Heavenly Homemakers

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Do You Want Pie or Kale? (Check Out Dr. Orlena’s Healthy Eating Reboot!)

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The holidays have arrived. Do you want pie or kale? Let’s chat. I’ve come across something cool.

November is here. We had a blast trunk-or-treating at three different events in our town and ohmygoodness the candy pile!!!!!!! (We were able to give most of it away. I have my ways.)

But who wouldn’t give this group of cuties handfuls of sugar?

Halloween 2022 at the Coppinger house featured many Monster’s Inc. favorites: Mr. Waternoose, Roz, Sully, Mike Wazowski, Celia, Boo, Randall, and George.

Now, we are heading into Thanksgiving and Christmas, all of which will include gatherings and parties and loads and loads more sugar.

Laura’s confession:

We give our littles almost no sugar, but it’s harder for all the grown-ups. Sometimes I find myself in a rut and while we continue to faithfully guzzle down our Green Smoothies every day, I feel like we’re slipping a little bit into some other bad eating habits.

At the same time, I know I need to make compromises right now so that I can instead focus on loving people without stressing out about the free-range chicken, right?

Balance. That’s what we strive for. Sometimes we need a little bit of encouragement and inspiration. After all, taking care of ourselves IS important. If I don’t take care of myself, I can’t take care of them:

Enter: Dr. Orlena’s Healthy Eating Reboot eCourse

I have discovered this and want to encourage you to work through it with me. I found that this eCourse is not like others I’ve ever seen. (First, Dr. Orlena has a really cool British accent. Her videos are fun to watch simply because she talks so cool. I love a good British accent.)

In her very cool-talking way, Dr. Orlena’s suggestions are professional, practical, and easy. I love how she shares ways to eat healthier that actually motivate me to want to eat healthier. But they don’t put on pressure or make me feel bad about the frozen pizzas we ate yesterday when I didn’t have time to cook.

The drawback (hear me out though): The Healthy Eating Reboot eCourse normally costs $299. I had only worked 1/3 of the way through it before I recognized that all it offered made it 100% worth its cost. But right now isn’t a good time for most of us to drop $300 on something, even if it is good. The really good news is that today through Friday, November 11, this eCourse is included in this year’s Ultimate Home Management Bundle for a total of only $47.

Aha. Now we’re talking.

What I’m learning

Dr. Orlena’s course is making me think more about everything I’m putting into my body. I mean, our Green Smoothies are super packed with nourishment, but I can’t rely on only that to keep me going. So what else can I easily add to my diet each day as I put so much energy into caring for my family?

Throughout the course, Dr. Orlena offers loads of practical ideas and recipes to eat clean foods that are high in nutrients. So I started making some of her easy recipes and found that they were really good. Even our kids (the picky ones!!) ate most of what I’ve tried so far.

Her Baked Salmon with Dijon Mustard Sauce made me wonder why I typically don’t like mustard. I am so glad I made the sauce. Wow. This is delicious. (And it only took five minutes of prep work time. Twenty minutes later, dinner was served.)

And how about getting better sleep??

Dr. Orlena has an entire section in the eCourse on how to get good sleep. I learned more about how what we do during the day really affects our sleep. She recognizes that sleep can be disrupted by kids (can I get an amen?), and she addresses this, giving us ideas for routines and healthy choices so that we can get the best sleep possible, even when we have little ones (thank you very much).

Oh, and she addresses coffee, tea, and alcohol. I won’t tell you what she said but let’s just say that I like her even more because she didn’t take away my coffee. ;)

Now that is an old picture. RIP Wiggams.

Is it worth it?

I know a lot about healthy eating. But knowing and doing are different. I needed a reboot. I think most of us can use one from time to time.

So yes, I can say that while I feel that the value of Dr. Orlena’s Healthy Eating Reboot is every bit worth the $299 it normally costs, I’d have a hard time making myself fork that out. On the other hand, since we can get it in the $47 bundle along with 85 other products, I’d have no hesitation buying this and recommending this. What a great offer on such a valuable product, and beyond!

Read here to learn more about this year’s Ultimate Home Management Bundle, and know that buying this great package gives you full access to Dr. Orlena’s Healthy Eating Reboot.

