wheat flour does not belong in a Christmas cookie. Maybe “low sugar” should not be included in a Christmas cookie title. It’s a treat, right? Can’t we just leave it well enough alone?

Sure.

But the more I experiment with cutting down the sweetener in my baked goods, the more I’m discovering that treats still taste like treats even with the sugar cut in half or more!

Try these cookies, you won’t even miss the sugar!

2. Christmas Spice Cookies

I LOVE the way these cookies make my house smell! Spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves they are oh so tasty!

3. Homemade Peppernuts

These tiny, old-fashioned cookies are one of my favorite holiday treats! They’re great to package up in small bags to give as Christmas time gifts to coworkers and neighbors.

4. Sweet and Simple Cranberry Cookies

I’m not a big fan of raisins in my cookies. But adding dried cranberries to this simple butter cookie? Well, that takes them up a notch without adding any effort.

5. Low Sugar Pumpkin Spice Roll-Out Cookies

While I’ve shared that I just can’t get behind Pumpkin Spice Coffee (typing it actually makes me shudder just a little bit), I most certainly enjoy making many Pumpkin Spice treats this time of year – to eat while I drink my (plain, non-pumpkin-spice) coffee. If my house smells of nothing but Pumpkin Spice from now until Christmas, there will be much joy in the holiday season.

6. Easy Low Sugar Almond Melt-Away Cookies

These lightly sweetened cookies taste amazing with a steamy cup of coffee or a cold glass of milk. Ah, life’s simple pleasures. :)

7. Sweet and Simple Butter Cookies

The combination of butter and sugar in this recipe makes for a perfectly sweet and rich cookie that melts in your mouth. Don’t worry though. The ratio of butter to sugar is such that these are only lightly sweet, but deliciously buttery. I’d still consider these a dessert, but I think they fit in the “low sugar treat” category.

8. Reindeer Cuties

These simple cookies are a hit. Fun to make…fun to eat. I like that they are made with honey and whole wheat. And they really don’t take much time at all.

9. Orange Cream Cheese Cut-Outs

These are one of my favorite Christmas cookies. And this recipe makes a lot of them…which is why it’s a good idea to have lots of people in mind to share them with!!  Because having them just sitting around the house screaming at me to come eat them is a bad idea.

I’d like to give in to the notion that since they have orange juice in them, they’re good for me and just packed with vitamin C.  Oh, if only.

10. Chocolate Snowballs

I like that these aren’t super rich or heavy…just kind of like a little bite of chocolate cake.

11. Cream Cheese Cookie Cut Outs

The cookies have cream cheese in them and the frosting is made with cream cheese. Let’s just say these cookies are soft, rich, and I have to work hard to keep myself out of them.

12. Whole Wheat Gingerbread Men

A Christmas classic! Your kids will love helping you make these sweet, Whole Wheat Gingerbread Men!

Your turn to share! What’s your all-time favorite Christmas cookie?

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Easy and Inexpensive Stocking Stuffers

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Perhaps you’ve gotten the majority of your shopping done for Christmas, but you still need a few small gifts for stockings? I’ve got you covered! Today I am sharing a list of my absolute favorite easy and inexpensive stocking stuffers!

Can you let you in on a little secret? Stocking stuffers are my favorite thing to make or buy. There is something about a stocking stuffer that’s so much fun! Throughout the years, I’ve discovered many ideas for fun stocking stuffers including homemade goodies, purchased trinkets, and other fun gift ideas!

When we were kids, our parents always put a pomegranate in the toe of every stocking. So we would open every little gift, and then fish out our pomegranate. We never purchased pomegranates any other time of year, and even now, whenever I eat a pomegranate it makes me feel like it is Christmas day!

Side note: if you, as the mom, love stuffing your family’s stockings, but yours always seems kinda empty, might I suggest you stuff a friend’s stocking, and she stuffs yours? Laura’s done this for years! She shares all the details here!

