Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Winter Comfort…Warm Vanilla Soother

by 92 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Lately, this drink has been my favorite breakfast. It’s warm, filling and nourishing. As I drink this, I always feel like someone just handed me a delicious mug of comfort. Mmmmm Warm Vanilla Soother.

Warm Vanilla Soother

Warm Vanilla SootherYum

5.0 from 4 reviews
Winter Comfort...Warm Vanilla Soother
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 3-5
Ingredients
  • 3 cups whole milk
  • 4 egg yolks
  • ⅓ cup real maple syrup
  • 2 Tablespoons arrowroot powder or corn starch
  • 1 Tablespoon butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. In a medium saucepan, whisk together milk, egg yolks, maple syrup and arrowroot powder.
  2. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly (I use a whisk) until mixture begins to thicken.
  3. Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla.
  4. Stir until creamy.
  5. Pour into mugs and serve warm.

Sprinkle a little nutmeg on top or add a dollop of whipped cream for an extra special touch!

Ever since I bought a gallon of vodka started my big batch of homemade vanilla, I’ve been experimenting with new ways to use vanilla extract. Yum, homemade vanilla is so good! (You’ll find more great recipes like this one in our What to Do With the Vanilla in Your Kitchen ebook.)

This Warm Vanilla Soother was the beginning of several other comfort food drinks that were born in my kitchen. Chocolate, chocolate mint, pumpkin – they are all so comforting and yummy! They are the perfect way to warm up on a chilly day – perfect for breakfast because they are nourishing and filling. If you chill the leftovers, it turns into pudding – also delicious!

Here are the other recipes you’ll want to try:

If you have any other flavor ideas for this comforting drink, I’d love to hear them. I’m always up for experimenting in the kitchen – especially when I can take a basic recipe and tweak it to a slightly different variation of something we already love!

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

Holiday Help: What to Do With Leftover Mashed Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes

by 7 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

 

I seem to almost always over-shoot when I estimate how many potatoes to make for a holiday meal. Just in case you also have a few leftover mashed potatoes…here are some ideas for ways to use them up:

Mashed Potato PancakesYum

Leftover mashed potatoes
1/4 cup whole wheat flour (for every 2 cups of mashed potatoes)
Butter

Mix mashed potatoes and flour together. Melt a little butter in the bottom of a skillet. Spoon scoops of mashed potato mixture into hot butter and flatten a bit. Flip potato cake several times to ensure than you don’t burn the sides…but so that the cake is heated through and through.

potatopancakessm

Cheesy Mashed Potatoes

Leftover mashed potatoes
1/2 cup sour cream (for every 3 cups of mashed potatoes)
Shredded cheddar cheese (I use raw white cheddar)

Re-warm mashed potatoes. Remove potatoes from heat and stir in sour cream. Spread into a casserole dish. Sprinkle with cheese and heat in the oven until cheese is melted and bubbly.

cheesypotatoes2sm

Shepherd’s Pie

You’ll find the recipe for Shepherd’s Pie here. Just mix it up and spread the leftover mashed potatoes over the top. So easy!

shepherdspienewsm

Have leftover sweet potatoes?

Stir them into these Sweet Potato Streusel Muffins!

sweetpotatomuffins2smThese muffins taste as good as they look and smell!

Both mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes can also be frozen to save for another time. It’s wonderful to have frozen mashed potatoes and mashed sweet potatoes ready to add to one of the above recipes!

Share how you use up your mashed potato and sweet potato leftovers!

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

Holiday Help: Simplify Making Mashed Potatoes

by 37 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

holidayhelpsm

Yum

Learning this little potato trick changed my mashed potato making life forever. 

Instead of preparing your potatoes to be mashed on the day of your big holiday meal…prepare them the day before.

Scrub them (or peel them, whichever you like to do)….chop them…and throw them into your cooking pot.

mashedpotatoessm

Cover them with cool water.

mashedpotatoes2sm

Put a lid on your pot. 

