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Favorite Blender?

November 11, 2010 by Laura 63 Comments

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

If I had to pick a kitchen appliance that I can’t do without, a blender might be at the top of my list. (Right up there with my Nutrimill Grain Mill, my Electric Skillet, my Food Processor…)  I use a blender every day. And in the summer and fall while I’m making tomato sauce and applesauce and tomato soup…I use it constantly.

We use our blender daily to make milkshakes, slushies, smoothies…and shucks…now we even use a blender to make powdered sugar!

Which brings me to a sad, sad story (okay, it’s not that sad). Last week, my blender broke. It was made of glass and out of nowhere, there was suddenly a great big crack running through it. I’m sure it wasn’t really out of nowhere, but I’m not really sure out of where it came. Regardless, unless you want glass shards as a main ingredient in your smoothie, I don’t recommend using a cracked blender.

Normally, Matt and I give some thought to a purchase like this one. We’d consider our options and look around for the best deal. We might look into using some of our Swagbuck earned Amazon cards to purchase one online. We might put it on our Christmas list.

But this was a blender. With this lovely fall weather, I was still making tomato sauce last week with the last of our late tomato crop. I needed a blender in five minutes and I did not have time to wait or consider my options. My only option was:  Go to the store RIGHT NOW and buy a blender.

Before I headed out, Matt and I did take the time (like an entire two minutes) to talk about whether or not we should invest in a  higher dollar blender, or just settle once again for a cheap one. He left it up to me, depending on what I might find in the blender aisle.

I know you’re all on pins and needles (like you normally are when I tell these really exciting stories about my broken blenders, which is never). 

I ended up buying a cheap one.  I couldn’t help it. I think one day I’d like to save for a high quality VitaMix. But at that very moment, I couldn’t bring myself to spend much. I instead went for a much cheaper blender:  a Hamilton Beach Wavestation Express Dispensing Blender. Everyone at home was thrilled when they saw it and begged me to make milkshakes right away…

Is that FUN or what!??!? With all the milkshakes and slushies we make around here…it does not get any easier (or more fun) than our cool Hamilton Beach Wavestation Express Dispensing Blender. For a cool $20.

It doesn’t have much in the way of fancy settings or buttons. All I truly need is a lid  and an on/off switch and I’m good. But wow, isn’t that little dispenser something else? It doesn’t take much around here to make us excited.

So there you go…that’s my little review of my new Hamilton Beach Wavestation Express Dispensing Blender. For $20. With a dispenser. That is so cool.

I often get emails asking which blender I prefer and if I recommend a VitaMix. I’d love to here all of you offer a little review on which blender you have and like. And if you have a VitaMix, can you tell us whether you’re pleased with your investment?

Oh, and if you want to come over for a milkshake, I would love to dispense one for you.

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Easy Alfredo Sauce

November 11, 2010 by Laura 92 Comments

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High Five Recipes 2

I love a good alfredo sauce. Want to know why this recipe is so good and rich? It’s full of butter and cream. Indeed, this recipe is neither fat free nor dairy free. I am very much not afraid of real and healthy fat. For those of you who need to eat a dairy free diet, I’ll try to come up with something a little less “cow” next time. ;)

Easy Alfredo SauceYum

Easy Alfredo Sauce
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Serves: 6 servings
Ingredients
  • ½ cup butter
  • One pint of cream (2 cups)
  • 1-3 garlic cloves
  • 2 Tablespoons cream cheese
  • ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
  1. Bring the butter, cream, garlic and cream cheese to a boil.
  2. Turn down the heat, simmer and stir for about two minutes.
  3. Add the grated cheese and stir until melted.
  4. Simmer the sauce for 15-20 minutes until it becomes "thick and saucy", stirring occasionally.
3.4.3177

And now, a few alfredo pictures:

Into the pot go the butter, cream, cream cheese and garlic…

The parmesan cheese is shredded and ready to add once we’ve boiled the other ingredients for a couple of minutes.

