Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Homemade Peppernuts {Gifts in a Jar ~ Day Eight}

by 5 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Ahhh, Peppernuts. Little bites of delicious memories from my childhood.

One batch will go a long way – filling several jars for gifts! If you’ve never had peppernuts before, I can only describe them as spicy, sweet, munchy, crunchy bites of Christmas. My grandma made them each year at holiday time, and we all loved them. They are great for gift giving – and great to keep in a jar on top of your refrigerator! :)

Click on the link below for the recipe!
Homemade Peppernuts

Want a fun tag to use for your gift? Download Your Free Gifts In A Jar Tags Here!

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

Gratituesday: Beyond Blessed

by 12 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

It has occurred to me recently, as I’ve talked about making Gingerbread Houses, creating Gifts in a Jar, and especially doing much of my shopping online to find special gifts on sale through Amazon…

We are beyond blessed. 

I have been reflecting about this anyway during the Thanksgiving and Christmas season, but I was especially “pricked in the heart” as I was looking into Trades of Hope and learning more about the women in those countries. These families are doing everything they can just to protect themselves, put food on the table, and educate their children. And here I am, in my very comfortable home with plenty of food – and not just the beans and rice kind of food, but treat kinds of food like Hot Cocoa and Muffins. We have shelves and shelves of books to read and learn from. We have too many toys to play with, which is evident by how they are spilling out onto the floor where they don’t belong.

And I’m sitting at my nice computer shopping for presents??? 

Sure, I am being practical as I choose our gifts. Sure, I am being responsible with our spending, even using more gift cards I’ve earned through Swagbucks than actual money for our purchases and finding good deals and discounted prices. But the very fact that we are able to buy our kids (and extended family) gifts that they need or want – I cannot take that for granted.

Need I feel guilty that we have so much when others have so little? No. But I do feel called to be responsible, to be generous, and to continue to pray for wisdom as we make decisions each day about how to spend our money, energy, and time.

I’ll just say it again. We are beyond blessed. And I am so, so grateful.

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!

Apple Crisp {Gifts in a Jar ~ Day Seven}

by 1 Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Remember how I mentioned how easy it is to bake in a jar? How about putting together some individual apple crisp desserts in small jars? Or peach crisp. Or cherry crisp. Or a combination of them all. :)

Find my Fruit Crisp Recipe, then fill several half-pint sized wide mouth jars with fruit and topping. Place the jars in a baking dish with just about an 1/8 inch of water in the dish. Bake at 375° for about 25-30 minutes or until fruit is tender. 

You may need to taste test one of these before giving them as gifts, as it is almost impossible to smell this baking and not eat one. :)

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

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffin Mix {Gifts in a Jar ~ Day Six}

by 4 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

I love muffins. Most people love muffins. Putting ingredients for muffins into a jar = happiness. :)

One of my favorite muffin recipes is Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins. If you layer the dry ingredients into a quart sized jar, the result is fun and enticing.

The ingredients in your jar will include:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup sucanat or brown sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup chocolate chips

Include instructions for mixing and baking:

Add 1/4 cup melted coconut oil or butter, 2/3 cup milk, and 1 egg. (Add a little extra milk if your dough is too stiff or dry.)  Mix well and scoop mixture into 12 paper lined muffin tins. Bake at 400° for 15-20 minutes.

Want a fun tag to use for your gift? Download Your Free Gifts In A Jar Tags Here!

 

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

Menu Plan for the Week

by 3 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Yesterday, our Homemade Vanilla Extract sale was hopping along just fine. Vanilla was flying off of our “shelves”, invoices were being printed, packaging was underway.

And then my website crashed. Ugh. It is so not fun when that happens. Several hours later, after a long online chat with our hosting company and a phone call to my webmaster, the site is back up. Shew!

All that to say, if you came to my site yesterday to buy vanilla, and you couldn’t access my site, I am so sorry. What rotten timing for my website to take a siesta. We have exactly seven bottles left. Grab it now if you want one!

