Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting
I’m late in letting you know about this – so you’ll have to hurry to catch this!
The Lilla Rose Flexi-of-the-Month, a hummingbird named “Flying Jewel,” has finally arrived, and is on sale at 15% off. In addition, specially marked items are 10% off. Be sure to check it out!
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You might read this little time saving tip and say, “Hey, it takes the same amount of time to prep veggies no matter when you do it. This isn’t a time saving tip at all.” And yet, in an effort to save us all from walking wearily into our kitchens at 5:10, with no motivation to peel a carrot, much less prepare an entire healthy meal – I felt this was worth mentioning. While you still have to get this work done sometime during the day, at least this does save a few minutes of effort at meal time.
Following this simple method is always so helpful to me. My day is a big mixture of schooling, working at the computer, doing household chores, cooking in the kitchen, and keeping up with the kids’ activities. I often hop around from math, to mixing up a recipe, to history lessons, to answering emails, to phonics practice, to putting lunch into the oven, to helping with an algebra question, to answering the door, to responding to potential website advertisers. You can see why I always give people a deer in the headlights look when they say, “So what does your schedule look like?” Schedule? I don’t have one. I just work and parent and parent and work all day. I love it. Every day is different, yet it is very much the same. The kids know what they need to get done. Matt and I know what we need to get done. Our routine is un-scheduled.
Yet one thing is pretty constant about our days: From about 3:00 to about 5:00 in the afternoons, the kids take turns having their “play Minecraft on the computer time” while Mom tries to write something that includes helpful information and complete sentences. Therefore, section 4 line 8 of the Coppinger Household Rules Handbook states: “Do not interrupt Mom while she is in writing mode unless one of your brothers just blew up.” Since “Do not blow up your brother” is printed in large, bold letters at the beginning of section 2, I think we can all agree that there should be no reason to interrupt Mom while she is in writing mode. Okay then.
I tell you all of this life in the Coppinger house information for one reason: As I pull out of writing mode and back into the hungry people will need to eat soon mode, I find that I am slightly weary and brain dead from thinking, making decisions, and working all day. I do not feel like cutting broccoli into cute little trees. I am not excited about preparing cauliflower for roasting. I do not want to do anything in the kitchen but the bare minimum. This is where all my Getting Ahead in the Kitchen practices are invaluable. The kids get to come in and help get dinner on the table (their reward for not blowing themselves up during my writing time). And since I’ve already prepped the veggies earlier in the day, all we have to do is roast them, stir fry them, or steam them. Hallelujah!
So the Eat Healthy, Save Time tip of the day is this: Sometime while you have ten minutes during the day, prepare vegetables for steaming, roasting, stir frying, eating raw – or however you’re going to serve them at dinnertime. Cover and put them into the fridge for later. (Hooray for Pyrex bowls with lids!) Pull them out and cook them quickly for dinner. Not home much during the day? I’d suggest doing some prep in the evening before bed. The next day, after you get home from a day at work, school, or running errands – pull out your prepared veggies to cook with your meal.
Prepping veggies doesn’t take long, and it isn’t difficult. But it is something that we have to be intentional about – otherwise we’ll likely skip the veggies…again. Don’t do it. Focus on the veggies (section 13 line 4). Prepare them when you have a few spare minutes for effortless, brainless dinner prep later. Then, not only have the kids avoided blowing themselves up, our bogged down brains have not exploded either. It’s a win-win.
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!Where does the time go? My kids are not babies anymore, I’ve been married for almost 20 years, and just last week, I realized that it was almost lunchtime and I had forgotten to put the chicken into the crockpot. Yes, time flies after breakfast. And when you’re happily married, raising kids, and all that.
I have no advice on keeping time from moving so quickly. I can, however, give you an idea for a quick meal for when you haven’t managed to prepare anything in advance. It all starts with frozen chicken. This is because not only did you not start lunch or dinner on time, you also forgot to thaw the chicken. For all of you perpetually prepared people out there, don’t worry – thawed chicken will also work in this recipe. For the rest of us, we rejoice in the fact that frozen chicken and a cold crock pot does not prevent us from putting a great meal on the table in a short amount of time.
