We had a very productive weekend, cleaning our house and putting up our Christmas tree!! Yes, I know it’s a little early to put up the tree, but I kinda feel like if we’re going to go to this kind of trouble to put something up, I’d like us to be able to enjoy it for a while. Thus, the tree. 

 

After reading this post, Donna asked if I was planning to make a menu planner for these special holidays ahead. I couldn’t let her down!! I made a Turkey Menu Planner, just for Donna. I like it call it…”Just for Donna”. (Oh, if you aren’t Donna, and you’d like to use it too, please do help yourself!! It’s not really just for Donna…it’s just called that because she requested it and I think Donna is awesome. If you want me to name a menu planner after you, it can be arranged.)  :)

Download Just For Donna Menu Planner

Here’s our short menu for the week: 

Sunday, Nov. 23
Oatmeal, apples
Company coming over:  Homemade chicken and noodles, mashed potatoes, steamed carrots, homemade bread with butter, cookie platter
Leftovers

Monday, Nov. 24
Whole wheat pancakes, milk
Alphabet soup, homemade pretzels 
Homemade chicken nuggets and french fries, carrot sticks

Tuesday, Nov. 25
Sweet Potato Streusel Muffins, milk
Alphabet casserole, green beans
Chicken alfredo, steamed broccoli

Wednesday, Nov. 26
Orange muffins, bananas
BBQ chicken, potato pancakes, peas
Sandwiches on the road to KS, homemade graham crackers  and fruit leather for snacking

Thursday – Saturday
Thanksgiving time with our Kansas family. 
I’m taking:  Homemade rolls
                   Monkey Bread
                   My dad’s favorite lemon pound cake

This week on the blogging menu:

I’ll share 20 things to do with leftover Thanksgiving turkey…plus I’m starting a series called “It’s Beginning to Smell a Lot Like Christmas…Cookies”.  (Can you guess what that’s going to be about?)  And, I can’t think of a better week to join Gratituesday, can you?!  :)
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Find more menu planning ideas at Organizing Junkie.

I survived the big shopping trip!! I loved all the guesses you made about what my “exciting purchase” was going to be…and NO it wasn’t maternity clothes. :)  Guess I set myself up for that one!! As a matter of fact, none of you got it right. No, what I’ve been needing for a while and finally found the chance to buy…was SOCKS. I know, how pitiful am I? Are you feeling terribly let down and disappointed? They are very nice socks. In a variety of colors. It made me very happy. Really, rejoice with me over my socks. I did get a few other fun things too for Christmas presents. 

Here’s what’s on the menu this week:

Sunday, Nov. 16
Oatmeal, apples
Beef stew with carrots, potatoes and gravy (This almost turned out to be a disaster this morning…wanna hear about it?)  (Okay, maybe later this week, if you’re good.)
*Help with Sunday Night Suppers! See question below. :)

Monday, Nov. 17
Whole wheat waffles
Hamburger patties, stir fried rice and veggies
Chicken noodle soup, carrot sticks

Tuesday, Nov. 18
Scrambled eggs, turkey sausage, oranges
Homemade pizza pockets, peaches
Veggie soup, cornbread muffins

Wednesday, Nov. 19
Homemade granola, fruit and kefir smoothies
Spanish rice with meat, pineapple-orange slushies
Chicken enchiladas, tossed salad

Thursday, Nov. 20
Peanut butter honey toast, applesauce
Baked potatoes, cottage cheese and peaches
Beans and rice with salsa and kreme fresh

Friday, Nov. 21
Cream cheese pastries, apples
Homemade mac and cheese, lima beans
Homemade pizza

Saturday, Nov. 22
Whole wheat cinnamon rolls
Bean dip with chips, pears
Spaghetti squash with chicken in cream sauce

On the blogging menu this week:  I’ll answer some of your questions about rapadura…share more about our schedule (specifically homeschooling)…and I am planning to share a new recipe with you (I just have to figure out which one first!!).

