Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Menu Plan for the Week – And My Whole Foods Market Jealousy Issues

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Just like last week, I don’t have much of a menu plan to share with you this week. Our family is having the most amazing time in Colorado – finding service opportunities, holding Meet and Greets, and catching up with friends we rarely get to see. We’ve been taking lots of pictures, which I’ll be sure to share as soon as I can!

We’ve been blessed to cook many of our meals in our friends’ home where we are staying. They eat a gluten free diet, so for the meals we’ve shared, I’ve done my best to make them GF.

Here are some of the meals we’ve enjoyed so far:

  • Scrambled egg and cheese sandwiches with apple slices on our way to help with a food bank
  • Lamb kabobs on the grill, stir fried veggies (carrots, broccoli, and asparagus), and fresh strawberries
  • Brats on the grill with strawberry/pineapple/orange/mango smoothies
  • Italian Pasta Bake made with Tinkyada rice pasta, tossed salad, green beans, watermelon
  • Cereal (hey, we’re on vacation!)

What do we plan to eat this week?

We’re not entirely sure yet, as we plan to continue to be on the road for a few more days. During each of the days we’re spending time serving with organizations, we’ve just done whatever has been easiest and best for the people we’re working with. Plus, we’re doing all we can to make home-cooked meals as simple as possible for our host family. The more we can cook with or for them, the better! They are, after all, housing six additional people for over a week. :)

What has been really nice is the availability of awesome grocery stores in these parts! Really, I try not to be jealous. But how cool (read: unfair, boo, wah) is it that when we punched “Whole Foods” into our GPS to grab some food for the grill, something like TEN stores came up within just a few miles of our friends’ house! But really, we’re just so very happy for those of you who can drive five minutes and have access to such great stores. Really. I’m happy for you. Totally. :)

Later in the week, once we get home, our menu will likely consist of lots of salads, grilled meats, steamed veggies, Chicken Patty Sandwiches, and Calzones that are already made and in the freezer…and I’m really hungry for Whole Wheat Waffles with strawberries.

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Here are my menu plan archives if you need more healthy menu inspiration. Meanwhile, I will be munching on fresh organic blueberries and cherries from Whole Foods. With each yummy bite, I will continue to be happy for my friends here and for all of you that you have such great stores in your backyard. ;)

How close is the closest Whole Foods store to your house?  Me? I have to drive two hours. Oh, but we’re getting one in Lincoln later this year, so that will make it only about an hour away – yay!

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Cranberry White Chocolate Breakfast Cookies

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Yum

Just in case you’ve never tried this before. Just in case you hadn’t thought of this idea. Just in case you want a breakfast or snack that will make you pass out cold on the floor because it is so delicious.

I thought you should know that the Giant Breakfast Cookie recipe made with dried cranberries and white chocolate chips are really, really wonderful. I used about a half cup of each (instead of raisins or chocolate chips) when mixing up the dough. I almost sort of felt guilty eating these and serving them for breakfast. But then I got over it and helped myself to a second one.

Yum.

Where do I get white chocolate chips? I found some at Vitacost that aren’t necessarily as good for you as green beans, but aren’t as horrible as those that have hydrogenated oils. We won’t eat these every day for breakfast, but when we do, I will enjoy myself very much.

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What other tasty combinations have you figured out to add to the Giant Breakfast Cookie recipe?

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Homemade Sweet Potato Fries

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It really pays to listen to your friends. (Not all of them though, because if they’re encouraging you to do things that aren’t good for you, maybe you should consider getting new friends.) Well where did that piece of parenting advice come from?

Anyway, I happen to have good friends, so I feel that it is okay to listen to them. It just so happens that I had two friends in one week tell me that I was missing out by not adding sweet potatoes to my menus more often. When the first friend said it, I kind of nodded and smiled. But when a second friend mentioned it a few days later, I sort of wondered if God was trying to tell me something. Okay, I’m pretty sure He is working in bigger ways in my life than sweet potato consumption encouragement. But still. I figured there might be something to this sweet potato thing since it came up twice in one week with two different people at two separate times. (Am I making too much of this? I mean, should I just get around to sharing the recipe already?) Why have I not been eating or feeding my family sweet potatoes very often, as in, pretty much never?

