Heavenly Homemakers

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Whole Chicken with Potato Wedges Recipe – $0.99/person!

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It seems like a good idea to kick off our 30 Days of Dollar Dinners series with this Whole Chicken with Potato Wedges recipe. Check out this amazing meal for just $0.99 per person!

Did you sign up for our 30 Days of Dollar Dinners series yet? We have these freebies for you, detailing how to make 30 entire meals for just $1.00 per person! Sign up here and we’ll send these to you.

One chicken makes three meals

Here’s what makes this Whole Chicken recipe so great – well besides the fact that it’s easy and tastes really good. :) Your effort to bake a chicken is going to produce three meals!

  1. Whole Chicken with Potato Wedges
  2. Parmesan Chicken and Rice
  3. Creamy Potato Soup (made with broth from the chicken bones we’ll save after de-boning this chicken)

Intentionally only serve half the meat from this baked chicken at your first meal. Save the leftover meat to make the Parmesan Chicken and Rice (recipe coming soon!). Once the meat has been removed, use the bones from this chicken to make broth like this. You’ll save that to make Creamy Potato Soup!

How much does a whole chicken cost?

You can buy a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken for $5 at Sam’s or Costco. If you want to skip the baking part of this recipe idea, buy the cooked chicken for $5, divide the meat into two portions – one for this meal and one for the Parmesan Chicken and Rice. Then, make broth with the bones. This gives you three meals from one $5 chicken, making each chicken portion cost only $1.67. AMAZING!!!

OR, if you want to follow this recipe and bake a chicken at home, a whole chicken at Walmart is around $7. Then you can season it the way you like!

Here’s the recipe:

Whole Chicken with Potato Wedges

Whole Chicken with Potato Wedges Recipe - $0.99/person!
 
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Author:
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 1 whole chicken with the innards removed
  • 2 Tablespoons melted butter
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • ⅛ teaspoon ground pepper
  • 3 large yukon gold potatoes
  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • Sea salt
Instructions
  1. Place chicken in a 9x13 inch baking dish.
  2. Remove gizzards from the cavity. (Save them to make broth later!)
  3. Spread or brush butter over the chicken.
  4. Mix spices in a bowl, then rub them all over the chicken.
  5. Bake, uncovered, in a 300 degree oven for 2½ hours.
  6. Scrub potatoes and slice into eight wedges each.
  7. Toss them in a bowl large bowl with olive oil until they are evenly coated.
  8. Lay wedges singularly on a cookie sheet.
  9. Sprinkle with salt.
  10. Bake at 400 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

Be sure to save half the meat for our Parmesan Chicken and Rice and save the bones to make broth.

Can’t wait to share more in this 30 Days of Dollar Dinners series. We’re working hard to complete our cookbook that goes along with all the freebies, so be watching for that!

 

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30 Days of Dollar Dinners!

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Is it possible? Can we make dinner for a dollar after all the price increases we’re seeing in grocery stores? Indeed, all the inflation has challenged me to see what I can do to win at the grocery store. I have come up with 30 Days of Dollar Dinners!

Here’s what we’re getting ready to do:

  1. First, we’re going to give you a 30-Day Dollar Dinner printable so you can see all the meals we can all make for $1/person. We’re also going to give you a complete grocery list plus several other money-saving resources. See them here and get signed up. IT’S FREE!
  2. Then, we’re going to start posting the simple recipes that go along with all the Dollar Dinner suggestions on that printable.
  3. At the end of our series, we’ll have all of our 30 Days of Dollar Dinners recipes compiled into a beautiful new eBook. We’ll offer it at a discount to everyone who sticks with us through this series. Or BETTER YET, we’ll put it into our Club Membership site so that all of our members have access to it for no additional cost.

You’re going to want to be a part of this with us!

Why? Because we want to feed our families well, and we want to see ways we can cut costs without cutting nutrition. Here’s another perk to this packet: While prices have gone up, our time for cooking each day remains the same. Our 30 Days of Dollar Dinners promises to provide you with excellent and delicious real food ideas that don’t take much time to prepare.

This is like a win-win-win-win-win.

Happy New Year!!

30 Days of Dollar Dinners

Ready to get started? First, you’ll need our printables packet. (This is all free – did I mention that?)