More thoughts about the Ultimate Home Management Bundle

Today I’m only highlighting Dr. Orlena’s Healthy Eating Reboot, simply because I’m so impressed with it and so grateful that we can get it at such a discount. But don’t miss everything else included in this year’s bundle – 86 more home management resources to be exact! You can see it all here, and in true Laura fashion to determine if something is worth it, I did some math:

If the bundle costs $47, and we get 87 products within it, then technically that makes each item, including the Healthy Eating Reboot only $0.54. Fifty-four cents. Per product. My mind is kind of blown when I see that.

This offer is only good through this Friday, November 11. Take advantage now and enjoy all the goods.

Hesitant because you don’t have time right now?

We’re about to hit the holiday craze, so I hear you, and here’s what I’m doing. I downloaded all of the products (they make it easy to do that and they put them all in one folder for you). Then I plan to work my way through them a little at a time. Specifically, many of them are going to be perfect to read through or print and use after the first of the year (planners, decluttering check-lists, organizational tools…). Even the Healthy Eating Reboot course will be fantastic if we wait to start it in January.

So get it now while it’s available for so little. Then work your way through everything you need/want as the timing is right for you. And speaking of the holidays…

A Thank You Gift

I’m eager for you to enjoy this bundle with me, and as an affiliate with Ultimate Bundles, I earn a commission when you purchase through my links. So as a thank you, I created something else fun – and healthy – and practical for us to enjoy this holiday season. I’ll send the entire packet to you for free when you forward me a quick copy of your invoice.

To go along with Dr. Orlena’s Healthy Eating Reboot course, I wanted to get us started with some simple holiday guides for this season.

  • How to Stay Healthy During the Holidays Guide (doable for everyone)
  • Healthier Holidays Cookbook (amazing, brand new treat recipes)
  • Holiday Priorities Notebook (read about how I overdid us during Fall Break, what I learned, and what you can do to actually ENJOY this season) #mentalhealthamatters

This Healthier Holidays bonus package is going into my shop on November 12 for $19.99, but yours will be free when you send me your bundle receipt!

Grab your Home Management Bundle here.

Holler if you have any questions. I’m going to go try a couple more of Dr. Orlena’s recipes…

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Our October Groceries and Meals We Ate

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After my “eat from the freezers and pantry” challenge in September (which saved us $480, woot!), I was ready to stock up again. Here’s a fun post sharing a lot of our October groceries and meals we ate!

My first big shopping trip of the month was at Sam’s, where I spent $571 getting lots of fruits, veggies, dairy products, and meat. Here are my two carts:

Throughout October, I either did Walmart pickup orders or headed to our local grocery stores for our girls’ WIC items. I’m trying to be more intentional about taking kids with me for one-on-one outings like this. Truly, I prefer to run to the store alone so that I can save time and have a little break. But I know having individual time with each kid is important. So taking kids on WIC runs has become a goal. :) As you can see, I ended up two-on-one. Close enough, right?

Mid-way through the month, we were in Lincoln as a family to hear Justus preach at church. After church, we treated the kids to the Costco Hotdog and Pizza Special (they thought it was the best lunch ever) and grabbed more groceries we needed.

There were 12 of us eating that day but no matter what angle I tried, I could not get all of us in the picture. Also, I put a heart over Malachi’s face because he wouldn’t have wanted you to see the face he was making at me. :) :) :)

I ended up spending $435 on groceries at Costco.

Total grocery spending for October: $1,532

Eeeek, I went way over. (Our monthly budget for our family of 10 at home is $1,200.) But, as you’ll see below, we had a lot of company this month, plus we had a few fun family outings. Spending extra on groceries so that we can enjoy our outings and guests is 100% worth it. Also…

Here’s I’ve been contemplating: Remember how I challenged myself in September to eat from our freezers and pantry, therefore avoiding the store? I saved $480 in September, but is it worth it? After all, I ran us out of most of our staples and had to stock up more than normal in October.

Conclusion:

Well, I’m not sure I’ve come to a conclusion, ha. But here’s a little math:

  • Saved $480 in September
  • Went over by $332 in October
  • This is still a $148 savings over two months.

Also, if I feed the 10 of us for $1,200/month, that equals $4/person/day. And that doesn’t count the food we share with others. I feel really good about this.

I recently talked with a friend of mine who also has a large family. I asked if her grocery budget was nuts like mine. Her answer? “I don’t even keep track. I just buy food and we eat it.”

Brilliant. Maybe that’s what I need to do. We can still be frugal and make good choices, but no matter what, we have to eat. Keeping track of spending may be more stressful than it’s worth. And this, my friends, is much of what has been going through my head during the past weeks as I’ve grocery shopped and fed people and considered what’s best for our budget.

