Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

How Many Calories in a Recipe?

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I have been excited to welcome back Say Mmm as a sponsor here at Heavenly Homemakers. Say Mmm is a site that can help you with meal planning and grocery list making – all for free! Plus, I’m excited to see that they’ve recently completed and launched a brand new feature on their site that is sure to be very helpful to many of you.

I’m often asked how many calories are in my recipes. My answer is always:  I have no idea. Counting calories isn’t something I usually talk about because not all calories are created equal. Still, if you want to know a calorie count on my recipes, it would be nice to offer a suggestion of how to figure it out.

Well, here it is! Check out this new page at Say Mmm. To see how it works, copy and paste the following URL into the box on their site:  https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/pancake-and-sausage-muffins

Next, click “GO!” and immediately you’ll see a grocery list for everything you need to make my Pancake Sausage Muffins, plus a break down of the calories and other information you might be looking for. Isn’t that nifty? I can’t believe how fast it is. And how handy that the grocery list is all laid out and ready to go too!

I encourage you to sign up to use the Say Mmm site – it’s free and a great site to aid you in kitchen organization!

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

Gratituesday: Focusing on the Positive

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Today was a great day! Matt and the boys spent the afternoon raking leaves for an elderly lady. I got a wonderful, encouraging phone call from a friend. I was able to get a lot of work done on the Gift in a Jar eBook. We’re making plans for a visit with far-away cousins at Christmas time.

Why is it then, even though there are many, many positives in my life, I find that it can still be easier to focus on the negative? Another marriage is in crisis. Our friend is going through radiation. My house can’t stay clean for longer than two minutes. The potatoes boiled over again, making the kitchen smoke and stink. I’m tripping over the jackets that didn’t get put away.

Instead of focusing on the delights on my life, this is instead where my thoughts dwell.

So I repent, and work to recall the joys that fill my life.

My life is full of blessing. By focusing my heart on the positive, I am better able to minister to others, meet the needs of my family, and even cheerfully clean the crusty mess on my stovetop.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians  4:8

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!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

 

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By Whose Standard?

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I do not get up before dawn each morning. Instead, I sleep until my body is well rested, and then I get out of bed. (It’s a novel idea – you should try it. I call it my “we’re often up late and if I don’t get enough sleep I get sick so this is how I avoid coming down with pneumonia strategy”.)  For a long time, I’ve struggled with the way my “sleeping in” looks to others. If I’m just getting out of bed at 7:45 am, might some think I am being lazy? Maybe, although, if you’re feeling brave, ask my husband if I’m lazy. He’s likely to ask you how long you’ve got so that he can give you a detailed run-down of what my days look like. ;)

The real question should be, do you or your uncle or your neighbor’s cousin’s dog really care what time I get up in the morning? Do I really think there are people sitting at their desk or at their kitchen table drinking coffee, pondering what time Laura gets up each morning? If I think that people are actually doing this, how self-focused am I anyway?

Do you ever worry about stuff like this? Are there decisions you’ve made in your life that you feel good about, or are even convicted about, yet you worry about what others might think of your decision?

For instance, I love schooling my kids at home and grinding flour to make our bread and baked goods from scratch. I feel called by God to do these things for my family. But I promise that I don’t sit at my kitchen table drinking coffee, pondering the fact that you might send your kids to school, buy white bread from the store or hand your kids a Twinkie for an afternoon snack. You know why I’m not pondering your choices over a cup of coffee? Because I trust that you are living your life the way you feel God is calling you to live. And also because I don’t like coffee.

The question is then, are we all walking around judging each other, or are we all just walking around thinking that everyone else is judging? Do we look at what others are doing and feel “less than” because we aren’t doing what they seem to be doing? If so, by whose standard are we living and by whose criteria are we making choices?

If we’re spending time worrying about what others think of us, it seems to me that we’re wasting a lot of God-given time that could be used in a much more productive way for the Kingdom.

I am working to believe that it really doesn’t matter what others think about the way I live my life. What matters in my life is that I am following God’s calling for me according to scripture. What matters is that I am listening to what He is asking me to do, serving the people He puts in my path to serve, and honoring Him in my choices and actions.

By whose standard are you living?

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Menu Plan for the Week and Still Looking for Homemade Vanilla?

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I’d like to offer a huge thank you to everyone who made our morning so much fun yesterday. Our entire stock of Vanilla Extract sold within just a few hours, thanks to you! For those of you who missed out, there are three more options for you:

1. Wait until February when we’ll have another batch ready to sell here.

2. Learn how to make your own vanilla extract. This is so much fun, very easy and cuts your cost down significantly. The vanilla beans may seem expensive initially, but I’ve learned that by making homemade vanilla, my cost is at least half what I’d pay for store bought vanilla. (Plus, you can get a discount on your vanilla bean purchase – read how this works!)

