Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Baking Day (Ugly) Photo Shoot

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We’ve had some unusually cool days this week, so beginning Thursday, once I realized the temps weren’t actually going to even reach 66°, I decided to take advantage and get some baking done. Once those 90 and 100 degree days come back, I’m going to be very thankful I did this (if there are actually any baked goods left by then!).

I always get a little bit tickled at my baking day pictures. They aren’t the prettiest pictures in the world, you know? Take for instance this picture of my big roasting pan of baked potatoes:

Ugly, isn’t it? Does it inspire you to bake potatoes? Eat potatoes? Cut black spots off of potatoes?

Well, anyway, I took that picture to show you that we (as in the boys) scrubbed 26 potatoes and baked them so we can make Homemade Hashbrowns. I LOVE doing this, but certainly don’t love baking potatoes when it’s hot outside. Now we’ve got a nice stash ready for Hashbrowns!

Moving on to the next (ugly?) picture, we have my bowl of bubbling sourdough starter:

Now, deciding whether a picture of sourdough starter is ugly or not depends on whether or not you get a kick out of making sourdough bubbles. The picture itself looks a little strange, but I happen to really appreciate sourdough, which means that I think those bubbles are beautiful. But what do I know? I think armadillos are cute.

I made a batch of Corn Dog Muffins and snapped the picture while the hot dogs were still exposed. Not the most appetizing picture, but the end result is always yummy!

So how about we quickly follow those pictures up with a picture of a big batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies I made to put in the freezer? I’m always needing cookies to take somewhere, so I decided to bake some and stash away to be prepared for later.

It was almost dark when I took the following picture, so the shot looks a little bit yellow. I made a double batch of Honey Whole Wheat Bread, a batch of Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns and a double batch of Pancake and Sausage Muffins.

That should hold us over for a while (in theory).

One last picture – I’m excited to show you my container of Cocoa Butter that I ordered and just received from Mountain Rose Herbs. I want to use them to try a different variety of Homemade Chocolate Chips, and maybe Homemade White Chocolate Chips. Wouldn’t that be fun?

Is it baking weather at your house, or are you more in the mood to sit in a swimming pool while sipping lemonade?

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Buttered Pineapple

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Last week’s checklist while preparing to go on a trip with the family was:

  • Wash and fold laundry.
  • Have boys pack clothes in backpacks.
  • Load van.
  • Prepare food for trip.
  • Make butter.

Make butter? Why? Because I didn’t have enough to do?

Yeah well. I was trying to clean out the fridge of leftovers before we took off. We were going to be gone for five days after all. While I usually use up my weekly pint of cream that I buy from our local dairy farmers, somehow I had ended up with three pints of cream that needed some love.

And that is why, in the middle of laundry and packing and a slight bit of vacation preparation chaos last Thursday, I made three batches of fresh butter.

And that is also why, in my haste to take the lid off my food processor, I spewed butter-cream mess all over my pineapple.

And my wall.

Which changed my list to:

  • Wash and fold laundry.
  • Have boys pack clothes in backpacks.
  • Load van.
  • Prepare food for trip.
  • Make butter.
  • Give pineapple a bath and get greasy butter slime off the wall.

And here you thought I was going to share a recipe for Buttered Pineapple.

By the way, if you’ve never made butter, you really should try it sometime. Here are simple directions for making homemade butter. And just so you know, the butter-cream all over the pineapple and wall incident had nothing at all to do with my lovely new food processor. It really was a matter of me trying to move too fast, which in essence, caused me more work and a little more vacation preparation chaos.

But it sure did make for a fun story. Just think of the laughs we would have missed out on had I been more careful that day.

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Freezer Cooking Round-Up (with no pictures, sniff)

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Once A Month Mom
I promise I’ve been baking and cooking all week long. I promise I have some wonderful foods in my freezer all ready for healthy convenience on busy days coming up. I even took pictures to show you. But, the pictures were uploaded into my computer and my computer is acting like it’s dying and I can’t get to the pictures. (I’m on a borrowed computer right now, thanks to a great friend!)

