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Homemade Nutella ~ Real Food Recipe Makeover

January 15, 2013 by Laura 44 Comments

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

“Homemade Nutella” is a recipe request I’ve had over and over. I never got around to making it (and I have excuses). But do you remember how I told you that my friend Anne and I exchange Christmas stockings each year? Well this year, one of the items she put in my stocking was Homemade Nutella! I begged her for the recipe – and here it is.

You really don’t want to know all of this, but just in case you do, even though you really don’t, here is the background information on how I managed to get this recipe from Anne:

  1. I emailed Anne after I got back from California to thank her for the lovely stocking and to tell her that later that day when Matt came to pick up our milk, I would send over some of the fresh oranges we’d brought back from our trip. And I asked her for her Nutella recipe.
  2. She emailed back to say that she had also loved what I’d put in her stocking and that her mouth was watering while she waited for an orange. But she said nothing about the Nutella.
  3. Matt went and picked up the milk, but I was upstairs doing laundry when he left, so I forgot to send oranges.
  4. I found mouse poop in some red wheat I had in storage and emailed Anne asking if it would be okay to feed that to her chickens. And I apologized for not sending oranges and told her I’d eat one on her behalf, and that at that very moment, I had the juice from a delicious orange running down my chin.
  5. Then she emailed me back and told me that I was evil to eat her oranges. And she said, “rats” about the mouse poop. See her rodent inspired play-on-words there?
  6. I giggled and emailed her back and said that yes I was evil, and full of citrus, and that really and truly, I’d get her some oranges.
  7. Then I kept forgetting to take over the oranges.
  8. But I really wanted the Nutella recipe. So I emailed her again a few days later and said, “You know how I asked for the nutella recipe and you forgot to give it to me? (Kind of like I told you I would bring oranges and then didn’t?) Any chance you could throw that my way? A few thousand HHM readers would love to hear about it… :) I have a small sack of oranges ready for you by the way. And some poopy wheat.”
  9. She emailed back to say, “Very clever” and then she gave me the recipe.
  10. Then today I finally remembered to give her the oranges.
  11. The end.

You’ve got to admit. That story was a lot more fun than me simply stating, “I got this recipe from my friend Anne.”

Homemade NutellaYum

1 1/2 cup whole hazelnuts
1 1/2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup powdered milk (not an ingredient I typically use, but an okay compromise for this recipe)
1 Tablespoon mild-flavored honey
pinch salt
1 heaping cup chopped bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate, or chips
1 scant cup chopped milk chocolate, or chips

On a rimmed baking sheet, toast the nuts in a 400º oven for 10 minutes, or until fragrant and their skins begin to pop. Transfer to a tea towel, gather into a bundle and rub together to remove as much of their skins as possible. While warm, transfer to the bowl of a food processor and blend until they go from finely ground to pasty and thick, like natural peanut butter.

Meanwhile, warm the milk, powdered milk, honey and salt in a small saucepan just until it starts to boil. Remove from heat. In a glass or stainless steel bowl set over a pan of simmering water, melt the chocolates, stirring occasionally until smooth.

Add the melted chocolate to the ground nuts and continue to process the mixture, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the warm milk mixture and process until everything is well blended and as smooth as you can get it. Makes about 2 cups.

nutella_2

 What’s your favorite way to use Nutella?

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Dairy Free Options to Replace Cream Soups

January 8, 2013 by Laura 32 Comments

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

If you’re looking to replace canned cream soups on a recipe, there are several options I’ve recommended. (Read this post to learn more.) 

However, all of the ideas I’ve thought of include dairy. What about those of you who need to avoid dairy? 

Shucks…I have no ideas. We’re very creamy and buttery at our house.

Our One Dish Meat and Potato Meal, which uses Homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup

Never fear though – I have a whole lot of readers and they are all smart and full of ideas. I’ll just bet many of you have some experience with this and can chime in with some great suggestions.

So let’s hear it! What can you use in a recipe to replace Cream Soups that will be a healthy alternative but does not include dairy?

