Feeding the Family Archives | Heavenly Homemakers

How to Use a Cast Iron Skillet like a Pro

January 27, 2021 by Tasha Hackett Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

I’ve loved and recommended using a cast iron skillet for years. Today, Tasha will tell you how to use one like a pro!

How to use a cast iron skillet like a pro

by Tasha Hackett

I didn’t know how to properly cook with a cast iron skillet until very recently.

Even though I have prepared food almost exclusively on my cast iron skillet, I continually burned food or the food stuck so badly I spent far too long scraping it off the bottom and reseasoning again.

I burned the pancakes on my cast iron again and I was sad. As I served my family I said, “I know it’s burned. Sorry. It is what it is. This is the last of the flour, I’m not making anything else. Sorry. Just eat it. I know it’s burned. Sorry. Don’t ask me why it keeps burning.”

I burned the zucchini patties and I was sad. “I don’t know why they’re burning! The bottom is burned before I can even flip them without it falling apart! I turned it down and they’re still burning.”

The scrambled eggs stuck to the bottom of the pan so badly I felt like I sacrificed two whole eggs to the cast iron gods.

Please tell me I’m not the only one who struggles with the cast iron skillet?

Figuring out how to use a cast iron skillet shouldn’t have taken me this long.

With all my struggles, you may be asking, “Why do you even use it if it causes so much trouble?” A few reasons.

Now that I know how to use a cast iron skillet, I love it even more.

Foremost, I like the simplicity of it. I use this one pan multiple times a day. I clean it after each meal and it lives on my stovetop. The nostalgia that this is the same type of pan the pioneers used hundreds of years ago speaks to my author soul. I don’t wear 1800’s dresses, or travel by horse or train or write letters with an inkwell, but by golly I can cook with the same pan! (In theory, except I was disproportionately burning everything.) Another main reason I like to use it is that I don’t trust modern technology when it comes to our health. Teflon is bad for you–correction, teflon is bad for you when heated. HA!

I know there are other non-stick pans out there today that claim to be non-toxic, but I haven’t had the time to look into them yet. (I’ve been far too busy wondering why I keep burning the Simple Tuna Patties.)

Here are my how-to tips for using your cast iron skillet:

Start with a well-seasoned cast iron skillet. Which I have. Many times. Keeping it well-seasoned was my problem. Seasoning a skillet is simple: Clean. Dry. Rub a teaspoon of vegetable oil or lard all over. Top, bottom, outside, underneath, and the handle. Bake upside down in a 350* oven for an hour. Let it cool in the oven before putting it away.
Be patient. Let the pan preheat at a low temperature for up to five minutes before cooking on it. A drop of water should immediately sizzle and then you may add the oil. If the butter, oil, lard, etc., is smoking, that means your skillet is too hot. Heating a cast iron skillet/pot/pan on high heat right away, especially on an electric stove, causes the iron to expand and heat unevenly and can cause warping. This is one of the only things that will ruin your skillet.
Preheat the oil. Do this after the pan is preheated. Again, if the oil smokes or burns, this is a bad sign. If the butter is burning, the pancakes will soon be burning. (You’d think I could have figured that out sooner.) On my gas stove, I do most of my cooking just above Low or directly between Low and Medium. On my stove, the butter burns at Medium. Once the pan is heated, if you turn the temperature down it will not immediately make a difference. One of the pan’s strengths is the ability to hold heat. Therefore, adjusting the temperature up and down while you’re cooking isn’t going to work well for your food or your taste buds. Or your family’s trust in your cooking abilities. Have patience while preheating, and you will quickly learn where to set the temperature and can leave it there.
Do the sizzle dance.
The food should sizzle as soon as it touches the pan. Food that doesn’t sizzle means your pan wasn’t preheated enough and now your food is going to stick and then probably burn. (Preheat the skillet even if you are baking cornbread in the oven. The sizzle as you pour in the cornbread batter will create a delicious crust and keep the wet cornbread from sticking to the pan.)
A properly seasoned cast iron skillet is easily cleaned with a wipe-down of a paper towel or hot water and plastic scraper. Boiling water in the pan, using soap, or not properly drying will cause your pan to rust and this is bad. If the pan rusts, you get to scrub it off with a steel brush and do the reseasoning thing again.
Whenever dry spots appear on the pan, it’s time to reseason. If you use enough oil while cooking on the pan, you shouldn’t have to do the reseasoning thing more than a few times a year. If that. But… if you were anything like me and frequently burned the food and then had to scour it off with hot water, reseason it as often as necessary until you’ve perfected the patience that is required for preheating your pan.

