Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Gratituesday: Wrapping It Up

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Every year is my favorite school year. This year was no exception.

I love home schooling my kids. I love all the time we get to spend together every day. I love reading piles of incredible books with them. I love having a flexible schedule. I love learning beside them. Seriously, did you know that we have 60,000 miles of blood vessels in our bodies? That’s enough to go around the entire earth almost three times! Yes, I learned that today. I am getting so smart. (It is an added benefit to home schooling that the kids are getting smarter as well.)  ;)

We’ll be continuing to read all summer, but we do usually take a break from “regular school work” for a couple of months. This week, we’re wrapping up our last few math lessons and finishing the final chapters of a few books…

And then? Well, it would appear that we started a new tradition last year on our final “official” school day:  Ice Cream Cones for Breakfast.

And not the healthy, homemade ice cream either. I know. I don’t know how that even came about. But apparently I did it last year, so that’s all the boys have been talking about for the past few days. Hey, why not? We can have broccoli for lunch that day.

I am so thankful for the gift of another great school year with my kids. And…I am amazed at a God who could arrange 60,000 miles worth of blood vessels in my body with such perfection. What an amazing Creator!

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

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This is our last week to host High School Huddle for this school year. :(  We’ll pick back up in the fall again. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed feeding these kids and having them in our home each week for fellowship and Bible study time. What a great group.

In an effort to treat these kids right on our final huddle night, I thought Cheesecake Brownies were in order (along with a big pasta bar). I made three batches of the brownies to make sure there would be enough.

I have noooo idea what happened to that brownie in the bottom right corner.
Weird things like that happen in my kitchen sometimes. ;)

Speaking of brownies, this weekend was apparently the weekend of the brownie. I went through a lot of cocoa in two days! In addition to Huddle, there was a graduation party, and a ministry meeting we needed to go to. I decided to take brownies to those events, and actually made one batch of brownies from a box so I could time myself to see which took longer – homemade brownies or boxed brownies. I’ll share the results of that experiment later this week. :)

Here’s what our menu looks like this week:

Sunday, May 6
Oatmeal, fruit
Ministry meeting – taco bar, brownies
High School Huddle – Pasta Bar with a variety of noodles, alfredo sauce, spaghetti sauce, chicken, tossed salad, bread, and cheesecake brownies

Monday, May 7
Whole wheat waffles, blueberries
Corndog muffins, fruit-kefir smoothies
Italian cream cheese chicken, tossed salad, green beans

Tuesday, May 8
Crepes with jelly, applesauce
Cheesy salsa enchiladas, tossed salad
Sweet pepper fritata, strawberry bread, oranges

Wednesday, May 9
Whole wheat biscuits, turkey sausage gravy, fruit
Popcorn chicken, ranch potato wedges, peas
Shepherd’s pie, tossed salad

Thursday,  May 10
Coconut flour muffins, smoothies
Tuna salad on crackers, grape tomatoes, baby carrots, pickles
One dish meat and potato meal

Friday, May 11
Chewy granola bars, apples
Nachos
Homemade pizza, fruit

Saturday, May 12
Scrambled eggs, oranges
Leftovers
Taco potatoes

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Getting Fit With Your Kids

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My great friend and personal trainer, Jen, of Getting Fit With Jen, has said it to me time and again:  “Sometimes, working in time to exercise can be as easy as getting up and playing with your kids.”

The statement makes perfect sense and ultimately, I agree. But I also have to say that doing this has often been a struggle for me. I’ll admit that I don’t often just stop and “play”. There is work to be done!!! Often, I find that the best time to get that work done is when my kids are off happily playing…on their own. Happily playing children means that I have a moment of peace to focus on other tasks. To take the time to stop my cooking, laundry, website work, house work – and instead go play with my kids? It almost feels as if I would put myself behind in some way. That I would be more stressed out because of the growing “to-do” list that didn’t get finished.

All of that may be true sometimes. There is nothing wrong with taking advantage of quiet moments and content children when there is work to be done. But – I promise you that I have never, ever regretted time I have taken out of my “very busy schedule” to go play with my kids. And when that play involves some sort of exercise? Well, I do believe we can call that multi-tasking. :)

Remember the day I scored five!!?!?!? (Why yes, I did just give you the link to that post so that I could brag some more in case you forgot that story.)  It was a great workout, and wow did we all have fun! A few days after that, while waiting for our seven year old to warm up for his soccer game, I headed over and kicked a ball around with our 10 year old. You should have seen his face light up once he saw me and recognized that I was there to play with him!! Golden. Never will I regret taking advantage of opportunities like this to play with my kids.

