Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

How to Pack a Healthy Lunch {31 Days of Real Food Reality ~ Day 20}

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Packing lunches every day? Our family eats most of our lunches from home, so this is not my area of expertise. Sure, I often have to pack food to take to soccer and basketball games. I try to get creative. I have fun figuring out healthy, real food meals and snacks to pack when we’re on the go. But for all of you who pack lunches for school or work day after day – you could likely use some fresh ideas!

That’s why I called for back-up on this one. I knew Katie from Kitchen Stewardship had an entire eBook on this subject. She feeds her family real food and does a rockin’ job of it. Her kids attend school outside the home, so she packs lunches for them every school day. I asked her if I could take a look at her eBook and share it with you.

kitchen stewardship lunch box 1

I figured I would just give it a quick glance-through before letting you know how helpful a resource it might be for those of you interested in packing a healthy, real food lunchbox.  Right.  I should have known Katie’s book with draw me in. I ended up spending hours pouring over this book’s contents. I may not need to pack many lunches, but wow did I learn a lot! I gained wonderful new ideas for food I can pack for all of our road trips and game days. Shucks, I got new lunch ideas to put directly on our table during our homeschool days. You need to check out this book.

Katie assumes that you already know how to make a PB&J, and that you and your family are likely a little tired of sandwiches day after day. She also knows that many of us are working to add a variety of whole foods to our diet – which often means that we don’t want to eat many sandwiches in the first place. You won’t believe all the wonderful ideas for packed lunches she shares.

Not only does she share loads of money saving, real food, fun lunch-packing tips – she shares page after page of recipes too. There are so many great lunch ideas that don’t involve bread and lunch meat. It is inspiring!

Through February 12, 2014 we can all get a 50% discount on this eBook! That means the Healthy Lunch Box Premium Package will only cost $4.98. It is so worth the money for all the information and recipes in this book. Use the code HHhalf for the discount.

And share in the comments:  What are your favorite non-sandwich lunches to pack?

This post contains affiliate links. Special thanks to Katie at Kitchen Stewardship for allowing me to check-out her book and for offering us a discount too!

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Menu Plan for the Week – Branching Out and Eating a Variety

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31 Days 300

My Real Food Reality tip for you today is to be brave! Try something new! You know…like cauliflower. It’s a brand new vegetable. It’s the latest craze in the produce section. Everyone is talking about it.

Uh-huh.

It’s just that our family has just never been very big on cauliflower. So this week, in an effort to give us more vegetable variety (green beans, peas, broccoli…green beans, peas, broccoli…yawn, ho-hum, snooze) – I’m branching out and experimenting with a new cauliflower recipe. Actually, I haven’t found a recipe yet, but I’m sure it’s out there. Have anything for me???

How can you branch out? What “new” real food can you try? I encourage you to continue trying new foods to expand the variety of healthy options you can serve to your families!

Crock Pot Hamburger Cream Cheese Dip

My kids have been requesting this Crock Pot Hamburger Cream Cheese Dip for several weeks. 
I’m finally remembering to add it to the menu plan.
Tasty, fun, and easy!

Here’s our menu plan for the week:

Sunday, January 19
Instant oatmeal, dried fruit
Leftovers
Small group – Alfredo sauce with pasta, sides others bring along

Monday, January 20
Easy biscuits and gravy, apples
Hamburgers, chips, carrots, raspberries (friends coming over for Elias’ birthday)
Chicken tacos, fresh pineapple

Tuesday, January 21
Pancake sausage muffins, oranges
Grilled cheese, tomato soup, applesauce, sweet pepper slices
One dish meat and potato casserole, tossed salad

Wednesday, January 22
Breakfast cake muffins, bananas
Easy noodle stir-fry with broccoli, carrots, and zucchini
Sweet and sour meatballs (recipe in Let’s Do This eCourse, Lesson 5), rice, something with cauliflower  :)

Thursday, January 23
Homemade grape nuts cereal, blueberries
Chili mac, peas, sliced cucumbers with homemade ranch
Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans

Friday, January 24
Raspberry oatmeal bars, clementines
Hamburger cream cheese dip, corn chips, fruit-kefir smoothies
Crock pot bbq chicken breasts, baked potatoes, tossed salad, steamed broccoli and carrots

Saturday, January 25
Zucchini bread, applesauce
Leftovers
Cheeseburger soup, tossed salad

Help a girl out! Give me some good cauliflower recipes (please)! And let us know what “new” real food you can try this week. :)

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You Are What You Drink {31 Days of Real Food Reality ~ Day 18}

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31 Days 300

Women’s bodies are made up of 50% water. (The other 50% is obviously sugar, spice and everything nice). We can so very easily become dehydrated. If you’re thirsty, you’re already dehydrated. Drink up! It’s one of the easiest improvements we can make when it comes to healthy eating (er, drinking). It’s also one of the most crucial.