*Okay, so here’s what I need your help with. I never feel like cooking on Sunday nights (yes, this from the girl who loves to cook). We need something quick so that we can rush out the door to our small group fellowship time. What do you feed your families on Sunday nights? Have some good ideas for me? Matt and the boys would really appreciate it.  :)
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Visit Organizing Junkie for more menu ideas.

Thanks everyone for making my Website-aversary week SO much FUN!! Of course, it’s not quite over yet! There’s still a few more days to take advantage of this ebook sale, and this one. And sign up for this great giveaway!

This weekend was busy and fun. We went to Kansas to help my dad at an auction (which was a good excuse to go see family!). We were able to go to my nephew’s fifth birthday party…clean out some more of my mom’s things from the house (since my dad remarried about a year ago and the two of them combined households…shew there’s a LOT of stuff!)…and my favorite part of the weekend:  I got to meet Amy of The Finer Things in Life…FINALLY! She and I have been cyber friends for a while, and we were finally able to connect Friday night. It was SO much fun…and now I need to work out a time to meet the rest of you in person. Really. Anyone coming to Nebraska anytime soon?

Here’s our menu for the week:

Sunday, Nov. 9
Oatmeal, apples
Baked spaghetti, tossed salad, corn
Going to a surprise birthday party for our friend (sh!)

Monday, Nov. 10
Whole wheat pancakes
Cheesy quesadillas, pineapple
Crunchy ranch chicken, stir fried rice and veggies

Tuesday, Nov. 11
Scrambled eggs, oranges
Cheesy potato soup, homemade pretzels, carrot sticks
Hearty bean casserole, tossed salad

Wednesday, Nov. 12
French toast
Grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup
Chicken pot pie, fruit salad

Thursday, Nov. 13
Chocolate Swirl Muffins
Chicken legs, peas, potato pancakes
Beefy Enchilada Bake, taco salad

Friday, Nov. 14
Giant breakfast cookies, bananas
Beef and cheese burritoes, canteloupe
Homemade pizza, pears

Saturday, Nov. 15
This mama has BIG plans for the day with some friends!! I can’t wait to tell you about it! I really can’t wait to execute the plan!! So….Daddy will be in charge of meals all day! I’ll probably be real nice and leave some easy things for him to make. Ooh, my day will be so much fun!! You wanna come?

This week on the blogging menu…

I’ll share about Matt’s work changes on Gratituesday…share a bit of our family’s homeschooling philosophy….plus…I’ve got a few silly (or not so silly, depending on how you look at it) things to share with you about our trip to KS. See ya soon!

Visit Organizing Junkie for more menu ideas!

We have house guests staying with us this week…some friends of ours from Colorado are visiting! 

Can you believe it? I actually have a little girl in my house for seven days!!! There are purses and little hair bow thingies all over the place. How fun! (Of course, I’m having to keep my boys from shooting little hair thingies at each other now, but whatever.)

Here’s what’s on the menu:

Sunday, Oct 26
Oatmeal, toast, fruit
Potluck – I took sweet potato muffins, apple pie and hearty bean casserole
Cream cheese salsa dip with chips, grapes

Monday, Oct 27
Whole wheat pancakes
Potato soup, whole wheat pretzels, carrot sticks
Chicken fajitas, pineapple

Tuesday, Oct. 28
Scrambled eggs, orange slices
Grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup
Roast, carrots, potatoes, gravy

Wednesday, Oct. 29
Orange muffins, fruit and kefir smoothies
Hamburgers on homemade buns, homemade potato chips
Chicken alfredo, tossed salad, steamed veggies

Thursday, Oct. 30
Apricot Breakfast Bars, bananas
Turkey and cheese tortilla roll-ups, cantaloupe
Lasagna, tossed salad, corn

Friday, Oct. 31
Omelets, pears
Homemade pizza, apples
Fall Party – take baked beans and fudge brownies

Saturday, Nov. 1 – My Website-Aversary Celebration begins!!!
Whole wheat donuts
Homemade pizza rolls, peaches
Beans and rice with salsa

This week on the blogging menu:

I’ll tell you everything you ever (or never) wanted to know about my whole wheat flour. And I’ll share a new recipe I found for Sweet Potato Streusel Muffins!