Remember how my kids were doing this:

kidsontrampolinesm

And then they talked me into doing this:

lauraontrampoline2sm

I loved every minute of that – and so did my kids!

Jen is right. Now that I’m being more intentional about being active with my kids, I’m finding that there are plenty of opportunities to enjoy spending time with them in this way. And lo and behold – all of my other work still gets done somehow. ;)  After playing, I get right back to the house work or computer work – this time full of extra energy because I’ve just been up moving around!

Here are some specifics Jen had to share on this topic:

Anything that involves moving for several minutes at a time will increase your heart rate and be beneficial for your health. Go outside with your kids. Kick a ball around, chase them, play some sort of tag, play catch, go for a walk or bike ride – the ideas are limitless. Your kids will love this time with you and you will be burning calories, building muscle, and increasing your endurance level.

Do recognize your limitations so that you don’t injure yourself. Don’t break into a full on sprint to chase your kids if you aren’t used to running. Pace yourself, maybe taking short breaks between play times. Remember, even 10-15 minute segments of activity will be good for your body.

Your example to them will encourage them to want to be fit as well. Get out there and be active with your kids!

Be sure to visit Getting Fit With Jen to learn more about how you can make fitness a part of your life.

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Homemade Mac and Cheese vs. Annie’s Mac and Cheese – Which Takes More Time?

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The Macaroni and Cheese Experiment has been conducted.

In an effort to prove that “real food” often doesn’t take more time or more energy to prepare than “processed food”, I made both Annie’s Mac and Cheese, and my homemade Creamy Mac and Cheese – timing myself from start to finish on each – not doing any of the steps ahead of time.

I began last week by making three boxes of Annie’s Mac and Cheese.

I do purchase this sometimes for the very occasional treat. I appreciate that Annie’s brand is at least made with better ingredients. But did it save me time to make this boxed, convenience food?

From start to finish, making a big pot of three boxes of Annie’s Mac and Cheese took me 18.5 minutes. Not bad, plus I was able to wash a few dishes while the noodles were boiling.

And how long did my homemade Creamy Mac and Cheese take???

Many of you suggested that I needed to be sure and count the time it took to grate the cheese for this recipe! I do try to keep some cheese in the fridge that we’ve already grated and put into a baggie to save time while I’m cooking. I didn’t do that this time though, so that I could give you a more accurate time calculation for this recipe. However, as I usually do when I haven’t grated my cheese ahead of time – I simply got the noodles and milk cooking on the stove, then grated a big block of cheese while I waited for the pot to get hot. Multi-tasking is so wonderful! (Plus I even grated extra cheese so that I will be ahead of the game next time I need it!)

I do have to watch the pot and stir more often while I’m making homemade mac and cheese, compared to the boxed variety. However, I have found that I don’t have to stir the pot constantly, and can stir, then do another little job, then stir again, and do something else. As long as I keep going back to it, I am able to get several other little jobs accomplished while I make this dish. This time, I was going back and forth between boys and May Day projects, keeping up without any troubles with stirring the mac and cheese.

Total time it took for my Creamy Mac and Cheese to be finished? 19 minutes. Exactly 30 seconds longer than Annie’s. Woe is me. I am simply exhausted from the additional effort. ;)

From experience, I know that whole wheat elbow noodles cook more quickly than the whole wheat fusilli pasta, so that may have cut my time even more. (Also, if you’re interested, you can use Tinkyada Brown Rice noodles in this recipe, which I’ve found works great and takes only a couple of extra minutes to cook.)

My conclusion:  Homemade Creamy Mac and Cheese is just as convenient and easy as making boxed mac and cheese. I dirtied the same number of dishes for each, and I was able to multi-task while making each of them. (Large pot, spoon, and cheese grater for the homemade; large pot, spoon, and strainer for the boxed. Yes, I did grate the cheese onto a plate, but then I served my food on that very plate, so as not to dirty another dish!)

And the taste? There is no comparison. Boxed mac and cheese is kinda fun, but I ultimately find it to be empty and flavorless. I also have a hard time getting past the unnatural color. Cheese isn’t orange, people! I love that the homemade mac and cheese has more sustenance and more natural flavor. Bring on the nutrients!

While I was having this mac and cheese throw down, I decided to be nerdy and calculate the price difference. It costs around $3.85 to fill my family with Annie’s Mac and Cheese, because yes, it does take all three boxes to fill us. It costs about $4.50 to make a pot of Creamy Mac and Cheese, since I’m using organic, raw white cheddar. That breaks down to be $0.11 extra cents per person to feed my family this healthy, easy meal. I’m pretty sure I can afford that.