Obviously, my conclusions are inconclusive.

Now let’s take a look at many of the meals we ate this month!!!

Meals we ate in October

One Sunday morning I put a big container of chicken thighs into the crock pot with a jar of salsa. We came home from church, shredded the chicken, and had a Chicken Burrito Bar with college students.

I forgot to take a picture until after half the leftovers were put away. ;)

But speaking of leftovers, Matt suggested that I use some of the chicken in its natural broth to make soup. I spooned in some of the leftover rice and beans in with chicken and broth and it made a fantastic soup for a lunch that week!

With some of the other leftovers (I had made a huge amount on purpose!), I made a big batch of burritos for our freezer.

When I ran out of tortillas, I put the remaining burrito mixture into a small casserole dish. We ate that for dinner a few nights later as a tortilla chip dip. I love how many meals we got out of this one small effort!

I had bought a huge tub of pretzels at Sam’s, so Keith and I made Chex Mix for snacks.

He also helped me put pretzels into baggies for church snacks. I love making a bunch of these baggies and then just grabbing them for our babies to snack on in the pew.

Early in October, our elementary-aged kids had a four-day weekend so Matt and I took them to the Pumpkin Patch one of those days. It was beautiful, sunny, and fun. I made tuna salad to eat with crackers, plus packed applesauce, yogurt, and Capri sun.

Another day that weekend, we went to Lincoln to enjoy time with Asa and Eva. We actually managed to get all 14 of us together that day, plus Eva’s parents joined us for lunch. We took sandwich fixin’s to the park.

At the mall for another meal while we were visiting Asa and Eva, we sat in the food court and ate beef jerky, cheese sticks, applesauce, and chips with dips. It was a super fun weekend, and while I spent a little extra on fun foods at the store for us to eat on our outings, we still saved a huge chunk of money compared to eating out all of those meals! (Something I had to remind myself about when I saw how much I spent on groceries this month!)

Back at home, I pulled out a casserole that had been in the freezer for a few weeks. I had followed this casserole recipe but switched the ham with leftover pulled pork. The picture doesn’t make the food look very good, but trust me, this was tasty! It was a great way to use leftover meat and leftover cheesy potatoes.

Oh look, another unapetizing-looking picture of food. :) I had stew meat in the freezer plus a couple bags of frozen stew veggies that I’d acquired for free. I threw them into the crock pot one day to create a simple stew for dinner. I made biscuits to go with them because stew and biscuits are the bomb.

This next picture shows what a typical Saturday morning breakfast looks like. I scrambled a dozen eggs, cooked some sausage, then got out pumpkin muffins, apple muffins, and peanut butter rice krispie bars.

One evening, I had several pounds of potatoes that needed to be used, so I cut them up and made a huge batch of these Ranch Potato Wedges. Wow, these are so good!

For all of the company we were planning to have, I wanted to make soup to go with our meals. So one morning, I made a big batch of broth using soup bones and veggies. I added 5-pounds of carrots to this pot, because why not??

This Simple Ham and Potato Soup is my absolute favorite soup right now. It has a little kick to it. SO GOOD. Here’s the pot of leftover soup I warmed up for lunch one day.

We celebrated a birthday girl this month! Her birthday dinner choice was Sloppy Joes and pickles, which I served with watermelon, grapes, tomatoes, and chips with guacamole.

Several of our bigs were able to come over to celebrate, plus my niece and her boyfriend. There were 14 of us partying that night! (Look at Brayden’s sweet face as he sings “happy birthday!” to his sister!!!!!)

The Saturday after her birthday, I pulled out all the random bits of meat from the fridge and used the leftover sloppy joe buns to make cheesy melts. Some were sloppy joe meat, some ham, some turkey, and some chicken salad. It was fun for everyone to take their pick!

The third weekend in October, our house was filled with company. It was awesome! The first night we had two families over, and they both have a lot of kids as we do. (Between our three families, we have a total of 23 kids! Only 17 of them were at our house that night though, hahaha.) Thankfully, it was a gorgeous evening and all the kids could play outside. Then they came in starving – twice! :) We moms had each made a crock pot of soup and muffins or apple crisp. It was an incredible dinner and even better fellowship.

We ate: Potato Soup, Bacon Cheeseburger Soup, Chicken Taco Soup, Flourless Pumpkin Muffins, Berry Muffins, Apple Crisp, Frosted Brownies, plus a wonderful assortment of fruits, veggies, crackers, and chips.