And that’s how to use your cast iron!

This pan was not preheated. There was no sizzle when the onions were added. The butter wasn’t melted and then it will later burn.

I’m curious, how many of you have skillets passed down from your grandma? Years of history and thousands of meals prepared in a pan that is still in great use today? Amazing!

I love to invest in things that will last. Cast iron is just one of those things. Now that I know how to really use mine, I foresee some delicious pancakes in my family’s future.

Tasha Hackett, friend of Laura, is fueled by sunshine or chocolate, whichever is more readily available. Recently embarking on a paleo journey to combat some chronic inflammation, she is still finding ways to eat chocolate. Though she proudly sings every word of the Wee Sing Silly Songs albums and often pretends to be a ballerina while unloading the dishwasher, her favorite thing is writing with hope and humor to entertain and encourage women—specifically young moms. Most of her time is spent with four chatty children and an incredibly supportive husband. They give her the kind of love people write books about. Her debut novel, Bluebird on the Prairie, a heartwarming Historical Romance will release spring, 2021. You can connect with her at www.tashahackett.com or on Instagram @HackettAcademy.

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Tips and Tools to Make Menu Planning EASY

January 26, 2021 by Laura 1 Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

It really is possible to make menu planning easy, even if it’s a task you’ve never enjoyed. Here are my best tips and recommended resources to help. :)

Tips and Tools to Make Menu Planning EASY

Let’s just dive right in, shall we? Here are some of the tips I’ve found that are really helpful for simple menu planning. After I share these, then I will present you with some really great tools. :)

When it comes to figuring out food for your family…

1. Decide to have a good attitude about menu planning.

If you’ve always hated figuring out what to feed your family every day, keeping a good attitude about it can be tough. Even if you don’t mind or even actually enjoy menu planning, the daily grind of it can sometimes get old and tiresome. But the truth is that we all need to eat every day; therefore we do need some sort of plan so that we don’t become stressed out over food.

It’s possible you hate menu planning because you don’t plan your menus. (Eh?) What I mean is, if you don’t decide on a simple meal plan before it is mealtime, you’ll find yourself trying to figure out food for your family at the point in which they are all hungry, you are too hungry to think of good ideas, and you’re trying to make plans AND make food in the middle of ALL THE HUNGER.

This is no fun. It does not work. And it gives our brains the message that meal planning is hard and awful.

Take a deep breath. Pray. Choose joy over stress and angst. Menu planning can become easier. Learn what works for you (lots of ideas below), and decide to believe the truth that YOU CAN DO THIS.

2. Recognize that there are many ways to plan – so figure out what works for you!

Some people make a menu plan for an entire month. Some for each weeknight. Some for every single meal and snack of the day. Some subscribe to a menu planning subscription. Some make a plan each morning to carry out through the day. Some write down all the specifics on meal planners. Some make plans on a marker board. Some don’t write anything down at all.

These are only some of the methods and options – which proves that there are many ways to plan and that no one way fits the needs and preferences of every person or family.

If I was a once-a-month menu planner (which I am not, but if I was), and I told you “you should do it just like I do it!!” and then you tried it and it didn’t work for you, you might decide that menu planning isn’t for you. But the truth is that while once-a-month menu planning (and all the other methods) works for some, it doesn’t work for everyone. Menu planning is definitely not a one-size-fits-all thing. Toy with ideas, use resources that are available – and there are many! – and find a method that works for you.

3. Keep it simple.

Unless you really love gourmet cooking and creating elaborate meal plans, there is no reason to make menu planning and cooking for a family more difficult than it needs to be.

