Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Should I Get a Juicer?

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My friend Valerie is traveling quite a bit this summer. I miss her already, but while she’s gone…she left a little piece of her behind for us to remember her by. 

Yep, she left us her juicer. Isn’t that exciting? (Well, it’s exciting for me. I’m weird though, remember?)

For the past couple of years, we’ve tossed around the idea of investing in a juicer. Would it help us get more fruits and vegetables in our diets? Would we use it enough to get our money’s worth out of it? Do we want to deal with one more appliance in our kitchen? Is it even good for us, since drinking just the juice of the fruit has the potential to make us overdo our intake of fruit sugar?

So, with Valerie’s juicer in our home for a few weeks, we’re playing around with different yummy combinations of juices. We’re using it to help us decide whether or not we may want a juicer of our own some day.

So far, I’m having a lot of fun with it. I ordered a big 40 pound box of oranges from Azure Standard. Plus, I ordered 25 pounds of juicing carrots. Um, that’s a lot of carrots.

juicer
Here I am, making orange-carrot juice. And yes, I am just about to overflow my glass. 
But check out my fascinating photography ability. 
See that drop of  juice just about to drip off of the spout?
It takes a lot of skill to get a shot like that. Simply amazing. 
(And very, very lucky since actually I am as good at photography as I am at soccer.)

The kids weren’t big on the orange/carrot juice combo. Matt and I liked it just fine though. And, I used the leftover pulp that the juicer caught to make an orange/carrot cake. The results on the cake were so-so. I think I should have run the pulp through my blender first to make it less chunky. It’s all about experimenting. Trial and error.

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The juicer we’re using is a Jack LaLanne JLPJB Power Juicer Juicing Machine. It is very reasonably priced and seems to be very high quality. So far, I’m very impressed with how easy it is to use and how easy it is to clean up. All of the parts go right into the dishwasher! Well, except for the motor. That would be a bad idea.

So, for all of you juicing kind of people out there, I’d love to hear what you have to say about this. Do you like your juicer? Do you use it often? What do you make with it? What do you do with the leftover pulp? Do your kids like it? What kind of juicer do you have?

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Sloppy Cornbread Muffins

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Yum

I’ve decided that I love sloppy joes more than any 36 year old mama ought to love sloppy joes. (Sloppy joes aren’t just kid food, right?)  I’m a little crazy when it comes to my hamburger meat. I like it a lot. Bring on the beef.

As you may recall, this Sloppy Cornbread is a very fun way to eat Sloppy Joes without buns. Over the weekend I experimented making the Sloppy Cornbread into muffins….and YUM!

To make Sloppy Cornbread Muffins you will need:

1 recipe of Cornbread
1/4 recipe of Sloppy Joes (which is 1/2 pound of meat)

which will make 12 Sloppy Cornbread Muffins 

These freeze and reheat very well…which means you may want to use:

a double batch of Cornbread
1/2 recipe of Sloppy Joes (which is one pound of meat)

which will make 24 Sloppy Cornbread Muffins

Is this getting confusing? If you make up the full Sloppy Joe recipe, you could just make some of it into Sloppy Cornbread Muffins, then freeze the remaining Sloppy Joes mixure. Or, you could just bring it over to me and I’ll get a fork and eat it right out of the pan.

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First fill your muffin cups half full (or half empty depending on the kind of day you’re having) with cornbread batter.

The muffins do tend to stick a little to paper muffin liners…so you may have better success just buttering each muffin cup very well.

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 Spoon about a Tablespoon or two of Sloppy Joe meat into each muffin cup.

Bake in a 400° oven for 20 minutes.

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So, what kind of day are you having? Would your muffin cups be half empty…or half full?

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Lead Me…A Prayer for Your Marriage

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help meet

I’ve been giving a lot of thought lately to marriage, in particular we can help our husbands be godly leaders and the kind of men we need and desire them to be. I know many of you have experienced a lot of hurt and disappointment in your marriage. Many of you want your husbands to step up and be a stronger spiritual leader in your home. 

