Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Gratituesday: Date Time

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Since it has been several months since I’ve taken any of my boys on a date, I decided it was time to start another round. When I mentioned it to Matt, he asked if he could please be included in the rotation. I can’t say I would mind that one little bit. Five dates for me with all five of my favorite men? Let me get my calendar!

Today, Malachi and I headed out for a little one-on-one.

We started our date at Pizza Hut – his choice. He’s been planning this for weeks actually. In his mind, there was no other option besides Pizza Hut for his time out with Mom. We headed there nice and early to beat the lunch crowd, which was a brilliant idea if I do say so myself. Or at least I thought it was brilliant until we got there and saw a huge chartered bus had arrived there ahead of us. And what do you suppose we found inside the restaurant? Table after table was full. And it wasn’t just any kind of full. It was the full of hungry college age boys kind of full.

I warned Malachi that the buffet might not have any pizza on it for quite a while since there were so many big eaters there. He was willing to wait. We got seated, got our water, talked about important subjects like Legos and ninjas, and we waited some more. Each time pizza would be delivered to the buffet, swarms of college boys would devour it within seconds. And so, we continued to wait. My little man was the picture of patience. Hey, when you’ve got Mom’s ear all to yourself, who needs pizza?

Well, would you believe that after about thirty minutes and the third round of pizza getting snatched up before we could even get out of our seats, one of those nice young college boys came over and introduced himself to Malachi? He told him that he’d noticed how long he’d been waiting for food and he said, “As soon as more pizza comes out, you and I will go up there and get you some.” Sure enough, as soon as some fresh cheesy bread sticks came out, the guy hoisted Malachi up, butted in line in front of this friends and said, “Hey, let’s let this fella get some of those bread sticks, okay?”

Malachi was in such shock, he almost forgot to say “thank you”. But wow, did he devour those bread sticks. He was even nice enough to share one of them with his hungry date. :)

I was able to take another moment to thank that young man for showing my boy such kindness. I hope Malachi remembers this and shows the same kind of love to someone else someday.

It wasn’t much longer until the place cleared out and we were able to enjoy the “all you can eat” part of the buffet. Malachi decided that posing for some pictures was a great idea:

I think that in the following picture, he’s trying to show us that he finally got enough pizza and he’s thoroughly stuffed. Four bread sticks and three pieces of pizza will do that to a seven year old boy.

Next, we headed out to Wal-mart where I promised that he could have several, unhurried minutes to gaze at Lego sets. You would have thought I had offered to take him to Legoland. No need to buy Legos. Just having the time to look at them for a long, long time was gift enough.

He’s been running up to me for hugs all day since we’ve been home. I’d say round one of five dates was a success, wouldn’t you? :)

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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I Scored FIVE!!!! (and our Menu Plan for the Week)

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In case I haven’t mentioned it already, you should know that my entire family loves the game of soccer. Five out of six of us play, coach, and/or referee – leaving me to do what is safe and wise:  1) feed them all well  2) try to keep up with the practice/coaching/game/referee schedule as much as is humanly possible 3) cheer loudly from the sidelines and 4) for the love of everyone involved, stay far away from the soccer ball.

This system has worked well for years. But Saturday told a bit of a different story where Mom and soccer were involved. I had done my part that morning of feeding them all well before games, and then cheering loudly from the sidelines. (Although it was really cold, so instead of cheering very loudly, mostly I was focused on keeping my nose from dripping.)

Because an entire morning of soccer games is apparently just not enough, Matt and the boys decided to start a pick-up game on a small field with a few of their young friends. My kind husband then asked if I would like to join them out on the field.

I hesitated briefly, but given the fact that I am determined to get fit and thought that spending that time on the field with my family might actually be fun, I said yes. After all, I was cold. I figured that I could at least play for a couple of minutes so I could get warmed up a little bit.

One hour and fifteen minutes later, we decided to be finished. Yes, for one hour and fifteen minutes, I played soccer.

Perhaps I should clarify.

On-lookers may not call what I did “playing soccer”. It may have appeared to be more like a crazy 38 year old woman stumbling across a soccer field while occasionally making haphazard foot contact with a rolling ball.

