Heavenly Homemakers

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Black Bean Chicken Nachos ~ Freezer Cooking Week Two

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Ugly picture alert. 

Below is a picture of my container of cooked and frozen salsa chicken. It looks kind of…eh.

black bean chicken nachos frozen 2

Makes you want to get right into the kitchen and make some yourself, doesn’t it? It’s a shame, really, to put that picture at the top of a blog post. Trust me though, when I say that as ugly as that chicken is in its frozen state, it really is a delicious dish. The best part is how easy it is to make this. Ready to get started?

You’ll find the recipe for Black Bean Chicken Nachos here. Simply get your chicken and salsa cooking (double the recipe). This chicken cooks on its own while you work on something else. Then, you can add the beans and serve part of the chicken dish at lunch or dinnertime. Allow the remaining chicken to cool, then, freeze it in a jar or Ziploc bag to pull out and serve another time.

If that wasn’t the easiest freezer cooking you’ve ever done, I don’t know what is.

Below you’ll find a much more attractive picture of this meal. Serve it with fresh fruit, and you’ve got one very easy and family friendly meal – times two, because now you also have one for your freezer. I’m loving this freezer cooking challenge!

Black Bean Chicken Nachos

How is the challenge going for you at this point? If you haven’t started yet, you can join at any time! Up next, Crock Pot Barbecue Chicken Breasts.

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Gratituesday: Connecting With Gladis By Studying Maps

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gratituesday[2]

Once again, today proved that ministry and school can collide, and that no matter what we’re doing, we can learn something meaningful.

After breakfast this morning, the three younger boys and I mixed a geography/history lesson with our outreach to Gladis, the girl we sponsor through One Child Matters. We did a little research on Honduras, where Gladis is from. We printed out and colored maps and flags to send to her. We talked about the distance between our home and Gladis’ (roughly 1900 miles). And we marveled at how big God is to connect us to her in this awesome way.

maps for gladis 1

I should make something clear:  My three younger boys are 9, 12, and 14. They don’t sit and color pictures anymore…ever. But when I told them we were making these pages for Gladis, they ran for the colored pencils – even discussing how colored pencils would be better than markers for this assignment because it would look so much nicer and Gladis could see the maps better. Anytime I mention doing anything for Gladis, their response is always joyful and eager.

Maybe I should ask them to fold and put away their clothes in the hallway/do the dishes/pick up sticks in the yard…for Gladis. Think it would fly? ;)

The end results of our creations are simple. We thought maybe Gladis would have fun coloring the rest of the maps, so we left a lot for her to fill in. But we wanted to show her where in the U.S. we are located (Husker red, of course). Do you see the blue shaded areas on the world map below? That’s to show her that she is there, in Central America, and we are here in Nebraska, USA. We’ll be writing a note at the top of that map, letting her know that we are praying for her, that God is taking care of all of us, and that we are sending our love from our home to hers.

maps for gladis 2

I always wish I could see her face when she receives our packages. I’m told that pictures and maps like this are a treasure to these sponsored kids as they typically don’t have many items like this in their homes. How wonderful that such a simple school lesson for our family will be such a wonderful blessing to Gladis and her family.

Want to print out similar pages to do something like this for your sponsored child? Here are the links for where I found ours:

World Map Coloring Page

US Map Coloring Page

Honduras Flag Printables

United States Flag Coloring Page

Check out this cool Distance Calculator to discover about how far away your sponsored child is from where you live.

If you’re not yet sponsoring a child, please join us! I’m celebrating this ministry for Gratituesday today, because of the blessing it is to my family. I want you to experience this too. Bless a child – be blessed. What a rich gift.

Now your turn. Share what you’re thankful for!  Leave a comment on this post letting us know how God is working in your life. If you’ve written a blog post about what you’re thankful for, leave the link in the comments so we can visit your blog to read about it. We love sharing and reading about God’s blessings!

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

Cooking Whole Chickens and Making Chicken Broth ~ Freezer Cooking Week Two

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Hope you’re joining us for the Freezer Cooking Challenge! You’ll find this week’s plans here.

