Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

How to Take a Salad for a Family Picnic

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Who takes a salad for a family picnic?! We do. When you go out for as many picnics as we do, you start to get creative. :)

Now that we are living in Lincoln, we’ve been taking our seven little kids out for almost daily “adventures.” The weather has been beautiful and the outings are sooooo good for our kids’ mental health (and for mine, actually). Plus this has been a good way to help us all become familiar with our new surroundings.

So many family picnics

I’m telling you, we pack food a lot for our crew to eat while we’re out. They love it, it’s not hard to do, and the best part: THERE ARE NO DISHES TO WASH AFTERWARD.

We live a few blocks from the zoo, so we bought a membership and go there for an hour or two whenever we can. Here’s our picnic last week: meat, cheese, applesauce, carrots, crackers, and juice. We had lunch with the giraffes.

Another day Eva, Kelsey, and I took the kids to a splash park and enjoyed sandwiches, chips (wow, what an actual normal picnic), mandarin oranges, and juice.

One Saturday we took the kids to “Discovery Day” at a UNL campus where they featured all kinds of science-based, hands-on learning booths for the kids. We enjoyed doing experiments at many booths before sitting down under a tree to eat nuts, cheese sticks, and fruit.

A couple weeks ago Eva and I took the kids to play at a huge park all morning, then ate hotdogs that I’d heated and “bunned” ahead of time for us to eat at lunchtime.

And yes, we also enjoy a lot of picnics in our backyard. This one was pizza and fruit. But it all tastes better outside. :)

Other picnic ideas we’ve enjoyed:

  • Quesadillas
  • Hamburgers
  • Chicken Sandwiches
  • Burritos
  • Summer Sausage
  • Tortilla Roll-Ups

How to Take a Salad for a Family Picnic

So now let’s talk about salad.

This idea came to me as I was quickly searching my refrigerators to see what I could throw together for my kids to eat at the zoo this week. I had already grabbed some sliced meat and cheese, but we needed a veggie that could easily be transported and eaten at a picnic table. I was out of carrots, but aha! There was a Salad Kit I’d bought for Elias sitting in my veggie drawer. We could make that work at the zoo!

(This is the photo I sent Elias from Aldi asking if he wanted me to get it for him. And then I bought it for him. And then we ate it without him. Sorry Elias. I’ll get you a new one.)

I threw the kit into a gallon-sized ziploc bag along with avocado cups for our toddlers, applesauce cups and muffins for everyone, and juice boxes. We got to the zoo just in time to sit down for a Baby Cheetah “show.” We settled everyone in with an applesauce cup and spoon, then I dumped the salad kit into my ziploc bag.

I added all the extras included in the kit, closed up the ziploc, and shook it up. This took 5 minutes and it was brilliant! (I did wish I had scissors. That would have made the process only take only 4 minutes.)

I then dumped salad out for Brayden, Keith, Kiya, Matt, and me, handed out forks, and we learned about baby cheetahs while we chomped on salad. Truly, this idea is genius.

These kits are around $3 at Aldi, which is a GREAT PRICE for a lunch on the go. Plus they have several varieties to choose from. I will definitely be grabbing more next time I’m shopping so that I’ll have these on hand for outings as needed!

Meanwhile, Acacia ate her avocado cup with a spoon. She loves those!

Want to make your own salad to take along on a picnic? Here are some great recipes:

How about fruit salad?

Ever tried taking salad for a family picnic?

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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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Why Did I Spend $8 on a Watermelon??

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I spent $8 on a watermelon, and I learned a thing or two. I figured it’s worth a conversation here.

Grocery prices are scaring everyone right now. I keep finding myself with the desire to stay calm and positive in the midst of the inflation storm and encourage others that there’s hope at the grocery store. I really do think we are all going to be ok! One day at a time, right? No need to panic. We can still be so thankful that we have plenty to eat. And there are still plenty of ways to save!

So about that watermelon…

Is it worth it to spend $8 on a Watermelon??

A few weeks ago, I was shocked that the watermelon at Sam’s cost $8! “No way,” I thought. “I’m waiting until they go down to at least $5!”

