Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Busy Day Baked Chicken

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Bring on the Busy Day Baked Chicken!

Every day is a busy day! (Though it’s important that we are intentional about taking time to slow down and find restful days too!)

But for those extra-busy days – I am loving this idea for Busy-Day Baked Chicken!

This idea came from Anne, a cherished HeavenlyHomemakers.com reader. She says:

Laura, I have a favorite recipe idea to share! It was a lifesaver for me when I was a working mother (now retired). We call it “Wishbone Chicken.”

Wash and trim the fat on a whole chicken and place it in a pan. Sprinkle it with Lawry’s Seasoned Salt and slather it with Wishbone Italian Dressing. That’s it. Bake about an  hour at 350 degrees. Smells divine! Easy peasy!

As a working mom, I’d buy 3 or 4 whole chickens when on sale. I’d lay each cleaned chicken in foil and cover with the salt and dressing. Then I’d wrap each tightly in the foil and put in the freezer. On a work day, I’d take one out before I left for work, unwrap it, place in a pan, and put it in the oven (frozen). I’d set the oven to come on at 2:00 pm at 325 degrees. The chicken would be partly thawed when the oven came on. The kids and I came home from school around 3:30. We’d walk into a luscious smelling house and a delicious homemade dinner was all ready for us! – Anne

I’ve taken Anne’s great idea and we love it so much! I especially love the idea of buying the chickens on sale and making several ahead of time to freeze, then pull out and bake as needed!

This chicken is delicious and ridiculously easy!!

Busy-Day Baked ChickenYum

5.0 from 1 reviews
Busy Day Baked Chicken
 
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Serves: 4-6 servings
Ingredients
  • Whole chicken
  • Seasoning Salt
  • 1½ cups Italian Dressing
Instructions
  1. Place a whole chicken on a rack, placed on a baking sheet.
  2. Sprinkle liberally with seasoning salt.
  3. Drizzle Italian Dressing over the chicken.
  4. Cover and bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

This is my favorite Seasoning Salt. And here’s our great and easy recipe for Homemade Italian Dressing if you’d like!

Do yourself a favor and make this chicken! Serve it with a salad and steamed veggie and you have the easiest meal in the world that is extremely delicious and nourishing.

Thank you, Anne!

Psssst! Everyone be sure to grab our Simple Real Food Recipes cookbook full of amazingly tasty and simple real food recipes like this one!

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Instant Pot Taco Pasta (Stovetop or Crock Pot Options)

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I’ve already shared my Taco Pasta recipe in both Crock Pot and Stovetop varieties. Recently I created an Instant Pot Taco Pasta variety that is a must-have!

If you don’t have an Instant Pot, I do highly recommend them for the time and energy you’ll save in the kitchen! I love mine!! I have this one…do consider investing!

As you know, I love having hamburger meat cooked ahead of time to pull out and use as needed for super quick meals. You can read here about how I cook 5-7 pounds of frozen hamburger meat in 30-minutes in my Instant Pot.

So, if I have hamburger meat already prepped ahead, it is super easy to throw this Taco Pasta into my Instant Pot and have our meal ready in 10-15 minutes! I usually serve it with a salad (that everyone makes themselves directly from the container of mixed greens).

Fun fact: one of our babies wants to eat everything we eat, so naturally, he recently also wanted bites of salad we were eating. Matt gave him little bites (plain) and he gobbled it up and kept asking for more. This, with 7 teeth. Not sure how long this will last, but as long as the child eats greens, we shall feed him greens!

But back to this simple recipe:

Instant Pot Taco PastaYum

Instant Pot Taco Pasta (Stovetop or Crock Pot Options)
 
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Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 1 pound ground taco meat (cooked)
  • 16-ounces whole grain pasta (uncooked)
  • 32-ounces salsa
  • 2 cups water
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 cups shredded cheese
Instructions
  1. Stir cooked taco meat, uncooked pasta, salsa, water, and salt into an Instant Pot.
  2. Seal and cook on manual, hi pressure for 4 minutes.
  3. Quick release the pressure.
  4. Stir mixture.
  5. Stir in cheese and serve.

 

Don’t have an Instant Pot? No problem! Here are other options for you!

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Want more Simple Real Food Recipes? We’ve got a beautiful cookbook full of them!

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Simple Real Food Recipes – The Heavenly Homemakers Cookbook We All Need!

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Did you hear the news? Our brand new hold-in-your-hands and keep-in-your-kitchen Cookbook is here! Simple Real Food Recipes!

