Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

How You Can Get a Completely Free $15 Gift (No Catch! You Could Actually Make Money on This.)

by 6 Comments

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

topcashback7

What if you could get a fleece throw, a pajama set, a new top, a fun toy, jewelry, or another awesome gift of your choosing completely free? Man, I love coming across deals like this. It’s not just a deal. It’s a freebie. And if you work it right, you could even make extra cash on this.
topcashback1
Here’s the scoop: TopCashBack is a rebate site that offers a percentage value back on any purchase you make through their site. Sometimes they partner with other companies like Wal-Mart or K-Mart to give start-up freebies to new sign-ups. I’ve used TopCashBack for about 2 1/2 years now and have found them to always pay what they promise. You can trust this site.

topcashback4

This time, new members can pick anything from the K-Mart website ranging from $1-$20. TopCashBack will refund $15 to you, which will turn “payable” within 30 days. At that time, you can transfer that $15 from your TopCashBack account directly back to your bank account. If it were me, I’d be grabbing something for less than $10 so that I don’t have to pay shipping and so that I get a completely free item. On the other hand, if you get something closer to $20, you’re still getting $15 back so you’re still getting a great deal. (Just don’t get something for over $20 or less than $1 or the deal won’t go through properly!)

topcashback3

In addition to this – if you have a K-Mart close to you, you can select Free Store Pickup so you can get a free $15 item and avoid dealing with shipping costs altogether.

Are you ready for the specifics of how do get this deal?

How to Get a FREE $15 Gift

  1. Click this link to sign up for a TopCashBack account and to get all the details. (This offer is good for new sign-ups only, and that is my referral link.)
  2. You will be redirected to Kmart.com where you can select any item you like between $1 and $20.
  3. Add to your cart one item ranging from $1-$20. You may purchase anything you like, but in order for this deal to go through, you must not add any other items to your cart or transaction!
  4. If it is an option for you, click on “Free Store Pick-up” so that you won’t have to pay shipping. If that is not an option for you, I recommend selecting an item for less than $9 so that the $15 rebate will cover your shipping cost. No matter what you purchase, you’ll get $15 back. So if you spend less than $15, you’ll be making money on this deal!
  5. Don’t put anything else in your cart!! Proceed to check out and complete the purchase.
  6. Within 7 days, TopCashBack will refund $15.00 to your account.
  7. Within 30 days the $15.00 will become payable and you can transfer it to your checking account, your paypal account, or turn it into an Amazon gift card.

This offer ends Friday, November 27, 2015 at 11:59 pm PT. Do this now before you forget and enjoy your fun freebie!!

Let me know if you have any questions!

This post contains referral links.

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

Low Sugar Pumpkin Cheesecake Cups

by 4 Comments

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

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bites

In preparation for Thanksgiving Day, I made a big Turkey, Cheesy Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Stuffing Muffins, Green Bean Casseroles, Sweet Potatoes, Cranberry Sauce, Pineapple Fluff Salad , Pumpkin Pies, Pecan Pie Bites, Whipped Cream, and Apple Pies. I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking the same thing I’m thinking. There may not be enough food! What will we do if we run out of food?

So I made more food. Just in case, you know?

Actually, I’m not worried about having enough food. But looking over that list, there is a definite shortage of cheesecake. It also occurred to me that I might enjoy a low sugar dessert on Thanksgiving day. That is why I took my Low Sugar Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe and adapted it to make fun these Pumpkin Cheesecake Cups.

We can all sleep better now knowing that along with the other 26 dishes on the Thanksgiving buffet, there will also be low sugar cheesecake. I’m not sure the day would have been complete otherwise.

