Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Gratituesday: My First Concert

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It seems that last weekend held a lot of “firsts” for me. I participated in my first 5K walk-run. And I got to go to my first concert!

Really…I’d never been to a live concert before. Why? Well mainly because I didn’t think I would really like it. I guess I felt like I’d be paying good money to have my ears blasted out by loud speakers and that I’d feel uncomfortable in a setting like that.

I’ve always really enjoyed Christian music on the radio. But I tend to be kind of private when I’m “belting it out for the Lord”. Now, put me in my mini-van with a CD cranked up when I’m by myself on the way to the store and I’ll jam out, but with others around me – even my family members who I am, of course, very comfortable around – I tend to be much more reserved. 

Goodness, let’s all just pause for moment and have a nice belly laugh that I used the words “CD cranked up”, “jam out”, and “mini-van”,  all in the same sentence. Not that any of you thought I was very cool before, but after that sentence, all of my coolness credibility just flew out my mini-van window.

Hey. I’ll have you know that our mini-van has a very sweet stereo system, thank you very much.

(My guess is that trying to defend my mini-van speakers is not increasing my coolness level even a little bit, is it? I’ll stop now.)

Well anyway, last Christmas, our boys received the “God is Not Dead” Newsboys CD. We have it playing in (you guessed it) our mini-van. The more I heard the CD, the more I loved it. For the first time, I actually found myself wishing that I could go to a Newsboys concert, because jamming out (don’t picture it) with the Newsboys live and in person sounded awesome.

All concerts in our area were sold out, so it seemed that it just wasn’t going to happen. I decided to just be satisfied with enjoying the CD, playing my favorite songs over and over.

And then, a Newsboys concert opportunity came about right around Matt’s birthday. (You’ve got to love it that I planned something I really wanted to do for his birthday. Don’t worry. Matt loved it too and was in full agreement that we make these plans.)

Last Friday night, as a family, we got to experience the best concert ever. I loved it more than I ever thought I would. In fact, when they sang their final song and the lights came on, I looked at Matt and said with incredible disappointment, “Wait. It’s over already? But they just started.” Matt smiled, showed me his watch, and told me that we had been there for three hours. I had no idea that much time had gone by. But I am admitting to you right now that this 39 year old with the not so coolest mini-van in town felt like crying like a baby that it was over already. 

I figure I’ve already solidified your decision that I’m terribly uncool. Might as well let you know that I was also a big cry baby because (wah) I wanted more songs.

It’s all good though. We turned the Newsboys CD on and jammed out as a family in our mini-van all the way home. ;)

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Menu Plan for the Week (And Cake Boys Episode 6!)

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Remember how we hosted our church’s high schoolers for “Huddle” each Sunday night during the ’11-’12 school year? When school started this year, we were deep in the midst of Matt traveling many weekends for York College soccer, as well as being very involved in our city league soccer (Matt is currently president of the board) and of course our boys play and/or referee. I’ve talked about it plenty – you know our family eats, sleeps, and breathes, and loves soccer from August until November. 

During those months, we still wanted to be a part of Huddle, so we loved it that our friends hosted and fed the kids – and Matt and I just got to show up! Now that life has settled down a tiny bit for us, it’s our turn again! 

This morning I made Baked Oatmeal, using this recipe – baking it in a pyrex dish for about 25 minutes.

Here’s what we’ll be feeding the teens tonight, and what our family will be eating the rest of the week:

Sunday, November 11
Baked oatmeal, pears
Roasted chicken, potatoes, carrots, gravy
 Huddle – Cheesy salsa enchiladas, spanish rice, tossed salad, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

Monday, November 12
Warm pumpkin soother, toast
Tomato soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, fruit
Chicken alfredo with pasta, steamed broccoli and carrots

Tuesday, November 13
Scrambled eggs, whole wheat biscuits, applesauce
Potato soup, zucchini muffins
Teriyaki chicken and veggies with rice

Wednesday, November 14
Blueberry struesel muffins, bananas
Creamy mac and cheese, peas
Calico beans, tossed salad

Thursday, November 15
Coconut flour muffins, pears
Pizza boats, fruit
Cheesy beef and rice, green beans

Friday, November 16
Whole wheat pancakes, fruit
Chicken and noodles, carrots
Taco potatoes, fruit salad

Saturday, November 17
Homemade donuts, fruit
Sloppy joes, potato wedges, peas
Leftovers

And now…Cake Boys Episode 6, in which Justus shares his recipe! And he also uses food coloring. Ugh.  Why yes, we do compromise every once in a while. ;)

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Receive a $20 Amazon Gift Card for Signing up with Carbonite (My Computer Crashing Story…)

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A little over a year ago, a friend told me about Carbonite – a source she trusted and loved for backing up all her files on the computer.

