Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Easy Way to Make Freezer Food (Without Trying)

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Here’s a look at an easy way to make freezer food!

My husband is the women’s soccer coach for York University, and the season began early August. School started in mid-August, and so did our elementary kids’ soccer seasons. The days between August and November are significantly busier than the rest of our days, which is, of course, saying something. :/

During the days leading up to this very full season, I try to put some ready-made food into the freezer to help with the busiest of the busy days. The trick with this is that I can barely put a meal on the table as it is, much less work extra to get ahead. So here’s what I did!

Easy Way to Make Freezer Food (Without Trying!)

As I made meals and snacks in June and July, I made extra on purpose. Then, instead of eating leftovers in the days after we had originally eaten the meal, I immediately froze leftovers to pull out in August and September. Here are some examples of what I made:

Sloppy Joes

Our six littlest kids gobble up Sloppy Joes, which means that there’s no whining at meal-time when I make these! One summer lunch, I made a huge batch of sloppy joe meat, then froze the leftovers to use on a busy soccer night.

Lasagna

I made two huge lasagnas for a family reunion and had enough extra ingredients to make a 9×13 pan for our freezer.

Granola Bars

I made a quadruple batch of these bars and froze a bunch to use for quick breakfasts and snacks.

Hamburger Meat

I used my favorite method of cooking meat and cooked seven pounds of hamburger to use in any meal we need. (There’s a big list here of ideas for ways to use cooked hamburger meat.) I froze the cooked meat in baggies for the freezer.

Tator Tot Casserole

We had Tator Tot Casserole for dinner one night and I made a super large pan so that I could freeze a large portion of leftovers.

Breakfast Cookies

I made a batch of these breakfast cookies one morning and froze all the leftovers to use on a busy school morning.

In summary, I didn’t do any “freezer cooking” except for feeding my family regular meals and then freezing the leftovers for use another day. It’s the easiest way to fill the freezer without extra effort!

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Bake Strawberry Shortcake in the Crock Pot

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Want to learn how to bake strawberry shortcake in the crock pot? It’s an awesome method!

A few weeks ago, I shared how to bake cake in a crock pot. Why would we do this?? After all, it doesn’t save time!

Why it’s nice to know how to bake a cake in the crock pot:

  1. If it’s hot outside and you want to avoid using the oven, this is a great option!
  2. If you don’t have an oven for some reason, it’s fun to know that you can still do some baking in non-traditional ways!

Since this worked, I decided to use the same idea and try making my Strawberry Shortcake Recipe in my crock pot. It turned out amazing!!

In goes the batter:

On goes the funky lid set-up:

Two-ish hours later:

After it cools:

After you’ve eaten a good lunch. This is the rule at our house:

Strawberry Shortcake made in a crock pot is just as delicious, if not more delicious, than cake made in an oven. Try this!!

Bake Strawberry Shortcake in the Crock PotYum

Bake Strawberry Shortcake in the Crock Pot
 
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Author:
Serves: 15
Ingredients
  • 2⅔ cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground whole wheat)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 4 eggs
  • ½ cup honey or 1 cup sugar
  • ⅔ cup oil (I use coconut oil)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup milk
  • 4-5 cups of fresh, sliced strawberries
  • Whipped cream (fresh cream whipped to form soft peaks, with a bit of stevia added for sweetness)
Instructions
  1. Mix together flour and baking powder.
  2. Add in eggs, honey, oil, vanilla and milk.
  3. Stir well (or mix well with mixer).
  4. Pour into a well buttered7-8 quart crock pot.
  5. Lay paper towels to cover the top of the crock.
  6. Place a wooden spoon between the paper towels and the crock pot lid to allow for venting.
  7. Cook on Hi for two hours or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  8. Once completely cooled, gently work the cake out of the crock with a spatula.
  9. Allow cake to cool completely. Top with fresh strawberries and whipped cream.

I have two crock pots; this one is my favorite. I’m loving the ways we can bake in the crock pot and avoid heating up the house!

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How to Get Dinner on the Table Fast!

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Busy school night? Here’s how to get dinner on the table fast!

I’ll write this quickly because we are all busy and need to just get right meat of to the “how to get dinner on the table fast!”

