Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Making Homemade Mayonnaise (is not my gift)

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Who knew making homemade mayonnaise for the Heavenly Homemakers Recipe Challenge would tempt me to say naughty words? I held myself back though, and merely gave dirty looks to the ingredients in my blender that were not even trying to become mayonnaise and through gritted teeth hissed, “Would you guys emulsify already!?!?!?”

It wouldn’t have been such a big deal, except that I attempted to make mayonnaise at least four times before I could accomplish “mayonnaise emulsification”. We went through a lot of olive oil in the process, and subsequently, a lot of tuna.

Why tuna? Well, I wasn’t going to waste all those ingredients every time I had mayonnaise emulsification failure. Instead, each time, I stirred the runny, stubborn ingredients into a few cans of tuna, added some of my home canned pickle relish and called it lunch. It worked, all but one time. Yes, there was one time I did have to throw the ingredients out. That was the time I was so determined to whip the ingredients long enough and hard enough to become mayonnaise that the ingredients got so hot inside my food processor that the eggs got cooked, causing scrambled eggs to float in my olive oil. Mmmm. Gross as it is, I just had to take a picture – because I’m weird like that:

A perfect example of what not to do.

Regarding a healthy mayonnaise recipe, I do have one to share with you, and I’m sure that after all my previous, inspirational statements, you’re all ready to jump right in and give this a go. Based on all my trial and error, I have a few tips I think you’ll find helpful.

  1. I believe that if I had an immersion blender, this process would work much better. But I don’t have one and I refuse to buy one just to make mayo. If you do have an immersion blender, save yourself some frustration and use it for this.
  2. Pour the oil into the running blender so slowly you think you might fall asleep while pouring. About the time you think you’re pouring slowly enough, slow down.  Slow dripping oil is key for making mayonnaise.
  3. Get your eggs at room temperature before starting this process. 

Homemade MayonnaiseYum

2 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 Tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon sucanat
1/2 cup olive oil

Place the egg yolks, salt, vinegar and sucanat into a blender and run on high speed for about a minute. S-l-o-w-l-y pour the oil in while the blender is running. I’m talking, let the oil drip into the running blender at a horridly boring pace. Just stand there, with the blender running, dripping oil for several minutes. Don’t get impatient or you’ll be making tuna.

My mayo turned out very yellow in color because of our lovely free-range chicken eggs, which are rich with nutrients. 

This mayonnaise did taste very good, as well it should have after all the work it took to figure out how to make it. But I will never be known as the Mayonnaise Queen, nor will I ever be asked to speak at the Heart of Mayonnaise Convention. I’m also pretty sure I shouldn’t be your “I’m having trouble making mayonnaise” questions go-to gal. I do not believe making mayonnaise is my gift, nor do I wish to become a professional mayonnaise maker. 

But, I am pleased to say that I figured out a healthy mayonnaise recipe and now I can move on to try and conquer the remaining recipes in the Heavenly Homemakers Recipe Challenge.

Have you conquered mayonnaise before? What’s your favorite use for mayonnaise? Ever given your mayonnaise dirty looks?

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Gratituesday: Eye to Eye

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I promise you he wasn’t this tall two weeks ago. Close, but not quite.

It hit me a few days ago that something was different when I’d have conversations with Asa, our oldest son who just turned 14. And then I figured it out. I am looking him directly in the eye when we talk now. He’s done it. He’s caught up to me. And if he keeps going at this rate, we won’t be seeing eye to eye for long. Instead, I’ll be getting a neck ache when we visit because I’ll be looking up to meet his eyes.

He’s pretty proud of this accomplishment and who can blame him?

I’d just like to restate what I said last year when Asa turned 13 (you know, back when he was shorter than me). Having a teenager is a joy. It is not all gloom and doom like so many people warned us about. I will admit that I’ve been taken aback by all the new territory we’re venturing through – all the new parts of life that include having a teenager (you know, like the “girls think my son is cute” part). Good gravy. I try to have an “Oh isn’t she sweet” attitude, but typically I tend to have more of a mother bear snarly, “Back off Sistah!” thing going on. He is only 14, ya know. Good gravy.