So there you have it. Am I completely knocking boxed mac and cheese? Nope. Just stating the facts based on my research and experiment conclusion. Might we still eat the occasional boxes of mac and cheese? Maybe, and we’ll probably even enjoy it a little bit. But do I ever get to say that making a box of mac and cheese saves me time and money compared to making homemade mac and cheese?

Not unless I really feel like I can justify whining about 30 seconds of extra time, $0.65 extra for my entire family of six, and no extra dirty dishes. I think we all know the answer to that. :)

I’m thinking that it might be fun to do other experiments like this one. Any suggestions or ideas for what I should test next?

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Our May Day Fun

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Because I grew up making and delivering May Day Baskets, I just assumed everyone knew what May Day was all about. Seems from many of your comments on my Gratituesday post that May Day is new to many of you! Here, let me share the fun with you…

The way we’ve always celebrated the first day of May is to create some sort of basket, fill it with flowers or goodies, then deliver the basket to someone’s porch. Tradition holds that you are to “sneak” the basket up to the house, set it down, ring the doorbell, and run away without the recipient catching you! It’s a fun way to celebrate spring and a great way to bless others. We’ve never been very good at the “sneaking” part, but it sure is fun to try!

I can’t believe how excited our three younger boys were this year as they were working on this project. (Our oldest may have been excited also, if he wasn’t so busy trying to finish his freshman year of high school. That kid has been working SO hard this year on Biology and Algebra!)

I pulled each boy into the kitchen with me separately to make a treat for the baskets. This made for some great one-on-one time, plus made life less hectic in the kitchen. Justus decided to make Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. (He usually wears glasses, but his are broken right now – par for the course when you have an active 12 year old boy. If you look at his right eye there, you can see that not only did his glasses get broken, he has a nice injury to brag about too.)

He did a beautiful job on the cookies…

Malachi helped me make some mini Banana Muffins…while listening to DC Talk. ;)

One recipe made 36 mini muffins, baked at 400° for about 15 minutes (in case you were wondering how to adapt the Banana Muffin recipe).

Elias helped me make a big batch of Trail Mix, then all the boys set to work making cards to include in the baskets.

In the meantime, I packaged up all the treats.

The “baskets” we used were actually just recycled ice cream buckets my dad had given me. This worked perfectly!

And now, we are heading out to deliver the goodies. I believe I am just about to witness my sons launching themselves off of our friends’ porches – which I’m sure they will do in absolute silence so as to keep our May Day delivery a big surprise. ;)

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Gratituesday: May Day Preparations

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Because they are growing boys with “big boy” interests, I figured they wouldn’t even give May Day a second thought this year. This morning, they proved me wrong when one of them said, “Mom, tomorrow is May Day. We need to get baskets ready so we can surprise people tomorrow!” Everyone agreed that delivering May Day Baskets was necessary. Who am I to argue?

It is possible that the adventure of surprising people is what draws them in. And yes, it’s very likely that the food going into the baskets is what excites them even more. Quality control is done thoroughly around here to be sure. ;)

But they all chose a family they wanted to deliver a basket to, and plans were made for how we should fill them. Tonight, baking supplies are out and ready so we can start putting goodies into the oven in the morning. (Because yes, I over-ruled the idea that we should buy lots of candy to fill the baskets…)


I’m glad my boys still enjoy these simple, fun little holiday traditions. And as a side note – today I got to have a lunch date with our 10 year old, Elias. Here we are as we were heading out the door to his favorite restaurant…

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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Last week, on a whim, I decided to put together a bowl of Tammy’s Chicken Pasta Salad after breakfast. It was a warm day, plus we had soccer games that evening. I can’t tell you how grateful I was that I had quickly made this salad that morning. Just before game time in the late afternoon, we all dished out bowls of salad, then headed out to the soccer field. It was convenience food at it’s finest! That meal is a perfect example of how you can”Eat Healthy and Save Time“. :)

Tonight for High School Huddle, I decided to try a variation of these Oatmeal Butterscotch Chip Cookies. I mixed up the recipe as directed, except I added chocolate chips instead of butterscotch chips. Then, I spread the batter into a 9×13 inch baking pan and baked them for 25 minutes. They were a hit!