These are my tried and true tips – methods I use now more than ever!

How to get dinner on the table fast!

Here’s the simplified version, and I’ll elaborate below.

  1. Make anything you can, especially the main dish, ahead of time.
  2. At meal time, warm up simple veggie side dishes.
  3. Or get out greens and dressing for a salad.
  4. Wash fruit and put it on the table.
  5. Eat.

1. Make anything you can ahead of time.

This means, build your casserole when you have spare minutes and put it into the fridge to bake at meal time. It means smoke or grill your meat and put it in the crock pot to stay warm until dinner time. It means put something in the crock pot before you leave for work in the morning. It means put burritos together to warm up at dinnertime. Do anything you can when you have a few minutes to get ahead.

2. At mealtime, warm up simple veggie side dishes.

I always have frozen green beans, peas, and corn in my freezer. These cook very quickly! Fresh broccoli is easy and fast to steam while I’m getting everything else out for dinner. Or…

3. Get out greens and dressing for a salad.

I buy pre-washed spring mix and spinach and keep them in the fridge at all times. It’s ready to throw on the table to go with our meals, and it takes no effort!

4. Wash fruit and put it on the table.

Grapes, strawberries, blackberries, pears – whatever you have on hand – wash it and throw it on the table (or slice it if needed, then throw it on the table). This is one of the easiest side dish options you can provide for your meal!

5. Eat.

Because that’s it. Your meal came together so quickly!

Find all kinds of simple, fast main dish recipes here!

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Our $0.99 Per Plate Costco Meal!

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Check out our $0.99 per plate Costco Meal!

Once again, I’m so happy to share another meal that costs such a small amount to feed an entire family!

The Backstory

Our six-year-old has been trying to lose her two front teeth and she thought eating chicken legs would help!! I wish you could see her beautiful face, but for now, here she is in the yellow dress:

Per her suggestion, the next time we went to Costco, I picked up a package of chicken legs. I have got to remember to buy these more often!! It only cost $8.60 for 30 chicken legs!!!

I marinated and smoked half of the package of chicken for this meal and was amazed that I could make 15 chicken legs for only $4.30. They were incredibly delicious! With baked potatoes, steamed broccoli, and chilled watermelon, we had a feast!

Our $0.99 Per Plate Costco Meal

Total cost for 10 of us (four adults and six littles ages eight and under):

  • Chicken Legs
  • Baked Potatoes
  • Broccoli
  • Watermelon

$9.89

Which breaks down to just $0.99/plate.

Everyone was especially hungry that night so even the littlest babes put away a fairly nice amount of food!

Isn’t it exciting? Even with rising grocery prices, we can still enjoy wonderful, healthy meals for less than $1.00!

More money-saving posts you might like:

Did our girl lose her teeth?

Well yes. But not because of the chicken legs. It was a good try though, huh?!

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Recipes I Miss Making!

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I don’t have time for this right now. But I wonder if you might? Here are some recipes I miss making!

None of these recipes is hard, which is why I felt that it was worth putting them into a list as a suggestion of recipes you might want to check out. These are some of the recipes I hope to make again once our little ones are a few years older!

Recipes I Miss

The salad dressing recipes above are sooooo much healthier than anything I can find at the store. That’s why I miss making them. I kind of just “don’t read the ingredient list” on the kind I’m buying right now, ha!

What’s fun is this:

While there are several recipes on my site that I find too complicated to ever attempt again (see that list here!), I’m looking and seeing that MOST recipes are still incredibly doable even during our busiest seasons in life!

Click on any of these links to get dozens of recipes that are easy, healthy, and fun for families!

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Back when I made everything from scratch…

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As I look over my list of recipes shared here, I am cracking up a bit about all I used to make back when I made everything from scratch.

There was (mostly) nothing wrong with what I did. But I will say that my focus was a little more on doing than being. I felt so accomplished when I made all these foods. But what was I missing out on by taking so much time on what wasn’t actually necessary??

Peace. Calm. Joy. Time. Energy. Love.

I became known as the mom who made all her food from scratch. I found that the title stung just a little. I didn’t want to be known for that. I wanted to be known for how I loved and cared for people. Thank God He continues to show me better ways and lean me more toward focusing on what is more important.