Discover simple recipes that you know your family will enjoy and that will not take long to prepare. Keep them in your back pocket (literally, if it helps; see below for details!). Jot down meal choices in a notebook, in your daily planner or calendar, or on pretty printable menu planning pages to keep on your fridge.

Think about and decide on your main dish, then consider simple fruit and veggie side dishes to round out your meal with nourishment.

We’ve all gotta eat. But we do not all gotta spend hours every day to make this happen!

Now I’m going to show you some wonderful tools that can make menu planning much easier.

Tools to Make Menu Planning Easier

We’re going to look at some tools that:

Show you how to budget when grocery shopping
Provide kid-friendly menu and snack planning ideas
Give you hundreds of recipes that are both easy and healthy
Walk you through how to get started with menu planning
Offer printables and planners to make the job easier
Teach you about basic nutrition, weight loss options, and special dietary needs
Help you get organized, actually, easily :)

I have somewhere around 60 resources to tell you about, but first, take a look at one of my new favorite menu planning tools!

The Easiest Recipes, in a Flipbook!

A few weeks ago, I took the recipes from my High Five Recipes eCookbook (recipes that all call for only 5 or fewer real-food ingredients!) and I turned them into a super handy Recipe FlipBook. Man, I am loving this – and this is what I was referring to when I said, “Keep simple recipes in your back pocket!”

I formatted each recipe to fit onto a color-coded 4×6 card – then I sent them all to Walgreens to be printed. Just a few dollars later, I had all 86 recipes printed onto cards. I punched a hole through them, put a ring in the corner to hold them together, and tada! A High Five Recipes Flipbook!

This little tool is really handy (and fun!) because I can just grab it and start flipping through it for easy meal or snack ideas. Each section is color-coded to make it easier to go directly to the section I need: Breakfast Ideas, Main Dish Ideas, or Snacks and Treats Ideas.

The cards make it easy to see at a quick glance which few ingredients I’d need if I chose that recipe. Annnnnd since all of the recipes call for just 5 or fewer basic ingredients, I likely have most of the ingredients on hand and I know that the recipes will all go together quickly too!

I just added this new resource to my shop, so be sure to check it out!

And look what else!

We just added our brand new 52-Week Simple Meals Planning Packets Collection 2!

Sometimes you just need someone to make the plan and tell you what to get at the grocery store, you know? We’ve been offering our Simple Meals Subscriptions here for several years to help with this – and they are awesome and well-loved! This collection includes 52-weeks worth of these Simple Meals planning packets – categorized in Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall sections to make your job even easier. They tell you what to make, what to buy at the store, and how to make the food in the easiest ways possible.

If you prefer the entire collection of 52-weeks worth of menu plans, you can grab those here!

How to get these fun resources for FREE!

For two days only (January 26-27) they’ve brought back the Healthy Meal Planning Bundle I love so much. Many of you took advantage of this offer in August. But if you missed it, you can get it again if you hurry!

It includes 60 amazing resources to help you easily plan meals for your family. And then after you purchase, email me your receipt and I’ll send you the High Five Recipes Flipbook file (worth $15) and 52-Week Simple Meals Planning Packets Collection 2 (worth $52) for FREE!!

Get your Healthy Meal Planning Bundle here before midnight, January 27.
Email me your receipt and I’ll send you the High Five Recipes Flipbook and 52-Week Simple Meals Planning Packets Collection 2! (These are both digital so you’ll get them right away!)

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What Should I Bake?

November 1, 2020 by Laura Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

As much as I love summer the best of all the seasons, I sure love fall so I can get to baking again! In case you’re in the baking mood too, I thought it would be fun to give you some ideas if you’re asking yourself: What should I bake?

What should I bake?

I organized 111 of our favorite baking recipes into Yeast Bread Recipes, Muffin Recipes, Quick Bread Recipes, Cookie Recipes, Bar Recipes, and Cake Recipes. You’ll love how simple, yet how delicious these recipes are!

Get ready to bake up a storm and share with your neighbors. Wondering “what should I bake?” Wonder no more!

And by the way, if you don’t have a Bosch Mixer, I do highly recommend one. That has made my baking endeavors so much easier!!! (Read about why I invested here.)

