Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Ever Tried Cinnamon Apple Toast?

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I mentioned here that I may be getting sixty pounds of apples in my co-op order this week. (UPDATE!!! Click here to see if the apples all came in or not!)  If they all actually come in, I have no doubt that they will all get eaten. The kids love snacking on apples…they are SO nice to have on hand! The apples I mean. Well actually, the kids are pretty nice to have on hand too.

I ordered twenty pounds each of Gala (my favorite!), Yellow Delicious and Spartan. I’ve never even heard of Spartan apples before. Have you? Are they good? I ordered them because they were $11 for 20 pounds!!! I can’t wait to try them (if they come in)!

Here’s a very simple apple idea we’ll be snacking on with all of our apples:

Cinnamon Apple ToastYum

Your favorite whole grain bread (I use this homemade Honey Whole Wheat Bread…or Whole Wheat Sourdough if I have it made.)
Apples, sliced thinly
butter
cinnamon

Place slices of bread on a baking pan. Butter each slice. Lay three or four apple slices on each piece of bread. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Broil Cinnamon Apple Toast in the oven for 2-3 minutes.

Cinnamon_Apple_Toast
So simple, your bigger kids can help you or make these themselves!

Other ways to eat apples…

What are your favorite ways to eat apples? If you have one, feel free to leave a recipe link in your comment! Really, because sixty pounds of apples? I might need to get creative!

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Menu Plan for the Week

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Remember when I went on this shopping trip last year? I got to do that again this weekend. It was SO much fun! I found myself some new jeans!!!!! I so needed some new jeans! I was  also able to get Matt some dress clothes for his new job. (You can read about his new job here.  The restaurant still hasn’t opened yet, but they’re working now toward December 1st! Oh lovely red tape.)

In food news, my Azure standard order is set to come in this week. Crazy me, I sort of ordered sixty pounds of apples. BUT, sometimes my produce doesn’t come in. So just in case, I ordered three different twenty pound boxes of three different varieties of apples…hoping that at least one of them comes in. So I may end up with only twenty or forty pounds of apples. But I may end up with sixty pounds of apples. But it’s okay because we’ve been feeding a lot of people lately and our boys like apples for snacks a lot and…and…we can even share with our friends if we need to.

Want me to let you know if they all come in or not (so that you know whether or not you should be coming to an apple eating party or not)?

Here’s our menu this week:

Sunday, November 15
Oatmeal, peaches
Simple soaked pancakes, turkey bacon, scrambled eggs
Veggie soup, crispy cheese crackers, fruit-kefir smoothies

Monday, November 16
Warm vanilla soother
Cheese quesadillas, pears
Beef stew, sourdough biscuits

Tuesday, November 17
Fried eggs on toast, oranges
Sweet baked beans with hot dogs, apple slices
Oven fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas

Wednesday, November 18
Whole wheat waffles
Tuna melts, cottage cheese and peaches
Potato soup, tossed salad

Thursday, November 19
Cinnamon swirl bread, applesauce
Hamburger patties, stir fried rice and veggies
Italian roast beef and pasta, green beans

Friday, November 20
Yogurt, toast
Grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup, carrots
Cheesy beef and rice, fruit salad

Saturday, November 21
Cream cheese breakfast pastries
Baked potatoes with chili
Homemade pizza, salad

I’m enjoying reading all of your Gratituesday posts so much! Thank you so much to everyone who has joined in the November Gratitude Challenge!! Be sure to join us again this week!
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Fine more menu planning inspiration at Organizing Junkie!

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Oh, That Looks…Lovely

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We have a super cool brown rectangular basket that sits up high in the kitchen looking cute and adorable. It holds the gum and candy people from church give our boys as rewards during Bible classes. The treats go into the basket and every once in a while, they get to pick something from it. 

rectanglebasketsm

Last week Malachi decided to redecorate.

Now the super cool brown basket sits empty. 

In it’s place is this box, now full of candy and gum.

rectanglebasket2sm

So, should I make it a new kitchen theme? Because there are more of those kind of boxes where that one came from.

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Holiday Help: The Easiest Way (in My Opinion) to Cook a Turkey

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Ready to learn the easiest way to cook a turkey? Lean in. This is so helpful!

turkey

Yum

Clearly the easiest way to cook a turkey is to let someone else cook the turkey. ;)  But, if you’re the one in charge of preparing the meal this year…let me share the easiest way I’ve found to cook a turkey.