But then I wondered: Is that a thing anymore? Will watermelon ever be $5 again?

As I got closer to the melons I was talking myself out of needing/wanting it. I just didn’t feel I could justify it, even though it’s fruit, and therefore good for us. But then I saw how big these watermelons were (huge!!!). So I decided to go ahead and “splurge” on the $8 melon.

I spy a great big watermelon —>
(And corndogs, which makes you wonder why I overthought my watermelon splurge.)

The next day at home when I cut it all up to make it easy to serve at mealtime and snacks, here’s what I got…

Two 9×13 dishes plus a huge bowlful. It was an incredible amount of watermelon!!! Much to our delight, it was also super sweet and crisp. We ate on that watermelon for a week and a half.

The following week, I bought another watermelon at our local store “on sale for $4.” Guess what? It was less than half the size of my $8 melon. Hmmm…

I learned that I don’t have to always say no to a produce purchase just because its price looks higher than what I typically might want to pay. I need to consider:

  • how many meals and/or snacks we can get out of my purchase
  • how it will help me get good food into my kids
  • how it will provide easy side dishes or snacks that I can grab and put on high chairs and plates

That $8 watermelon provided for our family about 6 meals or snacks worth of provision. (We feed 10+ every day.) Since I spent a few minutes getting it cut and ready to serve, it also provided a really easy-to-grab side dish or snack option for us, which is especially helpful for me right now.

When the price feels high

It’s a good idea to consider:

  1. Fruits and vegetables are one of the best forms of nourishment we can put into our bodies. We need to buy them and eat them on the regular.
  2. What is the cost break-down per pound for the item? My $8 watermelon ended up being only about $0.40/pound. That’s cheaper than bananas. Who knew?!
  3. At the end of the day, I found that I’m actually only spending $1/day per family member to feed us a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables. Even when I buy more expensive fruits and veggies like organic greens and fresh berries.

Apparently, I can’t stop talking about how affordable fruits and vegetables are compared to most foods. I mean, what else can I fill and nourish my kids’ bellies with for $0.33/meal??

Long live the $8 (which is really only $0.40/pound) watermelon. Thank you for putting up with me. :)

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Big Family Food: How We Afford Fruits and Vegetables

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Curious how we afford fruits and vegetables?

How We Afford Fruits and Vegetables

People keep telling me that fruits and vegetables are SO EXPENSIVE. That they can’t afford them. That I’m really splurging when I buy so much fresh fruit every month.

I couldn’t figure out if I was in denial about this or if maybe I’m so used to buying so much produce that I don’t “see the expense” anymore. Or, is it possible that fruits and vegetables really are affordable but the first look at their price scares some people? I really wasn’t sure.

So I did some fruit and veggie math.

We’re currently feeding ten people three meals each day. Our three littlest are ages 2, 1, and 1. Our four oldest household members are adults, so it balances out. :)

Our monthly grocery budget is $1,200. Of that amount, I calculated and was shocked to learn that only about $300 is spent on fruits and vegetables. (I looked online at all my Sam’s, Costco, and Walmart receipts, so handy!) I truly thought it would add up to more than that since my produce purchases are so frequent and big.

So I did the math again to double-check.

Sure enough, only about a fourth of our overall monthly grocery budget goes toward these, and I don’t hold back:

  • Frozen green beans
  • Frozen peas
  • Frozen corn
  • Frozen fruit for smoothies
  • Frozen hashbrowns
  • Fresh spinach (we go through at least one pound every week)
  • Fresh spring mix (we go through two pounds every week)
  • Fresh carrots
  • Potatoes
  • Onions
  • Fresh broccoli
  • Apples
  • Bananas
  • Clementines
  • Berries ( strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries depending on the season)
  • Melons (cantaloupe, honey dew, and watermelon depending on the season)
  • Grapes
  • Kiwi
  • Pears
  • Canned pumpkin
  • Canned peaches
  • Canned pears
  • Canned mandarins
  • Applesauce (a ridiculous amount of applesauce)

Where I landed after doing the math:

Feeding my family a lot of fruits and veggies is not expensive.

