Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Homemade Beef Bologna

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I did it. I made bologna. Mine didn’t turn out nearly as pretty as Tammy’s. Maybe that’s because I adapted the recipe? Or maybe it’s simply because Tammy has a magic touch I don’t seem to have. (Tammy is super talented!)  Either way, we have a healthy, easy-to-make lunch meat that I will feel no guilt about feeding to my family.

A couple of notes about this recipe:

In order to avoid artificial flavorings, you’ll want to use a liquid smoke which does not have any additional ingredients beyond “liquid smoke”. Some liquid smoke varieties have caramel coloring and I don’t know what else. I have found that Lazy Kettle Brand contains only liquid smoke. I’m sure there are other “all natural” brands of liquid smoke – this is the one I found first.

In addition, Tammy’s recipe includes Morton’s Tender Quick Salt, which is a great salt for preserving. However, I hesitate to use this salt now that I’ve learned that it contains nitrates. Therefore, I tried simply using my trusty Redmond’s Real Sea Salt. I figure, I’m keeping the bologna in the fridge or freezer anyway so I don’t need to worry about “preserving” the meat, right?

Overall, I’m pleased with how the bologna turned out. Well, aside from the fact that mine didn’t turn out pretty like Tammy’s. Tammy, how do you do it? :)

Homemade Beef Bologna (adapted from Tammy’s Recipes)Yum

3 pounds ground beef (I used grass-fed beef)
2 Tablespoons sea salt
1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 1/2 teaspoons “all natural” liquid smoke

Mix all ingredients together, sticking your hands into the bowl to squish it all together in order to mix the ingredients well. Mmmhmm, that’s the fun part.

Divide the mixture into two parts and shape two “logs” of meat. I don’t like having plastic touch my raw meat if at all possible, so I placed parchment  paper on top of plastic wrap to help form the log and to wrap it for the fridge. (Yes, this may seem obsessive, but I’m weird – what can I say?)

Wrap the bologna logs well and place them into the refrigerator for 24 hours.

Unwrap the meat and place both logs into a buttered baking dish. I used a 9×13 inch Pyrex dish. Bake in a 300° oven for 30 minutes, then in a 200° for another 2 1/2 hours.

Cool and store in the freezer or fridge.

Homemade Beef Bologna

A big thanks again for Tammy’s Recipes for inspiring this recipe! Now, on to her Spicy Beef Pepperoni!

I’m super thrilled with this recipe because I totally love bologna. I know that’s a silly thing to love, but love it I do. Kinda like how I love beef hot dogs.

Do you like hot dogs and bologna, or do you think I’m a little bit nuts for thinking they taste good? Hey, at least now I can eat bologna again without feeling like my stomach is turning inside out!

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Easy Chicken Burritos (Perfect for the Freezer!)

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As I sat down to write this post, I could think of nothing exciting to say about these Easy Chicken Burritos. Therefore, I have decided to see if I can win “The Most Boring Blog Post Ever Award”. Most of this post has nothing to do with burritos, but really, there’s only so much a person can say about burritos. See look – there they sit:

Here is my very boring post:

Today I cleaned my ceiling fans and dust bunnies fell down onto the math books below. It was gross. When I got the mail this morning, most of it was junk mail so I put it directly into the recycling. We can’t find Malachi’s left tennis shoe. Today I’m wearing a brown shirt. I have a lot of brown shirts. I like brown.

I gouged my thumb on a kitchen cabinet yesterday. It hurts. Today I bonked it again. That hurt worse. The weather today is nice. Tomorrow it might get cooler. I need to pick green beans. And tomatoes.

I picked up our Azure Standard order today. We got a box of strawberries. They are good. Somehow we got strawberry juice on our kitchen floor tonight. I wiped it up.

I did four loads of laundry yesterday. They aren’t folded yet. Asa’s jeans are all too short. So are Elias’. So are Justus’. Kids grow fast.

We have crickets in our house. They are loud.

Here is a burrito recipe. These taste good. They are pretty much exactly like the Bean and Cheese Burritos and Beef and Cheese Burritos I’ve already written about, except that instead of using beans or beef, you use chicken.

(Told ya it was boring. Although that part about the weather was really pretty exciting. Except for not really.)