I remember being so intimidated to cook a turkey the first time I hosted a Thanksgiving dinner. I called my mom a million times to ask questions. Could it really be that cooking a turkey is as simple as taking out the innards, putting it in a pan, covering it, and baking it? Yes, it is that easy.

My holiday turkeys are not fancy. I don’t stuff them. I don’t slather them with anything. I just put them into the oven and cook them. They create their own broth…smart little birds that they are.

Easiest Way to Cook a Turkey

How to Cook a Turkey the Easy Way

Pick your turkey:  You will need about 1 ½ pounds of turkey per person you are serving. Buy your turkey accordingly. Or, buy a larger one if you want to have lots of turkey leftovers. (Here are all kinds of ideas for what to do with leftover turkey.)

Thaw your turkey: Place the turkey in the refrigerator for 3-4 days until thawed.

Prepare your turkey: Once the turkey is thawed, reach in and grab out the bag of giblets. (This is by far every one’s favorite step, right?!)  Empty the giblets into your roasting pan as they help make a good, rich broth. Place the turkey, breast side up, into a large baking pan or roaster.

turkeyroaster

These are my favorite kinds of turkey roasters.
I picked mine up at a garage sale one year for 50 cents!

Cook your turkey: Season your turkey any way you like. I find a turkey to be so flavorful as-is, I rarely do much with seasonings. Though salt, pepper, garlic, and onion make the turkey a step above!

Cover with foil or with your roaster lid. Cook at 325° for 15-20 minutes per pound. (For instance, a 20 pound turkey would need to bake for five hours.)  You know your turkey is done cooking when the little red button pops up, or when the legs start to pull away from the body. Your turkey should be golden brown and slightly crisp looking. (Light brown and slick looking? Mr. Turkey is not done yet.)

To Cook your Turkey ahead of time (I highly, HIGHLY recommend doing this!!):

You can cook your Thanksgiving turkey as many days ahead of time as you want. I know most of you like turkey fresh out of the oven on Thanksgiving Day. But, here’s what I learned from my mom, and it really saves a lot of trouble on the big day when I’d really enjoy visiting instead of messing with a big bird.

Cook and cool your turkey any day before Thursday. De-bone and put meat in baggies. Pour broth into jars (3/4 full). Freeze or refrigerate, depending on how far in advance you cooked the turkey. If frozen, thaw in refrigerator the day before serving.

To reheat turkey, put as much light and dark meat as you think you will need for the Thanksgiving meal in a 9×13 pan. Drizzle a liberal amount of broth over turkey, cover and warm in 300° oven for 30-45 minutes or until meat is hot and steamy.

No one will ever know that you prepared your turkey ahead of time (except for the fact that you won’t be carving the turkey in front of them). It is always juicy and moist. I do it this way every year, and I’m always so thankful that the messy part is over before Thanksgiving day!

Are you in charge of cooking a turkey this year?! Do you stuff your turkey? Have any more helpful turkey cooking tips to share?

The Easiest Way to Cook a Turkey

You might also want to know:  How to Make Turkey Gravy.

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Gratituesday: My Kids

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gratituesdaynov09

Have I told you lately how cool my kids are? Here, let me give you an example:

A few weeks ago my friend (who already has a six year old and a three year old) had a new baby. A couple of weeks later, she had to have her gall bladder taken out. A week after that, her husband had to go out of the state for training for work. Ugh, bless her heart.

The boys and I have been keeping her kids for her off and on while she’s been to doctor appointments or when she’s just felt too sick to care for them. (You can think I’m really nice for doing this and all that…but really this was my way to get my hands on a sweet newborn for hours!!!!)

Through all of this…I have been so proud of our boys. I don’t know what I would do without them. They’ve been doing most of their school work without much help. Asa’s been reading to his brothers. They’ve been helping cook food. They’ve been doing laundry. They’ve been bringing me burp cloths. They’ve been doing band-aid duty. 

They’ve been doing ANYTHING I’ve asked them to do. They’ve been such a help to me.

I am so proud of them. 

I am going to keep them forever.

What are you thankful for this Gratituesday? Be sure to read about our November Gratitude Challenge and join in!!

novembergratitudechallengesm

Link up your grateful posts and leave comments about what you’re grateful for!

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We Interrupt this Blog For an Important NERTZ Announcement

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You MAY be interested to know that Adam and BryAnna came over today.

