Heavenly Homemakers

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6 Meals I Made with Two Whole Chickens

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I made six family-friendly meals with two whole chickens. THIS is such a money-saving method of cooking!

Full Disclosure: The two chickens I used were extra large. But so is the size of our family – extra large. There are 11 of our family at home right now (four adults and seven kids). Plus we currently have five housemates (three adults and two kids). We feed a lot of people each day (11-20 per meal). If you know me very well, you know that I love this. Feeding people is one of my favorite things to do.

Finding ways to stretch the food and creatively use what we have is also a lot of fun for me. :) Here’s how I made two whole chickens stretch into some wonderful meals for all of us.

6 Meals I Made with Two Whole Chickens

First, I thawed, then seasoned and smoked the chickens all afternoon.

Both chickens easily fit in our smoker, so I made good use of the space and the pellets to smoke both chickens at once.

We enjoyed chicken straight off of the smoker that night. SO GOOD. We ate it with these sides:

Matt is our designated chicken de-boner. He turns on an audio book, listens, and works to get all the meat off the bones for me. It’s one of my least favorite jobs but he does it happily.

We ended up with two 9×13 inch dishes full of meat after we ate all we wanted the first night!

Time for Broth

We put the bones into a pot of water to turn into broth the next day. I added several pounds of carrots and onions to make it extra nourishing. After several hours, I strained it and blended the veggies to pour back in.

The next day, I used some of the chicken to make a bunch of Chicken Cheese Melts on croissants. Half of them were just chicken and Colby jack cheese – for the kids. The other half was chicken with pepper jack cheese and ranch – for the adults who wanted a little spice. These sandwiches were perfect with Tomato Soup! And we got out canned fruit to help spread out the meal (because I was out of fresh fruit).

Note: I cut the twelve sandwiches in half for kids who needed smaller portions. This was the only way to make this meal stretch far enough for all of us.

The day after that, I used more of the chicken to make a large pan plus a small dish of Creamy Chicken Enchiladas.

The weather turned cold, so the next day we were very excited to use the broth I’d made a few days earlier and more of the chicken to make Chicken and Noodles. Wow, did that hit the spot!


Two days later, we pulled out the leftover Creamy Chicken Enchiladas to warm up for dinner.

Finally, we used the last of the chicken to make The Simplest White Chicken Chili in the crock pot.

So let’s review.

Two large chickens made these meals:

  1. Smoked chicken with sides (16 people)
  2. Chicken Cheese Melts on Croissants (13 people)
  3. Creamy Chicken Enchiladas (11 people)
  4. Chicken and Noodles (16 people)
  5. Creamy Chicken Enchilada leftovers (10 people)
  6. The Simplest White Chicken Chili (14 people)

Using whole chickens like this can really help stretch a food budget! And when you stretch the meal even further, pulling out easy side dishes like this, you can feed a lot of people these great meals! <— this is my favorite way to make a meal fill many people at once – add plenty of fruit and veggie side dishes to make the meal go as far as needed!

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Big Family Food and Fun: October 8-14, 2023

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This was a particularly big week as I was preparing for an event on Saturday. Here’s our big family food and fun post: Oct 8-14!

Big Family Food and Fun: October 8-14, 2023

Sunday morning I made two varieties of Taco Soup in our crock pots: This One (beef) and This One (chicken). To go with the soup I set out grapes, pears, and oranges plus Apple Muffins and Banana Bread.

We topped our soup with Fritos, cheese, and sour cream.

I STILL had some milk to use up before it went bad so I made another round of Pudding Parfaits for dessert.

That evening we planned to eat leftovers to help clean out the fridge before we loaded up to go watch Asa and Justus play soccer. As I was pulling out leftover hotdogs and tortillas, I decided to turn them into Lazy Dogs. I haven’t made these in years!! I opened up the griddle on my stove and cranked out 16 of them. They were a huge hit!

Just in case we would need them at the game, I threw some snacks into a bag: pistachios, peanuts, dried blueberries, and Banana Bread.

The evening at the soccer field was amazing – barely cool and all 15 of us out there together to cheer on the bros!

Here’s part of the beautiful cheering section!

After the game, we let the kids all run around a few more minutes. They played their own game of soccer while the sun set.

Monday morning I remembered that the kids’ school was offering a Teacher Appreciation meal after school so I quickly checked the sign up list to see if there was anything left that was still needed. I snagged a dessert slot and made a batch of Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies to drop off when we took the kids to school.

Matt and Elias headed to York that morning to work on our houses, so Malachi helped me get the kids to school. Then we loaded the remaining five to go pants shopping for Malachi. Why are we crazy like this?? Well, because they need outings and Malachi needed pants. So five kids four and under at Marshall’s? Sure, why not?

Malachi tried on some options I held BabyBoy#11, the girls ate a snack, and Keith begged me to buy shoes he didn’t need. What is it with that kid desperately wanting shoes that he definitely doesn’t need??

We got home and sent Keith (with his boring, perfectly fine shoes) and Anna off on their bus for preschool. Josie looked so pretty in her new fall outfit I snagged a photo. See?? I told you I’d dress my kids awesome again in the fall. Remember this??

I captured this sweetness before naptime that day. These two share a room but we have to put them in separate rooms for naps so that they actually sleep. Here they are giving night-night kisses between giggles.

We had been given some corn so I asked our kids to help get it shucked for dinner. We had some neighborhood help with the task!

I had put two chickens on the smoker to cook all afternoon. But I accidentally let the smoker run out of pellets around 4:00. So the process took longer as I waited for the smoker to heat back up and finish cooking the chicken. Therefore, around 5:45 when we could not wait any longer to feed the kids, we all had plates of corn on the cob, green beans, and Caesar salad.

Finally, later we had Smoked Chicken for dessert. :) For the record, it was worth the wait. Smoked chicken is soooo good!

Tuesday morning I mixed up a double recipe of Poptarts. I’ve been wanting to make these for such a long time. It made a HUGE mess, thanks in part to all my helpers. I will probably not make them again for a while. But wow were they good!

Ugly, but good. :)

After we got Brayden and Kiya off to school, we packaged up some of the fresh Poptarts and made three cups of hot apple cider. Then we loaded the five littlest and headed to church where we knew they were having a staff meeting that morning. (Justus is one of the three on staff, so we knew their meeting schedule.) We delivered the treats and prayed over the staff, then headed out so they could have their meeting without kids running around. :)

We had about 45 minutes before we needed to head home to meet the preschool bus, so we found a park for the kids to play. It was such a beautiful fall day!

That afternoon, Brayden, Kiya, and I went to our weekly Food Distribution site to help hand out food. We were amazed at the amount of people who came through the line that day. Our goal is to show love and kindness to each person. (As a bonus, we love how this is helping our kids grow and learn to serve.)

