Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Gratituesday: Calm Before the…Structure

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I had a difficult time knowing how to title this post. It’s not like there’s really a storm coming in our lives (that we know of), so I couldn’t really call it the “Calm Before the Storm”. Everything upcoming in our lives:  soccer season, feeding many extra people, school starting, gardening/preserving season – we love all of it. I almost called it “Calm Before the Crazy”, but that didn’t quite define it either because I’ve been working really hard to get organized before this busy season hits. I’m really hoping that it will all run smoothly and not be crazy.

I finally settled on “Calm Before the Structure”. I’m not sure that’s an accurate title or not, but it’s the best I could come up with.

Here’s the thing:  This is our last week of “down time” before our family begins our structured school year, before soccer season starts, before tomatoes start to overtake our kitchen and before we begin our new high school Sunday night ministry. It may not be crazy (one can hope) but life is just about to get a lot busier. I’m not sure where that “busier” is going to fit in with our already very busy days, but I’m bracing myself because it’s a comin’!

As of Saturday, the new books I’ve been spending so many hours writing the past few months are allllllllmost finished. My Two Week Tackle List is dwindling. Ladies and Gentleman (because really, how many gentlemen are really reading this?) – I hereby declare that this week I’m taking a little time to relax!

I spent several hours today organizing our school books (which really doesn’t feel like work to me). I also allowed myself to read several chapters of Jane Eyre just because I wanted to! Wednesday, I’m taking all the boys to the $1 movie. Thursday we’ll all go out and do our traditional “back to school supply shopping” and go out for lunch. What a treat! The boys and I have been sitting and reading fun read alouds like The Toothpaste Millionaire and The Family Under the Bridge.

This week, we don’t have much of a schedule and it’s really, really nice. We’re gearing up for structure and full, full days. We can’t wait for all the fun! But this week, we may not get dressed until noon. We may play games until way past bedtime. We may eat ice cream for breakfast.

It’s a calm week, and I’m loving every minute of it!

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!

 

 

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Meals to Feed to a Large Crowd

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Have a large crowd to feed? We have over 39 great ideas to help you keep it simple!

I frequently feed crowds of 20 or more. I’ve truly gotten to a place where I can say, “Oh, it’s easy.” How? I keep these meals very simple! And my best tip of all:

The side dishes I serve are made up of fresh fruits and vegetables. Nothing fancy or difficult! I simply wash strawberries and put them in a big bowl. I dump baby carrots onto a tray, slice some cucumbers, and set out some ranch dip. I steam several pounds of frozen green beans, peas, or corn.

My buffets always look so pretty and inviting because of these fruits and veggies! People love this! But I’ve gone to very little trouble. It’s a great win-win!

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Tips for Feeding a Large Crowd

  • Do as much food prep ahead of time as possible. Here are my best tips about working ahead before company arrives.
  • Don’t be afraid to say yes to help! If someone asks, “What can I do to help?” give them a job!
  • Create a menu with one simple main dish (ideas below) and as mentioned above, set out simple fruit and veggie side dishes to accompany the meal.
  • Watch for French and Italian bread on the mark-down trays at your grocery stores. Slice them in half length-wise, butter them, and warm them in the oven for an additional, filling simple side dish.
  • If you’re going to make mashed potatoes (for a crowd or just for your family) you must follow this simple mashed potato making method!
  • Serve water. Other fun drinks are great if you have time. But when I have a houseful of teens or college students, I usually set out jars of water and a stack of solo cups. It’s easy and well, spilled water isn’t a concern like spilled grape juice. Oy!
  • Smile often. Smile while you prepare the food and while you’re serving it. Let your guests know you are glad they are there!
  • Good home design can also play a factor in making your kitchen more functional for large groups. If you are building a home or remodeling your current kitchen, consider an open plan with an island or plenty of countertop space for buffet-style entertaining. Staying up-to-date with the best home décor ideas from sites like DesignIdeasGuide can spark your creativity.