This recipe is a result of me realizing at 11:30 one whirlwind morning that while I had been planning to serve Chicken Tacos for lunch that day, not only was the chicken still frozen, I didn’t have any tortillas prepared or purchased. Without thinking too hard, I chucked the frozen chicken into a saucepan on the stove, dumped on salsa, and hoped for the best. I covered the pan and turned the heat on low. Within an hour, my chicken thawed, cooked in delicious salsa flavors, and was ready for lunch – which we had with chips instead of tortillas. It turned out so delicious, I decided we would make it this way again and again. This recipe turned out to be a “six out of six” which means that all six of our family members loved this. A brainless, effortless, healthy recipe that we all liked? Score!
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!It was our very first year of marriage. At the wise ages of 20 and 21, we began to navigate the world of doing whatever it was that married people did with their money. Seriously, I had no idea. I knew how to shop for clothes on the clearance racks, buy off-brand peanut butter, and write a check when the phone bill came. Neither of us were big spenders, and because of that, in my mind, we would be just fine when it came to finances. We would simply pay our bills, buy on sale, avoid going out to eat much, and live happily ever after.
Matt, on the other hand, has always enjoyed crunching numbers. He’s also always been good at seeing the big picture when it comes to money. I will always be grateful for the day a few weeks after our wedding that he called me into the living room so he could show me the budget he was putting together for us. We knew how much (how little rather) was coming in each month, so we needed to figure out how to make it stretch.
Now if it was up to me, we would have had about six line items in that budget: Rent, Insurance, Gas, Food, Phone, Utilities
Oh it’s a good thing I married Matt. Hello, Laura? Ever heard of medical bills? Car tags? Gift giving? Trash service? A savings account, perhaps? Christmas gifts certainly weren’t on my radar. It was only September, after all. We only paid car tags once per year, so why add that to the budget? Our cars were running fine at that very moment, so why think about car repair money? And apparently, it never occurred to me that we would need money to purchase those great clothing bargains I’d find on the clearance racks. Big budget picture? I hadn’t a clue.
Matt, on the other hand, had a line item for everything and then some. A whole new world opened up to me on that 1994, first year of marriage, budget spread sheet of ours. Since we knew we needed to pay for car tags in November, we came up with a conservative guestimated total amount needed, divided by 12, then set that money aside each month so it would be available in November. In order to have money for Christmas gifts, we set aside a certain amount aside each month to be used for gifts. Just in case one of our cars was to break down, we set aside money each month in our budget for repairs. And on it went.
I thought Matt was a genius. He just thought it all made sense. And he thought I was cute for thinking he was a genius. Ah, newlyweds…
More than anything – even though we had very little income at the time – I appreciate that our budget gave me financial peace and security. The income was small, but we never had to worry about where the money would come from for expenses because we had broken everything down and put a name on it. We never spent money “just because we had it.” Nope, that money was allotted for something else – not for random spending.
This practice has proved itself to be very effective during our 19+ years of marriage. Having a line-item for each spending category really takes the pressure off knowing how the bills are going to be paid each month. It has meant that we’ve said no to many expenditures through the years in order to be disciplined and stick with the budget. It has showed us that God always takes care of us, no matter what the income level.
So let’s talk about budgets, financial security, and making it all happen easily. Seriously, budgeting can be fun – even if you aren’t a newlywed. :)
I’ve recently been introduced to BudgetFocus, an online budgeting site that takes all the difficulty away from budgeting. See there, over on my sidebar, how they are now my top sponsor? We’ll be working together, helping you get your budget on track, because that’s a major part of heavenly homemaking. I really love how BudgetFocus breaks everything down, creates line-items for everything, takes all the pressure off, and provides a simple way for you to manage your family’s household expenses.
Truly, no matter how much or how little you have, you can prosper. Prospering doesn’t mean you’re rich and have everything you want (from a worldly perspective). Prospering means you can breathe easy, trust God to take care of you, and let your budget help take away financial stress. BudgetFocus is all set up to help you with this. I very much encourage you to give it a try.