If you’re feeling sluggish or depressed, it’s likely that you need to drink more water. If you get frequent headaches, you probably need more water. If you’re having a difficult time losing weight, try drinking more water. If you want healthier skin, drink water.

Obviously, taking a drink of water is not going to immediately swing you from depressed to joyful. It’s not going to zap your headache right away. Five pounds won’t miraculously fall off your hips after guzzling a glass of water. It’s just that our bodies crave water. We need it to thrive. Making sure our cells are well hydrated makes a huge difference in our over-all health, both physically and mentally.

Nothing else counts. Not soda, not juice, not tea, not milk, not coffee. Not that you can’t drink any of those. (Well, really, I can’t recommend that you drink soda, and juice is pretty full of sugar, but anyway…)  If I drink a cup of coffee in the morning, I make sure I drink a couple of glasses of water throughout the morning too. My body is now used to getting enough water, so typically, I can tell when my body needs it. I generally take a few sips every 15 minutes or so. No need to guzzle. Please don’t water log yourself. Just sip on water throughout the day as your body dictates.

Oh, and if your kids get crabby? Before you get frustrated or lose your patience, ask them to take a drink of water. It will probably give them a better attitude. This, I know. I usually stop and take a drink too, for obvious parenting sanity reasons.

Don’t like the taste of water? I’ve got to admit that some city water tastes really disgusting. If that’s the case, fork it out for filtered water. It’s that important. Better yet, make a one time Berkey water filter purchase, and have pure, delicious water all the time, forever.

Do this. It’s as easy as switching to real butter. I love simple changes we can make to improve our health!

How do you do when it comes to drinking water? Love it? Drink plenty? Need to improve?

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Now, Now. Let’s Not Make This Difficult ~ Easy Orange Chicken, A Super Quick, Real Food Recipe

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31 Days 300

Why do we make it hard? Why do we think that cooking healthier foods always takes a long time? Relax now. My recipes are all made with real food, and most all of them are very low maintenance. This Easy Orange Chicken recipe will prove it.

The truth is that eating a real food diet is actually rather simple. We just have to get the hang of it. We just have to plan ahead a little bit. We just have to buy some chicken – at least if you want to make this recipe. I think I had this dish in the oven after about five minutes of prep time. That’s faster than making a box of mac and cheese, and I think it goes without saying that this tastes much better.

High Five Recipes

Have you scrolled through all of my High Five Recipes? If not, you should. If so, you should again. They are all high quality recipes which call for five ingredients or less. We’re talking everything from main dishes, to side dishes, to snacks and desserts. Real food. Real easy. So how about a new High Five Recipe?

Easy Orange ChickenYum

1 cup orange juice
2 Tablespoons onion soup mix
10-12 chicken legs

Place chicken legs in a 9×13 inch baking dish. Stir together orange juice and onion soup mix. Pour mixture over the chicken. Cover and bake in a 375° oven for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

Variation:

Pour orange juice mixture over 6 chicken boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Bake in a 375° oven for 25 minutes, then uncover and bake for an additional 5 minutes or until juices run clear.

Easy Orange Chicken

During the final few minutes of cook time for your chicken, put together two or three vegetable side dishes. Brown rice is also wonderful with this chicken. Your meal will be satisfying, delicious, and you won’t even break a sweat preparing it.

Having homemade MSG-free Onion Soup Mix on hand is always super helpful. In fact, I encourage you to spend a few minutes putting together several of the seasoning mixes you’ll find on this page. They save so much time, taste so much better than purchased packets, are much healthier, and save money too!

I hope you’re beginning to see that eating a real food diet really isn’t complicated. What are your favorite “throw it together” healthy meals?

