Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

How I’m Preparing Now for Next Year’s Operation Christmas Child Project

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Not that paying full price is altogether bad, but who wants to pay full price when you can…not pay full price?? That’s why I’m talking about next Christmas already. Look at me! I’m worse than department stores. They put their Christmas stuff out before Halloween. Well, I win. I’m putting this out there before Valentine’s Day. Hurry, folks! Only 352 days until Christmas. There’s not a moment to lose!

Family Christmas Pic

Figured I’d get my Christmas cards out early too.

Here’s why I’m talking about Christmas at the beginning of January:

This is the time to buy wrapping paper for next to nothing and get ready for next year’s Operation Christmas Child. It all goes back to that why pay full price thing. And I’m totally kidding about getting my Christmas cards out early. I don’t even get Christmas cards out at all because I’m that on top of my to-do list.

What is Operation Christmas Child?

We finally did it! After hearing about Operation Christmas Child for several years, our family jumped on board this year to participate, thanks to a friend in our homeschool group who planned our Christmas party around this service opportunity.

Have you heard of it? Does your family take part in the joy of giving this way? Through Operation Christmas Child, children in impoverished countries are provided with a gift at Christmastime. These gifts are supplied by people like you and me. Typically it is the only gift these children receive, so of course the kids are overjoyed to receive their box. Best yet, Samaritan’s Purse places a little book (written in the child’s language) inside each box titled “The Greatest Gift” and they follow up with the kids too. These boxes are not just fun. They provide an outreach opportunity for the local churches!

Preparing For Next Year’s Operation Christmas Child

I’m not affiliated with OCC in any way. I just love the program and found this to be a great way to serve with our kids. I thought I’d put a bug in your ear about it just in case this is a way you and your family can serve, too. But first – a bug in your ear? What a terrible cliche. I wrote that without thinking. Matt got a bug in his ear once (a moth. thanks for asking.) and had to go to the ER to have it removed. There’s nothing cute or fun about that, so why do we say, “let me put a bug in your ear”?? In other words, let me do something disgusting and memorable, incredibly annoying and slightly painful so that you can’t move on with life until you do this thing.

So, Operation Christmas Child. It’s just a suggestion. Do with this what you will. I hate bugs.

I mostly wrote this post to say:

Start looking now for items to fill Operation Christmas Child boxes.

It is so much fun to fill the shoe-boxes! Just think of the joy a child has when they open their box containing bright toys and games! We paid full price for the contents of our boxes this past November because I didn’t plan ahead to participate. Now that I know the kinds of items that work well I’m looking for sales, walking the clearance aisles, and grabbing goodies I know will work. Come time to fill boxes again, I’ll just have to grab bags out of my closet. How fun!

Preparing Now for Operation Christmas Child

Read here about the items that are best for filling shoe-boxes. Liquids are a no-go. I’ve already picked up small coloring books, toy cars, recorders, rings, stamps, and a little tea set. I’m watching for sales on socks and mittens. Come August, I’ll grab school supplies on sale. It’s just good to have this in the back of my mind when I come across a sale so I can pick up beneficial items at a good price.

Obviously, this idea works well for purchasing items to bless those in your own community, any time of the year. Consider the people you want to serve, and keep them in mind when you come across sales.

I want to hear if your family participates in Operation Christmas Child!

And don’t forget. Christmas will be here before you know it.

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I’m always here to help.

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My New Year’s Resolution to Stop Making Breakfast

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For all of my (18+) parenting years I have been making breakfast for our family. Cereal has been a rarity, saved only for the “I can’t even” mornings. Big breakfasts for our family have been necessary and good for the following reasons:

  • Our growing boys need to eat something substantial to keep them full until lunchtime.
  • Fixing one big breakfast for everyone has been easiest up until now.
  • Eating our meal together has been a special time as we begin our days together with yummy food and Bible time.

I’ve always been a careful planner, adding a breakfast plan into our overall meal plans for the week. I’ve worked to make breakfast foods the night before to make the mornings simpler. This has all been working well for years and years. It’s been working so well, in fact, that it has been a part of our nightly routine for the boys to ask in anticipation, “What’s for breakfast tomorrow?!”