It’s very simple really. As a child, the only way I had been served sweet potatoes was in a casserole with brown sugar and marshmallows at Thanksgiving and I didn’t like it one bit. If I’m going to eat something sweet, I want it to be a dessert – not as a side dish with my turkey. But that’s just me. I’m the one who needs chocolate with my sugar. What can I say? But, per my friends’ suggestions, I decided to try making sweet potato fries. They looked and smelled great. I ate one. Hmmm, it was okay, I guess. But I kept thinking about marshmallows, and couldn’t get past it. By the way, I don’t like marshmallows. But I’m a big girl, and all grown up, so I made myself eat a second sweet potato fry. And then a third. Oh wait. They suddenly began to taste good to me. Then, before I knew it, I had to tell myself to stop eating the sweet potato fries and save some for my family. (I didn’t feel bad though, because usually it’s the other way around and I’m the one asking my family to save me some food before they inhale all of it.)

So it turns out that while I think my friends may have helped me become an addict in this regard, it does pay to give in to sweet potato peer pressure.

How to Make Sweet Potato Fries

Scrub and cut sweet potatoes into wedges or fries – as thin as you like. Toss them in olive oil or coconut oil (about 1 Tablespoon per sweet potato). Place them in a single layer on a baking pan. Sprinkle on sea salt and bake in a 400° oven for 30-40 minutes. or Deep fry the cut sweet potatoes in a fryer (we have this one, which works great) filled with Refined Coconut Oil or Palm Shortening for 3-4 minutes, remove, salt, and eat. These Homemade Sweet Potato Fries are AMAZING! They are so easy to make, and incredibly delicious. #sweetpotatofries #homemadefries #sweetpotatofryrecipe What is your relationship with sweet potatoes? How do you like them cooked? And while it’s completely irrelevant, I am curious. Do you like marshmallows?

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How Many 9×13 Inch Dishes Do You Have? (In other words: Laura, are you as addicted to Pyrex as you appear to be?)

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Okay, it’s time for true confessions.

What? Like I typically tell a bunch of lies on my blog?

Side note:  I always kind of laugh inside when people use the phrase, “To be completely honest…” or “To tell you the truth…” Why do people say this? Because usually they are not being completely honest or not telling me the truth? Oh, we are funny people are we not?

But seriously. I’m  not gonna lie. It’s time for true confessions. I am not even kidding.

(Somebody stop me.)

I am often asked, “How many 9×13 casserole dishes do you have?” I can’t be sure, but I am guessing that they ask this when they read about how much freezer cooking I do, how many people I feed at one time, or how many lasagnas I make in one afternoon. It makes sense. A person can’t make eight lasagnas without eight 9×13 pans to put them in, right?

I counted, because while I had a guess, I wasn’t completely sure how many I actually have. It turns out that I have nine glass 9×13 pans (with lids), two stone 9×13 pans, one 10×15 glass dish, plus a nice variety of smaller glass dishes that I won’t even take the time to document. I also have two metal 9×13 pans, but I rarely use them because they aren’t stainless steel and are kind of junky.

Seem excessive? Maybe kinda. But I believe it would only be ridiculous to have this many casserole dishes if I didn’t actually use them all. If you can believe it (and you should, because I am, after all, being completely honest here), I use all of these so often that sometimes I don’t have any in my cabinet when I need them. They are all in use, in the freezer, or at a friend’s house because I delivered meatballs there last week.

How do I store this many casserole dishes? I find it easy because they stack and/or nest together in my cabinet. I slide the lids toward the back of the cabinet and just reach behind to find the right size.

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Yeah, I got lazy the other day and just put my stone casserole dish on top of the stack instead of nesting it. To tell you the truth, I do it that way quite frequently. Just wanted to be completely honest.

And now it’s your turn to share. Tell the truth:  How many 9×13 casserole dishes do you have? Do you feel that you have enough? Do you love Pyrex like I do?