3. Check out this post in which I shared about my friend Jill’s homemade vanilla. She is the wonderful lady who taught me how to make vanilla, and she has some bottles available!

In other news, I baked a few more pumpkins yesterday for pies and muffins. Note to self (and to whoever else might benefit from this advice):  Do not forget your pumpkins and leave them baking for five hours while you visit with a friend and make a trip to the store. Your pumpkins will turn black.

Ask me how I know this.

I’m happy to report that the pumpkins were only black on the outside and still worth using on the inside, even if they were a little darker orange than preferred. Perhaps this is where the color “burnt orange” originated?

The pumpkin puree still worked great to make Pumpkin Pecan Pie Squares this morning for our class, thankfully. ;)

Here’s our menu for this week:

Sunday, November 13
Marriage class treat – Pumpkin Pecan Pie Squares
Roasted chicken, carrots, potatoes, gravy
High School Huddle – Sloppy Joes (x4), chips, pickles, olives, carrots with ranch dressing, pear slices, butterscotch bars (x3)

Monday, November 14
Mini apple pies, cheese slices
Pizza casserole, tossed salad
Creamy chicken and rice casserole, green beans

Tuesday, November 15
Coconut flour muffins, pears
Chicken burritos, apples, carrots
Shepherds pie, tossed salad

Wednesday, November 16
Crustless breakfast quiches, creamy orange cooler
Baked potatoes with cheese and sour cream, peas
Teriyaki chicken and vegetables with rice

Thursday, November 17
Mini breakfast pizza, oranges
Turkey ranch pinwheels, fruit salad
Turkey sausage and red bean stew, tossed salad

Friday, November 18
Fried eggs on toast, fruit-kefir smoothies
Sub sandwiches, apples, carrots, fruit leather
Popcorn chicken, ranch potato wedges, steamed carrots and broccoli

Saturday, November 19
Multi-grain pumpkin waffles
Leftovers
Easy noodle stir fry with veggies

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Uplift Your Spouse in Prayer

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~Appreciate Your Spouse~Buoyancy in Marriage~Consult Your Partner~
~Dream Together Part One ~Dream Together Part Two~Empower Your Spouse~
~Have Fun With Your Spouse~Give to One Another~Honor Each Other~
~Be Intentional~Jubilee~Kingdom Focused~Listen~~Mentor Relationships~
~Nourish~Own It~Pray With Each Other~Quick to Listen~Read Together~Selfless~Teamwork~

Uplift Your Spouse in Prayer

Intercessory Prayer – Matt’s Thoughts

Blogs are great because run-on sentences are acceptable. So, here goes.

I pray for my children, the elders of my local church, the movers and shakers of our country, those with specifics needs I know about. I pray for those in tragedies many miles away because that is sometimes the only way I can help. But I feel like I can pray best for myself and the one I know most intimately, the one I share the most joy and pain with, the one I’ve failed the most, the one who needs my grace, the one I’m teaming up with to parent our children, the one who lives with my annoying habits, the one encouraging and sharpening me in my faith, the one who vowed for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health until death do us part, the one I committed myself to for life, the one…praying for me.

No Greater Gift – Laura’s Thoughts

Wives, we can try to do all the right things. We can cook his favorite meals, work to manage our home in a way that is most pleasing to him, and try to meet his needs in all the ways he prefers. But none of these tasks are as important to our healthy marriage as making it a priority to pray for our husband’s needs, and asking God to grow his character into the godly man he needs to be.

Husbands, you can be a hard worker, provide well for your family, help out around the house, and work to meet your wife’s needs in all the ways she prefers. But if you are not praying for her, bringing her needs before the Father, asking God to work in her heart for His purposes…something vitally important will be lacking in your marriage relationship.

There is no greater gift we can give our spouse than the gift of prayer. Uplift one another before God. He’s waiting to hear you and to work in your relationship in mighty ways.

Ladies, we know you’re reading here more often than the guys. ;)  We’d love husbands to read this article as well. If you feel so inclined please send the link to your husbands, or if it’s easier, we’ve created a downloadable article for you to quickly print off and share. Healthy Marriage Tips A to Z – Uplift

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

Healthy Crock Pot Recipe: Italian Cream Cheese Chicken

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You’re about to learn about my amazing Italian Cream Cheese Chicken recipe – one of my family’s favorite meals!

If you didn’t know it already, after reading this recipe it will be very clear to you that I am not afraid to cook with, serve my family, or eat high fat foods. Welcome to a recipe that includes butter, cream and cream cheese. Oh yes, that’s why it tastes so good.

If you are afraid of fats, I’d love to assure you of how healthy it is to eat these whole, natural foods. There’s a big difference in the fat you consume at McGreasies and fat which is whole and natural. Our bodies, skin and hair need healthy fats in order to thrive. Here is a post I wrote a while ago regarding butter and cream – and if you’d like to read through my entire series of Getting Real with Food posts, you can do that here.