As the night wound down and our first round of company left, several out-of-state guests arrived for YU Homecoming. I didn’t get any pictures of our meals for the next three days because we were too busy having fun. We ate a huge pan of Lasagna, sandwiches, Beef and Noodle Soup, and leftover Chicken Taco Soup throughout the weekend. Then Saturday night before bed I put a roast in the crockpot to make this easy meal. After church, we ate the roast with Party Potatoes and veggies.

Later in the month, we had another family over. I made a big, but simple, pot of Chili which we ate with fritos, cheese, Pumpkin Muffins, and Flourless Monster Cookie Bars.

One evening we invited new friends in town that we wanted to get to know better. It was wonderful to visit – we ate a Nacho Bar – and I didn’t get any pictures. :)

Late in the month, I started to challenge myself to use up random items in my pantry, fridge, and freezers again, so I started getting creative. I haven’t made my Ranch Dressing Mix in years – which is ridiculous because it’s so easy. I’ve really been missing it so I took five minutes and made a big jar full! Now I have these 24 great meal options I can make!

 

I had bought a lot of milk to prepare for our company and found that I’d over-bought. So I used a half gallon of milk to make this Vanilla Pudding. The kids loved this!

The last Sunday of October, I made a large pan of Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole to enjoy with guests after church. We were so blessed by all of the people who joined us for meals this month. When I was prepping the large casserole, I also made a small one for my freezer. We have a single lady friend who is having her knee replaced in November. So I’m making some meals for her freezer so that she can have easy meals to eat while she recovers.

Hope your October was as great as ours was! Want me to take pictures of our November food too?

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Easiest Bread Pudding

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Can I claim that this is the Easiest Bread Pudding recipe when, in fact, I’ve never made a different recipe in which to compare it??

Just like any recipe, I wouldn’t share it if it wasn’t easy to make. I’d actually never attempted Bread Pudding until recently when I:

  • Had a bag of leftover pancakes in my fridge and
  • Needed something special to feed a large group.

So I did a little research, then adapted and created this. It’s a huge hit!

Easiest Bread PuddingYum

Easiest Bread Pudding
 
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Author:
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 6 slices stale bread or leftover pancakes
  • 3 Tablespoons of melted butter
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 cups milk
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • Topping:
  • 3 tablespoon butter
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish.
  2. Tear bread or pancakes into small pieces and put them into the dish.
  3. Whisk together remaining ingredients and pour mixture over the bread pieces.
  4. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35-45 minutes or until the middle doesn't jiggle.
  5. Just before Bread Pudding has finished baking, whisk the topping ingredients over low heat in a saucepan until melted and mixed.
  6. After removing pudding from the oven, drizzle topping over it right away.

This is truly a great option to make with leftover pancakes. I find that re-warming pancakes isn’t as tasty as serving them fresh off a griddle. So to cut them up and douse them in this milk and egg mixture to make Bread Pudding? Such a perfect idea!

The soccer team enjoyed this treat, as did our family. Are you a Bread Pudding fan?

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Ways to Use a Costco Rotisserie Chicken

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We’ve been enjoying some creative ways to use a Costco rotisserie chicken. It’s so inexpensive and delicious!

First, let’s talk about the joys of a Costco rotisserie chicken.

They cost five bucks and they taste wonderful. A rotisserie chicken is a fantastic “convenience food” worth taking advantage of when you hit Costco. Enjoy it with a simple salad and container of berries and you have an amazing meal for around $10!

My Costco chicken friend

We have a dear, precious friend who blesses us with a rotisserie chicken almost every time she goes to Costco. Why does she do this? Because she knows we have our hands full of babies and a lot of mouths to feed. This is a way she blesses our family. Not only does she pick up a chicken for us: she takes the meat off the bone and delivers it in a bag, ready for us to eat! It’s such a gift!!!

Here are some ways we enjoy this gift…

Ways to Use a Costco Rotisserie Chicken

1. Serve the chicken with salad and veggie or fruit, and you have yourself a meal.

Like this, except with rotisserie chicken. I didn’t have a current picture. :) :) :)

2. Sprinkle the chicken into a salad to turn a salad into a meal.

3. Get creative with chicken in the lunchbox.

Send the chicken in a lunchbox along with ranch dressing or barbecue sauce for dipping.