When it’s time to cook your meal, boil your potatoes and mash your potatoes, then serve your potatoes (with lots of melted butter!). 

mashedpotatoes3sm

I’m telling you, this little trick will save so much back pain on Thanksgiving day. I always prep my potatoes on the Wednesday before. They sit in the water waiting patiently until it is time to cook them Thursday. 

Between prepping my potatoes the day before and cooking my bird several days before I need to serve it…I practically have nothing to do on Thanksgiving day. 

Okay, not really nothing. 

You know what I mean.

P.S. I use this little trick almost every time I make mashed potatoes any day of the year. If we’re having mashed potatoes for dinner…I prep them in the morning or whenever I have a spare minute during the day. Then, when it’s time to cook dinner, all I have to do is turn on the burner to cook the taters. Love it!
————————————————–

This post is linked to Kitchen Tip Tuesdays.

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

Ever Tried Cinnamon Apple Toast?

by 14 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

I mentioned here that I may be getting sixty pounds of apples in my co-op order this week. (UPDATE!!! Click here to see if the apples all came in or not!)  If they all actually come in, I have no doubt that they will all get eaten. The kids love snacking on apples…they are SO nice to have on hand! The apples I mean. Well actually, the kids are pretty nice to have on hand too.

I ordered twenty pounds each of Gala (my favorite!), Yellow Delicious and Spartan. I’ve never even heard of Spartan apples before. Have you? Are they good? I ordered them because they were $11 for 20 pounds!!! I can’t wait to try them (if they come in)!

Here’s a very simple apple idea we’ll be snacking on with all of our apples:

Cinnamon Apple ToastYum

Your favorite whole grain bread (I use this homemade Honey Whole Wheat Bread…or Whole Wheat Sourdough if I have it made.)
Apples, sliced thinly
butter
cinnamon

Place slices of bread on a baking pan. Butter each slice. Lay three or four apple slices on each piece of bread. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Broil Cinnamon Apple Toast in the oven for 2-3 minutes.

Cinnamon_Apple_Toast
So simple, your bigger kids can help you or make these themselves!

Other ways to eat apples…

What are your favorite ways to eat apples? If you have one, feel free to leave a recipe link in your comment! Really, because sixty pounds of apples? I might need to get creative!

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

High Five Recipes: Super Simple Chip Dip

by 10 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

High Five Recipes 2

Here is a very easy recipe to put together for a quick lunch or snack. Or, double the recipe to take to a party when you’ve been asked to bring a finger food.

Super Simple Chip DipYum

1/2 pound hamburger meat
1 cup salsa
1 cup sour cream or kreme fresh
Tortilla chips (We like Kettle brand, which is made with organic corn)

Brown hamburger meat. Stir in salsa and sour cream or kreme fresh. Serve with chips. (See? Simple.)

supersimplechipdipsm

What kinds of High Five Recipes are you interested in seeing more of? Main dishes? Side dishes? Desserts?

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

High Five Recipes: Homemade Barbeque Sauce

by 46 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

I’ve had several requests for my homemade barbecue sauce recipe. Turns out…it’s a high five recipe! Doesn’t get much easier than that!

High Five Recipes 2

Homemade Barbecue SauceYum

High Five Recipes: Homemade Barbeque Sauce
 
Save Print
Author:
Ingredients
  • ¾ cup ketchup (I use an organic, no high fructose corn syrup variety)
  • 2 Tablespoon minced onion
  • ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
  • 1 Tablespoon molasses, honey or sucanat (optional)
Instructions
  1. Mix ingredients in a small sauce pan.
  2. Simmer for a few minutes until flavors are blended.

As for the ketchup, I use an organic, no high fructose corn syrup variety. Muir Glen is my favorite.

I mix this Barbecue Sauce up as a dip for our meatballs or Popcorn Chicken…YUM!

bbq_sauce

Sometimes I put a few pieces of chicken into the crock pot, dump the sauce over the top, and let it cook slowly for a few hours. It’s the easiest main dish ever! Get the details on my Crock Pot Barbecue Chicken Breasts here. It’s also fantastic on Grilled Barbecue Chicken.