There is much we need to help guide him through, and as tough as the diaper years were, sometimes I’d like to run back to that time because even though I wasn’t getting any sleep, at least I felt more in control of the decisions our kids needed to make. Asa will be a high school freshman this fall. I feel a weight of responsibility as we are on our last few years of raising our son to be a godly man. I feel inadequate as we begin to figure out the moments to let go, while at the same time, offering guidance and what I hope is wisdom as he becomes more independent.

Well now, look at me getting all weepy. It’s just that, he’s my first baby, you know? And we see eye to eye, can you believe it? Thankfully, we still see eye to eye about spiritual matters too. I pray constantly that Asa will continue to grow in his walk of faith.

God is good to walk this journey with us. I’m thankful that He can protect Asa with a more powerful stronghold than I ever could. I’m thankful that God saw fit to give Matt and me the opportunity to raise this teenager. Bless Asa’s heart, we don’t know what we’re doing. We’re practicing on him before we raise three more teens in just a few years. But God is faithful and promises to make up for our weaknesses. Yes, even in parenting.

Especially in parenting.

God is good. 

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!

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Buying in Bulk – Do You Have the Space?

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Before I can talk about the foods I like having on hand and the foods I purchase or preserve in large quantities, I think it’s best to let you know a little bit more about our family’s storage capabilities. God has blessed us with a large house that has a large storage room. We have (through the years) invested in not one, but three large freezers. We have a large pantry and a large kitchen and after you’ve typed the word large this many times in the same paragraph, it begins to sound funny in your head. Large. Large. Is it just me, or does the word large sound funny now? (It’s largely possible that it’s just me.)

I say all of that (in large part) to let you know that I’ll be sharing what works for our family – then you can take that information and do whatever will work for yours. Even if your house and storage abilities aren’t as large as mine, you still may be able to swipe some of my ideas (or learn something from all the brilliant minds who leave comments and share what works for them!). But make adaptions based on what God has blessed you with. If you have a small home with minimal storage, you’ll have to get more creative. For instance, you could sell your couch and build your own living room furniture from your bulk purchases. Fifty pound bags of wheat and oats would make very cushy chairs. Five gallon buckets full of rice and beans could serve as your end tables and you could use jars of coconut oil and canned peaches as book ends. Bags of pasta would be fine accents on your “wheat and oat couches” – you know, like pillows? Adorable. 

Or not.

Don’t ever ask me to come help you decorate your home. It’s clearly not my strong suit. Moving on…

Why do we have three large freezers? Well, we’ve found that it’s an investment that has saved us hundreds of dollars each year. We bought them used, and if you recall, they are as ugly as can be – one of the reasons we got them for such a low price. Having them has enabled us to purchase high quality meat in bulk quantities. Even more exciting, when we’ve been blessed to get our hands on free strawberries or peaches – when our garden has been producing bumper crops of green beans – when we are able to get a great deal on a year’s supply of corn to put up for the winter – we’ve got the freezer space to handle the quantity. By the end of summer, our freezers are crammed full of produce, much of which we’ve grown ourselves or purchased for a very reasonable price from local farmers and gardeners.

So, what if you don’t have large freezers or a large pantry or storage space? I was kidding earlier (mostly) about building furniture with your bags of oats, but there really are some great and creative ways for you to make good use of the space you do have. Take a look at how beautifully Jodi has decorated her home with her canned produce. 

I think this is gorgeous:

A colorful close-up:

Think about the usable areas of your home. Can you slide some food containers under your beds? Are there some closet floors that could house some buckets of dry goods? Can you think of a cute way to stack a few containers in a corner of your kitchen? Any chance you have an open wall somewhere that you could purchase an inexpensive shelf that you can decorate with food like Jodi did?

While you may not have the space to store 500 pounds of wheat (our year’s supply!) like I can, I bet you do have a few (or more) bulk storage possibilities in your home.

I’d love for you all to share your tricks and strategies for food storage in your homes. Share what type of home you live in and how you make good uses of your storage spaces.

And really, can’t you just picture the coconut oil jar book ends?  Adorable.

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Menu Plan for the Week

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peachcobblerforvdaysm

Peach Cobbler, our special Father’s Day breakfast!