Low Sugar Pumpkin Cheesecake Cups

Yum

Low Sugar Pumpkin Cheesecake Cups
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 24
Ingredients
  • Shortbread Crust:
  • 3 cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground hard white wheat for this)
  • ½ cup sucanat (or brown sugar if you prefer)
  • 1½ cups melted butter
  • Pumpkin Cheesecake Filling:
  • 2 8-ounce packages softened cream cheese
  • 1½ cups heavy whipping cream
  • 2 cups pureed pumpkin
  • 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon ground cloves
  • Real maple syrup or liquid stevia to taste (I used 4 droppers full of stevia)
Instructions
  1. Make crust by stirring flour and sucanat together in a bowl.
  2. Add melted butter, combining well.
  3. Press mixture into 24 paper-lined muffin cups.
  4. Bake in a 350° oven for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.
  5. Allow crust to cool completely.
  6. Blend all pumpkin cheesecake filling ingredients together until smooth.
  7. Scoop into prepared shortbread crust cups.
  8. Spread until smooth.
  9. Chill in refrigerator for at least two hours before serving.

I found it fun to use fall-colored muffin cup liners for the occasion. Come Christmastime, I’ll use red and green. :)

Low Sugar Pumpkin Cheesecake Cups

I made the filling with stevia and was concerned that others might not like them as a result. But since the shortbread crust has a little sucanat and is so buttery and yummy, that balances the taste out for others. As for me, I think they are perfectly sweetened. In fact, I’m having to hold back to save the majority of these for Thanksgiving day. After all, there would be a definite void on the table if there were only 26 food choices and no cheesecake whatsoever.

Here’s to a wonderful holiday weekend! Happy Thanksgiving!

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

Deborah and Co. Cream Lace Cardigan Giveaway

by 290 Comments

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

Deborah and Co. just sent me a new Cream Lace Cardigan to review for you. I think we all know how much I like cream. So am I weird to like a sweater just because it is the color of cream? I think not. After all, I painted my kitchen the color of butter and the trim on my house the color of fudge – so why not wear a cream colored cardigan, right? Of course. (Does everything always have to be about food? Yes, I think it does.)

Cream_Cardigan__Deborah_and_co2

Isn’t this sweater pretty? In person, I think the color is a bit darker than shown in the picture. Still, it is a very pretty color. I love the lace – which makes it a little dressier while still being casual. The sweater is very soft and comfy. It’s not bulky, but just right to add a nice layer. I plan to wear mine with a layering t-shirt and a scarf.

Deborah and Co. works to provide clothing that is:

  • modest
  • high quality
  • reasonably priced
  • comfortable
  • trendy
  • practical
  • attractive

I love this about Deborah and Co. You might also want to check out their Maternity section and their Little Deborah items (from princess dresses to paper dolls to books). There are some great Christmas gifts in there!

Through December 4, you’ll receive free shipping in the USA on orders of $50 or more. Take advantage of this and use the code HHSHIPFREE for free shipping to apply.

And now for the giveaway! One of you will win a Cream Lace Cardigan, which you can keep for yourself or give as a gift. Who wants to win?! Leave a comment on this post for a chance.

deborah and co

I’ll draw one random winner on Monday, November 30. Be watching for a post stating the winner as you will be responsible for contacting me if your name is chosen.

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

Our Thanksgiving Week Menu Plan

by 4 Comments

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

This week will be a mixture of working double-time and taking time off, if that even makes sense. I want to “go to the trouble” to make some of our favorites since we’re on Thanksgiving break this week and not traveling. But I also want to have brainless meals so that I can relax while we have game days and movie nights. It’s the best of both worlds!

Just for fun, I thought it would be fun to share some of what we’re eating this week. As I’ve already shared, we’ll be feasting on Thanksgiving day with all the traditional food. Here’s a breakdown of my plans for that day.

pretzels_3

The rest of the week, here’s some of the food we’re planning to eat:

Spicy Mac and Cheese

I’ve got a fridge full of fruits and veggies to go with our meals:

  • Green beans
  • Peas
  • Mixed greens and fresh spinach
  • Raspberries
  • Blackberries
  • Applesauce
  • Apples
  • Clementines
  • Oranges
  • Bananas
  • Red Pears
  • Pineapple
  • Broccoli
  • Carrots
  • Cucumbers

We’ll also be enjoying Hot Cocoa, Coffee, and Homemade Apple Cider (recipe on the way!). What is it about sipping hot drinks this time of year? They taste good all the time, but they are extra good during the holiday season!