I’ll be sharing more about BudgetFocus soon as we continue to work together to help you achieve financial peace. For today, I highly encourage you (whether you already have a budget set up or not) to head over to BudgetFocus and get all set up with their 14 day free trial. Signing up just takes a few seconds. They don’t ask you to give them a credit card or any other personal information. Simply let BudgetFocus help you walk through the basic steps to put together a workable budget.
Get started with your free trial. Right away, you’ll be given a free eBook on How to Make a Spending Plan and Stick to it. Free trial, free eBook – you can’t go wrong!
Happy budgeting! (Seriously, it can be happy. You’re in charge of your money – it’s not in charge of you.)
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!I’ve looked through the Vitacost site thoroughly today and found many items I use regularly. I’m loving this sale!! (If you are a new customer with Vitacost, you can receive an additional $10 off too! Info at the bottom of this post.)
~ Buy any of the products on this page, receive a free 4-ounce container of Organic Coconut Oil. It’s a lovely bonus with your purchase. You’ll see on that sale page that they offer several sizes of coconut oil, both virgin (coconut flavor) and refined (flavorless). Expired
~ Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips are only $3.27 right now. I love these because they are soy free. They are also dairy free if that is a need for you. This is a great time to stock up on chocolate chips. Why? Because if you order them in the summer, they might melt while they are shipped to you. Ask me how I know.
~ Spectrum Refined Coconut Oil is only $5.99 for a 14 ounce jar. This price is less than the Vitacost brand mentioned above, so I’d go with this one and buy a Vitacost Virgin Coconut Oil for the above free coconut oil deal. I love having both virgin and refined on hand for different cooking/baking needs and preferences.
~ Spectrum Organic Palm Shortening is only $5.19 for a 24 ounce tub. Because this is made from palm oil, it is a very safe and healthy variety of shortening!
~ Farmer’s Market Organic Canned Pumpkin is $1.90 per can.
~ Rolled Oats are $3.49 for a two pound bag. Gluten Free Rolled Oats are just $3.99 for the same size.
The best news yet: Are you a new customer to Vitacost? Sign up through my referral link and get $10 off your first order of $30 or more! Once you sign up, you’ll receive a coupon code to use on your first order, which will knock ten bucks off your total!
Shipping is free when you spend at least $49. It is also free if you purchase at least $25 of Vitacost brand products. Otherwise, shipping is a flat $4.99.
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I used to love clothes shopping with my mom. We’d skip everything at the front of the store and head directly for the clearance racks. We’d find great bargains, which made the shopping so much more fun!
My four boys aren’t so much into shopping with me. When they were little, they hid in all the racks or tried to stand up in the cart, making my shopping experience more than a little bit stressful. As they got bigger, they just stood by the racks, bored out of their minds. “Do you like this shirt?” I’d ask. They’d answer with a blank stare. I gave up, deciding I’d just need to wait until they got married, then perhaps my daughters-in-law could go shopping with me.
But over the weekend, I actually experienced about twenty minutes of enjoyable Mother/Son shopping. (Yes, twenty minutes. Total. I know better than to push a good thing.) We were in a city, and our oldest needed new indoor soccer shoes, so we briefly hit the mall.
We entered the athletic store, and saw that they had a total of two varieties of indoor soccer shoes. One pair was $55, the other $65. Not terrible for high quality shoes, it’s just that we have a lot of kids and they have a lot of feet and they play hard and it just all adds up. We told the salesman what we were looking for, and asked if these two varieties was all they had. He replied with a yes. And then as an afterthought he said, “Oh, except for whatever we have in the back on clearance. But those are for really big feet.” Um, hello? Have you seen my son’s feet? Big. Show us the shoes!
Would you believe this? They had one pair of men’s indoor soccer shoes on clearance. One. And guess what size it was? Asa’s size. And guess how much it cost? Ten dollars. Seriously. Who has name brand, high quality shoes for a big footed boy for just 10 bucks? What a blessing. They fit perfectly. We were so excited.
That all happened within the first seven minutes. The rest of our time was spent at the clothing clearance racks I had found by the shoes. Everything was half off of the clearance price, which, if you can even believe it, got my two older boys excited about shopping with me. Long story short (20 minutes, remember?), we walked out of the store with a pair of shoes, two very nice hoodies, and a pair of high quality athletic shorts for less than the cost of the $55 shoes we had originally found when we walked in.