Meals to Feed to a Large Crowd

burrito buffet

Setting up a buffet in which people line up and fix their plate according to their preference is the easiest all the way around. This also ensures that people with food allergies or those who are picky can fill their plate the way they need and like. Here are my best ideas for simple main dishes that can be made in bulk and fed easily to a large crowd:

  1. Build-Your-Own Burrito Bar
  2. Breakfast Burrito Buffet (great any time of the day!)
  3. Nacho or Taco Bar (This meaty cheese dip recipe is our favorite! It’s easy to make in bulk and is always a crowd pleaser.)
  4. Baked Potato Bar (Bake potatoes in a crock pot or large roaster to make it easy. Set out diced meat or chili, grated cheese, chopped veggies, sour cream, and olives for toppings.)
  5. Sub Sandwich Bar (Set out hoagie rolls, a variety of lunch meat and sliced cheese, mayo, mustard, lettuce, tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, olives, and any other favorite sandwich fixins.)
  6. Chef Salad Bar
  7. Pasta Salad Bar
  8. Simple Spanish Rice Bowls
  9. Sloppy Joes
  10. Chili (served with toppings like Fritos, shredded cheese, sour cream, and olives)
  11. Burgers and Dogs on the Grill (great for spring and summer!)
  12. Simple Grilled Chicken

How about casseroles that are easy to make in bulk to feed to a large crowd?

After all, if you’re going to make one, you might as well make…more than one. Each of these feeds 8-12, so double or quadruple accordingly!

  1. Lasagna (Use this method to make it easy to build several Lasagnas at once. This is always a huge crowd pleaser!)
  2. Easy Breakfast Casserole (served with a variety of homemade muffins – recipes below – and fresh fruit)
  3. Simple Crock Pot Taco Pasta
  4. Simple Pizza Chicken Bake
  5. Simple Lasagna Casserole (For Instant Pot or Crock Pot)
  6. Simple Hashbrown Casserole (For Instant Pot, Crock Pot or Oven!)
  7. Simple Crock Pot Pizza Casserole
  8. Layered Cheesy Salsa Enchiladas
  9. Beefy Enchilada Bake
  10. Cheesy Beef and Rice
  11. Pizza Casserole
  12. Italian Pasta Bake

Easy Meat Dishes that are Great to Feed to a Crowd

You’ve got to love how the word “Simple” is in each of these. These recipes each take just a few minutes of prep!

  1. Simple Barbecue Beef Roast
  2. Simple Overnight Saucy Crock Pot Chicken
  3. Simple Overnight Melt-in-Your-Mouth Beef Roast
  4. Simple Oven Fried Chicken
  5. Simple Honey Mustard Chicken Legs
  6. Simple Roasted Rotiserie Chicken
  7. Simple Hawaiian Beef Roast
  8. Simple Garlic Parmesan Chicken Legs

Soups and Stews That Are Great to Feed a Large Crowd

Make a big pot or two of these. Serve with fresh fruits and veggies, maybe bread, muffins, or corn chips. So easy and good!

  1. Calico Beans
  2. The Simplest White Chicken Chili
  3. Simple Hamburger Soup
  4. Simple Crock Pot Chicken Soup with a Kick
  5. Last-Minute Lentil Chili
  6. 20-Minute Taco Soup
  7. Potato Soup
  8. Chili

Pssst! If you like keeping life in the kitchen simple, while still putting nourishing and delicious food on the table for your family, you should consider becoming a Simple Meals Member! We cut down on your time and effort, save you money, and provide you with all that you need to make great and simple meals all week long!

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Desserts that are Great to Feed to a Large Crowd

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I typically choose to make cookies into bars when I am feeding a crowd. This cuts down on my time investment!

  1. Butterscotch Bars (my most requested dessert recipe when I’m feeding a crowd!)
  2. Monster Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
  3. Build a Brownie Sundae Bar
  4. Peanut Butter Apple Cookie Bars
  5. Build a Fruit Salad Bar

Easy Bread and Muffin Recipes to Feed a Large Crowd

  1. Four Varieties of Cheesecake Muffins
  2. Peanut Butter Muffins (naturally grain, gluten, and dairy free!)
  3. Twenty-Three Wholesome and Delicious Muffin Recipes
  4. Whole Wheat Stir-and-Pour Bread (unbelievably easy!)
Meals to Feed a Large Crowd
Now your turn! Please share in the comments any and all of your ideas for cooking for a crowd. What are your favorite dishes to make for company? What dishes work well to make for large groups of people? If you have recipe links, share those too. Thanks all!
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Menu Plan + Two Week Tackle Update

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Green beans from our garden!

First today, I’ll share our menu plan for the week. Then below, I’ll give you an update on how my Two Week Tackle is going!