Chocolate Whipped Cream - Perfect For Your Coffee

Need some Chocolate Whipped Cream for your coffee??

Are you making/eating any special food this week?

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

Stir-and-Pour Dinner Rolls ~ Freezer Edition

by 7 Comments

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

stir and pour rolls 1

Guess what? 

One of my darling readers, Vicki, experimented with the Stir-and-Pour Dinner Rolls to see if we could make them even more convenient by making them ahead and freezing the dough. I won’t keep you in suspense!!! —–>

Okay, maybe just for a little bit.

I’m wearing a new sweater today. I got it on sale, of course. I got it the same day I got all the butter on sale. That was a great day for sales, no doubt. I sure do love good sales. And butter.

So how about those dinner rolls? Does it work to make and freeze the dough, just like we make and freeze muffin batter? Vicki tried it. She reported back. Drum roll please…

It worked!! This is great news, and much more relevant than pointless talk about my new sweater. Although the sweater led me back to talking about butter; and butter and rolls go together. Therefore everything I’m writing today makes sense and is on topic.

You must be wondering, is there even a way to make this very easy recipe even more convenient? I mean, how can it get easier than the Stir-and-Pour Bread and Stir-and-Pour Dinner Rolls recipes? But actually, it does. It gets easier. Vicki proved it.

Make and Freeze Stir-and-Pour Dinner Rolls

1. Mix the ingredients as normal.
2. Scoop batter into muffin pans. I super love my new silicone baking cups. I use them alllll the time.
3. Freeze dough immediately.
4. Remove frozen dough from muffin cups and transfer them to a freezer bag. Store in the freezer for up to three months.
5. To bake: Place frozen dough into muffin cups. Cover with a cloth. Thaw on the countertop for 4-6 hours.
6. Bake as directed.

Vicki said that these taste just as good prepared this way as they do when prepared fresh. I mean, these are still fresh. They’re just frozen first before baking them. I love this time-saving tip!

This is especially helpful for days such as…I don’t know…Thanksgiving maybe? That day we’re putting forty-seven ~ give or take ~ other dishes on the table all at the same time? If there is a way to dirty up fewer dishes and execute fewer food preparation steps, by all means, let us do it!
Yum

5.0 from 1 reviews
Stir-and-Pour Dinner Rolls ~ Freezer Edition
 
Save Print
Author:
Ingredients
  • 4 cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground hard white wheat)
  • 2 teaspoons active rise yeast
  • 2 Tablespoons sucanat or sugar or honey
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 egg (optional)
  • ¼ cup heavy cream (optional)
  • 2 cups warm water
Instructions
  1. Stir all ingredients together.
  2. Cover and allow it to sit for 30 minutes.
  3. Pour contents into buttered muffin tins or silicone muffin cups.
  4. Place filled muffin cups in freezer immediately.
  5. Once frozen, transfer frozen dough to freezer bags, storing for up to three months.
  6. To Bake:
  7. Place frozen dough back in prepared muffin cups.
  8. Cover and allow dough to thaw 4-6 hours on the counter-top.
  9. Bake in a 350° for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned.
  10. Serve right away.

Make and Freeze Stir-and-Pour Dinner Rolls

Vicki said she used the leftover rolls to make Stuffing Muffins. I did the exact same thing a few days ago!

Let’s hear it for another great make-ahead tip!

This post contains an affiliate link.

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

Thanksgiving Break Fun ~ and My Butter Famine is Over

by 10 Comments

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

My butter famine is over! But first:

Now I know how my mom felt when my brother and I came home from college for holiday breaks. Never mind that Asa has only been five minutes down the road in the dorm since August. Looking forward to and preparing for him to be home for a week has made me so excited! Brittany is joining us this week too because she has to work all week. Yay for me! Another girl in the house! (We have made plans to do our nails, make crafts, and watch some girly Christmas movies. Yes!!!)