Today is the biggest day of our challenge when it comes to time and effort. We’ll be making Chicken Broth, plus shredded cooked chicken for salads and stir fries. We’re doing it first, just to get it out of the way. The rest of the week will be so easy you won’t know what to do with yourself.

The best thing about today is that while it does take several hours to make broth, it doesn’t actually take hours of work on your part. Once you get your chicken and veggies cooking, you can just walk away and let it do its thing. By the end of today, you will have several jars of rich, nourishing broth. Plus you’ll have cup after cup of cooked chicken. Having cooked chicken means you have all kinds of quick meal options. Simply toss your cooked chicken into soup, casserole, salad, or stir fry.

Okay, here we go!

Begin making your Chicken Broth by putting your whole chickens, carrots, onions, and other veggies into a large stock pot. Fill 3/4 full of water.

chicken week 1

Cover pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, leaving lid on. Allow the chicken/veggies/water to cook for 3-4 hours. See a thorough Chicken Broth Tutorial here.

chicken week 2

Remove chickens from pot, placing them on a platter to cool for a few minutes before you take the meat off the bones. In the meantime, strain out the veggies and broth. Throw the mushy veggies into a blender, give them a whiz until they are smooth, then stir them into your broth for extra nourishment! Pour broth into other bowls or pans so that it can cool.

Time to debone those chickens.

chicken week 3

Confession time:  I thoroughly dislike de-boning chickens.  I don’t know why, I just don’t like it. So what does a good mother do? She calls in her children and makes them do the job she doesn’t enjoy. The good news:  My four boys got right with it and had the meat off those bones in no time as if it wasn’t a job to be despised. Justus (age 14) and Malachi (age 9) left the kitchen afterward while saying the words, “Well, that was fun.”

I’m pretty sure they liked it because he could nibble chicken while they worked. Okay by me. I didn’t have to debone the chickens.

Important:  Once the chicken is off the bones, I always throw the bones back into the pot, fill it up 1/2 full of water, and cook it for another few hours to make even more broth. Gotta use those great chicken bones for all they’re worth! While round two of broth was cooking, I got to work with that cooked chicken.

I packaged up three Ziploc freezer bags with cooked chicken to pull out for soups and casseroles. Then I made a big batch of Chicken Salad. I put it into the fridge and had two meals worth ready for quick lunches. Love this! I put the remaining chicken in a glass pyrex storage dish in the fridge to have chicken chef salads this week. The bagged chicken went into the freezer.

chicken week 4

When it was all said and done, I ended up with 5-half gallon jars of chicken broth. Some is in my freezer, some is in the fridge for soups this week.

chicken week 5

You can tell the difference between batch one and batch two. Batch one was cooked with veggies. Batch two was cooked with bones only. I certainly could have thrown in more veggies for round two, but I was plumb out of carrots and onions at that point. I’ll be sure to use the veggie-less broth to make soup in which I add veggies in.

Take note also that if you are going to freeze broth in jars, be sure to leave 2-3 inches of space at the top of the jar to allow for expansion. Do not put them into the freezer until they have completely cooled.

After today, give yourself a huge pat on the back for a job well done! This day is a little more labor intensive than others will be, but think of all the wonderful meal possibilities you’re creating with just 2 chickens!

Coming up next in the freezer cooking challenge, we’ll be making Black Bean Chicken Nachos….

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Menu Plan For the Week – with more freezer cooking plans

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So…freezer cooking this week. Are you in? Most importantly, do you have your chicken? :)  You can check out all the plans, download the grocery list, and access the recipes here. Make plans to join us this week!

