Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Nutrimill Giveaway from Paula’s Bread!

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It’s time! 

You know how much I love using my Nutrimill to make freshly ground flour for our baked goods. Not only are our breads, muffins, cookies, noodles, and tortillas much healthier when I use freshly ground organic white wheat – there is no comparison in taste compared to store-bought wheat flour. It’s incredible.

How about the cost of buying a mill and grinding our own flour? Well, I worked and saved up hard to buy one, and found that with the money we now save on wholesome, healthy baked goods, my machine paid for itself in no time. And of course, the savings will continue for years, since grinding flour and making our food homemade costs so much less than if I were to buy it pre-made.

www.paulasbread.com

A huge thank you goes out to Paula from Paula’s Bread for offering this giveaway! She always offers the best prices on Nutrimills and other great kitchen appliances. Plus her customer service is wonderful. (I know this because I dropped my canister and cracked it. She had a new one sent out to me before I could even start to cry. Love her.)

Ready to sign up for the giveaway? Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win.

If you would be interested in receiving optional extra entries to this giveaway (yes, I figured you would be) – you can do any or all of the following, but you MUST leave a separate comment here on this post for each of these tasks that you do:

Look at that. If you do all of the above, you’ll have all kinds of chances to win!

 I will draw a random winner on Monday, September 24. Please watch for a post stating the winner as you will be responsible for contacting me if your name is chosen.

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

Funky Fresh Challenge: Eat More Fruits and Veggies

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You know I have to throw this “eat more fruits and veggies” challenge out every few months or so, right? During our month of the Funky Fresh Kitchen, it seems like a perfect time to bring it up again. :)

If you already eat lots and lots berries, salads, apples, steamed veggies, raw veggies, bananas, etc. each day, you can leave a comment, check this challenge off your list, and cheerfully go eat another green bean.

But if eating fruits and vegetables is something you struggle with, then can I encourage you to move out of your meat and potato comfort zone just a little bit? I’m not knocking meat and potatoes. I love ’em myself! I just know it’s important to eat many fruits and vegetables along with our steak and spuds.

 

Keeping plenty of fruits and vegetables on hand and serving them regularly for snacks and meals is a great way to have a Funky Fresh Kitchen and to take your family on a journey toward better health.

Feel like giving us excuses like “fresh produce is more expensive than other snacks”? Sorry, I’ve already done the research and the math on that one. It just ain’t true.  (Wow, look at me – pulling out poor grammar just to prove a point.)  Also, I’ve written another post in the past I think you should read encouraging us to be intentional about eating fruits and vegetables. I even went so far as to give you a detailed list of how you can make this work. It looks something like this:

1. Buy fruits and vegetables.
2. Eat them.
3. Repeat.

This is the perfect time of year to get your hands on awesome fresh produce for a great price. We currently have a kitchen full of fresh apples, pears, peaches, sweet peppers, tomatoes, green beans, and okra that we are enjoying constantly…with our meat and potatoes and pasta. See, eating more fruits and veggies doesn’t mean you have to give up other stuff you love. (Except for the junky junk food you should be giving up. For Pete’s sake.)  You just need to be sure you’re getting a diet rich in the nutrients only vegetables and fruit can provide.

Ready to accept this Funky Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Challenge this week? Simply commit to adding a few more servings of these jewels to your menu each day. Then, don’t forget to eat them (see number 2 above).

Leave a comment on this post, sharing what your favorite fruits and veggies are and how you plan to eat more in the upcoming week. All comments will be entered in our giveway for two $25 and one $50 gift certificates to the Heavenly Homemakers Shop.

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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I’ll get right to the point today and share our menu plan. Then later this afternoon, watch for a new Funky Fresh Kitchen Challenge…and that Nutrimill Giveaway we’ve all been waiting for!