4. Make Chicken-Cheese Melts.

Put chicken on open-faced buns, drizzle ranch or another favorite sauce on the chicken, cover with cheese and broil in the oven, or put them into the air fryer to melt the cheese. These are a favorite!!!

The above picture is a look at how I built our lunch sandwiches one morning. Elias and Matt were heading to their weekly prayer lunch with friends so I made theirs to send with them on paper plates. Malachi was finishing a work project with a deadline at his computer one morning so I fixed a special plate for him. The littles and I finished the rest. :)

5. Make Alfredo and stir in some rotisserie chicken. Amazing!

6. Make Chicken Enchiladas. 

This picture isn’t too exciting, but here’s what it looked like one morning when I was building a great big pan of Creamy Enchiladas to share at Malachi’s tennis team potluck. I had rotisserie chicken in the freezer so I pulled it out and used it to put this together quickly. It was a huge hit at the potluck!

The best way to eat a Costco rotisserie chicken is simply to eat it. :) But it’s fun to have these options too when thinking about creative ways to use up chicken that’s been pulled off the bone.

Do you like to buy a rotisserie chicken at Costco or at another grocery store? What do you do with the chicken?

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Big Family Food: Using Leftovers Creatively

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One of my favorite things to do is to clean out the fridge and put together a meal by using leftovers creatively!

With so many little ones now, I am finding that it is very easy to use up leftovers (if we have any at all). At lunch or dinner, we often pull out several containers filled with leftover peas, green beans, corn, or pasta from the day before. We warm them up and that’s our meal. Nothing is wasted and I haven’t had to spend extra time cooking.

Using Leftovers Creatively

But often, I find that I can create a brand new meal from leftovers found in the fridge. Here are some examples:

Cheesy Potatoes

One day, I dug two containers of cheese dips (variations of this recipe) from the fridge. Add added it to frozen hashbrowns and slow-cooked it all afternoon. It turned into a super delicious cheesy potato side dish! I served it with Sloppy Joes, green beans, and fruit.

Burritos

This is one of my favorite dishes to make with any Mexican food leftovers we have. No need to measure. No need to proportion. I simply mix together any meat, beans, rice, cheese, corn, guacamole, or sour cream and roll them into tortillas. (This is also a great way to use up small amounts from three open jar of salsa!) Usually, I freeze these to use for fast lunches that we warm up in our air fryer. This makes for super inexpensive burritos!

Apple Bread or Muffins

If I have apples that are starting to shrivel, I grind them up and make Applesauce Bread. Or Applesauce Cake!

Marinated Meat

We almost always have three or four almost-empty bottles of dressings or sauces in our refrigerator door. I love pulling all of these out and dumping them into a bag of chicken to marinate. This always makes for a fun-tasting smoked chicken dinner. And it clears out fridge space!

Soup

If I have any fresh veggies that are starting to get wilted, I’ll make broth or soup with them. Here’s how I add a lot of veggies to make broth.

Fried Potatoes

Any time I have leftover baked potatoes, I cut them and fry them in butter. If I want to make it a meal instead of a side dish, I add any leftover cooked meat we have in the fridge.

taco potato skillet 3

Pizza

Have random odds and ends of meat, cheese, or veggies in the fridge? Throw them on a pizza. Once, I was putting together pizzas for dinner and found two leftover grilled hamburgers from a few days prior. I cut them up and added them to two of our pizzas. See that spinach I “sneak” on there too? My kids eat it without question!

Spaghetti Bake

I had a big bowl of leftover spaghetti, so I stirred in cottage cheese along with shredded mozzarella and Colby jack cheese. It turned spaghetti into a “fancy dinner” that we all loved!

We save so much money this way!

I love how we can prevent waste when we use our leftovers creatively like this. I find it fun to see what meal I can put together with whatever we already have in our fridge!

What’s your favorite meal to make with leftovers?

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Easy Applesauce Cake

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This Easy Applesauce Cake is turning into our favorite fall breakfast treat!

Breakfast, you ask? Cake, you wonder? Yes, you know we eat cake for breakfast. The way we make cake, it’s like making muffins in a cake pan. :)

—> My Original Breakfast Cake recipe <—

The beauty of this Applesauce Cake is that if you have some apples that are starting to shrivel, making them not so appealing (<—get it?!), you can grind them up and use them in this cake. This leaves behind delightful little apple chunks in your cake.

But if you (or your kids) don’t want chunks, using applesauce to make this cake will be perfect. Apples or applesauce make this moist and delicious. This truly is a perfect fall breakfast cake.