I sort of apologize for my geekiness, but as it turns out, I’m pretty excited that I went back and added it all up! Now I feel like I have an actual answer to the “fruits and veggies so expensive” claim!

If I’m spending $300 of our monthly grocery budget on produce – for 10 people for 30 days? This breaks down to just:

$1/person/day.

Which is $0.33/meal.

This, to fill our bellies with lots of fresh, frozen, or canned fruits and vegetables in a big variety of forms. That’s actually incredible, I think! Especially when our plates look like this:

Steamed broccoli, corn, raspberries, and nectarine on spaghetti night;
and no, I don’t put sauce on our baby’s noodles because I don’t want the mess. :)

This was our 8-year-old’s first serving. He had seconds of all you see here:

Here’s Matt’s plate the evening we celebrated Asa’s birthday with
smoked chicken, alfredo, and steamed broccoli:

One Sunday lunch was spinach on tuna sandwiches, watermelon, and guacamole.
This was our 6-year-old’s plate. She’s a pretty small eater. Unless it’s cake. :)
(But now, of course, I’ve been putting spinach our the cake so…)

Our three year old asked for spinach on the side with ranch and watermelon with his tuna sandwich that day. Not pictures, his tuna sandwich as he gobbled it down already.

This is my plate filled with Overnight Beef Roast, pears, peas, and baked beans. (In case you need to know, I didn’t actually cook it overnight. I cooked it all day and it was perfect for dinnertime!)

Here’s my plate showing our salmon burger meal with steamed green beans, corn, sweet potato fries, and a tiny bit of asparagus from our garden! (We each only got a little bit of asparagus.) ;)

PSA: The Avocado Mash cups at Costco or Sam’s are worth their cost in that they stay fresh in the fridge for a long time and offer an awesome, easy snack or side dish for babies and adults alike. Our littlest girls LOVE these and will each eat an entire cup with their meal. We bigger people like to eat them with chips. So good!

In case you need to see a chubby baby hand a couple more times:

So, can I afford $10/day to feed 10 people fruits and vegetables?

Absolutely. I can spend a dollar a day on each family member to keep us all nourished. I am shocked that it costs so little to buy so many varieties of fruits and vegetables every month. Is it possible that this food category is what actually costs the least instead of the most as we are all led to believe??

One more veggie-kid photo as we wrap up; here’s Keith after finishing his smoothie (filled with frozen fruit, fresh spinach, yogurt, and milk):

You should try doing the math to see how much you spend on fruits and veggies! Challenge yourself to be sure you’re filling everyone up on all the good stuff – it’s much less expensive than we think!

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Chocolate Pumpkin SPINACH Cake? Yes.

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Yes, I made a new cake with spinach, a Chocolate Pumpkin Spinach Cake. It’s official. I’m ridiculous. But wait until you try this!

You can think I’m crazy if you want to. You’d be right. But adding spinach to cake? Well, it’s a hilarious way to eat vegetables. Your family will be none the wiser unless they watch you make the cake. Then you have some explaining to do.

Therin lies all the ingredients for a pumpkin chocolate cake, plus a generous amount of fresh spinach. All blended up, it turns into a cake. For Popeye. And everyone else.

Hey, this is a million times better than this fun – but full of sugar and white flour – add spinach to a cake mix idea. I still plan to make that from time to time because it’s fun and truly a good way to get my kids to eat greens.

But this Chocolate Pumpkin SPINACH Cake has both pumpkin and spinach, so it’s basically a health food. Covered in frosting. ;)

Chocolate Pumpkin Spinach CakeYum

4.5 from 2 reviews
Chocolate Pumpkin SPINACH Cake? Yes.
 
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Author:
Serves: 15
Ingredients
  • 1 cup melted coconut oil
  • 1 can pumpkin puree (15 ounces)
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup water
  • 2-3 cups fresh spinach leaves
  • 4 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1 cup sucanat or brown sugar
  • dash of sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
  1. Put all ingredients into a high power blender (like a Blendtec) starting with liquids first.
  2. Blend until well mixed and smooth.
  3. Pour ingredients into a 9x13 inch cake pan.
  4. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  5. Allow cake to cool completely before frosting.