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Gratituesday: Our Family Service Trip

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I’ve talked here recently about how important it is to serve together with your family. We’ll be talking about that more – and I’ll be sharing some specific ideas of ways to serve with your family, specifically a ministry we can all be a part of together here at Heavenly Homemakers!

But today, I want to share what my family is up to this week and part of next. We’ve been praying about, saving for, and working out details for this ministry opportunity for quite some time.

Originally, we had planned on all six of us going together on a foreign mission trip. That is still something we’d like to do within the next two years before our oldest, Asa, graduates from high school. 

But for now, while we continue to put funds aside for a bigger trip that will take us to a far away country, and while we give our younger boys a little more time to grow (we’re not quite ready to take our eight year-old overseas for a mission like this), Matt and I decided to plan a “state-side” mission trip instead. There are needs all over the world, and certainly needs right here in the United States. What a great stepping stone and training ground for our family!

God led our destination choice to be in Colorado. It just worked. The more we put together the details of our trip, the more we are seeing just how God has orchestrated this for us.

Supplies are ready. Bags are being packed. We take off Wednesday morning, will be staying with some friends in the Denver area, and will be serving in different forms of ministry the rest of this week and into the beginning of next. We’ll be taking pictures along the way so that I can share it all with you after we get back. In the meantime, I’ve got some fun posts and recipes lined up for you to read while we’re gone!

We are all so excited about this trip! It will be great family time together, a great learning experience, and most of all, a great time to grow closer to God as we serve Him as a family.

(And don’t forget the Denver and Colorado Springs Meet & Greet  events too! If you  live in the area, please make plans to come. We would love to meet you!!)

Share how God is working in your life on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for! Please read through the Gratituesday Guidelines so that you understand what kinds of posts you can link up to share here. Posts that are linked but do not fit our Gratituesday theme will be deleted.

If you are linking up a blog post for Gratituesday, please copy and paste the following sentence into your post! Thanks!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

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Enjoy Them While They’re Young

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My boys, spring of 2010

I started feeling it last December. 

I was Christmas shopping online for our four boys. My excitement grew as I continued to come across sites for some of our favorite toys from companies we love. High quality wooden puzzles and games by Melissa and Doug. Books about our beloved Curious George and Corduroy. Super hero costumes. Brightly colored building blocks.  These are the toys that make our world go round.

Correction. Made our world go round. Past tense.

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Asa and Elias, Christmas 2008

My boys aren’t so much into those kinds of toys any more. On their lists were items like headphones, iTunes gift cards, goalie gloves, and the like. At least our eight year old still wanted Legos. But I started to feel a little bit sad. No more wooden puzzles or superman capes? Well when did that happen?

I promise you from the bottom of my heart that I love this stage of life we’re in – having a houseful of big kids. Raising kids ages 8, 11, 13, and 15 is the rockinest season ever. I can’t begin to tell you how wonderful it is to live with teenagers. Now that all the kids can read, all six of us together can have crazy fun playing board games that don’t include a candy cane lane, a hungry hippo, or (praise the Lord) a chute or a ladder. The joy we experience studying God’s word together and having meaningful prayer time? It’s beautiful. And the volume of food we go through? Well, some might be frightened to actually watch the food disappear from our table as quickly as it does, but as long as I don’t think too hard about the grocery bill, I take great pleasure in seeing my boys inhale triple batches of pancakes and two pounds of strawberries in seven minutes flat.

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Malachi, spring 2009

But when I look at their baby pictures? When I see a little plastic plate sporting Winnie the Pooh like the one that used to get flung off our high chair? When I come across a size 2-T outfit that all four of the boys wore as it was passed down the line? I find that I suddenly can’t breathe. How is it that instead of having to take a wet washrag to wipe smeared sweet potatoes off of an unwilling chubby baby face, I’m handing over a razor so that very boy can shave his whiskers?