Here’s our menu plan for this week:

Sunday, June 19
Peach cobbler, milk
Lasagna, tossed salad, corn, chocolate chip cookies
Beef brats, “angeled” eggs, cream cheese salsa dip, corn chips, fruit, homemade ice cream

Monday, June 20
Simple soaked pancakes, blueberries
Spanish rice with chicken, mock frozen yogurt
Sourdough pizza (using the no-knead dough in the Sourdough A to Z eBook), tossed salad

Tuesday, June 21
Scrambled egg sandwiches, oranges
Black bean taco salad, cantaloupe
Cheesy beef and rice, green beans, watermelon

Wednesday, June 22
Creamy orange cooler, cinnamon toast
Meat and cheese burritos, fruit salad
Salmon patties, ranch potato wedges, peas

Thursday, June 23
Blueberry streusel muffins, bananas
Homemade pizza pockets, carrot sticks with ranch dressing, apples
Chicken fried steak strips, mashed potatoes, gravy, asparagus

Friday, June 24
Easy breakfast casserole, oranges
Taco corn fritters, watermelon
Hamburgers on homemade whole wheat buns, baked potato fries, raw veggies with ranch dip

Saturday, June 25
Homemade funnel cakes, fruit
Leftovers
Lamb roast, carrots, potatoes, gravy

And now, a quick shout out to some of our sponsors:

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Appreciate Your Spouse

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Welcome to our first post in this 26 week series, written by my husband Matt and me. We’re excited to be working together on this and in case I haven’t mentioned it lately – my husband is awesome.  ;)

Appreciate Each Other

Show and Tell – Matt’s thoughts

In grade school Show and Tell was when the boys brought cool toys from home and told us about them. I could hardly wait for recess to play with them. The girls brought items that I thought were silly and boring. Obviously, there were differing perspectives involving Show and Tell.

In marriage we need to show and tell our spouse of our appreciation. This isn’t necessarily what I would appreciate my spouse to do for me. We need to crawl into the mind of our beloved by asking, “What could I do for my sweetie that would make him/her feel loved?” If I’m unsure then I need to ask my spouse how he/she would like for me to show and tell my appreciation.

If we aren’t doing this, we take for granted the roles that our spouse plays and the holes that our spouse fills in our life.

We all know Laura enjoys cooking. Bonus for me – she is good at it. Amazingly efficient too. I, on the other hand, measure everything out precisely and find it challenging to prepare more than one item at a time. I sure appreciated Laura’s work and proficiency in the kitchen…meal after meal. How did she know I appreciated it? That’s where I needed to show and tell. Eventually, I learned that she enjoys cooking even more when I express my gratitude for her work and help with the clean-up. She really feels loved and appreciated when I say, “Thanks! That was great,” and then I hop up and start rinsing dishes and/or get our boys going on their clean-up chores. In a healthy marriage, the husband and the wife both seek out ways they can show and tell their appreciation often.

When we practice this, we empower our spouse to continue doing the action or having the attitude that we praised them for. In our case, neither of us enjoy doing our taxes, but Laura thanks me profusely for taking care of that. My motivation for doing our taxes comes directly from her words of appreciation. When I’ve finished I can’t wait to tell her and receive some appreciation.

How Could You Not Appreciate Seeing My New Stuffed Pink Bunny During Show and Tell? – Laura’s Thoughts

You know why I feel appreciated by Matt? Because he’s intentional about showing and telling me what he appreciates. Appreciation doesn’t just happen. I’m not sure any element of a healthy marriage just happens without being intentional. Showing and telling our appreciation takes thought and work – which means we often need to do things we don’t necessarily love doing. What, you think Matt really just loves rinsing dishes? C’mon. But he does the job cheerfully, because he loves and appreciates me. And boy do I appreciate the way he appreciates me. After all, we have a lot of dirty dishes at our house. ;)

Now regarding grade school Show and Tell and the adorable toys I would bring to bore the boys – here’s something else I think we need to appreciate:

God made men and women different – on purpose. Instead of scoffing at our differences, I believe we need to appreciate how God created us to complement one another’s strengths and weaknesses. Then, we need to show and tell our spouse how we appreciate that they are different from us.