In preparation for Thanksgiving break week and Thanksgiving day itself, I think I have bought out all the grocery stores from here to Lincoln. I have two full refrigerators, a full pantry, many full freezers – there is food everywhere. After standing on my head to find places for the last of my (many) grocery purchases yesterday and completely filling every space in both refrigerators, I realized we’d be getting our Bountiful Basket order today.

tgiving2

Thankfully, most of the order didn’t have to be refrigerated. And of course, we’re already doing a great job of beginning to eat our way through all the food, thus creating more refrigerator space. It doesn’t take long for food to disappear around here.

How blessed are we? Plenty to eat, plenty to share.

Do you want to hear about the end of my butter famine now?

Remember how we talked about the high cost of butter and how my supply was running low? Many of you shared the same situation occurring where you live. So have you been able to find some good butter deals now that it’s holiday season? I hadn’t until this week. Wednesday when I was in Lincoln, I made a stop at Aldi and bought 12 pounds for $2.49 each since that’s the best I’d seen it in a very long time. Back home two days later, I found a $2.49 price match for Challenge Butter (a great brand which is normally $5 a pound!). Plus I had a couple of 50¢ off coupons. I bought another dozen pounds, and then I saw that there are 55¢ off coupons inside each box!

tgiving4

I’m pretty sure I am going to be weird and open every single box, cut out all the coupons, then go back before the sale ends to get another dozen with the coupons. It’s Challenge Butter that I can get for $1.94!! So what if I’ll have 48 loose sticks of butter in my freezer? There’s nothing weird about that. Nothing at all.

tgiving5

tgiving3

Those pictures don’t do my butter-filled freezers justice. They only show part of my madness. Basically, I’ve just stuffed butter boxes in every nook and cranny of any space in my freezers that I can find. It feels so good to have an abundance of butter again. The holidays can now commence.

We started off our Thanksgiving break with little gifts. I couldn’t help it. Our boys are into crazy socks, and Elias and I found some fun Christmas socks in Lincoln after a follow-up doctor appointment for him Wednesday. (You can guess that those cat socks are for Malachi.) I found a free printable Thanksgiving candy wrapper which I prepped to go with the socks. Here’s the link if you want to make some (candy wrappers, not socks).

tgiving1

The boys have their first homeschool basketball game tonight. I can’t wait to see them play, but I’m almost more excited to see all the moms I rarely get to see except for during basketball season. I love how God has provided these families and the friendships that come with them. 

The rest of the week, we have plans to watch movies, play Settlers of Catan, eat loads of food, kick back, and unfortunately, do a few math lessons that we’re behind in. With tiny bit of school work and a big bit of fun, hopefully the math won’t seem too bad! I even bought take-and-bake pizzas to make my load easier.

Are you taking a break during Thanksgiving week? Traveling? Staying home? Buying lots of butter?

Have a great weekend!

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

Easy Pecan Pie Bites

by 13 Comments

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

Fb.banner (1)

It’s my turn to be a part of the Thanksgiving Recipe Swap! Others have shared appetizers, main dishes, and side dishes. Now it’s dessert time! (I’m sharing Pecan Pie Bites below. You will love these!)

Click over here to find all of the recipes included in the swap. Just to temp you, I’ll tell you what recipes you’ll find there:

  • Goat Cheese Artichoke Dip
  • Cranberry and Pecan Stuffed Brussels Sprouts
  • Pumpkin Spice Fruit Dip
  • Perfect Roast Turkey Breast
  • Slow Cooker Cranberry Sauce
  • Gluten Free Stuffing
  • Roasted Garlic Green Beans
  • Balsamic Bacon Brussels Sprouts
  • Cranberry Orange Bars
  • Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies
  • Protein Packed Pumpkin Rolls

Don’t those all sound awesome?! Go help yourselves to any or all of the recipes!

