Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

The Only Muffin Recipe You’ll Ever Need

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What if we really only need one muffin recipe to get us through our muffin making needs?

Yum

Will we really never need another muffin recipe (besides this one) for as long as we all shall live?

Ok, fine. Not really. Man shall not live on one muffin recipe alone. I have 40+ more muffin recipes that we can enjoy here. Some of them even have cheesecake baked on top. So yeah. We’ll need those.

But if you were to look through all 40 muffin recipes, you would likely notice a theme. A similar grouping of ingredients in a very similar proportion.

It was while throwing together muffins one day that I realized: When making muffins, I pretty much make the same recipe every time. I just tweak it slightly depending on what kind of muffin I’m making.

AND THEN, that day I decided to just make one big muffin batter (I quadrupled my ingredients) – but create a variety of different muffins all with that same batter.

Eh?

Here’s what I did:

  1. I measured oil, eggs, milk, sour cream, flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt into my mixer.
  2. These are ingredients used in every single muffin that ever lived.
  3. I didn’t actually measure. I don’t measure. I eye-ball. I don’t know where my measuring spoons are and the kids ate my measuring cups.
  4. I mixed my ingredients and since I’m a big believer in making one big mess and turning out a large quantity of food (instead of making a small mess over and over and over every day), I “measured” my ingredients x4.
  5. I scooped the batter into 24 muffins plus one loaf pan.
  6. I finished off a container of shriveling blueberries onto the top of seven muffin batter cups. I sprinkled chocolate chips onto the top of 11 more. I left six muffins plain.
  7. I stirred freeze-dried strawberries into the loaf pan of batter.
  8. I baked the muffins and the bread.
  9. My family at the muffins and the bread and now I need to sweep my floor.

Muffin crumbs, man. Have you ever fed muffins to an 8yo, a 6yo, a 3yo, a 2yo, and a 1yo? Muffin crumbs are everywhere.

And now for the only muffin recipe you’ll ever really need.

I’m going to write the ingredients for us in large batch quantity. That way we can use this recipe to make many muffins of all different varieties. One big mess, lots and lots of crumbs. I mean, muffins.

The Only Muffin Recipe You’ll Ever Need

The Only Muffin Recipe You'll Ever Need
 
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Serves: 30
Ingredients
  • 4½ cups whole grain flour
  • 1 cup sugar, brown sugar, or sucanat
  • 1 Tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 4 eggs
  • ½ cup sour cream (optional, but makes the muffins moist!)
  • ¾ cup melted coconut oil
  • 2 cups milk
Instructions
  1. Mix all ingredients together by hand or with a mixer.
  2. Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups or loaf pans.
  3. Add any fruit, nuts, or chocolate chips you would like.
  4. Bake bread at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Bake muffins at 400 degrees for 20ish minutes.

This recipe makes approximately 24 muffins and 1 loaf of quick bread. Or 36 muffins. Or three loaves of quick bread. Or 12 muffins and 2 loaves of quick bread.

Plus lots of crumbs when you feed them to babies.

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Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins (Big Batch!)

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Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins: When you create a muffin that the entire family loves to eat, you make a big batch and you share the recipe with the world!

Now, of course, I always put together a “big batch” of whatever I’m making because we have a large family. But even though we have a lot of kids, not all of them have teeth or eat much yet. So we don’t need as big of batches of steak and broccoli at this point. Muffins though?

Must. Make. Muffins. In. Big. Batch.

We go through muffins like crazy around here. Our just-turned-one-year-old only has a few front teeth, but she is good at gumming her little nibbles of muffins and she loves them! Our 2-year-old and 3-year-olds LOVE muffins. Our six and eight-year-olds love muffins. Our teens and adults love muffins. Well. We go through a lot of muffins around here.

Here are more muffin recipes!

40 + Real Food Muffin Recipes

Muffins Freeze WellYum

So that’s why I’m giving you a Big Batch recipe for these Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins. If we’re going to dirty up some dishes, why not make a big batch of something that freezes well? When I make these muffins, I set them out for today’s snack and tomorrow’s breakfast. Then, whatever is remaining goes into the freezer to pull out for another day!

I love that these muffins are flourless. I love that all of these ingredients go into a blender and are mixed up so easily. And of course, I love that these are moist and taste so delicious!