Want some low-sugar frosting options? Follow this search I did, and find all kinds of fun frosting ideas. Plus, you’ll see more cake recipes, and you know you want to add spinach to all of those!!

Have you tried this idea? Tell me how it went for you!

My family cannot tell there’s spinach in our cake. I love this!

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Big Family Food: Sneaking Veggies and Avoiding Food Fights

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Does anyone else have picky kids? No? Oh. Well, I guess this “sneaking veggies and avoiding food fights” post is just for me then. But just in case you want to read along just for fun…

Phew. Just when I thought I’d been parenting long enough to have been around all the blocks multiple times, God gave us more precious kids and said, “Here you go. Start all over again. It’ll be just like the first go-’round except that it’ll be also very different. All of these kids are dealing with trauma of some sort. Also, some of them only like sugar dipped in sugar.”

God didn’t say exactly that. He actually said, “I have called you to this. You are equipped for this, even when you feel like you aren’t. I am with you. I will never forsake you. I will give you everything you need. You can trust me. You are loved.”

What a God we serve! Never have I realized my need for Him more than now. And I’m not talking about my work in the kitchen. Clothing and feeding these babes is the “easy” part compared to the rest (though I need Him for the physical work too, no doubt). He continually teaches me what to do and how to do this life. Praise Him!

So here we are. I’m too busy to focus on food compared to how much I used to focus on it in the past. At the same time I:

The biggest way I make sure we are all getting plenty of nourishment, even when I serve compromise foods is this: We have fruits and veggies with every meal.

Awesome, right? Right. Except that some of our kids are very picky, and some of them have sensory/texture issues, so I can’t just say, “go eat your green beans.” Because someone might actually throw up. Good times.

Sneaking Veggies and Avoiding Food Fights

We’ve tried idea after idea with multiple kids, and I can’t say that we’ve settled on what works for each of them. But we are making some progress, and for that, I am very thankful. When it comes to food, we simply want our kids to be nourished and healthy, and we are doing what we can to help make that happen.

Veggies are the hardest for some of our kids to get down. So I’m having fun being creative with ways to sneak them into our meals.

Let me be clear:

When I say “sneak veggies” I’m not necessarily trying to pull a fast one on our kids. In fact, our kids are in the kitchen watching me and “helping” me so they actually watch me sneak veggies all the time.

It’s been super good for our 6-year-old and 8-year-old to be a part of our kitchen life. They are learning by helping and watching. But we’ve learned with these two (who have experienced so much trauma, have been lied to, and have had life yanked out from under them too many times) that we have to be fully honest always.

So we “sneak” veggies simply by adding them to meals in any way we can.

And our kids know that we do this. They think it’s fun!

Here are some examples:

1. When I make broth, I add as many veggies as I can, especially onions and carrots. After it’s cooked, I blend the veggies and whisk them into the broth. As a result, we have orange, flavorful broth, and in almost every batch of soup I make, it looks like “cheesy soup.” Ha. Everyone loves my soup, and no one thinks about the hidden veggies that add so much flavor and nourishment.

2. I tear pieces of spinach into our quesadillas or sandwiches.

This works great, and not one kid complains! In fact, the first time our 6-year-old saw me tearing spinach into our quesadillas, she was like, “Oh, is that how we’re going to eat our veggies tonight?” :)

You betcha, girlfriend!

Later, when she was eating her quesadillas, with a big grin she said, “Mom, I can’t even tell there’s spinach in here! I can’t even taste it!”

One day I made the most delicious sandwiches with whatever buns I had on hand, shredded chicken, ranch dressing, torn up greens, and sliced cheese melted on top. They were SO DELICIOUS. And we couldn’t taste the greens at all.

3. We fill our smoothies with greens.

The kids put the greens into the blender themselves, laugh about the weird color of the smoothies, then guzzle them down. They love that they are getting both fruits and veggies in this treat, and think that they are winning over the veggies. Because they are. Take that, spinach. 

4. We make pumpkin muffins and pie.

Is this stretching it just a little bit? Yes. But listen: there’s pumpkin in pumpkin pie, is there not? There is. So it’s a vegetable pie. Amen.