Consumable Stocking Stuffer Ideas for Everybody

Stocking Stuffer Ideas for Kids

  • A homemade gift certificate for an Experience Gift
  • Veggie Tales DVDs
  • Card games like Blink, Old Maid, Skip-Bo…
  • Regular decks of cards
  • Mittens or gloves, hats, scarves, ear muffs
  • Socks
  • Fun bandaids
  • CDs
  • Books
  • Hair clips and such for little girls (although I have no experience in this area!!)
  • School supplies

Stocking Stuffer Ideas for Women

  • Good quality pens
  • A Butter is My Love Language Shirt
  • Small (and pretty) note pads
  • Kitchen Towels
  • Earrings
  • Lotion Bars from MadeOn – this stuff works miracles on my dry skin!
  • Wooden Spoons and other Kitchen Utensils
  • Warm Fuzzy Slipper Socks
  • Flexi-Clip from Lilla Rose – because they’re beautiful and SO easy to use and inexpensive and pretty and…
  • Chapstick holder for a keychain
  • Sunglasses
  • A nice hat or gloves
  • A pretty scarf

Stocking Stuffer Ideas for Men

  • A new tie
  • A nice pair of socks
  • Good quality beef jerky
  • A back scratcher
  • A grill scraper
  • A magnetic wrist band to catch screws and nails
  • This neat pen tool
  • A pack of cards
  • A fun brain teaser
  • A bag of good quality coffee
  • A head massager

Your turn to share! What is one of your favorite stocking stuffer ideas?

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The Best Gift Ideas for Men

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Once again, Bethany (my assistant) comes through for us with this awesome list of gift ideas for men!!

The men in my life are notoriously difficult to find presents for Christmas. I don’t know what it is, but every year I struggle to nail down the perfect gift for them! So this year, I decided to make a list of the best gift ideas for men that I’ve used over the years, or found while I was doing a bit of online shopping, to share with all of you!

Take a look through this list, pop a few items in your cart, and you are set!

The Best Gift Ideas for Men

$10 and Under

  • Magnetic Wrist Band Cuff
  • 11 Tools in 1 (pocket size)
  • Carhartt Boot Socks (very warm!)
  • iPhone Charger Keychain (so handy!)
  • Papa Bear T-shirt
  • A Head Massager
  • I’d Rather Be Fishing Socks (for the fisherman in your life!)
  • Warm Thermal Touchscreen Gloves
  • 4-in-1 Pen Tool (pretty nifty!)
  • Telescoping Back Scratcher

$20 and Under

  • Long Cotton Plaid Scarf
  • A Leather Money Clip
  • Bluetooth Beanie (for the runner!)
  • This Beard Grooming Kit
  • A Tactical Pen and Self Defense Tool
  • Vincent Van Gogh Guitar Picks (for the musician)
  • Double Wall Coffee Mug
  • A bottle of this Gourmet Hot Sauce
  • 100% Grass Fed Beef Sticks (yum!)
  • A Thermal Neck Warmer

$50 and Under

  • Neck and Back Massager
  • A Dartboard and Darts
  • A Survival Gear Set
  • Men’s Moccasin Memory Foam Slippers
  • Backyard Golf Cornhole Game (looks like fun!)
  • Exotic Game Sausage Sticks (including venison, wild boar, and elk)
  • Columbia Fleece Jacket
  • Wood Phone Docking Station and Organizer
  • Smokehouse Grilling Spice Set
  • Acupressure Foot Massage Slippers
  • YETI Insulated Tumbler

The Weirdest Gifts I Found

I don’t know what to tell you about these, except they made me laugh!

  • 71-Inch Burrito Blanket
  • Chopstick Light Sabers
  • Dinosaur Taco Holder
  • Hot Dog and Bun Toaster
  • Wearable Fleece Blanket

Looking for some additional ideas? Check out the last few year’s guides as well!

Do you have any additional gift ideas? Share in the comments below!

 

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The Ultimate Christmas Gift Guide for Women

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It’s here: the Ultimate Christmas Gift Guide for Women. (Huge thanks to my assistant Bethany for putting this together for us!!)

I created this list of tried and true gift ideas to help take the stress out of your Christmas shopping. There’s nothing worse than standing in the aisles of Wal-Mart the week before Christmas, desperately trying to find something for everyone on your list. Even typing that scenario makes me sweat a little. I’ve had Christmases where I procrastinate my shopping until the last minute, and years where I’ve gotten it done ahead of time, and I can tell you: I vastly prefer getting it done early!