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Justus and I, heading out for a date in May, 2012

I now understand what all the other ladies have been telling me for years about how “the days are long but the years are short so enjoying them while they’re young because they grow up so quickly.” I heard that over and over when my four boys were little. I heard it when I had multiple children in diapers. I heard it when we were potty training (the boy with pee running down his leg). I heard it when the three-year old had his fourteenth melt-down in the church foyer. I heard it when I had one kid hanging on my leg, one running in the opposite direction, one screaming to be nursed, and the other one…wait WHERE was the other one??! (Hiding under the table.)  I always wanted to say, “Yeah, yeah. Enjoy them while they’re young.  I know. I will. I am. Now shut up and help me put these kids into their car seats so I can get home and put them down for their naps.” (Not really, but yeah. Really.)

I grieve and rejoice at the same time that my boys are all now “big.” My oldest will graduate in two years. He’s the one who made me a mother the very first time. I think it happened sometime around yesterday. But actually, somehow, it was more like a decade and a half ago.

Enjoy them while they’re young? I did. I am. I do. I will.

Every short, long day.

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Menu Plan for (three days of) the Week

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My family is spoiling me again this Mother’s Day. I just finished a delicious lunch (made by everyone but me), and now I am listening to Matt and the boys clean the kitchen. I think I may go take a nap. 

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No, the boys didn’t get up at the crack of dawn to bake fresh rolls. 
I happened to have some in the freezer, 
so all the boys had to do was get them out to thaw before church.  :)

Here are the flowers I received at church today. Each boy (including Matt) got to pick one flower to give me. I am amazed that somehow they coordinated and all picked a different color to bring to me. 
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Our family has some exciting days ahead of us this week and next. We take off Wednesday for a week long trip. Therefore, the menu plan? There’s no need for one.

I will share with you what the first few days of our week look like before we leave, but I’ll warn you, it is not exciting in the least:

Sunday, May 12 – Happy Mother’s Day to me in which I am not allowed to cook all day!
Scrambled eggs, fruit
Grilled BBQ Chicken, cream cheese corn, tossed salad, butterhorns
Pizza

Monday and Tuesday
Leftovers, clean out the fridge, scramble more eggs, make some smoothies, finish cleaning out the fridge

Wednesday
Pack sandwiches for the road, plus lots of fruit and water bottles

If you want some real (and helpful) menu ideas, please check out this link which is always available to you:  My menu plan archives.

I’ll share more about our upcoming trip on Gratituesday, because without a doubt, this trip is one that we have looked forward to for quite some time and we are so thankful it is finally here!!!

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Food from Venezuela, Denmark, Belgium, and Djibouti (sort of)

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We’ve done some international traveling this week. In the kitchen. And online. Ahhh the blessing of experiencing a taste of four different countries, right from the comfort of our own home.

Each of our boys chose a different country to study and write a report on last week. We’re wrapping up our official school year this week. This was kind of our final “big project.” Yay!

One of their assignments was to make a recipe from their selected country. I mentioned this to you on my menu plan post earlier in the week. When I suggested that you all send us your Djibouti recipes, I had no idea that so many of you actually would! Ask and you shall receive. You all are da’ best. :)

And now I have to sheepishly admit to you that between finding and making all these recipes, finishing all of our school assignments, and preparing to go on a big trip next week (can’t wait to tell you about it!) – we still haven’t tried any of the Djibouti recipes. We’re leaning toward this one though, because it sounds like our family will really like it! In the meantime, Elias (age 11) took the advice of several of you and made milkshakes, naming them “Shake Djibouti.” You’ve gotta love it.

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Asa made Belgian Waffles. After looking at recipes online, knowing we would adapt it anyway to use healthier grains and oils – we pretty much just used our regular waffle recipe in a Belgian waffle iron. They were sooooo yummy! Especially topped with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. 

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  Malachi made Danish Cinnamon Snails. We adapted the recipe (surprise, surprise) to use whole grains and sucanat and we loved how these turned out!

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Last but not least, Justus and I made Venezuelan Tequenos. Sort of. I mean, I really don’t know how to convert kg and ml to cups and tablespoons. Not even a little bit. And searching online didn’t help. So, we just guessed at it and made a dough of sorts, wrapped it around some cheese, and fried it. They turned out tasty…but ugly. It’s okay. They got eaten in about five minutes.