(Also, is pumpkin technically a fruit? What even is a gourd?)

Also muffins. Pumpkin muffins, sweet potato muffins, acorn squash muffins. It all turns out the same product that has nourishment within. See also: Pumpkin Chocolate Cake

These Flourless Pumpkin Muffins are especially nourishing. :)

5. I add veggies to spaghetti sauce.

Ha, check this out and learn a little bit more deeply how weird I actually am.

Three of our foster babes qualify for the WIC program, so we get quite a few containers of baby food every month. This is super nice, and because I have so many I’ve started using some of the pureed veggies in creative ways. Last week I stirred pureed pumpkin into our spaghetti sauce and no one questioned it as they asked for seconds and thirds.

6. I added the same veggies to a pot of Chili.

We add shredded cheese, sour cream, and fritos to our bowls of chili. So when I added pureed butternut squash, sweet potatoes, and carrots to a big pot of chili, no one noticed!

If you don’t have pureed baby food (I won’t buy it once our WIC benefits run out), I suggest adding canned pureed pumpkin or blended cooked carrots – anything you have on hand!

7. We learned that we can add greens to cake mix. For real.

I’ve got the specifics and “recipe” coming up soon. Because this might be the most fun way to eat salad, ever!

What ways have you found to add more veggies to your family table?

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Stay tuned for more Big Family Food posts, where I share all about how I make food for our big family! And read here to catch up on other posts in this series you may have missed. :)

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How to Eat Healthier While Traveling

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paleo while traveling

Remember when I shared how I survive road trips while eating paleo? We can eat healthier while traveling by planning ahead, eating before we leave the house, and pack our own homemade delicious snacks… but sometimes we are just hungry and we’re miles away from resources and a kitchen and there are business all about with their flashy signs and great deals and what’s a girl to do but order a medium potato óle? Again, I urge you to set your boundaries and know why you chose to eat the way you do. If you’re doing the Whole Thirty challenge. You can not afford to go off-plan. One sip of a milkshake will set back two weeks of the dairy and sugar cleanse you are on. It can take 30 days for your body to fully rid itself of the dairy and up to 90 days for gluten. But if you’re just trying to lose 5 pounds, you may give yourself a treat here and there. I get it.

If finances are tight, eating out ever can wreck your food budget.

I’m not here to talk you into anything. But I’d like to encourage you in your healthy food journey! Let’s hear it for REAL FOOD! Where can you get real food while traveling? There are some ways to eat healthier from fast food. Some offer salads that aren’t half bad. But if you’re counting calories, you’ll be surprised what you find in the dressings or add-ons. I don’t count calories, but I do avoid most commercial dressings.

The #1 way I eat healthier while traveling is to “eat out” at the grocery store.

Go to the grocery store! Just pretend the grocery store is a huge buffet. Grab a cart, bring all the kids inside and walk around the outer edge of the store and buy lots of things that you can eat immediately. Get some fruit. A few vegetables. Some protein. I promise this will save you money and keep you feeling great. My husband will argue that he doesn’t get full this way, but I argue it’s because he just didn’t eat enough—and next time he will need to get a rotisserie chicken or some other hot meat.

What do we actually buy to make a meal for the family?

Anything we want! And we don’t just do this for traveling, we swing by the grocery store to grab food for picnics, parks days, play-dates, etc. Here are a few meal suggestions that I’ve bought in the past:

Romain lettuce, lunch meat, guacamole, bell peppers, dill pickles, grapes, oranges, carrots. My total was $23 and we had enough for two full meals. We used the lettuce to make wraps with the guac, meat, peppers, and pickles and ate the fruit and carrots on the side. (Hint: I usually have a knife handy to slice bell peppers, cucumbers, etc.)

Last time we splurged and spent a whopping $45 dollars. We bought oranges, apples, bananas, guacamole, Nuthins, Ritz crackers, salt & vinegar potato chips, 12 pack of Lärabars, lunch meat, almonds, and a jug of water. Oh, and The Wonky Donky.

