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Star Wars Mad Libs (the perfect “parts of speech” lesson for our boys)

November 29, 2011 by Laura 4 Comments

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

At our house we love Star Wars. Because I have a houseful of boys, I’m sure you’re not surprised. We have Star Wars movies, games, books, and Legos. We LOVE Star Wars Lego Sets. (And by we, I really mean they, but still.)

One of my boys just came across this Star Wars Mad Libs book on Amazon. This will be a perfect stocking stuffer. I find that Mad Libs are a fantastic way to squeeze in some fun grammar lessons with the kids. They have to think creatively to come up with nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, etc. – and it all comes together in a hilarious story. Throw Yoda and Darth Vader into the mix and well, it’ll be awesome.

If you need more than one, I also found this one and this one. And look – Indiana Jones Mad Libs! Okay, this is going to be fun. (Don’t tell they boys they’re getting an English Lesson in their stockings.)

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Gratituesday: The Tradition

November 28, 2011 by Laura 22 Comments

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Four trips to Walmart. One day.

Why? To carry on the fun tradition our family started three years ago.

All last week, our boys were working on their lists. First, they each wrote a “wish list” of possible gifts for others to purchase for them. Then they exchanged lists and spent time figuring out what they’d like to get for each brother. On Friday afternoon (after the morning crowd cleared!), I took one boy at a time to do their Christmas shopping for each other. I’d drop the one off at home, then pick up another and head back to the store. (Yes, the same greeter was there all four times. We’re like BFFs now.)

I love this time with each of my boys. I love having one-on-one time with each of them. I love the opportunity to talk with them about budgets, spending, and giving. With the exception of Malachi (who doesn’t yet have any source of income or receive an allowance yet), the boys spent their own hard earned money on these presents. I love seeing their generosity and thoughtfulness. (Even if, deep down, they’re excited to be able to play with whatever gifts they purchase for their brothers!)

This has quickly become one of my favorite family traditions. What are yours?

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!

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Homemade Peppermint Patties

November 27, 2011 by Laura 44 Comments

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Yum

This post is all Amy’s fault. ;)  She linked to a recipe for peppermint patties last week and made me very hungry for them. I figured you wouldn’t mind me testing and adapting the recipe, then sharing it with you. These would be perfect holiday treats to make and share with co-workers or neighbors, or to wrap up to take to a gift exchange.

This recipe actually calls for leftover mashed potatoes – how fun is that? Since I had a pound or four of mashed potatoes left over after Thanksgiving, I decided I could spare the 1/2 cup needed to make this recipe.

But before we go any further, I need to let you know that this recipe is a little different from those that I usually share. There is not much about this recipe that is healthy. These peppermint patties consist mostly of sugar. Do not make this recipe and serve it to your family for breakfast. Do not assume that since there are mashed potatoes in these, they can be considered a vegetable to be served as a side dish to your pot roast. Do not sit down and eat this whole batch by yourself. Do not make this recipe very often, for these patties are addicting. I will not be held responsible for you getting sick off of homemade peppermint patties. In fact, I hereby relinquish any responsibility for influencing you to make these. Just because a recipe is posted here does not mean you have to make it. Nobody here is forcing you to get out your mixing bowl. Actually, you really shouldn’t make these at all. No. You should just read through this post, then nod and smile. Then you should promptly move on to read about something less sugary, like this Angel Ornament post.

Yes, whatever you do, do not make these peppermint patties.

Peppermint Patties 2

Homemade Peppermint Patties (adapted from Domesticated)

1/2 cup leftover mashed potatoes
1 Tablespoon melted butter
2 teaspoons peppermint extract
5 cups powdered sugar (told you there was a lot of sugar)
1 cup chocolate chips
1 Tablespoon coconut oil or palm shortening

Stir together the mashed potatoes, butter, peppermint oil and powdered sugar to form a thick dough. Spoon a teaspoon at a time onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. (I was able to form 38 teaspoon sized patties from this dough.)

Press down the dough and shape as small patties. Refrigerate for 3 hours, or freeze for 45 minutes.

On the stove top, melt together the chocolate chips and oil. Dip the chilled patties into the chocolate to cover them. Chill until set. Admire the peppermint patties, but do not eat them. Do not even lick your fingers.