How Simple Real Food Recipes became a cookbook

In short, God did this.

Several years ago, He started helping me think of super easy recipe ideas. Such as: “Pour sauce on some chicken. Bake it.” (Does it get any easier than that? And wow, they’re still so tasty!!)

I started sharing these simple recipes here. The ultimate goal was that we’d all have more time OUT of the kitchen so we could more easily follow God’s greatest commands: Love God; Love your neighbor.

The Simple Recipe ideas kept coming. They kept coming and coming – and they changed my kitchen life. I was still preparing real, delicious food for my family. But I was hardly using any energy or time in the kitchen. These recipes have been wonderful and life-changing!

Many, many Simple Recipes later, we decided we must put them all into a bound cookbook for everyone. So I turned the project over to my incredibly talented designer and tada!!

Simple Real Food Recipes

This beautiful Simple Real Food Recipes Cookbook is filled with 123 pages full of the simplest recipes we’ve developed during the past three years. These recipes are all still made with real food ingredients!! Oh, but they take such little time and effort to prepare!!

You will be amazed at the blessing of having this Simple Real Food Recipes Cookbook in your home! Dive in and learn how to put super simple but still delicious food on your table with just a few minutes of preparation!

My very talented designer hand-drew these illustrations, making the book itself incredibly gorgeous. You can order the book from Amazon and have it shipped right away! I can’t think of a better way to bless you this holiday season. Think of what a great gift this will be to you and to others!

What’s in Simple Real Food Recipes?

Click over to Amazon and utilize the “Look Inside” link to see the full table of contents. SO MANY simple recipes you’ll love!!!

Thank you all for YOUR role in making this cookbook happen. You are the inspiration behind so many of these wonderful ideas and I appreciate you!

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

Simple Ham and Cheese Soup

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One of my favorite ways to cook is to turn leftovers into a brand new meal. That’s how this Simple Ham and Cheese Soup came to be.

Did you see the recipe I recently posted for Easy White Queso? I simply took that recipe, added three more ingredients, and turned it into a most delicious and flavorful soup!

But you don’t often have leftovers, you say? Oh, I hear you. That’s why I often double recipes so that I create leftovers on purpose! That way we can have a Taco meal with White Queso one night, then have Simple Ham and Cheese Soup the next night with very little effort!

Simple Ham and Cheese SoupYum

5.0 from 2 reviews
Simple Ham and Cheese Soup
 
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Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 8-ounces cream cheese
  • 16-ounces pepper jack cheese
  • ¾ cup sour cream
  • 1 cup half-and-half or whole milk
  • 10-ounce can Rotel (diced tomatoes and green chilies)
  • 1 pound ham, diced or cut into small bites
  • 3-4 cups frozen hashbrown potatoes
  • 32-ounces chicken, beef, or vegetable broth
Instructions
  1. Whisk the cream cheese, pepper jack cheese, sour cream, half-and-half, and Rotel together in a large pot over medium heat until cheeses are melted and mixture is smooth.
  2. Add diced ham, potatoes, and broth.
  3. Cook and stir until soup is bubbly and potatoes are tender.

For the record, I don’t add garnish because as pretty as that is, who has time for garnish? So when I make this, it looks just like what you see in this picture except for the pretty green garnish. #realmom

Note: If your family doesn’t prefer much spice, substitute your favorite cheese (cheddar or Colby jack maybe?) for the Pepper Jack cheese. You can also skip the Rotel. We prefer both the Pepper Jack and the Rotel for the awesome flavor those add to this soup!

What to serve with Simple Ham and Cheese Soup

Need some ideas for tasty breads to serve with this soup? Here are a few ideas:

Want More Simple Recipes?

We’ve got a huge list, and it keeps growing!

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Simple Pumpkin Waffles

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I highly recommend enjoying a fall brunch with these Simple Pumpkin Waffles. These are light, fluffy, flavorful, and perfect!

When I told our 17-year old that I was going to make Pumpkin Waffles he saw right through my “add a veggie to breakfast” scheme. Still, he went back for seconds and even ate homemade applesauce on the side. It was a perfect fall breakfast – or brunch as was the case that day as we tried to squeeze in a hearty meal between high school/college classes, kindergarten homeschool, babies’ naps, a college soccer game, and tennis meet.

It’s rare that I have time to stand at the waffle iron these days. So it only made sense that I double the recipe and make a huge pile of waffles so we can easily toast and enjoy them another day soon. If you’re going to make a mess, you might as well make a big one, right? :) So now I have a freezer full of Simple Pumpkin Waffles to pull out and serve as needed!