At the time, we had nothing backing up our computer. This scared me quite a bit, because if our computer ever crashed, we would lose thousands of pictures – not to mention the eBooks and other projects I was working on for the website, financial documents we had saved, and who knows what else.

We took our friend’s advice, and signed up. For $59 per year, this seemed like a very worthwhile and reasonable investment. 

Would you believe, that the investment with Carbonite paid off exactly four days later. Out of nowhere, the hard drive on our laptop (which was only one year old) got completely fried. When the “computer guy” who was examining our laptop looked at me and said, “There’s no way I can retrieve any of your information. Your hard drive is gone. I sure hope you have your files backed up somewhere…” I breathed a huge sigh of relief that God had led us to Carbonite just in the knick of time.

And I also wanted to kiss my friend who had told me about it…and maybe could have kissed the Carbonite people if I was in the business of kissing strangers who live in other states, which I’m not, so I just chose to be grateful to them instead.

Anyway.

I just received an email letting me know that everyone who signs up with Carbonite receives a free $20 Amazon Gift Card. (Yay – just in time for Christmas!)  This is a great deal, because receiving that card pays you back for a good chunk of your initial yearly investment. Plus, you can get a free 15 day trial to start with to see if you like it. (I’m pretty sure you will like it. We love it because it is super easy to use. Plus, because our files are on Carbonite, I can get online from a different computer and access anything I need to at any time. Love that!)

I encourage you to look into Carbonite and take advantage of this offer. It may save your neck! Or at least it will save all the information stored on your computer that you don’t want to lose!

P.S. If you sign up with Carbonite’s Refer a Friend program, you can help your family and friends back up their computer too – and you’ll both receive Amazon gift cards. I’m using my Refer a Friend links in this post, because I like Amazon gift cards too! But I love how Carbonite saved my pictures and hard work even more, so that’s why I’m sharing this with you. :)

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My First 5K!

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I am so pumped! I just participated in my first ever 5K Walk-Run Event! I was going to wait until Gratituesday to share it with you, but I’m too excited, so I’m telling you about it now. :)

The race would have been a little much for Elias and Malachi to participate in, so they went with us,
but hung back and played soccer with a college girl. Asa was out of town, so we were bummed that he missed the event.

It was gorgeous outside, so that probably helped us all love it a little more. ;)  The race was set up as a fund raiser for Tiny Hands International, an organization our family loves to support. 

I typically don’t run much because I have found that running is much harder on my knee and hips than power walking. BUT, I was excited and wanted to at least run a little bit of it. We started out all jogging together. After about a mile, Matt and Justus went on running without me, and Jen and I finished it out by doing our typical power walk.

It felt so good!!!

Being able to participate in a REAL 5K event, and knowing that the money we paid went for a great cause we believe in – well, the morning was just awesome.

Then Jen and I were so pumped up, we went and lifted weights when we were finished. We figured we may as well make it a complete workout, right?

Loved it!

Have you ever done a 5K? Half Marathon? Full Marathon?  Wow. 

And don’t forget, even if you never have or never will do any of the above, if you at least do something to get moving, you’re doing great! It pays to be fit!

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How To Replace Cream Soups in Recipes

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Once I announced our new Real Food Recipe Makeover:  Heavenly Homemakers Edition feature, many asked me to come up with a substitute for cream soups in recipes. Well, I can check that one off my list right away, because I already have several options for cream soup substitutes that I can share!

The best part of replacing canned cream soups is that it can be absolutely SO SIMPLE! You can take some time to make homemade cream soup if you want, but if you don’t, there are a couple of very easy substitutions you can make that take no extra effort at all!

Cream Soup Substitution Idea One:

Add sour cream instead. If a recipe calls for one 10 ounce can of cream of ________ soup, you can use one cup of sour cream instead. This is how I make Cheesy Beef and Rice. The sour cream makes the casserole creamy and adds great flavor too. So easy!

Cream Soup Substitution Idea Two:

Add heavy cream instead. If a recipe calls for one 10 ounce can of cream of _________ soup, you can add one cup of cream instead. This is how I make Creamy Chicken and Rice Casserole. You won’t miss the cream soup at all!