I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that Matt can handle doing the taxes when I’d never make it through the first line of instructions without my eyes glazing over. Yep, God knew what He was doing when He made us with differences. 

And now, I believe I will go show my appreciation to Matt by making one of his favorite meals. Which he will then show me his appreciation by rinsing the dishes I dirtied. Ah, the appreciation never stops around here. :) 

What are some ways you can show and tell your spouse you appreciate him/her?

Ladies, we know you’re reading here more often than the guys. ;)  We’d love husbands to read this article as well. 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. Print Healthy Marriage Tips A to Z – Appreciate.

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Whole Wheat Blueberry Streusel Muffins (plus a little project announcement)

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blueberry_streusel_muffin

A few months ago when I went to my friend Tracy’s Shelf Reliance party, I ordered a big can of freeze dried blueberries for an excellent price. I love having those blueberries on hand – and they work perfectly in these Blueberry Streusel Muffins.

Blueberry Streusel MuffinsYum

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground hard or soft white wheat)
1/3 cup sucanat  (you can use brown sugar or honey if you prefer)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 egg
1/4 cup melted butter or coconut oil
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup blueberries, fresh, frozen or freeze dried

Mix dry ingredients together well. Add egg, butter and milk, stirring until all ingredients are mixed. Gently stir in blueberries. Scoop batter into 12 paper lined muffin tins. Sprinkle with Streusel Topping and bake in a 400° for 20 minutes.

Streusel Topping:

3 T. sucanat or brown sugar
1 T. butter, softened
2 T. chopped nuts (optional)

This is one of those easy recipes that your kids can help you make. I feel like it is super important for you to get your kids into the kitchen with you so that they can learn the basics of cooking.

In fact, you wanna know a little secret? I’m frantically working on a (big) new ebook/curriculum that guides you in depth through teaching your kids to cook. I hope to have this project finished in the next few weeks (months?) so that you can have it when the new school year begins – hopefully?! (UPDATE:  Here it is!)

Anyway – now you know. I’m not sure why I didn’t tell you earlier – it’s too much fun to keep a secret! I’m super excited about this and hope to create a resource that will be helpful to all. I’ve even “borrowed” some little girls to help make the book a little more well rounded. :)

This may be one of the most fun projects I’ve ever worked on – combining two of my favorite things in the world:  kids and cooking. Stay tuned for more information about this book as I get closer to finishing it. And if you hear me squealing at any time during the next few weeks, it’s because I really am having that much fun with this project.

Yeah, that little darling in the above picture is cute enough to make all of us squeal. ;)

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Why I Love Coconut Flour (but not sky diving)

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Between playing with my sourdough starter, making lots of fizzy bubbles with my water kefir and experimenting with all the cool things you can make with coconut flour, I’ve been incredibly adventurous in the kitchen lately. Who needs bungee jumping or sky diving when you can get adventurous with bubbles and coconut flour? Oh, I’m so wild and crazy – just try and keep up with me.

(Hey, did you fall asleep already? Wake up. The post just started. I’m not that boring. Really, I’m adventurous. Just wait until you hear about the mayonnaise experiments I’m gonna write about next week.)

coconutflour

It’s one of my newest loves, coconut flour. Coconut flour is the fiber taken from the coconut meat after coconut oil is extracted from the coconut. How cool are these people to use the whole coconut! It’s hearty, it tastes incredible and it’s full of many nutrients that our bodies need. Since I tend to almost always bake with whole wheat flour – baking with coconut flour offers our family a nice variety and change of pace. Change is good. Our bodies like and need variety.

Coconut flour is also gluten free. Gluten free or not, I encourage you to try coconut flour as a new source of nutrition!

Why Coconut Flour is Good for You

  • It is a great source for natural fiber.
  • It is high in protein.
  • It is low in carbohydrates (not that all carbs are bad, but many of us tend to get too many of carbs – or empty carbs – in many of our baked goods).
  • It has a natural sweetness, which means you don’t need as much sweetener in recipes that include coconut flour.

The complaint I hear most often about Coconut Flour is that it is expensive. Yup. I can’t deny that. The stuff isn’t cheap. However, the more I use coconut flour, the more I realize that while it costs quite a bit more than wheat flour, you use quite a bit less coconut flour in most recipes. So maybe the cost isn’t so bad after all?