Good luck with that. ;)

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Menu Plan for the Week

November 27, 2011 by Laura 4 Comments

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All last week, I cooked, and I cooked, and I baked – and I loved it all. But once Thanksgiving day was over, I felt ready for a break from preparing food! I didn’t cook a thing on Friday, and we instead ate leftovers (which I let everyone warm up on their own). On Saturday, I sucked it up and took the time to make Turkey and Noodles (just like my Chicken and Noodles recipe) from the leftovers. And now that I’m working on our menu plan for this week, I’ll admit that I’m having  a hard time motivating myself. Maybe I’ll resort to my Mac and Cheese solution this week? ;)

Sunday, November 27
Oatmeal, pears
Taco salad (because I’m feeling rebellious against turkey and I feel like a salad)
Turkey veggie quesadillas (because I think I can handle turkey again after eating some beef for lunch)

Monday, November 28
Simple soaked pancakes, blueberries
Corn dog muffins, carrot sticks, applesauce
Turkey alfredo with pasta, steamed broccoli and carrots

Tuesday, November 29
Honey whole wheat bagels, apple slices
Tuna salad on crispy cheese crackers, fruit salad
Creamy turkey and rice casserole, green beans

Wednesday, November 30
Scrambled eggs, creamy orange cooler
Bean and cheese burritos, peaches
Taco potatoes

Thursday, December 1
Warm vanilla soother, toast
Homemade beef bologna, cheese, crackers, apples
Italian pasta bake, tossed salad

Friday, December 2
Sweet potato streusel muffins, applesauce
Chicken tortilla soup, raw veggies
Hamburgers, homemade fries, carrots

Saturday, December 3
Whole wheat donuts
Leftovers
Steak fajitas

What’s on your menu this week?

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My Mac and Cheese Solution (Have You Used Your VitaCost Credit?)

November 26, 2011 by Laura 10 Comments

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

Did you get your free $10 credit from VitaCost? If not, check into how this works here. Here’s one idea for using your $10 credit to receive a good deal for a little bit of “holiday-time convenience”.

You know that I always make a homemade recipe for healthy Creamy Mac and Cheese. It’s easy, inexpensive, and tastes great. It doesn’t take any longer to make than boxed mac and cheese – and it’s healthier.

However, during the next few weeks, life is going to be busy. No matter how I organize my days, December is just full. I decided to use some of my VitaCost credit last week to purchase some Annie’s boxed mac and cheese. Why did I do this, when making homemade Creamy Mac and Cheese takes the same amount of time? I did this because I can hand the boxes of Annie’s Mac and Cheese to my older boys and let them cook it for lunch on a day I’m too busy to stop and fix lunch.

Ah-hah! Yes, these are the times I resort to the occasional boxed convenience food. At least it’s Annie’s. ;)

If you haven’t used your $10 VitaCost Credit – you can put six boxes of Annie’s Mac and Cheese worth $1.75 each, into your cart. This will amount to $10.50. Then, enter the $10 coupon code VitaCost sent you when you signed up, which will take your total down to $0.50. With the $4.99 shipping, you’ll be paying only $0.92 per box of Annie’s. This may not be a good price where you live, but for me, it definitely is a good deal.

How have you spent your $10 VitaCost Credit? If you haven’t received your credit yet, click here to get yours. VitaCost has 35,000 healthy and organic food/supplement/bath products to choose from. They are a great online food resource!

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

Thanksgiving Preparations

November 23, 2011 by Laura 14 Comments

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

Just in case you’re interested in my cooking plan for our holiday meal, here’s a little look inside my brain at how I have organized myself to get the meal on the table for Thanksgiving. I figured I needed to make the lists anyway – might as well bore you with them. ;)  Thankfully, everything from the Saturday through Wednesday lists are completed!