Yeast Bread RecipesYum

Muffin Recipes

Quick Bread Recipes

Cookie Recipes

Bar Recipes

Cake Recipes

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More Healthy Food Convenience Foods

October 18, 2020 by Laura 4 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

A few years ago, I shared 10 of my favorite pre-packaged foods that are still a healthy option! I’ve since discovered even more! Here are several more healthy food convenience food options…

Healthy Food Convenience Foods

I’ll begin by reminding you of the 10 I shared in the former post. Then I’ll add the new ones I’ve discovered!

1. Mini Sweet Peppers

Oh my goodness, have you tried these? They are deliciously sweet, perfectly crunchy, and wonderful all by themselves or in a salad. We take these on the road trips, munch on them for snacks, add them to our lunch plates, and argue about which color tastes the sweetest. I can’t get enough of these.

packaged convenience 1

2. Fresh Berries

Without a doubt, you can not compete with fresh berries picked and eaten right out of the garden. But during the times those are not available, we look for the best deals on strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries at the store. Wash ’em and eat ’em. It doesn’t get any easier than pulling out berries for a snack or a side dish with a meal.

packaged convenience 2

3. Grape or Cherry Tomatoes

Again, these are best fresh out of the garden. But since ours won’t be ready for another month or two, buying these pre-packaged works great for us.

packaged convenience 3
4. Baby Carrots

There is some controversy over buying packaged baby carrots because of the information many have heard about baby carrots being soaked in chlorine before being packaged. Read this info and do with it what you wish. As for me, sometimes buying a package of baby carrots is a huge help in my effort to provide my family with extra veggies during a meal.

packaged convenience 4

5. Mixed Greens

Think making salad is too time consuming? Oh for Pete’s sake. Just buy a container of mixed greens and throw it on the table. It’s pre-washed and ready to eat. We go through a couple packs of these each week.

packaged convenience 7

6. Pickles

Open a jar, put it on the table, your work here is done.

packaged convenience 6

7. Cheese Sticks

These can be a little pricey compared to buying a hunk of cheese and slicing it yourself. But when we’re talking about pre-packaged convenience foods, this one is a winner. Cheese is great for an on-the-go protein snack. Yay cheese.

packaged convenience 5

8. Larabars

Yes, you can made these homemade. I’ve done it myself many times. But sometimes my family needs something to stuff in a pocket to eat in between soccer games. I watch for great sales and coupons through Amazon and buy these by the case. They contain fruit and nuts only – a great healthy snack.

packaged convenience 8

9. Fruit Leather

Again, I make this homemade sometimes too. But for a fun treat, I like getting pre-packaged fruit leather when I find it on sale.

packaged convenience 9

10. Raisins

Buy them by the bag or in individual serving sized boxes. This pre-packaged convenience food is awesome for snacking. And really, aren’t those tiny little boxes just the cutest?

packaged convenience 10

What else? Oh, I could list tons. Peanuts, cashews, almonds, bananas, apples, grapes, oranges – think of all the pre-packaged real foods there are to pick from! Never again can we ever claim that healthy eating is difficult. And never again should anyone carry my favorite pen out of my office, put it down, and forget about it.

Here are my favorite newly discovered convenient health foods!

11. Carrot Chips

They are more expensive than whole carrots. But oh my loveliness, they are cut for me. While I juggle and bounce baby/toddlers, opening a bag of these carrots and tossing them into my Stir Fry or Steamed Veggie mixture is such a time saver. Spending a little extra for this convenience is worth it for me right now.

12. Mr. Dells Hashbrowns

I’ve talked about these here and there any time I’ve shared a new recipe that includes hashbrowns. They include one ingredient: Potatoes. SIGN ME UP.

Scroll through these recipes to find all the ways I like to use these when cooking quick meals for my family!

13. Sliced olives

Instead of whole olives. I know. But it saves time when I’m making pizza and that makes me happy.

14. Sliced Mushrooms

Same story as above. Open the package, throw them on our pizza or into our stir fry.