We arrived home at dinnertime, and one of our housemates had made a huge pile of waffles for dinner! They were so delicious!

Wednesday morning I woke up with a migraine, ugh. So that day is a bit of a blur, even while we still went about our regular routine taking care of the kids. I took BabyBoy#11 in for his 9-month check up while Matt and Elias took the other four littles to a park. Otherwise, we hung around the house and enjoyed the nice weather.

That night I used some of the chicken from the smoked chickens we’d made on Monday and put together Creamy Chicken Enchiladas. We ate them with Caesar salad, fresh pineapple, and grapes.

Thursday morning, I made a big pot of Oatmeal for everyone.

For dinner that night, I used croissants we’d gotten at that week’s Food Distribution along with chicken from Monday’s smoked chicken to make Chicken Cheese Melts. Some had Colby jack and some were Pepper jack with ranch. They were delicious with tomato soup and canned fruit (because I had no fresh fruit in the house!)

Matt made popcorn later that evening for a snack and we played a couple of board games before bed. (This sounds so precious, but in actuality it was loud and crazy. This is how they learn though…)

Friday morning the kids were off school for a Fall Break so we took them all to Hobby Lobby so we could pick up some crafts. “Don’t touch anything” was our favorite phrase of the morning. :)

We made Peanut Butter Honey Sandwiches and Smoothies for lunch.

And for dinner, we enjoyed our first pot of Chicken and Noodles of the season!! I had made broth earlier in the week from the bones of the chickens we’d smoked. This soup tasted SO GOOD on a chilly evening! (The kids can’t figure out why we aren’t letting them eat outside like we used to do all the time, boo.)

I had mentioned here that one of our third story housemates is a mama with her two young children. Now that we’re not able to play outside constantly like we did all summer, we are trying to get creative as we keep all 9 of the kids occupied in the evenings. Last night, we played games and had popcorn. Tonight, we set up a craft. Keith helped me get it ready.

The kids made masks from kits, which, as you can see, turned our house into an actual zoo. ;)

Saturday morning Eva, Kelsey, and Kelsey’s mom Nicole picked me up and we drove to Council Bluffs, Iowa for a Ladies Conference where I had been asked to speak. Matt, Elias, and Asa held down the fort at home.

God worked, as He always does, and the day was a great worship-filled day. My favorite part was seeing dozens of friends that I don’t see very often and miss so much. That was such a gift!

I had caught a cold from the kids so by the end of the day after so much talking, I had no voice. :)

We pulled these Burritos from the freezer for dinner before bathtime and bedtime.

And that was our week!

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Lunches I Packed October 2-6, 2023

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Here are the school lunches I packed Oct 2-6.

Lunches I Packed October 2-6, 2023

As I was trying to figure out what to pack the kids to eat on Monday, I realized I didn’t have anything easy on hand that was high in protein for their lunches. So I got the idea to make this Peanut Butter Cup Whipped Cream, which I sent with a container of animal crackers for dipping. This “main dish” idea was a bit odd, and it did have a little bit of sugar in it. But it also had protein, and it made the kids so excited! So, I’m glad I did it!

Monday: Peanut Butter Cup Whipped Cream, Animal Crackers, Carrots with Dip, Peach Cup

Tuesday’s lunch was also weird because I had to leave by 6:15 that morning to take BabyBoy#11 to the hospital for an MRI. So I packed Brayden and Kiya’s lunches on Monday night to make it easier for Matt and the boys. BUT, Monday night I was also getting everything else ready to take to the hospital and to situate everything so that I could be gone all morning (or longer). So I quickly grabbed a few items and threw them into lunchboxes.

Was it enough? Barely. But they don’t have much time to eat at school (or my theory is that they do have enough time but they aren’t as focused as they need to be during lunchtime so they don’t always use their time well and get all their food eaten quickly!). ;)

Tuesday: Whole Milk Yogurt, Granola Bites, Packaged Muffin, Applesauce

Wednesday I had a little bit more time to focus on food. So I warmed a can of tomato soup and packed it into the kids’ thermoses along with a straw so they could guzzle it down without making a mess. I used some of the Croissants we’d brought home from Tuesday’s Food Distribution and made them Cheese Sandwiches to enjoy with their soup. They LOVED this lunch!

Wednesday: Tomato Soup, Cheese Sandwich on a Croissant, Fruit Cup

Thursday’s lunch was easy! (Note: If the kids would have eaten lunch at home, Brayden would have downed four pieces of pizza and Kiya, two. Again, eating at school makes them rush a bit more.)

Thursday: Pizza, Applesauce, Cucumbers for Brayden and Carrots with Peanut Butter for Kiya

Friday. Ugh. Well, this is the day I usually pack a Fun Friday lunch which includes a sandwich of their choice, chips of their choice, and a treat of their choice. But we had some behavior struggles that morning and some privileges were lost.

I hurried to snap this picture before sending Brayden off to Ukulele class (which starts an hour before school) so Kiya’s lunch wasn’t complete yet. They both got a sandwich and applesauce. I threw in cucumbers for Brayden and later added an oatmeal crumb bar for Kiya.

Friday: Turkey and Cheese Sandwich for Brayden/ PBJ for Kiya, their favorite Banana Applesauce, cucumbers for Brayden and Oatmeal Crumb Bar for Kiya

Now that it’s getting chilly outside, I’m going to try and get more creative with hot food in thermoses!

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Big Family Food and Fun: October 1-7, 2023

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Ready for Big Family Food and Fun: October 1-7, 2023?!

Elias had hosted a “Release Party” the night before so we woke up Sunday morning to young adults asleep all over our house, haha. We had prepared some extra rooms and beds, knowing that several would stay over, but it was fun to wake up and see friends scattered in the living room too. Some stayed and joined us for lunch after church too!

Big Family Food and Fun: October 1-7, 2023

I had boiled two pounds of macaroni noodles and stirred in an entire container of white queso from Sam’s. Plus I stirred in chopped up ham. That warmed in the crock pot all morning during church. We ate it with peas and grapes plus Mudballs and Peanut Butter Cookies.

Here’s a few of “the crew” hanging out in the kitchen to eat.

That evening our family got to enjoy a Harvest Party at our church parking lot with many from our church family. There was chili dogs, smores, and face painting!

Matt and Malachi took each other on in ping pong. I never heard who won. :)

Justus was honored to be one who enjoyed “pie in the face” and Brayden got in line multiple times to attempt to throw a shaving cream pie in his face.

Keith too!

Kiya and Acacia played a huge Jenga game with our friend Caitlyn.

And most of our “older littles” tried archery that was set up from Heart Shot Ministry. It was an incredible night!

Monday morning I pulled prepared Pumpkin Donuts from the freezer that we’d made a few weeks before. I air fried them which made it SO EASY. They didn’t turn out pretty but everyone ate them like cookies and it made for an easy breakfast.