But I’ll have you know – I scored five, yes…count them…FIVE goals. Why yes, I did.

I’m not entirely sure how it happened, because during the entire game, even though my brain often knew just what to do, that message usually didn’t quite make it to my feet. Generally, I felt like my feet were made of cast iron and wouldn’t budge or lift or turn the way I was trying to tell them to. But, since I was on my husband’s team, he obviously did a great job feeding the ball right to my foot so that I could force, flick, or otherwise, fling the ball into the net.

FIVE times!!!

Oh, had I told you that number already?

I should also mention that by the end of our game, I was so tired I could barely walk. And yes, today, I do have some bruises and sore muscles. Playing soccer definitely uses quite a different variety of muscles than does walking, jogging, lifting, and doing work-out videos. And the bruises. I definitely learned why shin guards are required for soccer.

But it doesn’t matter, because I scored five!

And now, while I sit here with ice on my knee, I will work on our menu plan for the week…

Sunday, April 22
Oatmeal, clementines
Bbq meatballs, baked potatoes, green beans, sweet corn
High school huddle – Grilled hamburgers and hotdogs, chips, pickles, olives, carrot sticks, butterscotch bars (x3)

Monday, April 23
Whole wheat pancakes, blueberries
Leftovers
Tuna casserole, peas

Tuesday, April 24
Easy breakfast casserole, oranges
Beef and cheese burritos, pineapple
Taco potatoes, tossed salad

Wednesday, April 25
Chocolate chocolate chip muffins, applesauce
Easy noodle stir fry with carrots and broccoli
Barbeque brisket, cream scalloped potatoes, green beans

Thursday, April 26
Warm vanilla soother, cinnamon swirl toast
Tuna salad on crackers, tomatoes, olives
Baked three cheese chicken pasta, tossed salad

Friday, April 27
Whole wheat donuts, apples
Chicken nuggets, ranch potato wedges, peas
Tacos

Saturday, April 28
Applesauce bread, scrambled eggs
Leftovers
Turkey sausage and red bean stew, cornbread muffins

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Finding Time For Fitness

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In my introductory “Ask the Trainer” post, several of you asked how I have been able to fit workouts into my already busy days.

I truly didn’t think I had time for exercise before this year – and I certainly wasn’t very eager to shift my schedule around much to make time for it. Now if chocolate is involved in an activity, I can make time f0r it – no problem. But exercise? That hasn’t made it consistently onto my priority list since high school. And that was, you know…way back in the 1900’s. ;)

So, how did this happen? For starters, I had to just decide that I was going to be consistent with exercising – plain and simple. I found that it really helped that I was going to be working out with a friend. Accountability is key for me.

It wasn’t long before I started seeing results – mainly a huge increase in my energy level! Then I started noticing that my muscles were more toned. My lungs started to feel stronger. My endurance level increased. My belt needed to be tightened.

Somehow, since I have discovered that I love exercising, the time needed for it has magically appeared. I’m guessing that this is because I’ve decided to make fitness a priority in my life. I’m not really sure what I took out of my schedule in order to add in the workouts, but I have consistently been able to exercise four to six days each week since mid-January. Somehow, I’m still able to get everything else done each day. That probably has something to do with that increased energy I mentioned earlier!

Keep in mind – my children aren’t babies anymore. I think that most people can find at least a little bit of time to exercise each week, but I know that I would not have been able to work out at my current level of intensity a few years ago when my boys were littler. Could I have done something though? Yes, I believe I could have – at least two or three days each week. I sure wish I would have. If I would have only known how good I would feel!

At this point, Jen, my friend and work-out buddy/personal trainer, and I try to work out five to six days a week. Some days we get in about 30 minutes of resistance training (lifting weights). Other days we take long walks – sometimes up to eight miles if we have time. Occasionally we jog part of that walk. Some days we do a 45-minute intense work-out video. Some days, we can’t find time for a workout at all.