Now for the Easy Pecan Pie Bites recipe. These will just take you a few minutes to whip up. What a great addition to your holiday table!

pecan pie bites4

Let us all take a moment to notice something about these Pecan Pie Bites that doesn’t even matter a little bit but that absolutely really does matter:

These Pecan Pie Bites are adorable and cute.

Cute food matters. Food tastes better when it’s cute. I’ve tried to convince my sons of this truth. I see cute food and think, oh look how cute this food is. They see cute food and they are like, why are these Pecan Pie Bites so tiny? These teenage sons of mine proceed to eat the treats in large quantity which almost, but not quite, negates the cuteness.

I suppose I should also let you  know that these Pecan Pie Bites are very easy to make. They are made with only five ingredients, which are of course, all real food ingredients. They are naturally gluten and dairy free, which is a lovely bonus if that is a need for you. You can put these together in just a few minutes – my favorite kind of recipe. And above all, they are cute. Cute, cute, cute.

They are also magic, so prepare to be amazed. See, you put a pecan at the bottom of each muffin liner. Then you pour in the pie mixture. The pecan rises and bakes at the top, making magical cuteness.

pecan pie bites5

Easy Pecan Pie Bites

Yum

Easy Pecan Pie Bites
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 24
Ingredients
  • ½ cup honey
  • 3 eggs
  • ⅓ cup melted coconut oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 24 pecans (about ½ cup)
Instructions
  1. Fill 24 mini muffin tins with paper liners.
  2. Place a pecan at the bottom of each liner.
  3. Whisk together honey, eggs, coconut oil, and vanilla.
  4. Scoop mixture into the prepared muffin tin, filling about ¾ full.
  5. Bake in a 350° oven for 15-25 minutes or until evenly browned.

Easy Pecan Pie Bites ~ Naturally Gluten and Dairy Free

See? I told you they were easy. These will be wonderful to have on your holiday table so that when there are pumpkin pies and apple pies and cheesecakes and all the other desserts – people can take one (or five) of these cute little Pecan Pie Bites which have portion control already built in. How very practical of them.

Enjoy, and I’ll see you over at the Thanksgiving Recipe Swap!

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

Free Printables That Make Great Gifts

by 1 Comment

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

Before we get to the printables, I thought I’d give you a little insight into family life around here our place.

Soccer season ended just in time for basketball season to begin. I feel like I’ve finally come up for air since school started this fall. Breathing is so very nice.

Asa (our 18-year old) is as busy as ever juggling his freshman year of college. He’s rocking it, working very hard in his classes (and on his social life too). Sleep is optional for him. ;)

Justus (our 15-year old) is taking one college class on campus – Basic Speech – which has been great for him. This is a kid who does not get the least bit nervous giving speeches in front of traditional college students. Dual credit classes are so nice. Elias (our 13-year old) was super sick for 4 weeks and is finally just about back to normal. Ugh, that was awful. I’ve never been so thankful to see my kid eat. Malachi (our 10-year old) has had the opportunity to attend a fantastic horse class as well as participate in some wonderful science days with our local homeschool group.

horses1

science day

So Wiggams. You remember Wiggams? That darling cat has been so high maintenance the past few weeks, bless her little cat heart. You can read here to catch up on all the mama-baby-drama if you dare. Not wanting to risk going through that again, we took her in to be spayed last week. It is a relief to have this taken care of. When we went to pick her up the next day, they said that she appears to have a bladder infection. Ugh, not this too! The poor thing.

wiggams

Since she is an outdoor cat they kept her (at our local Adopt-a-Pet facility) so she can heal properly before she comes home. Poor Malachi misses his daily Wiggams play time. We go visit her when we can sneak in a trip (in my spare time).

We’ve been talking an awful lot about holiday food around here. Well, obviously. Food is where it’s at. There is so much to love about food. Slowly but surely I am making our Thanksgiving food and putting it into the freezer. Check out all of the Getting Ahead for the Holidays info here. Here’s what I’ve checked off my list so far:

If feels great to have so many of those big jobs crossed off my list already. Shoot, I’m running out of Pyrex dishes – if you can possibly imagine. It’s a good problem to have, as long as we don’t need to make a casserole between now and next Thursday.