Cream Soup Substitution Idea Three:

Make Homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup. This takes a little more effort than the other two ideas, but you can make up a batch, use it right away, or freeze it for future uses! I use homemade cream of mushroom soup when I make One Dish Meat and Potato Casserole.

For any of these ideas, specificially ideas one and two, you may want to add a few extra herbs or spices to your recipe, since taking out the canned cream soup may also take out some of the flavor. But I have found that taking out the cream soup and replacing it with heavy cream or sour cream – I am then able to taste all the other great natural flavors in the casserole (chicken, vegetables, etc). The result is a fresh, clean taste.

Ah…real food. I love it. :)

Do you have some recipes that call for canned cream soups? Do you think any of the above ideas will work well as a substitute?

If you have a recipe you’d like for me to try and make-over, click here and fill out the form provided.

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The Benefits of Eating Out Less

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simplesteps

If you’re looking for a simple way to save money while eating a healthy, real food diet, I thought you would be inspired by this comment left this week by Sile. Once she read my Eat Out Less post, this is what she had to say:

We didn’t eat out for the entire month of October. My husband thought it was to save money. While that was half my goal, the other half was to give him a taste of REAL food without the distraction of all the horrid stuff you can get from restaurants.

I will admit to having cravings for burgers and fries. However, I soon found that making a meatloaf and baking some potatoes fulfilled the craving! (and meatloaf freezes great even after cooking!) Just one month out and I really don’t miss eating out. Sure, cooking everything from scratch at home is more work, but I’ve been endeavoring to do extra cooking on the weekends to alleviate some stress (since I’m still working until the babies start coming). Mostly it’s just been getting breakfast food cooked and frozen (mostly whole wheat carrot waffles), but at least I don’t have to rush to make us a breakfast in the morning. It’s great that my husband hasn’t even reached for cereal in a long time. He was such a cereal junkie. One more thing to cross off my ‘let’s not buy that anymore’ list.

But I’m rambling. Not eating out = saving money + eating better!

I love this! Thank you Sile for sharing your experience with this, and kudos to you for taking on (and sticking with!) the challenge of not eating out during the entire month of October!

Homemade Pizza saves money, tastes incredible, and is much healthier!

How often do you eat out? What challenges you most when it comes to eating out (or rather, eating in?!)

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Real Food Recipe Makeover: Heavenly Homemakers Edition

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You’ve heard of the show, Extreme Makeover:  Home Edition right? I’ve only seen it a few times, but I enjoyed seeing the amazing changes a crew could make in a home – changes that would improve a family’s quality of living in an extreme way. 

Well, this new feature on our site may not change your life in an extreme way. Nor will we be all standing together to shout, “MOVE THAT BUS!” each time a new recipe is revealed. (Although that would be way too much fun.)  There are likely to be fewer tears at the end of each of these posts compared to the tears typically shed at the end of each Extreme Makeover television episode. 

But, since I am constantly receiving email requests from people, asking me to take an old family favorite recipe and remake it into something a little less “processed” and a little more “real food” – I decided to add this fun new feature. 

Now introducing:

Do you have a recipe in a cookbook or in your recipe file that you haven’t made for years because it calls for ingredients you just don’t feel good about using anymore? Have you seen something fun online that you’d love to make, but it’s too white sugary, white floury, canned cream of soupy, or corn syrupy for your liking? Send it this way and we’ll see what we can do.

I’m not going to make any promises that I will be able to fix every single recipe out there and make it into a wholesome, nutrient filled delight. But hey, I’ll do my best. And we’ll all have loads of fun in the process!

Shucks, maybe we will actually shed a few tears. (Or maybe my family will if/when I try to makeover a recipe that just doesn’t work out the way we might all hope. Yikes. God bless the taste testers.)  ;)

In order to make this process a bit easier for me, if you have a recipe you’d like to submit for a Real Food Recipe Makeover, please use the form on the submission page, following the link below:

Submit your recipes on this Real Food Recipe Makeover Submission Page. 

I’m wearing my apron. Bring on the recipes!

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Gratituesday: Last Minute Getaway

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Wow, what a whirlwind.

On Wednesday of last week, my husband was informed of a soccer recruiting trip in St. Louis…and was asked by the head coach, “I know this is late notice, but is there any chance you can go?”

It was a great opportunity for Matt to watch and visit with potential players for York College (where he coaches). And since soccer game season ended last week, we actually had the weekend fairly open. For the next few hours, we went over and over details – deciding whether or not he should go, and if so, who he should take with him.