Is it ok to make everything from scratch?

Of course, if that is what God has called you to do. If food allergies make it necessary for your family. If you serve people because of it. There are all kinds of good and healthy reasons to make food from scratch.

But I don’t believe that I had healthy reasons. I think my reasons were prideful, and that’s the truth. Here’s part of a former “make it from scratch” list that now has me in shock:

You really should click on some of those and see what goes into making these. Some aren’t hard, and I actually might make some of them again, someday. But Tater Tots?? No. (They weren’t worth the effort.) Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns and Whole Wheat Hot Dog Buns? No. (They weren’t that good, ha.) And Homemade Peanut Butter Captain Crunch?? Why did I actually try that one?

What we miss

Our older boys talk about our homemade tortilla days. Now those were worth making and I hope I can make them again someday!

These Pretzels are amazing and I WILL make them again when my hands aren’t so full.

We love this Ranch Dressing and it isn’t even hard to make. But I can’t keep up with it right now. Maybe again in a few years.

This Peanut Butter!!! Wow it is hard to beat!

It’ll be interesting to see, won’t it? What God will do a few years from now. What He has planned. What will matter and what will go by the wayside.

How grateful I am that we can all grow and change and that God stays the same while He grows and changes us!

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What to Add to Meat to Make it Stretch

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Looking for more ways to save money? Here are some ideas for what to add to meat to make it stretch.

I recently shared How to Save Money on Meat. These ideas have been working very well for me lately and I’ve been saving quite a bit on our grocery budget!

With these in mind, I’ve been considering more ways I can save.

What to Add to Meat to Make it Stretch

I had mentioned that we’re eating less beef. When we do eat beef, I’ve found that I can use much less ground or shredded beef in a recipe if I add any of these to the meat:

  1. Rice
  2. Beans
  3. Corn
  4. Tomatoes
  5. Extra veggies

Now, most of these are a no-brainer. We’ve been taught these tricks forever, right? Right. But I still feel like it’s worth a mention as I share a few specific ways we can stretch our ground beef (and shredded beef too!)

Recently I cooked three pounds of meat for tacos. I then put only about two cups of cooked meat into a bowl with a can of black beans, a can of corn, and a can of rotel. This was a delicious combination in our tacos that night, leaving all kinds of cooked meat left over for me to use in several meals in the future.

I used to employ these tricks a lot when our first set of kids was younger. Now that we have more mouths to feed, I’m implementing them again. And note this: while we are currently feeding a lot of small children again and I can get away with stretching meat because they are little, we are also still feeding at least 4 adults at every meal. These meat-stretching ideas are working just as well for the Bigs as they are for the Littles. No one is complaining about “mom holding back on meat.” Why? Because no one has noticed!

Make Meat Secondary

Typically, we think of meat as our main dish, then our carbs, veggies, and fruit as side dishes. But what if we change our thinking just a little bit and serve meat as a “side dish.” Or as an “add-in.”

I’m not willing to compromise our health and add a bunch of fillers or empty carbs to our diets in an effort to fill us but not nourish us. I’m simply looking for ways to stretch our meat into providing more meals! So adding nourishing add-ins like beans, rice, corn, and extra veggies to our meals really makes sense!

And don’t forget what I learned when I did the math here: Fruits and vegetables are actually not expensive. We can eat a lot of them and easily! stay within budget!!

Bonus

I’m finding that these meat-saving tricks are also simplifying my kitchen life. How? Well, I don’t have to cook as much meat. This means that I don’t have to plan ahead as much. It’s easier and faster to open a can of beans than to thaw and cook meat, right? Like, much easier and faster!

Keep sharing the ways you are saving too. I learn so much from you!

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How to Bake Cake in a Crock Pot (with spinach, of course)

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Too hot to turn on the oven? Here’s how to bake cake in a crock pot!

I’d like to say there was a day that “we needed cake” but did we actually need cake? Meh. Define “need.”

But on this day that we “needed cake” it was 101 degrees outside. So baking was a silly idea. “I wonder if my spinach in a cake situation would work in a crock pot,” thought I. With this in mind, I looked on the internet a bit and sure enough, it seemed quite doable.

Look at all the spinach that I blended into our cake. So did we need cake? Yes, because of the spinach.