Fb.banner (1)

I’m excited to be participating in a fun online Thanksgiving Recipe Swap this year! It’s a “progressive dinner” so each day this week, more recipes will be added. Start today by finding some yummy appetizer recipes. The first one I’m going to try is the Pumpkin Spice Fruit Dip. Wow, that looks good.

fruit dip

Go check out all the appetizer recipes and see what’s coming up later this week. This is going to be awesome! I love free resources like this!

So now let’s look at the fun printables, want to?

I’m hoping that next week we can take a bit of a Thanksgiving break from most of our school work. We’ll still need to do math lessons, but overall, I hope to play a lot of board games and work on some fun Christmas projects.

All of the following printables are free. I thought you might enjoy looking through them to see what you might want to use as inexpensive gifts this Christmas. For just the cost of paper and ink, you can put together some nice packages!

This first one says “Summer Blessings” but I hereby declare that they can be used in the fall and winter too. Print them onto cardstock, cut them, grab some envelopes, and tie them up with a ribbon.

Summer Blessings Printables

Blessings Card Printables

Galatians 6:9 is one of my favorite Bible verses. This can be printed and framed for a sweet gift of encouragement.

Galatians69color

Galatians 6:9 Printable

Of course, we have to talk about giving gifts of food. Here are some fun printable labels to go with food gifts that are fitting for this time of year:

Pumpkin and Apple Stickers

Pumpkin and Apple Treat Labels

It’s fun to put together a basket of apples with a jar of homemade caramel dip…

CaramelSauceTag-prev

caramel_dip_with_apples

Caramel Apple Treat Labels and Recipe

Below are sticker printables that can be used to label any treats you put into jars!

HHM-Chevron-Labels-printable-preview1

Canning Jar Labels

You can print gift tags to attach to any of your gifts…

Christmas Gift Tags HHM

Christmas Gift Tags 2 HHM

Christmas Gift Tag Printables

…Or fun Christmas cards.

Free Printable Christmas Cards

Christmas Card Printables

Our family made these wrapped candy bars last year to give to some of our youth workers at church and adopted college students. They were a hit!

Christmas Candy Bar Gifts

Candy Bar Labels

I have more fun (and inexpensive) gift ideas up my sleeve that I’ll share during the next few weeks!

How are your holiday preparations coming?

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

2-Ingredient Cranberry Sauce ~ It’s Too Easy

by 32 Comments

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

cranberry sauce

Why? Why do we make it hard? And the most important question of all, who loves how the cranberry sauce from the store plops out of the can and remains forever in the shape of the can? How do they do that, anyway?

Don’t answer that. I already know. It’s made with gelatin. I could make my cranberry sauce with gelatin too, if I wanted. It might be kind of fun, actually. I could use a tin can to make a cranberry sauce mold and I could plop it out on Thanksgiving morning. It would bring back fun memories of my childhood, because that was one of my favorite holiday jobs. I could re-live that suction sound it made as the jellied variety of cranberry sauce came out of the can. That would be way, way, way better than my memories of the sound a can of biscuits makes when it opens. I can’t even handle thinking about that one. (I’m a canned biscuit big baby scaredy cat chicken.)

So homemade cranberry sauce. It is so easy. I’d never even made it before last week because I figured it might be hard. Really, Laura? You put cranberries and sugar in a pot and you cook it for a few minutes to create cranberry sauce. Well, I had no idea.

This recipe is a total no-brainer. It’s as easy as Stir-and-Pour Bread. In fact, this sauce tastes very good on top of a slice of that particular bread. I promise to continue to make all of our real food cooking as easy as possible.

Please note though that while this is easy and made with real food – this recipe is very full of sugar. I tried to cut down the sugar – you know – to prove like so many other recipes that all the sugar is ridiculous. Unfortunately, this dish mocked me to my face. (Literally, to my very puckered up face.) It was like, “I dare you to cut the sugar down and not make weird faces. Go ahead. Try it. Heh. Nice face.”

