Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

A New Way To Multi-Task During Christmas Time: Swap Baking

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Yay for me. I have some really smart friends. Smart friends who have great ideas about ways to share.

I mentioned here how my smart friend Anne and I came up with the idea to save our husbands the trouble by filling each other’s stockings.

Well, I have another smart friend named Rhonda who shared an idea with me regarding holiday baking.

She said that she and a friend of hers make plans as to what they will be baking during the weekend. They coordinate so that they aren’t both baking the same things. Then they double up what they bake…because if you’re already baking two loaves of pumpkin bread, you might as well make four loaves of pumpkin bread, right?

THEN, they swap baked goods. 

For example:

If Rhonda bakes 4 loaves of Pumpkin Bread and 4 loaves of Applesauce Bread and 2 batches of Cinnamon Rolls…

And Rhonda’s friend bakes a double batch of Soft Pretzels and a double batch of Breakfast Cookies and a double batch of Sweet Potato Streusel Muffins…

And then they divide the portions in half and TRADE….

Then both Rhonda and her friend have: 2 loaves of Pumpkin Bread, 2 loaves of Applesauce Bread, a batch of Cinnamon Rolls, a batch of Soft Pretzels, a batch of Breakfast Cookies and a batch of Sweet Potato Streusel Muffins to put into the freezer and pull out as needed during the holidays.

Twice the variety of food…half the mess. I LOVE this idea.

Of course, I’d want to make sure my friend and I agreed on some of the ingredients used (like real butter and whole wheat flour, etc.)…or if you eat gluten free or have food allergies in your household…you’d need to work out all of those specifics.

But I’m thinking I may just try this idea sometime. And I’m thinking I’ll pick someone who’s good at making fudge.

Oh wait, maybe I’d better not.
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This post is linked to Kitchen Tip Tuesdays.

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Menu Plan for the Week

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It’s snowing at my house right now. How about yours? I wouldn’t mind the snow so much if the wind wasn’t blowing so much. Brrrrr. My fireplace and slippers are my friends. 

Here’s what we’ll be eating this week:

Sunday, December 6
Oatmeal, peaches
Roasted  chicken, carrots, mashed potatoes, gravy, honey whole wheat bread, orange vanilla cream cake (this cake was an experiment that we ALL – including my company – decided I was going to have to make again some time!)
Chili, cheese, carrots, oranges

Monday, December 7
Simple soaked pancakes
Hearty bean casserole, strawberry-peach slushies
Fried chicken, mashed pototoes, gravy, peas

Tuesday, December 8
Scrambled egg sandwiches, applesauce
Fish and chips, peas
Beef stew, cornbread

Wednesday, December 9
Applesauce bread, bananas
Corn dog muffins, green beans
Lasagna, tossed salad, honey whole wheat bread and butter

Thursday, December 10
Peanut butter honey toast, warm vanilla soother
Beef and cabbage rolls, apples
Soccer banquet

Friday, December 11
Honey whole wheat bagels, pears
Beefy vegetable soup, crispy cheese crackers, clementines
Homemade pizza, fruit

Saturday, December 12
Whole wheat cinnamon rolls
Grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup, apple slices
Chicken and dumplings, tossed salad
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More menu planning inspiration at Organizing Junkie!

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Christmas Eve or Christmas Morning? Question #50

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When I was growing up…we opened Christmas presents the way you are supposed to open Christmas presents. ;)

We waited until Christmas morning. That was all part of the magic of Christmas.

Any other way of opening gifts was CRAZY to me. I felt that it was practically against the law to open presents on Christmas Eve. Because the way my family did it was the right way…and the only way.

Or so I thought. Because I was a kid.

Then, when I was a little bit older than a kid, I got married.

My husband’s family opened presents on Christmas Eve! Can you believe it?

And then Christmas morning…EVERYONE SLEPT IN!!! On Christmas morning!!!

What’s a girl to do…but learn to deal with the fact that everyone’s family has different traditions? And be flexible. And enjoy Christmas no matter “how it’s done” because it’s not really about gifts anyway and being with family is awesome any time!

Now, we have an “every other year” thing going on. The year we are with Matt’s side of the family…we open gifts on Christmas Eve. The next year, when we are with my side of the family we open gifts on Christmas morning.