Just in case you, too, are hoping to cross your shopping off the list in November this year, here is my very best ideas for your mom, sister, and bestie!

You might, also, want to send this list to your hubby. He might appreciate a few suggestions as well. And if there is something in particular you love on this list, give the guy a little head’s up. ;-)

The Ultimate Gift Guide for Women

10 Gifts for Women Under $10

  • This beautiful Prayer Journal
  • A Stainless Steel Water Bottle
  • Pretty Rubber Spatulas (these bright-colored spatulas are my favorite! I like to slip one in each stocking.)
  • Burt’s Bees Essential Gift Set
  • Clip On Reading Light
  • Linen Apron
  • A Starbucks Gift Card
  • This beautiful Pashmina Scarf
  • A set of 6 Luxury Facial Masks
  • These Cozy Slipper Socks

15 Gifts for Women Under $30

  • Pioneer Woman Cookbook Holder
  • Vanilla Bean Soy Candle
  • A Birthstone Necklace for moms
  • Boy Mama Baseball Cap
  • Heavenly Homemakers’ Simple Real Food Recipes Cookbook
  • A lovely Wall Mounted Jewelry Organizer
  • Fleece Lined Gloves
  • Women’s Memory Foam Slippers
  • Bluetooth Earbuds (to listen to music or podcasts, these are a great price right now!)
  • Heavenly Homemakers’ High Five Recipes Cookbook
  • Fleece Sherpa Blanket (so many fun colors!)
  • Leather Leaf Earrings (Joanna Gaines style)
  • A Grandkids Photo Frame (soo sweet!)
  • This beautiful 3/4 sleeve Robe
  • Stacking Sterling Silver Rings for moms

10 Gifts for Women Under $50

  • A garden stool with a tool bag
  • This Whirley-Pop Popcorn Maker
  • A luxurious Back Massager (this looks wonderful!)
  • A Chemex Coffee Maker
  • A Triple Insulated Coffee Mug
  • Cedar Bird Feeder for the avid bird watcher
  • This beautiful Journaling Bible
  • A Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree for the plant enthusiast!
  • This fun Record Player
  • A Milk Steamer for Lattes

10 $75+ Gifts for Women (when you want to splurge!)

  • Instant Pot (you know I LOVE mine!)
  • A Kindle Paperwhite (for the reader)
  • A 3-Month Gourmet Coffee Subscription Box
  • I bet she’d love a Blendtec Mixer (here’s my review of the Blendtec!)
  • This pretty (and useful) Dutch Oven
  • Kitchen Aid Mixer (so many great colors!)
  • This Ice Cream Maker (no ice needed!)
  • Under Armour Leggings (for the athlete)
  • An Espresso Maker (for the woman who loves her coffee)
  • A Self-Care Subscription Box

I hope you found something for your loved one on this list!

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30+ Thanksgiving Side Dish Recipes

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With Thanksgiving right around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about menu plans! Today I’m sharing our absolute favorite Thanksgiving side dish recipes!

30+ Thanksgiving Side Dish Recipes!

If you are hosting this year, you might be prepping to roast a Turkey, and whip up the Turkey Gravy. With the main dishes already set in stone, perhaps you are looking for a new side dish or two to bring to the Thanksgiving table.

Turkey stuffing, cranberry relish, and dinner rolls might make an appearance on your Thanksgiving menu every year, but if you are like me, it’s fun to shake things up, and whip up a few new recipes every year!

In our family, no one wants to bring the relish tray. Sure it’s great to have a platter of fruits and veggies, but everyone wants to bring a dish with more pizzaz than simply celery and carrot sticks. Side dishes are so much fun! You can get creative with them, and pretty soon that recipe you tried a few years ago has become the dish you are asked to bring again and again. The recipes we cook year in and year out become a part of our family culture, and holiday traditions.

So are you ready to find a new family favorite dish? Here is a list of my absolute favorite Holiday side dishes for you to try. Your family is sure to love them!