Sunday, September 16
Oatmeal, fruit
Lasagna casserole, green beans, tossed salad
Huddle (at our friend’s house)

Monday, September 17
Whole wheat waffles, peach syrup
Hamburger patties, steamed broccoli and carrots
Alfredo sauce with pasta, tossed salad

Tuesday, September 18
Baked oatmeal cups, fruit smoothies
Chicken burritos, peaches, raw veggies
Beefy enchilada bake, tossed salad

Wednesday, September 19
Cheese and veggie omelets, fruit
Pizza pockets, apple slices
Cheeseburger macaroni, green beans

Thursday, September 20
Chocolate chocolate chip muffins, applesauce
Potato soup, carrot sticks
Italian cream cheese chicken, steamed broccoli and carrots, tossed salad

Friday, September 21
Peanut butter honey toast, bananas
Pigs in a blanket, fruit sala
Grilled bbq chicken, corn on the cob, tossed salad

Saturday, September 22
Homemade donuts
Leftovers
Homemade pizza, tossed salad

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Funky Fresh Kitchen Challenge #3 Check In ~ Serve Someone {Barbeque Brisket and Cake Boys Episode 4…But not at the same time.}

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I have loved reading all of your comments this week as you’ve been serving friends, family, church members, and neighbors this week. Thank you all for joining with me in this Funky Fresh Service Challenge. I know that many have been blessed this week because of you. God is glorified! If you haven’t yet had the chance to serve someone, join this challenge anytime!

Our family had several friends over on Sunday for a meal and to play games. We served Barbecue Brisket, Baked Potatoes, Green Beans, Cream Cheese Corn, Tossed Salad, and Death by Chocolate.

 It was a blessing to have so many friends here, especially during our busy season. Taking time to relax, play games, and visit was just what we needed.

Later in the week, our boys made cupcakes to hand out to our York College Ladies Soccer Team. They recorded another episode of Cake Boys during the process.

Serving others is always a blessing to our family, and I’m so thankful that our boys are learning to experience this joy as well.

I’d love to hear more about how you were able to serve someone this week! Leave a comment here to share. All comments will be entered in our giveway for two $25 and one $50 gift certificates to the Heavenly Homemakers Shop.

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

Healthy Crock Pot Recipes: Calico Beans

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This Calico Beans recipe packs a punch when it comes to protein. In my household of men, this is much appreciated. Oh, who am I kidding? I may be the only girl in my household, but give me a bowl of beans, beef, and bacon, and I’m a happy camper. I love me a high protein meal! If all the boys in the house enjoy it too, well now, that’s just a huge perk. :)

Add some chopped sweet green peppers, or even a few chunks of spicy peppers to this recipe if your family enjoys a little “kick”.

Calico BeansYum

Healthy Crock Pot Recipes: Calico Beans
 
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Author:
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 8 ounces turkey bacon, cut into one-inch pieces
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • ½ cup chopped onion (or 4 Tablespoons minced onion)
  • 1 Tablespoon yellow mustard
  • 2 - 15 ounce cans baked beans (I use Eden Organics, full of healthy ingredients)
  • 1 - 15 ounce can kidney beans
  • ¾ cup ketchup (I recommend homemade ketchup or an organic variety that does not contain high fructose corn syrup)
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 Tablespoon vinegar (I use either red wine or balsamic)
Instructions
  1. In a skillet, brown bacon, ground beef, and onions together.
  2. Drain and dump into a crock pot.
  3. Add remaining ingredients, stirring until mixed.
  4. Cover and cook on low for six hours or on high for three hours.
  5. Or, skip the crock pot and bake this in a covered casserole dish at 350° for an hour.

Of course, you’ll save even more money if you soak and cook your own beans. Read more about this process here.

Calico Beans

I know everyone is different when it comes to craving meat and high protein meals.  Are you like me and feel like you could eat a half a cow sometimes? Or are you content with a small bowl of beans and the occasional peanut? 

Interested in more Crock Pot recipes? You’ll find several to look through here!

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

Funky Fresh Freebie – Downloadable Fall Recipe Card Set (Free to all, no limit!)

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We’ve got another Funky Fresh Freebie for you! 

This time, I took some of my favorite fall recipes and had Char, my designer friend, create a Funky Fresh Recipe Card Package for all of you. I think she did a beautiful job with these!

This freebie comes at a perfect time, since you’ve been challenged to serve someone this week. I was kind of thinking that you might want to print off these cards, bake up one of the recipes, tie up the recipe cards, and deliver the cards along with your goodies. 

Why? Because these recipes are pretty and fun, and they are made to be shared. They are for each of you, but they are also free for you to print and give away to others as a gift. How fun would it be to bake some Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins and deliver them along with this card to the person you have chosen to serve?!