Amazing meals we make with $1.00!

Wow, adulting is fun, am I right?

Who is so excited about all of this right now? You know you’re a grown-up when you can’t wait to download an Inexpensive Side Dish List and a calendar that offers 30 Days of Dollar Dinners suggestions.

But for real:

Sign me up!!

Then stay tuned for the recipes we’ll be posting that go along with our 30 Days of Dollar Dinners Calendar. It’s fun, it’s inexpensive, and it’s so delicious!

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NOTE:

The above freebies are for everyone and we are so happy to share them with you! Beyond these resources, in a few weeks will be complete and offer you our brand new 30 Days of Dollar Dinners eCookbook to make creating these meals much easier from here on out. We’ll put it in our shop for purchase ($20) but we think you should do this instead:

Become a Heavenly Homemakers Club Member. You’ll get our new 30 Days of Dollar Dinners eCookbook plus thousands of dollars of other eBooks, eCurriculum, eCourses, printables, menu planning guides and much more. Get more details here and sign up here!

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

How to Love People (My New Year Goal)

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I’m writing this post on how to love people because God keeps having to teach me how to love people.

I guess I might be writing this for myself. I need this. Loving people can be hard.

Like, actually loving them. Not just being nice to them. Not just showing kindness. But actually loving them.

I’m not proud of what I am about to share. I’m weeping over it actually. There are some people in our lives that are very hard to love. I’ve never felt this way before.

THESE are MY people, and they are the easiest to love. I don’t have to try to love them and in fact, my love for them is so great that sometimes I can’t even breathe. As God has grown our family, my ability to love has grown. It’s remarkable to experience.

Meanwhile, our little ones come with some baggage. Their baggage becomes mine and I sometimes find myself dealing with texts or communication with people that make me want to scream, ” I JUST WANT TO LOVE AND RAISE THESE KIDS!!! I DON’T WANT TO DEAL WITH THE REST OF IT! I DIDN’T SIGN UP FOR THIS!!!”

But in fact, I did sign up for this when I said yes to God’s yes. So now I have to figure out how to live and love like Jesus through it.

Am I just a mama bear?

A friend of mine (after I puked my feelings on her for the many-eth time) recently kindly and wisely defended my feelings. “Your mama bear instincts want to protect your babies. There’s nothing wrong with that.” And she’s right. I will always and forever do everything I can for the good of our children, protecting them and seeking what is best for them under harder-than-normal circumstances.

But the truth is that while many of my feelings are normal and understandable, I also have to choose how to use my time and energy when I encounter a challenge with an outside source. How can I do this?

How to love people?

Yes, how to actually love them.

Matt, who is calm and wise and always my sounding board, offered some insights recently and I’ve been praying over them ever since. When I face a challenge that I have no choice but to deal with, I can either:

  • shrink and become soft
  • bristle and become hard
  • or I can choose to let the Holy Spirit do its work in me to truly hear and respond in love

I’m not actually ever responding to anyone with angry words. The problem is inside my head and heart.

My energy and time cannot be taken up by swirling angry and frustrated thoughts. I cannot allow myself to choose ugliness or to let ridiculous inside-my-head conversations full of everything I shoulda-coulda-woulda said to overrule my thoughts.

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5

This passage tells me to:

  1. Take my thoughts captive.
  2. Make them obey Christ.

All day long.

A boundary around my heart

Someone else’s words should never set my head on fire. Yet I’ve been surprised at how easily angered I can become.

I have to set boundaries in certain relationships, and I have done this. But the biggest boundary is to be put around my own heart. I’m prayerfully working right now to put a Holy Spirit Filter around my heart and head so that when I read a text or have a conversation that frustrates me or makes me hurt, I can still be at peace.

How? By choosing to hear every word through a filter of love.

By recognizing that my God is already at work in each situation. By accepting that He fully loves me and He fully loves the hard people in my life. Because of this, I can love them too. But only with the help of the Holy Spirit.

So I’ve stopped trying so hard

I can’t do it. I can’t love better or be better or do better. It’s all too hard.