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Homemade Caramel Brownies

December 30, 2012 by Laura 3 Comments

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

How’s this for a great way to begin the new year?! :)

I got this idea from my friend Kim. Smart! You can either bake these in a 9×13 inch pan, or in muffin cups for fun, individual servings.

Caramel BrowniesYum

2 sticks butter, melted
2 cups sucanat
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 recipe of Homemade Caramel Sauce

Stir together butter, sucanat and cocoa. Mix in egg and vanilla. Stir in flour and mix until combined.

To make a 9×13 inch pan of these brownies, spread the brownie batter into the pan. Drizzle the Homemade Caramel Sauce over the top and “cut it in” with a butter knife. Bake at 350° for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

To make individual Caramel Brownies:

Divide brownie batter evenly into 12-15 paper lined muffin cups.

Make a small “well” in the middle of each brownie cup. I used the end of the spoon to do this, since I’m so professional and fancy.

Next, drizzle warm caramel sauce into the well and over the brownie – one or two tablespoons for each.

Bake in a 350° oven for 25 minutes.

Not interested in the Caramel Brownies? How about Peanut Butter Brownies? :)

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Whole Wheat Butterhorns ~ Real Food Makeover

December 12, 2012 by Laura 52 Comments

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

Have a recipe you’d like me to try and make over?
Submit your recipes on this Real Food Recipe Makeover Submission Page.

Did you know that I really, really love butter?

Let’s see – which do I love more? Butter…or jars? That’s a toss up. Hey, did you know you can make butter IN a jar? That tidbit of information is irrelevant to this post, but still worth mentioning…just because it involves two of my favorite things.

It is a fact that Matt’s eyes got really big as I was buttering my biscuit last week – even though he obviously knows how much I love butter. I mean – it was enough to stop our conversation at the time.

“What?” I said,  “You’ve never seen me butter my biscuit before?”

“Yes,” he said, “I’ve seen you. But there is almost more butter than biscuit this time.” (At which point I grinned – and got just a tiny bit more butter because there was a spot on my biscuit not yet covered…)

Alrighty. So I like a little biscuit with my butter. And I like it to be all melty down the sides. Then I like to sop the buttery drippings off of my plate as I eat my biscuit. It’s just best that way if you ask me.

Which is why I was excited to make over this recipe. I mean, they are called Butterhorns! I didn’t have to make many changes in this recipe – just a few minor tweaks. And wow is it delicious!

With Christmas coming, many of you are looking for a yummy, whole grain roll to make with your holiday meal. This would be perfect if you ask me. :)

Whole Wheat Butterhorns

Whole Wheat ButterhornsYum

2 Tablespoons dry yeast
1/3 cup warm water
9 cups whole wheat flour, divided (I use freshly ground hard white wheat)
2 cups warm milk
1 cup butter, melted
1 cup sucanat or 3/4 cup honey
6 eggs
2 teaspoons salt
3-4 Tablespoons butter, melted

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in water. (Water should be warm, but not so warm that you can’t comfortably put your finger in it to test the temp.)  Add 4 cups flour, milk, butter, sucanat, eggs, and salt. Beat with an electric mixer until contents are smooth.

Add enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. I found it easiest to do this by hand. Although if you have a Kitchen Aid type mixer, I’m sure that would work well too! Turn mixture onto floured surface and knead for 3-4 minutes.

Place dough in a bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place until doubled (1-3 hours).

Punch dough down and divide into four equal parts. Roll each part into a 12-inch circle and brush with melted butter.

Cut each circle into 8 pie-shaped wedges.

Roll up each wedge from wide edge to tip of dough and pinch to seal. Place rolls, top down, on baking sheets.


Allow rolls to rise again for about 30 minutes or until they have doubled in size. Bake at 375° for 10-20 minutes (every oven is different!) or until they are lightly browned. Brush with melted butter as soon as they come out of the oven. Remove and serve immediately or cool on wire racks.

This recipe makes about 30 rolls. These freeze very well! I found that having a batch of these in the freezer is wonderful when I need something additional to help stretch a meal! I simply take out the amount we  need, warm them in our toaster oven, and serve them with…you guessed it…butter.

