Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Build a Simple Veggie Flower (Great for Showers and Holidays!)

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I just came across a picture on Pinterest showing me how to carve a swan out of a melon. I highly considered giving it a try for about negative .8 seconds – mostly because I knew for sure mine would turn out looking like a melon that fell out of my cart at the store and got ran over by a minivan.

Art and food? It’s not my thing. I think life’s too short to design owls out of kiwi, grapes, peaches, and blueberries when there are so many other important ways to spend time – like looking for lost shoes and sweeping up glass after a ball has been kicked through the kitchen (details not included). Also – I stink at art. Like, I draw a picture of a bunny and my kids say, “why did you draw a picture of our mailbox?”

But. Two weeks ago I saw a picture of veggies displayed in the shape of a flower and thought to myself: I can totally do that and I should do it for Easter. And so I did. It took less than 10 minutes (no joke) and people were like, “oh look it’s a flower.” Score one for me.

Build a Simple Veggie Flower

I think this is a great idea for a springtime wedding or baby shower, and it was definitely perfect for our Easter buffet. On a regular day, however? I will be throwing down the veggies and dip like my normal non-artist self.

What You Need to Build a Veggie FlowerYum

  • Broccoli
  • Baby Carrots
  • Celery
  • Cucumbers
  • Grape Tomatoes

Putting it all together is self explanatory – if you can do it I can do it. Just look at the picture above for the “how to.” Serve with these great dips:

Ranch Dressing and Dip Mix

Easy Veggie Dip 1

Have you done much mixing of art and food? I draw the line at this veggie flower. :)

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The Pyrex You Shouldn’t Live Without

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I keep finding this Pyrex set on sale, so it must be a sign: You need these in your kitchen.

I have two complete sets of these and use them all day long, every day, all the time. The lids make these invaluable because they allow me to prep fruits, veggies, and salads ahead of time and stash them in my fridge for quick side dishes. I LOVE THESE.

pyrex bowls 2

 

You will love these. The price can’t be beat. Buy one (or two) set(s) for yourself and one for a bridal shower this spring. Then fill them with fruits and veggies (for yourself, not for the bridal shower).

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Low Sugar Super Moist Chocolate Cake (That Doesn’t Taste Low Sugar)

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There’s a chocolate cake recipe our family has been making for years. It’s one of our favorite of all cakes – mostly because it’s not dry like many homemade cakes can be.

Low Sugar Chocolate Cake

But – you know how my body won’t let me eat much sugar anymore? I mostly don’t even want it – but sometimes I just get a hankering for something chocolaty. That’s what inspired the invention of Chocolate Whipped Cream, Coconut Fudge Bars – and now this – a Low Sugar Chocolate Cake. I decided to try making our favorite chocolate Texas Sheet Cake recipe with less sugar to see how it would turn out.

You guys!!!!!! Why in the name of a diabetic coma do recipes (including many of mine) call for so much sugar???!?! Originally, this recipe includes 6 cups of sugar. SIX. That’s 2 cups in the cake and 4 cups in the frosting and none of us can possibly imagine that cutting out so much of the sugar would still produce a cake that actually tastes good.

Well neener, neener to all of us. I just recreated this cake to include a grand total of 1/2 cup of sugar. Yes, that is one-half cup. Total. Neener. 

I love this cake like nobody’s business. But what do I know? I’m the one who can no longer tolerate much sugar, so even the barely sweet stuff tastes quite sweet to me. The true test was serving this to my children. They still love their sugar (what kid doesn’t?) and they are used the “the regular way” we’ve always made the Texas Sheet Cake. Would they feel like the cake wasn’t sweet enough? I mean, going from 6 cups to just 1/2 cup of sugar – that’s a big drop.

Two things:

  1. Yes, they could tell.
  2. No, they didn’t care.

They ate the cake, they liked the cake, they had seconds on the cake (which was only allowed because of the low sugar content). This makes me think that we could likely drastically cut the sugar in most cake and cookie recipes and everyone would still enjoy the treats. Why yes I will be testing this theory. And I will share my results with you – one recipe at a time.

One thing to note: The brand of stevia you use in the frosting really does make a difference. Some stevia has a stronger, more bitter taste than others. My family prefers NuNaturals Alcohol-Free Stevia. It’s much less bitter. But no matter what brand you use – if you overdo it, the taste goes from sweet to bitter. A little goes a long way – don’t forget! (More info on stevia here.)