In conclusion: I shopped with two of my sons, and we all had fun. It may be a miracle. Let us all take a deep sigh and hold these memories in our hearts as they may never happen again.
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!Every good and perfect gift comes from above. This includes the cold weather, right? Freezing temps, blowing snow, amazingly cold wind chill, frozen nose hairs – it’s all a part of living in a state that has long, cold, windy winters.
It’s so easy to complain when we’re too hot or too cold. As for me, I struggle to be content with cold weather by the time March rolls around. I’ve been cold since September, my wool socks now have holes in them, and I’m so ready for sunshine I tear up a little when I think about the rays beaming down on my (pale) face. I know that if I’m complaining about the weather, I’m grumbling against God, because He’s pretty much the one in control of what falls from the sky and blows across the plains. So I’m trying very hard to keep a good attitude and enjoy the fact that I live in an area that has four beautiful seasons. Spring really is coming. Sometime. Really. I know it’s true.
Well, all that to say that I’m doing everything I can to give my attitude a lift. This week, that’s going to include making Strawberry Shortcake. It is definitely not strawberry season here yet. But I found a decent deal on them at the store this weekend. They look nice, and have more flavor than those we get shipped to Nebraska in January. In a desperate effort to believe that spring really is coming, I bought two big containers. For breakfast tomorrow morning, we are going to have shortcake (made from whole wheat and honey). We’ll heap on the strawberries and whipped cream. We’ll pretend like it’s summertime. And we’ll drink hot tea, because clearly, it isn’t summertime and our toes will still be frozen. Fake it till you make it, right?
I’d also like to pretend it’s summertime by grilling burgers and eating watermelon. Seeing as turning on the grill when it’s below zero is impossible, I’m going to have to stick with eating soup and being patient.
Here’s our menu for this week:
Sunday, March 2
Instant oatmeal packets, fruit
Clean out the fridge
Small group fellowship – I’m making baked potatoes and everyone else is bringing toppings
Monday, March 3
Strawberry shortcake and hot tea
Potato soup, sliced cucumbers and carrot sticks with homemade ranch dip
Sweet and sour meatballs (recipe found in lesson 5 of Let’s Do This! eCourse), rice, tossed salad, roasted broccoli and carrots
Tuesday, March 4
Whole wheat waffles, blueberries
Grilled cheese sandwiches, homemade tomato soup, blackberries, sweet peppers
Orange chicken, tossed salad, peas
Wednesday, March 5
Snickerdoodle muffins, applesauce
Easy noodle stir fry with broccoli, carrots, and zucchini
One dish meat and potato casserole, tossed salad
Thursday, March 6
Fried eggs on toast, oranges
Pigs in a blanket, fruit salad, cucumbers and carrots
Pizza casserole, tossed salad, green beans
Friday and Saturday – traveling for boys’ basketball tournament. Packing some food/eating out some.
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!As I was working on a new Eat Healthy, Save Time post for next week, it occurred to me that I haven’t shared on that subject much lately.
Today, I’m here to remind you that eating healthy does not take a lot of time. It may look different for each of us depending on our circumstances. Some days may be harder than others. But no more excuses. We do have time to eat healthy. We can do this!
Just for fun, I thought I’d share the link to all of my Eat Healthy, Save Time posts. Read through them to get some great ideas for ways you can save time on this healthy eating journey!!
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!There’s nothing very beautiful about pictures of soup bones and vegetables floating in water. And yet, here I am again, just like the time I showed you all the pictures of my chicken carcasses. Some people create adorable collages of their children. Me? I spent time yesterday crafting a collage of my beef broth. Isn’t it precious? Take note of the fatty bubbles floating along at the top of the jar. I’m so proud.
Beef Broth is as fantastic for your body as Chicken Broth. There are so many minerals we need that we can get from beef bones, such as calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, sulfur, and potassium – all in their natural, beneficial, and digestible form. The vegetables you add to the pot of broth are invaluable. And the best part? Making homemade broth is one of the most inexpensive ways to provide nourishment to yourself and to your family members.