You certainly aren’t limited to this small package of recipe cards in your service challenge ideas, I just wanted to offer it as an additional suggestion. Regardless of how you use these cards, we hope you enjoy them and feel inspired by them as you create your Funky Fresh Kitchen!

Download Fall Recipe Cards Here

Details and instructions for downloading and printing these recipes cards:

Once you click this link, you will need to click “save as” to save them to your computer. Then, you can open the folder. These recipe cards are in a “zip file”. If you are unsure how to open this to access the recipe cards, here is a simple tutorial that will show you how to open a zip file.

These cards were designed at 300 DPI, and are 4×6 in size. You can print them on your home computer/printer, or take them to your favorite photo processing place for printing. (Walmart and Walgreens make excellent prints for less than 20 cents per card).

While you may NOT print these cards and resell them, there is no limit to how many cards you may print and give as gifts!

All comments will be entered in our giveway for two $25 and one $50 gift certificates to the Heavenly Homemakers Shop. Be sure to check out all of the posts in our Funky Fresh Kitchen series this month. You may want to subscribe to Heavenly Homemakers and/or join our Facebook page so you don’t miss out on any posts or giveaways!

 

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

Gratituesday: The Hair Cut Conversation

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This morning, I found myself growing grumpy with stress. I hate it when I do that to myself (and to my family). As if letting myself become tense and overwhelmed really helps me get through the day? Um….nope. And yet, as I was reading World History to the boys, in the back of my mind I was creating a long “to-do” list of everything else I needed to get done. In doing so, not only did my school time with the boys become not fun, my tension level kept increasing. (Why? Why do I do this to myself?)

One of the items on my “to-do” list:  Give Matt a Hair Cut . It needed to be done before he left for his soccer team pictures at 2:45. But before that I needed to do this and that and that and this (Blah, blah. You don’t want to hear about my to-do list.)

By the time I finally broke away from my other tasks and met Matt outside for his hair cut, I had worked myself into a bit of a crazed mental frenzy. I gave him a half smile and admited to him that I was feeling like a bit of a basket case. I’m sure he loved handing over the scissors once I’d confessed that. ;)

He (bravely) sat down and we began the hair cut. I’ve done this cut plenty of times, so it only took about twenty minutes from my “busy schedule”. Guess what I accomplished during that time? Yes, a hair cut. But guess what else? I got to have uninterrupted conversation with my husband. Now there’s something that hasn’t happened for a while. 

It was just what I needed. Time to reconnect. Time to process. Time to shift my focus off of myself and onto my husband. I suddenly became very thankful that this chore was on my “to-do” list.

And shucks, as an added bonus, we saved money on a haircut too. What a deal. ;)

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!

Funky Fresh Challenge #3 – Serve Someone

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Of all the challenges during our month of the Funky Fresh Kitchen, this one is probably my favorite. Having clean and organized kitchens is wonderful. Stocking our shelves with wholesome, healthy ingredients is fantastic. But taking the time out of our busy lives to serve someone? Now that’s more beautiful than any sparkling clean kitchen I’ve ever seen. 

While we focus this month on starting fresh, developing a routine, getting ahead, and becoming more organized…let’s also take a moment to look beyond ourselves. Is there someone you know who could use a good dose of something funky and fresh (and delicious!) from your kitchen? A family who could use some encouragement? A neighbor who needs a helping hand? A friend who has served you and you’d like to say “thank you”? 

Spend some time in prayer about this one. Who is God putting on your heart to reach out to? Listen.

Then get into your kitchen and bake up something funky and fresh to deliver to someone. Or cook an extra casserole to share. Or do whatever you feel you can/should do that will bless someone else.

Depending on what you feel you should do, this challenge may not actually involve food. Do you  need to simply make a phone call to chat with someone? Should you write and send a card? Can you focus some prayer time on someone specific?

This challenge really is about taking a deep breath, slowing down, and taking the time to love on others. As an added bonus, I encourage you to get your kids involved. If you’re going through the Learn Your Letters, Learn to Serve curriculum, you’ll easily be able to double up on this one. Oh, and we’ve got a new Funky Fresh Freebie coming up tomorrow that might give you more ideas! :)

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Here’s Malachi taking a pie to our friends last year.  :)

As you think of ideas to complete this challenge, please leave your comments here. I know we will all love reading about ways you are planning to serve, and will be inspired by your ideas. All comments will be entered in our giveway for two $25 and one $50 gift certificates to the Heavenly Homemakers Shop.