Black Bean Chicken Nachos

Here’s our menu plan for the week, which of course, includes a lot of chicken. I also added in some coconut flour recipes since I found such a great deal on coconut flour yesterday:

Sunday, April 6
Homemade instant oatmeal, pears
Sloppy joes, carrot sticks, fruit
Small group fellowship:  Nacho bar

Monday, April 7
Green machine milkshakes, coconut flour muffins
Chicken chef salad with tons of veggie choices, crispy cheese crackers
Pizza boats, fruit salad, raw veggies

Tuesday, April 8
Scrambled eggs, quick mix biscuits, kiwi
Black bean chicken nachos, fresh pineapple, sweet peppers and cucumbers
Shepherds pie, tossed salad, strawberries

Wednesday, April 9
Whole wheat waffles, blueberries, whipped cream
Crock pot barbecue chicken breast sandwiches, creamy coleslaw, carrots and cucumbers with ranch, peaches
Tuna casserole, peas, tossed salad

Thursday, April 10
Poptarts, fried eggs, bananas
Taco corn fritters, pineapple mango smoothies green beans
Bacon wrapped cream cheese chicken (recipe in {Healthy} Make-Ahead Meals and Snacks eBook), tossed salad, roasted asparagus

Friday, April 11
Pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, applesauce
Turkey ranch pinwheels, chocolate milkshakes, grape tomatoes, carrots and cucumbers
Potato soup, sweet peppers, tossed salad, coconut flour cheddar drop biscuits

Saturday, April 12
Cranberry white chocolate chip breakfast cookies, fried eggs, oranges
Leftovers
Chicken noodle soup, tossed salad

Did you sign up for BudgetFocus and take advantage of the big discount they’re offering? Budgeting made simple!

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

The Plan ~ Getting Ready For Freezer Cooking, Week Two

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350x350_Challenge

Are you ready (to get ready) for our Freezer Cooking Challenge, week two? This time, we’ll be focusing on chicken recipes. Want to know what’s coming up after this week? I’ve updated the post which shares the challenges to come. You’ll want to check it out!

Here’s what I have planned to make next week in an effort to put chicken dishes in the freezer. Want to join me?

If you joined the challenge last week and ran out of Pyrex dishes, you’ll be glad to know that you don’t have to use any casserole dishes this week (unless you want to)! This week, you’ll just need Ziploc type freezer bags and jars. :)

The Grocery List

  • 2 whole chickens (more if you like)
  • veggies for making broth (like carrots, onions, and celery)
  • 10 pounds (give or take) boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • 1 1/2 cups ketchup (for barbecue sauce)
  • 4 cups salsa
  • 4 cups cooked black beans (or 2 cans prepared black beans)
  • 4 ounces cream cheese
  • 1 pound bacon

Miscellaneous items you’ll need:

  • minced onion
  • sea salt
  • garlic powder
  • black pepper
  • liquid smoke
  • cheese, chips, sour cream, and other nacho toppings if you plan to serve Black Bean Chicken Nachos this week
  • fruit and veggie side dishes

I’ve created a downloadable and printable grocery list for you here:  Freezer Cooking Grocery List Two

Your first assignment is simply this:

Check out the recipes above and purchase all needed groceries. Then, look at your schedule next week to see how you might be able to work out the following:

On Monday, we’ll start by cooking our whole chickens to make Chicken Broth. Wednesday we’ll work on Black Bean Chicken Nachos. Thursday will be our Crock Pot Barbecue Chicken Breasts day. And we’ll wrap up on Friday by making Bacon Wrapped Cream Cheese Chicken. By the end of the week, you will have fed your family very well, plus you will have a freezer full of broth, pre-cooked chicken for salads, stir-fries, and casseroles, plus packages of bbq chicken, salsa chicken, and bacon wrapped chicken for easy-to-heat-up meals!

If that particular schedule doesn’t work for you – no problem! Those are the days I’ll be blogging about my freezer cooking progress with each of those recipes, but you can certainly work at your own pace and in your own time.

Ready…go!

Don’t forget, Let’s Do This! eCourse and {Healthy} Make-Ahead Meals and Snacks eBook are discounted to just $5 for the whole package. The recipes included in that package are some that we use all the time at our house to get ahead!

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

Loving On Teenagers ~ How About Sponsoring An Older Child?

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Ah, teenagers. Forget everything negative you’ve ever heard anyone say about them.  Teens are some of my very favorite people. I’ve got two amazing teens living in my house right now. Watching God grow them into mature adults has been delightful. Trying at times? Sure. But so were some of the baby, toddler, preschool, early elementary, and pre-teen years. I guarantee that at age 40, I’m trying at times too. Teens are no worse or better than any other human being. They just happen to be going through huge changes in life while they become more independent. Some of those changes are great, and some are very, very difficult.