I promise I’m not turning into a lazy cook. Or am I? I prefer to think that I’m still eating real food while spending less time in the kitchen and taking advantage of conveniences such as these as my life becomes more full! Perhaps you’d like to get in on this fun? Save time. Still eat well. Buy the sliced mushrooms. :)

What are your favorite healthy convenience foods?

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The Surprising Reason I Spent Money on a Bosch Mixer

September 16, 2020 by Laura Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

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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After School Snacks to Have on Hand

August 26, 2020 by Laura Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Even though we homeschool, I still need to have after school snacks on hand. After all, we’re hungry after we’ve finished our school day too!

Here are the snacks we like to have on hand to make our afternoons run more smoothly – especially if we’re heading out to soccer games in the evening!

After School Snacks to Have on HandYum

First, here are some little-to-no prep snack ideas:

Summer Sausage
Lunch Meat
Leftover Ham
Variety of cheese
Carrot Sticks with Ranch or Hummus
Cucumbers
Celery and Peanut Butter
Sweet Peppers
Olives
Pickles
Apples
Grapes
Bananas
Oranges
Strawberries
Blueberries
Cantaloupe
Raspberries
Pineapple
Peanuts
Almonds
Cashews
Crackers
Bread and Butter
Peanut Butter Honey Toast
Chips
Guacamole
Salsa
Smoothies
Popcorn

And if you have time to make or bake a fun recipe, here are some of our favorites!

4-Ingredient Chocolate Crunch Bars
No Bake Cookie Cups (5 minute prep!)
Cream Cheese Salsa Dip (2 ingredients!)
Pineapple Coconut Quick Bread (blends together fast!)
Parmesan Crisps (so easy you won’t believe it!)
Sweet and Salty Almonds or Pecans
Chocolate Cheesecake Fudge
Creamy Italian Veggie Dip
No Bake Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Honey Sweetened Flourless Peanut Butter Bars (3 ingredients!)
Easy Cheesy Popcorn
3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Honey Rice Krispie Treats
Homemade Chewy Granola Bars

It’s fun to have something homemade to treat the family with after a full day of learning!

Bonus: Here are 40 fun snack recipes that include peanut butter.

Want more? Here’s our 227 Healthy Snack Ideas eBook!

I also like to keep snacks like this on hand to grab and go to soccer games:

What are your favorite snacks to enjoy as After School treats?

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Food Ideas For Feeding a Large Group

August 5, 2020 by Laura 3 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Need some food ideas for feeding a large group? Here’s what I’ve been working on recently!

I’ve been prepping to feed our York College soccer teams several times during our pre-season this fall, so I thought I’d share what I’ve been up to! (My husband is one of the women’s coaches so we are blessed to be heavily involved with the teams. Plus our third son, Elias, will be the fourth Coppinger to be on the YC men’s team!)

If you think I’m crazy for taking this on while chasing our busy 6-year-old and two 1-year-old toddlers, I’d probably agree with you. BUT, all I can say is that I had a strong desire to do this. God said yes. I love food, I love feeding people, and I especially love feeding our YC soccer teams as they transition back into a school year and a new season.

We are praising God that we can have a soccer season and an on-campus school year at this point. We are taking all the precautions to stay safe and the fact that we can have such a beautiful opportunity to enjoy community in this way is such a joy to us. We are SO THANKFUL.

How I can feed a large group while chasing babies

Even if I wasn’t chasing babies, I still have to do the following to make this work:

I have to be very organized.
I have to keep my menus very simple.
I have to ask for help.
I have to get as much food prepped ahead of time as possible.

So I’ve detailed my meal ideas. I’ve made thorough grocery lists (Wal-mart grocery pickup for the WIN!). I have lists of tasks others can take off my plate when they come into the kitchen and say, “What can I do to help?” And I started baking five weeks ago!

The plan right now is that I will feed:

The guy’s team one evening in our yard.
The girl’s team the next evening in our yard.
Both teams during an entire weekend retreat (6 meals)

I’ve been feeding big crowds (and chasing littles) for many years now, so I’ve definitely learned a lot about what works well and what doesn’t. I used to go all out and make everything from scratch. Phew, not anymore! I still do what I can, but wow have I simplified compared to making homemade ice cream sandwiches for everyone like I used to!