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 and Challenge #2 Check In – Have You Been Able To Get Ahead?

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First, let’s talk menu plan. Then, we’ll talk challenge. :) 

Here’s what we’re looking to eat this week:

Sunday, September 9
Oatmeal, fruit
Barbecue brisket, baked potatoes, green beans, tossed salad, death by chocolate
High school huddle (hosted by our friends, but we are going over to help)

Monday, September 10
Whole wheat pancakes, blueberries
Hamburger patties, steamed broccoli, corn on the cob
Creamy chicken and rice casserole, carrots, tossed salad

Tuesday, September 11
Scrambed eggs with cheese, peaches
Salmon patties, potato wedges, peas
Pizza casserole, tossed salad

Wednesday, September 12
Easy breakfast casserole, oranges
Potato soup, carrot sticks
Teriyaki chicken and vegetables

Thursday, September 13
Homemade poptarts (from the freezer!), bananas
Pizza pockets, fruit-kefir smoothies
Tuna casserole, peas

Friday, September 14
Flaky cream cheese pastry, kiwi
Taco corn fritters, apple slices, baby carrots
Shepherd’s pie, tossed salad

Saturday, September 15
Pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, applesauce
Leftovers
Grilled burgers, ranch potato wedges, tossed salad, watermelon

So how has the Funky Fresh Challenge #2 been going for you so far? Many of you shared your plans and ideas. Have you found some time to get ahead a little bit? If not, I encourage you to keep plugging away! Any time you can squeeze in to do something extra is great! You’ll appreciate it so much!

I didn’t finish everything on my to-do-list, but that’s okay. I am just thankful that I could find a few extra hours in the kitchen before chasing off to soccer games. Our mornings will go more smoothly now with these extra breakfast foods in our freezer. Or, for at least a few mornings, I’ll be ahead of the game, right? 

Giant Breakfast Cookies, 2 loaves of Cinnamon Swirl Bread, 2 loaves of Honey Whole Wheat Bread, Homemade Poptarts

As of now, we’ve already eaten one loaf of cinnamon swirl bread, both of the loaves of honey whole wheat, and several of the breakfast cookies. That’s okay though. I made them so we could eat them, and as we all know, I’m trying to do a better job of actually serving the foods I make for the freezer!! :)

Your turn! How has Challenge #2 gone for you so far? Leave a comment on this post to let us know what you’ve been able to accomplish, or what you might plan to do to get ahead in the coming days. If you have a blog, write a post about what you’ve done for the challenge, then come link up here so we can read about it. All comments and blog entries will be entered in our giveway for two $25 and one $50 gift certificates to the Heavenly Homemakers Shop.

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

Win One Gallon of Organic Coconut Oil from Tropical Traditions

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Looking to replace unhealthy oils in your kitchen with healthy oils? Or maybe you have already replaced your bad oils and you would simply like to stock up on the good stuff. I’m excited to share that Tropical Traditions is offering to give away 1 gallon of Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil during our month of the Funky Fresh Kitchen!

Tropical Traditions is America’s source for coconut oil. Their Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil is hand crafted in small batches by family producers, and it is the highest quality coconut oil they offer. You can read more about how virgin coconut oil is different from other coconut oils on their website: What is Virgin Coconut Oil?

You can also watch the video they produced about Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil:

Tropical Traditions also carries other varieties of affordable high quality coconut oil. Visit their website to check on current sales, to learn about the many uses of coconut oil, and to read about all the advantages of buying coconut oil online. Since the FDA does not want us to discuss the health benefits of coconut oil on a page where it is being sold or given away, here is the best website to read about the health benefits of coconut oil.

Interested in winning this gallon bucket of awesome coconut oil? Leave a comment here on this post for a chance to win. For an additional entry, sign up to receive the Tropical Traditions newsletter so that you’ll be the first to know about sales and specials they are offering.

I’ll draw a random winner on Friday, September 14. Please watch for a post stating the winner as you will be responsible for contacting me if your name is chosen.

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