 

My stomach hurts about the whole dying computer thing. But I’m trying to keep a good perspective on this situation. It’s just a “thing” and I can get a new “thing” if I need to. (cha-ching)  My stomach hurts. Okay…it’s okay. It’ll all be okay. Really.

 

I’ll keep giving myself this pep talk, and in the meantime I’m sure you’d like to hear about the food I made for the freezer this week. (Just picture these dishes in your head and you won’t be nearly as bored.)

 

Our family LOVED every recipe I tried from Once a Month Mom. Here’s what I made:

 

  • Baked Chicken and Artichoke Penne with Sundried Tomatoes – I doubled this dish, we ate one and I froze one. Not that I was trying to deceive my kids, but I figured if I told them there were artichokes on their plates, they wouldn’t eat it. Instead, I threw the artichokes in my food processor to grind up and they never knew they were in this dish. They scarfed up their servings and had seconds and thirds. Sweet!
  • Tacos in a Sleeping Bag (using my yogurt pizza dough instead of the crescent dough called for in the recipe)  –  I haven’t let my family eat these yet even though they looked and smelled incredible. They are in the freezer and will taste incredible (and convenient) next week sometime!
  • Ham Broccoli and Cheddar Roll (again using my yogurt pizza dough)  –  I can’t say this made it into our freezer. :)  I baked this before we left for a soccer game and we came home and ate the entire roll (which I had doubled). This was SO delicious!
  • Homemade Cheesy Rice –  I’m going to be making this today – I can’t wait. I may even throw some leftover chicken in to complete the meal!
  • Strawberry Orange Smoothie –  I have made this smoothie recipe not once, not twice, but three times since Monday!! To say that this recipe was a hit is an understatement. We’ve had some shocking 100 degree days this week and this smoothie has been so refreshing!

So, did you picture all of that in your head? Was it lovely? Oh good.

What all were you able to accomplish this week to get ahead in the kitchen? Here is a review of the “rules” for our Freezer Cooking Challenge:

  1. Pick a recipe (or more) from Once a Month Mom or from here at Heavenly Homemakers.
  2. Find some time this week to make the recipe(s) for your freezer.
  3. Blog about your cooking experience, if you have a blog, so that you can come link up with us here on Friday when we’ll all report back to share how our freezer cooking went. If you don’t have a blog, you’ll be given the opportunity to share about your freezer cooking in the comments section of our round up post, so please join the fun whether you have a blog or not!
  4. Each person who links up or leaves a comment on the Friday Freezer Cooking Round Up post will be eligible to win a free recipe ebook of choice ($7.95 or less) from the Heavenly Homemakers Shop.
  5. The more recipes you make and share with us, the more chances you have to win! (But don’t over-do…we would like to keep this fun. Please, we don’t want any reports that women across the world fainted from Freezer Cooking Exhaustion.)

Share what you accomplished! Any link or comment (that follows the rules above) will be included in a drawing for a free recipe ebook in the Heavenly Homemakers Shop. I’ll draw a winner Monday, May 16! Can’t wait to hear what you’ve been up to this week!

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It’s a Freezer Cooking Challenge!!!

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Once A Month Mom

Except for a couple of big bags of Turkey Sausage that I made and froze recently, my freezer holds nothing of convenience. (Unless you count a few packages of soy free chocolate chips convenient. I could conveniently eat chocolate chips for lunch sometime.)

If you’ve been reading here long, you know that I love creating healthy convenience foods for my freezer so that when I’m facing a busy day, my family still has healthy food to eat. You can scroll through this series of posts entitled Make Ahead Meals to learn more about how I make food ahead for the freezer! I can’t say enough about how wonderful it is to take the time every once in a while to work ahead in the kitchen. 