Our workout times vary from day to day. We just try to grab those minutes that fit into the schedule, even if it means we can’t start a workout until 9:30 at night. Ha! Recently at a soccer game, she and I decided to go for a jog/walk while we waited for Justus’ team to warm up. Then we took advantage of half-time too. Hey, you gotta make it work whenever you can make it work. And sometimes, while running around a soccer complex in front of dozens of people, you just have to realize that you’re a little bit crazy. (Um, that would be me…not Jen. Although she was with me, so…)

Here’s what Jen (from Getting Fit With Jen) has to say about finding time for fitness:

If fitness and exercise are a priority then it does become easier to find time for it. But that doesn’t mean it is always easy to fit it into your day. You will still have other priorities and responsibilities that you will need to take care. Sometimes exercise has to be fit in around those responsibilities. Sometimes it just needs to be “scheduled” into the day like everything else.

Here are some possibilities for times that might work for you to fit exercise into your busy day:

  1. Get up a half hour to hour earlier! Sometimes it works to get your workout in first thing so that you can continue with the rest of your day like normal.
  2. If you have little ones, maybe you can get your workout in while they are napping. You could also take them with you on a walk or if they are old enough to play at the park let them play while you workout nearby….Read the rest of Jen’s article here.

I totally love point #4 that she shares! That’s how I find that this exercise thing really works most days!

What have you found to be the best time for you to fit in some exercise?

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“I Don’t Have Time to Eat a Healthy Diet”

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It’s an easy excuse to give:  “I don’t have time to eat a healthy diet.”

I get it. I understand. There is a lot going on in life. People are super busy, running from here to there. Many of us are raising children, working full time jobs, and spending a good deal of time going to and from various activities. Cooking and creating healthy meals can take significantly longer than throwing a frozen pizza into the oven or making some ramen noodles. All of this is true.

However…

I really, really, really believe that we can all eat a healthy diet, no matter what our situation in life may be. No excuses.

I didn’t say that we all have to eat a perfect diet. I’m not even sure how that would actually look. But how about we all do the best we can with what we have so that we can be as healthy as possible? Yes?

The way you eat and the way I eat may not look the same. As a matter of fact, the way I eat and feed my family during busier seasons in my life may look different than the way I eat when life is a little more settled. During soccer season, I buy a few extra “compromise” foods just to keep my sanity. And on days when I can’t even tell which end is up? I buy a couple of Wal-mart take and bake pizzas. Those times are rare, because we have made healthy eating a priority in our house. But when all is said and done, I figure that God would prefer me to continue smiling at my children while putting store-bought pizza on their plates, than to be grumbly and stressed while I slap down nutrition-packed asparagus souffle onto their plates. (No, I don’t have a recipe for asparagus souffle, but it does sound like such a healthy choice, doesn’t it?)

Give yourself a break from the guilt of not feeding your family perfectly.

But don’t let the “I’m busy and don’t have time” excuse pull you away from making healthier choices. Most days, I feel like I wrote the book on “busy”. But I’ve decided to make healthy eating happen anyway because it is important to me.

Overall, I have found that healthy eating doesn’t take much more time than eating junk food. It doesn’t take any extra time out to make the choice to use real butter instead of margarine. Or how about the time it takes to grab an apple instead of a cookie? Buying real cheese instead of processed cheese? Eating a salad instead of french fries? Putting a roast and veggies into the crock pot in the morning instead of waiting in line at a fast food drive through at night?

You may not have lots of extra time at home to make all of your meals from scratch, grind your own flour to make bread, raise food in a garden and preserve the produce by canning and freezing – but that doesn’t mean you have to eat junk. All of us, no matter what season in life, no matter what situation – can make healthy choices to improve our diets! Even if you’re just taking baby steps, at least take some steps. (Here are some ideas to get you started.)

Oh, and P.S. Grinding flour is the easiest thing in the world. What? You think I’m grinding it by hand or something?? :)

What are some simple ways you have found to improve your diet that have not taken much (if any) extra time?! What have you found to be the biggest challenges in regard to taking the time for healthy eating?

Guess what? I’ve got loads of healthy eating, time saving ideas to share with you.
Watch for this new feature in upcoming posts!

 

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Gratituesday: Stretching

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I like hiding behind my computer. I feel safe there. I can write freely – which I love to do. And then I can edit if I don’t like how I wrote something. Yes, my computer is very safe.