You can make them gluten-free (if you use GF oats) and dairy-free (if you use coconut oil and coconut or almond milk).

Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins

5.0 from 2 reviews
Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins (Big Batch!)
 
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Serves: 24
Ingredients
  • 4 eggs
  • ½ cup milk
  • 4 overripe bananas
  • ½ cup melted butter or coconut oil
  • 3 cups whole rolled oats
  • ¾ cup brown sugar or sucanat
  • 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • ½ cup chocolate chips (optional)
Instructions
  1. Put all ingredients (except for the chocolate chips) into a blender, beginning with the liquids.
  2. Blend until smooth.
  3. Fold in chocolate chips.
  4. Pour into 24 paper-lined muffin tins.
  5. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.

 

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The Best Chocolate Pumpkin Cake

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This Chocolate Pumpkin Cake is so good, I decided to repost it so you would be sure to see it and try it this fall!

I love any treat that includes ingredients healthy enough for us to serve for breakfast.

What? Cake for breakfast? Oh yes. All year long. And since this one includes pumpkin, it’s a step above. #veggiecake

Of course, the pumpkin in this recipe makes it super moist. And the chocolate in this recipe? Well, that makes it chocolate. Need I say more?

You’ll love that this cake is topped with a thin layer of Honey-Sweetened Chocolate Frosting. Sigh…while I sure do love summer best, NOTHING can beat fall baking!!

Chocolate Pumpkin CakeYum

The Best Chocolate Pumpkin Cake
 
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Ingredients
  • 1 cup melted coconut oil
  • 1 cup water
  • 4 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
  • ½ cup sucanat
  • dash of sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 2 eggs
Instructions
  1. In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, sucanat, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda.
  2. Set aside. In a saucepan, bring oil, water, and cocoa to a boil.
  3. Pour liquid mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredient mixture.
  4. Stir well.
  5. Add pumpkin puree and eggs, mixing well.
  6. Pour batter into a 9x13 inch baking pan.
  7. Bake in a 350° oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow cake to cool completely before frosting.

 

Low Sugar Chocolate Frosting

 
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Ingredients
  • ½ cup butter
  • 4 Tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 2 Tablespoons milk
  • 2-4 Tablespoons honey (sweeten this to your taste)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. In a small saucepan combine butter, cocoa, milk, and honey.
  2. Cook and stir over low heat until ingredients are well combined and mixture begins to thicken slightly.
  3. Removed from heat.
  4. Stir in vanilla.
  5. Spread over cooled cake.

 

Do you love fall baking like I do? Will you be eating this cake for breakfast? :)

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Easy Lemon Chicken Zucchini for Breakfast

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As promised, in the What To Do with All the Zucchini post, here’s the actual recipe to one of my new favorite breakfasts. Since I have to give the thing a name, I settled on Easy Lemon Chicken Zucchini. But really we call it the “lemon zucchini thing.” Is it easy? Or is it simple? Is it simply easy? Or easily simple? No matter which way you want to look at it, it’s real food that fuels my body and gets me ready for another awesome day. Bonus: It’s paleo! Gluten free, dairy free, soy free, sugar free… but not boring or complicated.

Chicken and zucchini for breakfast?

Do you have to eat it for breakfast? Duh, no. But for some reason I do. That’s about all I have to say on that. Eat it for any old meal you like, but I needed more grain-free breakfast food ideas. The paleo diet is not at all restricting once you get the hang of it, but the western culture has this idea that breakfasts are for all the sugar and carbs, or either all the protein and fats… and as it turns out, there is no authority that says you can’t have chicken and zucchini for breakfast, therefore I do.

Easy Lemon Chicken ZucchiniYum

 

lemon chicken squash

We used a yellow summer squash for this one!

If you’re using a cast iron skillet, remember to slowly pre-heat it so it’s ready to go. (Check out this post for tips on how to use a cast iron skillet.)Pre-heat for a few minutes and then melt 3-4 tablespoons of butter. While the skillet is heating and the butter melting, chop a summer squash—a yellow summer squash or a zucchini both work interchangeably in this recipe. OR A CUCUMBER. It sounds nuts to me, but my dear, sweet husband accidentally chopped a cucumber for this recipe instead of a zucchini and I could smell that it was a cucumber and I could see that it was a cucumber and by-golly I could taste that it was a cucumber, but it was surprisingly delicious. (He did not believe me that it was a cucumber until he tasted the final product for himself.) So we laughed and then ate our breakfast, but now we know… a cucumber fried in a bit of butter in place of squash is still yummy.