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How To Always Have Fruits and Vegetables to Serve With a Meal {31 Days to Real Food Reality ~ Day 16}

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How to Serve Fruits and Veggies

Always, always, always serve a fruit or a vegetable or three at each meal. Then snack on them throughout the day too. Fill your body with the nourishment that comes from these wonderful convenience foods!

Without a doubt, eating fruits and veggies is the easiest way to eat healthy. Yet somehow, it is often the food group that is left out of a meal and forgotten as a snack option. Why is that? Why does it sometimes seem hard to serve vegetables with our dinner? Or to pack them in our lunch? After all, most of them come pre-packaged! (Banana, anyone?)

I find that I have to make a conscious effort to be sure to serve enough fruits and vegetables to my family. Often, we focus on cooking the main dish (which is typically meat and carbs – both good, but only when balanced with fruits and vegetables). Side dishes in the form of fruits or vegetables are often an after-thought. Let’s make this easier, shall we?

1. Buy Them

Duh, but still. You can’t serve them and eat them if you don’t bring them home from the store or farmer’s market, so I felt it was worth a mention. Get into the habit of spending several minutes in the produce department each time you’re at the store. Look for sales, look for a variety, fill your cart. Shop for them when you’re hungry (something I would not recommend if I were to send you down the candy aisle).

2. Keep frozen fruits and vegetables in the freezer at all times

They aren’t expensive (generally). They aren’t difficult to store. When I have frozen green beans and peas in the freezer, I can easily cook them to go with our lunch or dinner. Our family goes through about two – 5 pound bags of these frozen veggies every month. It’s one of the easiest foods to prepare, and they taste delicious with our meals.

3. Corn is not a vegetable

Sorry, but it’s a grain. Enjoy it every once in a while (with butter!), but don’t rely on it as a vegetable side dish.

4. French fries don’t count

But you knew that, right?

5. Keep containers of fruits and vegetables in the fridge, ready to eat

See that picture above? Cutting those veggies into a bowl took about 7 minutes, and will last our family through a couple of lunches. Washing the blueberries and grape tomatoes took just a few seconds. That picture shows what I have now gotten into the habit of putting out to go with our main dish at lunch. The kinds of fruits and veggies vary depending on what I find at the store that is reasonably priced and looks good. But quickly pulling those foods out of the fridge to go with a meal is crazy easy.

6. Serve salads often

Don’t tell me it’s hard. A two year old can tear lettuce.

7. Enjoy smoothies frequently

Smoothies are a delicious way to load up on the good stuff! As an added nutritional perk, I almost always add fresh spinach or other salad greens to my smoothies, along with different frozen fruits and some yogurt or kefir. You can’t taste the greens, but you still get the nutrients. Score!

8. Just do it!

I don’t care if all you do is (lovingly) slap a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich onto the table or into a lunchbox for your kids. Take two minutes to serve or pack fruits and veggies too.

By the way, I also try to always have Homemade Ranch Dip in the fridge to put on the table with our veggies. There are many fruit and vegetable options – and eating a variety, buying in season, and watching for sales is very helpful. Here are some great, basic options to keep on hand to serve with meals or as snacks:

Apples, bananas, oranges or clementines, blueberries, pears, grapes, cherries, peaches, strawberries, raspberries, fresh pineapple chunks, applesauce, grape tomatoes, carrot sticks, sliced cucumbers, sliced sweet peppers, frozen green beans, frozen peas, frozen and/or fresh broccoli…

What would you add to this list? What have you found that works best for you to keep you in the habit of serving and eating vegetables?

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I Want You To Have This!! Real Food Reality Package – Final Day For Huge Discount

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I really want you to have this package.  Why? Because the contents answer so many of the questions I get so often about:

  • Where to start if you want to begin eating a healthy, real food diet
  • How to be more chill about this whole thing.  It’s not nearly as difficult as you might think. Remember, it’s just food.
  • Simplifying your kitchen
  • How to keep up and how to get ahead, even when eating healthy food
  • Menu planning
  • Freezer cooking
  • Saving money
  • Recipes, recipes, recipes!!!