Easy Chicken BurritosYum

10 whole wheat tortillas (one batch homemade)
2 cups cooked chicken
1 cup shredded cheese (I use white cheddar)
1 cup salsa
Sea salt and/or chili powder to taste

Chop cooked chicken into tiny pieces or run it through a food processor. Stir together shredded chicken, cheese, salsa and spices. Spoon mixture into a warm, soft tortilla. Wrap and serve.


We like freezing these burritos, then rewarming them for quick lunches. To rewarm:  Place desired number of burritos on a baking stone or cookie sheet. Heat in a 350° oven for about 15 minutes or until slightly brown, crispy and hot.

What’s the most boring thing you can think of to tell me right now? Or maybe the most exciting? (If your laundry is folded and put away, I don’t want to hear about it. Over-achievers.)

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Healthy Homemade Pigs in a Blanket

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Pigs in a Blanket

Have I ever told you about the trophy I won back when I was in high school? I’m not very athletic, so I hope you aren’t imagining some sport trophy. If so, you’re going to be rather disappointed, although amused, I’m sure.

My trophy proudly displayed a golden pig. Don’t laugh. It had a wooden base and stood about 15 inches tall and there at the top was a golden hog that was probably around 3 inches long. Oh how I wish I still had it so that I could take a picture to show you. Wait – what did I just say? Do I really wish I still had my pig trophy? Why? So that I could use it to decorate my living room? (Precious Moments figurines, family pictures, pig trophy…)  Yes, I think I’m glad my golden swine got misplaced.

In case winning pig trophies aren’t common where you’re from, let me explain my prize. I was a farm girl and we were involved in 4-H. Each year, we raised pigs to take to the fair. One year, my pig won Reserve Grand Champion. It was a proud moment – and also a little embarrassing because well, what teenage girl do you know that can truly appreciate being awarded with a trophy of a pig? The only one at the fair more excited/embarrassed than me was my brother. His pig took the Grand Champion prize, so his pig trophy was even bigger than mine. Yep, those were some pigs.

Kind of makes you want to read Charlotte’s Web again, doesn’t it?

I say all of that to say: “I had a pig trophy and you didn’t, neener-neener-neeeeeener.”

Just kidding. (Even though it’s probably true – neener-neener.)

But really, I just wanted to share a new idea I’ve come up with for making a healthy variety of Pigs in a Blanket. I don’t want to get all “farm animal technical” here on you, but even though these are called “Pigs in a Blanket”, there’s actually no pork in these. I prefer my hot dogs to be all beef, no nitrate, no nitrite, no nootrote (I made that one up) and otherwise as healthy as a processed meat can possibly be. But to call these “Cows in a Blanket” – well, that just does nothing for me. It doesn’t sound nearly as cute. And really, these treats do look like little pigs wrapped up taking a nap. As we all know, pigs are always willing to be swaddled. I know my 4-H pigs always went directly where I told them to go. (bah)

Healthier “Pigs in a Blanket”Yum

3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup melted butter
1 cup plain yogurt
16 beef hotdogs, cut in half (I buy Applegate Farm Beef Hotdogs from Azure Standard)
32 small pieces of cheddar cheese (optional)

That dough recipe may sound a bit familiar. It’s my go-to recipe for Homemade Pizza Pockets, Homemade Poptarts and a variety of other goodies that require a flaky, buttery crust.

Mix flour, salt, butter and yogurt together. Knead ingredients together on a floured countertop until the dough is ready to be rolled out. Use a floured rolling pen to roll the dough to a 1/8 inch thickness. Use a knife to cut the dough into 32 rectangles.

Place one piece of cheese (if desired) and one hotdog half on each rectangle.

Roll it up and place it on a well buttered baking dish. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until the crust is lightly browned.

My kids especially like the Pigs in a Blanket made with cheese. These warm up great as leftovers and can be frozen. (I’d bake them first before freezing, then pull them out and rewarm them in the oven for a few minutes.)

I’m posting this recipe as a part of our Funky Fresh Kitchen series to remind us all that you can make all kinds of great dishes that are kid friendly and fun AND healthy!

Tell me all about your trophies, pigs, brothers, athleticism (or lack thereof), carrot sticks, or anything else remotely relating to this post. Your comment is your entry for a chance to win one of five $10 gift certificates to the Heavenly Homemakers Shop.

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Peanut Butter Brownie Cups (made with whole wheat and sucanat)

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The delightful thing about eating healthy, whole foods is that you can still have your cake and eat it too – you just need to make treats with real, wholesome ingredients. It also helps you to stay healthy if you refrain from eating the entire batch of goodies. Shucks.