Okay, the skillet is pre-heated and the butter is melted, now toss in the squash. (I like to scrape out the middle if it’s a larger zucchini because I think it gets soggy and I don’t like it. ) Let it cook for two minutes and then flip and stir it about. When it’s right on the edge of being done add in a can of chicken. Season with salt and pepper and pour 1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice over the top. It will sizzle and smell amazing.

Lemonize at your own risk.

Ben made this recipe the first two times. (Once with the cucumber in disguise and once with a zucchini.) When I made it, he wasn’t around to ask how much lemon juice to use. Thankfully I’m a pretty smart gal and I used two tablespoons. I even measured it out on purpose to make sure I could tell you exactly how much I used. Two tablespoons was the perfect amount for me. As long as you stir it up well. If you’re scared, just start with one and see how it goes.

What are your thoughts on squash for breakfast?

Tasha HackettTasha Hackett is Laura’s friend and author of the Christian romance Bluebird on the Prairie set in 1879, Nebraska. Though she used to be a closet Cheeto eater, she’s been on a strict paleo died for months to help fight migraines (with great success). She often pretends to be a ballerina while unloading the dishwasher and has a hard time going more than a few days without any homemade chocolate bars. Her favorite thing is writing with hope and humor to encourage and entertain women. She spends most of her time with four chatty children and an incredibly supportive husband; they give her the kind of love people write books about.

To find out more about Tasha and her fiction writing, connect with her at www.TashaHackett.com.

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

The Easiest Way to Make Steak Gravy

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Have some leftover steak? Here’s the easiest way to make steak gravy!

Did you see my recent post about making biscuits with one hand? It’s by far the easiest way to make biscuits! Very little mess!

That day, while I was only interested in the biscuits so that I could slather on the butter, I knew that Matt and our big boys would be looking around for some gravy to put on them. (Seems that I should write a book called “If You Give a Boy a Biscuit”…)

I remembered that I had some leftover grilled steak that we needed to use up. And so, I used it to make Steak Gravy.

No one complained. No, not one.

The Easiest Way to Make Steak GravyYum

The Easiest Way to Make Steak Gravy
 
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Serves: 2-3 servings
Ingredients
  • 2 leftover cooked steaks
  • ¼ cup butter
  • 3-4 Tablespoons cornstarch or flour
  • 2 cups of milk (more if your gravy seems too thick)
Instructions
  1. Cut leftover steak into small bites. (I use kitchen shears to make this easier!)
  2. Put the bites into a skillet.
  3. Add butter.
  4. Melt the butter while heating the steak.
  5. Sprinkle in cornstarch or flour to make a paste.
  6. Add milk.
  7. Cook and stir over medium to high heat until mixture is thick and bubbly.
  8. Salt and pepper per your preference.
  9. Serve over biscuits

 

 

If your gravy fails to thicken, mix a “paste” of 2 Tablespoons flour with 3 Tablespoons of water. Stir the mixture into your gravy, little bits at a time until the gravy thickens to desired consistency. Do NOT sprinkle flour directly into the gravy. That’s how lumpy gravy is made. :)

Prefer to make sausage gravy? Here’s our easy and delicious Sausage Gravy Recipe.

Steak Gravy over Mashed Potatoes

Yes, please.

What an amazing meal this will be! Here are our easiest methods for making mashed potatoes:

  1. How to make mashed potatoes in the Crock Pot
  2. How to make mashed potatoes in the Instant Pot

Making mashed potatoes with either of these methods creates so little mess to clean up!

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How to Make Biscuits With One Hand

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Why do we need to know how to make biscuits with one hand?

Maybe we don’t. Maybe we actually have two hands to work with in the kitchen. Either way, don’t we all love learning ways to make our kitchen work easier? So whether you have one hand or two to work with in the kitchen, you’ll love how this easy biscuit-making-method cuts out a few steps and makes for a less messy biscuit-making process!

Me? I’m almost always working one-handed in the kitchen these days:

Yum

Who actually even cares about biscuits? I’ll just nibble on her neck all day long. Those pudgy hands!! HER CHEEKS.