Look into buying Beef Soup Bones. There’s still a little meat on the bones (more on that later), but mostly you’re just going to pay a small amount for a package of bones. Cook those mineral-filled-bones in a pot with water and veggies, and you’ve just created several jars full of nutritional goodness for a very tiny amount of money.
Here’s how I make Beef Broth. As you can tell from my collage above, my process is very fancy and exact:
1. Place thawed or frozen beef soup bones into a large kettle or stock pot.
2. Add, to your heart’s content, chunks of onion, carrots, leeks, celery and/or any other veggie you enjoy in your broth.
3. Fill your pot with water.
4. Sprinkle liberally with sea salt.
5. Cover and simmer pot of water/veggies/soup bones for 4-6 hours. Or more. Or less. Or whatever works for you.
6. Remove soup bones from pot. Pull cooked beef off the bones with a fork, and set meat aside for soup or salads.
7. Blend liquid and vegetables together until smooth.
8. Allow broth to cool, then refrigerate or freeze until you are ready to use it to make soup, cook rice, or add it to a recipe.
That meat you’ll pull off the bones? It tastes incredible because it’s right by the bone and has been cooked low and slow. I love it in chef salads. I also snack on it as I’m pulling it off the bones.
Why do I blend all the veggies into the broth? Because after 6 hours of simmering, they are mushy. When I blend them in, they just become part of the nutritious broth. Depending on the number of carrots I use, my broth might turn orange. No matter. It’s delicious.
Once you’ve made Beef Broth, what can you do with it? You can use it to make Beefy Vegetable Soup. You can also use it in any recipe that calls for chicken broth – like my Cheeseburger Soup or Pizza Soup. Cook rice in broth for extra nourishment and flavor in a side dish – or add that wonderful rice to Cheesy Beef and Rice. Follow my instructions for Chicken Noodle Soup, but instead use beef broth and the meat that came off the bones for Beef-n-Noodles.
What other ideas do you have? What ways do you use Beef Broth?
Isn’t this a wonderful way to be healthy and save money at the same time?!
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!Times are changing, time is money, it’s just a matter of time, there’s no time like the present, and as we all know, the third time is – say it with me – a charm. A stitch in time saves nine (which is a huge blessing because otherwise there would not be a ten, eleven, or twelve). We can kill time, track time, spend time, save time, pass the time, be pressed for time, and waste time. Time is precious, time flies, time is of the essence, and only time can heal a broken heart. Wait. Are we sure about that?
We hear it all the, well…time. When we are grieving. When we are hurting. When someone causes us pain. When there is a breakdown in relationships. When we’ve lost something or someone dear to us.
“Hang in there,” people tell us, “time heals.”
Awesome. The next time I’m experiencing emotional pain, writhing with a deep down ache, I’ll just fold my hands and wait for time to heal me. I’ll keep my eye on the clock. I’ll flip the pages of the calendar. A few hours, a few weeks, a few months – it’ll all be okay after that. After all, they say that time heals. How much time, I’d like to know? How long do I have to wait to feel better? How long will I be hurting so intensely, waiting for time to heal my wounds and give me joy again? Hurry up time. Do your thing!
I’m here to tell you that while healing does take time, time does not heal. God heals. Jesus is the one who took our hurts and burdens to the cross, and because of him, we will find healing. Depending on the deepness of the wound, it may take months or years for God to do His work to completely heal our wounds. But we rely on no other healer other than the Great Physician himself. And in the midst of the healing, God is faithful to caress us with His ever-present comfort.
Time without Jesus brings on the bitter. The ugly. The shame. The guilt. The lack of forgiveness. Without Jesus, we can hold onto the hurt, and instead of healing us, time can in fact magnify our hurt, anger, or frustration and produce greater struggle than what caused our pain in the first place. Without Jesus, decades can pass, and the healing will never come. No amount of time can heal a heart holding on to bitterness.
Are you hurting? Don’t wait for healing to come. Fall to your knees and cry out to God. Allow His healing power to seep into your soul and heal you to the very core. Let the Holy Spirit work in you to make you whole again, to give you direction, and to bless you with the peace that passes understanding.
In His perfect timing, you will find healing. Praise God, we serve the ultimate healer! God is good…all the time.
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