We walked Brayden and Kiya to school then Keith and I got ready to head to the Food Distribution site to help set up. He packed himself a snack to eat on the way: a Pumpkin Donut and a bag of granola bites. :)

He takes his work so seriously when helping there. We love this service opportunity!

The kids had captured a caterpillar a few weeks ago and it turned into a cocoon in the jar. We were so excited! Matt noticed Monday morning that it had turned into a butterfly so that evening we all gathered around to admire then release it.

Keith was devastated that we were letting our butterfly go free. He had wanted to keep it forever. Oy.

I had some leftover roast from last week so I cooked rice, shredded the leftover roast, and put together burritos for dinner. Meanwhile, our neighbor had given us three buckets full of apples from his mom’s tree. I finally got around to making a huge pot of applesauce like this.

It made two huge bowls full of applesauce for us to enjoy throughout the week.

Tuesday morning BabyBoy#11 and I left the house at 6:15 to get checked into the hospital for an MRI. We are thankful to finally be referred for this so that maybe we can get some ideas about what his needs are so that we can get ahead of them and get him the resources he needs moving forward.

He was a trooper as we got him prepped – but HUNGRY and mad about it because we couldn’t feed him his regular morning bottle since he would be receiving anesthesia.

All in all, it went very well and we were home much earlier than we thought we would be.

I picked up Brayden and Kiya after school and we went directly to the Food Distribution to hand out food. We were blessed to come home with extra items – lots of breads and bagels again but also some greens, asparagus, peppers, potatoes, and yogurt.

Malachi had baked Chicken Tenders and made Caesar salad for everyone so when we got home, we dug in. Apparently Matt had had to “cut Keith off” on the salad because he loves it so much and kept asking for more and more. :) (Thankfully, I had brought home a bonus package of Caesar salad from the Food Distribution so we opened it up and added it to the bowl!)

Wednesday morning I made a big pot of Warm Vanilla Soother to celebrate Fall weather (and because Food Distribution begged us to take soon-to-expire milk home, ha). We are whole milk people, and this was 1% milk, but it still worked because I added extra eggs and some heavy whipping cream. We enjoyed it with toasted, buttered bagels.

Speaking of having lots of 1% milk on hand that needed to be used up: That afternoon I used several cups of milk to make Pudding Parfaits for dessert after dinner. I had a couple of sweet helpers who had woken up too early from their naps.

I smoked chicken for dinner that night, steamed broccoli, and used the pizza crust we’d been given at Food Distribution to make Garlic Cheese Bread Sticks.

A few of the chicken pieces were pretty thick, and I got a little bit nervous that they weren’t cooked as thoroughly as they should be. So I cut ALL the chicken into bites and put it in a pan with barbecue sauce to cook a little bit more just to be safe.

The Pudding Parfaits were a huge hit!

I had meetings again all morning on Thursday (October is a doozy with its appointments and IEPs. Our calendar is always crazy, but this month seems extra crazy.) So Matt and the older boys took care of food – I believe they pulled leftovers from the fridge.

That afternoon I made a double recipe of these Pumpkin Bars so we could have a quick breakfast food the next morning. (They tasted awesome with my coffee the next morning!)

Dinner that night was a simple Taco Bar. I realized as I was pulling out toppings that I had no greens or tomatoes. So I sliced cucumbers as a veggie side dish. And we had leftover Applesauce that I’d made earlier in the week.

I asked Kiya to pause so I could take a picture of my beautiful girl with her beautiful plate. :)

After dinner we decided to walk to Sunken Gardens. The weather was supposed to turn much colder and I wanted to see the flowers one last time before they froze. I was so thankful that Elias and Malachi joined us too. This photo, featuring 10 of my sweethearts, makes me so happy…

Friday morning was a bit nuts as we were trying to get Brayden out the door an hour early for his school Ukulele class, Matt and Elias out the door to work in York for the day, and some of our housemates out the door for a conference. I was so glad I’d made these Pumpkin Bars the day before so that everyone could grab and go as needed. Ignore the ugly photo. These tasted good so don’t let the picture tell you differently. ;)

Malachi hung out with the other kids and me all day. I had a teacher meeting that morning, the immediately after that we loaded the kids to go to Aldi.

Wait. The plan was to immediately load the kids and head to Aldi. But three kids needed to potty first. Then BabyBoy#11 pooped up the back of his brand new shirt.

So three pees and a poop later, we finally got everyone loaded and headed to the store.

Malachi helped me manage two carts and five kids by handing out veggie straws and feeding the baby his bottle. I threw food into carts as fast as I could so we could make it home in time for Keith and Anna’s preschool bus. And because we didn’t want to be in the store very long with five babies. :)

We got greens, salad kits, pears, cheese, fritos, ham, pasta, granola, cider, and some baby food. (BabyBoy#11 is still not too big on purees or anything solid, but the squeeze type fruit/veggie combos at Aldi work better than other foods so far.) Malachi spotted a Caramel Mocha Iced Coffee so we grabbed that too. :)

The real reason we went to Aldi: Mama was hungry for Spicy Ham and Potato Soup and we didn’t have any pepper jack cheese! It was on the menu for that night so while I could have subbed a different kind of cheese, I knew a trip to Aldi would be helpful anyway.

After we got Keith and Anna off to school, Acacia “helped” me make two crock pots full of soup for dinner. I was so glad I made such a large amount. This soup really hit the spot!

Malachi was craving my Hot Cocoa. It was chilly outside, it was Friday night, and I STILL had milk left from the Food Distribution. :) So it was a perfect time to make a pot of cocoa. The milk was 1% (not our preference) so I added heavy whipping cream to try and make up for the lack of fat in the milk. :)

I left for an Adoptive Moms Support Group so Matt reported back later that everyone under the age of 4 spilled their little cup of Hot Cocoa. Oops. That couldn’t have been fun to deal with. :/

As I was walking out the door, I spotted this scene. This was just before the hot chocolate started to spill left and right. Aren’t they sweet?

Saturday morning Matt and I took the kids to a Sensory Story time at a library. This is such a good offering for our family because several of our kids have sensory needs.

This was my very favorite part of the morning. Josie, our very timid two-year-old, started to finally become comfortable in this setting. Ms. Diane, the storytime leader, is fantastic and so good at making this a safe place for the kids. So there was our Josie girl, acting all grown up and excited, participating in the game with all the big kids. :)

When we got home, Eva joined us to help with the kids. Because of this, I was finally able to get to the basement to sort through all of our clothes for fall and winter. Phew, this was a huge task, and one I kept having a hard time getting around to! I’m so thankful that Eva made it happen. (Also, I finally found my jeans. We moved here in June and I had yet to find my jeans. I have never been so happy to see a pile of jeans.)