I highly recommend whipping some cream to serve on top of these waffles. A huge dollop of whipped cream along with real maple syrup drizzled over the top of these waffles makes an incredible meal. Sausage, applesauce, and coffee too? It’s breakfast heaven.

Simple Pumpkin WafflesYum

Simple Pumpkin Waffles
 
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Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 2 cups of whole grain flour (I use freshly ground soft white wheat)
  • 1 teaspoon of baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon of cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
  • ½ teaspoon of sea salt
  • 1½ cups of milk
  • 15 ounce can 100% pure pumpkin
  • 3 eggs
  • 4 tablespoons of melted butter or coconut oil
Instructions
  1. Whisk all ingredients together until smooth.
  2. Scoop about ½ cup of batter into a hot waffle iron.
  3. Cook until waffles are golden brown.

What is it about pumpkin and cinnamon in the fall that just doesn’t taste the same any other time of year?

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How to Make Food Easy!

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It’s time for a brand new challenge! Ready to learn how to Make Food Easy?!

Our Take Ten Challenges were so fun and popular that we decided to create a brand new challenge – this time with a twist!

The Make Food Easy Challenge offers this:

  1. A complete Make Food Easy eBook full of everything you’ll need to easily complete this two-week challenge! (We’ll send it to you right away after you sign up to join!)
  2. Two weeks worth of menu plans and grocery lists.
  3. Simple instructions for spending just a few minutes prepping meat for each week so that you can easily and quickly put your weeknight meals together.
  4. Daily weekday emails during the two-week challenge, telling you just what you need to do each day to quickly prepare your evening meal. (With bonus ideas and recipes!)
  5. Guidance to help you see how one meal leads to another!

Here’s how we’re making food easy:

One meal will lead to another. Like this…

If you’ve made meat for one meal, you’ll set some aside to use for another meal later in the week. If you bake potatoes for one meal, you’ll save the extras to use for a brand new meal later in the week. If you’ve prepped potato toppings for one meal, you’ll pull them right back out later in the week to use for tacos. See how easy and wonderful this is!!?! One meal truly does lead to another, making your daily meal prep incredibly simple and your family meals perfectly delicious!

Once you sign up to join this challenge, we’ll give you the complete eBook, grocery lists, recipes, and everything you need so you’ll be guided through these great ways to learn how to Make Food Easy. Here’s a peek at the first week’s menu and prep-ahead guide:

Here’s a little “map” to help you see how one meal leads to another:

Clear as mud? Don’t worry! The eBook and daily guides walk you through everything you need to know, step by step. Like this example for Day #3 of the Make Food Easy Challenge:

You’ll use the leftover baked potatoes from Day #3 to make a delicious Ham and Potato Skillet on Day #4. You’ll use the leftover Potato Toppings from Day #3 to fill your Tacos on Day #5. Your meat will have already been prepped ahead so that all you have to do each night is pull out what you need and create your quick meal.

See how fun it is to Make Food Easy?!

The Make Food Easy Challenge comes with two entire weeks’ worth of grocery lists, menu plans, prep-ahead guides, daily to-do pages, serving suggestions, recipes, and more.

And I suppose I should mention: Today through October 20 it’s completely FREE!! ($17 value!)

Yep, as we launch this brand new challenge, we want to make it accessible to everyone!

Here are the simple Make Food Easy Challenge details:

  • This Make Food Easy Challenge will run October 21-November 2.
  • Sign up for FREE by Sunday, October 20 and we’ll send you your brand new Make Food Easy eBook, grocery lists, prep guides, and everything you need to be prepared for this challenge.
  • Share this post with your friends so they can sign up too!! Email me a screenshot of your share on any form of social media and we’ll thank you by sending you a FREE copy of our Let’s Do This! eCourse. It’s worth $10 and it teaches you how anyone can get ahead in the kitchen! You’ll love it!!
  • Stick around through the entire two week’s Make Food Easy Challenge. Take pictures of each day’s meal prep or final meal. At the end of the challenge, send me all 10 meal pictures and I’ll send you ANY one eBook from my shop that you want. Yep, you can pick from any of them. (There are 21 to choose from!)

Get this for FREE when you share our new challenge on social media!

Notice how the free stuff just keeps on coming!

We’re giving every one of you up to $52 worth of free products here – are you amazed!?