This is why, the past few months as I’ve been invited to speak to a few different groups of women, I’ve really hesitated. I haven’t felt sure that I had what it took to get up in front of people and speak. I don’t care what size the crowd – public speaking has been intimidating to me.

God knows best, however, and He decided to stretch me in ways that He apparently felt I needed stretching. He’s wise and fun like that.

Here is what I have learned through the past few months. First and foremost:  I must always have a big bottle of water with me because, wow, my mouth always gets super dry when speaking to a crowd. Next:  I may be the one up there doing the talking, but if I can remember to let go of myself (and my nerves), and embrace the fact that the Spirit can take over and do the talking – then we’re really onto something.

Several months ago when I was sharing my desire to simply stay behind my comfortable computer screen and avoid public speaking, my friend Emily said something very empowering to me. “Laura,” she said, “what you do on your blog is wonderful. You have been able to encourage women in so many ways. But just think how much more you can bless them when talking with them face to face.”

Well, shucks. I hadn’t thought of that before. She knew that I had what it took, and I’ve carried that vote of confidence with me ever since.

Satan has still been working to wear me down – just ask those who have had to live with me. I’ve had many moments of being a bit of a basket case leading up to each event, and have, unfortunately, done my fair share of completely freaking out. It has not been pretty, but somehow, my family and friends still love me anyway. God bless ’em.

What I have appreciated most recently is the army of prayer warriors I’ve had behind me. Matt and I took a trip to South Dakota last weekend so that I could speak to a lovely group of ladies there. The week leading up to this event was challenging in many ways, but God continued putting women in my path each day who were happy for me to share my angst. They all pumped me up with encouragement, and more importantly, they promised they would pray.

I wasn’t doing this alone. This has never been about me. God knows what He’s doing every time.

For this, I am thankful.

And as a selfish little aside, I am also thankful that I’ve checked all of my speaking engagements off my calendar for now. Yep, here I am, waving from behind my safe little computer screen. Stretching has been nice, but relaxing again back in my comfort zone is awfully nice too. ;)

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!

 

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Win a Gallon of Organic Virgin Coconut Oil From Tropical Traditions!

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I don’t think it’s a secret that I love Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil and use it allllll the time! Not sure what to do with coconut oil? Read this post. Want to know more about the nutritional qualities of coconut oil? Read this post.

Virgin Coconut Oil, Gold Label – 1 gallon

Want a chance to win a GALLON sized bucket of Tropical Traditions’ highest quality coconut oil? Yes, I figured you might.

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 Monday, April 23. Please watch for a post stating the winner as you will be responsible for contacting me if your name is chosen. 

(disclosure)

Be watching for more exciting “real food” giveaways this week!!
I thought that might be a fun way to motivate you while we get back on track
with our No More Excuses series!

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Menu Plan for the Week (and some excuses regarding the No More Excuses series…)

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Do you realize that it has been over a month since I’ve written anything new in the No More Excuses series I began this year? How ridiculous is that? I do happen to have several excuses I can give you for not taking the time to write these posts about excuses, just in case you’d care to hear them. I’m guessing you wouldn’t though. ;)

However, without sharing my excuses, I would like to apologize. It’s not very cool of me to start a series and then leave you hanging forever. So this week, I will be picking up that series where I left it off. Go catch up on all of the No More Excuses posts to read what I’ve previously written on the topic of giving excuses for not eating a healthy diet.

Ironically, this week, I’ll be writing about the excuse of “I don’t have time to eat healthy food…”. Funny, since I’ve not found the time to write that post, eh? :)

And speaking of not having the time – this week in our new Ask the Trainer feature, we will also be addressing the topic of finding the time to exercise. It seems that there’s a bit of a theme going on around here this week. How…timely. (And wow, how super cheesy was that?!)

While I’m finding the time to write those posts, here is our menu plan for this week:

Sunday, April 15
Baked oatmeal cups, applesauce
Hoagie sandwiches, chips, apples
High School Huddle – Pulled pork sandwiches with bbq sauce, baby carrots with ranch dip, cream cheese corn, grapes, chocolate chip cookies

Monday, April 16
Pancake sausage muffins, blueberries
Healthier cheese dip, chips, grapes
Chicken fried steak strips, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas

Tuesday, April 17
Fried eggs on toast, oranges
Bbq chicken, creamy mac and cheese, strawberry peach slushies
Hamburger sauerkraut dip, chips, veggie tray, homemade ranch dip, chocolate crinkle cookies (I’m hosting Bunco!)