This is what you need to know about adding spinach to cake:

  • You can’t taste it.
  • You can’t see it.
  • It makes the cake extra moist, which is actually better than eating a cake without spinach. True story.

I buttered my crock pot. It looked like this. And now you can see my crock pot stains. This thing is well-used.

I blended the cake ingredients along with the spinach, and poured in the batter which looked like this. See, you can’t tell there’s spinach in there:

Next, we worked a little crock-pot-cake magic. This calls for a paper towel, a wooden spoon to prop the lid, and then a lid placed cock-eyed over the paper towel and spoon. This lets the crock pot vent a bit while it bakes. We all need to vent sometimes.

At one point when I checked on my cake’s progress, my paper towels fell and got chocolatey. I share this picture with you to make you feel better about your messy towels if and when this happens to you:

After about an hour and a half, our house smelled amazing and our cake looked like this. The kitchen was still nice and cool while the oven sat alone and unused.

The babies were up from their naps at this point and it was time for dinner and an outing for the evening. So I left the cake sitting all night in the crock pot (lid on after it cooled). The next morning, I carefully loosened the edges and worked it out of the pot, turning it out like this:

Then I frosted the cake, which made the kids sing “Happy Birthday to Nobody” because why would Mom be making a fancy cake like this since it wasn’t anyone’s birthday?

Would you look at this amazingness? What spinach? I don’t see any spinach.

Listen, you have got to try this! Use a cake mix, use your favorite wholesome cake recipe, just add spinach to cake and then bake it in a crock pot to avoid the oven. We are huge fans! This cake is so moist and good!

How to Bake Cake in a Crock PotYum

How to Bake Cake in a Crock Pot (with spinach, of course)
 
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Author:
Serves: 16-24
Ingredients
  • 1 chocolate cake mix
  • 1¼ cups water
  • ½ cup olive oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 3-4 cups fresh spinach
Instructions
  1. Blend everything up in a high power blender.
  2. Pour the batter into a buttered crock pot.
  3. Lay paper towels to cover the top of the crock.
  4. Place a wooden spoon between the paper towels and the crock pot lid to allow for venting.
  5. Cook on Hi for one to one and a half hours or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  6. Once completely cooled, gently work the cake out of the crock with a spatula.
  7. Frost and serve!

How to frost your cake

I recommend this Chocolate Fudge Frosting (though I no longer make powdered sugar from sucanat like I used to, eeee).

My favorite-favorite is actually Cream Cheese Frosting.

And if you want to cut way back on the sugar, here’s a Stevia Sweetened Cream Cheese Frosting that is really good. Add a pinch of sugar to take away the bitterness without adding much sugar.

Last idea: Simply whip some cream like this and plop it on top. Super good!

But wait, there’s more. What if we topped it with Peanut Butter Cup Whipped Cream??!

Or this Peanut Butter Cream Frosting?!

Let me know which turns out to be your favorite!

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How to Save Money on Coffee

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It’s a necessity, right? I mean, I thank God for it every morning as I sip my steamy mug and talk with Him. Sooooo good, and my time with Him is rich. Here’s how to save money on coffee.

Perhaps you read about the day I spent $7 on a coffee. It was tasty and fun, and then it made me do some calculating. I couldn’t help myself. :)

Turns out, at home I spend about $1.00 to brew an entire pot of high-quality coffee. How?

I recently spent $10.48 on this bag of coffee at Sam’s. I didn’t take the time to measure each scoop to see how many pots of coffee this one bag would make, but I’m making a conservative estimate that it gives us at least 10 pots of coffee. Likely more! But to keep it simple, let’s say 10+ pots, which means that one pot full of coffee costs $1.00.

A dollar.

For an entire pot. This, without having to buy a “cheaper coffee variety” that doesn’t taste as good (sorry Folgers).

We use big mugs at our house. :) :) So one pot fills 4 mugs. $0.25 for a cup of coffee!

Now, we all add a little something to our cup of coffee. I just add half&half. Matt and the big boys add a shot of creamer. So should we then estimate that our cup of coffee costs a total of $0.35-$0.45??

How to Save Money on Coffee

Well, it seems that the best way to save money on coffee is to make it at home. It’s crazy cheap!!!! And oh so good.