Easy Applesauce CakeYum

Easy Applesauce Cake
 
Save Print
Author:
Ingredients
  • 1½ cups whole wheat flour
  • ¾ cup sucanat or ½ cup honey
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 cup applesauce
  • 3 eggs
  • ⅓ cup melted coconut oil
Instructions
  1. Stir all dry ingredients together in a bowl.
  2. Add applesauce, eggs, and oil, stirring until well combined.
  3. Pour batter into a buttered 9x9 inch baking dish.
  4. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

 

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How I Keep Up With the Kitchen

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Wondering how I keep up with the kitchen?

I don’t. Obviously. Keep up with the kitchen. Not even close.

Now that we have 10+ kids, including so many littles, I’m finding it harder and harder to keep up with cooking and baking needs. And then there are the dishes. This is what my kitchen looks like after just one meal:

We overload our dishwasher (eeeek) and run it twice every day.

But here’s my attempt at answering:

How I Keep Up With the Kitchen

I’m not sure any of my answers will be super helpful since I’m in a unique season of life, but this is a question I am asked frequently so I wanted to share! So here’s what works for me right now.

1. Ask for help.

When our older boys were all home, we had a rotation for who would load the dishwasher, unload it, wipe down the table, sweep the floor, and wash pots and pans. We all worked together, all day long as needed, and the kitchen chores weren’t so bad.

They’ve all launched and left now – except for Malachi who is a senior in high school and too busy most days to do much except unload the dishwasher one time. This leaves me at home with six or seven littles (depending on the day) and they are ages 8, 7, 3, 3, 2, 2, and 1. They make more messes than I can keep up with, for sure!

I have been spending time teaching our 8 and 7-year-olds how to load and unload the dishwasher and they are very proud to be counted among the “big kid helpers.” Plus they are great (ok, maybe not great) at sweeping. :) Matt helps a little, but his help mostly looks like keeping kids out from underfoot so I can get something done.

So most of the kitchen and household chores fall to me. This is why I must…

2. Hire help.

I realize this isn’t something everyone can do or needs to do. But I need it and use a portion of our foster care subsidies to cover it. With so many littles and so many (mild) special needs, I truly am not able to keep up with housework anymore.

I hire three teenage girls to come to help me with childcare and housework on Wednesday afternoons and it is life-saving! I also hire two gals to come on weekday mornings for a couple of hours. I use this time to meal-prep, go to appointments, clean my kitchen, or whatever is most pressing that day. They help with childcare but are also great at grabbing a broom or loading the dishwasher as needed when they have a free hand. I am beyond thankful for this help!

3. Take advantage of any spare five minutes you might find.

All babies and toddlers are in their chairs eating or drinking? I put ten items in the dishwasher. Children are somehow magically all playing nicely in the living room? I grab the broom. Whenever I find a minute, I use it.

4. Use paper plates, paper towels, or skip plates altogether.

I don’t like spending money on disposable products, but during this season in life, I’ve found that I need to occasionally. No guilt.

Or, I figure I’m going to need to sweep toddler messes eight times a day anyway. So I might as well skip giving them a plate and hand them a muffin directly instead. There are lots of crumbs no matter how I present their food. :)

5. Embrace the mess.

This season truly won’t last forever. There are more important needs and priorities than keeping a perfect kitchen. If I have to wash a crusty pot or a pan right before I use it again, so be it. If my kitchen always looks a bit (or a lot) messy, oh well. Maybe I’m just used to it by now, or maybe I’ve learned that a sparkly kitchen doesn’t make me a “good homemaker.”

The state of my home right now shocks me sometimes, compared to the higher standards I once had for myself. But I’m beyond thankful to be raising this amazing group of kids!

Someday, in just a few years, every one of these kiddos will be capable of cleaning every inch of our house. I’ll live in the moment while also looking forward to those days! :)

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Blueberry Shortcake with Cream Topping

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So, it takes three easy steps to make this Blueberry Shortcake with Cream Topping? It’s worth it!

Usually, I’m a “mix it together and throw it into the oven” kind of treat maker. But in the case of this case, we are making an exception and writing a recipe that takes three steps. THREE. What in the world?

Don’t worry. This is still an easy recipe. I’ll write it all out in the simplest of forms. And you really will see that it’s worth every bit of “effort!”