Wednesday, April 18
Honey whole wheat bagels, blueberries
Bean and cheese burritos, raw veggies with ranch
Lasagna, tossed salad, corn

Thursday, April 19
Banana bread, applesauce
Grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup, carrots
Popcorn chicken, stir fried rice and veggies

Friday, April 20
Peanut butter honey toast, oranges
Sloppy joes, potato salad, green beans
Homemade pizza

Saturday, April 21
Scrambled egg sandwiches, apples
Leftovers
Grilled steak, baked potatoes, asparagus

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I’m Getting Fit With Jen – Want To Join Me?!

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Everyone who knew me before January of 2012 knows that I did not like to exercise. No way, no how. Exercise was painful and I was very sure that I didn’t have time for it. That is why, in January of this year, when my friend Jen asked me to join her in her workout routines, I choked, laughed, and ran far, far away.

Well, I didn’t literally run far, far away, because that would have involved exercise, which was not something I ever did. But you know what I mean.

Jen urged me on; she told me how much fun it would be for us to work out together; she told me how much better I would feel.

To which I answered, “Hey, I feel just fine, thankyouverymuch.”

And then I coughed.

Stinkin’ asthma. Which led me to another excuse I’ve always given to avoid exercise – it would trigger my asthma.

So no thanks on the workouts. I would simply continue eating a wonderful diet of nutrition packed foods. That is all I needed to be healthy.

Well, Jen is almost as stubborn as I am, and so she nicely pushed and told me to think about it some more. She promised to go easy on me, but felt sure that I wouldn’t regret the decision to become more active. Matt agreed with Jen, knowing that I would benefit greatly and become stronger from the workouts. He’s been forever concerned about my lungs and asthma. He was also not nearly as convinced as I had been that simply eating a healthy diet (and skipping the exercise) would keep me healthy.

I finally agreed reluctantly to give this workout thing a try – mainly because I knew that my lungs and overall body needed to get into shape. I figured I would last a total of two and a half days, and then I could move on back into my happy place – my comfortable kitchen where I would always and forevermore be content baking muffins and reading school books to my children.

Twelve weeks and approximately 55 workouts later, all I have to say is this:  Jen is a miracle worker. The girl has made me fall in love with exercise. She’s whipped me into shape, and she’s somehow figured out how to make it fun.

It didn’t take long at all for me to notice a difference in how I was feeling. In fact, I feel better than I have felt in years. I have loads of energy. I’m standing straighter. I’ve had to tighten my belt two notches.

We’ve been walking, lifting weights, and doing workout videos. Jen is so gifted at this personal trainer business that she is now working toward becoming a Certified Personal Trainer. I am so excited for her!

And guess what? I’m so nice that I’ve decided to share her with you. (Just so long as she doesn’t get so busy that I can’t get my workouts in – because look out world! I am addicted to exercise!)

I recommend that you check out her website, Getting Fit With Jen. Read the great information she shares on fitness and look into the services she provides. (Yes, she can even be your long-distance personal trainer.)

And guess what else? Because I am finally recognizing that simply eating healthy is not enough, in an effort to complete the whole healthy package around here at Heavenly Homemakers, Jen has agreed to help me out with a new feature here:  Ask the Trainer

If you are like I was, you may have no idea where to start on your fitness journey. You may wonder how you can even schedule exercise into your already very busy life. You may wonder how to involve your children. You may have all kinds of questions about working out and exercise – I know I sure did. I can’t believe how much Jen has taught me in such a short time.

So here’s how we’re getting started with this today. First, make a decision – are you ready to get fit? I realize that this may not be an easy decision for some. But oh how I hope you’ll join me on this journey! You won’t regret it. Next, what questions do you have that you’d like Jen to address in this new “Ask the Trainer” feature?

Let the comments begin. Who’s ready to get fit!?

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Baked Oatmeal Cups (Bird’s Nests)

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Baked Oatmeal Cups are perfect for a spring breakfast.