  • FREE Make Food Easy Challenge package ($17 value)
  • FREE Let’s Do This! eCourse when you share this challenge on social media and send me a screenshot ($10 value)
  • FREE eBook of your choice from the Heavenly Homemakers Shop when you complete the entire challenge and send me picture proof (up to $25 value)

Ready to get started with the fun?!

Sign up here and watch for an email with your Make Food Easy eBook and getting-started instructions. Then watch for emails full of all the simple details you need throughout our Make Food Easy Challenge October 21-November 2.

We’re going to head into the holiday season stress-free and with all kinds of simple recipes and meal plans at our fingertips!

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

Easy Recipes That Include Beans

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Looking for some easy recipes that include beans? These will save you money and make your tastebuds happy too!

Easy Recipes that Include BeansYum

We’ll start with our newest bean recipe, Simple Hearty Bean Casserole. It’s one of my favorites. No. It IS my favorite. My whole family loves it.

Next, I’ll share a wonderful and easy side dish: Simple Baked Beans. What a great way to round out a meal.


Did I say the Hearty Bean Casserole was my favorite? Because my other favorite is this The Simplest White Chicken Chili. Every bite is full of yum.

No shame, we like Simple Beanie Weanies at our house. From the little guys to the grown-ups, there’s something really delicious about beans and dogs. The fact that this meal can be on the table in 10 minutes is pretty rockin’ too.

If you’re looking for a SUPER FAST meal, make this Bean and Cheese Salsa Dip. Lunch will be on the table in five minutes flat.

You will love how flavorful this Simple Taco Rice Dinner is! It includes black beans and goes together quickly for a comforting meal any time.

Black Bean Salsa is so flavorful and good! It works as a meal or a snack and it goes together quickly.

Here are a few more bean recipes you’ll love and want to check out!

With all this talk about beans, I thought it would fun and a little bit silly to throw in a little discussion about buying vanilla beans to make homemade vanilla. Hey, it’s a bean recipe too, am I right?

The price of vanilla beans has gone up greatly the past few years, so is it still worth it to make homemade?

And also, let’s have a little talk about Green Beans. Here are Two Simple Tricks to Get Your Kids to Eat Green Beans.

So many great bean options!!!

How do you like your beans?

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

Ready to Take Ten…Again? Join our New Take Ten Challenge!

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Our first Take Ten Challenge went so well and was so much fun that we decided we definitely wanted to offer another one. So here we go! Let’s Take Ten…Again!

You can take ten minutes each morning to prep your meal for the evening. Ready to learn how? Let’s Take Ten…Again!

We’re going to walk you through everything you need to know to get 10 meals on the table FAST! We’ll give you a grocery list, recipes, instructions – everything you need. It is so simple, so fun, and your family will love these meals!

The Take Ten…Again Challenge

Right after you sign up, we’ll immediately send you a complete grocery list plus all the information you’ll need to know as we launch the challenge.

We’ll also include this Ingredient Quick Glance sheet so you know what you need to have on hand or thaw before each day’s challenge. Easy peasy!

Each evening of the 10 day challenge, you’ll receive an email with the details you need. Watch for the first Take Ten Again Challenge email to arrive four days after you sign up to get started. It’ll look something like this, telling you what to do in 10 minutes each morning to get a head start on your evening meal prep:

Then, each evening for the next 10 days, you’ll receive the next day’s challenge details. See how simple? You won’t have to think about what to make for dinner for two entire weeks! We love how fun and helpful this is!

When each email arrives, plan to spend about 10 minutes (or less?!) the following morning doing whatever the Take Ten challenge suggests that you do. That evening, complete the final preparations, then enjoy an easy meal around the table with your family!

Not a morning person?

If you prefer, complete some of the meal prep tasks at night before heading to bed!

A note about food intolerances:

All ten of the recipes used in the Take Ten Again Challenge can be made gluten-free. ALL OF THEM, without any extra work on your part!

Everyone who joins the challenge and sticks with us until the end will receive a copy of our beautiful brand new Take Ten Again eBook, filled with all of the Take Ten challenges and recipes, plus oodles more time-saving ideas and recipe links! That way you’ll have these ideas and instructions forever. :)

Ready to join our Take Ten Again Challenge? We can’t wait to do this with you!

Our Heavenly Homemaker’s Club Members have access to this amazing resource plus ALL of our eBooks, eCurriculum, printables, and so much more – for one very low price! Join us here!