Who loves butter as much as I do?  Do tell.

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

Honey Pecan Pie ~ Real Food Makeover

December 4, 2012 by Laura 31 Comments

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

Yum
I have had several requests for a healthier Pecan Pie – one that didn’t call for corn syrup. My family was happy for me to try this experiment. I’m excited to share that I was easily able to adapt a recipe to use honey in exchange for corn syrup. Simple as that! (If only all of the Real Food Makeovers were this easy…)
Hey, guess what else? Not only was this recipe simple to figure out – the filling for this pie only has five ingredients. It’s super quick to put together!
Honey Pecan Pie
Honey Pecan Pie
Honey Pecan Pie ~ Real Food Makeover
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Ingredients
  • 1 cup honey
  • 3 eggs
  • ⅓ cup melted butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1¼ cups crushed pecans
Instructions
  1. Whisk first four ingredients together until eggs are beaten and everything is well mixed.
  2. Add pecans and stir.
  3. Pour mixture into an unbaked Whole Wheat Pie Crust.
  4. Bake in a 350° oven for about 45 minutes or until the middle of the pie no longer jiggles.
3.4.3177
Here’s my Whole Wheat Pie Crust recipe.
(My use of the word jiggles proves how professional I am in my use of cooking terms.)
pecan pie bites4
How about another, even easier Pecan Pie idea? Try these Easy Pecan Pie Bites! They are wonderful for your holiday dessert table because people can pop one or two in their mouths and still enjoy other favorite desserts too! Not that we all need more than one dessert. But that’s pretty much a holiday reality, right?
Cinnamon Sugar Pecans
And while you’re working with pecans, you might try these great Cinnamon Sugar Pecans! They are a great gift or snack!
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Real Food MakeOver: Crock Pot Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding Cake (and Cake Boys Episode 7!)

November 13, 2012 by Laura 21 Comments

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

Yum
 
Have a recipe you’d like me to try and make over? Submit your recipes on this Real Food Recipe Makeover Submission Page.
 

Remember that cake I tried to make in a crock pot that ended up being tedious and difficult? After that, my friend Jenny emailed me a recipe for Crock Pot Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding Cake, figuring that I could surely make over the ingredients to make this a healthier recipe.
 

I was excited, yet given my experience with cake in a crock pot, I couldn’t help but wonder:  Would this cake be a lot of work? Would it be tasty in the end?
 

The answer to those questions are:  No, this cake is not a lot of work…and YES this cake is incredibly tasty.
 

I actually handed the recipe to the Cake Boys (aka Justus and bros) to make this for Matt’s birthday last week. It was so easy for them to adapt that they did it without any help from me. Yes indeed, this Real Food Makeover is brought to you by the Cake Boys. :)

 
You simply pour the batter into the crock pot, then drizzle over a layer of boiling water/cocoa/sucanat. The cake bakes in a crock pot for two hours, and when it’s finished, the cake has baked over the top and a layer of fudgy pudding is on the bottom.
 

This cake is dreamy, rich deliciousness. We all loved it!
 


Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding Cake

 
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup sucanat
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
2 Tablespoons melted butter (or coconut oil)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

 
Combine flour, cocoa, sucanat, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Make a well in the center and add milk, butter, and vanilla. Stir well, until batter is smooth. Stir in peanut butter (heat if needed, to thin). Stir in chocolate chips. Spread the batter evenly into a well greased slow cooker. Make the topping:
 
Topping:

 
3 Tablespoons cocoa powder
3/4 cup sucanat
1 1/2 cups boiling water
 

Mix cocoa and sucanat, whisk in boiling water until smooth. Gently pour over batter in crock pot, but don’t stir. Cover and cook on HIGH until puffed and the top layer is set, about 2- 2 1/4 hours. Turn off crock pot and let stand, covered for at least 30 minutes. Serve the cake (which is now on top) with ice cream or whipped cream and drizzle the fudgy pudding from the bottom over both.

