Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

You Are Invited! Heavenly Homemaker’s Third Annual Christmas Brunch

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It’s that time of year again! For the third year in a row, we would like to invite you to our “Virtual Christmas Brunch”.

We hope you can join us now and every day through the December 24th. There will be food (recipes), gifts (giveaways), and a fun surprise (you’ll just have to wait and find out)! :)

We are so thankful to have you all as a part of our lives. You are all a wonderful piece of the puzzle which continues to make this blog a happy place to hang out. This brunch we are hosting is our way of saying thank you.  You are all very dear to us.

As we close out another year, we want to celebrate with you the coming of Christ and the rich blessings of life that we have because of Him. So make plans to join us if you can! The more, the merrier, so invite your friends to join us too. There are plenty of food and gifts around our tree for everyone!

Here’s gift number one:  Each time you see the above “Christmas Brunch Invitation” – leave a comment on that post for a chance to win one of three $25 gift certificates to our Heavenly Homemakers Shop, which will be good on anything downloadable that you like. That includes this post…Ready, set, go!

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Gratituesday: Still Here to Hug

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I find it a challenge to write this post.

How can I put into words how overcome I am with gratitude for the simple fact that everything about my life at this point is carrying on with a great deal of normalcy? Normal is good. Normal is safe. Normal is busy, and dirty, and silly, and perfect. Normal is what I usually take for granted.

I’ve never been more grateful that my kids are losing teeth and making up jokes that may or may not be funny. How precious it is that we are still eating three (to seven) meals a day, tripping over dirty socks in the hallway, wasting time looking for our lost pencils, and trying to remember whose turn it is to clean out the dishwasher.

Nothing about watching my kids rinse their dishes or convert a decimal to a fraction is generally very breath taking. I certainly don’t typically feel a surge of joy when I see a dirty sock lingering on the floor.

Yet, because all of life got turned upside down for so many families in Connecticut just a few days ago – all I can think of is how much I deeply appreciate my “normal”. And how life for those grieving and hurting families will never be “normal” again – until the time when, by God’s grace and through His amazing power to offer healing and hope, they will settle into a “new normal”.

So I will gladly take the moments of chaos when all of the boys are trying to talk to me at once and I really can’t hear a word any of them are saying. I’ll take hearing, “Mom, I’m hungry” thirty-eight times every afternoon. I’ll take the never ending leaves that get tracked into our house by our kids and their friends. I’ll take my couch that regularly gets shoved across the living room and lands in the middle of the floor so that a game of Nerf soccer can take place. And the “Oops, sorry Mom” I’ll hear when that Nerf soccer ball gets kicked too hard and knocks yet another ornament off the Christmas tree. I’ll take the unnoticed yogurt drippings all over the front of a sweatshirt that later becomes crusty.

And yes, I’ll even take the dirty socks in the hallway. (Although I will also take the opportunity to remind the owner of the sock to quickly take responsibility for said sock…)

As simple as it may sound, all I can think of is that I’m thankful that my kids are doing their school work, or building Lego’s, or rinsing their dishes, or coming in to tell me about their latest music project.

So thank you God for my “normal”. All is right in my world, simply because my husband and kids are still here to hug.

For all of you who are hurting and grieving, I pray that you will lean on our God who is stronger and bigger than any pain we can experience on this earth. He hurts with us, cares for us, and holds us. He is faithful.

Share how God is working in your life on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for! Please read through the Gratituesday Guidelines so that you understand what kinds of posts you can link up to share here. Posts that are linked but do not fit our Gratituesday theme will be deleted.

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Menu Plan for the Week (and My Barbecue Chicken Advice)

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Today, I had a teeny tiny dilemma. 

Our oldest son Asa (age 15) knew that some of his friends were coming to town this weekend and that we would see them at church. What he didn’t know was what his friends’ plans would be after church. We decided that we wanted to ask them to join us for lunch. But we knew that there was the possibility that they would have other plans already.

What was I to do? I needed to have plenty of food prepared in case I had 6-10 or so extra kids. But I sure didn’t want loads of leftovers if they decided not to come.

Problem solved:  I made eight pounds of Crock Pot Barbecue Chicken Breasts, knowing that we would either eat it all up at lunch, or I could freeze whatever was left for easy Barbecue Chicken Sandwiches another time.