Here’s part of the vanilla – packaged and ready to go!
Why yes, my living room is a mess of bubble wrap and boxes.
And yes, we will be hanging out for a few hours at the post office tomorrow.  ;)

Here is our menu plan for this week:

Sunday, December 2
Baked oatmeal cups, pears
Barbecue chicken, baked potatoes, green beans, cream cheese corn, tossed salad
Pizza with youth group

Monday, December 3
Chocolate chocolate chip muffins, apples
Bean and cheese burritos, smoothies
Beef stew, cornbread muffins

Tuesday, December 4
Flaky cream cheese pastry, bananas
Cheddar ranch burgers, potato wedges, steamed broccoli and carrots
Creamy chicken and rice casserole, tossed salad

Wednesday, December 5
Easy breakfast casserole, clementines
Chicken salad in homemade pita pockets, fruit salad
Shepherd’s pie, tossed salad

Thursday, December 6
Pancake sausage muffins, applesauce
Chef salads
Italian roast wraps, fruit salad

Friday, December 7
Creamy orange coolers, toast
Tuna salad, crackers, apples, oranges
Italian pasta bake, tossed salad

Saturday, December 8
Peanut butter pancakes, bananas
Leftovers
Popcorn chicken, creamy mac and cheese, peas

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

Caramel Sauce with Apple Basket {Gifts in a Jar ~ Day Five}

by 6 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

I love Homemade Caramel Sauce for all kinds of reasons. I could list all of the delicious reasons here, but I think that may be slightly cruel. Especially if you are hungry. 

We’ll just leave it at…Homemade Caramel Sauce is awesome and scrumptious for dipping, topping, scooping, and drizzling. How about that? ;)

This is why it makes a great gift in a jar. Try putting together a gift basket with a jar of Caramel Sauce and several apples. Or maybe put a jar of Caramel Sauce and a jar of Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce in a basket with a new ice cream scoop. It’s like an ice cream social tied up with a bow!

Really the possibilites are quite endless when it comes to this great gift in a jar! What are some of your ideas for great uses for Homemade Caramel Sauce?

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

Homemade Bubble Bath {Gifts in a Jar ~ Day Four}

by 6 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Well, technically, this is a gift in a bottle. But jars and bottles are practically the same, right? 

You may have seen this recipe on my site already. But I decided to post it again, simply because homemade bubble bath makes such a great gift. It is super inexpensive to make. And if you make it with a healthier shampoo, you’ll be creating a much healthier bubble bath! (We are very careful about avoiding hair and body products which contain lots of harmful chemicals. We prefer Giovanni 50-50 Shampoo.)

Homemade Bubble Bath

1/2 cup shampoo
3/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt

In a bowl, mix the shampoo and water until well combined. Add salt and stir until it thickens slightly. Use a funnel to pour it into a bottle.

Want a fun tag to use for your gift? Download Your Free Gifts In A Jar Tags Here!

 

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

Steak Rub {Gifts in a Jar ~ Day Three}

by 5 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Are some men difficult to buy for, or is it just me? Well, maybe they aren’t so hard to buy for – but I’m not a big fan of forking out the money for power tools for all of the men in my life. ;)

If someone on your list loves to grill – this may be a great gift for them. It’s small and simple, so if it’s not quite enough, you may want to pair it with some grilling equipment or even a package of steaks. (I don’t, however,  recommend wrapping steaks and putting them under the tree to be opened three days later. That idea totally stinks. Literally.)

Steak Rub

3 Tablespoons sea salt
6 teaspoons paprika
4 1/2 teaspoons minced onion
6 teaspoons oregano
3 teaspoons garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons red pepper flakes

Mix all ingredients together in a half pint jar.

To use Steak Rub:  Rub 1 teaspoon of spice mix onto both sides of a 1 1/2 pound steak. Grill or broil as desired.

