Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Gratituesday: My Marriage

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About a week and a half ago my husband and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. By “celebrated”…I mean that we hardly saw each other because there were three soccer practices that day! No matter. While I love having dates with Matt, I don’t NEED them to feel loved and secure.

Sorry to get all mushy here…but Matt does an awesome job cherishing and caring for me. Every day. He shows me by working hard to bring home the paychecks. He shows me by getting excited about the food I cook. He shows me by being grateful for his clean clothes. He shows me by being a wonderful daddy to our boys and being the spiritual leader in our home. He shows me by choosing me to be his best friend.

Matt and I work very hard to protect our marriage. We never let our guard down because WE CAN’T. The devil would like us to. And he’s waiting for us to. 

We’ve seen too many marriages crumble apart. It’s been devastating and painful to watch. It makes us realize even more how precious God’s gift of marriage is to us. 

I don’t ever want to take my marriage for granted. It is the greatest treasure I have on this earth.
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What are you grateful for this Gratituesday? Write about it on your blog, then come link up with us here. Be sure to leave a link back here to Heavenly Homemakers so your readers can find Gratituesday easily! If you don’t have a blog, please be sure to leave a comment here letting us know what you’re thankful for!

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How to Make Cinnamon Swirl Bread

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I’ve had several of you ask how I make my Cinnamon Swirl Bread! It is SO easy to make and your family will love it!

I use my Honey Whole Wheat Bread recipe for this. I usually double the recipe then make two regular loaves and two cinnamon swirl loaves. This recipe freezes well.

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Yum

Instead of shaping the dough immediately into a loaf, roll it out like this.

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Spread a generous amount of softened butter all over the rolled out dough.

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Sprinkle with a mixture of cinnamon/sugar (I use cinnamon/sucanat). I haven’t measured this out but I would estimate the amount needed to be about 2 teaspoons of cinnamon mixed with 1/4 cup of sucanat.

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Roll it up.

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Poke the ends under to make a loaf shape, place in a buttered bread pan, let the loaf rise for about 30-45 minutes and bake as directed.

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This bread is AWESOME lightly toasted and then buttered! With a glass of milk.

Sprinkle on some raisins if you like for Cinnamon Raisin Bread!

See how easy that is?! :)

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Menu Plan for the Week

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After a very crazy three weeks (the fair, having company, canning and freezing produce, feeding the soccer team…) I think life may get back to normal this week. However, normal for this time of year is still a little nuts. There’s still more canning to do. Matt’s soccer team is off to a great start and now our own boys will start soccer for the fall season. Justus has his first practice Monday. 

After church today we had a big potluck to welcome the York College students. If you remember, I’ve been wanting to try my hand at cake decorating a little bit. Matt and the boys got me this for my birthday this month, so I played with it a little yesterday and came up with this: 

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It’s not perfect. It’s also kinda boring. I need to learn to make flowers or something so that I can do more than just make borders. I also need to figure out how to have nice handwriting with frosting. My “Y” is quite wobbly. But playing with my new toys sure was fun! AND I was excited to come up with a couple of recipes that I will eventually share. One is a cake recipe using whole wheat flour and sucanat. Also, I found that my butter (no shortening) frosting recipe worked  just fine for decorating. 

I am feeding the soccer team one last time tonight. This time they are all coming over to our house for a big “breakfast”. 

Sunday, August 23
Oatmeal, nectarines
Potluck- Spanish rice, watermelon, chocolate sour cream cake, veggie tray
Soccer team- French toast, sausage links, homemade brown sugar syrup, grapes, fresh pineapple

Monday, August 24
Simple sourdough pancakes, fruit
Creamy mac and cheese, stir fried zucchini and carrots
Honey mustard chicken, baked potatoes, green beans

Tuesday, August 25
Scrambled egg sandwiches, oranges
Tuna salad, sweet red peppers, strawberry-peach slushies
Chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, peas

Wednesday, August 26
Cinnamon swirl bread, cherries
Popcorn chicken, homemade fries, carrot sticks
Shepherd’s pie, tossed salad

Thursday, August 27
Fruit and yogurt delight, homemade oat cereal*
Salmon patties, hashbrowns, sweet bell peppers, carrot sticks
Homemade pizza, tossed salad

Friday, August 28
Peanut butter honey toast, apples with strawberry yogurt dip
Hamburgers, corn on the cob, tomatoes
Tacos, watermelon

Saturday, August 29
Homemade funnel cake
Taco salad, grapes
Tuna casserole, peas

Many of you have requested that I show you how to make cinnamon swirl bread. Be watching for that tutorial this week! I have a great giveaway for you this week too!