Read through this post about Healthy Sweeteners, this post about Healthy Fats and this post about Whole Grain Flour to answer questions you may have about how to make treats that still have lots of great nutrients! While we still limit the sweets and treats at our house, I don’t feel guilt when feeding my family delicious desserts that are made with these whole foods and healthy fats. (You’ll see a big list of our healthier treat recipes here.)

And now, my friends, I have a very exciting new recipe to share with you that contains wholesome, funky fresh ingredients. Warning:  You may want to sit down when you take your first bite so that you don’t faint from the pure joy of it all.

A Heavenly Homemakers reader, Katie, gave me the idea for these Peanut Butter Brownie Cups. With tears in my eyes, my hand clutched to my chest and a sob in my throat, I’d just like to say from the bottom of my heart, “Katie…thank you.”

Yes, gooey chocolate and peanut butter makes me completely sappy. You can only imagine that this type of behavior is what my children and husband experience on a regular basis while living with me. If you think my reaction to this recipe is overwhelming, you should have heard me trying to get through the end of Little Britches when I was reading it out loud to the boys. Don’t even ask about Old Yeller.

Peanut Butter Brownie CupsYum

1 cup melted butter
1 1/2 – 2 cups sucanat (depending on your preference)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup natural peanut butter (I use homemade peanut butter)
2 Tablespoons honey

Stir together melted butter, sucanat and cocoa. Add eggs and vanilla and stir well. Mix in flour until batter is thoroughly mixed. Scoop batter into 24 paper lined muffin tins (filling each one about 1/3 full).

Stir peanut butter and honey together. Spoon 1/2- 1 teaspoon of peanut butter mixture into the center of each brownie cup.

Bake in a 350° oven for 20-25 minutes. Makes 24 Peanut Butter Brownie Cups.

Have you tried baking treats with whole wheat flour and sucanat (or honey)? Do you use real butter (instead of margarine or crisco)? Does the thought of chocolate and peanut butter together make you swoon?

Leave a comment on this post for an additional entry for our drawing for 5 $10 Gift Certificates to the Heavenly Homemakers Shop!

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Easy Noodle Stir Fry

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You’ll want to make this stir fry recipe a part of your weekly menu plan!

It is a fact that earlier in the summer, my oldest son requested Ramen Noodles for his 14th birthday lunch. Bleh. I obliged because it was his birthday and because I could afford the 17¢ required to purchase the desired package of what can’t possibly be food since it only costs 17¢. Asa completely understands why we don’t normally eat MSG covered cardboard – but doggonit – he likes the stuff and it was a birthday treat.

Our family used to make a great stir fry dish using Ramen Noodles “back in the day” before we began our healthy eating journey. Asa has fond memories of that dish and was actually the inspiration behind this new version. One day he simply said, “Mom – don’t you think you could just use spaghetti noodles and soy sauce instead of ramen noodles and make the Stir Fry taste the way it used to taste?” Huh, well now why didn’t I think of that?

We tried it and WOW. We all devoured it (which isn’t entirely shocking because “devour” is typically what we do around our table three or more times each day). This dish is great for several reasons:

  • It is very easy to make.
  • It is completely healthy.
  • You can make it a variety of ways, depending on which vegetables your family likes and has on hand.
  • You can make it a meatless dish or add chicken to make it a complete meal!

Easy Noodle Stir FryYum

3.0 from 1 reviews
Easy Noodle Stir Fry
 
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Author:
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 2-4 cups fresh or frozen veggies of your choice (broccoli, carrots, peas, peppers, corn, zucchini, squash, etc.)
  • 3 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 clove minced fresh garlic or ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • 10 ounces whole wheat spaghetti noodles
  • Soy sauce (to taste)
  • Sea salt (to taste)
Instructions
  1. In a skillet, toss vegetables, garlic and olive oil together - cooking on medium heat until veggies are tender.
  2. In the meantime, boil the spaghetti noodles in water and drain.
  3. Stir cooked veggies and noodles together.
  4. Add soy sauce, stirring until the noodles are barely coated.
  5. Add sea salt (and more soy sauce) if desired.

Easy Noodle Stir Fry

What is your relationship with Ramen Noodles? Love ’em? Hate ’em? Do you know what’s in ’em? You don’t want to know. I highly recommend switching to whole grain pastas and skipping any MSG filled sauces and flavorings as part of your Funky Fresh Kitchen challenge. You can do it! Look how tasty this dish is without any artificial anything!

