Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Funky Fresh Menu Plan for the Week (with a challenge!)

by 258 Comments

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

Welcome to Day One of our Funky Fresh Kitchen series! Make plans to join us for fresh kitchen challenges, new healthy recipes and (hopefully) inspiration for you as we get organized in the kitchen and work our way toward a kitchen full of healthy foods! (And don’t forget about the awesome upcoming giveaways!!)

Since I normally post our menu plan on Sunday, I decided we’d work today’s Funky Fresh Kitchen Challenge around menu planning. As you can see from my menu list below, I typically plan all three meals for each day. I don’t always stick to the plan exactly, but having an outline makes life so much easier for me, plus makes our meals well balanced and healthy.

I know that some people function just fine without a menu plan. But if you are someone who tends to panic at 5:30 because you don’t know what you’re fixing for dinner – and then you just grab something quick and unhealthy to fill the tummies of your family members – let me encourage you to take this small step toward a fresh, healthy kitchen.

First, read through my menu plan for this week to get some tasty meal ideas, then stay tuned for the Challenge stated below!

Sunday, August 28
Blueberry muffins, honeydew melon
Spaghetti, tossed salad, fresh corn, green beans
Leftovers

Monday, August 29
Simple soaked pancakes, blueberries
Tuna salad on tomatoes, fresh peaches with cottage cheese
Teriyaki chicken and veggies, fruit salad

Tuesday, August 30
Applesauce bread, bananas
Taco corn fritters, green beans, watermelon
Chicken fried steak strips, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas

Wednesday, August 31
Creamy orange cooler, fried eggs on toast,
Turkey ranch pinwheels, cantaloupe, sweet pepper slices
Italian roast wraps, green beans, applesauce

Thursday, September 1
Orange muffins, freeze dried strawberries
Creamy mac and cheese, peas, watermelon
Salmon patties, ranch potato wedges, tossed salad

Friday, September 2
Honey whole wheat bagels, peaches
Sloppy cornbread muffins, green beans, pears
Homemade pizza, cherries

Saturday, September 3
Homemade whole wheat donuts, applesauce
Leftovers
Grilled chicken, stir fried veggies and rice

As you can see, I am not a gourmet chef. I do not cook fancy foods. I do not cook anything “weird”. I simply make very basic, healthy, kid friendly foods that are full of the nourishment our bodies need. I am very intentional about including fruits and vegetables with each meal. I find that if I’m not purposeful about including fruits and veggies, we simply do not get enough nutrients, then we start wearing down and getting sick. Bring on the veggies!

Your challenge today is to plan just one meal. (Of course, you can plan more if you want to!)  Figure out tomorrow night’s dinner, figure out what you’ll be serving Wednesday evening, figure out whatever will help you the most. Base the meal plan around food you already have, or if you need to go to the store, pick up what you’ll be needing for this meal so that you’ll be prepared and relaxed.

Be sure the meal you plan is well balanced and includes vegetables. If you don’t have vegetables in your house GO HENCEFORTH WITHOUT DELAY AND BUY VEGETABLES. No excuses. If you need to start with fruit because your family struggles with vegetables, fine – get some grapes. But please be intentional about feeding your family good, nutrient filled foods. (Read through this series of Simple Steps to Healthy Eating to give you some easy ideas for where to start!)

Leave a comment here sharing your one meal plan. Your comment will be considered an entry for the five $10 Heavenly Homemakers Shop gift certificates drawing. Plus, it will serve as inspiration for all of us! I love reading what others are planning to eat! In fact, after reading through your comments, I may just change my menu plan for this week!

(P.S. There are 0 Funky Kitchen ebooks still available at only $1.50. Once those are sold out, you’ll find the next 200 books at $2.00 each! Still less than half price!)  :)

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

Funky Fresh Kitchen – Join the Fun!!

by 352 Comments

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

 

I haven’t attempted to turn a cartwheel since I was in my early twenties. I actually almost pulled a muscle just picturing myself turning a cartwheel today. BUT, I am so excited about the next two weeks I really am tempted to do some flips. After a lot of emailing, planning, organizing and brainstorming, I have a lot to tell you about. Where should I start?

First maybe I should explain what Funky Fresh Kitchen is all about.