The past few months, however, I’ve been growing a bit burned-out on breakfast prep. Our days are constantly full, our evenings are super busy, and lately when the boys have asked the nightly question, “What’s for breakfast tomorrow?” I’ve had an unseemly urge to grunt loudly and throw a pillow at them. Sweet, huh? Bet you wish I was your mom.

Breakfast? I am so over it. Ask me again in a few years when my daily life-with-teenagers schedule demands aren’t so…demanding. Of course, by then there will be fewer people here to feed in the mornings and I’ll not know how to make less than a triple batch of waffles. So basically I’ll be having breakfast issues for the rest of my life.

It’s Time for a ChangeYum

I am giving in to a new way of doing breakfast around here. My morning God time before all the boys get up is so dear to me and basically necessary to my family’s survival – even more than food. This mom needs her quiet chair time in which she spends time seeking Jesus while drinking coffee and soaking in the Word. My sanity depends on it, so I think we can all agree that staying in the chair for as long as possible each morning is much more important than baking muffins.

Instead of cutting into my sleep (no, no, no, no, no!) or my God time (we’ve been through this already) I’m checking breakfast off my to-do list. I’m not done eating this meal, mind you. We will all continue to eat breakfast. I’m just done regularly cooking big breakfasts for everyone on a regular basis. Deciding this has been a pleasantly nice relief. I didn’t even know it was bothering me that much. (The urge to throw pillows woke me up to the truth.)

The New Breakfast Plan

We still need to eat breakfast. We still want to eat this meal as a family. We still want to have our family Bible time together first thing in the mornings. But from now on, the boys will figure out their own breakfasts (except for the rare occasion I find my sanity at an earlier hour and surprise them with French toast).

Remember how I told you that teaching your kids to cook when they are young (or old) comes back to bless you one hundred fold when they are older? This is one of those glorious times. My boys are so capable! They can all prepare a simple breakfast for themselves each morning. Then we can all sit down together as normal and instead of starting my day overwhelmed, I’ll sit down with everyone and enjoy our morning devotional.

Breakfast Food Options

There will almost always be eggs and fruit for the boys to start with as they figure out their breakfast plan each morning. They can all scramble or fry eggs. Here are other options that will be available (though not always at the same time):

  • Stir-n-Pour Bread

    Because this bread is so easy to make, we frequently have some hanging out and ready to eat. It toasts up nicely and makes a tasty part of breakfast.stir and pour bread loaf 5
  • Granola ~ 5-Minute Stove-Top Version
    I can easily whip up a batch of this or have one of the boys do it. It keeps for quite a while too, so making huge batches is a good idea – then we have it for breakfast options for a few weeks.5-Minute Stove-Top Granola
  • Muffins or Bars (loads of recipes here!)If one of us finds ourselves with time the afternoon or night before, we can prep some baked goods to go with breakfast the next day. It is so helpful to have these on hand IF we can squeeze it in.raspberry_bars_8
  • Homemade Instant Oatmeal
    I always have a big jarful of instant oatmeal ready for the boys to make for themselves. It is a life-changing recipe. Make some of this if you haven’t already.Instant Oatmeal in a Jar
  • Giant Breakfast CookiesOne of the boys can mix these up and bake them. Then we can keep them in the freezer to pull out as needed.
    breakfast_cookies

Those basic options, along with eggs and fruit will take care of our breakfasts just fine. When I do have time to make pancakes or waffles, I’ll be sure to make extra for the freezer for additional options.

So there you have it. My new breakfast plan for our family. I no longer feel like throwing pillows. Now to figure out a new and improved laundry system…

How do you do breakfast at your house?

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That One Time I Handed Out Knives to All My Kids

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It is a real thing that once your kids know how to cook, you can holler at them at meal prep time and say, “Hey, I need you to go cook dinner for us tonight please.” Then you can go about your business of running other household tasks while your children efficiently cook a meal.

It’s one of the coolest things ever, and I’m not just talking about handing them boxes of mac-and-cheese.