Because my frozen Turkey Sausage (and chocolate chips) are lonely, and because I’ve been working on a big project for Heavenly Homemakers which is taking a lot of my time (yes, I’m going to leave you hanging on this one for now), I’m anxious to spend a few hours this week putting some extra food in the freezer. 

This time for my freezer cooking endeavors, I am very excited to be teaming up with Tricia from Once a Month Mom. Have you been to the Once a Month Mom site? If you’re interested in doing some cooking and baking ahead for your freezer, you MUST take advantage of all the free and wonderful information you’ll find at Once a Month Mom. Her site is full of great tips and recipes that are perfect for making food ahead and freezing it for future convenience.

Once a Month Mom has great menu plans each month all laid out and ready for you, complete with recipes, grocery lists and freezer instructions. You’ll find a plan for Whole Foods Cooking, Gluten Free/Dairy Free Cooking, even a menu for Baby Food Freezer Cooking. 

I have had a lovely time clicking through all of the recipes on the Once a Month Mom site, picking some new and fun recipes to try for my family for my freezer cooking plans this week. Here are the recipes I chose this time:

I can’t wait to start playing with these new recipes (yes, because for me, trying new recipes is like playing with new toys!!). I was hoping maybe you’d all like to “come over and play” along with me this week. Want to?! (Yes, you do. You want to. Say yes.)

For those of you who are new to freezer cooking, or for any who might just need a little motivation to get some extra food in the freezer, I thought I’d extend a little challenge of sorts. Here’s how it will work:

  1. Pick a recipe (or more) from Once a Month Mom or from here at Heavenly Homemakers.
  2. Find some time this week to make the recipe(s) for your freezer.
  3. Blog about your cooking experience, if you have a blog, so that you can come link up with us here on Friday when we’ll all report back to share how our freezer cooking went. If you don’t have a blog, you’ll be given the opportunity to share about your freezer cooking in the comments section of our round up post on Friday, so please join the fun whether you have a blog or not!
  4. Each person who links up or leaves a comment on the Friday Freezer Cooking Round Up post will be eligible to win a free recipe ebook of choice ($7.95 or less) from the Heavenly Homemakers Shop.
  5. The more recipes you make and share with us, the more chances you have to win! (But don’t over-do…we would like to keep this fun. Please, we don’t want any reports that women across the world fainted from Freezer Cooking Exhaustion.)

Okay…so  who’s in?!  Look around at Once a Month Mom and at all of our Make Ahead Meals to get some new recipe ideas. Get your Freezer Cooking game on and join us for our fun cooking challenge this week!

What recipes are sounding good to try?? Which ebook might you pick from our Heavenly Homemakers Shop if you win?!

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My New Kitchen Aid Food Processor (and a little frozen fruit drama)

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Mama got a new food processor!

I seem to be a breaker of kitchen appliances. (Is breaker a word? Perhaps I’m a breakist?)

I think it’s a combination of two things:  1) I often buy cheap appliances. 2) I use my kitchen appliances constantly.

Therefore, when my previous food processor broke, we decided that instead of paying around $30 for another cheap food processor that would break in a year or less, we should save up and invest in a food processor that would last (because that would save us money in the long run!).

So, we saved. And while we were saving, I continued to use my broken food processor that still sort of worked, but if left unattended would fly off the counter and spray peanuts into the living room. The last day I used my old food processor, everyone was at the table waiting for their Mock Frozen Yogurt when all of a sudden, because I wasn’t holding the gadget with all my weight and standing on my right pinky toe just right, we had a sudden flinging of frozen berries and yogurt. The boys watched in astonishment as their Mama shrieked, the result of three frozen blueberries striking her on the forehead. The walls were covered in spattered yogurt and half the ingredients were dripping off the nearby pile of mail.

It was at that point that Matt, while gently dabbing at the blueberry stain that was running down my face, said, “Let’s get you that new food processor, what do you say?”