Fine. My face was unbecoming. Make this cranberry sauce of the low sugar variety at your own risk. Keep your camera handy. Your cranberry sauce face photos will be a delight for years to come.

Whatever your sugar content choice, I promise you will love how ridiculously easy this side dish is to make. I will be making mine a couple days before Thanksgiving so that I can simply pull it out of the fridge to serve. I got my fresh cranberries for 99¢ so I was very excited. You probably wanted to know that.

2-Ingredient Cranberry Sauce

Yum

5.0 from 1 reviews
2-Ingredient Cranberry Sauce ~ It's Too Easy
 
Save Print
Author:
Ingredients
  • 1½ cups fresh cranberries (12 ounce bag)
  • ⅓ to 1 cup sucanat or sugar
Instructions
  1. Rinse cranberries.
  2. Combine cranberries and sucanat in a small sauce pan.
  3. Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 10-15 minutes. Your work here is done.
  4. Place cranberry sauce in a serving dish, cover, and refrigerate for at least two hours before serving.

Ten Minute ~ Two Ingredient Cranberry Sauce

Make this several days before serving if you wish. Yes! It is another make-ahead dish to save you time on Thanksgiving or Christmas (or some Friday in February). Add this recipe to your Getting Ahead for the Holidays Check-List.

Have you tried making Cranberry Sauce? Ever tried it low sugar? Whoa. Who loves the canned, jellied cranberry sauce suction plop? Ah, the memories.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While I’ve got you, I am pleased to announce the three Getting Ahead for the Holidays winners of the $25 Gift Certificates good toward any of our eCourses or downloadable items in theHeavenly Homemakers Shop!

  • Jane J.: bnwalker@
  • Shelby: sixforemans@
  • Karen: kloumc21@

Winners, email me (laura at heavenlyhomemakers.com) and I’ll send you a certificate!

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

Getting Ahead for the Holidays ~ My Food Prep Timeline and Checklist

by 37 Comments

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

If I think about it too hard, I will realize that prepping for a holiday meal is an enormous amount of work to put into one forty-five minute eating session. Thankfully there will be fellowship, gratitude reflection, and best of all: leftovers. This work is all worth it because of the leftovers. (I mean fellowship. I only do this for the fellowship.)

Getting Ahead for the Holidays means that most of my hard work is complete by Thanksgiving morning. I can simply rewarm food, put together last minute dishes, and enjoy all my people. That’s the point, after all. Enjoying our people. Reveling in all God has given. Totally being thankful for leftovers. (I can’t help it.)

This year, we will be hosting Thanksgiving with some dear friends, gathering as many into our home as can fit (and then some). I’ve been looking forward to this for weeks. I’ve already started cooking. Sharing the Getting Ahead for the Holidays series with you has helped with my own planning – so thank you! This has been fun!

Getting Ahead for the Holidays Food Prep Timeline and Checklist

Below, I’ve outlined my ideal plan for knocking out everything on my to-do list. Will it all happen exactly according to plan? It never does. At least the list helps keep all my thoughts in one place!

One Week Before Thanksgiving

Two Days Before Thanksgiving

One Day Before Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day

  • Enjoy a large cup of steamy coffee in my recliner for a very long time (because I can)
  • Everyone on their own for breakfast (probably cereal)
  • Mix dry ingredients together for Stir-and-Pour Rolls (for easy, no-brainer mixing about an hour before meal time)
  • Set out butter to soften for rolls
  • Plates, silverware, cups, and napkins set out

About 1 1/2 hours before serving time, I will bake or re-heat prepared foods. I will make gravy. I will bake the rolls. I will speak complete sentences and have actual conversations while doing this. I will. (Well, I’ll get back to you on that.)

Here are the quick links to all the recipes we covered in this series:

I would love to hear what all you are planning to prepare ahead this holiday season!

Getting Ahead for the Holidays

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