Turns out…opening gifts on Christmas Eve isn’t against the law after all. I have done it and lived to tell about it. I’ve even enjoyed myself very much.

So…what are your traditions? Are you a Christmas Eve family….or a Christmas Morning family? Or does it depend on who you’re with?

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Winter Comfort…Warm Vanilla Soother

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Lately, this drink has been my favorite breakfast. It’s warm, filling and nourishing. As I drink this, I always feel like someone just handed me a delicious mug of comfort. Mmmmm Warm Vanilla Soother.

Warm Vanilla Soother

Warm Vanilla SootherYum

5.0 from 4 reviews
Winter Comfort...Warm Vanilla Soother
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 3-5
Ingredients
  • 3 cups whole milk
  • 4 egg yolks
  • ⅓ cup real maple syrup
  • 2 Tablespoons arrowroot powder or corn starch
  • 1 Tablespoon butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. In a medium saucepan, whisk together milk, egg yolks, maple syrup and arrowroot powder.
  2. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly (I use a whisk) until mixture begins to thicken.
  3. Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla.
  4. Stir until creamy.
  5. Pour into mugs and serve warm.

Sprinkle a little nutmeg on top or add a dollop of whipped cream for an extra special touch!

Ever since I bought a gallon of vodka started my big batch of homemade vanilla, I’ve been experimenting with new ways to use vanilla extract. Yum, homemade vanilla is so good! (You’ll find more great recipes like this one in our What to Do With the Vanilla in Your Kitchen ebook.)

This Warm Vanilla Soother was the beginning of several other comfort food drinks that were born in my kitchen. Chocolate, chocolate mint, pumpkin – they are all so comforting and yummy! They are the perfect way to warm up on a chilly day – perfect for breakfast because they are nourishing and filling. If you chill the leftovers, it turns into pudding – also delicious!

Here are the other recipes you’ll want to try:

If you have any other flavor ideas for this comforting drink, I’d love to hear them. I’m always up for experimenting in the kitchen – especially when I can take a basic recipe and tweak it to a slightly different variation of something we already love!

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A Very Coppinger Christmas Greeting

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Okay, I had way too much fun making a Christmas slideshow greeting at Smilebox. I’ll be emailing this out as our Christmas card this year!

Wanna give it a quick preview?!

Click to play this Smilebox slideshow: Very Coppinger Christmas
Create your own slideshow - Powered by Smilebox
Make a Smilebox slideshow

You have to go play with all the options at Smilebox. It’s FREE, unless you want to upgrade to receive more options. Once you sign up, you just upload some pictures then put them into a slide show…or into scrapbook pages…or into recipe cards…or into ecards…

I can’t believe how much fun it was to play with all of their designs and options.

By the way, our friend Tyler took all these pics of the boys playing in the snow last winter. If you happen to live around here and want someone talented to take pics of your family, I can let you know how to contact her!

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A Whole Lot of Baking Going On

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The past couple of days the boys and I have been doing some holiday baking. By that I mean that I’ve been grinding flour and kneading dough and washing dishes…and the boys have been licking beaters and using cookie cutters and begging me to please make frosting for the cookies. It’s been messy, loud and my whole house smells like Christmas!

We started off with Orange Cream Cheese Cut-Out Cookies. I used sucanat instead of the organic sugar crystals I had originally used in the recipe, just to see if it would work. Oh yeah…it worked. They turned out dark in color…but oh well. They are delicious and the citrus flavor is SO good. 

orangecookies2sm

Malachi (age 4) was so excited to frost his Christmas cookies that he pulled a stool around the kitchen and got out all the ingredients we would need all by himself. I hated telling him that we didn’t need eggs or baking powder for the frosting. ;)

orangecookiessmHere’s Elias and Malachi finally getting to frost the cookies. You MUST try the Orange Cream Cheese Frosting with these cookies. And don’t forget that you can pretend that the cookies are good for you and packed with Vitamin C since they have orange juice in them. Uh-huh…cookies to boost your immune system. That’s right.

breadsm

We (the Mom part of we) got a double batch of Honey Whole Wheat Bread made. We’ve been out of bread for about a week…so it’s about time I got that job done. 

coconutmacaroonssm

We also made a batch of Coconut Macaroon Cookies to take to a friend who can’t have gluten (and who happens to love Coconut Macaroons). These cookies are so easy!