Or, sometimes I add it to leftover roast beef for BBQ beef sandwiches. Even more fun? Make your BBQ Beef into Barbecue Beef and Cheese Hot Pockets. They are freezable so you can make them ahead and pull them out as needed.

So let’s review.

Recipes that use Homemade Barbecue Sauce

What all do you put barbecue sauce on?

Easy Homemade Barbecue Sauce

Oh, and by the way – I really have no idea what “liquid smoke” is. I’m assuming that it isn’t the healthiest ingredient in the world. BUT…it makes for a yummy, easy BBQ sauce. This version is MUCH healthier than the HFCS versions I could buy at the store.

If I ever figure out how to turn smoke into a liquid and put it into a bottle all by myself, you’ll be the first to know.

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

High Five Recipes: Justus’ Shaved Ice

by 15 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

 

High Five Recipes 2

Yum

I’m not sure how often I’ve emphasized to you how much Justus (my nine year old) LOVES cooking. He wants to be a “restaurant worker” someday…he calls himself a chef (I am sometimes privileged to be his assistant)…and he really just can’t get enough of the kitchen. He LOVES it.

justuscookingmay09sm.JPG

Of course I love it too. While the other boys mostly love to cook so that they can lick a beater, Justus truly loves everything there is about cooking.

He got a new cookbook for Christmas and has been waiting for a warm day to make the shaved ice recipe he found in it. We adapted it to make it healthier (ah yes, I’m teaching him how to change a recipe already!) and here’s what he came up with:

Justus’ Shaved Ice

1 cup fresh or frozen peach slices
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
1 1/2 cups warm water
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup honey

If your fruit is frozen, place it in a bowl with warm water (not the water mentioned in the above list of ingredients) for about fifteen minutes to thaw. Drain.

Put fruit, water, orange juice and honey into a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Poor mixture into a 9×13 inch baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for about 6 hours.

justusshavedice2sm.JPG

Remove from freezer and allow it to sit on the counter about ten minutes. Use a large wooden spoon to “shave” icy mixture into serving bowls.

justusshavedice3sm.JPG

justusshavedicesm.JPG

The “bummer” about this recipe is that we had to wait for SIX whole hours before we could eat it. Not much instant gratification there! However, it was worth the wait!

All the boys (and the parents) loved this treat! It was super refreshing on a hot afternoon.

And, of course, it’s a wonderful recipe to help you get another great serving of fruit. (Are you taking the challenge?!)

Any other recipes you’d like Justus to come up with for us?!

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

High Five Recipe: Creamy Mac and Cheese

by 251 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

High Five Recipes 2

I’ve been searching my whole life (give or take) for a good homemade mac and cheese recipe. The recipes I’ve come up with in the past are decent….but not great.

A couple of months ago, a friend told me how she makes it. I adapted it a bit and now we can’t seem to get enough! It is THE creamiest mac and cheese ever.

Here’s the secret:  Cook your pasta in MILK instead of water. The milk makes it super creamy. The starch from the pasta thickens the milk into a sauce. Add your cheese after the pasta is finished cooking.

macandcheese3sm.JPG

Uh-huh…comfort food at it’s best.

Creamy Mac and CheeseYum

5.0 from 1 reviews
High Five Recipe: Creamy Mac and Cheese
 
Save Print
Author:
Ingredients
  • 2½ cups whole wheat pasta
  • 3 cups whole milk
  • ½ t. sea salt
  • 1 cup shredded cheese (I use white cheddar)
Instructions
  1. Mix pasta, milk and salt in a large sauce pan.
  2. Cook over medium-high heat STIRRING ALMOST CONSTANTLY until the pasta is tender (10-15 minutes).
  3. Remove from heat. (IMPORTANT!)
  4. Add cheese and stir until melted.
  5. Serve immediately.

Be very sure to remove this from the heat before you stir in the cheese. Otherwise you’ll have a gritty mess. :)

macandcheesesm.JPG

You can use any shape of pasta you want. I have found that elbow noodles cook quite a bit faster so I use those when I need a quick lunch.

Every time I make this, we can not believe how creamy and delicious it is. My lifelong search for awesome homemade macaroni and cheese has come to an end. We should have some sort of mac and cheese ceremony.