And so we looked around a little bit and decided on the Kitchen Aid 9-Cup Food Processor. I cringed when I first saw the price, because I’m used to buying cheap appliances. But now that I’ve got it all set up in my kitchen, I’ve decided that it was worth every penny. It’s so heavy duty that there is no comparison to the dinky things I formerly used.

Ain’t she purty? I’ve been playing…wanna see?

I spent several hours playing with her the first day she arrived. (I’m calling her a her because she’s so lovely and because there are plenty of males in our household so I can call her a her if I want to.)  As you can see, I began by making Peanut Butter. Two batches actually. The boys ate the Homemade Peanut Butter on their Whole Wheat Waffles, then I used some of it to make Peanut Butter Honey Fudge. This processor made my Homemade Peanut Butter making experience SO much easier!!!! What do you know…a food processor that actually works efficiently!

Next, I got out my cashews and dates and made some Homemade Larabars. Wow, those are fun to make and deliciously healthy for snacks!

I couldn’t resist setting the snacks up side by side and taking a picture. Oh lovely food made by my lovely new food processor. (Sorry to be gushing. I am obviously having a lot of fun playing with my new toy, can you tell?)

After I made those snacks, I got her all cleaned up and made some Mock Frozen Yogurt to go with our lunch. After all, I needed to see if I could make this treat without the drama of the previous Mock Frozen Yogurt mishap.

I’m happy to report that with my new Kitchen Aid 9-Cup Food Processor there was no blueberry violence or yogurt flinging. Nor did any peanuts shoot into the living room. All was calm in the kitchen as my new investment went to work for me.

Now there’s a story with a happy ending. :)

So, do you have a food processor? What kind do you have? Do you tend to buy cheap appliances, or do you invest in more efficient ones? Ever been a victim of frozen berry violence?

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Five Minutes to Cultured Dairy

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I’m out to prove that making your own cultured dairy products is neither intimidating nor difficult. Just yesterday, I made Buttermilk , Kefir and Sour Cream. This took me a total of five minutes. I did not break a sweat, not even when I was putting lids on jars.

Yum

I then started a batch of Yogurt . Yes, it was a big dairy day in my kitchen. Or rather, a big dairy eight minutes. Because that’s really how long it took to do all of this.

As soon as they are done culturing (which these products do all by themselves while I sleep, type, trip on legos or cut my fingernails), I’ll put them into the fridge.

Now, all of you stop thinking that you can’t make your own cultured dairy products and get started on this fun and healthy habit!! :)

Here’s a little Cultured Dairy question and answer time:

Is making your own cultured dairy products hard to do?  Did I or did I not just tell you that this isn’t hard? Okay then.

Can I use regular milk from the store to make these products?  Yep. I recommend drinking and using raw, organic, grass fed cow (or goat) milk to make these, but if that isn’t available to you, you can definitely use milk that you purchase from the store.

Do I have to trip on legos while my products are culturing?  No, in fact I recommend that you step over all legos and call your children in to pick them up before your feet get holes in them. I was just saying that to be funny, or something like that – and to prove that you don’t have to babysit your dairy products while they are culturing.

Why is there a rubber band on your sour cream jar?  I put a rubber band around my sour cream jar so that I’ll know at one quick glance into my fridge which jar is sour cream and which is regular cream. It’s quite helpful to know the difference. You’re welcome to use whatever color of rubber band you prefer. If you really think that sour cream deserves a red rubber band instead of a yellow one, knock yourself out.

What do you mean “knock yourself out”?  That is an expression that really just means “go for it”. To take that expression literally would just seem as though I were a big bully. Please, do not literally “knock yourself out”. Goodness.

Will I really have cultured dairy products in just five minutes like your title suggests?  The five minutes I was referring to was the time it takes for YOU to do any kind of work. It does take several hours for the dairy to become cultured after you’ve done your five minutes of work. Read the specific directions for each of the dairy products to know how long each item takes to become cultured. Here are the quick links:  Buttermilk , Kefir, Yogurt and Sour Cream.