Don’t you remember it?  Can’t you look back on your teenage years and remember how difficult some of that was? I remember not knowing how to act as I gave up little girl stuff and became a young woman – relearning who I was. I remember watching others around me and trying to figure out how to avoid doing some of what they were doing, all while trying to still fit in. I remember gaining responsibilities and trying to learn how to juggle them. I remember.  I thank God for the people in my life I had to love me through it. Where would I be without them?

To all of you who have chosen to join our ministry here at Heavenly Homemakers and sponsor a child – thank you. Can you just picture the joy on your child’s face when they first found out they had a sponsoring family?

To all of you who are thinking of sponsoring a child but have not yet jumped in:  I challenge you to consider sponsoring a pre-teen or teenager.

one child matters teens

You certainly can pick a younger child, because oh how they need to be sponsored as well. If that is what will fit your family best – like it did ours at the time we were choosing – go for it! We love that our boys have a “little sister” to love on through prayer and mail.

But it could be that God calls you, instead, to sponsor an older child. A child others have overlooked, perhaps. I envision the joy of that child upon finding out that a sponsor has chosen him/her, and I get weepy. Someone wants to help meet their needs. Someone wants to write letters to them. Someone wants to hear what they have to say. Someone from around the world loves them.

Think of the mentoring possibilities. I mean, with our little sponsored girl, Gladis, we certainly do all we can to encourage her and share Jesus’ love with her. But she’s only four. We look forward to years and years of growing a relationship with her. But those older kids waiting for sponsorship? I bet you could jump right into an endearing relationship in which you help take the load off of the trying teen challenges they face. Picture this! Let the Spirit lead you. Can you see the beauty of how this might work in your family?

If you have a teenager yourself, consider sponsoring one that might become a friend, pen-pal, confidante, and inspiration to yours. The friendship and mentoring possibilities are vast in the case of sponsoring an older child. I pray you consider this. I pray you take on this beautiful opportunity of sponsoring a child in another country.

Whoever you choose, whatever the age, whatever the country – know that this choice you are making is a huge blessing, both to you and to the child you sponsor. Please join this ministry!

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

Cheesy Beef and Pasta Casserole ~ Finishing Freezer Cooking Week One

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Heya! We are in our final stretch with week one of the Freezer Cooking Challenge. I have loved hearing from so many of you that have joined in. This is so much fun – cooking together! Too bad we can’t also do dishes together. Or make our kids do dishes together so that we can all just sit and drink coffee together and chat. Yes, I like that plan. Why did I not think of that before?

Here’s what we’ve made so far:

Now, we’re down to Cheesy Beef and Pasta Casserole (recipe in {Healthy} Make-Ahead Meals and Snacks eBook). This casserole has definitely become a family favorite. It is as simple to make as spaghetti, yet it tastes like something super special. That’s probably because I always stir in a lot of love.  Love, that is, in the form of cream cheese. It has a love language all its own, right?

To finish up this week’s freezer cooking assignments, all you need to do is get out the remainder of your cooked meat, boil your noodles, stir together all remaining ingredients, spread mixture into pans, top with cheese, put on a lid, label, and you’re done. Phew. Sounds like a lot, but really, it’s as easy as making spaghetti. While stirring in love.  And cream cheese.

beef freezer cooking 6

The night I finished this and served it, we ate it with a simple salad and roasted asparagus. So much deliciousness! I love knowing I’ve got another dish of this casserole in the freezer ready to be served on a busy day.

cheesy beef pasta meal

At this point, hopefully you’ve put together eight casseroles: four to eat this week, and four to freeze for another day. This freezer cooking thing really isn’t so hard, is it?

Stay tuned for upcoming plans for Freezer Cooking Week Two – the week of the chicken. I’ll have a grocery list and game plan ready for you on Friday. :)

Give us an update! How is the challenge going for you this week?

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

Get Your Budget in Focus With This Amazing Discount

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After so many of you shared within the comments of our BudgetFocus giveaway post your desire to get your budget on track, I am so excited to share this big discount with you!