Ah, and I have to laugh at myself because while this recipe calls for butter, cream and cream cheese – it also calls for boneless, skinless chicken breasts, which always makes me think of low-fat cooking. I’m not afraid of the fat in the skin of a chicken, nor am I afraid of cooking a chicken with bones – but I don’t really prefer pieces of bone or skin in my pasta dishes. Therefore, I find that boneless, skinless chicken works best in this recipe. ;)

Italian Cream Cheese ChickenYum

Healthy Crock Pot Recipe: Italian Cream Cheese Chicken
 
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Author:
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 2 Tablespoons dry Italian Dressing Mix
  • ½ cup butter
  • 1½ cups cream
  • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
Instructions
  1. Place chicken, dressing mix and butter in a crock pot. (I used my homemade Italian Dressing Mix to make this dish.)
  2. Cook for 6 hours on low or 4 hours on high.
  3. Shred chicken with a knife and fork. Add cream and cream cheese to the chicken and stir.
  4. Cook for ½ hour longer on low.
  5. Serve with whole grain noodles or brown rice.

Italian Cream Cheese Chicken

What are the fats you include in your healthy diet?

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Cooking Healthy Meals When the Meal Plan Fails

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I do a pretty consistent job of creating a menu plan each week, but while keeping up with a pretty busy schedule, I don’t always execute the plan perfectly. Eating out or ordering pizza when the meal plan fails is not in our budget. Instead, I always try to have ingredients on hand for quick meals that will give us nourishment, even if the day has gotten away from me and the frozen chicken is still frozen. (Fact – A frozen chicken will remain frozen if left in a frozen environment.)

Click on this link to see a full, detailed list of the freezer, fridge and pantry items I try to always keep on hand, but I find that if I at least have the following ingredients, I can throw together a nice variety of meals with very little planning involved:

  • Wheat or other grains (to grind into flour)
  • Milk
  • Eggs
  • Whole Wheat Pasta
  • Butter
  • Tomato Sauce
  • Cheese
  • Frozen veggies
  • Fruit (fresh and frozen)
  • Canned Salmon
  • Canned Tuna
  • Hamburger Meat

Here’s a list of simple, nourishing meals I can make with these ingredients:

  • Pancakes and scrambled eggs – using this pancake recipe, but skipping the soaking part
  • Italian Pasta Bake – without meat if I don’t have time to thaw and cook hamburger
  • Salmon Patties with frozen veggies
  • Creamy Mac and Cheese with frozen veggies
  • Tuna Casserole – using the creamy mac and cheese recipe with a can or two of tuna
  • Fried eggs with fruit smoothies
  • Quesadillas – if I have tortillas on hand
  • Hamburger patties with vegetables

None of these meal ideas take much time or energy to make, nor do they create much of a mess in the kitchen. I love having these ideas as “back up” meals for those times when I fail to stick with the menu plan. (And now, I’m going to go get a chicken out of the freezer for tomorrow.)

9 Healthy Meals to Make Without Planning Ahead

What are your favorite meals to fall back on when your dinner plan falls through? What ingredients do you like to have on hand for meals like this?

Update:  If you have the ingredients for it, these Black Bean Chicken Nachos are great when made last minute. :)

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Gratituesday: The Decision

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Matt and I are self-employed, running a variety of businesses as a means to provide for our family’s needs. We own storage units which we rent out; Matt does lawn care/snow removal for several individuals and downtown businesses; and together, we work the business end of Heavenly Homemakers. Matt also helps coach our local ladies’ soccer team, does small construction jobs for people occasionally and does a wide variety of other odd jobs depending on time and need. When people ask, “What’s Matt doing these days now that he’s not working at Southside Grille?”, I find it a little bit difficult to give them a short answer. He’s definitely not just doing one thing, nor does he really have a specific “job title”. We both stay very busy with work, but it is definitely quite different than having a job.

Because Matt has a business mind and is very “visionary”, we are often looking into other business and investment opportunities. I love how my husband thinks “outside of the box”. I feel very secure with Matt as our provider, because he is an incredibly hard worker and has an unlimited number of ideas for ways to create income for our family.

For the past six months or so, we’ve been working toward a possible investment opportunity. We’ve put hours of time, prayer, discussion, number crunching and research into making a decision about purchasing a local, downtown commercial property. Matt saw great potential in making this investment and had a vision for improving the building in many ways so that it would provide additional income. Not only have we considered this purchase, we actually made two offers over the course of the past few weeks. The offers were countered and a few days ago, we came to a cross-road in this decision:  make a higher offer and more compromises on our end…or choose to walk away.

A higher offer still would have been a pretty good deal for us overall. The income potential from this property was promising, as long as Matt could spend the time needed to improve the building and the business to create these extra income opportunities.