But back to the biscuits.

I find that I can do quite a bit with just one hand, but using a rolling pin isn’t one of them. So one morning, I decided to attempt biscuits while holding the baby, and would you believe, it worked? From start to finish!

How did I make biscuits with one hand?

  1. I scooped some Quick Mix into a bowl. I poured in some milk. I didn’t measure. I stirred, kind of. I made dough. The baby used her gummy grin to affirm my abilities.

2. I put the dough directly onto my baking stone. I pressed it down with my one free hand. It looked like this:

Good grief. Are we rolling our eyes together about the fact that while I made biscuits with one hand, I also continued to wash said hand so I could take pictures with my phone of the biscuit-making process? I guess I just really wanted you to see how easy this is.

3. I dug my biscuit cutter out of the back of my catch-all drawer. I used it to make the ugliest-shaped biscuits you’ve ever seen. The baby was still impressed.

4. I grabbed up the excess dough and rolled it into two balls, then pushed them down onto the baking stone.

5. I baked the biscuits. They turned out incredible and delicious.

6. We ate them with butter and honey and jelly and gravy. We were all so happy because it had been over a year since I’d last made biscuits.

This gravy recipe is coming soon!

No matter if you have one hand or two while working in the kitchen:

Skip rolling your dough onto the counter before cutting your biscuits!

Simply press your dough onto your baking pan. Then cut your biscuits on your baking pan.

It saves a step. It saves a mess. Why have I not thought of this before?

Recipes you need so you can make biscuits with one hand:

  1. Quick Mix
  2. Quick Mix Biscuits
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Easy Homemade Pancake and Waffle “Syrup”

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Nothing beats real maple syrup, but in a pinch, and to save a little money, here’s how you can stir together Easy Homemade Pancake and Waffle “Syrup.”

Why would we want to avoid Real Maple Syrup? Oh, we don’t want to avoid it. That stuff is delicious and natural! I keep it on hand and we use it…most of the time for our pancakes and waffles.

But, I’ll admit that I get a little bit stingy when feeding pancakes or waffles to a large crowd. Real Maple Syrup can be pretty pricey! And most people are used to drowning their cakes in syrup! When they do that at my house with the real maple syrup I set out, then they leave $3 worth on their plates and wash it down the sink, I cry just a little bit.

Not really.

Yes really.

So…if I’m feeding a large crowd and I don’t want $20 worth of the good syrup to be washed down the drain, I make a Brown Sugar Syrup that has always received rave reviews.

OH! And if you’re wondering why I don’t just buy some Aunt Jamima for occasions such as this the answer is: Well. I just can’t bring myself to put it into my cart. Because of the high fructose corn syrup. She just isn’t welcome on my table. Shucks, Aunt Jamima.

Easy Homemade Pancake and Waffle “Syrup”Yum

Easy Homemade Pancake and Waffle "Syrup"
 
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Ingredients
  • 2 cups brown sugar (give or take)
  • ⅓ cup water (give or take)
Instructions
  1. Heat and stir on the stovetop until sugar has dissolved.
  2. Serve over pancakes and waffles.

Yes, it really is that easy. And those measurements? Don’t worry too much about them. Mostly you can just put brown sugar and water into a pan and heat it and serve it and it will be delicious (because it’s sugar).

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Low Sugar Granookie: Granola Cookie

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Tasha brought these Granookies to our family along with a meal when our newborn moved in with us in September. They are SO GOOD and I felt great letting our toddlers eat them along with the rest of us! (Bonus peek at “Baby Sister”—>)


Low Sugar Granookie: Granola Cookie

by Tasha Hackett

When you want a cookie, but you’re actually starving and what you need is a hearty snack or breakfast? Never fear, granookie is here! Granookie is a granola cookie and is the next best thing to stir-and-pour bread. (Go ahead and add Granookie to your dictionary.