Fall is almost here. I don’t know if you are like me, but this time of year I’m always looking for a fresh start. I want to get into a nice, organized routine. I want to set new goals for my family and for my kitchen. I want to enjoy all the wonderful, fresh food of harvest time. I want to start baking again as the weather turns cooler. I want to try new recipes. And I want my kitchen to be funky.

Funky? Yes, funky. Functional, if you really want to be technical, but I like calling it a Funky Kitchen, mostly because it makes me giggle. (Obviously, I’m easily amused.)

Make plans to join us here for the next two weeks of Funky Fresh Kitchen fun! I have new recipes to share, I’ll be offering up some challenges (are you ready to get your game on?), I’ve got some incredible giveaways and there will be some majorly discounted items in our shop.

I’ve got so many posts and so much excitement, I’m going to suggest that you may want to subscribe to Heavenly Homemakers and/or join my Facebook page so that you don’t miss anything. Trust me, you don’t want to miss anything.

The giveaways I have lined up? Well, you may just want to join me in the cartwheel attempts after you hear about these. Are you ready?

Cultures for Health has agreed to give away an Excalibur Food Dehydrator!! It’s true. AND (yes, I am screaming here) Paula’s Bread has offered to give away my most favorite Funky Fresh Kitchen item ever:  a Nutrimill!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Let us all pause now for a moment of synchronized cartwheel turning and screaming.)

And don’t forget the new recipes I’ll be sharing. Some are chocolate and some include broccoli and all of them are easy and will inspire you to make fresh, healthy changes in your kitchen. Goodness, I’m so excited while I’m typing, I’m realizing that I have forgotten to breathe. You are all still breathing aren’t you? Okay good. We can’t all pass out before we even begin all the fun.

Share this post with all your friends on Facebook and in your neighborhood and tell your sisters and cousins and friends at church and college roommates and your bff and your bff’s sisters and cousins and everyone you can think of who could and should join us as we pursue our Funky Fresh Kitchens.

funkykitchencoversmTo get us started, we are offering our Do the Funky Kitchen eBook (which is regularly $4.95) for only $1.00. Yes, a buck. Read my favorite tips and suggestions for achieving a funky (functional) and organized kitchen, fresh and clean for fall.  But hurry – our discounted price of $1.00 will only be available for the first 100 purchasers. As of now, you can purchase Do the Funky Kitchen eBook for just $1.50 – available for the next 150 purchasers!! After that, the price will creep up little by little throughout the week. Take advantage of this deal while you can!

Watch for specials and discounts like this for the next two weeks during this Funky Fresh Kitchen feature.

Also:  By leaving a comment on ANY post with the above Funky Fresh Kitchen button featured, you will be entered to win one of five $10 gift certificates good for anything downloadable in our Heavenly Homemakers Shop. Because the button is featured on this post, comments right here and now will be added to the drawing for our gift certificates! Let the commenting, the Funky Kitchen eBook purchasing, the facebooking and sharing begin!

Watch for frequent updates, new ideas and recipes, discounts and giveaways – you don’t want to miss a thing. Thanks for joining me! It’s gonna be a great two weeks!

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

Jubilee

by 11 Comments

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

~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

Restart Button – Matt’s Thoughts

In the Old Testament (Leviticus 25) we read about the year of Jubilee. Land that had been sold to pay debts was returned to its owner and people who sold themselves as servants were set free so that people in desperate situations would not be taken advantage of. Using a modern day analogy, the restart button was pushed. This was to be practiced every fifty years. In a healthy marriage Jubilee takes place more often than every fifty years. Usually we call it forgiveness and it must occur often. Forgiveness is a MASSIVE component in marriage. We need to push the restart button, offering Jubilee to our spouse, and we need it pushed for us, receiving Jubilee from our spouse.

Several years ago, I really needed Laura’s Jubilee. I was playing computer games late into the night for many nights. I wasn’t getting the sleep I needed which led to all kinds of consequences that Laura took the brunt of, and more importantly we were not spending the end of the day together connecting with each other. She expressed to me her desire for us to be together more and I agreed, but I was lacking in self-control and did not follow through with my agreement…for waaaaaaaaaaaaay too many nights. This hurt Laura as she felt like I was choosing games over her. She was right, I was choosing games over her, not willfully, but due to immaturity, selfishness and – I’ll be blunt – stupidity.