Blueberry Shortcake with Cream ToppingYum

Blueberry Shortcake with Cream Topping
 
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Ingredients
  • 2⅔ cups flour (I use freshly ground whole wheat)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 4 eggs
  • ½ cup honey or 1 cup sugar
  • ⅔ cup oil (I use coconut oil)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup milk
Instructions
  1. Mix ingredients well.
  2. Pour mixture into a buttered 9x13 inch baking dish.
  3. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. (While it's baking, prepare the blueberry topping.)

Blueberry Topping

Blueberry Topping
 
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Ingredients
  • 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
  • ¼ cup sugar
Instructions
  1. While the shortcake is baking, place blueberries and sugar in a small saucepan.
  2. Cook and stir, uncovered, over low heat for 10 minutes until blueberry syrup has formed.
  3. When the shortcake has finished baking, remove it from the oven and poke holes in the top with a toothpick.
  4. Pour warm blueberry topping over the cake while it is still warm.
  5. Allow cake to cool completely before adding Cream Topping.

Cream Cheese Topping

Blueberry Shortcake with Cream Topping
 
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Author:
Ingredients
  • 16-ounces softened cream cheese
  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 3 Tablespoons sugar, maple syrup, or honey
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. Whip all ingredients together with a hand mixer or in a high power blender until it is thick and smooth.
  2. Spread topping over cooled cake.

 

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Big Family Food: More Ways to Save on Groceries. Maybe?

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I think we’re all looking for more ways to save on groceries right now. I’m finding that we are flying through groceries faster than ever with our growing family. And it won’t slow down! Our littles will turn into bigs and then we will really be eating through the grocery store.

Even with grocery prices on the rise, I’ve been challenging myself to stay under our $1,200/month budget. I’m not sure that I can and I’ve found that I have to get a little bit creative to try and make it happen. Some specifics about how I shop right now:

  • With so many little ones, I don’t have time or ability to shop lots of deals at several different stores. I know I’m missing out on lots of savings (loss leader sales) because of this, but I can get creative in other ways, right?
  • I stick with once-a-month trips to Sam’s and Costco, plus a Walmart pickup order every week or so as needed. (I’m looking into adjusting this though because I’m finding I might need to go to the warehouses every two weeks so I can keep up.)
  • We get some groceries from Azure Standard every couple of months, plus a few from Amazon.
  • We get milk and eggs from local farmers and friends.

Who I’m Feeding for $1,200/Month

Daily:

  • 4 adults
  • 4 kids
  • 3 toddlers

Here are some of the littlest of our crew:

Frequently:

  • some of our adult kids who don’t live with us anymore (Elias comes home from the University to grab food; Justus and Kelsey are over a few times a week)
  • babysitters (a variety of help at our house almost daily)
  • my kids’ friend
  • college students (Sunday lunches and then some)
  • company

I used to take meals to people often as needed, but that’s not something I’m able to do right now. Eventually, I hope to get back to being able to do that!

I’m thankful to be able to feed so many people every day. I delight in it and sometimes don’t care how much it costs, simply because feeding, nourishing, and loving people is such a joy. But at the same time, I have to care about the cost, especially when feeding so many.

Recently, I’ve been trying to share some great ways I’ve found to save on food costs. Like these:

 

I’ve been working on more ways to save…

More Ways to Save on Groceries

1. Skip the pre-packaged snacks.

This might seem like a no-brainer, but during this season in my life, I found that I was falling back on buying cases of little packages of crackers or other snacks at Sam’s or Costco. After all, I truly do need grab-and-go snacks for our kids to eat during walks, at the soccer field, or in the car.

Instead, though, I’ve been purchasing boxes of snack-sized ziplock baggies and letting my 6 and 8-year-olds help me package up snacks for these purposes. This is saving us a lot of money plus helping us choose healthier snacks overall.

Also, because of some extra helpers I’ve had during the past few months, I’ve also been a little bit more able to make snacks from scratch again. It feels so good to make more homemade goodies again!

2. Pack a lunch instead of buying a school lunch.

This might seem silly because the school lunch is very reasonably priced. But I can easily pack our kids’ school lunch for much less than the $3.20 that they charge. (Here are lots of ideas.) Plus, my kids don’t make great school lunch choices (eat the cookie, skip the veggies). ;) So packing a nourishing lunch for them saves quite a bit and helps them be healthier too.

3. Make meat a side dish instead of a main dish.

Instead of planning my meals around meat, I’ve started planning my meals around my fruits and vegetables and other sides. We have been eating a plateful of rice or potatoes, steamed veggie, bowl of fruit, and a little meat. Some meals we don’t have meat at all if we eat beans for protein.