No, it’s not spelled wrong, your computer just isn’t up with the times.) It’s not simple, being that it has about a thousand ingredients and then there’s the whole stirring and making into cookie balls and baking. . . okay, it’s still pretty simple. Especially so because this recipe makes 5-6 dozen cookies. I bake one pan for eating right away, and I freeze the rest into premade cookie balls for a fresh granookie snack or breakfast or dessert for later. Tip: Freeze on a flat pan and then transfer to a bag once frozen.

bagged granola cookie

Yum

Granola Cookie: Granookie

Before you skim straight to the recipe for the granookie, you may want to take a few things into account. These are low-sugar and mildly sweet, but not nearly as sweet as cookies, nor even as sweet as traditional granola. In addition, there is a hearty mix of nuts and seeds that makes them deliciously healthy, along with the whole grain addition to stock you up on healthy carbs, fiber, and an exorbitant amount of vitamins and minerals. However, can we cut the healthy talk and just be amazed at how delicious these are and hand them out guilt free? 

Whole grain for the win!

I always use fresh-ground flour when baking these. Either soft or hard wheat will work, though I use soft white wheat as it is marginally cheaper than hard wheat. If you’re using store-bought flour, you may need a touch less in your recipe. But it’s a fairly forgiving recipe. 

I developed over the past year after much frustration of my granola crumbling everywhere. I’ll sheepishly tell you that I changed it every time because I didn’t follow the recipe… but people kept asking me how to made these granola cookies (and I’d correct them, “It’s called a granookie.”) so I was determined to write down legit measurements and this is the winner! 

Granola Cookie

Enjoy!

homeschool momTasha Hackett is a friend of Laura and a bedroom closet jalapeno Cheeto eater. She lives in the great Midwest where the winter whisks your breath away and the summer smothers. Laura is still here, but likes to take a shower every now and then and let Tasha play on the blog. In other news, Tasha’s debut novel, a historical fiction romance, is currently being evaluated by a publisher. She’s been lost in the 1800’s for decades, dreaming of ways to bring her heroes to a happily ever after.

 

Low Sugar Granookie: Granola Cookie

Low Sugar Granookie: Granola Cookie
 
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Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Recipe type: cookie
Serves: 60
Ingredients
  • 2 Cups of Butter
  • ¾ Cup Brown Sugar
  • 5 Eggs
  • 1 tsp Caramel Flavoring (I use this one.)
  • 1 Tbs Vanilla Extract
  • 1½ tsp baking soda
  • 1½ tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3 Cups Flour
  • 3 Cups Thick Rolled Oats
  • 1 Cup Unsweetened Shredded Coconut
  • 1 Cup Slivered Almonds
  • ½ Cup Pumpkin Seeds
  • ⅓ Cup Sunflower Seeds
  • 1 Cup Chocolate Chips
  • ½ Cup Butterscotch Chips
Instructions
  1. Whip the butter and sugar until fluffy, add the eggs, flavoring, and dry ingredients. Add the nuts and seeds and chips. Dough will be quite firm.
  2. Form into cookie sized balls and bake at 375* for 8-10 minutes (until golden brown). They do not flatten much.
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Special (Easy) Breakfast: Chocolate Syrup on Pancakes

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If you want to turn a regular breakfast into a special breakfast, simply pour chocolate syrup on your pancakes! Here are two chocolate sauce recipes for you (one is dairy-free and low in sugar!).

I have all sorts of recipes for you, actually.

  1. First, we’ll talk about pancakes.
  2. Then, I’ll give you these great chocolate sauce recipes.
  3. Then, I’ll share different homemade whipped cream recipes to top everything off!

What’s great about this idea is that it turns ordinary pancakes into something super special! And if you’re hesitant about putting chocolate sauce on your pancakes because of the sugar, might I remind you that maple syrup is straight sugar also (even if it’s pure maple syrup)? ;) Not only that, if you make the Dairy Free Chocolate Sauce recipe below you’ll actually have a lower-sugar option to pour (or spread) all over your pancakes!

Pancake Recipe Ideas:

Chocolate Syrup for PancakesYum

Hot Fudge Sauce

Chocolate Fudge Sauce
 
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Serves: 2 cups
Ingredients
  • 1 ½ cups heavy cream
  • 1 cup brown sugar or sucanat
  • ½ cup cocoa
  • 1 stick butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
  1. In medium saucepan, stir together cream, sugar, cocoa and butter.
  2. Cook on medium heat until butter is melted and ingredients are thoroughly combined.
  3. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

 

Dairy Free Chocolate Sauce

Dairy Free Chocolate Sauce
 
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Author:
Serves: 2 cups
Ingredients
  • 13.5 ounce can of full fat, unsweetened coconut milk
  • ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ¼ - ½ cup sweetener (honey, sucanat, or brown sugar)
Instructions
  1. Mix ingredients in a small saucepan, cooking and stirring on medium heat until well combined.
  2. Serve warm or cold.
  3. Store this sauce in a covered container in the refrigerator, rewarming on the stove-top as needed. It will keep for up to a month in the fridge.