As the mom of four sons currently ages 11, almost 14, almost 16, and 18 – all of whom can cook at various skill levels – I can’t say enough about the importance of teaching your kids to cook. Is it easier to just go into the kitchen and do it yourself? When the kids are younger, absolutely. There were many times I banned all my little boys from the room so I could just get it done. But allow me to remind you about sentence number one up there. Our kids need to know how to cook! It is worth taking the effort to teach them to cook when they are young so that when they are older they can wait on you hand and foot (and also feed themselves well and all that).

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Boy #2 always walked around on the counter-top (close to the stove) while cooking.
He has grown out of this habit. We are grateful.

It’s been fun to revisit some pictures of my little cooking angels from back in the day. For some teenage reason, they don’t like me to take pictures of them cooking now. I mean, I think they’re still cute when they’re slicing and scrambling, but they usually say something about “hair not fixed” and “really, Mom?” so I put the camera away and let them go about their boiling and chopping. But cooking with these little guys has led to being cooked for by big guys, so I’ll just treasure it in my heart and leave my camera in my office.

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My children with knives…

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Walking on the counter-top by the stove aside, let’s talk about kitchen safety. Knives are almost always involved in cooking. There are so many questions about this! At what age is it safe to give kids a knife? What is the best way to teach them to cut safely? What should they be allowed to cut?

At this point in the mind of a parent, we get too scared to risk it and banish the kids from the kitchen (to play in the street). It seems safer.

Don’t give way to fear, and don’t hide the knives! You simply need to teach your kids how to use a knife safely. Just released today, here’s a fantastic, inexpensive tool for us!

Katie from Kitchen Stewardship put together a Knife Skills Training for Kids Video Series. In fact, she has put together an entire, incredible eCourse on teaching kids to cook because she is nothing short of amazing. Through January 18, Katie is kicking off her eCourse by offering this Knife Skills Training course for FREE!

Malachi (my 11-year old) and I just signed up and watched Video #1 from start to finish. It is super! I love how Katie put catchy names to the different knife safety rules and methods to help kids remember the safe way to hold and use knives. (My favs are Top Chop and Up and Over Soldier – you have to watch the video to know what these are and to see how her methods make so much sense!) She created free downloadable flashcards to use along with the lesson too.

Malachi ended up taking the entire Kids Cook Real Food eCourse. It has been a game changer at our house! I can’t say enough good about it.

Want a freebie?

Sign up here to get a great little booklet filled with great (healthy!) snacks kids can make themselves!

This is how we work ourselves out of a job, help our kids appreciate the hard work it takes to prepare a meal, and keep all their fingers intact. Join me?

What have been your experiences with your kids in the kitchen?

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Easy Chicken With Cream Cheese Sauce

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I have a wonderful chicken recipe to share with you. But first, a story.

Cream Cheese Chicken

Once upon a time, I was dating my husband. I mean, my boyfriend. I mean, we weren’t married yet when we were dating but then we did get married and all of that barely has anything to do with this recipe.

But back in the days of our dating, engagement, and early marriage we drove an hour away from our college town each Sunday morning to a small church with a sweet youth group. Matt was their youth leader, teaching Bible classes and forming relationships with the teens. These dear ones became our church family, worshiping with us, throwing us a wedding shower, celebrating our marriage, being a part of our first pregnancy, and welcoming Baby #1 into the world with us.

Some of our fondest memories of those years are looking back to the Sunday afternoons in the homes of various church family members. They took turns signing up to feed us after church. Those meals!!! Talk about a church full of good cooks. The fellowship was precious and I can remember in detail many of the ladies’ specialties. We were very well taken care of, that is for sure.

Well, one of these ladies frequently made chicken that was slathered in the most delicious cream sauce. When we knew Carlene had signed up to feed us, I’d always say to Matt, “Ooooh, I hope she made that chicken this time!” Anytime she did make it and we sat there gushing over the meal, she’d always shake her head at us and say, “Oh. It’s just food.”

Right. Just food. Just the best chicken I’ve ever eaten!!!