Whether your husband is leading your family the way he should be or not, I thought you might enjoy this song that touched me heart recently.  I told you that listening to music ministers to me!  When I heard the the words of Lead Me, by Sanctus Real, I fell in love with the message.

I realize this song is directed more to men…as encouragement to let God lead them as they strive to lead their families. Maybe you’ll have an opportunity to share this song with your husband. Plus, I thought it would give us all some great words to pray as we ask the Lord to help our husbands be strong and to meet our needs. I’ve been using the words of this song to pray for several of our friends who are struggling in their marriages.

In addition and maybe more importantly, I think this song can be a heart check for each of us as wives. Are we being the kind of wife our husband needs? Are we loving our children the way we should be? Are we letting our husbands lead? Are we fulfilling the roles in the home that we should be? Do our husbands and children feel supported by us, or do they feel alone?

Just a few things to think about and pray over…

And no matter what, always remember that God is in control and that he loves you and is holding you up.

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Gratituesday: Ministry of Music

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gratituesday

I love music.

I think it is wonderful that God gives us music and song to express ourselves. We have our kitchen radio tuned to our local Christian radio station and it’s on almost all day long. I LOVE it.

I love praising God while I’m cooking. I love singing with the boys when they’re in the kitchen with me. I love listening to the words and letting the music minister to my soul at all times during the day. I love beautiful melodies. I love hearing God given talent. I love music!

My current favorite song is All of Creation, by Mercy Me. Every time this song comes on, I feel like dancing for Jesus in a field of lavender wild flowers. Shucks, I’d settle for a field of prairie grass. And I’d just let the tears stream down my face while I spend time with my Father in the middle of his creation. Doesn’t it just sound lovely?

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I’m so thankful God gave us the gift of music. Through song, we can experience God in a beautiful way. I just love it.

What are you thankful for this Gratituesday? Write about it on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

If you are linking up a blog post for Gratituesday,
please copy and paste the following sentence into your post! Thanks!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

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Start Making Homemade Vanilla for Christmas!

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About a year ago, I told you about my vodka buying adventures. Fun times. It’s always neat to be carded when you’re in your 30’s. I was so honored. And also embarrassed. Hey, I was buying an entire gallon of vodka at one time. I looked like I was going a little overboard. Like a crazy lady who took her four children to the store with her at nine o’clock in the morning to buy a gallon of booze.

Well anyway, it was well worth it as I handed out nice bottles of homemade vanilla for Christmas last year. And as I continue to pull out bottles of homemade vanilla for our own use. Mmmmmm…it’s so delicious!

I know it’s a little bit early to be thinking about Christmas. Never mind – it’s never to early to be thinking about Christmas gifts. Starting now and planning ahead can save a lot of money. That’s why I’m writing this little post.

It takes six months to make good, strong homemade vanilla. If you’d like to give homemade vanilla to family and friends this Christmas…you’ll need to purchase vanilla beans and start making your vanilla soon! If you get all of your supplies in order now and get the vanilla started in June, you’ll be all set for Christmas!

Here’s what you need to do:

  1. Read this post about how to make homemade vanilla. (By the way, making vanilla is so completely easy!)
  2. Order Vanilla Beans (You’ll find details on the amount of beans you need here.)  If you order vanilla beans through Olive Nation you will receive free shipping, PLUS if you use the code home you will receive 10% off your order! I’ve been very pleased with the beans I ordered through Olive Nation!
  3. Buy some cheap vodka. (You’re on your own with this one. Best wishes.)
  4. Get ahold of a big jar to make your vanilla.
  5. Get your vanilla beans and put into your vodka (as directed here) to start extracting.

Then…in the next few months, you can

  1. Start thinking about purchasing small bottles for your vanilla gifts.
  2. Look into these fun Vanilla Recipe Cards to add to your gifts.
  3. Check out these pretty labels! They are customizable, and come in a variety of designs.
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Menu Plan for the Week

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Remember how I said that our last soccer games were last week? Yeah, just kidding. We got all the way to Lincoln last Sunday afternoon (an hour away) and the gates were locked. We had a team full of very sad ten year old boys on our hands.