Drizzle or spread these onto your pancakes and you’ve got an amazing feast. But really, it’s thousands of times better if you then top it all with whipped cream!

Whipped Cream Recipes:

Still want more ideas?

Bonus Pancake Topping Recipes:

What’s your favorite way to top a pancake?

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The Surprising Reason I Spent Money on a Bosch Mixer

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I’m not even sure if I’ve even told you that I bought a Bosch Mixer! So hey guess what?! I bought a Bosch Mixer. Here’s why…

Yum

First of all, I could spend a few words telling you why it took me so long to finally break down and spend the money on a Bosch Mixer. But it’s mostly because of this:

  • These beauties are pricey!
  • I’ve stirred my bread dough and cookie dough and brownie batter by arms for well over 40 years. Why did I need an expensive mixer seeing as I still have working arms and hands?

But all of you friends who have a Bosch or a Kitchen Aid have said to me, “With all the cooking and baking you do, how in the world do you actually survive without a mixer?” And I always went back to…

  • Expensive.
  • My arm works fine.

Yes, investing in a nice mixer has been in my mind for quite some time, and my desire for one went up a notch every time one of you told me how great they are.

So what finally pushed me over the edge to fork out the money for a Bosch Mixer?

It was a conversation with my friend Rhonda (and then it still took me several months to ruminate over it, but whatever).

Here’s what Rhonda said – and I will tell you that when Rhonda speaks, I listen. She knows things. She’s an awesome friend and has raised awesome kids and she says smart things.

Rhonda was sharing with me how she had recently become the recipient of a used but still wonderful Kitchen Aid Mixer. She was loving it and decided it was fantastic and then she said:

I wish I would have had this in my kitchen when my kids were still at home growing up.

She went on to talk about how much time it saved and about how nicely it mixed up batters and while I really liked hearing this part of her review, I just couldn’t let go of this thought:

Moms. We sacrifice. We skimp. We save. We make do. And God bless us for it!! I mean, after all, regarding the cooking and the baking and the batters and the doughs – I do have arms that work. My grandma used her arms. Why do I need to spend money on a mixer? I can make do.

But there I stood with Rhonda in the church foyer, with my adult and teen kids hanging out with their friends in the background and my new set of littles playing at my feet. And I realized yet again: I AM STARTING OVER!!! Just when I thought I was almost done raising kids, God started us fresh with new fellas, and friends? That means I’m going to be working at this “feeding a family” thing for a very long time.

Add to that all the friends we feed regularly, plus the daughters-in-law and grandbabes I’d like to think are a part of our future and I’m pretty sure I will be cranking food and food and more food out of my kitchen for many more years!

Shucks, here I’m tearing up again at the beauty of this life we didn’t know God had planned for us.

Well anyway. I chewed on Rhonda’s statement for several months, watched in awe as my teens and littles shared meals, and I decided to run it by Matt. This wouldn’t be just a small purchase, and would it be worth it?

We decided yes. I should get a mixer because I was embracing Rhonda’s advice about “oh how nice it would have been to have when my kids were at home growing up.”

Little Boys #round2

Before purchasing, I spend some time researching. One does not drop several hundred dollars on a kitchen tool without doing her homework. I landed on purchasing a Bosch Universal Plus. If I was going to spend big, I was going to get the best of the best. (Also, I purchased from Paula’s Bread because she’s a small business I trust and I wanted to support her with my big purchase!)

You guys. How did I ever get along with this? Well shucks, I used my arms I guess. :)

But Rhonda was right. This is a wonderful tool to have when you do a lot of cooking and baking,  for a family. My Bosch Mixer has already paid for itself in its efficiency and ease and time-saving gifts that it has given me as I work to take care of so many kids of different ages and while I feed many college kids and other guests too. I’m totally in love with it and am 100% grateful that we made this investment!

As for using my arms to stir and mix? Well, I’m going to focus on using my arms for more important endeavors. :)

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