First, our giveaway winners:

1) Kathy: sep101@
2) Melissa Miller: wareagle2989@

Ladies, email me and I’ll forward your info on for your free annual subscription!

And now, the wonderful discount.

I feel that the price options for BudgetFocus are already very reasonable. For as little as $5.00 each month, you’ll be guided through setting up and keeping a workable budget for your family. Now, with a special temporary discount they are giving Heavenly Homemakers readers, you can enjoy this service for as low as $3.33 per month! Isn’t that awesome?

Head over to BudgetFocus. Use the code HH33 to receive 33% off a 12-month plan. This cuts the price of an annual plan to just $39.99. What an amazing price on an amazing resource to get you on your way to financial freedom!

ad2

Take advantage of this deal for just three weeks. I love the idea some of you suggested to buy this as a wedding gift to help couples get started on the right track with their finances. Whatever your need, BudgetFocus will take all the difficulty and confusion from budgeting.

Ready? Go!

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

Creamy Salsa Enchiladas – Freezer Cooking Week One

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How’s the freezer cooking challenge going for you at this point? Hopefully you’ve got your groceries purchased, browned your hamburger meat, and put together your first casseroles:

If you haven’t checked all this off the list at this point, no problem. Feel free to jump in on the challenge at any time!

Today, we’ll continue on with the next phase of our freezer cooking for this week. Get ready to make Creamy Salsa Enchilada Casserole (recipe in Let’s Do This! eCourse, Lesson 2). Or if you prefer, you can make the Cheesy Salsa Enchiladas version of this recipe.

If you already have your meat browned, this is going to be a very easy day for you! Simply scoop out two pounds worth of cooked meat, stir in salsa, sour cream, and spices – and put your casseroles together according to directions. You can cover and label one casserole to put into the freezer. Then, plan to serve the remaining casserole for dinner tonight along with some yummy fruit and veggie sides!

creamy salsa enchiladas 2

We actually already ate both of the Creamy Salsa Enchilada Casseroles I made when guests came over on Sunday after church. Freezer cooking is meant to be shared, right? This made for a super simple meal for company.

creamy salsa enchiladas

A note about cooking your frozen casseroles when you need them:  My favorite way to cook a frozen casserole is to put it directly into a cold oven in its frozen state, turn the oven on to 250° and let the casserole thaw/cook for about three hours. So easy!

Okay, head on into your kitchen to get these casseroles made. Stay tuned for one more freezer cooking assignment coming up this week. Here’s the run-down of our remaining plans. Then next week we’ll focus on Chicken Recipes!

Just a reminder, Let’s Do This! eCourse and {Healthy} Make-Ahead Meals and Snacks eBook are discounted to just $5 for the whole package.

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

Gratituesday: Winter Jam 2014

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gratituesday[2]

Winter Jam, a huge concert which features several popular Christian artists, was coming to Nebraska. We were able to go to Winter Jam last year, so this year, we didn’t really even look into it. What were we thinking?

Thankfully, our friend Gage had big ideas. He’d never been to a concert, and decided he would do what he could to make it to see some of his favorite Christian bands. Gage has special needs and isn’t able to get around by himself. But he knew our family would surely enjoy the concert. Maybe we could head there together?

Great plan! It was a night filled with praise and excitement. I don’t think Gage stopped smiling the entire six hours we were there. Who am I kidding? I don’t think any of us stopped smiling the entire six hours. What an amazing night!

winter jam 4

Here’s Gage and three of our boys in line waiting for the doors to open.

It was a packed house – thousands of Christians gathered together for this concert!

winter jam 2

One of the highlights for all of us was jamming with the Newsboys…

winter jam 3

We’re so thankful our boys have such fun and talented artists to listen to which fill their minds with a Godly message. We are already making plans for Winter Jam 2015. :)

Now your turn. Share what you’re thankful for!  Leave a comment on this post letting us know how God is working in your life. If you’ve written a blog post about what you’re thankful for, leave the link in the comments so we can visit your blog to read about it. We love sharing and reading about God’s blessings!

 

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