But the Holy Spirit can love wholly and freely, and He lives and works in and through me. I am refusing to take on anything that isn’t mine. This includes conflict and any challenge that someone might want to direct at me. In all circumstances, Matt and I will prayerfully work to do what is best for each of our kids. When we come under attack, we will allow the Spirit to give us a loving response. First in our own hearts, then naturally to others.

This brings incredible peace. It also allows love to flow freely, which beautifully takes the place of anger and hurt.

It’s almost a new year

If you’re hoping to do better or be better in 2023, this is great. But I pray that your focus has to do with that which is Spiritual. Nothing else actually matters and everything else, physical and otherwise, will fall into place if we are seeking to let the Holy Spirit be our complete guide and rescue.

My most necessary goal:

To hear every word through a filter of love.

This is my goal, with the help of the Father who sent a comforter to dwell in my heart. This changes everything about how I use my mental and emotional energy, which changes everything about how I walk through my days and love my people.

Dearest Father, help us when we cannot help ourselves. We need you. We can’t do this without you. Be our God. We praise you and seek you for rescue. In Jesus’ name.

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Easy Meals for Christmas Break

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The kids are home. They eat a lot. We need easy meals for Christmas break. Here are my ideas!

First, I know it’s cold outside but we’ve all been eating too much sugar, am I right? Let’s make everyone some spinach-filled smoothies. Yes, these have sugar in them too. But they also have spinach, so it’s a win. (Turn on a space heater while sipping these cold, but necessary, drinks!)

If you drink these out of a Christmas Mug they taste better. Scientific fact.

Easy Meals for Christmas Break

Beyond the beloved smoothies, here are some meals my kids love and eat well when they play hard all day! By the way, have you found some good indoor places to take your kids to run around so they get their energy out even while it’s cold outside? Looking for ideas!

Here are meals our kids love:

1. Sloppy Joes

2. Beanie Weanies

3. Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with Tomato Soup 

You can make grilled cheese in the waffle iron for a fun twist on this meal!

4. Pizza 

5. Quesadillas (made like Snowflakes or made like this with extra protein)

6. Chili with cheese, Fritos, and sour cream

7. White Chicken Chili

Sometimes, my kids eat this as a dip with tortilla chips.

French Toast with fruit and sausage or bacon

Pizza Chicken

Here’s hoping your Christmas break is enjoyable and relaxing as you spend great time with your family!

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Family Christmas Drink Recipes

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Needs some Christmas drink recipes your family can enjoy? Here are our favorites!

I could sip on hot drinks all day long. I start my day with coffee, make herbal tea mid-morning, have coffee again in the afternoon, then more tea in the evening… (and yes, I drink water all day too). ;)

There’s just something so cozy and comforting about hot drinks. When I ever have a chance to sit and visit with someone, sipping on a hot drink makes it 100% better – I’m not sure why? Am I the only one?

At Christmastime, these drinks taste even better. I give credit to the beauty of the Christmas lights I’m looking at while sipping drinks. :)

Here are our favorite Family Christmas Drink Recipes

  1. The Best Hot Cocoa
  2. Chocolate Mint Soother
  3. Warm Pumpkin Custard Drink
  4. Warm Vanilla Soother
  5. Warm Chocolate Soother
  6. Hot Vanilla Milk
  7. White Hot Chocolate
  8. Crockpot Cranberry Apple Cider
  9. Homemade Healthier Eggnog
  10. Christmas Juice Punch

More ideas!

  • Make this Peppermint Whipped Cream for your coffee or hot cocoa.
  • Pick up some special tea varieties at Trader Joe’s or another favorite store. Enjoy these while you visit with family or friends.
  • Sip your favorite drinks in holiday mugs. They taste better this way. ;)
  • Put this Healthier Hot Chocolate Mix together to make Hot Chocolate quickly.
  • Make any of the above “Soother” recipes to drink at breakfast-time. They fill your children and warm them up before starting a school day.

 

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Last Minute Homemade Gift Ideas

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Do you need some last-minute homemade gift ideas? I bet you can make most of these with items you already have around your house!

If you’re hoping to save money by making homemade gifts, we have some great ideas for you! These ideas are lovely yet simple. I’d enjoy receiving any one of these gifts!