Low Sugar Super Moist Chocolate CakeYum

5.0 from 2 reviews
Low Sugar Super Moist Chocolate Cake (That Doesn't Taste Low Sugar)
 
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Author:
Serves: 15
Ingredients
  • 1 cup melted coconut oil
  • 1 cup water
  • 4 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
  • ½ cup sucanat
  • dash of sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ cup sour cream
  • 2 eggs
Instructions
  1. In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, sucanat, salt, and baking soda.
  2. Set aside. In a saucepan, bring oil, water, and cocoa to a boil.
  3. Pour liquid mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredient mixture.
  4. Stir well.
  5. Add sour cream and eggs, mixing well.
  6. Pour batter into a 9x13 inch baking pan.
  7. Bake in a 350° oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow cake to cool completely before frosting.

Stevia-Sweetened Cream Cheese Frosting

2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 Tablespoons softened butter
8 ounces softened cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Liquid stevia to taste (I use about 20 drops)

In a large bowl, whip cream until soft peaks form. Add softened butter, cream cheese, vanilla, and stevia – whipping until well combined and smooth. Spread over cooled cake. Store in refrigerator. Makes about 20 servings.

Low Sugar Super Moist Chocolate Cake

Part of what makes this cake so moist is the use of sour cream. It doesn’t hurt that we use an entire cup of coconut oil. Bring on the healthy fat! You can use regular whole wheat flour if you like, but whole wheat pastry flour (ground from soft white wheat berries) really helps make this cake less dense.

So here’s to this amazing Low Sugar Chocolate Cake. Now we can have our cake and eat it too and not even have a sugar crash afterward. Of course, we will also still be eating our veggies with this lovely side of chocolate. Amen and amen.

Have you tried cutting back on sugar in your diet? Have you found recipes to turn out successfully when you cut the sugar? 

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How To Clean Your Liver and Your Drinking Glasses At the Same Time

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It’s all about lemon juice.

Hey, I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried. I simply learned this trick accidentally, so I decided to tell you to do it on purpose. After all, you might be like me and have water spots on your glasses and toxins in your liver. Not to worry – there’s a lemon for that.

Not sure if you have toxins in your liver? (And everybody looked down as if to examine their liver and check for toxins.)  I can just about guarantee we can all use a good liver cleanse. We all breathe in toxins when we’re outside or when we’re around chemicals of any kind, and surely we’re ingesting them – even if we are very careful about what we eat.

Oh no!! Our livers are toxic!  Relax. Our livers are made to process out toxins. Our world simply gives them a little more than they can handle sometimes. A lemon-liver boost is just what the doctor ordered.

Lemon Water Detox - Simple!

For me, this happened literally. One of my natural doctors suggested that my liver and immune system would benefit from drinking lemon juice in a glass of water each day. It sounded easy enough – plus, I love that this is such a super inexpensive de-tox option. So I started adding lemon juice to a glass of water once or twice each day.

How’s the taste? Well, pucker up. I don’t add sugar (because wouldn’t that just defeat the purpose?) so my lemon juice water is quite tart. Now that I’m used to the taste though, I find it to be rather refreshing and I’ve started to crave it each day.

And then. Then!!!!!! I noticed that when I rinse my glass afterward, all the spots that had been hanging out were wiped away. Just like that. So it would appear that lemon juice cleanses my liver and my drinking glasses at the same time because it’s just so efficient and awesome like that.

Here. I took a picture of two drinking glasses to show you the difference. I considered also putting two livers side by side so we could all see the effectiveness of drinking lemon water but wouldn’t you know it. My camera battery died. Seriously. That’s the only reason I didn’t stage that picture. The only reason.

spots on glass

What have we learned here today?

  • Laura has hard water.
  • Our livers love lemons.
  • Lemon juice beats hard water stains.

So here is my advice to you today (and tomorrow): Add about 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice to a 12 ounce glass of water. Drink it down. Do this once or twice or three times each day. Feel confident about this lovely boost you are giving your liver – helping it to do its job for you more effectively. And then watch as your drinking glasses become more sparkly each time you drink your lemon water.

After all, as they always say, if life gives you lemons – go cleanse your liver. Or your drinking glasses. Or both. At the same time. Rock on.

Ever tried drinking straight lemon water? How do you like it?!

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Order Soy Free Chocolate Chips Before They Melt in Your Mailbox!

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I’m not joking. I’ve had this happen before. I ordered chocolate chips in the summertime, and by the time they reached my house, they had melted together into one giant clump.

Not to worry. I figured out ways to still use them. No chocolate left behind, as they say. But if you’re wanting your chocolate chips to stay chippy – I recommend you order now and stock up before the weather gets too warm.

Right now Amazon has a case of 6 – 10 ounce bags of Enjoy Life Soy Free Chocolate Chips for just $22.14. This is a great stock-up price, so buy now and freeze them for later.

enjoy life six pack

Unless you like 10-ounce blobs of melty chocolate mess. Then, by all means, wait until July to order. ;)

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Gratituesday: Rested!