Should Asa go so that he could have one on one time with Dad? Or maybe one of the other boys? Or maybe both older boys? How about all the boys? Or maybe none of the boys?

I didn’t even consider going. I am crazy far behind on work since this fall has been so busy, plus I have several big projects in the works (now don’t you just wish I could tell you what those are?!). Matt figured if he took some or all of the boys, I could get some focused computer time in, and it would be great all around.

The only problem was – while we discussed it, prayed about it, and slept on it…none of the options sounded good to me. Thursday morning, I was weepy, irritable, and for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why. For goodness sake, having all or most of the boys gone for the weekend would give me hours of quiet time to work! It’s just what I’ve needed during the past few months!

It wasn’t until Thursday afternoon, when Matt was looking over more of the details of the hotel accomodations, and other aspects of the trip, that we realized what a family friendly trip this would be. Suddenly, without thinking, I said, “Why don’t I just go too?”

At that moment, every single bit of anxt I had about the weekend fell away. Wouldn’t you know it…all that yuck I was feeling about sending my boys off for the weekend wasn’t sadness over potentially missing them – it was lack of peace! God was trying to give me an answer, but I wasn’t listening. At least it only took a few hours this time for me to figure out what God wanted. (Sometimes he has to tell me things for years before I hear Him. I’m sure glad He’s so patient.)

Long story longer – after a whirlwind of packing and tying up loose ends, all six of us left for St. Louis Friday morning.

While I thought going on a trip would stress me out, I felt nothing but calm the entire time we were gone. (It was that peace God was waiting to give me.) Matt went to dozens of soccer games, spoke with players and parents, and made many great connections that will be great for upcoming soccer seasons at the college.

In the meantime, the boys and I swam, worked out in the fitness room, watched movies, and played basketball at the hotel court. (Why yes, it was a very nice hotel.) Believe it or not, I was even able to work a little on my projects on the laptop. And we all got to hang out with Dad when he came back in the evenings.

Here we all are out for dinner on Saturday night. So much fun!

God always knows just what we need, doesn’t He? I sure do love it when I listen.

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!

Menu Plan for the Week

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Is that a pretty picture or what? Matt put that lunch together last week with some of the last of the peppers and tomatoes from our garden. It was awesome!

Here’s what’s on our menu this week:

Sunday, November 4
Breakfast cookies, fruit
Italian pasta bake, tossed salad
Huddle

Monday, November 5
Pancake sausage muffins, pears
Meat and cheese burritos, fruit salad
Oven baked bbq chicken, tossed salad, green beans

Tuesday, November 6 (Matt’s bday!)
Peach cobbler – made with healthy ingredients, it’s the perfect bday breakfast!
Easy noodle stir fry with broccoli and carrots
Cheesy turkey sausage stromboli, tossed salad

Wednesday,  November 7
Chocolate chocolate chip muffins, applesauce
Cheeseburger macaroni, peas
Creamy chicken and rice casserole, green beans

Thursday, November 8
Honey whole wheat bagels, creamy orange coolers
Tuna salad on homemade pitas, fruit, raw veggies
Chicken fried steak strips, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas

Friday, November 9
Biscuits and turkey sausage gravy, fruit
Grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup
Tacos

Saturday, November 10
Omelets, smoothies
Leftovers
Chicken and noodles

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High Five Recipe: Easy Breakfast Casserole

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High Five Recipes 2

I don’t believe I had originally categorized my Easy Breakfast Casserole as a High Five Recipe. But as I put the recipe together one night, preparing to bake it the next morning, it occurred to me that the way I typically make this for my family – it has just four simple ingredients.

I love how easy this is to make:  Eggs, cream, bacon, and cheese – that’s it. You can add more to it (it’s great with peppers!!), but our boys like it best when it’s made with very basic ingredients. Every time I’ve fed this to guests, it’s been a hit. And it could not get any easier to put together!

I like mixing it up the night before, then getting up and putting it in the oven to bake while I get dressed and ready for the day.

Easy Breakfast Casserole

Quality recipes, five ingredients or less. Does healthy cooking get any easier?

P.S. I used bacon that I get from a very trustworthy farmer. Sometimes I use turkey bacon from the store or from my health food co-op. I think this recipe is healthiest when made with Homemade Turkey Sausage. Since I usually make up a big batch of Turkey Sausage, brown it, and freeze it in meal sized portions, that makes putting together this casserole a piece of cake! Um…a piece of casserole. Well, you know what I mean. ;)

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