And that’s when it hit us – We are already maxed out. Our boys, our marriage, the ministries we’re involved in, obligations, our current businesses, our own home improvements and to-do lists – they all need Matt. We should not take on something this large at this time.

I’m sharing this with you because I thought you might appreciate knowing what we’ve been working through for the past several months. Now that we have made our final decision on this matter, we feel content with our decision. There is peace that comes from listening to God and honoring Him by our choices.

And today, we feel at peace.

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!

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!

Homemade Turkey Sausage Seasoning Packs {Gifts in a Jar}

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I’ve been making homemade turkey sausage for several years, which is especially nice to have on hand for Pancake Sausage Muffins, Easy Breakfast Casseroles and Cheesy Turkey Sausage Stromboli. Everytime I make the sausage though, I have to empty out half of my spice cabinet. It’s not difficult, but I knew it would save time to prep the seasonings for this sausage ahead of time, just like I prep Taco Seasoning, Ranch Dressing Mix, Italian Dressing Mix and Onion Soup Mix.

I just hadn’t found the time to figure it all out.

But guess what? One of my readers, Karen, figured it out for me. So excited was I to see her email, I high-fived everyone in the house and together, we sang a song of celebration in four part harmony. (Just kidding, but I did send Karen a virtual hug.)  She has saved me a lot of time and thought – and she took a picture too. This will for sure be going into our upcoming free Gifts in a Jar eBook, and I’m posting it here as well, because this is one time-saving idea I’d like everyone to have!

Homemade Turkey Sausage Spice Mix

2 cups dried minced onions
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons marjoram
2 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons oregano
2 teaspoons nutmeg
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons ground ginger
4 teaspoons basil
4 teaspoons thyme
4 teaspoons sage
4 teaspoons sea salt

Mix altogether and store in pint-sized jar. Shake to mix.

To Make Homemade Turkey Sausage

1 pound ground turkey
¼ cup turkey sausage spice mix
1 egg

Mix all together. Chill for at least one hour to blend flavors. Form into patties. Saute. These freeze well for later use. OR  sauté mixture into a crumbled mixture for Pancake Sausage Muffins or other recipes which include cooked sausage.

What ideas are you working on for our Gifts in a Jar eBook? Remember, I’ll need your ideas, thorough directions and pictures by Thursday, November 10. Read all the details here and get busy on those ideas!!!

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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Today, my husband is once again my age. (I have an entire three months on him, so from August to November he gets to brag about how much younger he is than I.)  We don’t typically do much for birthdays around here – unless you consider the food. The honoree gets to choose all three meals for the day. However, today didn’t work very well for me to cook all of Matt’s favorites since we’re feeding so many extras during our morning marriage class and our evening high school huddle. Therefore, it would seem that we are celebrating his birthday all week long, cooking his favorite meals on different days of the week when we can squeeze it in. Sounds like more fun anyway, huh? Bring on the Stromboli!

And speaking of tonight’s Huddle, I decided to do something a little different for this meal. I’ll be making five Easy Breakfast Casseroles and serving them with fruit and muffins. I’ve had so much fun this weekend baking around 130 muffins in preparation. Batter, chocolate chips, flour and muffin papers (which I got for 1/2 price on November 1st, by the way) have been flying!

Here’s our menu for this week:

Sunday, November 6
Marriage Class – Banana muffins
Lunch – Steak fajitas with onions, peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese and sour cream (birthday meal #1)
High School Huddle – Easy breakfast casserole (x5), chocolate chocolate chip muffins (x4), blueberry muffins (x2), banana muffins (x3), pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, grapes, orange slices

Monday, November 7
Leftover muffins from Sunday, if there are any left?
Sloppy joes, ranch potato wedges, peas, boysenberry cobbler (birthday dessert)
Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, okra (birthday meal #2)

Tuesday, November 8
Pancake sausage muffins, blueberries
Pigs in a blanket, applesauce, carrots with ranch
Lasagna (x5), honey whole wheat bread (x 4), green beans, tossed salad (end of season meal for YC ladies soccer team)

Wednesday, November 9
Scrambled eggs with cheese, creamy orange cooler
Tuna salad on toast, fruit-kefir smoothies
Cheesy turkey sausage stromboli, tossed salad (birthday meal #3)

Thursday, November 10
Homemade beef summer sausage, mini apple pies
Leftovers (because surely we’ll have some after all of those big meals)
Black bean taco salad

Friday, November 11
Peanut butter honey toast, applesauce
Pizza casserole, steamed carrots and broccoli
Nachos

Saturday, November 12
Mini breakfast pizzas, oranges
Clean out the fridge
Venison steak, cream scalloped potatoes, peas

If you haven’t already, be sure to sign up to win this wonderful Grain Mill Giveaway!

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