For instance, I typically use 3 cups of whole wheat flour to make 24 muffins for my family’s breakfast (I told you we eat a lot of muffins!). However, when I make muffins using coconut flour, I use only 1 cup to make the same 24 muffins. I find that I don’t go through the coconut flour very fast because ultimately, it just doesn’t take as much per recipe.

Coconut Flour is a dry flour – it usually requires a lot of eggs to create a recipe using coconut flour. Well how ’bout that? Now we’ve just added tons more protein because we’ve added more eggs. Have you tried these Basic Coconut Flour Muffins or Coconut Flour Banana Muffins yet? Wow, they’re good – and full of protein and great nutrition because of the coconut flour and eggs.

Where to Buy Coconut Flour

I buy my Coconut Flour either at Tropical Traditions, Azure Standard or through Amazon, depending on who has the best price at the time. Tropical Traditions often runs their Coconut Flour with a Buy One Get One Free sale. I never pay full price – I wait for the sale! I also watch Amazon to see if they have any specials going on. If they have Azukar Coconut Flour in stock, that is by far the best price I’ve ever seen!

I store my Coconut Flour in the freezer and just pull it out as I need it. I’m having fun learning how best to use it and since we love these Coconut Flour Muffins so much, I’m having fun experimenting with other recipes using the same idea. There’s a full page of coconut flour recipes over at Tropical Traditions that I’ve been looking over. Today, I tried their Gluten Free Coconut Flour Chocolate Cake.

?


If I didn’t know this cake was gluten free and made with coconut flour, I wouldn’t have known this cake was gluten free and made with coconut flour. Make sense? My kids didn’t know, so they didn’t know – and they liked it. Make sense? Mmm-hmmm. That means the cake was really good – and nobody knew it wasn’t “normal” but that it was packed with protein and nutrition.

Yep, much healthier than sky diving, these adventures of mine. You should get wild and crazy with me and make bubbles and coconut flour cake. Buckle your seat belt. It’s a wild ride.

{yawn}

Want to share some of the adventurous things you’ve been trying in your kitchen lately?

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Gratituesday: Free Groceries…Twice!

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I never win anything. Now, this could be because I hardly ever sign up for anything, but still. Anytime I’ve entered a raffle or signed up for giveaways on other blogs, my name is never chosen. 

Until recently. And then I won twice – in one week. Wowza.

Here’s how it all went down:  On a fluke, I entered a giveaway at Tammy’s Recipes for a $50 Kroger Grocery Gift Certificate. I really don’t enter giveaways much these days, but if you dangle free groceries in front of my face, it’s hard for me to resist the opportunity. So I entered.

And then I won. Wow. Now I understand how excited all of you are when I draw your name and email you. That was one of the most fun emails to receive, ever!

THEN, just two days later I received a phone call from one of our grocery stores here in town. Every time you make a purchase there and sign your receipt, it goes into a drawing for a $100 gift certificate. I’ve signed my receipts for years and let the boys put them into the “drawing box” as we leave the store. Never figured I’d win, but it never hurts to try – and it was fun for the boys to put the receipts in the box.

Long story longer, you guessed it:  The grocery store was calling to tell me that I had won the drawing that week! $100 of free groceries from our local grocery store!

Do you know how much fun a person can have with $150 of free grocery store gift cards?!?! We don’t have a Kroger store in Nebraska, but they are all over Kansas – so we took our $50 certificate and used in on our way home from visiting family earlier in the month. Here in town, I just used bits and pieces of my $100 card anytime I needed bananas or watermelon or cantaloupe…

Yeah, we spent it mostly on fruits and veggies. FREE fruits and veggies.

It was so much fun. What a blessing to be gifted twice with free groceries!! (Come to think of it – three times – as we had some Whole Foods gift cards saved up to use last week when we went to Omaha, thanks to all of you!)

God does provide, doesn’t he? I pray that we’re always wise with the blessings He gives us and that we’re always willing to be generous and share with others as we’ve been blessed!

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!

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My “Bulk” Natracare Order (And Possibly Too Much Information?)