Do you make your own cultured dairy products? Which ones are your favorite?

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Happy National Pretzel Day!!!

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Yes indeed, today is the big day. It’s National Pretzel Day! (I’m sure you all dressed up for the occasion.)

I made a big batch of pretzels earlier this afternoon. They came out fat and sassy this time, and rich and buttery, and were best hot and steamy and well {she says, with a bit of a tear in her eye}, this is quickly becoming one of my favorite holidays. 

Oh look, a tower of Pretzels:

It’s been so much fun to receive your emails showing your pretzel pictures and telling of your pretzel adventures!! Thanks to all have been participating so far in our “Pretzel Challenge“. 

It’s not too late for the rest of you to join in! Read more of the details about the Pretzel Challenge here (not that it’s very complicated), then send me your pretzel pictures!!

Everyone who participates in the Pretzel Challenge by Friday night, April 29, will be in a drawing to win a $20 Gift Certificate from the Heavenly Homemakers Shop!

Happy Pretzel Baking!

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My Exciting Grocery Posts for the Week: Such a Yummy Snack

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My freezer (not the ugly one, the other one) still holds quite a few packages of frozen strawberries from last years picking. Yesterday, we made glasses of Strawberry-Peach Slushies, which are full of a very special (and maybe secret) ingredient that you can’t even taste but offer lots of good vitamins! I had ordered the freeze dried variety of this ingredient from Shelf Reliance, making it super easy and inexpensive to add it to these slushies!

What a great way to get extra nutrition into our kids (and ourselves). And since it was only in the 40’s yesterday at our house, it was also a great way to turn our lips blue. Spring really is coming to Nebraska, right?

What’s one of your favorite snacks to feed your kids that offers lots of nutrition?

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My Exciting Grocery Posts for the Week: Today’s Breakfast

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With Turkey Sausage and prepared Hashbrowns in the freezer, breakfast this morning was a feast…yet very easy to put together! 

Turkey Sausage, Hashbrowns, Creamy Orange Coolers , Fried Eggs and Apple Slices

I’m almost out of potatoes, so it was great to find one more bag of Hashbrowns in the bottom of the freezer! And I just can’t say enough about making up a bunch of Turkey Sausage for quick meals. Once they’re mixed up and frozen into patties, I just throw them in the pan to cook. SO EASY.

You should see my storage room now!!! So close to being finished and organized! What a great feeling. And now, I’m going outside to line up my boys for hair cuts.

By the way, you’ve probably noticed by now that I don’t always stick to my menu plan exactly. Some weeks I do…this week I’m not. It’s just working out that way. I had this turkey sausage/hashbrown meal scheduled for yesterday’s lunch, but we had it this morning instead. I figure if I at least have a meal plan, I can adjust as I need to. With my busy cleaning/organizing week…our menu plan is a little topsy-turvy. :)

Yesterday, I had so much fun hearing what you had for lunch (because I just get a big kick out of food and hearing what others are eating). So…you know what we had for breakfast…what did you have?

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Today’s Lunch…because I figured you’d want to see it

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I decided not to wait until dinner time to make that roast I forgot to put into the crock-pot yesterday. I made it for lunch today instead because I felt the need for a Leg-o-Lamb. (Yes, we love all varieties of Legos around here.)

And then, because I was trying to make the morning easy…I skipped the potatoes and threw green beans right in the crock-pot with the meat, onions and carrots. Best. Lunch. Ever.

And also the easiest.

I just wanted to be sure you knew that we are eating quite well, Azure Standard order forgotten and all. Not that you were losing sleep over it. And really…I know that you really don’t care about seeing my luncheon roast as much as you really just want to see pictures of my scary storage room. 

Tonight. I promise.

So, what did you have for lunch?

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