I pulled out all of the wonderful hand-me-downs people had given us. And I pulled out all of the clothes I’d picked up on clearance. As I sorted, our laundry room looked like this.

And the hallway outside the laundry room looked like this.

However long and a pile of mom’s jeans later, I got clothes organized into bins and up on the shelves.

Plus I had gathered quite a few clothes that we could donate. I can’t tell you how relieved I am that this job is finished!!

Meanwhile, Malachi made mac and cheese and Elias made a salad for lunch. Then while Eva and Matt put everyone down for naps and rest time, Brayden and I headed out for one-on-one time. We went for hair cuts then to Marshall’s to find clothes for him. (As I sorted clothes, I had found that we had almost nothing that fit him. Plus I needed a few things for the three little girls, plus socks, undies…). This time with Brayden was VERY needed and good.

When we got home, I quickly threw together a hot dog picnic and we loaded everyone up to go to a Hoot and Howl prairie event nearby.

While I handed out food and everyone ate, we got to see super cool owls and hear about what they eat and what they like. It was so neat!

Then we walked around to various booths and areas where there were so many great learning opportunities.

Overall the evening was fun but CRAZY. Wrangling eight kids nine and under (our extra 4-year-old was with us) was not easy with several of the littles running ahead of us – or in different directions. Then we had some behavior struggles as we settled everyone into the van to go home for bed.

These things ARE worth doing, but it is not easy to pull it off. We are thankful for God’s strength and for the sweet times we enjoy with these kids.

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A Day in Our Lives at the Coppinger Castle

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Curious about a day in our lives at the Coppinger Castle? I’ll give you a peek!

Every day can look a little bit different, of course. But here’s what a typical day looks like for us, based on what happened this Wednesday:

A Day in Our Lives at the Coppinger Castle

5:25am I (Laura) rolled out of bed and headed downstairs to enjoy as much quiet time as I could get.

5:35 I made my way to the kitchen to drink water and make myself a cup of coffee. I always find something tasty (like a muffin) to eat with my coffee. Then I sit with my coffee in the living room and spend time talking to God as I wake up. I open my Bible and read wherever God leads me to read that day and journal with Him about what He’s teaching/telling me. Today I read in Deuteronomy and was reminded: Don’t let anything else become a god in my life. Be fully devoted to HIM, and He will bless my obedient heart.

6:20 Keith woke up extra early today and found me in the dark living room. I put my Bible and journal away for some snuggles. BabyBoy#11 woke up too and enjoyed a diaper change and ate some of his bottle. (He has some eating issues so he only eats a little bit of his bottle at a time, all day long). :) I settled him onto the floor to play with Keith.

6:35 I opened my computer to check email and upload/edit some photos for our next weekly Food and Fun post. I try to keep up with this each day so that I can have it ready to post on Sunday afternoons.

6:45 Keith was hungry so we headed into the kitchen to start getting breakfast ready. I poured three sippy cups full of milk for the three littlest girls. (Their milk is like my coffee: gotta have it first thing.)

I started making breakfast to keep kids from becoming hangry as they woke up. This particular day we had Warm Vanilla Soother and Bagels.

I used a dozen eggs to make it extra rich and full of protein.

While I was cooking the soother, I heated Tomato Soup to pack in the kids’ lunchboxes.

And I started a fresh pot of coffee.

7:00 I finished making breakfast and got the kids’ started on eating (all 7 littles were all up now). Usually, while the kids eat, I clean out dishwashers, load dishwashers, plan tonight’s dinner, and finish packing the kids’ lunches for school. Somewhere in there, I ran to the basement to start a load of laundry.

ALL MORNING LONG at least two of our kids have usually been tantruming off and on. We’ve tried everything to get ahead of these fits, but they struggle to regulate their emotions and mornings can be the hardest. 

8:00 From now until 8:40 we are finishing breakfast, brushing teeth, dressing toddlers, finding shoes, settling more tantrums, and trying to get 7 kids out the door so that we can walk Brayden and Kiya to school. Our walk involves two double strollers for our four littlest, plus Keith on his bike. Brayden and Kiya power walk with Matt and me because the truth is, 9:00 is a wonderful late start time but it’s still hard to get all of us out the door every morning. So we are almost always running “just on time – if we hurry.”

8:55 We send them off to their classrooms with a hug and a daily message, “Let God’s light shine through you! Love you!” then Matt and I walk the littlest five home.

9:15 Usually we play outside for a while when we get home, feed everyone a little bit more, give BabyBoy#11 more of his bottle, and Matt finds time to finally eat.

This is often when I make our smoothies because I ate at 5:30 and I’m ready for “second breakfast” now.

Somewhere in there, I wash up some of the bigger pots, pans, and bowls.

10:00 We either have meetings at this time or take the kids on an outing if we don’t have anything scheduled. Meetings happen eight to twelve weekday mornings every month depending on the needs (IEPs, IFSPs, Case Worker visits, Foster Care Specialist visits, Early Development Team visits, and Speech Pathologist visits). This particular morning, I had an IEP meeting for Acacia.

11:30 While I finished my meeting (this one was at our house), Matt gave Keith and Anna something to eat and made sure they have their shoes on and backpacks ready. Their preschool bus comes at 12:00.

12:05 We are left at home with just three kids!! It’s soooo quiet now, haha! But for real. After we get Keith and Anna off to school it is typically much calmer. We play, eat lunch (usually leftovers), and try to sit and read with Acacia, Josie, and BabyBoy#11.

1:15 NAPTIME!!! We work hard to synch up BabyBoy#11’s nap with his sisters’ so that they will all sleep at the same time. Matt catches up on business paperwork, bill paying, or does work that the Castle needs. I get out my laptop and work on posts like these! ;)

2:30 Josie woke up already – BOOOO. This cuts my worktime short but more importantly, she hasn’t slept long enough and is therefore grumpy. I snuggle her a while to see if she’ll rest some more. Nope.

2:40 I head to the kitchen with Josie to get ahead on dinner. She watches with great interest. ;)

2:45 Acacia heard Josie crying so she woke up too. She joined us in the kitchen. I had an abundance of milk – given to us the day before when we were volunteering at the Food Distribution – so I decided to surprise everyone with Pudding Parfaits after dinner so that I could use up some milk.

These little stinkers sure are cute.

3:00 I turned on the smoker to cook the chicken I’d marinated earlier that day. I needed to make dinner early because I had to leave at 3:45 for Parent Teacher Conferences and wouldn’t get back until almost time to eat.

The food we receive at the Food Distribution is typically close to its “sell-by” date so I usually plan our meals based on what we brought home the day before so that it won’t go bad. Thus the Pudding Parfaits I described above. We’d also received some pizza crusts so I spread on olive oil, sprinkled on garlic powder, then topped with mozzarella cheese to make Cheesy Breadsticks to go with our dinner that night. I slid them into the oven to bake right before meal time.