And DON’T forget that my Website-Aversary is coming up at the end of the week!! (Yes, how could you forget with me talking about it all the time? I’m  just excited, okay?)  You won’t want to miss all of the sales, freebies and giveaways!! And don’t forget the Free Pie Ebook which will make it’s debut in just a few days!!!!
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Visit Organizing Junkie for more menu planning ideas!

I’ve never needed a menu plan more than I’ve needed one this week.  My brain is a little bonkers. (Yes, more than usual.)

You see…I’ve been pretty pre-occupied as I’ve been working on all kinds of surprises for you during my Website-aversary which is in less than two weeks! 

Not to mention all the pie recipes flooding my inbox for our FREE Heavenly Homemakers Pie Ebook which will debut during the Website-aversary!! You’ve done yourselves proud fellow homemakers! None of us shall ever have to search for a delicious pie recipe again. 

I’ve loved putting all of your recipes into an ebook. In fact…I’ve loved it so much and have spent so much time formatting and cutting and pasting and inserting tables and highlighting texts…that I am seriously dreaming about ebooks. And pies. I cut and paste pies all night long. 

I seriously have pie on the brain. My poor children. (Do I have children?)  (They must love it when I work on finalizing ebooks…the poor neglected souls.)

Just last week we were in the van heading somewhere, and Justus launched into a story about…something. I absentmindedly responded with, “Oh, that sounds yummy.”

The van suddenly got quiet. (The van is never quiet.)  Asa said, “Did you just say, That sounds yummy?”  I then snapped out of my pie brain mode and realized that indeed, I had just said that his super hero story sounded yummy. 

I explained to the boys more about the pie ebook I’m putting together and how all those pie recipes I’ve been reading are so yummy and that I was distracted with thinking about it…and we all had a big round of giggles. Oh what all these boys have to put up with. (Hey, I put up with my share of stuff too I’ll have you know.)

All that to say…if I didn’t have a menu plan this week…there is no chance we’d actually eat anything edible this week. I’d probably get up from the computer, walk into the kitchen, look starry-eyed at the dirty dishwater and say, “Oh, that sounds yummy…”

Here to save the day from my pie brain is our menu plan for the week:

Sunday, Oct. 19
Breakfast burritoes
Tacos, pineapple
Leftovers

Monday, Oct. 20
Gingerbread, pears
Oven fried chicken legs, peas, pineapple orange slushies
Lentils, cornbread

Tuesday, Oct. 21
Whole wheat pancakes
Cheese quesadillas, peaches
Honey mustard chicken, broccoli and cauliflower

Wednesday, Oct. 22
Mini breakfast pizzas, oranges
Grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup
Cheesy beef and rice, green beans

Thursday, Oct. 23
Applesauce muffins, bananas
Chicken and noodles, carrot sticks
Chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, peas

Friday, Oct. 24
Peanut butter honey toast, apples
Taco potatoes, strawberry-peach slushies
Homemade pizza

Saturday, Oct. 25
Mom is Great! Breakfast Cake
Clean out the fridge
BBQ chicken, potato wedges, mixed veggies

If you haven’t voted for your favorite title for our Pie Ebook…hurry and do that here! I’ll close the poll Monday night and our title will be decided!

And guess what? If I can possibly pull it off…I plan to blog about things other than pies all week. I have a product review for you with some yummy recipes…a crazy tomato idea to share…and a sweet friend to tell you about on Gratituesday. And probably some other stuff here and there. Doesn’t that just sound…yummy?

Visit Organizing Junkie for more menu plans! :)

What a weekend! We had a great time with our houseguests and got to see several people we hadn’t seen for a long time. I’ll share more and show you pictures on Gratituesday!