And tonight we played Nertz.

Guess who won!?!?!?!

ME! ME! I DID! I DID!!!!!!

I beat Adam!!! (I beat everyone else who played too…but Adam is the one who was talking the most smack.)  (I’m pretty sure Matt and BryAnna were both rolling their eyes at the two of us the entire game.)

I held myself back from scanning in the score sheet to show you that my score was 110 and Adam’s was…I don’t remember…LESS than that!!!

Did I mention that I played the entire game while standing only on one leg? Yes, I’m having some weird issues with my left knee (old volleyball injury, grr). I made sure to point that out when the game was over…how tired my right leg was from standing exclusively on it while I WON!

Okay, I think I’m done now. This post is perfectly ridiculous and I’m almost too embarrassed to publish it.

Thanks for putting up with me.

I promise NOT to write a post the every time I win a game of Nertz.

Maybe.

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Menu Plan for the Week

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This week I’m going to work on making our breakfast foods the night before we need them! I’m finding that we get a much earlier start to our school day when I have muffins or fruit dip or breakfast cookies made ahead of time!

Here’s our menu for the week:

Sunday, November 8
Oatmeal, fruit
Roasted chicken with potatoes and carrots, death by chocolate
Bean dip with chips and salsa

Monday, November 9
French toast, turkey sausage, blueberries
Pizza casserole, tossed salad
Shredded beef sandwiches with BBQ sauce on homemade buns, green beans

Tuesday, November 10
Chocolate-chocolate chip muffins, bananas
Chicken veggie quesadillas, fresh pineapple
Spaghetti, steamed brocolli and cauliflower

Wednesday, November 11
Strawberry yogurt dip with apples
Beefy vegetable soup, homemade bread and butter
Garlic chicken pasta, tossed salad

Thursday, November 12
Mini breakfast pizzas, oranges
Cottage cheese and peaches, homemade soft pretzels
Chicken and noodles, carrots

Friday, November 13
Pumpkin pancakes, applesauce
Taco potatoes, cantaloupe
Country fried steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, asparagus

Saturday, November 14
Giant breakfast cookies, apples
Leftovers
Tuna casserole, peas

Please make plans to join the November Gratitude Challenge this Gratituesday!
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Find more menu planning inspiration at Organizing Junkie!

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Nertz . . . are you competitive? Question #48

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I don’t just sit down and play games very much. I tend to get into “work mode” and forget to ever stop and play. I should play more. I’ve got to realize that the kids are growing fast and sometimes the dishes can wait.

Yeah, well…it seems that lately I need to learn that we’ve got to have dishes to eat on and the games may eventually need to be put on hold.

Last weekend Adam and BryAnna were over as well as Adam’s mom, Amy, from out of town. Sunday afternoon they said, “Hey, we should play Nertz.” 

Nertz!!  I used to play that all the time with my mom!!! I hadn’t played Nertz for years!!!!!

So we played Nertz. Until way past my bedtime.

Nertz is a very fast moving card game. You snooze you lose.

Yeah, I totally lost. Apparently the years that have gone by since I had played the game took their toll. I am not nearly as fast as I used to be.  

BUT, wow did I get into the game. Even though I was losing pitifully…I was determined to keep playing until none of us could stand up any longer.

I realized how insane I had been after the game was over when my darling husband of fifteen years folded his hands across his chest, raised his eyebrows, cocked his head and with a smirk on his face said, “Well.  I believe I learned a thing or two about my wife tonight.”

What? That I’m a little more competitive than either of us realized? Oh that. 

Maybe he was talking about the time I pointed my finger right in Adam’s face and yelled, “DUDE!  WHO do you think has been FEEDING you these good home cooked meals since you got to college, HUH?!?!”

Hey, he kept putting his cards right where I wanted to put MY cards just a half a second before I got to it. The nerve.  I still haven’t decided if I’m feeding him again or not. He totally played too well and too fast.

I may have also resorted to a little bit of name calling and in a very whiny voice told a person or two something like, “Aww, you STINK.” (Like, when they got 27 points in one round and I got negative 14.)

Anyhoo. 

I am now addicted to playing Nertz. We’ve been having family games of it in the evenings and the boys and I have been playing every afternoon as soon as we get our work done. These games with my boys are much more my speed, but I’m totally trying to improve my game. Because Adam and BryAnna will be back and we will be playing again and I will win eventually oh-yes-I-will-so-there-Mr. Adam. Bah!

