This eCookbook the resource so many of us (including me!) have been needing for so long!

Because this kitchen resource is designed to be your “go-to” book, it is filled with pictures, tutorials, information, and of course – lots of recipes. It isn’t fancy. It isn’t overwhelming. It’s just me sharing “how I do it” when it comes to feeding my family a healthy diet on a limited budget and with limited time.

This book includes my most treasured recipes that I use all the time. I’ve shared many of them through the years on my blog, but to have them all together in one handy book? This is so helpful! These are the recipes that help me feed my family healthy food without breaking my neck in the kitchen. These are the recipes that keep my freezer stocked with ready-to-grab meals and snacks. These are the recipes my family loves. (Even the family members who are picky!)

In addition to all the recipes and helpful information we’ve organized in the book, you will find “Real Quick Tips” sprinkled all throughout, which will provide you with simple ideas for getting ahead and saving time in the kitchen.

Each time you see the “Freezer Friendly” button in the book, you can learn with a quick glance how to prepare that particular recipe for the freezer, and how to reheat it when you are ready to serve it.

What will you find in Oh, For Real?

• Over 115 healthy, real food breakfast, lunch, supper, casserole, slow cooker, and snack recipes that will save you time, money and sanity
• Versatile mixes and whole grain dough recipes that offer loads of healthy recipe options with little to no effort
• Freezer cooking ideas and instructions to help you actually get ahead in the kitchen
• Last minute (healthy) meal ideas, because for real, you don’t have to resort to ordering pizza in a pinch
• More information about my family and me than you ever really needed to know. We are real.  :)

Care to take a little peek inside? Click here for a preview.

This is not an eBook you will read once and stuff on your shelf, never to be read again. This is more than a cookbook. Oh, For Real is your real food resource – the book you will reference over and over as you develop and/or maintain your healthy, whole foods kitchen.

Get yours here!

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!

With the launch of our Oh, For Real book coming in March – we are so excited to share what is falling into place to go along with it! This is something we’ve been wanting to do for a long time. Somehow, the timing just wasn’t right. Until now.

As our family looks ahead toward the coming months, our calendar shows quite a few out of town trips. A basketball tournament, an extended family vacation, a wedding, a family service trip, a family reunion…

During each of these trips, as we are able, we will be planning a “Meet and Greet” time in various cities. I want to meet you – For Real! (Get it? We can meet “in real life”!) I want to get to know you and learn more about your life. I am so excited about this!

What I’m not excited about? All of the areas we aren’t visiting in the near future. There are so many of you all over the U.S. and beyond that I would love to meet. Unfortunately, we don’t have any family reunions in New York. Or Oregon. Or Japan. ;)  Maybe someday I will meet all of you this side of heaven. We’ll do what we can!

So what do we have lined up in the coming months for Oh, For Real ~ Meet and Greet times? 

Thursday, March 14 ~ Kansas City ~ 2:00 pm ~ details to come!
Friday, March 15 ~ Branson, MO  ~  2:00 pm  ~ details to come!
Tuesday, March 19 ~ Springfield, MO  ~ 10:30 am  (Please email me if you are interested in helping me secure a location.)

May (sometime between the 16-22) ~ Denver, CO  ~ Purple Door Coffee ~ details pending
May (sometime between the 16-22) ~ Colorado Springs, CO  ~ details pending
Sunday, July 7 ~ Oklahoma City, OK ~ 2:00 pm ~ Vintage Coffee

Be watching for additional posts which share further details and specifics of these events. In the meantime, make plans with your friends to join us if you can!

The past few weeks have been very exciting (and maybe a little bit busy) around here. Why? Because we’ve been finishing a big project and making some big plans. 

We have been putting the final touches on a book that has been in the works for over two years. I began working on it in 2011 and added to it as I had time and as more ideas came to me – usually based on questions from you. :)

Then finally, last summer, God allowed all of the pieces to come together and I began to work on the book in earnest. Now, here we are at the end of February 2013 and the book is almost complete. The goal is to launch the book the beginning of March. (Less than two weeks…is it possible?! We shall see.)

So what is this book all about? Mostly, it is all about how I always feed my family a perfectly healthy diet, every day, without fail, while maintaining a spotless house, and…

Oh, for real!

On the contrary, this book is about the real me and my real family, with our crusty dishes, picky children, and a trail of reeking compost juice that somehow managed to dribble its way out of the bucket from the kitchen all the way outside.

Oh wait. That was just yesterday.  That particular bit about fermented compost didn’t actually make it into the book. But you get the point.

Over the five plus years that I’ve been writing this blog, I have received countless emails from people asking me, “How do you do it?” How do I manage to work from home full time on this website, home school my kids, invite people into our home frequently – all while feeding my family a healthy diet of real foods? How do I afford it? How do I get my kids on board with healthy eating? How do I figure out what is healthy and what isn’t? And how in the world do I find the time?

If you’ve read here long, you know that I don’t always have the time. My kids don’t always like what I make for them to eat. And if you open any number of the closet doors in our home, you will be frightened by what you’ll find inside. 

Our family is real – with a real busy schedule and a real budget. But we still eat real food. (Along with the occasional Dorito.)

Eating a real food diet is possible for everyone. For real. This book answers the question of, how I do it. How I find the time. How I manage to consistently put healthy meals on the table in a simple way and without killing myself all day in the kitchen. It also talks about how much I love butter. Are you surprised?!