Or purchase this separately:

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Once you’ve purchased, watch for an email asking you to sign up to receive all of your Take Ten Again information. Sign up, then confirm that you’d like to receive our Take Ten Again Challenge information. Then you’ll receive our free Take Ten grocery list and other important challenge information.

Looking forward to saving time and money with you while we put great meals on the table!!

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

Simple Hearty Bean Casserole (How to cheat and make this FAST!)

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This Simple Hearty Bean Casserole is a family favorite, and if you follow these simple make-ahead tricks, you can have it on the table super quickly!

First, let’s talk about the beauty of prepping Homemade Bacon Bits ahead of time. And while we’re at it, let’s be reminded about cooking several pounds of hamburger meat ahead of time.

If you do these two things, you will have so many quick meal options at your fingertips!!

For this Simple Hearty Bean Casserole, I’ve found that if I have the bacon bits and the hamburger meat already prepped all I have to do is stir them into a couple cans of beans and we have a meal. This is so easy and good!

Yes, you can soak and make your beans from scratch. This is a great money saver! During this season in my life, I’ve found that it is incredibly helpful to have a case of Baked Beans on hand for easy meal prep. Maybe someday I’ll get back to soaking and cooking beans. ;)

This is my favorite brand of Baked Beans.

This recipe is perfect for a family who loves their protein. Beans, bacon, and hamburger all in one bowl? Yah. Add a side salad and some fresh fruit and the meal is complete!

How to make Simple Hearty Bean Casserole:

I just want you to know how easy this is, especially if you have your meat prepped ahead.

  1. Open two cans of beans and put them into a large cooking pot.
  2. Dump in some cooked bacon bits.
  3. Dump in some cooked hamburger meat.
  4. Squeeze in some ketchup.
  5. Shake in some dry minced onion.
  6. Heat until bubbly (5 minutes).
  7. Serve and eat!

Do you see? Do you see how easy this is and how wonderful it can be to have these foods prepped or purchased and waiting to make a great meal for your family?

Simple Hearty Bean CasseroleYum

And now, we’ll pretend that this is an actual recipe.

Simple Hearty Bean Casserole (How to cheat and make this FAST!)
 
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Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 1 pound hamburger meat
  • ½ pound bacon
  • 2 Tablespoons dry minced onion
  • 3 Tablespoons ketchup
  • 2 15-ounce cans of Baked Beans
Instructions
  1. Cook hamburger meat, bacon, and onion together in a large pot.
  2. Drain excess grease if necessary.
  3. Stir beans and ketchup into cooked meat.
  4. Heat until bubbly.
  5. Serve and eat!

Want More Simple Recipes?

We’ve got a huge list, and it keeps growing!

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Can Simple Meals Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half??

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I’ve shared over and over how our Simple Meals plans can make your kitchen life much easier! But is it possible that they would also cut your grocery bill in half?

Can Simple Meals Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half??

I always love hearing how Simple Meals is a blessing to you as it is to us. So I wanted to share this feedback I got from Lori. READ THIS!!!

I just had to send a huge THANK YOU! I’m not really one to use someone else’s menu plan, because I usually end up changing so much that it ends up being counterproductive. However, we have been clean eating/cutting out sugar for the past 2 years, which meant more meal planning and meal prepping for me, since we couldn’t always just grab take out or go out to eat. So needless to say, by the time I found you, I was burnt out! Lol!

When I saw your offer on build your bundle (a few weeks ago), I thought here’s the answer to my prayers! We have just started with our first week and have only tried 2 meals so far, and I’ll be honest, while I was making the recipes, I was doubting the simplicity and wondering if my kids would even like the meals, but I WAS SO WRONG, they LOVED both recipes we’ve tried so far!

The even better part, our grocery bill this week was almost cut in 1/2, by following your plan!! I am a homeschooling mom to 6, with 2 graduates and 4 still at home. We added in some outside classes this year, along with some extra, extracurriculars, haha, so you have saved my sanity, my food budget, and most importantly my time. I can’t wait to see what future menus bring.

Lori’s encouragement was so wonderful that I wrote her back to thank her and to get permission to quote her. Lori’s response?

You absolutely can quote me! I have the 3 cheese pasta in the crockpot for dinner and am still amazed that it took me literally 5 minutes to put together, and all I have left to do for dinner is throw together a salad, like what?!?!?

How cool is that? Simple Meals really makes life simple, and it saves lots of money too!

Here’s a reminder that now through September 4, your one-year Simple Meals is 50% off! To think, our subscription is 1/2 off and you can cut your grocery bill in 1/2 too!!

Get all the details here.

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