Elias (our 10 year old) found those little snowman potholders at a thrift store and picked them up for us. 
They are perfect for hauling the crock pot across the kitchen. 

As it turns out, Asa’s friends made other plans. So, our normal crew ate all we wanted for lunch, and now I have a nice bowl full of BBQ Chicken in my freezer for a quick, healthy meal another time. Asa has been able to fellowship with his friends from church camp all day…at someone else’s house. I’m so thankful that he has such great friends. :)

So there you have it – my helpful BBQ Chicken advice. It’s easy to make a big batch when you’re serving extras – and it’s easy to freeze if you make too much. And it takes a delightful five minutes to throw together. I love it!

Here’s what our menu looks like this week:

Sunday, December 16
Oatmeal, fruit
Crock pot barbecue chicken – shredded and made into sandwiches, peas
High School Huddle – Italian pasta bake, tossed salad, green beans, bread and butter, chocolate chip cookies

Monday, December 17
Pancake sausage muffins, applesauce
Whole wheat calzones, raw veggies
Barbecue brisket, baked potatoes, green beans

Tuesday, December 18
Pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, bananas
Pizza boats, fruit-kefir smoothies
Teriyaki chicken and veggies

Wednesday, December 19
Easy breakfast casserole, clementines
Snowflake quesadillas, fruit salad
Taco potatoes

Thursday, December 20 (Malachi’s Birthday – his food choices)
Donuts  ;)
Homemade corndogs, fruit
Pasta alfredo, tossed salad, steamed broccoli and carrots

Friday, December 21
Giant breakfast cookies, apples
Tuna salad, crackers, baby carrots, peaches
Pizza, tossed salad

Saturday, December 22
Scrambled eggs, clementines
Leftovers
Hoagie sandwiches, chips, apples, carrots

Have anything yummy on your menu this week you’d like to tell us about?

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How To Warm Your Food at Work Without a Microwave

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I was so excited when reader, Elaine, shared this idea. So I wanted to pass it on to you right away!

Many of you have wondered – how can my husband or I warm up food while at work when the only thing available is a microwave? If you’re trying to avoid using a microwave, this can be tricky.

But Elaine shared this wonderful idea:  Get a tiny crock pot.  This 20-Ounce Lunch Crock Food Warmer is perfect. I also found the 16-Ounce Little Dipper on sale, which looked great.

I love this idea, and think this would make a great gift!

Thanks Elaine. It’s so lovely to have such smart readers. I love learning from you all! :)

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

Crock Pot Barbecue Chicken – Real Food Dollar Menu

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It might sound kind of silly for me to say this, but I’ve typically thought that making a meal of Barbecue Chicken Breasts is a bit of a “splurge” for us. Why? Because hardly ever do I just cook boneless, skinless chicken breasts as our “main dish” without spreading them out within a casserole to make them “stretch”.

Even so, this meal costs just a tiny bit more than one dollar per plate. Sweet! I’m so glad to know the price breakdown on this, because we love it. Plus, this meal is super fast and easy to prepare. I’m talking five minutes tops. I can quickly throw chicken breasts and homemade barbecue sauce into the crockpot on a Sunday morning before church, or right after lunch on a weekday – and a few hours later, our main dish is ready! Add a veggie or two, and maybe some bread, and your meal is complete.

We used (free) green beans from our garden for this meal, but to be fair to those who don’t have garden beans in their freezer, I included the price of purchased, frozen beans as I calculated the cost of this meal. Altogether with the chicken, sauce, beans, and muffins, this meal ends up being $1.09/plate. (I calculated my cost based on the food sources and prices I have available to me. Most of the ingredients I use are organic. Your cost may be slightly more or less depending on where you find your ingredients.)

In case you’re wondering – I use Smart Chicken Brand boneless skinless chicken breasts in recipes like this. That is the best I can find around here – and I wait for them to go on sale. (My friend recently got me a case at a great price from her local store. Smart Chicken breast for just $2.71/pound…so exciting!)

Crock Pot Barbecue ChickenYum

Crock Pot Barbecue Chicken - Real Food Dollar Menu
 
Save Print
Author:
Ingredients
  • 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • ½ recipe of Homemade Barbecue Sauce (about ½ cup)
Instructions
  1. Cut chicken breasts into portion sized pieces.
  2. Place in a crock pot, top with barbecue sauce, and cook on low for about four hours or until meat is no longer pink.
  3. BONUS: Don't have time for the crock pot? Simply put the chicken and sauce into a saucepan over medium heat on the stove. Cook for 20-30 minutes until cooked through. Serve!