3:30 Matt left to pick up the kids from school and since the two girls were up, he took them with him in a stroller so I could finish kitchen work and head out to conferences.

3:45 Malachi and Elias listened for BabyBoy#11 (who was still napping) and I headed out for Brayden and Kiya’s parent teacher conferences.

4:00 Matt arrived back home with his crew. Keith and Anna got dropped off by the school bus. Kiya had homework (which she can mostly work through on her own). The baby could wake up at any time. Everyone is hungry. Basically – this is just time to survive as we transition into the evening.

4:45 I made it back home from the kids’ school and finished up dinner.

5:15 Everyone was ready to eat. I fixed plates and took them outside since the weather was nice – and so that the mess would fall to the ground instead of onto our dining room floor.

Every night, we can count on there being lots of people around at dinnertime. But we never quite know how many people there will be to feed. Some of our housemates are almost always around to join us. Often, friends of Elias and Malachi are over. We make enough to feed plenty, loving it when it all gets eaten! If fewer are around to eat, then we benefit from having leftovers. Either way, it’s a win! (This particular night, two of our housemates were out and Elias and Malachi had gone to a concert. So there were “only” 12 at home for dinner that night.)

6:00 Everyone who ate a good dinner enjoyed a Pudding Parfait. We played outside the rest of the evening because it was a beautiful night. I stopped taking pictures at this point because keeping everyone alive and safe outside is a bit hectic.

7:10 We headed inside and started the process of getting the kids ready for bed. Of course, Brayden and Kiya do this lovely life hack because it’s the best “get ready for school” trick and I love it.

7:30 We try to gather everyone in the living room for our nightly Singing and Prayer time. But with this many littles, it doesn’t always work and the youngest four can be pretty squirrely. Eventually this will turn back into a precious time. Right now, it’s nuts – with singing and prayer on top.

We managed to make it happen tonight, and ended our time in the living room together by saying all of Psalm 23 together. Brayden, Kiya, and Keith all have it memorized now. Anna knows some of it and our guess is that Acacia and Josie know more than they let on – they just aren’t talking much yet.

—> Since I wasn’t able to get a current picture of our Singing and Prayer Time, here’s an older, precious photo taken at our York house one evening when several college students were hanging out and joined us. Oh look, it’s Baby Keith. And dating couple Justus and Kelsey. This picture brings me joy. <—

8:00 BEDTIME. Acacia wears a brace to bed because she was born with a club foot and needs a brace to help with her ongoing needs. Matt does some very simple ankle manipulation with her before putting on her brace while I brush some toddler teeth, answer my 400millionth question of the day, and as sweetly as I can, beg everyone to go right to sleep without getting up all night. :) Ha. But seriously.

8:30 BabyBoy#11 finishes as much milk as we can give him to help him sleep as long as possible through the night (he usually lasts until 3am, but the past couple of nights have been longer!). We settle him into bed. Matt and I finally have some quiet, uninterrupted conversation time before I PASS OUT.

And that’s a Day in our Lives at the Coppinger Castle. Maybe I’ll write another one of these posts a different day so that we can compare what might be the same or different from day to day!

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Lunches I Packed September 25-29, 2023

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Here are the school lunches I packed September 25-29…

This week was mostly hot weather so I packed cold lunches every day but Tuesday. I packed a hot lunch that day, only because I had leftover chili from our huge 65-person meal that Sunday. The kids love chili, so they were excited I had packed this!

Kiya has informed me that she is getting tired of pickles in her lunch. Fair enough. I shall now hold off on the pickles. :)

Lunches I Packed September 25-29, 2023

Monday: Cottage Cheese, Fruit Cups, Packaged Muffins, and Cucumbers (for Brayden)

Tuesday: Chili with fritos and shredded cheese, Pear Cups, and a Peanut Butter Bars.

Wednesday: Chicken Salad on Croissants, Carrots with Dip, and Applesauce Cups

Thursday: Cheese and Pepperoni with Crackers, Yogurt Cups (found these whole milk yogurt cups at Aldi!), Mixed Veggie Bag for Brayden and Pickles for Kiya (<— that afternoon she requested no more pickles for a while please :) :) :) )

Fun Friday: Sandwiches, Chips (Kiya actually chose pistachios for her “chips”), Applesauce, and a Treat of their choice

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Big Family Food and Fun: September 24-30, 2023

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Here’s our post sharing our Big Family Food and Fun: September 24-30…

Big Family Food and Fun: September 24-30, 2023

This week started out with the biggest, best bang! We had heard that our beloved York University Singers were going to be performing in a church just three blocks from our house. So we messaged the director and asked if we could please feed the crew at the Castle that evening after their performance. It was the first we’d hosted something so big here, and it was a dream!! But first, breakfast. And lunch.

Sunday morning’s breakfast was Baked Oatmeal that had been created the night before by one of our housemates.

While everyone was eating, I got a huge batch of White Chicken Chili started in our roaster so that it could slow cook all day and be ready to feed the big crew. I had already made two huge pots of regular Chili so they were ready to warm up at dinner time.

When we left church that morning, we stopped at Sam’s since it’s on the way home so that I could grab last minute food items needed for our huge meal.

For lunch that day, I had put Simple Ham and Hashbrown Casserole in the crock pot. We ate it with green beans before moving full force into dinner mode.

We got tables and chairs set up all over the house and outside. The crew arrived just after 6pm and started making their way through the food lines. Of course, I forgot all about taking pictures of the big buffet of food we’d set out because I was too busy giving hugs. Wow, I’d missed these “kids.”

We set up a Coffee Bar in the living room so Elias could make people Lattes or whatever they requested. :)

Here’s what the buffet looked like by the time I remembered to get a picture. :)

We served two huge pots of Chili, a roaster full of White Chicken Chili, grapes, strawberries, carrots, peppers, cucumbers, plus cinnamon rolls and corn bread (made by a dear friend here in Lincoln whose son is in the choir), plus a table full of desserts.

I had made Frosted Brownies, Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars, Peanut Butter Cookies, and these Cupcakes. One of our housemates had made two beautiful desserts very similar to this Death by Chocolate recipe. It was a huge hit!

Truly, Sunday evening was a dream for me. I loved hosting these young adults!

Monday morning I was…tired. :) For breakfast, I got out yogurt and the Peanut Butter Honey Granola I’d made last week.

I don’t remember what we did all day?? Dishes. Yes, I did wash a lot of big pots from the day before. :)

That night for we enjoyed the last of the whole chicken I’d smoked the week before with pasta and Alfredo sauce. Plus I steamed carrots and warmed up leftover broccoli. I made lots, but we ended up having a beautiful crowd of 18 people at our house that night so it still ended up being barely enough. :)

Therefore, Matt made several rounds of popcorn for a snack before we got the littles ready for bed. It was just what we needed to finish filling everyone’s bellies. :)

Look at the little sweetheart in her princess dress – filthy faced and tired after a long day of play. :)

Tuesday morning I whipped cream to go with strawberries.