Today is the final day this Real Food Reality Package is just $19.95. Get it now! It’ll be a great help to you. And did I mention there are recipes? Many of them are our new favorites:  Poppyseed Bread with Orange Glaze, Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole, Sweet and Sour Meatballs, Blueberry Cream Muffins…

bacon_cheeseburger_casserole
Ah, Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole. My family cheers when I make this. And I cheer when I remember that I have one in the freezer, knowing that all I have to do to put dinner on the table is slide this casserole in the oven, then make a salad and another veggie to go with it. SO EASY.

Take advantage of this huge discount on all of these resources to make your real food reality, well – a reality!

Reality Resource Sale 2

Read all of the details about this package here.

Real Food Reality Package $19.95

click to purchse

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

Sugar Should Be a Treat {31 Days of Real Food Reality ~ Day 15}

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31 Days 300

The day we started pouring sugar on our salads is the day um…salads became, you know, less healthy. (Now, that’s a brilliant quote worth sharing if I ever saw one.)

Sugar on our salads? Surely not! Why would anyone do that? Just read a bottle of salad dressing from the store. Almost every single one contains a lot of sugar – except for the ones that contain high fructose corn syrup, which is, of course, even worse. If I want sugar, I’ll have chocolate, not a salad.

Salad Dressing

Sugar is in almost everything – especially processed foods…and salad dressing. But somehow, saturated fat gets blamed for causing obesity and heart disease. We interrupt this post for a fatty, sugary history lesson:

Before 1910, many people ate lots of meat, eggs, butter, cream – and very little sugar. People worked hard and were rarely sedentary. Heart disease was almost non-existent. Then, between 1910 and 1970, animal fats and protein consumption took a huge dive – because experts began to tell people that they were bad. These experts had “research” to back up their claims, which many additional researchers found to be flawed. Nonetheless, the concept of cutting out animal fats and protein gained publicity (and that was before Facebook – amazing).

At the same time, sugar and processed food consumption increased by 60 percent. Also during that time, while the amount of butter people ate was dramatically reduced, the percentage of vegetable oils in the form of margarine and shortening increased by (wait for it) 400%. Guess what else happened? Heart disease, which was almost non-existent before 1920, became the leading cause of death among Americans. (source)  And we blamed the saturated fat in butter?  I’m speechless. (Not really. I have more to say.)

So back to drizzling sugar on our tossed salads…

The simple truth is that we have to cut back on our sugar intake in order to be healthier. The issues our bodies have as a result of eating too much sugar go way beyond cavities and hyperactivity.

Cutting back on sugar has been one of the most difficult adjustments for me to make personally. (Remember my Pepsi addiction?)  I have always loved my sugar. Who doesn’t? Sugar tastes really, really good!

Since beginning our healthy eating journey, I’ve tried to at least stay away from most refined sugars, and instead stick with raw honey, real maple syrup, and sucanat. You can read more about those natural sugars here. I notice a big difference in how I feel after eating white sugar as opposed to one of the healthier sugars mentioned. Yet while these choices are much better than white sugar and corn syrup, they are still sugars and they still effect our bodies negatively if eaten in too large a quantity. Remember, we’re going for nourishment here – not just trying to fill a hole. Sugar offers so little in the way of nourishment. When we eat more than just a little bit of sugar, our bodies simply don’t know what to do with it. Therefore, it stores it away and it becomes extra pounds on our hips – or wreaks havoc in many other ways in our body.

Here is what has worked for me as I’ve cut back on sugar for my family:

  • Stop drinking your sugar. If I can do it, you can do it.
  • Cut back on the sugar called for in recipes – yes even in my recipes. I now cut the sugar in half in my recipes. They’re still plenty sweet. Cut back gradually if you need to.
  • Eat fruit – it has natural sugar, but it also has loads of nutrients!
  • Watch the white flour, white rice, and white pasta. They offer few nutrients and turn to sugar in our systems.
  • Make sweets a treat instead of consuming sugary foods all day long.

And for certain, my most important advice in an effort to cut back on sugar:  Pray. I am a sugar lover. The fact that I have been able to cut way back on sugar is only possible with the Lord’s power, not my own will-power.

And as for putting sugar on our salads – I have several real food, no sugar or low sugar dressing recipes here that are delicious!

Do you struggle with eating too much sugar? What are some habits you can begin in an effort to cut back?