Ehem. 

For the record, I have not been calling my children names during (or after) our Nertz games, nor have I been yelling in their faces. (I have, however, been gloating inwardly a little bit about how badly I’m beating all of them. Proves my insanity a bit doesn’t it? Really Laura…you’re proud of yourself for beating your seven year old in a difficult card game? Get a grip.)

My QUESTIONS for you today are:  Are you competitive? Do you like games? What are your favorite games? 

Wanna come over and play Nertz?

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Healthy Pumpkin Treat Recipes

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A few weeks ago the boys and I spent the day at a pumpkin patch. The boys had a blast all day feeding goats, going down the long slides and riding on the zip lines over and over.

I may or may not have let the boys talk me into riding the zip line one time. I may or may not have smacked myself right into the landing pad at the end of the line.

Of course one of the highlights of the day was riding on the hay wagon out to the field to pick a pumpkin. All of the boys were determined to pick THE BIGGEST pumpkin. Asa’s pumpkin was SO big, he had to borrow a wagon to get it to our van.

asawagonpumpkinsm

Yum

Malachi (the cowboy) decided to snuggle with the pumpkin on the way to the van
and Elias decided that since Asa was offering…
his pumpkin could take a ride too.

Needless to say, the pumpkins they picked are too big to fit into my oven. So much for all of my great plans to bake them and turn them into pies and other great treats. I decided I’d have to keep my eyes out for a great pumpkin deal at the store.

Guess What?!?!?

Yesterday I was at Wal-mart and saw a few scraggly pumpkins in the produce section marked down to $.33 a pound. Cool. I grabbed one.

Guess What?!?!?

When the gal rang up my pumpkin…it came up to $.01. She asked someone what she did wrong and the manager said, “Oh no. That’s right. We’re just trying to get rid of them.”

So I said, “I’ll be right back.”

She waited for me while I went and grabbed three more pumpkins (the rest were a little squishy).

pumpkinsforapennyCheck out my four-penny purchase!

Now I can make all the yummy fall pumpkin recipes I’ve been wanting to make!

pumpkinpecanbarssmPumpkin Pecan Pie Squares

pumpbarssm
Pumpkin Bars

pumpancakesm
Pumpkin Pancakes

And…I’m going to go look through Amy’s big list of Pumpkin Recipes to see which ones look good!

What are your favorite pumpkin recipes?

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The Promised Letter to Your Husbands about Why They Should Buy You a Grain Mill

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Dear Husbands of Heavenly Homemakers Readers,

First and foremost, let me tell you that you all have fantastic wives. They are among some of my most favorite people ever. Way to go and congratulations on choosing such a fine woman to be your help-meet.

And now I’d like to take a moment to encourage you to strongly consider purchasing a Grain Mill for your wife (for Christmas, or tomorrow would also be fine). I know how much she’d like one. I know how much she’d use it. 

And the best news for you…I know how much you’d like the breads and other foods she’d make for you with the freshly ground flour her Grain Mill produces.

What? You don’t like whole wheat? I understand. But listen…the whole wheat flour that your wife’s new grain mill creates is like NONE other you have ever had. You’re likely to not even recognize that your bread is whole wheat. I promise.

Just think. After your wife serves you some hot homemade bread straight from the oven, she can experiment with other delicious whole wheat recipes like these whole wheat pretzels…whole wheat cinnamon rolls…whole wheat donuts…cinnamon swirl bread…

And while you think that you couldn’t possibly love your wife more than you do at this very minute…I think you will fall even more in love with her (even if she does have streaks of flour in her hair) after she bakes these delightful treats for you.

One of the best parts of owning a grain mill is how much MONEY it saves. Your wife knows how much you love to save your hard earned money. She’d be happy to use her new Grain Mill to help you save money.

Don’t know where to start looking for a Grain Mill or which Grain Mill to get? No problem.  Just go read this.  Don’t know where to buy the grain for your Grain Mill? Gotcha covered. Go read this.

Have more questions? Email my husband (coppinger6 at gmail dot com). He will tell you everything you need to know. He’s really, really happy that we got a Grain Mill. I think he also thinks I look cute with flour in my hair. 

Or maybe he’s just used to it.

Sincerely,
Laura at Heavenly Homemakers

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