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
malachi cutting
My youngest son can now cut all the veggies for this meal. I LOVE THIS!
This week only, grab the FREE Knife Skills Videos so your kids can learn how to cut fruits and vegetables safely!
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Whole Wheat Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies

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Finally, we can eat a guilt free Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookie. Made with real-food ingredients and homemade butterscotch chips, we don’t have to worry about hydrogenated oils or empty calories. These are so good for us, we could almost eat them for breakfast. Well, except that the butterscotch chips add extra sugar – which is maybe not the best way to begin our day. Shucks.

What if we eat them for breakfast with scrambled eggs?

And fruit.

Okay. I’ll stop.

Oatmeal Butterscotch CookiesYum

3/4 cup melted butter
1 1/4 cups sucanat or brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground hard white wheat flour)
1 cup Homemade Butterscotch Chips

In a large mixing bowl, stir together melted butter and sucanat. Add egg, baking powder, vanilla and baking soda. Stir in oats and flour until the dough is well combined. Fold in butterscotch chips.

Drop by the teaspoonful onto a cookie sheet. Bake in a 375° oven for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are golden brown.

If we drink a big glass of milk with our scrambled eggs, fruit and Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies – then could we count it as breakfast?

No really. I’ll stop.

Share your opinion! For breakfast or not for breakfast?? :)

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Homemade Butterscotch Baking Chips

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Check one more item off the Heavenly Homemakers Recipe Challenge List! We have Butterscotch Chips!

These are more than just a little bit sweet – wowza, these chips are quite sugary. Therefore, I must advise that you don’t eat the entire pan of butterscotch chips all in one sitting. I’m pretty sure you knew that already. I’m also pretty sure you are planning to eat plenty of vegetables before (and after) you make these. Right?

Here are the reasons I attempted Homemade Butterscotch Chips:

  1. Many of you wanted me to do this. I aim to please.
  2. Every single package of butterscotch chips I’ve seen on the market has hydrogenated oil in them. Bleh. It is very important to avoid hydrogenated oils.
  3. I need some Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies.

You will notice that I used organic brown sugar in this recipe instead of sucanat. I did this because I was afraid that the molasses flavor of the sucanat would effect the flavor of these chips, making them not taste like butterscotch. I had some organic brown sugar on hand, so I used it and was pleased with the results.

Homemade Butterscotch ChipsYum

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup coconut oil (I used expeller pressed so as not to have a coconut flavor)
1 cup organic brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a saucepan, melt together butter, coconut oil and brown sugar. Stir continually until all ingredients are mixed well, bringing the mixture ALMOST to a boil, then turning down the heat. Cook and stir some more on low heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is a liquid.

Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in vanilla extract. Pour the contents onto a parchment paper lined container. I used a 9×13 inch dish.

Place the dish into the fridge for 3-4 hours to allow the mixture to solidify. Cut or break the butterscotch into small “chips”.

Store them in an air tight container in the fridge.

And would you look at that? These homemade butterscotch chips make fantastic Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies! (I’ll share my recipe next week.)

Are you a fan of butterscotch chips? What’s your favorite way to use them?

Read about making Homemade Chocolate Chips here!

 

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Homemade Pudding Pops

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You know how all your friends growing up always had the cool snacks at their house? (Although I’m sure my friends thought I was the one with the cool snacks.)  One of my friends always had Jello Pudding Pops at her house. Visiting her in the summer was always a treat. Don’t worry – I liked her for more than just her pudding pops. I mean, she also had really cool Cabbage Patch Dolls. No really – I liked my friend for who she was – not just for her pudding pops and dolls (and cool play room and cute puppy).

I can not recreate a Cabbage Patch Doll, nor do I think my boys would want me to. But Beth at Turn 2 the Simple reminded me a few days ago with her comment on my Creamy Pudding recipe that I can recreate a Pudding Pop! I love how tasty these are, how refreshing they are on a hot day – and how they actually offer some nourishment and keep my kids full for a little while.

I simply followed my Creamy Pudding recipes and froze the mixture into pudding pops. EASY!!! I made both chocolate and vanilla. I didn’t try butterscotch, but I think I might next time just for fun!

How to Make Pudding Pops:

Make a batch (or two or three) of pudding. You can use my healthy varieties of Creamy Pudding if you want!