Veggie Side Dishes

Fruit Side Dishes

Bread Side Dishes

Desserts

I hope you try (and love) these recipes!

Now you’re time to share! What is your favorite Thanksgiving recipe? Share below!

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How to Have a Stress-Free Thanksgiving

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Hosting Thanksgiving is a lot of work! Today we are sharing with you how to host a beautiful Thanksgiving dinner, but still have the time to enjoy time with your family. Ready to have a stress-free Thanksgiving?

How to Host a Stress-Free Thanksgiving

There have been years when I’ve spent the majority of the holiday in the kitchen–roasting the turkey, whipping the mashed potatoes, and simmering the gravy. While I love making food for my family and friends, I felt sad that the majority of Thanksgiving was spent making food, serving food, and cleaning up afterwards.

I know families that purchase Thanksgiving dinner so that less time is spent on cooking, and more time can be spent visiting! But I do love all my homemade food. What’s a mom to do?

That’s when it occurred to me: what if I prepped most of the food in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, and then the day of I could simply pull out the pre-made food for my family to enjoy! Homemade food, and still time to catch up with my fam? Yay!

I am here to tell you what I wished I knew all those years ago: make your Thanksgiving meal ahead of time! The key to a stress-free holiday starts weeks before Thanksgiving day. Try it this year, I know you will love it!

How to Have a Stress-Free Thanksgiving

One Week Before Thanksgiving

Two Days Before Thanksgiving

One Day Before Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day

  • Enjoy a large cup of steamy coffee in my recliner for a very long time (because I can)
  • Everyone on their own for breakfast (probably cereal)
  • Mix dry ingredients together for Stir-and-Pour Rolls (for easy, no-brainer mixing about an hour before meal time)
  • Put Cranberry Apple Cider into a crockpot to heat (this is a huge hit with guests!)
  • Set out butter to soften for rolls
  • Plates, silverware, cups, and napkins set out

About 1 1/2 hours before serving time, I will bake or re-heat prepared foods. Then I will make gravy and bake the rolls. Easy peasy!

Here are the quick links to all the recipes you’ll need:

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The Best Pumpkin Recipes (20+ Recipes for You to Try!)

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‘Tis the season for all things pumpkin (and everyone rejoiced)! Today I’m sharing the best pumpkin recipes for you to try!

Do you like to drink pumpkin with your coffee or no? I have never been a fan of the famed Pumpkin Spice Latte, it’s just not my cup of tea–ahem–coffee. Honestly, I would vastly prefer sipping a cup of coffee with Chocolate Whipped Cream, some Hot Vanilla Milk, or a Peppermint Cream Cocoa.

While I may not be a fan of drinking my pumpkin, I sure do like eating it in baked goods! Give me all the pumpkin donuts, bread, muffins, cookies, and custard. YUM!

To celebrate pumpkin season, this week we are sharing how to make your own pumpkin puree, and our very best pumpkin flavored baked goods!

Are you ready? Let’s go!

Make Your Own Pumpkin Puree

Are the stores out of canned pumpkin? Or do you have a pumpkin on your front porch that you’d like to process, and freeze? Then you should follow this tutorial on how to cook a whole pumpkin!

Did you know that you don’t have to slice up a pumpkin before you bake it? It’s true! Simply bake it in its whole form, and you won’t have to deal with the awful task of sawing through the tough outer skin. I’m not sure why I haven’t been cooking the pumpkin in its whole form all along – but once I figured it out, I’ve never cut up a raw pumpkin since!

Yum

What I’ve Been Baking

We’ve been mixing up a big batch of Pumpkin Waffles every Sunday, and then using that batter to make fresh waffles for the first few days of the week. They are a big hit with my toddlers, and I feel good that they are getting a veggie in with their breakfast! I’ve also frozen several batches of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins for easy snacks and breakfasts later on. As a result, we have a freezer full of yummy food ready for busy mornings! I love baking and freezing pumpkin baked goods this time of year, while we have a lot of pumpkin to use up, and then using those easy snacks and meals in the coming months.

Next, I really want to make a big batch of my Make-Ahead Pumpkin Donuts!