Since that time, I’ve always regretted that I never got her recipe. I’m not even kidding you that 20 years later I still get hungry for that meal. Finally about a month ago I thought to myself, “Laura, are you or are you not the lady who invents recipes? For Pete’s sake, woman. Go to the kitchen and figure out how to make Carlene’s chicken.”

You’d think I would have considered this option before.

Well, my friends. I now present to you Not-Quite-Carlene’s Chicken with Cream Cheese Sauce. Make this.

Easy Chicken with Cream Cheese SauceYum

Easy Chicken With Cream Cheese Sauce
 
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Author:
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs
  • 1 beaten egg
  • ⅔ cup whole wheat flour
  • Sea salt and pepper to taste
  • ½ cup palm shortening or other oil for frying
  • 8 ounces softened cream cheese
  • 2 cups chicken broth
Instructions
  1. Mix flour, salt, and pepper.
  2. Dip chicken in egg, then coat in flour mixture.
  3. Fry in oil for just a few minutes on each side. (Do not over cook or the chicken will become dry.)
  4. Remove chicken from pan.
  5. Pour chicken broth into the pan, scraping up the chicken drippings.
  6. Add softened cream cheese, stirring until smooth.
  7. Place cooked chicken back into the pan, coating on both sides with sauce.
  8. Serve with rice or pasta.

Make-Ahead Instructions

Prepare and fry meat as directed. Allow it to cool, then cover and store in the refrigerator for up to two days. Prepare sauce as directed and stir in the chicken, heating through.

Freezer Instructions

Prepare and fry meat as directed. Allow it to cool. Freeze in a well-sealed freezer bag for up to three months. To serve, thaw cooked meat. Prepare sauce as directed and stir in the chicken, heating through.

Easy Chicken with Cream Cheese Sauce Recipe

I can’t think of a brilliant way to end this post. Go make this chicken! There. That oughta do it.

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This Week in Food…

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Several mentioned that they’d like to read more about and see more pictures of our day-to-day food life. I thought this would be fun, so I started taking notes right away.

  • Forgot to thaw chicken
  • Warmed up leftovers
  • Kid #3 complained about the casserole
  • Spinach got slimy

As you can see, this is going to be really exciting and we should make this a regular blog feature.

This was our second week of Christmas break. I made it till Thursday afternoon before I said to Matt, “Take them all away from this house as soon as possible.” The lack of routine and the downtime has been so wonderful, but at a certain point the people need a routine. Seeing the desperation in my eyes, Matt whisked them all away to his current work spot where he wore them out hauling off lath and plaster and got them very dirty. Best dad ever.

But this post is supposed to be about food.

I invented a most delicious new recipe for Cream Cheese Chili. I loved it so much that I ate it for lunch the day I made it, at 9:45 that night before bed because I was hungry, and again for lunch the next day. I will make this again and again. The recipe definitely made the cut to be a part of the newest Eat Right Away Packet series. I’m currently trying to finish the Soup Edition, Meatless Edition, and Breakfast Edition. There will be a lot of taste testing going on around here.

cream cheese chili

Thursday I made a plate of veggies with Homemade Ranch Dip, along with a plate of Low Sugar Lemon Melt-Away Cookies to take to our church’s New Year’s Eve gathering because I am the life of the party. Everyone loves to ring in the new year with cucumbers.

veggies and dip

lemon cookies

Friday we headed out of town for a New Year’s Basketball tournament for Justus and Elias. It was our last full day with Asa home (he’s heading out to go on the York College Choir Tour for a week). We stopped into Walmart on our way out of town so I could grab blueberries and blackberries. I was planning to price-match them because I found such a great deal, plus I thought they’d be great travel food. Alas, there was not one blueberry to be found in all of Walmart. Boo. Therefore, instead of showing you a picture of my blueberries, here is a picture of Elias (#32) jumping for the ball at a recent game. I take amazing pictures with my phone.

elias bball

As we get back into a school routine next week, I’m hoping to also get into the swing of taking more food pictures to show you. Make plans now to see pictures of next week’s chicken carcass.

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I’m finally getting around to drawing giveaway winners from the week of Christmas!