Next week, I plan to share a big list of food ideas that make GREAT Christmas gifts! Stay tuned!

Been doing any baking lately?!

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How I (the mom) Have a Stuffed Stocking

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I actually can’t take complete credit for this idea. It was sort of mutually figured out by my friend Anne and me. And she’s really the smart one.

stocking

One year we were laughing about what our husbands have stuffed into our stockings last minute discussing that our husbands really don’t do a great job of filling our Christmas stockings for us. It’s not because our husbands are not thoughtful…or that they don’t care about us…or that they don’t like to give us gifts.

It just seems that in the big picture of working 50+ hour work weeks to provide for their family and chopping wood for their fireplaces and spending time with their children and helping out with different needs at church…filling our Christmas stockings isn’t very high on our husbands’ radar.

And that’s 100% completely okay with us. 

But we both still think it’s fun to have stuff in our stockings on Christmas morning. Plus, our kids might notice if all the stockings are fat and ours is hanging there all limp and skinny.

So…Anne and I fill each other’s stockings. We’ve been doing this now for about five years.

It is a blast.

I know what Anne likes and needs for her kitchen or for her cold feet or for her school time with her girls. She knows what I like and need for my kitchen or for my dry hands or for my “I love jars” obsession.

It completely takes the pressure off of our husbands and they LOVE IT. 

We make things or find things for each other inexpensively. We’ve never set a price limit on our stocking filling project…because we both think alike when it comes to money and neither of us spends very much. A few dollars at most.

Then we wrap each item individually and hand each other a bag full of goodies sometime before Christmas. Christmas Eve…we each dump our stuff into our stockings to be opened Christmas morning.

I’m telling you…this is always SO much fun!!! 

And did I mention that our husbands love it?

I know that some husbands like filling a stocking for their wives. 

But if yours is one that doesn’t…forward this post to one of your friends and let the fun begin!!!

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Gratituesday: Weekend Highlights **UPDATED** Mr. Linky has joined us finally!

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gratituesdaynov09

I just experienced one of the most wonderful, relaxing, family-time filled weekends ever!

One of my favorite parts was spending time playing games. We played many a lively round of Apples to Apples Jr. Two evenings in a row Matt, the two older boys and I played games of Settlers of Catan. 

I didn’t even win ANY of the games…and I still had a blast and was nice to everyone and all of that. (This might have had something to do with the fact the the games occurred after it was way past my bedtime and I couldn’t complete a sentence correctly, much less get super competitive.)  ;)

But my favorite, favorite part of the weekend happened on Friday.

First, we slept in…the best thing (in my opinion) to do on Black Friday. 

Then we dragged down all of our Christmas decorations.

THEN…I did something new…which might just have to become a new Christmas tradition.

I took each boy, ONE AT A TIME, out to do their Christmas shopping.

First, Elias and I went to the Dollar Store. He had his very own money. He had a plan. He bought a little gift for each of his brothers and for his Daddy.

We went home and hid his presents…I grabbed Malachi and out the door we went. His experience was a little different, since he doesn’t understand money very well yet. Plus…he tried picking out things HE liked instead of things others might like. (“Actually Buddy, I don’t think Daddy is very interested in a Yo-Gabba-Gabba toy.”)  Malachi was very proud to carry his very own shopping bag out of the store.

After I took Malachi home, Justus and I went to Wal-mart. I loved this time with Justus because I realized just how thoughtful and generous he is. He loved it and even put up with me when we had to look at a few grocery items I needed because, “That’s okay Mom. It will give us even more time for just you and me by ourselves”.

Finally, after Daddy got home, I took Asa out shopping. He had been the patient one all day long…waiting last in line for his time out with Mom. He had been the helpful, selfless babysitter all day for the other brothers while I took each boy out shopping one at a time with me. Asa’s night out with Mom was well deserved. It was a great time away with my very grown up (and almost as tall as me) kid. 

I wasn’t even tired after coming and going all afternoon and evening long. I was energized. I think the kids were too. Time alone with Mom is rare. We are SO going to do this more often.

Oh, and in case you’re worried, Daddy will take all of the boys shopping for Mommy some night soon. That’s another great tradition in and of itself. Quiet night at home for Mom. Daddy and the boys and a list at the store picking out pink things for the only one in the house who likes pink.

christmasdecor091smWe finished up our weekend by getting all of our decorating done!