Here’s my Homemade Barbecue Sauce recipe. :)

crock_pot_bbq_chicken

Do you often use boneless, skinless chicken breasts for a main dish…or do you typically try to “stretch” them into more meals?

Looking for more meals on our Real Food Dollar Menu? Here are the recipes I’ve shared so far:

 

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Whole Wheat Butterhorns ~ Real Food Makeover

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Have a recipe you’d like me to try and make over?
Submit your recipes on this Real Food Recipe Makeover Submission Page.

Did you know that I really, really love butter?

Let’s see – which do I love more? Butter…or jars? That’s a toss up. Hey, did you know you can make butter IN a jar? That tidbit of information is irrelevant to this post, but still worth mentioning…just because it involves two of my favorite things.

It is a fact that Matt’s eyes got really big as I was buttering my biscuit last week – even though he obviously knows how much I love butter. I mean – it was enough to stop our conversation at the time.

“What?” I said,  “You’ve never seen me butter my biscuit before?”

“Yes,” he said, “I’ve seen you. But there is almost more butter than biscuit this time.” (At which point I grinned – and got just a tiny bit more butter because there was a spot on my biscuit not yet covered…)

Alrighty. So I like a little biscuit with my butter. And I like it to be all melty down the sides. Then I like to sop the buttery drippings off of my plate as I eat my biscuit. It’s just best that way if you ask me.

Which is why I was excited to make over this recipe. I mean, they are called Butterhorns! I didn’t have to make many changes in this recipe – just a few minor tweaks. And wow is it delicious!

With Christmas coming, many of you are looking for a yummy, whole grain roll to make with your holiday meal. This would be perfect if you ask me. :)

Whole Wheat Butterhorns

Whole Wheat ButterhornsYum

2 Tablespoons dry yeast
1/3 cup warm water
9 cups whole wheat flour, divided (I use freshly ground hard white wheat)
2 cups warm milk
1 cup butter, melted
1 cup sucanat or 3/4 cup honey
6 eggs
2 teaspoons salt
3-4 Tablespoons butter, melted

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in water. (Water should be warm, but not so warm that you can’t comfortably put your finger in it to test the temp.)  Add 4 cups flour, milk, butter, sucanat, eggs, and salt. Beat with an electric mixer until contents are smooth.

Add enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. I found it easiest to do this by hand. Although if you have a Kitchen Aid type mixer, I’m sure that would work well too! Turn mixture onto floured surface and knead for 3-4 minutes.

Place dough in a bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place until doubled (1-3 hours).

Punch dough down and divide into four equal parts. Roll each part into a 12-inch circle and brush with melted butter.

Cut each circle into 8 pie-shaped wedges.

Roll up each wedge from wide edge to tip of dough and pinch to seal. Place rolls, top down, on baking sheets.


Allow rolls to rise again for about 30 minutes or until they have doubled in size. Bake at 375° for 10-20 minutes (every oven is different!) or until they are lightly browned. Brush with melted butter as soon as they come out of the oven. Remove and serve immediately or cool on wire racks.

This recipe makes about 30 rolls. These freeze very well! I found that having a batch of these in the freezer is wonderful when I need something additional to help stretch a meal! I simply take out the amount we  need, warm them in our toaster oven, and serve them with…you guessed it…butter.

Who loves butter as much as I do?  Do tell.

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Be “All There” For Your Family This Christmas Season {A Guest Post}

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Please welcome Jeanette, one of our site sponsors who blogs at A Moment With Mom. She wrote a beautiful post that I wanted to share with you. I know for me, as a mom who has a brain that is often three tasks ahead, I often struggle to be “all there” in the moment. I hope you are also blessed by what Jeanette has to share:

———————————————-

What is your favorite Christmas memory?

I would venture to bet it has very little to do with “things” and more to do with relationships. As a mother of 11, it has been important to me to cultivate memories for my family that were of substance. While a child may jump up and down with glee for that new toy they’ve had on their list, it’s only a few months before the newness is worn off and the excitment is gone. However, when I put my attention on creating memorable moments, I hear the excitment and impact they had in my children’s lives for years to come.