Now…we’re putting our house back together and working to get things back to normal. (normal?)

Here’s our menu for the week…

Sunday, Oct. 12
Breakfast Cake (recipe coming this week!)
Beef stew
Leftovers

Monday, Oct. 13
Sourdough biscuits, peaches
Grilled cheese, tomato soup
Thanksgiving celebration with our Canadian friends!! I can’t WAIT!!

Tuesday, Oct. 14
Scrambled eggs, oranges
Bean dip with tortilla chips, strawberry-peach slushies
BBQ beef, potato wedges, peas

Wednesday Oct. 15
Orange muffins, bananas
Tuna topped tomatoes, cottage cheese with peaches
Crunchy ranch chicken, stir fried rice and veggies

Thursday, Oct. 16
French toast
Alphabet soup (an experiment that hopefully I’ll have a good report on soon!),  homemade soft pretzels (because if the Alphabet Soup experiment doesn’t turn out to be a happy thing, at least we’ll have pretzels)
Beef enchiladas, taco salad

Friday, Oct. 17
Peanut butter honey toast, pears
Lentils and cornbread, fruit salad
Hamburgers on homemade buns and onion rings

Saturday, Oct. 18
Whole wheat cinnamon rolls
Homemade pizza
Potato soup, carrot sticks

Snacks I’ll make this week:
Mudballs
Whole wheat graham crackers
Trail mix

Are you working on your pie recipes for the ebook we’re putting together???!!! Only a few more days left!  Read the details here!  Everyone join in!

You need to start getting excited, by the way! My Website-Aversary is coming up in just a few weeks…and besides having that great new FREE pie ebook ready for you…we’re going to be having a week or two full of giveaways and free stuff and special sales! It’s going to be SO MUCH FUN.  I can hardly sleep thinking about it!

But don’t you lose sleep over it too. I mean, it’s exciting…really exciting. But I’d hate for you to lie awake wondering and dreaming about all the fun that’s to be had at Heavenly Homemaker’s Website-Aversary. Leave that part up to me. Really. We don’t all need to be so excited that we can’t sleep. Some of us should really be getting sleep. Really.

;)
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Visit Organizing Junkie for more menu ideas!

We’ve got a houseful of company coming this weekend, so I’m super excited and working hard to get ready for that! We’ll be going a little easier on the school work this week and a little heavier on the house work. I’m sure by the end of the week when I hand my boys yet another “to do” list, they’ll be begging me to let them do “just one more page of math instead…” :)

Here’s what’s on the menu this week:

Sunday, October 5
Breakfast burritoes
Hamburgers, fruit
Leftovers

Monday, October 6
Honey wheat muffins, bananas
Homemade pizza, pears
Roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas

Tuesday, October 7
Fried eggs on toast, oranges
Baked potatoes, cottage cheese with peaches
Beef stroganoff, green beans

Wednesday, October 8
Peanut butter honey toast, apples
Grilled cheese, tomato soup
Shepherd’s pie

Thursday, October 9
Granola, kefir-fruit smoothies
Chicken tostadas, strawberry-peach slushies
Cheesy potato soup, chicken noodle soup, veggie tray, cornbread

Friday, October 10
Whole wheat pancakes, eggs and bacon, fruit
Sandwiches, chips, fruit, carrot sticks, cookies
Lasagna, tossed salad, green beans, homemade bread

Saturday, October 11
Egg, sausage and potato scramble, fruit
Sloppy joes, baked beans, veggie tray
Nacho Bar

Have you read about my Great Pie Quest and Contest? Join in the fun!! Bring on the PIE!!!
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Visit Organizing Junkie for many more menu plan ideas!

We got back from our camping trip today…filthy, smelling like a camp fire and worn out, but totally refreshed from a great weekend spent in fresh air and with friends. I must admit that I enjoyed this camping trip more than any other one I’ve ever been on. I think it had something to do with the fact that the weather was absolutely perfect…and the fact that I took an entire kitchen with me. Wow, did I ever feel spoiled. It was great.