Plus I made 12 Sausage-Egg-Cheese Breakfast Sandwiches.

We took our 5 littlest to one of our favorite parks to play for a while that morning. They enjoyed cheese and crackers plus fruit/veggie squeezies while we were there.

That afternoon, the kids got out of school early so Brayden, Kiya, and Keith all got to go to help serve at the Community Food Distribution. I asked Elias if he’d go along with me to help with Keith and he was happy to help. (His muscles got used quite a few times while we were there too!)

Keith and Elias got to hand out bags of snacks during distribution time. Brayden handed out dishwasher soap (which he thought was a little bit silly – but you never know what might get donated for volunteers to hand out). And Kiya and I handed out prepared sandwiches.

We were blessed to come home with two bags full of extra food donations – a wonderfully nice perk that we weren’t expecting when we started helping with this. We got mostly bread products that day, which helps stretch the grocery budget!

Before leaving home that afternoon, I had put Baked Potatoes into the Crock Pot to cook. One of our housemates was kind enough to set out all the toppings at dinnertime since I wouldn’t get home until 5:45ish. We filled our plates with potatoes, leftover chili, ham, cheese, sour cream, butter, and peas. Plus we finished off the Applesauce the kids and I had made last week.

Brayden left to have a piano lesson with Justus. When he came home, I found him doing this:


I wish I could express how amazing it is that he is able to read this book to his siblings. Reading and learning are a struggle for him and he has come so far!!

One of the fun things we came home with from the Food Distribution was a bag of McDonald’s biscuits. So on Wednesday morning I made Sausage Gravy to go with the biscuits. Plus I cut the leftover baked potatoes and cooked them with eggs. It was all so delicious!

Wednesday night, I smoked Chicken Thighs and made Smoothies (so the kids would get spinach in them). I also buttered/toasted some rolls and got out potato salad we’d received at the Food Distribution.

One of our housemates had been gone all day but brought back a delicious Apple Crisp that her cousin had made. It was a perfect dessert that night.

Thursday Matt and Elias went to York to work on our houses. Malachi helped me take the five littlest to Walmart for a few final WIC produce items for the month. As we headed out, he struck up a conversation with the greeter. I thought it was sweet so I snuck a picture. :)

I had slow cooked a roast all day, and we ate it with leftover carrots and peas, plus buttered corn and grapes. Mmmmm, roast!

Friday morning I made a big batch of French toast and let the kids choose toppings: peanut butter, apple jelly, butter, and applesauce.

Our Bonus Boy (4-year-old former foster son who is a biological half brother to some of our kids) was visiting and has a very limited list of foods he’ll eat. I went through this list again to be sure I had food on hand for him. Then I made a huge batch of Mudballs because he loves them (and so do the other kids!).

I had found sausage on sale at Walmart the day before so I browned all 8-pounds that I bought. Then I bagged it up in meal-sized portions for the freezer.

For dinner, I grilled a bunch of Hamburgers and threw Sweet Potato Fries in the air fryer.

Saturday morning we packed a picnic lunch to take to the zoo: hoagie sandwiches, fruit, chips, fruit/veggie pouches, and treats that we’d received from the food distribution.

At the zoo, we watched the zoo keepers feed the penguins.

Then we had lunch with the flamingos. :)

Kiya, Acacia, and Josie had a little conversation with a peacock. :)

We were so exhausted when we got home at naptime. But unfortunately, the toddlers fought sleep. Ack.

Meanwhile, Matt and I had decided the evening before that we could use a bit of a break and had planned to order pizza for dinner that night. We’d never ordered from Costco before but knew that the price was good and that the pizza was tasty so we gave it a try!

10 out of 10, highly recommend. We had a Pizza Picnic at one of our favorite parks, and two of our housemates joined us. One of them even went to Costco and picked up the pizza for all of us so that we wouldn’t have to lug all of the kids there. Fantastic! We ate and the kids road their bikes and scooters until time to get home to bed.

Next, I wanted to show this this fun picture. Grapes? Yes. It’s a picture of grapes. Exciting, yes?

It’s just that Kiya was helping me gather items to take to the park to enjoy with our pizza and she helped get the grapes pulled off their vines and into the bag. Then she asked if she could be the one to take the picture. (I hadn’t planned to take a picture, but she sees me prepare food all the time and then snap a photo, so surely I was going to feature her grapes!?)

You bet I’m going to feature her grapes. I’m so thankful for any one-on-one time I can snag with any of our kids. And small as it sounds, my Kiya-Mom grape prep time was really sweet.

We came home from the park to a party that Elias was hosting. He and his friend Ross just launched their first song and there was a Launch Party happening at the Castle!

It’s Yeti on Ice – Double Jointed if you care to look it up on any music platforms you use (Spotify, Apple Music, etc).

He has a lot of great friends and it was so great to see so many of them milling about the house when we got home!!! Plus all of our older boys were here – a double bonus. :)

We got the kids to bed (somehow, because there was a party going on and no one wanted to get to bed!) and I headed there myself. What a great week!

Oh! Total grocery spending for September: $1220.

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The Castle Pantry

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Would you like a peek inside our Castle Pantry?

First, I need to express how thankful I am that God gave us this house, our “Coppinger Castle.” For less than the cost of a much smaller, less functional (for our needs) house, God gave us this place.

It features over 9,000 square feet of usable living and storage space for us, which is fantastic to help us stay as organized as possible as we strive to love people in and out of our home.

Who lives at the Coppinger Castle?

Here’s the latest photo of our family, taken at an apple orchard Fall, 2023. There are 15 of us altogether. Our two oldest sons are married and live with their wives in Lincoln – so we are blessed to see them often. Our other nine kids live at the Castle with Matt and me. Plus we rent out our third story suites to some lovely people. So currently, 14 people live at the Coppinger Castle. It is amazing and yes, a bit crazy. ;)

Beyond our family and our housemates, we often have guests. You can see samples of what this looks like here and here.

Our Castle Pantry is a beautiful example of a space God gave us to help us to be as functional as possible while feeding many people every day. Ready to take a look?

The Castle Pantry

Our “pantry” is an entire room just off the kitchen. (You can see photos of our Castle Kitchen here.) It features two walls of shelves, plus a full sink, additional refrigerator, upright freezer, and an extra stove/oven.

I have yet to use the stove/oven because I haven’t needed it thanks to having this beast of a stove/oven in our Castle Kitchen. Come Thanksgiving, I’m guessing this extra oven will come in handy. ;)

The extra fridge and freezer in the pantry though? They are 100% helpful and necessary. They are full all the time with much of the overflow that doesn’t fit in our kitchen fridge. (We have a third fridge/freezer in our basement that is almost always full too.)