If you’re gifting this mix, you’ll want to be sure and attach a tag including the mixing and baking instructions. Want a fun tag to use for your gift? Download Your Free Gifts In A Jar Tags Here!

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

Making Graham Cracker “Gingerbread Houses” (or…Why I Bought Candy)

by 44 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

While Christmas shopping with the boys Monday, I picked up several bags and boxes of candy. Twizzlers, Dots, Red Hots…

Why?

Because Elias saw the fun gingerbread house kits and thought that might be a fun project. I agreed with him, but couldn’t stand the idea of spending so much for one kit for one kid.

I suggested an alternative. I told him we would buy candy (“Really??!!” he said) and graham crackers (“Seriously??!”) and make our own gingerbread houses. In fact, if all of “the brothers” wanted to make one, we would actually have an entire village.

Elias loved that idea. And he loved helping me pick out candy. And he loved bringing it all home to surprise the rest of the crew.

I really thought that some of my boys would not be very interested in the idea. But would you believe, Wednesday night after church they all sat down and got busy building houses? (It must have been the red food dye that enticed them…)

The conversation was hilarious. You should have been there. No actually, be thankful you weren’t. ;)

I made a “paste” with powdered sugar and milk – then put it into two condiment bottles. That made a great way to apply the “glue”.

Pardon the quality of this picture. My camera doesn’t take good shots at night.

We found that it was best to build the structure first, then let it dry completely before adding any embellishments. It only took a few minutes to dry – and then they were off! Candy, candy, and more candy.

It was crazy fun. And a little bit messy. And did I mention that the conversation was hilarious?

Shucks, I don’t even remember what we talked about. I just know we laughed a lot. Which means that I applied the frosting glue in a wiggly pattern at times, because have you ever tried to apply frosting glue when you’re giggling? It makes for a very wobbly line.

But that’s nothing a red hot can’t fix.

Ever tried making Graham Cracker Gingerbread Houses before?  It was our first time and I learned that it’s way too much fun!

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

Cranberry Biscuit Mix {Gifts in a Jar ~ Day Two}

by 7 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

You will not believe how simple these biscuits are to make, and how tasty they are to eat! This mix is very nice to have on hand, and of course, it makes a very fun gift to put into a jar.

By the end of this series, I bet you’ll begin to think that I say that about everything. Not so. I promise that even though I love jars and think that food in jars is beautiful and makes a great gift…I will never suggest that Cheesy Salsa Enchiladas would make a great Gift in a Jar. Nor would I encourage you to give Angeled Eggs in a jar. See? Even I have my limits. ;)

Have fun and be creative with this biscuit mix idea! You can switch out the dried cranberries for raisins and throw in some cinnamon just for fun. Or you could include a variety of dried fruit – cherries maybe? This recipe is definitely not limited to cranberries – although cranberries are really good at Christmastime. (And in April. And September. Dried cranberries rock.)

Cranberry Biscuit Mix

6 cups whole wheat flour (I used freshly ground hard white wheat)
6 Tablespoons sucanat
4 Tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries

Mix ingredients in a large bowl. Divide the mix into two separate quart jars.

To make Cranberry Biscuits:

Place contents from one quart jar into a food processor or bowl. Cut in 1/3 cup cold butter or palm shortening. Add 3/4 cup of milk and mix well. Roll dough onto a well floured surface and cut into 12 large biscuits. Place on a baking sheet and bake in a 425° oven for 15-20 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown.

I have even found that it works well to mix up the entire batch (both jars) of biscuits – bake the amount we want for one meal, then freeze the remaining biscuits (unbaked). Then, I thaw the prepared biscuits overnight and bake them as directed in the morning!

I freeze the cut out biscuits on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
Once they are frozen, I transfer them to a freezer bag until we are ready to thaw and bake them.

 

If you’re gifting this mix, you’ll want to be sure and attach a tag including the mixing and baking instructions. Want a fun tag to use for your gift? Download Your Free Gifts In A Jar Tags Here!

What dried fruits do you think you would like best in this mix?

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