Last Minute Homemade Gift Ideas

1. Instant Oatmeal in a Jar

This gift might sound silly, but having Homemade Instant Oatmeal on hand saves time and makes for a delicious breakfast or snack for someone who is busy. Make this gluten-free if needed. Get the directions here.

Homemade Instant Oatmeal in a Jar Gift Idea

2. Non-Toxic Bubble Bath

This can be made for pennies and personalized for your special recipient. Simply find a fun bottle or container and mix this up in just a few minutes. So much fun!

Homemade Bubble Bath for Pennies

3. No-Sew Rice Heating Pads

These are fun to make and incredibly easy. Find socks that your recipient will enjoy and put these together quickly.

No-Sew Rice Heating Pads

4. Homemade Seasoned Salt with Recipe Cards

This Seasoned Salt is simple and fun and makes a great small gift or stocking stuffer. Get the recipe and cards here.

Homemade Seasoned Salt Shaker Gift

5. Easy Fabric Bracelets

I think I could sit with my 7-year old and make these all day long. Make these for little nieces, or consider putting together a little craft kit with all the supplies for these to give as a gift to a young child who enjoys simple crafts.

Quick and Easy Fabric Bracelets

6. Stir-and-Pour Bread Mix in a Jar

This is a fun gift to put together! If you like, gift it along with a new bread pan. Or simply give the mix to someone as-is.

Stir-and-Pour Bread Mix Gift Jar with Free Printable Gift Tags

7. Christmas Potpourri Pouch

These smell amazing and are fun to put together. Get the “recipe” here.

Make a Christmas Potpourri Pouch for $1.75 Per Gift

8. Hot Chocolate Mix

This is very easy to mix together and makes a very nice, yet inexpensive gift. Get the recipe here!


9. Recipe Card Holders

How adorable are these? Make them for super cheap and obviously, they are very easy! Here’s how to make these recipe card holders.

10. Quick Bread

Make any Quick Bread recipe, wrap it up, tie a ribbon around it and give it as a gift. EVERYONE loves homemade goodies for gifts!

Here are our favorite Quick Bread Recipes:

11. Cookies and Other Treats

Put any of these treats together in fun gift packaging and you’ve created a gift everyone will love!

  1. Homemade Peppernuts
  2. Christmas Spice Cookies
  3. Frosted Christmas Cookie Cut-Outs
  4. Reindeer Cuties
  5. Chocolate Snowballs
  6. Super Soft Chocolate Cookies

Remember! Club Members have access to this fantastic Gift Basket Ideas printable pack. It shares wonderful and inexpensive ideas for so many great gift baskets you can put together. Club Members, access yours on the Printables Page. Not a member? Join us here!

 

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

Christmas Party Snack Recipes

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Need some Christmas party snack recipes and ideas? I have a list for you (and no, they aren’t all chip dips, which I realize is shocking). :)

The truth you probably already know about me: I love chip dips of all kinds. A party isn’t a party without chips and dip. So I’ll start the list of my favorite dip recipes. Then we’ll move into other fun ideas for recipes you can make to share at a party!

All of these recipes work well to make and take to a party. They are a hit with a crowd and easy to put together!

Ooooh, and some of my dip recipes we serve with vegetables. I can eat all kinds of veggies when you give me a dip to go with it. :)

Christmas Party Snack Recipes and Ideas

Here’s another fun idea: Set up a Decorate your Own Cookie Station!

Want another idea? Put together this set of tasty Popcorn Flavor Shakers. Make a bunch of popcorn and set it out with the flavor options!

What are your favorite snacks to take to a party?

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

Christmas Dessert Ideas

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You probably have traditional desserts you make on the big day. But if you’d like some new Christmas dessert ideas, I have a list for you!

Christmas Dessert Ideas

Many of these desserts can be put together in just a few minutes! Several can be made ahead of time and frozen until you need them. Lots are perfect to deliver to co-workers or neighbors. Enjoy working your way through these recipes!