I hurt my wife and I needed the restart button. Thank you Laura for pushing the restart button. (As a side note, we jointly made a plan that has moved us past those issues.)

The Chosen One – Laura’s Thoughts

Issues with computer games in a marriage may seem petty to some of you who have experienced painful betrayal in areas such as pornography or infidelity. We realized that at the time of our struggle and we realize it now. But the issue remains the same:  I want to be Matt’s chosen one. He wants to be mine.

Anytime you choose something or someone instead of choosing your spouse – you’re making the wrong choice. That’s not what this post is ultimately about, but please hear it loud and clear. Beyond your relationship with the Father, your spouse needs to be your first priority, so let go of yourself and choose your beloved.

That’s exactly what Matt did. He made the decision to grow through his selfish desires – and he chose to put our relationship first. I became his number one again.

But even so, Jubilee didn’t occur until I had truly forgiven the hurt he had caused me by what I had felt as neglect. If Matt had made the changes I asked him to make, and then I had simply shrugged and said, “Well, it’s about time,” our marriage may not be in a much healthier state than it had been.

We had to push the restart button. I had to truly forgive, and together we came up with a plan that worked to grow our healthy marriage. There is no room for bitterness in a marriage that is moving forward toward greatness.

Don’t wait 50 years for Jubilee. Forgiveness starts today.

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 – Jubilee

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

Gift Certificate in a Jar

by 35 Comments

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

Welcome to the post in which I encourage you to buy packages of high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavors and food coloring. Brace yourself – there are no vegetables mentioned, nor do I offer suggestions for using whole wheat flour or coconut oil. Once you see the idea, you’re sure to understand and know full well why frozen peas just wouldn’t cut it for this project. ;)

It is no secret that I love jars. I have cabinets full of jars, I store my leftovers in jars, I preserve a lot of produce in jars.

Knowing of my jar obsession, Teresa emailed me the fun idea of using jars full of candy as a way to package gift certificates. I loved the idea and was very excited to finally make use of it last week at a baby shower I helped host.

Several friends pitched in money for the mother-to-be. I used the money to buy a gift certificate, then filled a pint jar with brightly colored Tropical Skittles. (Yes, you should have heard my boys when they were unloading my shopping bags.)

I stuck the gift certificate down inside the candy, put on a lid, tied a bow around the jar and had a lovely gift ready to present to my friend.

I think this would be fun to do at Christmas time with red and green M&Ms or for a graduation gift using candy that matches the graduate’s school colors.

In case you’re wondering, one 14-ounce bag of skittles was exactly the right amount needed to fill a pint sized jar (with a few leftover to give eager children who may or may not be standing by watching you fill the jar).

What kinds of fun ways to you use jars?

(And by the way, aren’t you proud of me for giving away one of my beloved jars at this baby shower? I didn’t even ask my friend to give it back to me when she was finished with it. I almost did, but stopped myself just in time, so as not to appear obsessed. Shocking.)

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

How to Fend off Mean Roosters (because clearly, I’m an expert)

by 32 Comments

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

I originally posted this three years ago after a “fun” incident with my friend’s roosters. Just in case you weren’t around then to laugh at me, please, by all means, allow me to remind you of my bravery and amazing rooster fending off abilities by re-posting this story.

chickens1sm.JPG

Aw, here’s Malachi looking at the chickens three years ago. He was so little. ;)

Last week, I was left in charge of caring for the animals on my friend’s farm. I am so very happy to report that I started out with 50 chickens and there are still, as far as I know, 50 chickens.

Plus two roosters.

Two mean roosters.

Before leaving to go out of town, my friend Susan walked me through all of the elements of chicken care: “Here’s the feed, here’s the hose for water – and by the way,”  she said, “If the roosters try to attack you, just whack them over the head with the feed bucket.”

If the what? The roosters might attack me? I’m supposed to what? With the feed bucket? Uh…oh…okay. That doesn’t make me scared or nervous at all. {cough}

Each day last week, the boys and I would go over to do chicken chores. The boys would gather the eggs while I would courageously feed and water the chickens. Each day I would scope out where the roosters were and make sure I stayed out of their way, because I really didn’t want to have to whack a rooster over the head. Not even a little bit.