The winner of our 227 Healthy Snacks eBook is: Julie C: zoeblessing4u@

The winner of our  Learn Your Letters (and Numbers), Learn to Serve Complete Curriculum Kit is: Donna: dkonvalin@

Winners, email me and I’ll send you your gifts!

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Here’s to a great first week of 2016!

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What Do You Consider To Be the “Best Of” Heavenly Homemakers?

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It’s been a dream of ours for over three years now to put together a new book (the paper copy kind!) that includes the “best of” our posts here at Heavenly Homemakers. Enough dreaming about it already. It’s time to do this!

Our idea is to put together some of our most popular articles, mixed with our most popular recipes – and combine it all in such a way that it creates a super fun read along with some practical tips and delicious kitchen delights. We want it to be enjoyable for all ages, kind of a coffee-table book that anyone could pick up and enjoy, but one that might also inspire a person to head to the kitchen to whip up something tasty.

Matt and I have some definite ideas as to what we consider to be the “best of” what I’ve written during the past eight years. But you are really the ones who get to have opinions about the “best of.” After all, you’re the ones reading here. Your vote matters most.

There are over 4,200 posts here at Heavenly Homemakers. We’d like each of you to spend several entire days reading through all 4,200 of them, picking which ones you like the most. We don’t ask for much.

Or, since I guess that request may be a little bit impractical (you guys can be so whiny sometimes), here’s a better idea:

Think for a few minutes. Click around for a while. Make good use of the search box in our side bar under the One Child Matters banner (where it says “Search this website). What posts, articles, series, and recipes come to mind that make you say, “I loved it when you wrote *******!!!” Even if you don’t remember the exact title of the post or the specifics of its contents, you can give us some hints like, “Remember that one time you wrote about that one thing and how it made us laugh and then we cried and some of us snorted and then we all made bread? Definitely include that one.”

If you happen to come across a very specific post you love during all of this thinking and searching you’ll be doing, feel free to grab the exact link to that post to leave along with your comment. In other words, we want you to do all the hard work for us. No biggie.

While you’re thinking, if you also come up with a clever title for this book, that would be great too. Otherwise we’ll just call it:

Laura Wrote Some Stuff

Because everyone would buy that.

Tired businessman sleeping at the table over white background

Friends, this is going to be fun. I’m incredibly curious to learn which posts are your favorites. From practical to silly to serious to borderline ridiculous – tell us what you have loved the most!

To get us started, I’ll share that the book will definitely include the story of the 2008 rooster attack. We’ll pair that story with some egg and chicken recipes. It just makes sense.

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Let the thinking and the commenting begin! I can’t wait to hear your suggestions!

What do you consider to be the Best of Heavenly Homemaker’s?

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Never (Forget to) Look Back

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The sound of a crunching leaf under my foot turns me into a pre-teen walking down the lane at church camp. Catching a whiff of Icy Hot gives me immediate shin splints and a nervous stomach as if I am once again a high school sophomore who must now get on the starting line of the track to run a half-mile race. Walking into a hospital makes my uterus contract (don’t make me explain this). So it shouldn’t have surprised me that seeing the pretty lighted snowflakes hung on our city’s downtown light poles this holiday season would bring up emotions from a few years ago at this time.

I remember loving the sight of the snowflakes that year, but feeling quite discouraged and therefore unable to be fully at peace in the moment. All was well overall in our lives, but there were a few uncertainties and decisions to be made. I remember being consumed by heavy thoughts that overshadowed my normally excited feelings about Christmas and threatened to steal away my joy of the season.

When I saw the lighted snowflakes this year, my mind was immediately taken back to that time. But just as quickly as those memories came back, God filled me with visions of all He’s done in our lives since that year. I saw all the ways God answered our prayers, showed us His power, and offered His constant provision. Boom. Take that, painful memories. We went through something hard. We not only survived, we came out stronger. God did His work in us.

The world tells us to leave the past behind. Never look back. Move forward. There’s a lot of good in this. After all, the Bible says in Philippians 3, “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Indeed. Should we look back to dwell on a past full of regrets, pain, struggle? No, thank you. Let’s instead press on toward what God has already prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).