My kids are currently 9, 6, 5, and 2 years old. The six of us generally eat paleo, but nobody but me reacts to gluten, dairy, or sugar, so they’re allowed to eat whatever they want. I prep them before we go inside the store: “Don’t ask for a bunch of things you know we’re not going to buy. I will let you know when it’s time for you to pick something out. You will stay with me and not run off down the aisles. Let’s go get some yummy lunch!”

Here’s a $12 dinner: Small jar of peanut butter, jelly, loaf of bread, bag of oranges, and a 6-pack of ice cream sandwiches. Even though it’s still processed food, it goes better for my family than buying a meal’s worth from a fast-food joint. And you will probably have leftovers of everything but the ice-cream sandwiches!

A few grocery store recipes to eat healthier while traveling:

1) Single serve apple sauce, yogurt cups, deli meat and cheese, Hawaiian rolls, carrots, grapes.

2) Hot chicken from the deli, clearance French bread, sliced cheese, rocket apples, dill pickles.

3) Premade salad mixes, a $1 bowl, can of chicken, small bottle of dressing, ask for forks at the deli counter.

4) Fruit/veggie pouch for the toddler, variety of Naked or Bolthouse Farms juices to sample, bag of chips and jar of favorite dip, box of Lärabars, container of mixed nuts.

5) A protein, a vegetable, a fruit, some add-ons to make the meal fun.

6) Yes, sometimes I still find myself munching down on a handful of potato óles and I have no shame in this.

healthier food while traveling

Don’t make food while traveling harder than it has to be. Just . . . pick out some yummy healthier foods and eat.

My favorite is to let each kid pick out something. One kid will get to pick out his favorite vegetables, while another is in charge of the fruit, one helps decide which type of meat or nuts. You get the idea. They’re much happier this way and so am I.

Is this something you have ever done? Can you bypass the fast-food and grab lunch at the grocery store and eat at the park? Or the trunk of the suburban? Or your friend’s backyard?

Tasha Hackett Tasha Hackett is a friend of Laura and author of Bluebird on the Prairie. When Eloise and Zeke meet under an extremely embarrassing circumstance, Eloise is fine with pretending the whole thing never happened. But they continue to be thrown together when Zeke lands a job working for her brother and it appears God has other plans for this couple. Find a copy of this touching romance wherever books are sold.

To connect more with Tasha and her historical fiction writing, you can find 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!

What to do with All the Zucchini

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Trying to figure out what to do with all the zucchini?

what to do with all the zucchini

Yum

It’s zucchini season! I didn’t grow any this year. Sad. But other people did and around this time each year people are giving them away because when a zucchini plant does well, it does well. And when it doesn’t, we all curse the vine-borer grubs in unison and praise God for grocery stores and our friends who somehow fought off the nefarious and disgusting grubs. Ah-hem. Back to the yummy part.

What to do with all the zucchini?

Zucchini might be one of our favorite versatile vegetables. Here’s what I do with it:

  1. Chop it up and pan fry with salt and pepper and other stuff to make a quick skillet dinner: a.) garlic, onions, mushrooms, shrimp. b) garlic, onions, beef, cabbage. c.) garlic, onions, tomatoes, parmesan cheese. You get the idea: cook it and eat it for dinner with some meat and garlic and onions.
  2. Shred (or use the food processor to chop) and bake it into muffins, brownies, pancakes, waffles, breads, etc. Some people freeze the shredded zucchini to use for later. I have done this and I NEVER have good luck with it later. It gets all weepy and soggy and then I get weepy and never use it. Best of luck to you if you decide to freeze it. I’d rather bake the bread and freeze that instead.
  3. Cut in half, scrape out the middle and make pizza boats. (Broil, then melt on your pizza toppings. Dip in pizza sauce.)
  4. Slice in half, or chop, and roast, broil, or grill with oil, salt, and pepper and just eat it!
  5. Use a zoodle thingy and make noodles. Easy Alfredo and shrimp used to be my favorite with this.
  6. Have I ever been tired of zucchini? No, I have not.
  7. This is my announcement: I will take your extra zucchini.

Don’t let all the zucchini go to waste, let’s start baking!

Of course, Laura already put together many of her favorite zucchini recipes, but that was ages ago and you may have forgotten about it. Click through some of those recipes or search “zucchini” on this site for more great ideas.