Why so many refrigerators and freezers?

Well, as I said above, there are currently 14 people living at our house. Even when there were “only” eleven of us, we found that we needed this much fridge/freezer space. Buying in bulk, stocking up when items are on sale, and keeping a large supply of basic food on hand is extremely helpful and saves a lot of money.

So all of our refrigerators and freezers are full most of the time, and I find that I run to all of them frequently while feeding this many people every day. I am so thankful for God’s provision.

What’s on the pantry shelves?

So much food. And also kleenex and ziplock. ;) Here’s a boring, ugly picture of one wall of shelves. This one is a catch-all shelf and it isn’t fun to look at. There’s a counter there full of easy-to-grab items plus our breads and buns. Bottom left you’ll see shelves full of chips and cereal. And the shelves on the right house Auggie’s Pediasure drinks plus some packets of Oatmeal.

Our main wall of shelving contains all things food. I try to keep it organized in categories, though you’ll see that it isn’t perfect. It’s functional though, which is what I’m going for.

You’ll see that I basically have a grocery store in my pantry, which is extremely helpful as I plan and prepare meals. I can go to our shelves, fridges, and freezers and get what I need to feed us all well. I can also look at it and see what we are getting low on so that I know what we need the next time I go to the store. (Here’s how I make a grocery list without making a grocery list.)

There it is, the Castle Pantry. I am so, so thankful for this space and for God’s provision to fill our shelves!

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Lunches I Packed September 18-22, 2023

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In an effort to keep the kids from being burned out on the same packed school lunch over and over, I try to get creative and pack a nice, healthy variety. Here are the lunches I packed September 18-22, 2023.

Lunches I Packed September 18-22, 2023

Monday: Kiya had picked an Annie’s Parmesan Mac and Cheese at the Food Distribution where we volunteer each week. She requested this as a special lunch, so I cooked it Monday morning to put into the kids thermoses. They were so excited! But at the end of the day, neither kid enjoyed the taste of this one. Now we know. :)

At least they enjoyed their pear (which I packed in a container in an effort to keep it from getting smashed in the lunch bags.

Tuesday: Brayden had a field trip that day so he got to have a special lunch (our field trip tradition!). He got a turkey and cheese sandwich with chips, applesauce, crackers, and juice. Kiya’s lunch wasn’t “special” but she loved hers too. She got a pumpkin muffin, applesauce, carrots, and peanut butter.

Wednesday: I packed the kids a large helping of Whole Milk Yogurt that I’d gotten in an Azure Standard order two weeks ago, fresh strawberries, granola bites, and pistachios.

Thursday: I pulled food from the freezer I’d baked a few weeks ago and individually packaged for lunches. They each got a slice of pizza, a peanut butter snack bar, and a fruit cup.

Friday: It was Fun Friday! So the kids got their choice of sandwich, chips, an applesauce, plus some of the Little Bites we’d been given at the Food Distribution.

Now that the weather is cooling off a little bit, I’ll probably start packing more hot lunches in thermoses. This will give us more options to keep up with having a nice variety of foods to pack!

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Big Family Food and Fun: September 17-23, 2023

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Ready for Big Family Food and Fun: September 17-23?

During the past few weeks, God has filled up our Castle with additional housemates. Amazing! You can read the details about this here. We filled our final third floor room last Sunday. :) :) There are 16 of us living in our house now, but I’m only counting 15 in our “who ate the food” fun because the baby is still mostly drinking formula and figuring out purees. :)

Our five housemates sometimes eat with us and sometimes eat on their own depending on schedules, needs, work, and outside plans. Meanwhile, anyone who drops by to hang out with our older boys or anyone who comes over for any reason is welcome to eat here too.

So I always make a large evening meal, knowing that we’ll be feeding anywhere from 11 to 20 people. There’s always enough and if there’s too much: LEFTOVERS!!

Leftovers for Lunch

It’s pretty chill at lunchtime here, and there’s always this and that in the fridge that needs to be eaten up. So almost every day for lunch, everyone fends for themselves (well, Matt and I feed the littles, of course). This is easy, helpful, and a great way to keep from wasting food.

Here’s a silly photo of Anna and Brayden. Anna was wearing one of our housemate’s glasses and was so very proud.

Here’s what our week looked like!

Food and Fun: September 17-23, 2023

Sunday morning I set out the tail end of last week’s goodies for breakfast: Snickerdoodle Bites, Peanut Butter Honey Bread, and Pumpkin Donuts. I love finishing off tidbits to clear out space and to avoid waste!

We had a big day planned that day! After church we were going to eat lunch (at the church building) and then drive two minutes to an Apple Orchard. We invited another family plus several young adults to join us. Altogether, there were 28 of us. I love things like this!

Saturday night I had baked a double batch of these brownies to go with our lunch.

I put 14 Brats and 24 Hotdogs on our smoker before church. While they were cooking, we put together other lunch items to take with us: watermelon, grapes, chips, carrots, and water.

We put the cooked Brats and Dogs into crockpots and plugged them in once we got to church so they’d stay warm. After church, we quickly set out a buffet and enjoyed our meal together.

The Apple Orchard opened at 1:00, and it really was just two minutes away from the church building. So off we went to enjoy picking apples together!

This outing was everything I hoped it would be, with our huge crew enjoying the sunshine, time together, and apple picking!

Eva captured this photo of Kelsey and Acacia. I can’t stop staring at it.

We were way past naptime when we wrapped up, but we were able to get a photo with all 15 of our family members. It’s so rare and wonderful for all of us to coordinate schedules and be together like this.

Naps were extra good that afternoon. :)

Somehow I had managed to throw Easy Crock Pot Fajitas into our Instant Pot that morning so they slow cooked all day and made dinner super easy. I had never used our Instant Pot as a slow cooker, but both of our Crock Pots were full of Brats and Dogs that morning so I attempted it. It worked!

The meat (organic, grass fed fajita meat provided by one of the gals living with us right now) was absolutely incredible.

Malachi built this Fajita Burrito Masterpiece:

Monday morning I baked a double batch of Pumpkin Muffins (minus the chocolate chips). This made 24 muffins, and by the end of the day we were down to 6. I love watching food disappear! I made sausage links to enjoy with the muffins. Plus I got out our Pampered Chef apple-peeler-corer-slicer to cut apple rings for the kids.

After we got Brayden and Kiya to school, Keith and I headed to the Food Distribution site to help set up for Tuesday’s food giveaway. This is SUCH good one-on-one time for us and he loves being a helper!