Coming March, 2013

Oh, For Real is more than a cookbook. It is a fun read, full of healthy food information, time saving tips, and freezer cooking ideas. Oh, For Real compiles much of the information I’ve shared over the past five years on this blog (in over 2,875 posts). Now, you can read through all of those posts, scroll through loads of recipes, and try to piece together all of the information as you work to figure out freezer cooking, getting ahead in the kitchen, buying basic real food ingredients…

Or, you can just store Oh, For Real in your kitchen, which encapsulates everything my blog is about, and organizes it into 99 pages – with over 115 of my favorite, most used recipes!

Recognize this though:  I don’t have a flawless system! In fact, my system really is systemless. You will be able to take the information in this book and make it work for you in your real world and in your real season of life. Oh, For Real offers simplified information that you can learn from, then you can grab what works for you and drop kick the rest.

Watch for more information as the book comes together and is ready to launch. :)

As for the other plans we’ve been working on recently – you’re just going to have to wait a little while longer for me to share that news. We’re still working out some of the details.  And trying to finish the book. And going to our son’s basketball games. And wiping up fermented compost juice.

In the meantime, I will be sharing some sneak peeks into the Oh, For Real book – just so that you can learn more about what’s inside. I can’t wait!

For today:  Tell me something “real” about you!   Don’t remember the last time you cleaned behind your refrigerator? Did you eat ice cream for dinner last night? Do you need to organize your closets as badly as I do? Let’s share. After all, we’re all real, right? :)

It’s vanilla time! We have been “brewing” a big batch of homemade vanilla extract for six months, and it now bottled and ready to send to you!

Our vanilla is absolutely pure, with nothing added. Read how we make (and how YOU can make) homemade vanilla extract in this post. Because we use a large number of vanilla beans in each batch and allow our vanilla to sit for six months, this vanilla is double strength, which means that you can use half the amount called for in a recipe. Yes, that means that each bottle of our vanilla will last you twice as long as a typical bottle of vanilla!

To cut down on cost, we’d love to encourage you to look into making your own vanilla extract. It’s easy, it’s fun, and it’s a big money saver. Plus,  you’ll find that homemade vanilla extract makes a great gift.

For those of you who do not desire to make homemade vanilla, or if you want a quality vanilla on hand to get you by until your own vanilla is ready to use, we are happy to offer our Heavenly Homemakers Vanilla Extract!

If you are interested, I advise you to act fast. Our supply usually sells out within 24 hours – last time, it only lasted for five hours!

The cost of shipping is included in the price. The price you see is the total price you’ll pay. Matt and the boys will package and send your vanilla to you right away, so you should receive it within a week to ten days. Quantities are limited – sales made on a first come, first serve basis…thanks for understanding!

This vanilla is available to U.S. purchasers only.

4 ounce bottle
$15.00
SOLD OUT!

8 ounce bottle
$26.00
SOLD OUT!

We’ve sold out – thank you all so much! Look for more of our homemade vanilla extract in June. And be sure to look into making your own vanilla extract. It’s easy and fun and saves you lots of money!

I’ve told you about my sweet tooth. You know I love my desserts. I seem to think I can’t live without chocolate. Daily. At least once. If not twice. It can be a problem.

That’s why I like to have fun experimenting with natural sugars and whole food ingredients to put together tasty treats that are better for us. Does making these natural sugar treats give me permission to eat the entire pan? Um…no. Unfortunately, I still have to use some self control. Unless it’s chocolate. Oh wait, no – even if it’s chocolate. Especially when it’s chocolate.

Here’s an example of one of our favorite natural sugar treats:  Coconut Macaroons. They are easy to make, use real maple syrup to sweeten them, and hey look at that – this recipe doesn’t even contain grains!

Coconut Macaroons

4 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons arrowroot powder
1/2 cup real maple syrup
2 cups unsweetened, shredded coconut

Separate eggs, putting the whites in a mixing bowl and the yolks in the fridge for tomorrow’s breakfast. Beat the whites and salt with a hand mixer until soft peaks form. Continue to beat and add vanilla, arrowroot powder and maple syrup, one at a time. Fold in the coconut. Drop by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes, then turn the oven to 200 degrees for one hour to let them crisp up.

If you’re interested in having several more simple and healthy(er) dessert recipes on hand to treat your family, you’ll be happy to know that we’ve made a combo pack of our Have Your Cookie…And Eat it Too! and Have Your Cookie…and Eat it Two! ebooks – and discounted the cost for a limited time. (Click on each of those links to read the specifics about what recipes you’ll find in those eBooks.)

Have Your Cookie…and Eat it Too! and Have Your Cookie…and Eat it TWO! ebook package

$11.90
Get both books now for just $7.95!

In addition, I’m excited to share that I’ve teamed up with two other bloggers who each have even more healthy desserts to share with you! If you purchase my above Have Your Cookie eBook Package, you will be sent coupon codes so that you can purchase both Kate’s Treat Yourself and Katie’s Smart Sweets for 50% off!! Don’t miss out on this deal! Sales and discount codes are valid through Saturday, March 10.

Katie’s Smart Sweets

Kate’s Treat Yourself

Any questions? Let me know!