But can I tell you something great about the beauty of taking time to look back in reflection of past struggles and difficult times? That’s when we can see all the ways God took care of us during that time and has met our needs since that time. Looking back helps us consider all the specifics of how His promises of provision and care have been fulfilled. Remembering His absolute faithfulness in the past helps us remember that we can trust His faithfulness in the future.

Never Forget to Look Back

So never forget to look back. Look back with joy as you reflect on what God has brought you through up until now. Those hard times? You made it through! God did His work! His promises are faithful and we can trust Him!

As we look ahead toward a new year, we can be excited. I guarantee that a few years from now when we look back at this very time, we will have a new story to tell of God’s goodness and care. Now that’s something to look forward to.

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Homemade French Onion Dip

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I’m getting ready to write this recipe for you, but suddenly I’m in a panic because I don’t know what makes French Onion Dip French. I get my onions from America and I don’t do anything Frenchy to them. Am I somehow supposed to Frenchify my onions? If so, what does that look like? My once super simple recipe has now become completely stressful.

french onion dip

I therefore decided to do some research on the matter since I have plenty of time to waste, but mostly because I don’t want to steer you wrong with a recipe. The first thing I came across online was a packet of Simple Organics French Onion Dip. Its tagline? “America’s Most Popular Dip.” Well that clears all the questions right up.

I couldn’t let it go, so next I did an online search for “what makes French Onion Dip French?” Because the internet never lets us down, an actual article titled Why Is French Onion Dip called French? came up. It said a few things and some other stuff, but my favorite sentence was this:

“There are now recipes for French onion dip that combine actual caramelized onions with the usual dip ingredients (mayonnaise, sour cream) and other flavorings, but this is not a dip you’d find in France.”

What?? Well, we it appears that in our quest to discover the origin of this dip, we can conclude that this dip is not French at all. The dip has nothing to do with France or French people or French food. French Onion Dip is a made up name, just because it sounded good for marketing purposes. In defense of Lipton, I would concur that French Onion Dip is a better sounding title than White Onion Dip or the obvious, Just Onion Dip. The name French Onion Dip sounds more fun and fancy. Either that or I’ve gotten sucked into the marketing ploy.

Now that we’ve cleared that up, we can move on with life and learn the recipe.

Homemade French Onion DipYum

Homemade French Onion Dip
 
Save Print
Author:
Ingredients
  • 2 cups sour cream
  • 3 Tablespoons dried minced onion
  • ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
  1. Stir the ingredients together.
  2. Chill for at least two hours before serving (or serve right away because who actually follows that instruction?).
  3. Serve with fresh veggies or potato chips.

You can’t really mess up this recipe, so don’t worry about measuring exactly. Life’s too short to use (and wash) measuring spoons. Feel free to add a touch of garlic powder or black pepper. And about the potato chips mentioned in the recipe? I find the kind with the fewest ingredients and the healthiest oil (usually safflower) and go with it. Potato chips with this dip make a great party food.

Homemade French Onion Dip - Three Ingredients!

It goes without saying that the next item on my agenda was to see why fries are French, or if in fact they actually are at all. Low and behold, fries originated in the U.S. but were called French because they were “served in the French manner.” Huh.

Are you doing something fun for New Year’s Eve? I’ll probably make this dip. Then we can sit around with our friends and talk about the origin of food and where different foods got their names. I’ll be the life of the party.

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What Would You Like Me To Talk About Here in 2016? (And Why I Might Say “No” to Some Requests)

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I’ve been blogging here since November of 2007, which basically makes me an old lady in blog years. During the past 98 months (I did the math) I’ve written about topics ranging from marriage to eczema to homeschooling to parenting to healthy eating. And also butter. Obviously. It all goes hand in hand. (Not literally though.)

butter

You know what I learned the hard way several years ago in my blogging career? Never write about something I don’t know much about.