Sunday, July 24

Coconut flour banana muffins, applesauce
Teriyaki chicken and veggies
Grilled cheese sandwiches, chips and salsa, honeydew melon

Monday, July 25
Turkey sausage, scrambled eggs, oranges
Homemade corn dogs, green beans, carrot sticks with ranch dressing
Taco potatoes, watermelon

Tuesday, July 26
Giant breakfast cookies, plums
Chicken veggie quesadillas, tossed salad
Chicken fried steak strips, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas

Wednesday, July 27
Pancake and sausage muffins, cantaloupe
Peanut butter and honey sandwiches, peaches, carrot sticks with ranch dressing
Three cheese garlic chicken pasta, tossed salad, zucchini

Thursday, July 28
Smoothies, toast
Turkey ranch pinwheels, strawberry-peach slushies
Grilled burgers, sweet baked beans, corn on the cob

Friday, July 29
Blueberry streusel muffins, bananas
Alfredo sauce with pasta, steamed broccoli and carrots
Italian roast wraps, tossed salad, corn on the cob

Saturday, July 30
Easy breakfast casserole, grapes
Leftovers
Lamb chops on the grill, Italian pasta salad, zucchini

And now, my updated Two Week Tackle List:
  • Organize school books and create a schedule for our school year
  • Clean out kitchen cabinets – replace shelf liner
  • Deep clean the entire house
  • Plan and begin to prep soccer meals
  • Make and freeze healthy convenience foods for the month of August
  • Make homemade hand soap and laundry detergent (just because I really want to try)
  • Experiment with homemade white chocolate and butterscotch chips for the Heavenly Homemakers Recipe Challenge
  • Finish creating the Whole Foods Pantry resource list that so many of you have been requesting

~”Deep clean the entire house” is never going to be crossed off the list, mostly because it’s a never ending job. We’ve accomplished a lot, and plan to begin our school year on August 1 with a nice, clean house…but come August 2, there will be more cleaning to do. If only dust understood that once we’ve rid our house of it, it is not supposed to return. Ugly little intruder.

~The Whole Foods Pantry resource list has a small start, and I’m hoping to dedicate more time to it this week. All the extra time I’ve had on the computer recently has been devoted to editing the new kids cooking books. (Watch for an update about those very soon!!!)

~I’ve got a list started for soccer meals and hope to fine tune it within the next few days. I’ll be asking for your help regarding these meals, so watch for a post about cooking for a crowd!

~Books. Books. Books. They fill my living room. I’ve been saving this job for last because I LOVE sitting down and organizing and planning our school year. This will be my reward for checking the other items off the list. But, I can’t wait much longer because we officially begin our new school year in 8 days!

~Throughout the next couple of weeks, you can expect posts showing you how to make butterscotch chips, white chocolate chips and homemade hand soap. I am taking “make homemade laundry detergent” off my list for now – I’ll come back to it when I have more time because I’m really excited to try to make homemade detergent without borax. But not this week. I have books to organize!

What all did you get accomplished last week? Did you cross anything off your list?!

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Chickens and Cowboys

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This week, our family had the privilege of taking care of our friends’ chickens while they were out of town. Let me clarify. Our friends were out of town, not the chickens. The chickens stayed home and our friends went out of town and we were in charge of the chickens. We got to do “chicken chores”, which, by the way, is a really fun phrase to say.

This was a great arrangement for us as we are actually considering getting ourselves some chickens next spring. We thought this would be great practice for our boys. We were right – it was great for them. We fed, watered, set them “free” each morning, closed them up to roost each night and the most fun part of all – we gathered eggs.

Our younger boys were even delighted to get up early to go do the morning chicken chores. I think they felt manly and “farmish”. In fact, Malachi, our six year old, insisted on putting on his full cowboy gear before we headed over to care for the chickens twice each day. Even early in the morning, he stumbled into his bandanna and boots.

I didn’t have the heart to tell him that cowboys mostly take care of cows. Nor did I tell him that he’d really not have use for his rope. Nor did I tell him that he wouldn’t really need his holster and pistol.

I also decided not to tell him that I wouldn’t need a cowboy hat.

He insisted that I wear the thing. It mattered not that my head was too big. It mattered not that I got strange looks as I drove all the way to the chickens and back home again. The plastic pistol I carried in my own pocket got a little bit uncomfortable, but no matter.