I was disappointed too, but since we were in Lincoln already, we took advantage of our “trip to the city” and went to Target and Kohls to make some exchanges. I loved it. But Justus? Shopping was NOT his idea of a fun alternative to playing a soccer game. Poor guy.

So anyway, this week we’re trying again. For real…our last soccer game for the season is today. Probably. I’m pretty sure. Most likely. I think.

Here’s our menu for the week:

Sunday, May 23
Oatmeal, pears
Taco Potatoes, oranges
Soccer team meet up at Culvers after game

Monday, May 24
Honey whole wheat bagels, apples
Black bean taco salad
Cheesy beef and rice, green beans

Tuesday, May 25
Mini apple pies
Bean and rice bowls, watermelon
Cheesy Salsa Enchiladas, tossed salad

Wednesday, May 26
Cinnamon swirl bread, cantaloupe
Cheddar Ranch Burgers on whole wheat hamburger buns, onion rings
Simple soaked pancakes, turkey sausage, scrambled eggs

Thursday, May 27
Breakfast cake, bananas
Spaghetti, tossed salad
Roast, potatoes, carrots, gravy

Friday – Saturday…up in the air weekend plans  :)

Wow, I am loving our fresh lettuce from the garden right now! Are any of you able to enjoy anything yummy from your garden yet?!
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Visit Organizing Junkie for more menu planning inspiration!

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Whole Wheat Banana Bread and Muffins

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banana_bread

Did I ever tell you about the time I almost forgot to put the bananas into my banana bread?

I have these finer moments in my kitchen from time to time. They mostly happen while I’m trying to cook and talk simultaneously. If I’m talking on the phone while mixing up a recipe, I tend to leave out key ingredients. Or add the same ingredient twice.  It’s ridiculous.  I think it’s crazy that I can usually multi-task quite well…but I can barely have a conversation with someone while I cook. Duh. Just be glad I type these posts after I’m finished cooking. Otherwise, these recipes would just be plain scary.

And so, because I care too much not to share, here’s a handy baking tip:  When making Banana Bread or Muffins, be sure to add the bananas. The final product tastes much better this way. I’m nothing if not helpful.

Whole Wheat Banana Bread and MuffinsYum

1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground flour from hard white wheat)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup mashed over-ripe bananas (about 2-3 bananas)
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup melted butter
2 eggs

Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, mash bananas, or puree them in a blender. Mix mashed bananas, honey, melted butter and eggs into flour mixture.

For Bread:  Spread batter into a well buttered bread pan. Bake in a 350° oven for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

For Muffins:  Spoon batter into 12 buttered or paper lined muffin tins. Bake in a 400° oven for 20 minutes.

Speaking of finer moments in my kitchen…did I ever tell you about the time I made a lovely lasagna ahead of time so that I would be all ready for my company that night? Because, you see, it’s great to be prepared when you’re having company. Oh, and it also helps to get the lasagna out of the fridge and BAKE IT at dinner time. Being prepared doesn’t help at all if you don’t actually bake your lasagna. Yeah, dinner was a little late that night.

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Becoming a Better Help Meet: GET HELP!!!

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help meet

I had another Help Meet post all sweetly written up to encourage you to empower your husband to be better. But that one is going to have to wait.

You know why? Because there are marriages all around me that are hurting and falling apart. If I hear of one more marriage break up from people that I love and care about, I’m just going to scream! Right now I’m mad. I’m mad and I’m sad and my heart is broken. I’m mad at Satan for destroying marriages and I’m mad at couples for letting Satan do what he loves and is so good at doing. Christians and non-Christians alike are letting Satan win. Stop it. Stop it!!! Stop it!!!!!

If your marriage is less than wonderful…you don’t get to cop out. You DON’T! You don’t get to say, “Laura, I know what the Bible says…but you just don’t know what I’ve been through in my marriage.”