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gratituesday[2]

Well, hello there. Nice to see you again. I’ve had a wonderfully refreshing break – so thank you. (What, like I gave you a choice in the matter?)

What I loved most about my break was the chance to enjoy homemaking and schooling my kids without any pressure to squeeze blogging work in and around all the crazy. It was refreshing to check that off the to-do list for eight entire days. I missed writing, no doubt. But really…I didn’t. I needed to rest my fingers and my head. I’m thankful the Spirit prompted me to rest. I’m thankful I listened and obeyed. I’ve learned much.

So what have I been up to during the past week? I did some cleaning. I looked through piles of pictures for Asa’s upcoming graduation reception. I spent extra time in the Word. I sat in the sunshine. I got caught up on history lessons with Elias and Malachi. I did some baking…

rest 1

I made a double batch of our favorite Poppy Seed Bread with Orange Glaze (recipe in {Healthy} Make-Ahead Meals and Snacks eBook). Yum! We ate two loaves and froze two for another day. I also made a double batch of cookie dough balls for the freezer. The boys were excited about that, for sure. (I especially like this because they can get out a few balls from the freezer and bake them without any help or mess.) It was just really fun to piddle around in the kitchen – stirring, baking, and singing praise songs along with the radio.

rest 2
Over the weekend we drove to Kansas City for the annual Leadership Training for Christ convention our kids participate in. This is Asa’s final year – he’s been doing this since 3rd grade! He was blessed to receive a scholarship for his efforts, which is a huge blessing! Our kids participated in a Bible Bowl, dramas, choirs, and much more. It was a very full weekend with all four of our boys in a variety of events, but we love joining over 100 people from our congregation and many hundreds of people from all over the midwest at this event! Here are some snapshots of our boys:

This was Asa and Justus’ high school choir. I may have cried during the entire performance. It’s a “my son is a senior” thing. Plus, they sounded gorgeous.

ltc 1
Justus is front right – Asa is in the back, second from the right.

 ltc 2
Here’s Malachi’s choir. He’s standing front right.

ltc 3
This is Elias’ crew right after they performed their middle school drama. They were awesome!
Elias is in the black striped shirt – the handsome dude with glasses.

We came home in time to celebrate Easter along with several college students we invited for the day. We put out a big spread of ham, green beans, asparagus, corn, rolls, cantaloupe, and pineapple. Then we followed it with a brownie sundae bar. Here’s part of our buffet:

easter dinner 1

It’s been a delightful week. I’m thankful for the rest. I’m glad to be back.

A bit of encouragement for us all: If the Lord prompts you to do something – listen and obey. He knows what He’s talking about. :)

So now you’re turn: What have you been up to? What are you thankful for this Gratituesday?

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See You After Easter!

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Want to know a secret?

Since August I have been exploring, studying, and learning about what it means to take a weekly Sabbath rest. It has been oh-my-goodness wonderful and also very hard. How is a mom supposed to take a Sabbath rest every week when there is so much to be done??? This is what I’ve been exploring for the past seven months. I’ve been journaling my way through this challenging yet blessed learning process. You’ll get to read about it some day. :)

This morning the Spirit prompted me to take a different kind of rest. I began this blog in November 2007 and have posted almost daily since. That’s 4,006 posts of fun! I love writing, I love you, I love interacting here. I’ve taken breaks here and there during the past seven years, but that usually means that I’ve worked ahead of time to get posts ready to go up even if I’m gone.

This week, I’m going to have a time of quiet. No writing, no picture taking, no thinking about what to post next. Okay fine.  I actually might write. It’s hard for me not to write because I love writing. I’m just not going to post what I write – for seven entire days of quiet.

elias cross pic

This comes at a perfect time as we reflect more fully on the sacrifice Jesus made and the miracle of his resurrection. Taking in the Word instead of kicking out words for daily posts sounds all kinds of refreshing.

To all my regular readers: thank you for showing up here every day. This week, use the time you normally read my daily posts to read something from the Word instead. Take some quiet time to listen to His message for your life.

If after that you still want a little Heavenly Homemaker encouragement, just search through the 4,006 posts in the archives. The recipes, tips, and books are all there for your reading pleasure. :)

Beyond a blogging break to find refreshment, I’m going to become re-acquainted with my scrub brush as there is much filth in my house that can no longer be ignored. I’m actually looking forward to it. (Whoa, that’s crazy talk.)

My keyboard and I will miss you. Have a wonderful week and I’ll see you after Easter!

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Feeling Weary?

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Ugh, the weariness. Even in the midst of good times, weariness can set in – in parenting, in marriage, in ministries, in the daily grind.