Hope your Thanksgiving weekend was as wonderful as mine!
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What are you grateful for this Gratituesday? Write about it on your blog, then come link up 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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Menu Plan for the Week

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Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

We went through a lot of food over the weekend…how about you? We are so blessed to have so much food. Amazing.

We had eight people join us at noon Thursday for our Thanksgiving meal. As I was putting all the final touches on the food that morning I was once again struck by this fact:  I LOVE TO COOK. 

Anytime I mention that fact to Matt, he nods, smiles and says, “Well, I love to eat.” Ah, everyone wins.

If you recall, the YC basketball team came over Thursday night. All I could think of while they were trailing in through my front door is:  Am I really short or are they just really, really tall? And WOW could they eat. It was great!

Friday we kind of had a “eat whatever you want whenever you want it” kind of a day. As much as I love cooking….a day off from cooking was really great too. 

By Saturday, we were feeling the need for some beef  :)…plus we had done pretty good work on all of the leftovers. Time for Mama to cook again. We still have turkey, which I’m working into this week’s menu. Other than that, we have the fridge pretty well cleaned out! 

More about our weekend on Gratituesday!

Here’s our menu for the week:

Sunday, November 29
Oatmeal, peaches
Turkey and noodles, carrots
Cream cheese salsa dip, organic corn chips, orange slices

Monday, November 30
Simple soaked pancakes, blueberries
Ranch burgers, green beans
Garlic turkey pasta, steamed cauliflower and broccoli

Tuesday, December 1
Fried eggs on toast, oranges
Popcorn chicken, ranch potato wedges, peas
Turkey chef salad (lettuce, tomato, cheese, boiled egg, turkey, peas), homemade ranch dressing

Wednesday, December 2
Orange muffins, bananas
Potato soup, carrot sticks
Crunchy ranch chicken, stir fried rice and veggies

Thursday, December 3
Peanut butter honey toast, applesauce
Beef and cheese burritoes, grapes
Venison stew, cornbread muffins

Friday, December 4
Sourdough biscuits with butter and honey, pears
Sloppy joes on homemade buns, cantaloupe
Homemade pizza, tossed salad

Saturday, December 5
Mom is Great Breakfast Cake
Leftover buffet
Tuna casserole, peas

Have Thanksgiving leftovers? Need ideas? Check out these links and add your own ideas!

Be watching for two great giveaways in the next couple of days! 

There are a few hours left in our Black Friday through Sunday $2-3 sale!!! Don’t miss out!
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This post is linked to Menu Plan Monday.

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Holiday Help: What to Do With Leftover Mashed Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes

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I seem to almost always over-shoot when I estimate how many potatoes to make for a holiday meal. Just in case you also have a few leftover mashed potatoes…here are some ideas for ways to use them up:

Mashed Potato PancakesYum

Leftover mashed potatoes
1/4 cup whole wheat flour (for every 2 cups of mashed potatoes)
Butter

Mix mashed potatoes and flour together. Melt a little butter in the bottom of a skillet. Spoon scoops of mashed potato mixture into hot butter and flatten a bit. Flip potato cake several times to ensure than you don’t burn the sides…but so that the cake is heated through and through.

potatopancakessm

Cheesy Mashed Potatoes

Leftover mashed potatoes
1/2 cup sour cream (for every 3 cups of mashed potatoes)
Shredded cheddar cheese (I use raw white cheddar)

Re-warm mashed potatoes. Remove potatoes from heat and stir in sour cream. Spread into a casserole dish. Sprinkle with cheese and heat in the oven until cheese is melted and bubbly.

cheesypotatoes2sm

Shepherd’s Pie

You’ll find the recipe for Shepherd’s Pie here. Just mix it up and spread the leftover mashed potatoes over the top. So easy!

shepherdspienewsm

Have leftover sweet potatoes?

Stir them into these Sweet Potato Streusel Muffins!

sweetpotatomuffins2smThese muffins taste as good as they look and smell!

Both mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes can also be frozen to save for another time. It’s wonderful to have frozen mashed potatoes and mashed sweet potatoes ready to add to one of the above recipes!

Share how you use up your mashed potato and sweet potato leftovers!

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