Here’s our sauce, simmered and ready to serve…

OH. YUM.

pasta alfredo

Are you wondering about the pasta I served with our Easy Alfredo Sauce? It looks like WHITE pasta, doesn’t it? Ah, but it isn’t!! I’m very excited to tell you that this was Gluten Free Corn Pasta  from OliveNation. My OliveNation friends told me that their GF pasta tasted awesome and wow they were right!!! It’s great stuff! AND, if you recall, just like with vanilla beans, OliveNation offers Heavenly Homemakers readers a 10% discount (use the code home).

Now, you can of course add chicken to this dish if you like. Just saute a little chicken in some olive oil and toss it into the sauce. For that matter, that steamed broccoli I served on the side tasted great stirrred right into the sauce and noodles on our plate!

Are you a red sauce or a white sauce kind of pasta lover? Or does it depend on the day?

Take a peek at all of our High Five Recipes –
High Quality Recipes…Five Ingredients or Less!

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Eat Less Sugar

November 9, 2010 by Laura 39 Comments

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simplesteps

You know why I’m writing this post? Because I need to hear it.

While our family has made huge strides over the past few years in Our Healthy Eating Journey, my one major struggle remains:  I really like sweets.

Yes, I’ve given up all forms of soda and have switched to healthy beverages. Yes, I’ve switched from white sugar to sucanat, honey or real maple syrup. So in those ways, of course I’m eating much healthier. But still, while these are healthier sugars and are much better than processed sugar…they are STILL sugar.

Too much sugar (in any form) can suppress our immune systems, mess up our blood sugar and insulin levels, make us feel sluggish, cause depression. Sugar can cause heart issues. Sugar can make us gain weight. 

Sugar tastes really, really good.

And sugar is addicting.

I’m not really convinced that any one of the Steps Toward Healthy Eating is more important than another. I truly think that each little (or big) thing you can do to improve your health is a step in the right direction whether it’s eating more fruits and veggies or switching to whole grains.  But doesn’t it sort of make sense that if you make all kinds of healthy changes, but you’re still eating a lot of sugary foods…you’re kind of taking some steps backward health-wise?  Our bodies are busy trying to make good use of all the healthy foods we’re feeding it, and sugar sort of sets us back one sweet morsel at a time.

Am I saying that we need to give up sugar altogether? Good grief, I hope that’s not what I’m saying. 

No indeed, I just had a meeting with myself and I have decided that we do not all have to give up sugar entirely. In fact, while giving up sugar entirely would be good for us in some ways, it may cause us to have an “all or nothing” mentality as in…eat no sugar for several days or weeks, then finally cave in and eat a whole bag of chocolate covered sugar with sprinkles, and a side of ho-hos.

I think that if we can achieve a healthy balance when it comes to sugar, our bodies will thank us, and so will our sweet tooth.

  • If you are in the habit of eating sweets during a certain time of the day, make a conscious effort to DO SOMETHING ELSE during that time period. Pray, read your Bible, call a friend, play a game with your kids, exercise, paint your nails…anything to distract you from your habit of sugary temptation. 
  • Eat fruit to satisfy sweet cravings. Fruit tastes so much better when your palate isn’t covered in sugar.
  • Instead of cookies and cakes, make sweet treats that are lower in sugar like muffins or a biscuit with a little honey drizzled inside.

Allow yourself some of your favorite treats every now and then. But you’ve gotta make those sugar calories worth it. Don’t settle for sour gummy goobers if you don’t even like them. Say NO to the sweets that you aren’t really big on and savor your favorites every once in a while.

So…what are your thoughts about eating less sugar? Is eating too much sugar a struggle for you? What tricks have you found to eat less and find a healthy sugar balance?