Here is our menu for this week:

Sunday, April 29
Oatmeal, fruit
Church potluck:  Pizza casserole, butterscotch bars, mixed veggies
High school huddle:  Italian pasta bake, green beans, corn, french bread, oatmeal chocolate chip bars

Monday, April 30
Whole wheat waffles, raspberries
Bbq chicken sandwiches, green beans
Teriyaki chicken and vegetables with rice

Tuesday, May 1
Baked oatmeal cups, applesauce
Corn dog muffins, raw veggies with homemade ranch
Roast, potatoes, carrots, gravy

Wednesday, May 2
Cream cheese pastry, bananas
Bean dip with chips, tomatoes, oranges
Creamy crock pot chicken and rice, carrots

Thursday, May 3
Chocolate chocolate chip muffins, apples
Chicken veggie quesadillas, pineapple
Sloppy joes, ranch potato wedges, peas

Friday, May 4
Honey whole wheat bagels, oranges
Hamburger cream cheese dip, organic corn chips, fruit
Homemade pizza

Saturday, May 5
Scrambled egg sandwiches, clementines
Leftovers
Chicken noodle soup with carrots

Anything fun on your menu this week?

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Keep Healthy Eating Simple {Eat Healthy ~ Save Time}

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Welcome to my new series:  Eat Healthy ~ Save Time. I hope to share many of the time saving ideas that work for me in my efforts to feed my family a healthy diet.

As I began jotting down some post ideas for this series, I was shocked at all the many ideas I came up with to share. It would seem that I am the queen of cutting corners and being completely non-fancy. If it isn’t quick and easy to make, I don’t typically mess with it, unless it’s a special occasion.

And that, my friends, is why the tips and recipes you’ll find here are all simple and basic. Healthy. Tasty. Fun. But simple.

If you want fancy food recipes, you should probably check out a different website. But if you’re looking for easy to throw together, kid friendly, real-food-ingredient recipes…you’re in the right place. Simple is how I roll. My sanity depends on it.

Don’t buy into the lie that healthy food somehow takes so much longer and is so much more complicated to prepare than non-healthy food. It can take longer, but it doesn’t always, especially once you get into a good, healthy food routine in your kitchen. And I hold to my opinion that going out to eat or even going through a drive through can often take longer and be more stressful (when it’s all said and done) than preparing a simple healthy meal at home. (If you feel like you’re resorting to take-out more often than you would like, you can read a list of my “fall back” homemade meals here.)

When planning meals that will be healthy for your family, try sticking with the basics. All you really need to serve is a main dish and vegetables, and maybe a glass of milk. Don’t over-think it. Don’t make it complicated. Just stick with basic, whole foods.

When planning meals and snacks that will be healthy for your family, I believe a lot of stress can be relieved if you simply think about real food. An apple, a slice of cheese, some natural peanut butter on celery, raisins, nuts, a scrambled egg (or three if you are one of my boys) are all great, real food snack options. Are M&Ms sometimes more appealing? Sure. And hey, I’m all for splurging on fun treats sometimes! But don’t tell me that eating a handful of M&Ms saves you time and energy compared to eating a handful of peanuts or raisins. That doesn’t even make sense. See, this is why I think it’s a little silly when people tell me that they don’t have time to eat healthy food. I don’t think it’s always about time. I think it’s often about choices.

Healthy eating can be as simple as buying grapes, baby carrots, and your other favorite nutrient packed foods at the store. Take a deep breath and relax. You can do this!

Coming up next in the Eat Healthy ~ Save Time series…I’m planning to do a little Macaroni and Cheese Experiment. I’m going to make a box of mac and cheese, and I’m going to make my Creamy Mac and Cheese recipe. The stop-watch will be coming out, because we’re going to see how long it takes to make each. I’m excited to see if making Mac and Cheese in a more “real food” way takes much (if any?) extra time to prepare and clean up after compared to making a “convenient” box of mac and cheese. I’ll be posting my results for you in a few days!  What’s your prediction as to how my experiment will turn out?

What are some tips you have for keeping healthy food simple?

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Is It Expensive to Start Working Out?

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I can’t tell you how excited I am to hear that several of you are involved in or have now started a workout routine of some kind!! Way to go!

I love how much energy I have now that I am exercising regularly, as well as how healthy I feel overall. If you’re still hesitating to do some sort of exercise, I really encourage you to give it a try. You won’t regret it. (Even if you are sore at first!)  :)

I am also very excited to have Jen, from Getting Fit With Jen, on board here to help answer so many of our fitness questions. She has taught me so much while we’ve been working out the past few months. It would appear that I’m not just getting fit, I’m becoming a little bit smarter too. How ’bout that?

Several of you have already taken advantage of Jen’s personal online training services, which I know will be a blessing to you. Having someone tell you exactly what you need to do, having someone to be accountable to – I find it all so helpful.

Today, I was able to bend Jen’s ear for a little while and ask her some questions about fitness and finances. If money is holding you back from getting started in a workout program, I think you’ll like what Jen has to say.

My conversation with Jen…

Laura: How much would you say it costs to get started with a workout program?