As we were packing up to come back home, Matt and I were commenting to each other about how well it actually worked out to take our concession trailer. Sleeping on the floor in there wasn’t so bad. As long as the boys aren’t planning on growing any taller (yikes!), we all fit in there just fine.

I was going on about how we had all the comforts of home. And then I said, “Well, except without the computer…” And he looked at me and said, “Um, yes…and showers.” (Apparently I favor my computer over having a shower. Hey, I like both….)

Now that we’ve all showered…I’ll share our upcoming menu for the week. We have not one but TWO field trips this week and quite a few soccer games too. It’ll be a fun, full week!

Monday, Sept. 29
Peanut butter honey toast, clementines
Pizza, apples
Spaghetti, corn on the cob, tossed salad

Tuesday, Sept. 30
Applesauce bread, bananas
Cheesy quesadillas, peaches
Turkey ham with scalloped potatoes and carrots

Wednesday, Oct. 1
Whole wheat waffles
Hearty bean casserole, bread and butter, fruit salad
Honey mustard chicken, baked potatoes, peas

Thursday, Oct. 2
Scrambled eggs, oranges
Hamburger patties, corn on the cob, strawberry-peach slushies
Potato soup, carrot sticks

Friday, Oct. 3
Giant breakfast cookies
Going to Pumpkin Patch! Sandwiches, apples, carrots, peach fruit leather
Tacos

Saturday, Oct. 4
Whole wheat cinnamon rolls, fruit
Homemade mac and cheese, steamed carrots
Stir fry – chicken, carrots, broccoli, rice

Here’s the link to our free downloadable fall menu planners. Hope to see you back for a week of fun blogging! I’ll share our camping pictures on Gratituesday!

Be sure to visit Organizing Junkie for more menu ideas.

This weekend I received more apples and more peaches. A TON more! Oh, and some grapes! So, guess what I’ve been doing all weekend? 

Yep, going to soccer games.

Oh, and making applesauce and canning peaches. And experimenting with fruit leather. (**UPDATE** I just posted about making fruit leather here!)  And making jelly. What a great year for fruit! Go God!

So this week, we’ll be eating apples, peaches and…

Sunday, Sept. 21
Oatmeal, fruit
BBQ chicken, cheesy mashed potatoes, green bean casserole
Bean dip with chips

Monday, Sept. 22
Whole wheat pancakes
Fried chicken legs, potato pancakes, peas
Tacos, pineapple

Tuesday, Sept. 23
Fried eggs on toast, clementines
Meatballs, corn on the cob, tomatoes, fruit salad
Chicken alfredo, tossed salad

Wednesday, Sept. 24
Sourdough biscuits with butter and honey, kefir-fruit smoothies
Beans and rice with salsa and creme fraiche (homemade sour cream)
Swiss steak over rice, broccoli

Thursday, Sept. 25
Applesauce bread
Turkey sausage, fried potatoes, mixed veggies
Beef stroganoff, green beans

Friday, Sept. 26
Breakfast burritoes
Hamburgers and onion rings
Cheesy Turkey Sausage Stromboli (hands down my family’s favorite dish), fruit salad

Saturday, Sept. 27
We just made plans to go camping with some friends…so I’ll need to figure out my menu plans for that…FUN!

Thanks to Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday!

If you haven’t signed up for my giveaway…head on over and do that!

And…guess what? 

I got me a new digital camera! Now you won’t have to see me in pictures like this. And…my new camera will let me take several minutes of video! For a LONG time, I’ve wanted to be able to put video tutorials on my blog for you. Hopefully I’ll be able to figure all of that out and post one soon! 

So, what I wanna know is…what are you most interested to see on a tutorial video?  (Just don’t ask me to stand on my head while chewing gum and singing Oh Susanna…I can’t do it.)  (You’ll have to pick a different song.)  ;)