Be sure to read the other posts in this series: 
Switch from White to Brown; Eat Out Less; Invest Money in Good Food;
Healthy Beverages; Drink More Water;
The Decision to Eat a Healthy Diet; Eat More Fruits and Veggies

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Gratituesday: Picnic in November

November 8, 2010 by Laura 16 Comments

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

I can NOT get over the weather we are having this fall. Usually in my area, we have fall weather for around three hours, then it becomes very cold. This fall however, we have had WEEKS of beautiful weather. The boys have been able to play outside, the garden produced longer, our home improvement projects have been possible…

Today, November 8, we were actually able to eat our lunch outside. This NEVER happens in November. We were all sitting outside visiting and enjoying the sunshine…all six of us. It was time to eat and Matt suggested that we bring our lunch outside. In a very short time the men had a table and chairs set up and we were eating our roasted chicken with the works out in our front yard. Only one lady bug joined us, so I’d say it was quite a successful picnic!

I didn’t get a picture because I was hungry. :) 

I think that for as long as the weather holds out, we should eat our lunches outside again. What a great way to enjoy God’s fall blessings of beauty and warmth! After that, I suppose we could have picnics on the living room floor around the fireplace?

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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Cooking Ahead for November

November 8, 2010 by Laura 24 Comments

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

We had completely eaten our stash of frozen foods, so it feels good to have some healthy convenience foods back in the freezer again! I didn’t get everything made that was on my list, but shucks…I NEVER get everything done that is on my list. 

Can I tell you my biggest tip for making healthy convenience foods for your pantry and freezer? Don’t make freezer cooking difficult.  Just make extra food here and there as you are cooking and working in your kitchen. 

I have found that marathon freezer cooking doesn’t work for me. It wears me out and makes me feel behind in other areas. Instead, when I need to make Whole Wheat Tortillas, I’ll make a double or triple batch and freeze some for later. If I take the time once in a while to make a big bowl of Turkey Sausage and prep it for the freezer, then I’ve got Turkey Sausage ready for the next several weeks. If I am making one casserole, I’ll make three and freeze two. Cooking ahead really doesn’t have to be complicated.  I am always SO thankful for the healthy “go-to” foods in my freezer! 

Here are the extra foods that I’ve worked on during the past several days:

Applesauce Bread (x3)

Whole Wheat Waffles (x2)
We ate one batch for breakfast and I froze the rest. 

Whole Wheat Tortillas (x2)
Yeah, these are almost gone already. :)

Turkey Sausage (x6)
I froze sausage patties on parchment paper lined cookie sheets,
popped them off and put them into freezer bags for fast breakfasts and lunches.

Taco Seasoning, right there in my pantry next to a jar of Ranch Dressing Mix and Italian Dressing Mix. 
These mixes each take about five minutes to prepare, taste delicious, are SO much healthier and save a lot of money!!

Chicken Fried Steak Strips (x3)
Just like the turkey sausage, I prepped these, froze them on parchment paper lined cookie sheets
and put them into freezer bags for a quick lunch or dinner.

I am happy to report that the homemade, healthy poptarts I experimented with WORKED this time!!
I am sad to report that we ate them all already.
I am happy to report that I have the recipe written down and will type it out and share the EASY way to make these during the next week or two!!

Here are the items on my list that I just didn’t get around to making yet. Hopefully I will in the next few days…

  • Mini Apple Pies
  • Bean and Cheese Burritos
  • Whole Wheat Graham Crackers
  • Do you have anything yummy in your freezer, ready to pull out and fix quickly?

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    Menu Plan for the Week

    November 7, 2010 by Laura 20 Comments

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

    Yesterday was Matt’s birthday, which means that he is now “as old as I am” again. I am an entire four months older than him and he has fun reminding me of that. :)  We celebrated with Cheesy Turkey Sausage Stromboli and Peach Cobbler, two of his favorites.