Are you a zucchini lover like me? I used to only be a zucchini bread (which is usually cake, let’s not kid ourselves) kind of girl. But then I grew up and realized that as a vegetable it can take on the flavor of butter and garlic and I do so love butter and garlic. Here are some great recipes for you to try as the zucchini crop comes in.

Simple Oven-Baked Pizza Nachos

Finely chopped and baked over the nachos is a great way to sneak more veggies into this meal.

Last Minute Stir-Fry

Frozen chopped zucchini will be a little soggier than fresh, but it holds up better than shredded, OR just add a few fresh ones to your frozen veggie bags.

Zucchini Waffles

This is a pumpkin recipe. I know. You can sub one squash for the other. It will be fine. Really. Many popular baked zucchini recipes have so much sugar in them they may as well be cake… try a less-sugar option and top with just a few drops of maple syrup, honey, or nut butter.

Have zucchini for breakfast!

Why have we decided that most vegetables are for lunch and dinner? Here’s a quick breakfast that I’ve made many times already this summer: In a hot skillet I melt butter, fry up a chopped summer squash (yellow or green), add in a can of chicken (because it’s breakfast and people are hungry for the food), salt and pepper and (here’s the secret ingredient), a tablespoon or so of lemon juice. You must not forget the lemon juice. Once the chicken is warmed and the lemon juice has sizzled for a few seconds, we eat and dance and go about our day warm and well-fed.

In hindsight, I will need to make that one into an actual recipe post for you. You will need to be reminded of it again because it is so delicious.

Do tell, what is your favorite way to eat this amazing and versatile vegetable?

book cover of bluebird on the prairie Tasha Hackett is a friend of Laura and author of Bluebird on the Prairie, a historical romance set in an 1879 Nebraska town. Zeke has his sights set for California, but Eloise prefers the quiet safety of her home. Is it possible they’re both searching for the same things? Find this heart-warming romance wherever books are sold.

To find out more about Tasha and her world of historical fiction, 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!

My Favorite Way to Eat an Apple

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I’m afraid I’ve never shared my favorite way to eat an apple. You’ve been missing out! Come, let me tell you my ways…

You know me. I’m all about simple food, simple cooking, and simple meals. So this idea is as simple as the rest, but it does, in fact, involve a somewhat gourmet food item. Fancy much, Laura? Well, only when I eat apples.

This specialty item is this amazing little square of delight called Gjetost, and it is a game-changer when eating apples.

I’m linking it to Amazon so you can see it and read about it. But please don’t buy it from Amazon. It’s not nearly that expensive in stores!!!

What is Gjetost?

Gjetost (please don’t ask me how to say it) is a Norwegian cheese, and it tastes amazingly like caramel. How does it taste like caramel when it is in fact made from whey, cream, and milk? I do not know. I am not in charge of making Gjetost, nor have I ever been to Norway. But oh my goodness, this cheese! It is amazing!

But only with Apples

At least that is my personal preference. I’m not a fan of Gjetost by itself and a stand-alone cheese snack. It has a strong flavor, and when paired with apples, it is incredible! Most people in my house agree – Gjetost is amazing with sliced apples, but not really by itself. But then again, my very picky five-year-old likes chunks of this cheese without apples – who can predict the ways of a picky child?

How to Eat Apples and Gjetost

Our favorite way to enjoy apples and Gjetost is to slice apples into thin slices. Then we cut very thin slices of Gjetost. We make little apple and Gjetost sandwiches and we smile and eat and smile some more. I slice and slice and we can barely keep up because of all the slicing and the smiling and eating. Pink Ladies are our favorite variety of apple to eat with this cheese.

Where to Get Gjetost

I am unable to find this wonderful cheese in a regular grocery store. But then again, I live in a small town. When I’m in Lincoln, I can find it at Whole Foods or Hyvee. My guess for all of you who live wherever you live is that if you have a large-chain grocery store in your area that has a specialty cheese section, you are likely to find it there. Look for the little red wrapped cube of delicious cheese and give it a try!

Have you tried Gjetost before?

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