4. Eat more fruits and veggies.

This truly is a money saver!!!!! Meat is $3-$8 per pound while fresh produce is between $0.19-$4.00/pound – with a lot in between. I love that we can eat such nourishing foods at such low cost. I’ve learned to fill my cart and not hold back, knowing that fruits and vegetables are much needed and extremely reasonable in price.

5. Do a little math.

If you take the time to do a price breakdown of some of your favorite meals, you might find, like I have, that many homemade meals cost very little to make. This doesn’t save money, necessarily. It’s just encouraging!! It helps me know that I really am feeding my family well for a very low cost per person!

Here are some examples I’ve shared here:

6. Buy turkeys on sale at holiday time.

I was shocked when I realized that I could make ten meals with just one turkey! I used that bird to feed company, to make soup, to create easy lunches – all for such a low cost! If we can take advantage of holiday sales on turkeys, then thaw and bake them throughout the year, we can really save a lot on great meat.

7. Don’t waste produce.

Here are details about how I buy and use all of our produce before it goes bad. This is a huge money saver!

8. Drink more water.

Ok, but don’t take away my coffee!! (<— which I make at home for only $0.35!)

Many of you probably already do this, and I used to be better at sticking with only water at our house. But as our older boys got older, I found that having Body Armor, Izzes, Bubblys and a few other fun drinks on hand was nice for when their friends came over.

I still plan to get some cases of drinks from Costco and Sam’s here and there, but it will save my grocery budget if I buy them less frequently.

9. Don’t overthink it. 

We need to eat and we want to eat well. So sometimes I just have to ignore the rising price and know that I need to buy it anyway, especially when it’s a nourishing need for our family. There are many of us, we eat a lot of food, and that’s that. (Still, it’s good that I’m considering splurges that I might be able to cut out while not worrying about the necessities.)

10. Recognize the huge cost savings compared to eating out.

Even when we’re eating something that has been pre-packaged for convenience, we are still saving an incredible amount of money by eating at home compared to eating out. Here’s what works for us and how much we save by eating at home!

Share your best grocery saving tips!

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Does it Save Money to Pack Lunch for School?

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School lunches are very reasonably priced. So does it actually save money to pack lunch for school?

I’ve found that it does! Here’s how.

Our kids’ school lunch costs $3.20. Not bad, except that our picky first grader would only eat a fourth of what was on her tray, mostly the sweet parts and the bread. ;) Meanwhile, our not-so-picky third grader would eat most of his meal and still be hungry. So we decided this year that for the sake of saving money and feeding our kids the nourishment they need, we’d pack and send their lunches to school.

Even when I buy a few pre-packaged convenience food items to save time, I am still saving money every day on their lunches.

How much am I saving?

I calculated that I’m saving an average of $1.40 per lunch, per kid, for much more nourishing meals that I know they like and will eat. I’ll share examples from our not-picky-big-eater kiddo so you can see how packing a very filling lunch still saves money.

Note: I make a big batch of these spinach cupcakes, individually bag them, and freeze them to throw into almost every lunchbox for a treat with added nutrition! I did the math. They cost $0.14 each and they are beautifully full of spinach. :) :) :)

Does it Save Money to Pack Lunch for School?

Here are nine sample lunches I might pack for my kids and their cost breakdown. The most expensive was $2.58. The least expensive is just $1.34. Lots of savings!

1. Meat and cheese sandwich, fruit cup, cheese stick, spinach cupcake (no frosting) = $2.00

2. Cheese and crackers, summer sausage, grapes, spinach cupcake (no frosting), cottage cheese and pineapple = $2.49

3. Pumpkin muffin, cottage cheese and pineapple, clementine, almonds = $1.43

4. Tuna salad with crackers, fruit cup, cheese stick, spinach cupcake (no frosting) = $1.83

5. Chips with cheesy bean dip, grapes, spinach cupcake (no frosting)  = $1.43

6. Leftover pizza slices (with spinach “hidden” on top), clementine, banana = $1.34

7. Bagel with cream cheese “sandwich”, ham, apple = $1.72

8. Bean and cheese quesadillas, carrots, strawberries $1.78

9. On Friday, we do a “Fun Friday” lunchbox which includes a baggie of chips and a yogurt squeezie, plus whatever else I have on hand that I think the kids will enjoy. Cost for the special lunch you see below: $2.58.

What do you pack in your kids’ lunches?

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