    Here’s what’s on the menu for this week:

    Sunday, November 7
    Oatmeal, pears
    Potato Soup, carrot sticks, fruit salad
    Corn Dog Muffins, apples

    Monday, November 8
    Chocolate chocolate chip muffins, oranges
    Taco Potatoes with lettuce and tomatoes, peaches
    Roasted chicken, potatoes, carrots, gravy, green beans

    Tuesday, November 9
    Creamy orange cooler, fried eggs on toast
    Turkey sausage, hashbrowns, fruit salad
    Chicken & biscuits with veggies

    Wednesday, November 10
    Honey whole wheat bagels, applesauce
    Pizza casserole, tossed salad, corn
    Chicken tortilla soup, raw veggies

    Thursday, November 11
    Scrambled egg sandwiches, pears
    Italian stew with green beans
    Shepherds pie

    Friday, November 12
    Warm vanilla soother, honey wheat muffins
    Grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup
    Lasagna, tossed salad

    Saturday, November 13
    Whole wheat cinnamon rolls, apples
    Leftovers
    Pizza

    Matt almost always chooses a Peach Cobbler instead of a birthday cake (which none of us complains about). Anyone else out there pick a different birthday dessert instead of a cake?

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    I Heart Green Foam Insulation

    November 6, 2010 by Laura 15 Comments

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

    It’s been so long since I’ve shown you any living room pictures, I’m sure you’ve all continued to picture that the room looked like this…

    Thankfully, we’ve made a LOT of progress since then. And by we’ve…I mean Matt and the boys. I’ve really only been able to be the side line cheerleader throughout this project. My asthma doesn’t allow me to help with a project that includes THIS much dust. Matt’s dad helped with the first two weeks of this project and helped us get much of the work done.

    So let’s review a little bit shall we? First, Matt and his dad began to break down the walls and tear down the 100(+) year old plaster.

    Once all the plaster was off (and completely covered the floor in a big mess), they began to tear off the lathe. We saved it for kindling – yay!

    Would you look at that? Nothing between the lathe and the outside wall. THIS is why we’ve been so cold each winter!

    Once they had the walls prepped, the boys and I vacated the house. Matt and his dad put on protective gear and they sprayed in foam insulation from SprayFoamDirect.

    Oh look, green foam. That’s a whole lot better than cold air in the walls, wouldn’t you say?

    But what’s even better is that now a little clean up is starting to happen. Check it out, there are floors under there…

    My father in law had to fly back home, but Matt was able to get drywall up within the  next few days. This is getting exciting isn’t it? Now look…we have walls!

    Better yet…our living room is clean and put back in order!!

    Aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

    Now here’s the deal.  The drywall hasn’t been mudded or sanded or painted yet. The trim work is still not back up. There is still a lot of work to be done as we completely finish the living room. BUT…we ended up with some leftover spray foam…and if you don’t use it within thirty days, it loses it’s pressure. We are NOT going to waste that spray foam. Therefore…we begin project number two…

    Our bedroom.

    So, life continues to be a bit…dusty. Matt and I have moved into one of the guestrooms. I usually can not find my slippers.

    But I am so thankful for my husband’s hard work and I am SO thankful that we are going to be warm.

    One room at a time.

     

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    Favorite Cookware and Bakeware? and Should We Eat Wheat? Podcast #5

    November 4, 2010 by Laura 22 Comments

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

    In today’s podcast, I address a question about my favorite types of cookware and bakeware…plus a question about whether or not wheat is even good for us.

    I must warn you that because I don’t have a firm answer on the wheat eating issue…I ramble a little bit. YIKES! Sometimes it’s so much easier for me to write and edit, then write then delete… My apologies for the way I sort of stumble along answering this second question about wheat. It’s such a great question, with a bit of a blabby-blab answer. You are so excited to listen now, aren’t you? Don’t worry…the entire podcast only lasts about 11 minutes. At least I finally do bring my ramblings to a close…eventually.