Thankfully, the chickens were not unruly and we did not have to lasso a one of them.

But it never hurts to be prepared.

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Have Fun With Your Spouse

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~Appreciate Your Spouse~~Buoyancy in Marriage~Consult Your Partner~
~Dream Together Part One ~Dream Together Part Two~Empower Your Spouse~

Fun With Your Spouse

Fun and Funner – Matt’s Thoughts

“What fun it is to laugh and sing a sleighing song tonight…Oh, what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh.”

Maybe that is some people’s version of fun, but not me. I’m not a grinch. I just don’t enjoy singing sleighing songs or riding in one horse open sleighs getting snow and slush flung on me. It’s not fun for me to sing that song because in general when I sing the words to songs, I agree with the words. My sweetie, on the other hand, enjoys singing that sleighing song, while I’d rather be cleaning the gunk out from under my toenails playing a strategy game in a warm, dry place with a hot drink. If I can be found When it is time to sing sleighing songs, I do it with my best face on and I try to not talk like a martyr to Laura later. She knows it is not fun for me. I also know that most long strategy games are not fun for her. We have discovered many activities that are fun for both of us!

Couples in healthy marriages seek out ways that they can have fun together and they make it happen. If you find yourself going in different directions for fun, then get together and brainstorm for ways the two of you can have fun together.

Try new exploits:  Recently, we went for a bike ride and it turned out not being great fun, but we definitely laughed about the experience. So, even though we don’t plan to ride bikes together for pleasure, that episode was a fun time spent together.

Relive pastimes:  What did you do that was a blast when you were dating?

Hopefully you have some fun activities in the “old faithful” category:   Flirting is fun…and following through is even more fun.

Your tight budget is not an excuse. Be creative considering what you could do for free…and have fun!

Make Time– Laura’s Thoughts

According to His Needs, Her Needs, a book Matt and I read together before we got married and have since read a second time – a man really appreciates it if his wife will be his recreational partner. That’s why, through the years, I’ve tried so hard to enjoy bike rides and those long, horrible, tedious, boring, never-ending, grueling strategy games that Matt likes so well. (I’m sorry – did I just say all that out loud?)

Thankfully, it’s not been too hard to come up with activities we can do together that we both enjoy. But why is it that sometimes it becomes too easy to spend all of our time together talking about bills and schedules and life logistics, and we forget to simply stop and have fun? As a task oriented mother and wife, I personally find it difficult to turn off the never ending “to-do” list in my head and just chill out and have down time with my husband. All work and no play makes a marriage…well, not so fun.

Relax. Be silly. Laugh. Share inside jokes. And oh yes…flirt. ;)

Make time for fun in your marriage.

How do you and your spouse have fun together?

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 – Fun

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Clean Your Ceiling Fans

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Included on my Two Week Tackle list is:  Deep Clean the Entire House.

I don’t think I’ll be able to accomplish deep cleaning the entire house before August 1. But I have been able to get several things done so far, including washing curtains and cleaning ceiling fans.

Time to fess up – how long has it been since you’ve cleaned the ugly layer(s) of dust off your ceiling fans?

It seems that it doesn’t take long for mine to get nasty, then cobwebs start to streak from one blade to the next to the ceiling to the light bulbs. Yuck. And yet I seem to always forget about cleaning them. I mean, how often do we stand in a room and just look up at the ceiling? I do believe we homemakers should begin making time to stare at our ceilings more regularly.

Yeah right. And when might we schedule that in? Perhaps after we’ve passed out on our living room floors at the end of the night after a long day of chasing kids and mopping up spilled (fill in the blank)?

Anyway, I finally remembered my ceiling fans and got a round tuit. To mark the occasion, I had Justus (age 11) take a picture.

As you can imagine, he asked, “You really want me to take a picture of you standing on a chair dusting the ceiling fan?!”

Yes, I do ask my children to take pictures of strange things quite often. I’m surprised he questioned it actually. He should be used to my crazy picture taking requests by now.

Do you think there will be support groups someday for BKs? (Bloggers Kids)

Or do you think that children such as mine, once they are married, will walk into the room and see that their wives are under the table scrubbing jelly off the underside of a chair – and then naturally go grab the camera? Or perhaps one of them will notice that his wife has produced a lovely ball of bread dough and ask her to stand in better light so he can get several shots at different angles? Oh dear.