Food Ideas When Feeding a Large Group

Here’s a simple list of what I’m planning to feed everyone (about 80 people) during the weekend retreat. I’ll share more details below.

Friday Evening: Crock Pot Beef and Chicken Fajitas with Fixins, Watermelon, Butterscotch Bars

Saturday Morning: Egg Casseroles, Quick Breads, Fruit

Saturday Lunch: Dips with Chips, Dips with Veggies, Dips with Fruit, Brownies

Saturday Dinner: Lasagna, Salad, French Bread, Green Beans, Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Sunday Morning: Cereal, Fruit, Yogurt, Leftover Quick Bread

Sunday Lunch: Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Chips, Baked Beans, Leftover Veggies and Fruits and Dips

During the weeks leading up to the retreat, I have cooked or baked a little bit each day to put food in the freezer to get ahead and prepared for the retreat.

Here’s my countertop one morning after I started cooking Fajita Meat in two crockpots,
Stick of Butter Rice in my Instant Pot,
and pulled three loaves of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread from my oven.

What Can Be Made Ahead of Time and Frozen

Chicken Fajita Meat (15 pounds)
Beef Fajita Meat (made just like the Chicken Fajita recipe – 6 pounds)
Rice for Fajitas (x8)
Easy Breakfast Casseroles (9 dozen eggs worth)
Lasagna (x10)
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread (3 loaves)
Zucchini Bread (3 loaves)
Banana Bread (3 loaves)
Orange Poppyseed Bread (5 loaves)
Chocolate Chip Bread (3 loaves)
Chocolate Chocolate Chip Bread (3 loaves)
Pulled Pork (20 pounds)
Brownies (x8)
Butterscotch Bars (x4)
Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars (x4)

What Can Be Made Ahead of Time and Refrigerated

In Case You’re Curious:

Fajita Fixin’s: tortillas, prepared meat, rice, black beans, shredded cheese, salsa, sliced olives, diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, sour cream

What I Can Ask Others to Help With

It’s helpful for me to have a list made for ways others can help simply because while I’m in the middle of cooking before a big meal starts, my brain can’t always think of what to say when someone offers, “What can I do to help?”

During the retreat, soccer team members will be coming into the kitchen to help me (or grabbing babies to take them outside to play while I cook!). So here’s what I plan to turn over to the students:

Prep Fruit – Apples, Bananas, Peaches, Strawberries, Grapes
Prep Veggies – Carrots, Broccoli, Cucumbers
Slice Quick Breads
Shred Cheese
Wash Dishes! ;)

Meals in our Yard

The week after the retreat we’ll feed each team once at our house. I haven’t done any prep work for these yet, but I plan to make the same meal both nights for both teams to save effort and my brain energy. :)

Simple Pizza Chicken Bake (this is so easy to put together!)
Tossed Salad
Corn
Grapes
Italian Bread
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

What are your go-to meals when feeding large crowds?

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Last Day for Real Moms Cooking Community Freebies!

July 7, 2020 by Laura Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

If you haven’t already, please come join our Real Moms Cooking Community!

Real Moms Cooking Community Goals:

Add new quick and simple recipes to your regular rotation that your family will love
Find ways to save time in the kitchen
Discover great tips for saving money on groceries
Learn simple ways to eat out less
Add more fruits and veggies into your meals
Gain tips for making menu planning easier
Support one another!

There is absolutely no cost to join this community. In fact, we’re practically paying you to be a part of this! If you sign up to join the Real Moms Cooking Community by today (July 8), we’ll give you:

A special 2 week series of emails highlighting topics like grocery budgets, family-friendly recipes, saving time in the kitchen, simple menu planning, and how to make vegetables actually taste good. :)
Exclusive access to our brand new Real Moms Cooking Community Facebook Group – so we can all share ideas, tips, and recipes!
1-month FREE subscription to Simple Meals
This incredible packet of resources, for FREE —->

Ready to join us?

We’ll hang out via email and Facebook. Sign up here and we’ll start sending you freebies and connect you with the Real Moms Cooking Community.

Click here to sign up!