Everything went fine and I had no rooster attacks to tell you about.

Until Saturday. I made it all the way to Saturday.

I had kindly filled the water…thingy. I had sweetly filled the chicken feeder with feed. I even smiled (albeit nervously) at the roosters in appreciation for leaving me alone all week.

And then it happened.

Not one, but both roosters simultaneously charged at me – at the same time – together.

But don’t you worry. I bravely jump-skipped into the air in shock and fear – and screamed something that sounded kind of like, “Aaahhhhhhh….aaahhhhhhh. Aaahh. Aah.” (Yes, because that will stop a rooster from charging.)

And I sorta swung my bucket and hit one of the roosters barely, which made him look at me like, “Seriously? Is that all you’ve got, lady?” In which I answered, “Yeah, pretty much. B-bye.” And I hightailed it out of that chicken coop.

It is a GOOD thing I’d already given those chickens feed and water, because my heart rate is still not back to a normal pace, and there is NO WAY I was going back in there that day.

I returned home unscathed – and I’m sure the roosters are now completely intimidated by my presence, what with my strong muscled bucket swinging and high pitched shouting.

Yeah, right.

It would appear that I was the true chicken. ;)

Three years later, I bet those roosters are still talking about me around the coop. “Remember that crazy bucket lady that Susan put in charge of us that week back in 2008? I can still remember the look on her face when we both ran at her!” And then they bawk and cluck hysterically and give each other “high five” with their wings.

Roosters 1 – Laura 0

But I’m okay with that.

 

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

Gratituesday: Strong Enough

by 22 Comments

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

Through the years, our family has endured difficult seasons in which we were barely able to put one foot in front of the other. Illnesses, hardships, life changes, broken hearts, gut wrenching decisions, pain. Those were the times we curled up at the feet of Jesus and let His people serve and minister to us. We reached up and let our Savior comfort us as only He can. We sought His will, His healing, His strength. Alone, we weren’t strong enough.

Right now, our family is in a season of cheer. We are all healthy and doing well. The sun is shining, soccer is well under way, our school year is going great. I’m humbled by these blessings.

Life is good.

But we still aren’t strong enough.

We’re still not able to do all God has called us to do if we fail to let Him strengthen us and guide us. We’re only human. We’re weak. We’re frail. We’re not strong enough.

Whether the sun is shining in your life or whether the cloud cover has caused this season to be gray – God has promised to be strong enough for both of us. I find so much joy in knowing this. Because of Jesus, we can be strong!! Kinda makes you want to sit up straighter in your chair, doesn’t it?!

I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13

I love this song by Matthew West, Strong Enough, and pray that you are blessed by the words and by the knowledge that God is strong enough to hold all of us, no matter what!

What are you thankful for this Gratituesday? Write about it 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!

The Joy of Boys

by 79 Comments

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

The following is an article I wrote for our local paper a couple of years ago, but never actually posted here. I’m often asked if I regret not having daughters. Though my life is void of pink hair bows, sweet dresses, paper dolls and braids (all things I dreamed of enjoying with my little girls before God gave me this passel of boys), I can answer truthfully that I do not for a minute doubt that God knew exactly what he was doing when he continued to bless us with boys. My life is full of joy – The Joy of Boys…

The Joy of Boys

When our first baby was born a boy, I was very happy knowing that any other children we would have in the future would be under the protection of an older brother. When our second baby was born a boy, I was glad our oldest son now had a brother to play with. When our third baby was born a boy, I decided that God must have something special in mind for our family. THREE boys?

When I was pregnant with our fourth baby, you can just guess what everyone around me was saying. “Finally going to have a sister for all those boys?” or “I bet you’re sure hoping for a girl this time!”

When our fourth baby was born a boy, they laid him on my chest, and all my husband and I could do was laugh for joy that God had given us yet another son!

Boys are so sweet. Boys love their Mamas like crazy. Boys think their Daddys are the best. Boys….ah boys. Boys bring such joy.