Saturday – Cook Thanksgiving turkey

Monday – Finish all Thanksgiving meal shopping

Wednesday –

  • Make Pumpkin Pies
  • Make Chocolate Pie
  • Make Cheesecake
  • Put together Green Bean Casserole (recipe found in Holiday Hospitality eBook)
  • Bake sweet potatoes, mash and have ready to rewarm tomorrow
  • Prep Stuffing (recipe found in Holiday Hospitality eBook)
  • Peel potatoes and put in water for tomorrow
  • Get cooked turkey out of freezer to thaw

Thursday Morning –

  • Make a double batch of rolls (recipe in Holiday Hospitality eBook)
  • Set out butter to soften
  • Cook and mash potatoes – put into crock-pot to keep warm
  • Cook corn for Cream Cheese Corn (recipe in Holiday Hospitality eBook)
  • Bake stuffing
  • Rewarm turkey
  • Bake Green Bean Casserole
  • Rewarm sweet potatoes
  • Make gravy
  • Whip cream for desserts
  • Have boys set up tables and prep plates, napkins, etc.
  • Do whatever else I’ve forgotten to do….

{I’m not really trying to be annoying by  putting (recipe in Holiday Hospitality eBook) several times in the above lists, but many have asked about those recipes and I thought I’d curb more of those questions by letting you know where to find those recipes. If you’re interested in that eBook, great, but – wink, wink – wait until at least Friday to purchase so that you’ll save a few bucks!!}

Here are my cooking and baking pictures from today. I had lots of fun and my feet are a little bit tired from standing so much. ;)

Below, it looks like I made six pumpkin pies – but really, there are just three. I have a big mirror in my kitchen, and I thought it would be fun to take the picture there to make it look like I got carried away with pumpkin pies.

Pictured with the cheesecake in the following picture is a batch of chocolate chip cookies. One college girl that is around town this week isn’t able to come for our Thanksgiving meal, but she really (really) likes my chocolate chip cookies. I made some to serve at lunch today (Wednesday) when she joined us.


It’s not likely that we’ll run out of desserts. I made this chocolate pudding recipe and poured it over a graham cracker crust for a “chocolate pie”. It ended up in a rectangle dish because I was out of pie pans. :)

I am so excited to eat this healthier version of Green Bean Casserole! Why don’t I make this more often?

Peeling and prepping our potatoes ahead of time is a tip I learned from my former hair dresser many eons ago. I love getting this chore out of the way a day early!

I baked three small sweet potatoes and only ended up with a small dish of them to serve tomorrow. I don’t think this will be the most popular part of the meal anyway, so a small amount will hopefully be fine.

Last but not least, I made dressing – for what I believe is my very first time! My sister-in-law has a wonderful recipe, which she shared for my Holiday Hospitality ebook. It is so easy, I’m not sure why I haven’t tried it before.

And now, I look forward to a good night’s sleep before I get up and tackle my Thursday list. How are your holiday preparations coming?

I’m thankful for all of you and pray that you have a wonderful, blessed Thanksgiving holiday!

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Gratituesday: The Growing List

November 21, 2011 by Laura 21 Comments

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

We intentionally didn’t make big plans for Thanksgiving this year. We’ll do a little traveling during the Christmas season, but for Thanksgiving, we decided to stay home with no plans, and to rest.

Our “no-plan” plan was to just see who needed a place to go for Thanksgiving, and to invite them over. By the end of last week, we had the grand total of one person joining us for the holiday. This was fine, but really, if I’m going to be baking and cooking a big meal anyway, I’d rather be baking and cooking for more than just the six of us plus one.

I mean, you should see the huge turkey Tropical Traditions sent us. (More info on that in a couple of days!)  This turkey needs more than just seven people eating it.

Sunday, Matt and I went to church with intentions of seeking out anyone who didn’t have Thanksgiving plans. By the time we left, we were excited to have made plans with several more college students who previously had no plan except for the possibility of ramen noodles on Thursday. One girl was so thrilled to be invited that she texted her mom right then and there tell her that, yay! there was no need to worry because she now had a Thanksgiving plan. Shucks, I wish I could have given her mom a little peace about that earlier.

This afternoon, our list grew by two more.

I know I’m a little silly about this, but as the list grows, so does my excitement. We’ll have a nice big group of college students joining us Thursday to share our huge turkey, and all the other goodies that must be a part of Thanksgiving.

I am so thankful we can be a part of this blessing to the students. Little do they know that their accepting our invitation and joining us on this special day is a wonderful blessing to us as well.

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!

If you are linking up a blog post for Gratituesday,
please copy and paste the following sentence into your post! Thanks!

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Gifts in a Jar eBook – the FREE Download is Here!