I’m not sure that this is what Ms. Kathleen had it mind when she asked us to put the snacks out on the table. If you can’t build a tower of muffins, what even is the point? (Truly, Keith couldn’t see any other way to display these. I had to sneak in later to re-adjust the table.) ;)

Lunch was leftovers. :) Dinner was simple and delicious! I made Ham and Cheese Melts on buns they sent home with us that morning when we were setting up food. I had Colby jack, pepper jack, and Havarti cheese slices so I made an assortment with these sandwiches.

We enjoyed them with corn on the cob, spaghetti squash (cooked like this), watermelon, and peas.

After dinner, I sliced more of the apples we’d picked at the orchard and we ate them with Caramel Apple Dip. I hadn’t made that dip since last fall, so it tasted extra good!

Matt borrowed our neighbor’s leaf blower and Keith helped him clean up the parking lot area in our back yard. Keith takes every job very seriously. And I’m not sure if you can tell, but he’s wearing a spiderman hat someone had made just for him. It didn’t come off of his head for the entire day. :)

Tuesday morning we loaded up the kids and headed to Costco. My goal was to get stocked up on basic baking ingredients – which I did. But I also bought frozen pizza because I like having it on hand. AND, the strawberries and raspberries were still priced really low. So I got 2 containers of raspberries and 16 more pounds of strawberries. I’m out of control. :)

Raspberries make a great snack, but they taste better when you first put one on each finger. :)

That afternoon, Brayden, Kiya, and I went to help with the weekly Food Distribution. We got home at 5:30 tired, hungry, and in a hurry because Brayden had a piano lesson with Justus at 6:00. Thankfully, Malachi had baked chicken for sandwiches and Elias had build sandwiches and already fed the little ones. The rest of us grabbed ours and I didn’t even care about adding fruits and veggies because it was a bit hectic as we transitioned back home. :)

Wednesday morning I made Eggs in a Nest for breakfast with strawberries and Whipped Cream.

For a mid-morning snack, I cut more strawberries into what was left of the whipped cream. Keith, Anna, Acacia, and Josie helped me eat it. :)

We were preparing for a huge meal on Sunday in which we were planning to feed around 50 York University choir members. So during naptime, I went to Aldi to get a few things we needed for our family and a few things we needed for the choir meal.

It was the final evening the Lincoln Zoo was going to be open in the evening before next spring, so we took advantage and headed to the zoo that night.

I had packed hotdogs for us to eat there, along with fruit cups, carrots and ranch, and cold drinks. One of our new housemates joined us. Of course, the littles all love her and it appears that she’s never going to be allowed to eat a meal with our family without a child on her lap. :)

Thursday was a very full day. Matt was gone all day in York, I had two meetings scheduled, and some of our kids had extra behavior issues that needed to be dealt with. And that was just before 8:15am.

I sent our school kids off (one of them still in tears) with our neighbor who was gracious to walk them to school for me because I had already started my morning that was full of meetings for our littles. Case workers came, someone from our Early Development Network came – it was good and necessary but exhausting.

Why am I sharing this? Because while I love food and sharing food and all the fun that we have, it’s all mixed in with some very real life, very big challenges too. I think that’s why I love sharing about the rest of it so much. It reminds me of all the goodness God gives and all the fun we have each day. :)

So back to the food and fun…

I’ve been getting bags of organic pears at Aldi and they are perfect right now! They are small, making them great to hand out as snacks. Here’s Josie, looking as sweet as can be with her tasty pear.

One of our housemates provided us with a farm-raised chicken and I tried my hand at smoking it. I rubbed it down with Redmond’s Seasoning Salt and smoked it on low heat for the entire afternoon. Meanwhile, I made Mashed Potatoes in the Crock Pot and just before time to eat, I steamed broccoli. I love meals like this!

We had all those strawberries, so I had no choice but to make Strawberry Shortcake for our dessert after dinner.

No one complained about this choice of desserts.

I was continuing to prep to feed the York University Singers on Sunday so when I baked the shortcake, I also used oven space to make a double batch of Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars.

That evening, I also stirred together an extra large Easy Breakfast Casserole. Then on Friday morning I slid it into the oven to bake while I had my God time. When the kids got up, the casserole was ready and we ate it with strawberries and shortcake. (The cake is about as sweet as muffins, so I figured it would be a perfect side plus fun for the kids to feel like they were eating cake for breakfast!)

I got a little bit too ambitious and made a batch of Peanut Butter Honey Granola. (I wanted to make the most of the hot oven, plus I always like to try and get ahead.) It mostly worked out, but with trying to get kids fed and off to school I let it stay in the oven a little bit too long. It’s extra toasted. :)

That afternoon, I cooked seven pounds of hamburger meat in my Instant Pot like this. Then I turned it into two huge pots of Chili for Sunday.

As I finished that up, all kinds of crazy hit the house as we had some friends from out of state who were in a hurry but needed a place to shower. Yep, come on over! Meanwhile I was getting ready to have a rare night out at an Adoptive Moms Support Group (life giving and needed!!). We ate a super simple meal, taking full advantage of our air fryer to enjoy “French Fry Friday.” Tonight it was fries with nuggets.

Saturday morning we ate good ol’ cereal as we were getting other food items made.

The kids washed the remaining apples we’d picked on Sunday at the apple orchard. I cut them and cooked them down to make applesauce. (I used this quick method.)

It made a huge bowlful that we can eat all next week!

We had been invited to a party to watch the Husker football game that afternoon and had been asked to bring dessert. We made Chocolate Cupcakes with hidden spinach. The spinach was then perhaps counteracted by the candy pumpkins I put on top, but aren’t they cute?? :)

I also made a big bowl full of Strawberry Fluff to take to the party to share.

We ate leftovers for lunch with Caesar salad. As we were wrapping up, our neighbor John brought over this huge bucket of apples! They were from a tree on his family’s property and hadn’t been sprayed. The remind me of our apple picking days at our favorite orchard closer to York. We enjoyed bags and buckets of those apples year after year and eventually became friends with the Claytons, owners of the orchard. We miss this! How grateful we were to receive this bucket from our new friend in Lincoln.


After an early nap, we loaded up and headed over to our Husker Game Party. During half-time, we all headed outside to enjoy a pinata the host had set up for all the kids.

Go, Kiya, go!

The kids definitely didn’t care about football, ha. They actually only barely cared about the food. But they had been talking non-stop about how we’d been invited to swim while we were there. So finally we got them all ready, with the help of Justus and Kelsey, and let them have what will probably be one last outdoor swim of the season.

Knowing that they’d hardly eaten before that and that they’d be starving after time in the pool, I quickly made a late dinner plan for when we got home. Indeed, joy turned to hungry melt-down as we left the party. We gave them all a handful of peanuts that we had in the van (phew!) and I hurried to make a pile of French toast with sausage when we got home before bed. You’ve never seen such small children put away so much food at one time. :) :) :)

And that was our week!

P.S. Total grocery spending so far in September: $1100 and we are VERY stocked up on basics right now.

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