There were many years of our marriage that we had very little. We have lived off the grid in a tent with five children at the time, while my husband built our cabin. We have washed clothes in the creek, used a wood cookstove to cook a pot of my home made potporri, and I harvested our food from wild plants. I know how to live with a little.

In that season of life I was always trying to create an environment that welcomed the beauty that was all around us. I would go out and cut cedar branches with the children and then sit and work with them on making our own wreath for the front door. These were some precious moments together as a family. We would sit and string cranberries and popcorn while talking about special family memories. Taking a drive to see the lights has always been a fun treat, especially with a cup of home made hot cocoa.

We’ve always had the family tradition of creating a gingerbread house, even though we’re terrible at it. It’s not about how the gingerbread house turned out, it’s about the laughter and working together that makes it a memory worth repeating each year.

How can you cultivate a favorite Christmas memory for your family? Singing Christmas songs while baking cookies? Taking a ride to see the lights and drinking hot cocoa along the way? Eating candy canes together as a family while reading a favorite story? There are so many simple things we can do with our family to cultivate environments for that special moment, but we have to be all there!

Jim Elliot once said, “Where ever you are be all there.” I believe we as wives and mothers we can apply that concept to our homes. We have so many distractions around us and it’s taking a toll in our home making. In order for us to purposefully create memories we can’t be distracted with texts, phone calls, Facebook, or other social outlets. We each need to take the time to be “all there” for our family!

These days will go by fast and before too long we’ll see that all we have are memories. Let’s make them meaningful memories!

I encourage you to read more of what Jeanette has to share on her blog A Moment with M.O.M.

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

The First Five Steps to a Real Food Kitchen eCourse…Coming in January!

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“I’d like to begin eating healthy, but I really have no idea where to start. Help!”

My inbox is full of emails stating this or something similar. So many of you are interested in feeding your families a diet of real, whole food. With all the “healthy food” information out there, much of it contradictory, where do you even start? It’s overwhelming, and it’s life changing. Some even feel like the changes are so huge, it’s not even worth the effort!

I remember the feelings so very well. Seven years ago when we started our own Healthy Eating Journey, I knew my family needed to stop eating so many processed foods. But all of the information I read about switching over to whole foods had my head spinning. And then I started reading that not only did I need to eat more vegetables, but they needed to all be organic. And fermented. And our meat needed to be grass fed. And our milk needed to be raw. And our….

STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was all too much. Not only did I feel like throwing in the towel, I felt like burning the towel and stomping on the ashes. (Yes, an adult-sized temper tantrum. Sounds pretty, huh?)

Frustrated or not, I knew that my family needed to make healthy changes. So what was I to do?

I prayed. I researched. I wrestled. I experimented. I worked. I asked others for help.

And guess what? Over the last few years, I have figured out that not only does creating and maintaining a Real Food Kitchen not have to be difficult, it’s actually quite fun. And the food tastes amazing and is very easy to prepare! 

I am excited to share that over the last few months, I have been developing what I hope will keep you all from experiencing so much of the same frustration that I did when we first began our healthy eating journey. 

Introducing….

This eCourse will take you through five simple and practical lessons that can be tailor made for your lifestyle and needs. And guess what? We won’t even touch on buying organic or grass fed food! I mean, you can go there during this eCourse if you want to and if you’re ready, but when I say “the first five steps”, I’m really talking about the first five steps.

What’s even better? Your first five steps don’t have to look like someone else’s first five steps. They can look the way they need to look for YOUR family! Yay! By the time you’ve completed the five lessons in this eCourse, you will be well on your way to a Real Food Kitchen, all while making painless and uncomplicated changes. And did I mention that real food is delicious? :)

We are working hard to put the finishing touches on this eCourse to have it ready to launch in January. You’ll need no special equipment to be a part of this class. You can work on it during any time of the day or night that works for you. You can finish it in one week, in one year, or in whatever time frame you need. You can do it in your pajamas. You can do it while standing on your head. (And if you do, please take a picture and send it to me.)

And best of all? It will only cost you $5 for the entire course. We want everyone to have a chance to participate. And we want everyone to know that when it comes to eating a healthy diet – YOU CAN DO IT!

Be watching for more information about this eCourse and others that we will be completing and featuring in 2013. 