The Creamiest Mac and Cheese

 

If you haven’t ever tried cooking your pasta in your milk, you must do this! You can enjoy it for an easy meal as is. Or you can use this base recipe to make:

Life as you know it just got better. Serve any of these with a salad and some steamed veggies. It’s amazing!

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

High Five Recipes: Crispy Cheese Crackers

by 90 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

High Five Recipes 2

Move over little gold fish. There’s a new cheese in town.

Heidi emailed me a couple of months ago asking if I had a good cheese cracker recipe. Well no, I said, but I sure do love me a recipe challenge! It took a bit of trial and error, but I finally figured out a recipe that not only tastes good, but is SO easy.

Who knew a cheese cracker recipe that would qualify as a High Five Recipe!! (Oh, but psst…we’re not counting the tablespoon of water in this recipe as an ingredient…because that would mean there are technically six ingredients in this cracker. I really wanted to make this a High Five Recipe and it just would not work without a bit of water. Just sprinkle it in and look the other way.)

Crispy Cheese CrackersYum

¼  cup butter, softened
¼ t. sea salt
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, room temperature
1 cup whole wheat flour
¼ t. baking powder
1 T. cold water

Use beaters or food processor to mix butter and salt until creamy. Add cheese. Mix well. Gradually add flour, baking powder and water, mixing until dough begins to form a ball. Form dough into a ball with hands.

Roll the dough into 1/8 inch thickness onto a cookie sheet. (I find that placing the dough between two pieces of parchment paper helps me to roll them out more easily.)  Cut the rolled out dough into 1 ½ inch squares. Bake 15 minutes at 350° or until lightly browned. Turn off the oven and leave the crackers inside to crisp up. Store tightly covered.

That’s all there is to it! I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that my kids will eat the entire pan of these (before Matt and I get some) in one ten minute time frame. They LOVE these! So much for trying to make a snack to “have on hand”. Guess I oughta double the recipe, huh?

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

High Five Recipes: “Angeled” Eggs

by 44 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

I call ’em Angeled Eggs. I can’t help it.

High Five Recipes 2

I mentioned before that I have a pretty hard time calling these pretty little eggs…deviled. I’m pretty sure eggs don’t really care. I just think that “angeled” sounds nicer.

Have you ever taken Angeled Eggs to a potluck? It seems that they are one of the most popular items. They’re GONE before Great Aunt Edith’s chocolate pie – and that’s saying something! Plus, they are very inexpensive to make!

Here’s my simple four ingredient recipe:

Angeled EggsYum

High Five Recipes: "Angeled" Eggs
 
Save Print
Author:
Ingredients
  • 6 eggs
  • ½ cup mayonnaise (I use Hain safflower brand)
  • 1 teaspoon mustard
  • ¼ teaspoon onion salt
Instructions
  1. Put the eggs in a saucepan with enough water to cover them.
  2. Boil for 10 minutes.
  3. Remove the eggs from hot water immediately and place them into a bowl of cold water.
  4. Refrigerate until cool.
  5. Peel the shell off the egg.
  6. Cut each egg in half and place the yolks into a bowl.
  7. Mash the yolks with a fork, then stir in the mayonnaise, mustard and onion salt until smooth.
  8. Fill the whites of the eggs with yolk mixture using a spoon or a fancy cake decorating tool.

devilledeggs2sm.jpg
Peel the shell off the egg. (I usually start this process by banging it onto the counter, then rolling it around a bit. Cracks those eggs up. I guess it must tickle.)

devilledeggs3sm.jpg
Cut each egg in half and place the yolks into a bowl.
Mash the yolks with a fork, then stir in the mayonnaise,
mustard and onion salt until smooth.

Angeled Eggs
Fill the whites of the eggs with yolk mixture. I used my handy Pampered Chef cake decorator which makes these eggs SO pretty. Plus, the chickens must be really excited about spring because they are laying eggs with SUCH yellow yolks! Lovely!

I love how angeled eggs are a perfect picnic or potluck food – and how they compliment so many spring and summer time meals! And they’re so easy to make!

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