I think I need to start thinking about how to prepare my sons’ future wives.

But really, I want to know – when is the last time you cleaned your ceiling fans??!

 

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Homemade Pudding Pops

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You know how all your friends growing up always had the cool snacks at their house? (Although I’m sure my friends thought I was the one with the cool snacks.)  One of my friends always had Jello Pudding Pops at her house. Visiting her in the summer was always a treat. Don’t worry – I liked her for more than just her pudding pops. I mean, she also had really cool Cabbage Patch Dolls. No really – I liked my friend for who she was – not just for her pudding pops and dolls (and cool play room and cute puppy).

I can not recreate a Cabbage Patch Doll, nor do I think my boys would want me to. But Beth at Turn 2 the Simple reminded me a few days ago with her comment on my Creamy Pudding recipe that I can recreate a Pudding Pop! I love how tasty these are, how refreshing they are on a hot day – and how they actually offer some nourishment and keep my kids full for a little while.

I simply followed my Creamy Pudding recipes and froze the mixture into pudding pops. EASY!!! I made both chocolate and vanilla. I didn’t try butterscotch, but I think I might next time just for fun!

How to Make Pudding Pops:

Make a batch (or two or three) of pudding. You can use my healthy varieties of Creamy Pudding if you want!

Yum

Pour the pudding into popsicle containers or 3 ounce sized bathroom cups.
Each batch of pudding made about 15 Pudding Pop cups.
I found it easiest to put all the cups on a large cookie sheet for easier transport the freezer.


Allow the pudding to cool and set up (about 45 minutes). Place a popsicle stick in each cup:


Put the Pudding Pops into the freezer for at least 4 hours. I was surprised that it took quite a while for these to be frozen through and through. Oh, but when they were frozen – it took me back to my days as a little girl playing with Cabbage Patch Dolls with my friend, and eating pudding pops on her porch.


Do you have any Pudding Pop or Cabbage Patch Doll memories to share? Oh dear, or are some of you too young to remember Cabbage Patch Dolls?

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Gratituesday: Just One Thing

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Of everything on my Two Week Tackle list, today I only got around to one thing – and even then I didn’t completely finish. All morning I was going to start tackling – yet everytime I tried, the phone would ring and someone would need us to help with something. Or the laundry needed to be switched out. Or we had to run an errand downtown.

 

And then it was time to make lunch.

 

That’s life and that’s why I allowed two weeks to tackle the list. Today I will choose to be grateful that I got just one thing done.

 

I decided to begin with one of the chores I was dreading most – cleaning out cabinets and putting down new shelf liner. Some of my cabinets have become pretty nasty, making for a job that wasn’t very fun. On the other hand, I’m really looking forward to sitting down and organizing our school books and working on our schedule. Therefore, I made myself get this dreaded cabinet cleaning chore done first – then I can reward myself by sitting down in a mountain of books!

 

 

I piled the contents of several cabinets onto the counter-top and proceeded to peel out the old shelf liner, vacuum off the shelves, wipe them down, then put down fresh shelf liner. I also got myself completely filthy in the process. Is it just a little bit obvious that I like and use a lot of Pyrex dishes?

 

 

Lookie at my clean, organized cabinets!!

 

I also thought I’d show you what happens when you assign your kids to go fold five big loads of laundry. Our six year old was in charge of all of the towels. He does a great job with smaller kitchen towels and washrags. But the large bath towels are still a little bit difficult for him. Still – I found this pile so endearing, I had to take a picture. I couldn’t bear to refold them. He worked hard on that folding job! (No, really they are folded, can you tell?!)

 

 

Even though I’d hoped to get more accomplished today – I’m still very thankful that I got one major (and dreaded) task out of the way. And I’m thankful that my kids were willing to help with some of our other, normal jobs.

 

Also, I wanted to offer some encouragement to all of you who find yourself trying to get something accomplished – working hard all day – and feeling like you never really get much done. It’s easy to get discouraged when we work hard and don’t feel like we have much to show for it.

 

If your family has been loved on by you – if you’ve fed them, clothed them, trained them, kissed them, held them – then you have accomplished much. Even if the dirty laundry is still all over the floor and the project you started at 10:00 had to be put on pause, never to be resumed, at 10:02.

 

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord… ”  Colossians 3:23

 

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!