    Keep in mind that I am not an expert, both at understanding the whole picture of wheat…and at speaking in a podcast. I’m a just a mom who does her best to fix healthy meals…and every two weeks or so I work up a podcast for you. ;)

    Heavenly Homemakers Podcast #5

    Some links for topics or items I mentioned during the podcast:

    • Nutrimill
    • Pyrex
    • Cast Iron
    • Stainless Steel
    • Stoneware
    • Soaking your Grain
    • To Soak or Not to Soak
    • More About Soaking or Not Soaking  (What? Because we just didn’t hear enough of the non-definitive answer on the podcast?)
    • Really Laura? 500 POUNDS of wheat?

    If you feel like joining the confusion discussion, I’d love to hear what your feelings are about eating wheat.

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    Does This Super Woman Cape Make Me Look Fat?

    November 4, 2010 by Laura 11 Comments

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

    I am very honored to be featured in the November 2010 edition of Parent Life Magazine. Plus, they asked me to guest post over on their site. If you’d like to take a peek at what I wrote, please click on over to read Does This Super Woman Cape Make Me Look Fat?.

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

    Healthy Caramel Frosting – with Homemade Sucanat Powdered Sugar

    November 3, 2010 by Laura 17 Comments

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

    healthy_celebrations_med

    Click here to see all of the recipes in the
    Healthy Celebrations section of Heavenly Homemakers!

    This Caramel Frosting recipe is very exciting because you can make it with your very own homemade powdered sugar!!! If you don’t have sucanat or you don’t feel like making powdered sugar, DO NOT substitute regular pre-made powdered sugar. This recipe won’t taste very caramelly if you use the white stuff. (I made up that word. It is pronounced:  care-uh-mellleeeeee. I like it.)  If you do need to make a substitution, use regular ol’ brown sugar.

    You do need to know that this recipe takes several minutes to make. It isn’t hard to make, you just have to beat it (and beat it and beat it…) for several minutes to turn it into frosting. I had my kids take turns holding the beaters while I made the donuts to go with the frosting. They were making frosting…they did not mind holding the beaters.

    Oh look, only four ingredients!!!

    Caramel FrostingYum

    2 cups homemade sucanat powdered sugar
    1/2 cup butter
    1/2 cup cream
    1/2 teaspoon vanilla

    Place sucanat powdered sugar, butter and cream in a pan on the stove. Cook until butter is melted. Bring mixture to a boil and boil for one minute, stirring allthewhile (I made up that word too. It is pronounced ahll-thuh-wyle. It means – keep stirring for the whole minute and whatever you do, don’t stop). Remove this from the heat and pour it into a mixing bowl. Beat mixture with electric beaters for 15 minutes or until it thickens and becomes spreading consistency. Add vanilla and beat for a little bit longer, because you just love beating your frosting and you know it.

    Here is the mixture as it is beginning to boil…

    Now, we have poured it into our favorite stainless steel bowl and we are beginning to beat it…

    Hello there. We are still beating our mixture. 
    It has been only a few minutes but already it is getting thicker…

    Wow, will you look at that? It’s been about eight minutes and not only is the frosting getting thicker, it is turning a nice shade of…what shade of brown would you call that? Caramelly?

    Eleven minutes and counting. Thicker and thicker it becomes allthewhile we have been beating it. We have switched beater holders a few times. Life is getting more and more exciting as we see that this really might become frosting after all…

    Almost done. I think we’ve been beating for longer than fifteen minutes. What is that about?

    Okay, we are going to pronounce that the Caramel Frosting is now finished. It’s not as thick as we may have expected, but we can certainly spread it on our donuts. (Or on a cake if that’s what we were making this for.)

    Sure enough, we were able to spread this Caramel Frosting on our donuts.

    The moral of the story is this:  Just when you think you can’t possibly keep beating your frosting, stick those beaters back in the bowl and KEEP BEATING. Hey, if you’re alone in your kitchen, it’ll be good prayer time. Who says you can’t pray over your bowl and beaters? 

    The other moral of the story is this:  Good things come to those who beat. For a long time. When you eat this frosting on a cake or on donuts or on cookies…you will recognize that the beating was all worth it.

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