 

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Focus on Stocking Your Kitchen With Real Food Ingredients (A Giveaway Package from More Than Alive)

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31 Days 300

Grocery stores and online resources offer plenty of prepared foods. Some of them are even of the “healthier” variety, giving us some handy snacks to have on hand that are at least made from “better for you” ingredients. I appreciate having a few of these items on hand for when we’re traveling or for those days I truly can’t find an extra minute to make something to eat.

But what I find it better to focus on is simply purchasing real food ingredients. If I stock up on all the staple ingredients that I use frequently, I can be assured that with just a few minutes of work, we will have something great to eat! Even better, I find that if I have basic staple ingredients on hand, if I find a few extra minutes in the day, I can mix something up to put into the freezer for those days I don’t have time to cook (which is happening more and more as my kids get older).

Read more about my preferred staple ingredients here. And here’s something super fun to help us all get going with our real food stock pile…

More Than Alive, which carries many wonderful ingredients that I use daily, has put together a perfect package to give away. The quality of the food they offer is wonderful. I love that you can purchase in large quantities, or just by the pound if you prefer. (Although I found that if you purchase a larger quantity, typically the price per pound is much less!)  They offer free shipping on orders over $100, which is a huge money saver. I love it when healthy ingredients arrive on my porch!

Today, More Than Alive is even giving Heavenly Homemakers readers an additional 10% discount! Use the code HHBLOG10 to receive 10% off  any order over $50 (not including shipping). Don’t forget you get free shipping on orders over $100. This discount code is good through January 25, 2014.

more than alive 2

If you win this giveaway, you will receive one pound of each of the following:

  • Oats
  • Rice
  • Rapadura
  • Real Salt
  • Amaranth Seeds
  • Baking Powder (actually, you’ll just receive 1/4 pound of this)
  • Coconut Flour
  • Sunflower seeds
  • Sesame seeds
  • Raisins

Do you know all the wonderful foods you can make with this package? Love this!

For a chance to win this giveaway from More Than Alive, leave a comment on this post. I’ll draw a random winner on Friday, January 17. Be watching for a post stating the winner as you will be responsible for contacting me if your name is chosen!

 

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Gratituesday: Gratituesday

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Yes, this Gratituesday, I’m thankful for Gratituesday. :)  Why? Is it because I couldn’t think of anything else? No. It’s because I really am thankful for this day of the week.

I try to be thankful every day, but what I often find is that I just get busy and distracted, which can so easily make me ungrateful and negative. I can get grumbly and frustrated – usually with silly situations that happen during the day.

But each Monday I have to stop and give some real thought to what I’m thankful for. After all, you’re all expecting me to write about what I’m grateful for on Gratituesday. I’m pretty sure you don’t want to hear me say, “Yeah, God is good, but man those kids just tracked in mud and left the toilet seat up again.”

Knowing that I will be sharing about God’s goodness on my blog gives me an attitude check that I need. Gratituesday helps me keep a godly perspective – even if I’m just sharing something simple. That’s where most of our biggest blessings are found, after all – in the simple things in life.

So yay for Gratituesday! Let this day each week be a reminder to us all to take some time to consider our blessings!

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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Hey, Thanks For the Feedback!

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I’ve been excited to get the Real Food Reality Resources Package into your hands because the contents within answer so many of the questions I get so often about where to start, how to keep up, how to get ahead, and how to save money while on your Real Food Journey. It’s always great to hear your feedback and to know that the information we share really is helpful to you!

Here’s what Kelley said after purchasing the Real Food Reality Resources Package:

I bought the  Real Food Reality Resources Package last night and have already devoured most of it!! ABSOLUTELY loving it!! Thank you soooo much for all you do. It is GREATLY appreciated :) Blessings to you and your family!!”

And here’s a fun comment I received from Melony:

Just a thank you for your amazing resources. Your website has helped make our transition to whole/clean eating so simple and painless. It is nearly dinner so I am off to make some of your delicious Corn Muffins.”

I’m always encouraged when I read comments like those…so thank you!

For just a few more days, we’re offering this Real Food Reality Resources Package, worth $24.95, for just $19.95. We want you to succeed on your real food journey. You can do this!

Reality Resource Sale 2

Get all of the details about the Real Food Reality Resources Package here.  Not only will you receive loads of helpful ideas and instruction, you’ll receive more delicious (and easy!) recipes too!

Real Food Reality Package
$19.95

click to purchse

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