  1. Homemade Peppernuts
  2. Christmas Spice Cookies
  3. Frosted Christmas Cookie Cut-Outs
  4. Reindeer Cuties
  5. Chocolate Snowballs
  6. Cranberry Orange Scones
  7. Dark Chocolate Peppermint Mousse
  8. Death By Chocolate
  9. Gingerbread Men
  10. Hot Chocolate Souffle
  11. Lemon Pound Cake
  12. Mini Apple Pies
  13. Mint Oreos
  14. Lemon Pound Cake
  15. Mini Apple Pies
  16. Mint Oreos
  17. Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cake
  18. Peppermint Patties
  19. Pumpkin Pecan Pie Squares
  20. Reindeer Brownies
  21. Red(less) Velvet Cake
  22. Salted Caramel Apple Crisp
  23. White Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn
  24. Chocolate Fudge Pie
  25. Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie
  26. Chocolate Cheesecake Pie
  27. Vanilla, Chocolate, or Butterscotch Cream Pie (Use any of these pudding recipes to fill your pie crust.)
  28. Peanut Butter Cream Pie (I highly recommend that you make this pudding recipe and then pour it into a Chocolate Pie Crust if you have time to make a crust from scratch.)
  29. Pumpkin Pie
  30. Apple Pie
  31. Honey Pecan Pie
  32. Chocolate Cheesecake Dessert
  33. Brownie Sundae Bar
  34. Butterscotch Bars
  35. Caramel Apple Dip
  36. Caramel Brownies
  37. Peanut Butter Chocolate Star Treats
  38. Pumpkin Bars

What are your favorite desserts to enjoy at Christmastime?

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

How I’m Planning Christmas for Our 14 This Year

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I’m planning Christmas for our tribe and I thought it would be fun to process “out loud” while I work out details!

You know I love to go all out at Christmastime. But how I used to do Christmas when there were only six of us does not work now that there are 14 of us.

I’m looking for ways to have a lot of fun without spending as much money this year also. Here’s how I’m hoping to get away with spending very little out of pocket this year.

How I’ve been saving/earning “free” money for Christmas this year

  • I’ve spent time earning Swagbucks during the past few months and made my way up to $100 free dollars in gift cards! I decided to redeem them all to use at Sam’s, so now I have $100+ to use for gifts there!
  • I got a “check” from Costco as part of their cash-back program. I plan to redeem that for free gifts.
  • I’ve been saving the cashback that we earn from our Discover card and I can use that at Amazon for gifts.

Meanwhile, I’ve found some great deals here and there and have been buying and tucking away stocking stuffers for a few weeks.

How I’m Planning Christmas for Our 14 This Year

  1. I’m looking into games that our entire family can play (which is a challenge since our kids are ages 1-25!) This Saran Wrap Ball Game is perfect though.
  2. I’m putting together these Christ-Centered Christmas gifts for our entire family, which will be the main part of our Christmas day.
  3. I’m focusing on consumable gifts again so that we don’t pile more STUFF into our house. :) Here are ideas for consumable gifts (not just food!).
  4. We’ll plan a day after Christmas to enjoy with “just the grown-ups.” So much of our life is focused on the little ones, which is exactly as it needs to be. But two years ago we started a tradition of hiring sitters for all the littles for an entire afternoon and evening. We bigs all head to our church fellowship hall where we eat and play games for hours together. It is much needed and so much fun!

What about the FOOD?!

You might remember that our traditional Christmas dinner for the past several years has been Lasagna. I’m changing that this year because 1 out of 14 of us refuses to eat lasagna. NEVER do I ever cater to one person’s pickiness on a regular day. But this Christmas I’ve decided to. Why? Because our Christmas meal is supposed to be special, and if my daughter can’t possibly put lasagna into her mouth and it causes a fight at mealtime? No thanks. Not on Christmas. (This is my gift to me.)

So we’re having a Nacho Bar. Everyone can fix their bowl or plate the way they like and everyone wins. Plus, by the time we’re hungry enough to eat Christmas dinner after a big breakfast, it’ll probably be time to pull out games anyway. So we can munch on nachos and play games in the afternoon. It’s perfect!

What about that big breakfast? I’ll make an Easy Breakfast Casserole ahead of time and bake it while we dig into gifts that morning. I’ll serve it with fresh fruit and one or two of the following (I haven’t decided yet!):

Here are a lot of great Make-Ahead Christmas Breakfast Ideas to look through!

Christmas Make-Ahead Breakfast Ideas

Do you have fun Christmas traditions or some that you’re starting this year? I’d love to hear!

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