 

 

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The Two Week Tackle

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We like to begin our home school year at the beginning of August. This just works well for our family. That means I have about two weeks left before we hit the books. I’m really excited about this, and they aren’t admitting it, but deep down, my boys are excited too. ;)

August also brings quite a bit of other “excitement” as our garden will be kicking out lots of produce, which will need to be preserved. Our soccer season also starts in August. Our boys are on teams, but more importantly, the college team my husband helps coach gets underway the second week of August. Three-a-day practices keep him hopping plus, if you’ve been reading here long, you know that I usually feed the soccer team for an entire week before the college classes start. I LOVE doing this – the ladies on the soccer team are a joy to serve. I hear there will be 43 players on the team this year. That’s a lot of food! Stay tuned to hear how all of this goes.

Here’s a big pile of our books – in desperate need of some sorting and organization!

I tell you all of this to say that I have a whoppin’ two weeks to get myself organized before the month of August slaps me in my eager – but full scheduled – face. I’ve spent a good part of the summer working on two new books. Now that they are in the editing stage, to say that my house needs a little bit of love would be an understatement. And there are other areas of life I really need to get organized and prepared for, simply so that the beginning of our school year goes more smoothly.

And so…I have made myself a list. I’m calling it the Two Week Tackle because well – I have two weeks to tackle this list. Can I do it? Who knows?

Want to watch me try? Yes, I figured you might.

Here’s the Two Week Tackle List, which I reserve the right to add to or take away from at any given time as the crazy urges hit:

  • Organize school books and create a schedule for our school year
  • Clean out kitchen cabinets – replace shelf liner
  • Deep clean the entire house
  • Plan and begin to prep soccer meals
  • Make and freeze healthy convenience foods for the month of August
  • Make homemade hand soap and laundry detergent (just because I really want to try)
  • Experiment with homemade white chocolate and butterscotch chips for the Heavenly Homemakers Recipe Challenge
  • Finish creating the Whole Foods Pantry resource list that so many of you have been requesting

Regarding this last bullet point – I will, for at least one week, be taking a break from writing my bulk food posts. Creating the Whole Foods Pantry resource page is a big job to undertake, and the more I write about bulk food, the more it has been brought to my attention that you would really benefit from this list. I’ll pick up with the bulk food series once the Whole Foods Pantry resource page is finished.

And so, during the next two weeks, I’ll be cleaning, organizing, sorting, writing, finishing the books, cooking, and in general, preparing my household for the month of August.

I’ll try to blog my way through the list with some pictures and explanations if I can. There may be times I just hop onto Facebook and give a quick update. If you aren’t already following me on Facebook, you may want to click over to do that now. I’d hate for you to miss any pictures of my insanity. ;)

And now a question for you:

What are you most excited for me to tackle and share with you? Which item should I do first?

If you’d like to join the Two Week Tackle – get your list ready and share it in the comments!

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Menu Plan for the Week

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I’m not sure why I don’t make these Apricot Breakfast Bars more often.
This time, I added a few mini chocolate chips just for fun!

Matt joined Asa at camp last week, leaving just three boys and me at home. After two weeks of having our family scattered here and there – we’re all six back together again this week. YAY!

Here’s our menu plan for the week:

Sunday, July 17
Apricot breakfast bars, bananas
Beef roast, carrots, potatoes, gravy
Salmon patties, corn on the cob, watermelon

Monday, July 18
Homemade poptarts, cantaloupe
Alfredo sauce with pasta, steamed broccoli and carrots
Italian roast wraps, raw veggies with ranch dip, watermelon

Tuesday, July 19
Creamy orange cooler, toast
Bean and cheese burritos, applesauce
Beef stroganoff, tossed salad, green beans

Wednesday, July 20
Scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, oranges
Tuna salad on crackers, honeydew melon, sliced tomatoes
Cheeseburger macaroni, green beans, sliced tomatoes

Thursday, July 21
Crepes with jelly, applesauce
Black bean salsa with organic corn chips, grapes
Cheeseburger zucchini boats, carrots

Friday, July 22
Pancake and sausage muffins, blueberries
Sloppy joes, peas
Grilled chicken, corn on the cob, green beans

Saturday, July 23
Pineapple-orange slushies, toast
Crustless quiches, fruit salad
Leftovers

Sponsor Shout-Out

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