BONUS! If you share this post on your favorite social media sites so that your friends can join too – you can enter you our giveaway for a copy of our beautiful Simple Real Food Recipes Cookbook! Everyone needs this cookbook!!!!

Be sure to let them know that if they sign up by July 8, they’ll also receive the $49 worth of freebies we’re handing out!

Join the Real Moms Cooking Community here

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

Join our Real Moms Cooking Community!

July 1, 2020 by Laura 4 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

This is for all the moms (and aunts, friends, sisters, and grandmas) behind and in front and in the middle of all the daily ~~grind~~ beauty of every day. Introducing the Real Moms Cooking Community!

Cooking for the family…
While trying to keep up with the family?

What actually is most important?

When it comes to food, so many of us are seeking to:

Feed our families well
Save money on groceries
Stop eating out so much
Figure out menu planning
Spend less time in the kitchen

AND, we want to keep God first. This is vital.

Ummm, balance??

It almost seems impossible to do them all at the same time, right? There’s so much to learn and you and I can’t possibly know or do everything.

Is it possible that this is the missing link? —>

We need each other.

If the 2020 quarantine has taught me anything, it’s that community is so very necessary. So we created an opportunity to find the support, resources, and togetherness that we all need as we ask questions about what is most important as we strive to feed our families.

We want to do it well, and we want to figure out how to balance it all. I don’t have all the answers. Neither do you. But I do know what has worked for me through my 23 years of raising a family so far. And you know what has worked for you during your time raising a family. So I decided:

Why not form a Real Moms Cooking Community where we can work together and share all the recipes, tips, and ideas we’ve learned!

Our Real Moms Cooking Community Package includes:

A special 2 week series of emails highlighting topics like grocery budgets, family-friendly recipes, saving time in the kitchen, how to eat out less, and how to make vegetables actually taste good. :)
Exclusive access to our brand new Real Moms Cooking Community Facebook Group – so we can all share ideas, tips, and recipes!
This incredible packet of fun and practical resources —>

Yep, throughout this series, among all the wonderful tips, links, and information we’ll also send you these fantastic bonus resources:

30-Minute Meals eCookbook – Filled with our favorite real food, family fun recipes that can be on your table within just 30 minutes or less!
Simple Kitchen eBook – Loaded with fantastically simple ideas, recipes, and tips to help make your real food kitchen life so easy! Make your own ranch dressing mix, make bacon bits, make and freeze muffin batter – so many wonderful ideas!
Real Tips eBook – Here’s where you’ll learn how you really can eat out less, but still have SO MUCH FUN. This eBook will help you save lots of money. Oh, and you’ll learn tips about helping your family eat more fruits and veggies too!
Budget-Friendly eGuidebook – Want to save money while living a real food lifestyle? This guidebook is just what you need. You can do this!
Printable Recipe Cards – All the recipes in the eBooks can be printed as super cute recipe cards! The fun never ends!

Who is this for?

This community is for everyone. Some of us are stay-at-home moms, some of us work outside the home, some of us work from home, some of us are empty nesters, some of us are new moms, some of us are veteran moms. Some of us carry more than one of those labels, and some of us have both adult children and babies (Laura raises her hand). :)

What do we all have in common? We want to do the best that we can to care for our families!

Certainly, all women are welcome, moms or not. Shucks, men can even join! But this community and its contents are geared toward guiding women who are regularly cooking for a family. It’s a big job and we can work together to do it well!

Real Moms Cooking Community Goals:

Add new quick and simple recipes to your regular rotation that your family will love
Find ways to save time in the kitchen
Discover great tips for saving money on groceries
Learn simple ways to eat out less
Add more fruits and veggies into your meals
Gain tips for making menu planning easier
Support one another!

Ok, ready to join us?

Purchase your package below and let’s get started! We’ll hang out via email and Facebook. We’ll share the best of the best tips and ideas, recipes, and encouragement! You’ll love every email and all the bonuses that are included!

Let’s join this community and learn and share together!

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

Perfect Summer Snack for Toddlers

June 17, 2020 by Laura 15 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

I have discovered the perfect summer snack for toddlers! But first, let’s enjoy some pictures of the adorable toddlers who eat these snacks:

Keith (on the right, above) is our forever Bonus Boy6. The future of Boy Babe7 (on the left) is still up in the air. We are praying goodness and security for him as we spend these months loving him in our home.