Today I tip my hat to you, in gratitude for all you do to keep life moving for those you love. Thank you for packing lunches, changing diapers, rinsing dishes, tossing a salad, or paying the bills. Thank you for sweeping the porch, writing a note, disciplining the child, wiping the snot, or driving to the appointment. Thank you for countless hours of work you do – in all its forms – for the love of your family.

Your work is not in vain. You serve a great purpose as you love those around you. Be encouraged! Be blessed!

Galatians69color

I posted this several months ago, but seeing as it is one of my favorite verses, I decided to pull it up again to share with you. Know someone who is weary right now? Pass this on to them for encouragement. I love how scripture speaks and offers true peace for us all.

Download Galatians 6:9 in Blue and Black here.

Download Galatians 6:9 in Gray and Black here.

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Whole Wheat Stuffed Cheesy Bread

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Homemade, soft, pull-apart bread stuffed full of melted cheesy deliciousness? Oh yes.

cheese bread11

What inspired this recipe, you ask? It was pure and total selfishness and that’s the truth.

See, I was serving salad as a main dish for our lunch. The salad was to include mixed greens and other veggies plus flavorful chunks of chicken, so I knew all my men would enjoy it. But I also knew that if I didn’t feed them something a little more substantial with their salad, I’d be hearing the “now what can I have to eat” question right about the time we finished putting salad bowls into the dishwasher.

See? It was selfishness.  I did not want to hear that question. I am over that question. That question makes all mothers want to run in unladylike fashion to the far corners of anywhere but the kitchen. Am I right? I am right.

So I searched online for a fun new kind of bread to go with our salads. The boys all thought I made the bread to treat them to something special. Don’t tell them otherwise. Yes boys. I was June Cleaver delighted to make you this special treat for lunch. (And also, I am very, very selfish and wanted to keep your bellies full until the next actual meal time so that I wouldn’t hear the question.)

Now that my confession is out of the way and you understand the heart behind the recipe, you too can be selfish and make this for your family. This might be the best selfish act you and I will ever commit.

Whole Wheat Stuffed Cheesy Bread (adapted from this recipe)Yum

Dough

1 teaspoon honey
3/4 cup warm water (about 110°)
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 Tablespoons melted butter or coconut oil
2 cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground flour from hard white wheat)
3/4 teaspoon sea salt

Cheese Filling

2 cups shredded cheese (I used Colby jack for this)
1 Tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

In a large mixing bowl, stir together honey, water, and yeast. Allow mixture to sit for about 10 minutes until it becomes foamy. Add melted butter (be sure it’s not too hot so it won’t kill the yeast). Stir in flour and salt until well combined. Knead dough on a floured surface for about 5 minutes. (Here’s a video showing you how to knead dough.)

Place dough back in bowl, cover, and allow dough to rest/rise for about one hour. Meanwhile, mix cheese filling ingredients in a bowl.

Heat oven to 450°. Divide dough in half. Roll each half into an 8″ square. Scoop about 1/2 cup cheese mixture onto one side of each square. Fold the dough over the cheese and press edges lightly together. Use a sharp knife to slice the dough into 6-8 one-inch strips, stopping just before the folded edge. Sprinkle remaining cheese evenly over the top of the prepared bread.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until bread is golden brown. Serve right away. Makes 16 Cheesy Bread Sticks.

Note:  In the following pictures, you’ll notice that I doubled the recipe.
Instead of 2 cheesy breads, I made 4. I didn’t want to run out. Remember the selfishness.

cheese bread 1

cheese bread 2

cheese bread 3

cheese bread 4

cheese bread 5

cheese bread 6

cheese bread 7

cheese bread 8

cheese bread 10

And there you have it. A delicious act of selfishness. This was a perfect side with our salads. This bread also tastes great dipped in pizza sauce.

Whole Wheat Stuffed Cheesy Bread

Are you also tired of the question?

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20% Off Vanilla Beans Through March 30!

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When vanilla beans are offered at 20% off at Olive Nation, we have to take advantage! They always offer free shipping on vanilla bean orders, so that’s a great bonus.

Read here about how to make homemade vanilla extract.  I mean, why else would I suggest you buy a bunch of vanilla beans?! :)

Making my own vanilla has saved me so much money over the years. Plus, I know that my vanilla is absolutely pure. Olive Nation is the only place I purchase vanilla beans. Their quality and prices are best. I just took advantage of this 20% discount so my savings is even greater than normal. Super exciting!

vanilla_beans

Find the discounted vanilla beans on this page at Olive Nation. Use the code EAST20 for the 20% discount to apply. Get your homemade vanilla started and love the deliciousness! (Coupon code expires March 30, 2015.)

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