As we finalize our lessons, I’d really love to hear from you – What is your biggest challenge when it comes to creating a Real Food Kitchen?

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

Cream Cheese Cookie Cutouts

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In preparation for a Christmas Cookie Exchange with several of my friends tonight, I made our favorites – Cream Cheese Cookie Cutouts. The cookies have cream cheese in them and the frosting is made with cream cheese. Let’s just say these cookies are soft, rich, and I have to work hard to keep myself out of them.

Cream Cheese Cookie CutoutsYum

1/2 cup melted butter
4 ounces softened cream cheese
1 cup sugar (sucanat works, as does brown sugar)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour (I use freshly ground hard white wheat flour)

Stir together melted butter, softened cream cheese, and sugar. Add egg, baking powder, and vanilla. Stir in flour until well combined. (Use a little less or a little more flour as needed.)  Place dough in the refrigerator for at least two hours.

Once dough is chilled, roll on a well floured surface and cut out into desired shapes. Bake in a 350° oven for 10-15 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. (I prefer mine just barely done so that they stay soft!)  Allow cookies to cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 1/2 cups unbleached organic powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whip butter and cream cheese with beaters until fluffy. Add vanilla and powdered sugar and beat until mixed thoroughly.

Makes about 30 cookies.

My (poor, deprived, starving) boys were not very happy with me when I told them that most of the cookies were  going to the Christmas Cookie Exchange. Not to worry, I told them. They could have all the broken cookies. Considering the fact that I am not a perfectionist, I’d say they made out just fine with a lovely assortment of broken stars, branchless trees, and torn stockings. 

 
If you’d like a printout of the Cream Cheese Cookie Cutouts recipe, you can download it here. I needed to print off the recipe anyway for the cookie exchange, so thought I’d share it with you too!

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

Gratituesday: Our Newest Endeavor

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I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it lately, and I certainly don’t say it enough – but my husband is an incredible entrepreneur. He’s clever, wise, and thoughtful about creating and running businesses – always on the look-out for a need that can be met in our community which will provide for our family and/or bless others. 

He looks for good investment opportunities, and does hours of research before pursuing a new idea. I love that he is “visionary” and very intentional about not having all of our “eggs in one basket”. As a result, it’s hard for us to answer the question, “So Matt – what do you do for a living?” 

Short answer:  He’s a self-employed business owner. Long answer:  He has a snow removal/lawn care business, does small construction jobs for people, and manages the storage units we own and rent out. He is also an assistant coach for our York College ladies soccer team. (And those are just the jobs that earn money. I won’t take the time right now to list everything he does on a volunteer basis to bless people in our church and community.)

Well, as of last Friday, you can add one more title to Matt’s name:  Landlord.

Yep, we have invested in our first rental home. If you can believe it, we put an offer on the house way back in July. One crazy thing after another kept coming up to prevent us from closing on the house – from basement issues to paperwork delays. We were sure we would close by the end of September – so sure in fact that we had renters planning to move in October 1st. When we got the call on September 29 that there was a delay – we almost panicked. 

I should clarify. I panicked. Matt calmly solved the problem. Thankfully, we were buying this house from friends who had moved away, so they let the renters move in and we acted as temporary “property managers”.

Finally, on Friday we signed the final paperwork. The house is ours! Now, along with the storage units we rent out, we also rent out a home to a nice family here in town.

Oh, and here’s a (not so) funny story:  This morning Matt’s cell phone rang early. Of all things – just three days after the house became ours, a knob in the shower busted off, causing water to “leak” from the second floor through to the kitchen on the main floor, and all the way down to the basement. Wasn’t that a nice way to welcome us to the life of a landlord? :)

Thankfully, not only is Matt a savvy business man and investor, but he is also quite handy with home repairs. Several hours of work and $0.63 later, all is well in the rental home. 

Seriously…63¢. I can’t believe that’s all the money that repair took. I love this guy and his home improvement abilities, ambitions, goals, and business sense. And I’m thankful for how God continues to provide for our family – even if it is sometimes hard to give the short answer for “what we do for a living”. :)

Share how God is working in your life on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for! Please read through the Gratituesday Guidelines so that you understand what kinds of posts you can link up to share here. Posts that are linked but do not fit our Gratituesday theme will be deleted.

If you are linking up a blog post for Gratituesday,
please copy and paste the following sentence into your post! Thanks!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

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