To make it even more fun for our teen/adult sons and their friends who come over, we keep a variety of creamers (just don’t read the ingredient list and all is well) and sometimes a can of whipped cream for them to spray on top. Even with those splurges, the savings are huge compared to buying at a coffee shop.

Ever tried making this Chocolate Whipped Cream and scooping some into your coffee? Oh, it’s good! Here are more fun homemade coffee additions you might want to try.

What do you like to put in your coffee at home?

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Why Did I Spend $7 on a Coffee?

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This, my Why Did I Spend $7 on a Coffee? post, is the intriguing sequel to my previous Why Did I Spend $8 on a Watermelon? post. I bet you wonder what’s next in this series. (Spoiler: Why Did I Take a Nap?)

I did not, in fact, take a nap. That is why I needed coffee. Mmm-hmm.

Why Did I Spend $7 on a Coffee?

I’m here today to make some observations after recently buying an $8 watermelon and a coffee from Starbucks. But first, let’s talk about gas. That sounds fun, doesn’t it?

People are freaking out about the price of gas, basically making Facebook not fun anymore. I want to see pictures of your kids, not a picture of how much it cost to fill your tank this morning. By the way, ever filled the tank of a Ford Transit? That’s what we drive now to accommodate our entire tribe. I could take a picture next time I fill up, but wouldn’t you rather see this?

That’s four of our six littles walking into church one Sunday morning. It was the sweetest so I grabbed a picture. Five minutes later, our two-year-old melted down in the foyer and took off her shirt, refusing to let me put it back on. But this picture is sweet, isn’t it?

Back to the coffee.

Online and in-person, I’m hearing all the woes about the price of a gallon of gas, a gallon of milk, and a bag full of groceries. Indeed, inflation is real and we are all feeling the sting right now.

Meanwhile, for the past several years, people have been – without question – lining up at coffee shop drive-thrus as if paying $4 or $5 or more for one cup of coffee wasn’t strange, scary, or painful. Some do it daily, and now it’s an unquestionable part of their normal routine. I’m not criticizing as we are all allowed to enjoy our fun and our splurges!

But why aren’t people complaining about the cost of a coffee? Isn’t its cost outrageous too?

Recently I had a glorious day to myself in which I left all the littles in the care of friends, my husband, and our older sons. I ate a meal at a restaurant (all by myself), shopped at fun stores (all by myself), and went to a coffee shop (all by myself). It was quiet and wonderful and needed. I had been blessed with a gift card for the coffee shop (thanks, Mara!) so I walked up and ordered a large blended iced coffee with cream. I think the gal might have misunderstood some of my request (because most people add syrups and such so me asking for just cream always throws workers off a bit). “That’ll be $7.04 please.”

I didn’t argue and my gift card covered it, and I was super thankful for the amazing treat. But $7 for coffee with ice and cream? As I sipped its deliciousness, I mentally made a list of everything else I could buy with $7 because I’m so fun and practical like that.

A package of chicken. Two bags of apples. Three pounds of strawberries. Many pounds of rice. Three loaves of bread. I’ll stop (except for in my head – five pounds of mandarins, two pounds of hamburger, a big bag of frozen fruit…).

I think we are a funny people

I have inconsistencies too – some things I feel passionate about that completely contradict something else that I don’t even give a thought to. But it might be worth us all recognizing that there are things we spend too much money on while we complain about the cost of necessities like gas and groceries. Just something to think about.

Why did I write this post? I have no idea. My coffee cost seven bucks. It blew my mind because I can make an entire pot of high-quality coffee at home for about $1.00. :)  I couldn’t let it go. And now here we are.

Thanks for listening. I’m sorry I’m weird.

Coffee at home

Enjoy your coffee however you like it!!

Maybe you have the special coffee-shop coffees that you enjoy on the regular. Perhaps you have another non-guilty pleasure. I most certainly enjoy an occasional coffee from a shop as a splurge and treat every once in a while.

Here’s how we make our coffee at home, in all kinds of delicious ways. I calculate that each big mugful costs about $0.35, and that’s a price I can get behind! :)

Which of these cost me $7.00?? Ok, Laura. You can stop now.

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