November 20, 2011 by Laura 45 Comments

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

Our Gifts in a Jar eBook is now complete and ready for download! This eBook is free for everyone and absolutely full of inexpensive and clever homemade gift ideas, inspired by you!

A huge thank you goes out to all of you who took the time to provide wonderful pictures and instructions to include in this eBook. This eBook includes wonderful gift ideas such as pudding mix, bath salts, diaper rash ointment, cookie mix, seasoning mixes, chai mix, soup mixes, facials, hot fudge and much more. Your creativity never ceases to amaze me, and I am very grateful for the help you all gave to make this eBook fun and helpful!

Click the link below to download this free eBook.

Download Gifts in a Jar eBook HERE

 

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Menu Plan for the Week

November 20, 2011 by Laura 13 Comments

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

For our Marriage Class treat this morning, I decided to make a variation of my Oatmeal Butterscotch Chip Cookie recipe. Instead of butterscotch chips, I used chocolate. And, instead of making the batter into cookies, I pressed it all into a 9×13 pan and baked for 20 minutes. The results were terrific. We have exactly two small cookie bars left. ;)

This week will be a little bit different in that:

  • High School Huddle will be combined with Middle School Huddle, so several of us are combining our efforts to feed the larger group. I feel like I have “the night off” since I’m only taking a few things that I purchased from the store.
  • Our local college has the week off, but some of the sports teams are still in town for a few days. We’re hoping to feed the ladies’ basketball team sometime this week. I’ve “penciled” them into Monday’s lunch, but may need to rearrange this plan once I nail down the extact time with the coach.
  • We’ll be sticking around here for Thanksgiving and have several college students to join us for our big meal.

I’ll try to take a few pictures throughout the week to document our Thanksgiving meal prep – IF I have my act together enough to cook and take pics. I did actually get our turkey baked and deboned yesterday. It’s always great to get that job out of the way! :)

Here are plans for this week:

Sunday, November 20
Marriage class treat – Oatmeal chocolate chip bars
Lunch – Cheeseburger macaroni, steamed broccoli and carrots
Huddle – combined with middle school – taking cheese, crackers, carrots and ranch

Monday, November 21
Multi-grain pumpkin waffles
Bball team? – Sloppy Joes, relish tray (carrots, broccoli, olives, pickles), potato salad, chocolate chip cookies
Chicken fried steak strips, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas

Tuesday, November 22
Coconut flour banana muffins, apples
Grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup
Tacos

Wednesday, November 23
Easy breakfast casserole, oranges
Clean out the fridge while Mom preps food for tomorrow!
Chicken noodle soup, carrots

Thursday, November 24
Cereal, so Mom can focus on cooking the good stuff  :)
Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, cream cheese corn, stuffing, sweet potatoes, homemade whole wheat rolls, pumpkin pie, chocolate pie, cheesecake
Leftovers

Friday, November 25
Scrambled eggs with cheese, creamy orange cooler
Leftovers
Hamburgers, ranch potato wedges, carrots

Saturday, November 26
Whole wheat sourdough biscuits with butter and honey, fruit
Leftovers (unless we’re sick of them – or have eaten them all – by now!)
Lamb burger patties, green beans, fried okra

What are your Thanksgiving plans this year?

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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake

November 19, 2011 by Laura 18 Comments

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

pumpkin_chocolate_chip_cake_2

Yum

It could be that I’ve been going a little overboard on the pumpkin recipes recently. I can’t help it. Between the pumpkins we got at the pumpkin patch this year, the awesome home grown pumpkins my friend shared with me, and my newly found easy method for cooking a whole pumpkin – I’ve had lots of pumpkin puree to play with. Yes, my house smells like the holidays. No one seems to mind.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake (adapted from Diva Entertains Blog)

2/3 cup butter or coconut oil, melted
1 1/2 cups sucanat or brown sugar
4 eggs
2 cups pumpkin puree
2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup milk or water
1 cup chocolate chips (I use either homemade chips or these these soy free chocolate chips)

Cream together butter and sucanat. Beat in eggs and pumpkin puree. Add flour, baking powder, salt, spices, vanilla and milk – beating until well combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Pour batter into a well buttered 9×13″ baking pan. Bake in a 350° oven for 25-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Serve as it is…

Or top with whipped cream…

What’s your preference? With cream or without? I’ll take three dollops, myself.

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