Yum

Pour the pudding into popsicle containers or 3 ounce sized bathroom cups.
Each batch of pudding made about 15 Pudding Pop cups.
I found it easiest to put all the cups on a large cookie sheet for easier transport the freezer.


Allow the pudding to cool and set up (about 45 minutes). Place a popsicle stick in each cup:


Put the Pudding Pops into the freezer for at least 4 hours. I was surprised that it took quite a while for these to be frozen through and through. Oh, but when they were frozen – it took me back to my days as a little girl playing with Cabbage Patch Dolls with my friend, and eating pudding pops on her porch.


Do you have any Pudding Pop or Cabbage Patch Doll memories to share? Oh dear, or are some of you too young to remember Cabbage Patch Dolls?

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Coconut Flour Cheddar Drop Biscuits

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coconut_flour_cheddar_biscuits_2

At a recent youth event, my friend Lisa mentioned something about her Coconut Flour Cheese Biscuits. I immediately dropped my plate and fork, leaped over the couch to the other side of the room and tackled her onto the floor, begging her to please share her recipe.

Of course you know I’m kidding.

Her name is really Louanne.

Okay no, I’m kidding again.

Her name really is Lisa and when she mentioned her Coconut Flour Cheese Biscuits I didn’t actually drop anything or leap over anything or tackle her. I’m not that crazy.

Yes, kidding again. You all know I’m crazy.

But still, she was nice enough to give me her recipe without all the drama. The drama is what I felt inside when I heard that she had a new great coconut flour recipe to offer.

So here, without any shoulder shaking, leg grabbing or tearful pleading is my friend Lisa’s awesome recipe:

Coconut Flour Cheddar Drop BiscuitsYum

¼ cup coconut oil or butter, melted
1/3 cup sifted coconut flour
4 eggs
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

Blend together eggs, coconut oil or butter, salt, and onion powder. Combine coconut flour with baking powder and whisk into batter until there are no lumps. Fold in cheese. Drop batter by the spoonful onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. For a cheesier biscuit increase cheese to ¾ cup.

This recipe makes about 10 biscuits.

coconut_flour_cheddar_biscuits_1

If you’re curious, here’s a post I wrote explaining more about why I love coconut flour. And also, one of my readers just let me know that this great deal for coconut flour is back up and running. How very thoughtful of them to re-stock five minutes before I posted this recipe. :)

Disclaimer:  No friends were harmed during the acquiring of this recipe.

Have you tried coconut flour yet? Do you love it?

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Teaching Your Kids to Cook: Turkey Ranch Pinwheels

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As I mentioned a few days ago, we’re working hard at our house on a new curriculum/ebook called Teaching Your Kids to Cook. Just like Learn Your Letters, Learn to Serve, this has become a family project. I’m the one writing it, but all the kids get to be a part of putting this all together (and posing for pictures), which makes this task so much more fun!

Malachi (age 6) was eager to help me try a new “recipe” idea – one that requires no cooking – just a little bit of spreading, rolling and sprinkling. In the middle of summer, any recipe that requires “no cooking” is a winner, so we decided we’d give you a sneak peek into this recipe before the book is completed!

Turkey Ranch PinwheelsYum

4 Soft Whole Wheat Tortillas
3 Tablespoons Ranch Dressing (we make our own ranch dressing)
½ cup Turkey, cut into tiny pieces
½ cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Spread Ranch Dressing on each tortilla.

Sprinkle bits of cheese and turkey over the ranch covered tortilla.

See what a nice job Malachi did!

Roll the filled tortilla up as tightly as you can.

Let a grown up help cut the rolled tortilla into pinwheels:

Malachi was so excited that he “made dinner for our family” and he declared this to be the “awesomest dinner ever!” It’s true – these Turkey Ranch Pinwheels were super easy to put together, didn’t require a stove or an oven and Malachi (age 6) was able to do most of the work all by himself (okay, not really, but sort of). We devoured this entire plate – and we had made a triple batch!

Since we had been taking pictures of the entire process Malachi wondered, “Don’t you need a picture of me eating them, Mom?” Well sure. Just in case you aren’t sure what to do once you finish putting your Pinwheels together, here’s Malachi to show you:

Do your kids enjoy helping you in the kitchen? I know it’s usually easier (and less messy) to do the work yourself…how often do you pull the kids into the kitchen to help?

Update! The book is finished – find Teaching Your Kids to Cook and Learn to Cook books here!

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