The Joy of Boys

I love how boys play (now that I’m used to it!). Our house is usually noisy, rough and fast – there’s not a lot of tip-toeing or sitting down quietly to color pictures at the table.

Generally…I find that the male greeting (between my boys and all of their friends who come over to play) has little to do with words and a lot to do with grabbing onto and pulling one another down to the floor into an immediate wrestling match.

I’ve learned to look the other way, smile, and shake my head about so many things that I used to fear would turn into a trip to the Emergency Room. Boys play rough – they can’t help it. They make noise. It oozes out of their pores. Rolls of wrapping paper become swords or light sabers. Toast and grilled cheese sandwiches are chewed into the shape of little guns. Math books become drums. Little pink erasers become race cars.

Everything (everything) becomes a competition:  who can finish their milk first, who can put their jammies on the fastest, who can get from the kitchen to the living room without touching the floor.

It’s one big, loud, ball game at our house all day long – and I wouldn’t trade it for all tea parties in Boston.

I consider it a huge honor to be the mama of boys. Boys who we pray will grow up and be Godly leaders some day. Boys who we pray will be Godly husbands and daddys some day.

Oh, and some day, when my boys grow up and get married…I’ll have daughters. I’ll take them shopping and we’ll cook and do hair together.

Until then, I’ll just continue to feed mountains of mashed potatoes and huge stacks of pancakes to all these boys while they make all the noises with their armpits that they are so good at making and while they laugh at all the things boys can’t help but think are funny.

They are…boys.

Boys who have completely and totally won my heart.

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

by 14 Comments

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

Last week’s busyness truly was a joy, even though it was very…busy.

Today starts this new week off with a bang as we had a nice little breakfast to honor our 6th graders at church before worship, plus we had a huge potluck to welcome all the York College students. I was asked to provide muffins for the 6th grade breakfast, so yesterday I made a double batch of both Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins and Blueberry Muffins. I made them into mini-muffins and filled two gallon buckets with the goodies.

I stopped long enough to take pictures of my buckets, because buckets full of mini-muffins – that’s just fun. :)

After not really having a menu plan last week, I was excited to put one together for this week. Here’s what we’ll be eating:

Sunday, August 21
Chocolate chocolate chip muffins, blueberry muffins, fruit
For potluck:  frosted brownies (this frosting, these brownies), chocolate chip cookies, sweet baked beans, baked turkey ham with pineapple, cream cheese corn
Leftovers

Monday, August 22
Simple soaked pancakes, blueberries
Homemade corndogs, carrot sticks with ranch, watermelon
Shepherds pie, tossed salad

Tuesday, August 23
Mini breakfast pizza, honeydew melon
Creamy mac and cheese, peas, sweet peppers
Grilled chicken, creamy cole slaw, angeled eggs, watermelon, coconut flour cheddar biscuits

Wednesday, August 24
Creamy orange cooler, toast
Alfredo sauce with pasta, steamed broccoli and carrots
Cheesy salsa enchiladas, tossed salad

Thursday, August 25
Coconut flour banana muffins, cherries
Corn on the cob, sliced tomatoes, fried okra, milkshakes, peanut butter on celery
Chicken fried steak strips, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans

Friday, August 26
Scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, turkey bacon, cantaloupe
Black beans and rice with salsa, fruit salad
Hamburgers, ranch potato wedges, peas

Saturday, August 27
Mini apple pies, sliced cheese
Leftovers
BBQ meatballs, cream scalloped potatoes, tossed salad, zucchini

I wanted to let you know that while this upcoming week is less crazy than last week, I still haven’t found time to get much writing done. I have posts started in my head, but those are undoubtedly much harder for you to read. (Consider yourself blessed, however, not to be able to read the posts I write in my head.)  We’ll see what I’m actually able to type this week, but I’m kind of thinking about re-posting some older posts during the next few days, just for fun – and also so that I can maybe take the time to find my missing flip-flop and to finally put away the rest of my Azure Standard order from last Tuesday. We’ve been in survival mode here. :)  I’m also hoping to simply sit and read to my kids a little bit more this week. The Hobbit is calling our name.

ALSO, I’m working on some very fun surprises for the blog during the week of August 28, and that is taking a little extra time and work. Just you wait to see what next week holds!!!!!!!!!