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It is now obvious to me that after eating all of these rich foods this week, it is time to Shake Djibouti. 

I’m talking about exercising. Not eating ice cream. Just to be clear.

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Peanut Butter Chocolate Granola

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I’m guessing that many of the greatest recipe “inventions” have happened by accident. Asa (our 15 year old) really didn’t mean to create this wonderful Peanut Butter Chocolate Granola. His real intent was to make No-Bake Cookies for a mission trip fund-raising meal last Sunday. But somehow the liquid ingredients got slightly overcooked, the oats made the mixture way too dry, and no way no how was a cookie going to be formed once it was all said and done. I told him to press his mixture into a 9×13 inch pan and that we’d try cutting them into bars later. While that was a brilliant idea, it didn’t work any better than forming the mixture into cookies. We ended up with peanut butter chocolate oat crumbles instead. Peanut butter chocolate oat crumbles that tasted really, really good. :)

And so – we all just grabbed a bowl and a spoon and had at it. (While planning a different dessert to take to the fund-raising meal.)

I’m calling this “granola” because that’s what it looks and feels like. But I do have a hard time calling this a healthy breakfast or snack. While it is made with real food ingredients, it is still more dessert-like, for sure. In an effort to make this a little less sugary, and a bit more diverse for “stir-in” options, I’ve tweaked the ingredients from the original cookie recipe Asa used. I’m pretty sure it will still taste awesome with less sugar than originally called for in the cookie recipe!

By the way – depending on how you make this, it can be completely dairy free if you wish. :)

Peanut Butter Chocolate GranolaYum

1/2 cup butter or coconut oil
1/2 cup milk or coconut milk
1/2 cup natural peanut butter (we use homemade peanut butter)
1 cup sucanat or 1/2 cup honey
4 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup coconut flakes (optional)

Put butter, milk, peanut butter, sucanat, and cocoa into a medium sized saucepan. Cook over medium heat until butter is melted and mixture is smooth. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Allow the mixture to boil for one minute. Remove from heat. Add vanila, oats, and coconut flakes. If the mixture is too liquidy add a few more oats or coconut flakes until you reach desired consistency.

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Or shucks. If you “mess up” this recipe and the mixture turns out to be nice and smooth instead of crumbly – go ahead and spoon it onto wax paper and make No-Bake Cookies. ;)

 UPDATE:  If you do find your mixture too wet:  Add a few extra oats to soak up the liquid. Then put it on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and baked it at 250° for one hour, stirring occasionally. The granola should get nice and crispy!

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Easy Cream Cheese Fruit Dip

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This Cream Cheese Fruit Dip is our very favorite dip to eat with fruit!

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I’ve probably already written this sentence a time or three, but here it is again:  Cream cheese makes everything better!

Or was I talking about butter when I said that? Actually, maybe it was cream? Well, the same is true for cream cheese, butter, and cream. (Although I will draw the line at adding any of the above to my lettuce salad.)

This recipe includes both cream and cream cheese. And homemade vanilla. (Or store bought vanilla, but homemade is so YUM.)  And then there is just a bit of maple syrup to make it sweet. Last but not least – you’ll add a shot of lemon or lime juice. Here are the specifics:

Easy Fruit DipYum

Easy Cream Cheese Fruit Dip
 
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Author:
Ingredients
  • ½ cup cream (heavy whipping cream)
  • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 2 Tablespoons real maple syrup
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 Tablespoons lemon or lime juice (fresh or bottled)
Instructions
  1. Whip the cream until it forms stiff peaks.
  2. In a separate bowl, cream together the cream cheese, maple syrup, vanilla, and lemon or lime juice.
  3. Fold cream cheese mixture into the whipped cream.
  4. Chill until ready to serve, or serve right away.

Tastes great with strawberries, grapes, and apples. Makes about two cups of dip.

Cream Cheese Fruit Dip
Have to eat dairy free? This wasn’t a winner of a post for you then, was it?! I’ll try to make it up to you next time. :)  Everyone else – multiple choice question:

Everything is better with:
a) butter
b) cream cheese
c) cream
d) all of the above

I’d love to hear your opinion on this one!

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