Baked_Oatmeal_Cups

My four boys are just about getting too old to appreciate anything cutesy I try to make with food.

When they get up in the morning, they bound into the kitchen, excited to see a big pile of bacon on a tray with a dozen scrambled eggs and mountain of pancakes. Does it really matter to them if I tried to arrange the food in such a way as to make the platter look pretty? Do they even care that I woke up extra early, and lovingly mustered all of my artistic ability to form the pancakes into the shape of the country of India? After all, we’ve all been enjoying our studies about William Carey and his missionary efforts there. Who wouldn’t have fun smearing butter all over Calcutta? I figured they’d be thrilled!

But no. They don’t care at all. They just want me to hurry up and pass them the maple syrup and while I’m at it, another slice of bacon.

I’m telling you, I am sooooo unappreciated around here. From now on, I think I’ll just flip some boring ol’ round pancakes straight off the griddle and onto their plates ten feet away. I’ll skip the serving platter. I won’t mess with a lovely presentation of fruit arranged on a plate in the shape of a clown face. They can just stuff their faces with “normal” food for all I care.

Hmmph.

Now that I’ve thrown a fit that is so becoming of a grown-up, I suppose I should now confess that my intentions and my artistic abilities are not even close to being able to pull off much of the above. I’ve never really attempted to make pancakes into the shape of India – or any other country for that matter. Incidentally, I did turn out the state of Texas once, but that was totally an accident and as usually happens when I have not gone out of my way one little bit, my boys were actually quite impressed.

“Whoa Mom! You made a Texas pancake! Can you make me a Maryland and an Idaho next?”

I obviously got right on that, but ended up instead with a lopsided gourd and another pancake that resembled the fuzz under my couch. I gave up at that point and figured they could chew the pancakes into the shapes of their requested states, because really, have you ever tried to pour Florida onto a griddle with a spoon?

This leads me to the special breakfast I made recently in an effort to be cute. It is spring after all. Doesn’t the idea of eating a bird’s nest for breakfast sound simply delightful?

Okay fine. We can just call these Baked Oatmeal Cups. Either way, these are easy to throw together and are versatile enough to add variety and meet your family’s taste preferences.

Baked Oatmeal Cups (or Bird’s Nests if you’re feeling cute)Yum

5.0 from 1 reviews
Baked Oatmeal Cups (Bird's Nests)
 
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Author:
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 2 cups rolled oats
  • ½ cup sucanat or honey
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 eggs
  • ¾ cup milk
  • ⅓ cup melted butter
  • Topping choices: mini chocolate chips, raisins, other dried fruit, coconut flakes, apple chunks
Instructions
  1. Mix together oats, sucanat, salt and baking powder.
  2. Stir in eggs, milk, and melted butter.
  3. Scoop batter into 12 paper lined muffin cups.
  4. Sprinkle toppings of choice into the center of each cup.
  5. Bake in a 350° for about 30 minutes, or until the oats are golden brown.

These are easier to eat with a fork, unless you like cleaning partial bird’s nests up off of your table and floor.

If you prefer, simply spread the mixture into a 9×9 inch baking pan. Bake in a 350° oven for 25-30 minutes.

Do you try to be cute when you cook and bake at your house? And how do those efforts go over for you? Ever tried to make India out of pancake batter?

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Gratituesday: God is Faithful

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I have so much to be thankful for and truly, when I look at the big picture that is my life – all is well. Life is good. I have Jesus in my life, I have the best husband in the world, my children are incredible, healthy, and happy. I am so blessed that I can hardly see straight through the beauty and gifts around me.

But today has been a challenge for me. I am emotionally exhausted. Even though doing the right thing is the right thing to do, it can also be very hard. (I’m pretty sure you’ll need to read that sentence three times for it to make sense.)

God is faithful. He never asks us to do something difficult, and then shoves us away to muddle through it on our own. Never.

God is faithful. When we pray for something, and the answer is “no” – He is waiting to comfort us, because truly, our Father knows what is best for our lives.

I mess up. Life doesn’t always go the way we think it should or wish it would. But God is faithful. And because of that hope, I can sleep peacefully tonight.

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