 
Makes 6-8 servings

 

 
And now, you can enjoy Episode 7 of Cake Boys, which includes a ridiculous commercial break by Asa. Wow, our boys have tooooo much fun putting these together. Also, I should note:  Justus says that he added “shortening” to the cake. He really added butter. He was just reading the original recipe when he recorded. :)  And then we had a little lesson about what shortening is and why we don’t eat it unless it’s Palm Shortening. But anyway…

 

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How To Replace Cream Soups in Recipes

November 8, 2012 by Laura 33 Comments

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

Once I announced our new Real Food Recipe Makeover:  Heavenly Homemakers Edition feature, many asked me to come up with a substitute for cream soups in recipes. Well, I can check that one off my list right away, because I already have several options for cream soup substitutes that I can share!

The best part of replacing canned cream soups is that it can be absolutely SO SIMPLE! You can take some time to make homemade cream soup if you want, but if you don’t, there are a couple of very easy substitutions you can make that take no extra effort at all!

Cream Soup Substitution Idea One:

Add sour cream instead. If a recipe calls for one 10 ounce can of cream of ________ soup, you can use one cup of sour cream instead. This is how I make Cheesy Beef and Rice. The sour cream makes the casserole creamy and adds great flavor too. So easy!

Cream Soup Substitution Idea Two:

Add heavy cream instead. If a recipe calls for one 10 ounce can of cream of _________ soup, you can add one cup of cream instead. This is how I make Creamy Chicken and Rice Casserole. You won’t miss the cream soup at all!

Cream Soup Substitution Idea Three:

Make Homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup. This takes a little more effort than the other two ideas, but you can make up a batch, use it right away, or freeze it for future uses! I use homemade cream of mushroom soup when I make One Dish Meat and Potato Casserole.

For any of these ideas, specificially ideas one and two, you may want to add a few extra herbs or spices to your recipe, since taking out the canned cream soup may also take out some of the flavor. But I have found that taking out the cream soup and replacing it with heavy cream or sour cream – I am then able to taste all the other great natural flavors in the casserole (chicken, vegetables, etc). The result is a fresh, clean taste.

Ah…real food. I love it. :)

Do you have some recipes that call for canned cream soups? Do you think any of the above ideas will work well as a substitute?

If you have a recipe you’d like for me to try and make-over, click here and fill out the form provided.

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

Real Food Recipe Makeover: Heavenly Homemakers Edition

November 6, 2012 by Laura 35 Comments

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

You’ve heard of the show, Extreme Makeover:  Home Edition right? I’ve only seen it a few times, but I enjoyed seeing the amazing changes a crew could make in a home – changes that would improve a family’s quality of living in an extreme way. 

Well, this new feature on our site may not change your life in an extreme way. Nor will we be all standing together to shout, “MOVE THAT BUS!” each time a new recipe is revealed. (Although that would be way too much fun.)  There are likely to be fewer tears at the end of each of these posts compared to the tears typically shed at the end of each Extreme Makeover television episode. 

But, since I am constantly receiving email requests from people, asking me to take an old family favorite recipe and remake it into something a little less “processed” and a little more “real food” – I decided to add this fun new feature. 

Now introducing:

Do you have a recipe in a cookbook or in your recipe file that you haven’t made for years because it calls for ingredients you just don’t feel good about using anymore? Have you seen something fun online that you’d love to make, but it’s too white sugary, white floury, canned cream of soupy, or corn syrupy for your liking? Send it this way and we’ll see what we can do.

I’m not going to make any promises that I will be able to fix every single recipe out there and make it into a wholesome, nutrient filled delight. But hey, I’ll do my best. And we’ll all have loads of fun in the process!

Shucks, maybe we will actually shed a few tears. (Or maybe my family will if/when I try to makeover a recipe that just doesn’t work out the way we might all hope. Yikes. God bless the taste testers.)  ;)

In order to make this process a bit easier for me, if you have a recipe you’d like to submit for a Real Food Recipe Makeover, please use the form on the submission page, following the link below:

Submit your recipes on this Real Food Recipe Makeover Submission Page. 

I’m wearing my apron. Bring on the recipes!

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