Jen: I feel like you can actually get started without spending any extra money at all. Walking, for instance, doesn’t cost a thing. Resistance training can be done simply by using your own body weight, your little ones, and well, since we’re talking about this here at Heavenly Homemakers, I’d even throw out the idea of using your bags of wheat. :)

Laura: Ha! I’m pretty sure I could find a bag of wheat around here somewhere. :)  So you really think a person can have an effective exercise routine without spending any money at all?

Jen: Absolutely!

Laura: If someone does have some money to invest in their fitness journey, what would you recommend they look at first?

Jen: The first thing that comes to mind is a good pair of shoes, if you don’t already have some. A set of resistance bands or dumbbells are also great to have. Resistance bands are very inexpensive, very versatile, and they don’t take up much space. Once you know you’re serious about exercising, some high quality workout DVDs can be a great investment because you’ll have them forever, and you can workout at home when it is convenient for you.

There are some other pieces of equipment that you may appreciate owning (like an elliptical machine or a tread mill), but be sure you’re serious about using them before you take the financial plunge.

Laura: Is there anything you would say is NOT worth spending the money on in order to get fit?

Jen: Watch out for any product that “guarantees results”. Some of them are legit, but not all of them are. I’ve seen some gimmicky workout equipment that simply isn’t necessary, such as “ab belts”, which promise to give you a six pack. If you want a six pack, you’re going to need to work for it! Save your money for some of the above mentioned gear and be ready to invest time and energy into achieving the results you’re looking for!

Watch for more of your questions to be answered in our “Ask the Trainer” feature next week. Have more fitness questions? Be sure to leave a comment here. And check out Jen’s site, Getting Fit With Jen for more great fitness information.

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Healthier Cheesecake Brownies

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Warning: The following post is full of calories, sugar, and rich gooey chocolate. Reading this post will not result in any weight gain, neither will you have a sugar crash when you are finished looking at the pictures. However, baking and actually eating these Cheesecake Brownies in real life is a different story – especially if you struggle (like I do) with over-indulging in such things as cheesecake or brownies or a fantastically incredible combination of the two. These are made with healthier ingredients such as whole grain flour and unrefined sugar, but it’s not like these are made of green leafy vegetables. Oh how I wish. Therefore, I recommend that if you make these Cheesecake Brownies, you should plan to take them immediately to a potluck or otherwise heavily populated event where there are many servant-hearted people to help you consume them. Participating in a short time of “quality control” before taking them to an event is acceptable, as long as you don’t feel that you need to test the quality of the entire pan of goodies.

———————————–

Trust me, I am offering this warning from the botom of my sugar-loving heart. I am the girl who, when asked, “Which do you like best? Brownies…or Cheesecake?” I always answer with an definite and enthusiastic, “Yes!!!” I love them both, but put them together and that pan of Cheesecake Brownies and I could have a fine party, just the two of us. But I’m also working hard to get in shape and to eat a healthy diet. Cheescake Brownie binges and my running shoes just don’t go together.

In other words:  Share the love, people.

Cheesecake Brownies

Brownie LayerYum

1 cup melted butter
2 cups sucanat
2/3 cup cocoa powder
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

Cheesecake Layer

2 – 8 ounce packages of cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1/2 cup sucanat
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix together melted butter, sucanat, and cocoa powder. Add eggs and vanilla, stirring well. Mix in flour and stir until thoroughly mixed. Spread the brownie batter into a 9×13 inch baking dish and set aside.

In a separate mixing bowl, cream together all cheesecake layer ingredients:  softened cream cheese, eggs, sucanat and vanilla. Once it is well mixed and creamy, spoon the mixure into about twelve “plops” over the top of the brownie batter.

Use a butter knife to “cut” and swirl the cheesecake mixture through the brownie batter.

Try not to hyperventilate while you anticipate how good these will taste once they are baked. Good luck.

Bake in a 350° oven for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow the Cheesecake Brownies to cool completely before slicing. Makes 24 servings.

I will say it again:  This recipe makes twenty-four servings. These cheesecake brownies are not to be consumed by you alone – not even in 24 different settings. Not even if you first ate a good dinner. These are to be shared. Do not forget this important information.


Oh, but when you do indulge in your Cheesecake Brownie, I give you full permission to thoroughly enjoy yourself. Savor each rich, chocolaty, cream cheesy bite of gooey goodness. Put your feet up, turn on some music, and make it an event. And if you think of it, call me. I like events that include brownies and cheesecake.

What would you answer to the question of:  “Which do you like best? Brownies…or cheesecake?” (“Yes” is an acceptable answer.)

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