The Best Pumpkin Recipes

Now that you have secured the pumpkin puree, what are you going to do with it? Well, you could freeze it for later, but I highly encourage you to give a few of these recipes a try!

Here are my absolute favorite pumpkin recipes for you!

You've got to try this recipe!

What’s your favorite pumpkin recipe? Share below!

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How to Make a Gyro

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Note from Laura: I asked my friend Bethany to share this. I’ve never attempted it – but she has mastered it! So now we can all learn how to make a gyro!

Gyro meat recipe

By Bethany:

I was pregnant, and I wanted a gyro.Yum

Needed a gyro. Couldn’t think of anything BUT a gyro. And so I began my search.

We live in a small town, and the closest restaurant with gyros was over an hour away. I knew I didn’t want to drive that far with a toddler in tow to buy one, so I took myself to our local Arby’s, and ordered a sandwich on their menu that included the word “gyro” in its description. A few minutes later I was sadly eating a subpar, roast beef sandwich. Strike out number one.

Next, I scoured Wal-Mart, and found a kit in the frozen food section for gyro sandwiches. I’m not usually one to frequent the fast food drive thru OR frozen food aisle, but–pregnancy craving–so I bought it, made it, and regretted it. Those “gyros” were even more pitiful than the Arby’s version. Strike out number two.

I searched the second grocery store in town for anything even vaguely resembling a gyro, but to no avail. Strike out number three.

Completely out of options, I opened my laptop, and researched how to make gyro meat. Then I got to work in the kitchen. I used ground beef, added tons of spices, blended the meat, baked it, sliced it, and served it in homemade pita bread with lots of toppings.

It wasn’t until my husband was eating a gyro, and asked me where I had found gyro meat, that I knew it tasted authentic! Yay!

And now, I am sharing the recipe with you, sweet readers!

Be Mindful of Your Blender

When I was making this recipe, I was blending the meat in the blender, and thinking wistfully about how both Laura and Tasha own and love their Blendtec blenders. I was wondering, as I merrily blended away, if/when my own generic blender of five years bit the dust I, too, could buy the Blender of all Blenders.

As I stood there, staring out the window, dreaming of another blender, smoke began seeping out of my own blender.

I think I killed it with my own disgruntled thoughts.

That, or attempting to blend too much meat all at one time.

So, readers, learn from me: perhaps blend the meat in small quantities to avoid any issues! Unless, of course, you are trying to kill your blender in order to buy a Blendtec. Ahem.

Gyro Meat
 
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Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 1 small onion peeled, and quartered
  • 2 pounds ground beef or lamb
  • 6 cloves minced garlic
  • 2 T Italian spices (oregano, rosemary, thyme)
  • 3 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoons ground black pepper
Instructions
  1. Blend the onion chunks, and then put them into a paper towel and squeeze out the moisture.
  2. Stir all the ingredients, including the blended onions, together in a bowl and set in the fridge to marinate for 1-24 hrs.
  3. Remove meat mixture from fridge. Adding a little at a time, blend it in your blender.
  4. Take the meat mixture, and pack it into a bread pan, being careful to remove any air pockets.
  5. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes or until done.
  6. Remove the pan from the oven, pour off any oil that has accumulated.
  7. Wrap a brick or heavy bread pan in foil, and set on top of the gyro meat loaf, to compress the meat. After twenty minutes, remove the weight.
  8. Chill, and then slice into thin strips for your gyros!

How to Construct a Perfect Gyro Sandwich

The perfect gyro meat is:

  • Heavily spiced (use lots of garlic, cumin, and Italian spices)
  • Has a dense texture (in order to achieve this at home, be sure to blend the meat, and then compress it after it is cooked)
  • Sliced into thin strips (after it is completely cooled)

How to serve the gyro:

  • Serve the meat in pita bread.
  • Add sweet onions, feta cheese, halved cherry tomatoes, and shredded lettuce.
  • Make your favorite cucumber yogurt dressing or Greek dressing to top it.

Additional Recipes:

 

 

Bethany is a stay-at-home mom to two. During her babies’ naptime, when she’s not dreaming of Blendtec blenders, she works behind the scenes for Laura.

Do you love gyros as much as I do?

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