You know what I keep hearing from couples who are deciding to split up? “We’ve had trouble for years.” “There have been issues in our marriage for years.” “We’ve always had really difficult things to work through in our marriage.” 

Oh, really? You’ve had trouble for years? How shocking! Name one married couple that hasn’t “had trouble for years”! Everyone always thinks their troubles are harder to work through than anyone else’s troubles. And so…working through them just doesn’t seem like an option.

You want to know why your marriage is difficult?  It’s because marriage is difficult!  It’s because two sinners married each other and have to try to figure out how to live together in harmony with God in the center. Satan hates what you’re trying to do and he’s going to do everything he can to destroy you. It’s a spiritual battle. So yes, THAT is difficult.

If your marriage is in ANY kind of trouble…PLEASE GET HELP! Before it’s too late. Too many couples are ashamed or embarrassed or too full of pride to ask for help. Then they are divorced before anyone who loves them has a chance to help. Please, please don’t do that. I beg you.

Asking for help is hard. Asking for help means you may face the opportunity to be convicted of your own sin. Or be asked to offer forgiveness to your spouse. Or to let go of bitterness. Or to change something difficult about the way you are living. Those things are going to be gut-wrenchingly difficult. Awful. Painful.

But who are you living for?  If you’re living for yourself, then by all means go right ahead and give up on your marriage. If you’re living for yourself, it won’t matter to you how much you hurt your children, your friends, your family, your church and your spouse. As long as you feel like you are going to be “better off”, then go ahead and do whatever you want to do.

But if you are truly striving to live for Jesus, I’m going to beg you to please let go of yourself and all the fears you have about forgiveness and change…and please humbly accept help.

I’ve watched some of my friends walk through extremely difficult marital issues…and they survived! Their marriages have been in the trenches…and with God’s incredible strength…they have dug themselves out and come out on the other side with a new marriage to each other! It’s been beautiful to watch! They wanted to quit. They wanted to leave. But they worked and they fought and they sweated and they cried and they learned how to let go of the bondage that was keeping them from the kind of joy God purposes for a marriage. They did it and so can you!!

Please let God help heal your marriage. Your children deserve your hard work and so do you. 

Disclaimers and some of the “Yeah Buts”:  Please know that I’m not writing to condemn anyone. I know some of you  have been through tremendous trials in your marriage. I know some of you are divorced. Some of you have endured physical abuse. Some of you had spouses who refused to stay married to you no matter how hard you tried or what you did to make it work. Some of you needed to get out of a marriage because your children were being sexually abused. I really am writing this post because while those are legitimate reasons to split, those reasons are VERY FEW, and the issues I’ve heard of recently are SO VERY FIXABLE!!! And that is why my heart cried out in this post.

And now, I’m going to go hug and appreciate my precious husband. If we’ve learned anything by watching friends and loved ones break up and divorce, it has been that we MUST go to great lengths to protect and nurture our marriage together. My husband and I are prayerfully clinging to one another right now…and I’d like to encourage you and your spouse to do the same. Your marriage depends on it.

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Gratituesday: Ah, Lovely Dirt

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Before Saturday, I STILL had not had a chance to get my hands dirty. I hadn’t had a chance to get into my garden at ALL. (You’re shocked at me, aren’t you?!)  I had longed to get out there, but just not had even one moment to think about the garden yet.

Thankfully, Matt had found a few bits and pieces of time during the past few weeks to get our garden areas tilled up and to plant a few things. Ooh, and he even brought us home a big truck load of horse manure. Crazy how excited I was to see him that day. Saturday, we were finally able to both work in the garden together and get several more things planted.

The day was sunny and beautiful. Just ask Matt…I was completely giddy. I was running my  hands through the soil…just for fun. It felt so good.

Yes, in case you didn’t already know that I am a garden geek…now you know for sure. I can’t help it. The garden gives me so much joy.