And so, thank you for your patience here while I play catch-up and get my act together. You are all awesome!

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

Does Organic Food Make a Difference? (a guest post)

by 20 Comments

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

Welcome guest poster Carrie Vitt, author of the cookbook Deliciously Organic and publisher of popular food blog, Deliciously Organic. Carrie focuses on recipes using unprocessed, organic ingredients with vibrant flavors and simple dishes everyone will love. She is the wife of an Air Force Test Pilot and mother of two daughters.

If you had two girls under the age of two, and your husband, a fighter pilot, was flying cover during a war in Iraq – would you be thinking about converting your diet to organic, whole foods? I wasn’t. My life had enough stress without another distraction. But that’s what happened in 2003.

Two years earlier, after the birth of my second daughter, I began having daily migraines. I was 25. As migraines often are, they were both baffling and debilitating. I often had to lie down in a quiet dark room, which was almost impossible with toddlers to care for.

I was taking several medications to manage the pain. After two years of struggle, my neurologist suggested adding yet another daily medication to my prescription regimen, a treatment that wasn’t working anyway. I kindly rejected her suggestion and drove home thinking:  There must be another way.

That same day, a tiny newsletter article caught my eye. It was about the benefits of organic foods. I knew migraines could be related to diet, so I wondered if changing to organic foods might help. I was at the end of my rope and willing to try something different.

At the time, I was eating lots of vegetables to lose the last 10 pounds of baby weight. I replaced my lettuce with organic – my first step, since lettuce was a food I ate most. Within a week I noticed a significant difference. The frequency of my migraines decreased and it was now easier to take care of my kids. I didn’t need any more encouragement. I next switched all produce to organic with the intent of increasing the amount of pure and untreated food in my diet, while decreasing my pesticide intake. As I dug deeper and learned more, I continued making changes in my pantry and refrigerator.

Over the next year and a half, I converted my family’s diet to whole, unprocessed organic ingredients. I felt like a stranger in a strange land. I had a hard time finding recipes that were equivalent in flavor to what we were accustomed to. Nevertheless, I avoided such ingredients as white sugar, white flour and partially hydrogenated anything. Recipes using whole grains were especially challenging. We weren’t ready to leave the world of paninis, pasta and pizza. As my husband likes to say, “We ate some terrible pancakes during the transition.” This was disheartening because I had grown up with a great love for cooking that I inherited from the women in my family.

I decided that if we were going to eat organic dishes, they were going to taste every bit as delicious as the ones I used before.

Over time, I shared with my friends and family how I overcame my health problems. Many were earnestly interested in learning more or in making changes to their own diets. I continued to tell my story, share my recipes and give encouragement through my blog, Deliciously Organic and my recently published cookbook, Deliciously Organic.

Through organic, unprocessed food our family of four was able to overcome severe asthma, eczema, IBS and migraines. No drugs – just good, natural real food.

If organic, whole foods are something you’ve thought about, I encourage you to give it a try. I hope you’ll discover, as I have, that eating food direct from the source is not only perfectly doable and beneficial but perfectly delicious! And don’t be surprised when your friends and the whole family (including the kids) say, “I can’t believe this is organic. It’s delicious!”

 

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

Gratituesday: So Far, So Good

by 20 Comments

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

I always intend to take lots of pictures. I always think it will be fun to document the entire week with its mountains of food, grateful soccer girls, helpful boys, dirty dishes – the whole thing.

But year after year, as I’m feeding the YC ladies soccer team, the pictures never happen. Occasionally I have half a brain and snap a shot, but generally I’m too busy to remember to get out the camera.

So far, I’ve taken exactly one picture. (Brace yourself for the excitement.)  I made eight loaves of Honey Whole Wheat Bread and loaded them (sort of) into my cake container to transport to the church building where we’ve been serving the meals.

The meals have gone wonderfully so far and the YC ladies are so sweet and appreciative. It’s been great to grab hugs from returning students and to get acquainted with new students. I am so thankful that our family has this opportunity to serve the team this way and that Matt is able to help coach. We love being a part of York College (our Alma mater) and being a part of these girls’ lives!

 

What are you thankful for this Gratituesday? Write about it 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!