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Well, speaking of buying in bulk and having everything you need on hand so you don’t have to panic and run to the store…let’s just say that this concept isn’t limited to food, my friends. There just so happens to be a bulk order I needed to make today and for some strange reason, I decided you should know about it. You’re welcome, or I’m sorry – depending on how much information you really want to find here at Heavenly Homemakers. ;)

I’ve talked in the past about “healthy punctuation products” and the importance I feel that it is to avoid regular feminine products at the store. Read this post to know more about what I’m talking about. 

I’ve come to LOVE all Natracare Products, finding that they make a world of difference in my “punctuation life“. Many of you have recomended the Diva Cup or Cloth Pads – call me lazy – I just haven’t gone there yet. (Silly, I know.)

Here are my Natracare Products of choice:

  • Natracare Ultra Long Pads with Wings (for heavy days)
  • Natracare Natural Ultra Pads with Wings (for lightish, but not yet panty liner days)
  • Natracare Organic Cotton Panty Liners (for oh good, I’m almost done days)  :)

The biggest reason I order cases of these products (beyond the fact that it saves money) is because I don’t ever, ever want to run out and have to get the regular kind from the store. I could break out into a rash just thinking about it.  {shudder} Regular products practically made me sick. I don’t ever want to use them again ever, ever, ever.

So there you go. In a few days, I’ll be receiving my bulk order of Natracare Products.

This makes me happy, although not nearly as happy as big bulky bags of oats. And I promise not to stand and stare at my box of Natracare Products like I stare at my bulk groceries. ;)

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Why I Buy in Bulk

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Hello my name is Laura and am obsessed with buying food in bulk. I love purchasing large quantities of food at one time – and then staring at it. Staring at bulk groceries makes me happy. Dreaming about all the delicious food I can make with my large food stores gives me a thrill. 

I’m pretty sure (pretty sure?) I am a little weird (only a little weird?) when it comes to my love of food. I know there are people who only give food a thought at the moment they become hungry and they think I’m strange for caring so much about my coconut flakes. They see my pantry and storage room and think I must have some weird phobia about losing our food supply, which must be why I buy up to 500 pounds of wheat at one time. They hear how many tomato plants we have in our garden and wonder if we know that we’ll have tomatoes coming out of our ears.

Yes, we’re aware. We did this last year too. And the year before that. We happen to like having tomatoes coming out of our ears. We think it tickles.

So why do we buy food (or preserve food) in such large quantities?

We do it because it’s practical for our family and saves us a good deal of money. Buying in bulk has made our real, whole food eating choices much more practical and affordable. We are blessed with a good amount of storage space, making the idea possible in the first place. Overall, I have found that purchasing food in bulk makes my kitchen duties much, much easier. Instead of buying a package of pasta every time we need a package of pasta (which is at least once each week), I buy a case of pasta once every two months and forget about it in between. When I need pasta, I go to my storage room and get pasta. 

Maybe I like bulk food so much because I don’t have to think so hard. Yes, that’s why I like it. I may like staring at my food and dreaming about our meals, but I’m not a big fan of thinking so hard every time I need to make a meal. I like buying ahead, buying in bulk, then having the capability to grab whatever food I need out of my storage and getting right to work in my kitchen. It’s all rather lovely.

I also really love that by having a large store of food, I can make bigger quantities of food if we have spur of the moment guests. It’s so nice to be able to say, “Stay for dinner – we have plenty!”

Buying in bulk (and preserving large quantities of food) just works for me. I love it.

During the next few weeks, I’ll share more about how buying in bulk works for our family, more about how we store our bulk, and most importantly, how we afford making bigger bulk purchases. I’m also working hard to put together a reference page sharing what food I always like to have on hand and what my favorite sources are for these items.

I know bulk purchasing doesn’t work for everyone. My intent with these posts isn’t to encourage everyone to buy in bulk. There may be just one of you in your household, making bulk purchasing impractical. Or you may have a small living space and then where are you supposed to store your bulk – on the roof?

So do share. If you buy in bulk, what are your reasons? And if you don’t buy in bulk, what are your reasons?  For all of you who have no interest in bulk food purchases, thank you for putting up with my obsession and embracing my “I smile at big bags of oats” insanity. 

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