Wanna take a look at a few parts of it with me? (There’s more to be planted…these are just a few shots.)

lettuceWe have lettuce ready to eat…it is so beautiful!

cornYou can’t see it…but there’s corn in these rows!!

 

peppersAw, cute little pepper plants.

potato_containerOh yes…I did plant potatoes in my trash can again!!

I’m just so thankful for our garden. I love how we can see God in the entire process of watching food grow from a seed. I can’t wait to share more with you during the coming months!

What are you thankful for this Gratituesday? Write about it on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

If you are linking up a blog post for Gratituesday,
please copy and paste the following sentence into your post! Thanks!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

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

Simple Steps Toward Healthy Eating, Part 1

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simplesteps

When I finished telling you about Our Healthy Eating Journey, I told you I wanted to begin a new series to help break down some specific things you can do if you would like to begin your own journey toward healthy eating.

You may already feel great about where you are on your healthy eating journey. You may already be eating a wonderfully healthy diet. If so, great! I hope you’ll still join us during this series, leaving your own helpful comments and ideas on each post!

But, if you are just beginning your journey toward healthy eating and would like some practical tips and attainable advice on how to make this journey simple and do-able…stick around. I don’t promise to write this series very quickly. I may only be able to post a new “simple step” once every few weeks or so. But, that may be just the pace you need to begin making changes in the way you and your family eat and think about food. If you want to move faster, that’s just fine…but making too many healthy changes too quickly may be overwhelming to you and can certainly make a husband or child want to run away to find the nearest Cheeto. 

Take small steps. Take simple steps.

But do take steps. 

It is important for your health and for the health of your loved ones that you start taking some simple steps toward healthy eating. Our bodies need nourishment. Start doing what you can to fill your bodies up with great nourishment! It isn’t as hard as you think! You can do this!

Here is what I am going to suggest as a first small step toward healthier eating:  Focus on eating more fruits and vegetables.

That’s it. All I’m asking you to do is eat a grape.  See? I’m totally reasonable and practical. Nothing weird. Nothing freaky or icky. Just focus on colorful fruits and vegetables.

Here are a few helpful tips and ideas to encourage your fruit and vegetable intake:

  • Fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables are the most nutritious. Canned is better than none at all. Organic is best, but if that isn’t a step you’re ready to take yet, don’t worry. Just eat fruits and vegetables. 
  • Look for fruits and vegetables that are on sale…but try very hard not to focus on how difficult it might be to spend money on produce. I’ve heard people talk about how they just can’t stand to spend $3.50 on a fresh pineapple…but they’ll turn right around and throw a big bag of potato chips into their cart that costs the same amount. Let the fruits and vegetables replace some of the processed snacks that you normally buy and you won’t even feel the financial difference.
  • Stock up on your favorites. I personally can’t stand red delicious apples from the store. They taste grainy and nasty to me, so if all I have in the house are red delicious apples…I will not eat them. BUT put gala apples in the house and I’ll eat three. Each day. I LOVE gala apples. Get your favorite fruits and veggies, get your husband’s favorites, get your kids’ favorites. You are all much more likely to eat them if you love them.
  • Try something new. Have a little fun trying fruits or vegetables you’ve never tried before. Try fixing your old favorites in a new way.
  • Hide them. If you haven’t tried these Strawberry-Peach Slushies (that secretly have raw spinach in them) you are missing out. My whole family devours these slushies and never think twice about the fact that there is something green hiding within. 

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Focus on how packed full of vitamins and wonderfulness fruits and vegetables are! Work on eating them as an incredible way to improve your health and the health of your family! What a perfect first step toward healthy eating!

So tell me…what are your favorite fruits and vegetables? Think you can challenge yourself to eat just a few more?  (Nod your head yes.)

Right before publishing this, I asked my husband what HE would recommend as the first, most important step a person should take toward healthy eating. I found his answer so very interesting and insightful…as well as completely different from what I was thinking. Want to know Matt’s advice and idea for a great first step? I’ll write about that next in this series!

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