The sweet 6-year old in the blue polo is Brayden, our Bonus Boy5. He became our fifth Coppinger boy through the gift of adoption in 2019. Truly, the work God has done in our family during the past two years has astounded us. He continues to grow us in number and in faith and trust as we walk this journey with Him!

Now that we’re back to raising littles again (our older sons are now 23, 20, 18, and 15!), we’ve been fixing up our backyard to be fun for them. Brayden helped me paint an old tractor tire, and we turned it into a sandbox. It has been so much fun!!

We bought a kiddie pool, and bubble mowers:

Two of these little mowers
This simple but perfect-for-us kiddie pool. (Not only does this work well for our 1-year olds, it’s great for Brayden, our 6-year old too! Also, this one is listed now for way more than we paid for it a month ago!? We only paid $20!)
And this toddler sized picnic table:

Which almost leads me to share about the fun summer snack I discovered. But first, can we just take a minute to appreciate God’s work in teenagers and young adults? In the picture above you can see Malachi, age 15, our Boy4, running around and pick up sticks in the yard with Brayden. And Elias, age 18, our Boy3 kissing the babies before he headed off to work for the day. My heart overflows with gratitude.

Here’s Justus, age 20, our Boy2 who was home from college for several weeks during quarantine before he headed to Texas for a summer internship. Our little ones sure miss “dut-dus.” Well, we all do.

Last but not least, here’s Asa, our 23-year old and Boy1. He lives and works in Lincoln now as a videographer for Back to the Bible. So we don’t get to see him often, but when he does make it home, the little boys pile on top of him!

Apparently I felt that you needed a big family update!

Ok, one last thing: I’d love for you to be blessed by the latest video our boys made together. Asa, Justus, and Malachi worked hard on it as a gift for Elias’ high school graduation!

Perfect Summer Snack for Toddlers

And now, the information you’ve all been waiting for. The perfect summer snack I’ve discovered for our toddlers is:

Frozen Peas.

See also: Frozen Corn, Frozen Blueberries, Frozen Mixed Veggies, and Frozen Mango.

On a hot day when we’re running around and playing outside, grabbing little bowls of frozen veggies or fruit for them to eat at the picnic table as finger food is a huge hit for our toddlers! It cools them off and nourishes them at the same time. The frozen foods are easy to eat and take absolutely no prep! They’re perfect!

And now you know.

I’ll leave you with this:

Here’s Keith the night our littles took turns putting on goggles and laughing their full belly laughs.

God’s plans are better than ours, always.

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

How to use a cast iron skillet like a pro

Figuring out how to use a cast iron skillet shouldn’t have taken me this long.

Now that I know how to use a cast iron skillet, I love it even more.

Here are my how-to tips for using your cast iron skillet:

Do the sizzle dance.

And that’s how to use your cast iron!

Tips and Tools to Make Menu Planning EASY

Tools to Make Menu Planning Easier

The Easiest Recipes, in a Flipbook!

How to get these fun resources for FREE!

What should I bake?

Yeast Bread RecipesYum

Muffin Recipes

Quick Bread Recipes

Cookie Recipes

Bar Recipes

Cake Recipes

Healthy Food Convenience Foods

Here are my favorite newly discovered convenient health foods!

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

After School Snacks to Have on HandYum

How I can feed a large group while chasing babies

Food Ideas When Feeding a Large Group

What Can Be Made Ahead of Time and Frozen

What Can Be Made Ahead of Time and Refrigerated

In Case You’re Curious:

What I Can Ask Others to Help With

Meals in our Yard

Real Moms Cooking Community Goals:

Ready to join us?

Ummm, balance??

We need each other.

Why not form a Real Moms Cooking Community where we can work together and share all the recipes, tips, and ideas we’ve learned!

Our Real Moms Cooking Community Package includes:

Who is this for?

Real Moms Cooking Community Goals:

Ok, ready to join us?

Perfect Summer Snack for Toddlers