See, what happens is that when I write about a topic – any topic – many people assume I know much and oodles and aplenty about that topic. I mention the word “run” and the people start asking questions as if I’m some sort of an expert on running. They ask my advice and trust my opinions and before I know it, everyone thinks I must be some running professional. I’m left screaming at my computer screen, “Wait! Stop asking me about running! I’m not a runner! When I said ‘run’ I meant run…to the grocery store for food. The real kind. That is what I know. Real food. I always run toward real food.”

That was a bad example because no one has ever actually accused me of being an expert on running or asked me questions about it. Here’s an actual example:

mozzcheese2sm

I posted early on (March, 2009) about how to make mozzarella cheese. I’d made it a few times in my life, it’s not terribly complicated, and I thought it would be a fun post. It was. But then all of a sudden everyone thought I was a cheese-making expert. The questions started pouring in. Can I also share how to make cheddar? How about Gouda? What makes Swiss so holey? What supplies are needed for making Parmesan? Why did someone follow my recipe exactly and end up with mush? What if someone did not have the exact enzymes I recommended for mozzarella making? What might be a good substitute?

I became Mrs. Cheese Lady and all of the cheese questions were asked and people expected me to know all of the cheeseness.

mozzcheese1sm

That’s me, skillfully stretching my cheese curd in 2009.

I’m only slightly exaggerating, but suffice it to say that I quickly learned that while there are many topics I’m interested in and love learning about, there are only a few I am qualified to write about and offer advice on. Anything that I’m interested in but have not researched thoroughly or experienced muchly needs to be left to other people who have thoroughly researched and muchly experienced.

(It is clear by now that I have spent a good deal of time making up words and am therefore undoubtedly qualified to write them frequently and…muchly.)

What I’m good at (besides making up words):

  • Cooking real food
  • Keeping real food simple
  • Finding good deals on real food
  • Creating simple recipes with real food
  • Saving time in the kitchen
  • Saving money while eating real food
  • Sharing our home school experiences
  • Sharing what I’m learning in the areas of parenting and wifing (why is wifing not a real word?)
  • Sharing what I’m learning about scripture and serving others

What I love but don’t know enough to write about:

  • Essential Oils – I love them. I use them daily. They are fantastic. But I don’t know enough about them to answer questions or offer advice.
  • Natural Remedies – Like essential oils, I love and use natural remedies instead of conventional medicine if at all possible. But I’m a novice. I have to look everything up every time one of us gets sick. Please don’t ask me how to make a tincture.
  • Homesteading – The idea of having chickens and growing herbs on my windowsill intrigues me. Unfortunately, our fish only lived one week, so we don’t plan to get a goat anytime soon.
  • Parenting Teenagers – Except for the prayer part. Trusting God with our kids – this is what I know. Otherwise, I know nothing. Ask me again in ten years.
  • A bunch of other stuff that is relevant to most of us but not within my realm of knowledge. I don’t even know where to start on this list.

So what I want to know from you during the next few days is:

  • What do you love reading about here at Heavenly Homemakers?
  • What do you want to learn from me? What kind of information do you want me to share?
  • Want more recipes? More scripture encouragement? More tips on saving money? All or none of the above? Something else entirely?

All I can promise is that I’ll do my best, but I won’t write about making cheese or making a poultice for your toddlers scratched elbow. I would love to continue sharing relevant topics with you, as long as it is something I can share confidently. So talk to me! Tell me what you love reading about here the most!

 

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Your Treat For Today…

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Chocolate Whipped Cream - Perfect For Your Coffee

Sometimes the let down after Christmas can be emotional. I don’t know why. Maybe because we’ve been working hard and loving hard and looking forward to all the excitement. Then there’s the day after. There’s a mess of torn wrapping paper and loose batteries on the floor under the coffee table. Sometimes it can leave us feeling a lot of feelings.

I just want to say, “Well done!” You love your family well! You put together a fantastic, memorable holiday for them! Now make yourself some Chocolate Whipped Cream, put it in your coffee or warm milk, then sit back and revel in the memories. Sip your warm drink and thank God for blessing of His salvation and for how He constantly rains down goodness on you.

Breathe in the joy, my friends. God’s goodness is full and free.

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