*I’ve had several requests for my homemade oat cereal recipe. You’ll find it in this ebook. The cereal is easy to make, SO healthy, and great for a snack or breakfast!
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Salsa: Mild or Hot? Question #44

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Since I didn’t need to cook for the soccer team today…and since I have fresh peppers coming out my ears…I decided to make salsa.

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Mmmm…my house smells good. 

I usually plant chili peppers and use those for my salsa instead of jalapenos. Most of the people at our house don’t really like their salsa very hot. The chili peppers make our salsa just right.

(I’m sorry I can’t share my salsa recipe with you. It was my mom’s special recipe. You wanna hear that story sometime? It makes me very happy.)

What I’m curious about today is:  How do you like your salsa?

Are you a hot salsa kind of a person…or do you like yours mild? Do you like steam coming out of your ears when you take a bite or would you rather just have just a tiny bit of spice? Or, do you even like salsa?

I have a friend who’s ten year old boy would eat a big bowl of hot salsa like soup if she let him. Wow. Somebody hand that kid a chip. And a big glass of water. And a Tums.

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(Part of) My Week in Pictures

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I’m finally getting around to showing you part of my “feeding the soccer team” week. Here’s basically what happened:  I took pictures of the first day…then I pretty much forgot to take any the rest of the time. My brain was preoccupied with getting everything done. Usually I’d think “OH I should have gotten a picture of the salad bar” after we’d cleaned it up. 

This week has been absolutely busy…and absolutely wonderful. I have LOVED cooking for the team. They were all so sweet about how great the food was and how much they appreciated it. That, of course, made it all the better. (It’s no fun cooking for people who don’t appreciate it, right?)

I woke up Thursday morning knowing that I had only two days left. No problem. Then the head coach called Matt and said that he’d just found out that other arrangements had been made on campus for the girls. However, could I fix a meal Sunday night instead?

I was disappointed for about half a second…then I felt a tremendous relief that I was off the hook for the next two days. Suddenly I went from motivated to dead weight. We barely got through school before I fell asleep in my chair. The kids fixed themselves leftovers while I remained brain dead. Funny how you can go and go and go…and then once you give yourself permission to stop…you STOP. And stop I did. 

Okay here are a few highlights from early in the week:

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I tried to capture what the van looked like filled with all the groceries. It’s very hard to see this, but every piece of floor and all the seats were covered. It’s a very good thing my kids weren’t with me or they would have had to stay behind at Walmart.

On the menu for Sunday night was BBQ pork sandwiches (yes the menu here says BBQ beef, but the pork was cheaper so I went with it), corn on the cob, baby carrots, apple crisp and homemade ice cream:

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Sunday afternoon I put the boys to work outside shucking corn for dinner. Shannen washed them all for me while I worked on making apple crisp. See there in the background is the ice cream maker going. Just be glad you can’t hear it running while you’re reading this or I’d have to yell over the noise.

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Here’s me peeling bunches of apples for the apple crisp. The boys and I had picked these apples at a friend’s house a few days before. Doesn’t get much better than that.

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Here’s the corn all ready to start cooking. Yep, that’s a lot of corn.

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I don’t know if I mentioned it or not, but I had another girl staying with me for a few days while she waited for the college dorms to open. She was a big help the first few days of cooking these meals. In this picture, you see Amanda and Shannen getting ready to put a batch of cookies in the oven. The cookies were for Monday night, but I thought getting them done ahead would be a good idea. 

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Here’s the pork all finished cooking in one of the crock pots (we had two going). Matt took on the job of de-boning it and shredding it. Oh my word was it good! (Um, if I do say so myself.)

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Ah the great dessert table! Here are two big apple crisps ready to go and the double batch of giant chocolate chip cookies ready for Monday night.

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This first meal was served at the park so we loaded everything into our van and into Amanda’s car. Somehow we had room for the boys this time.

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Here’s everyone eating at the park. Good times.

And then came the dishes.

I tried to capture the fullness of the messy dishes. Somehow these pictures look too clean to show how messy my kitchen was. But if you look closely you’ll see that in each picture the pile of dishes in the drain is a DIFFERENT pile of dishes, which shows how many of them there were to wash.

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Round one…clean.

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Round two…clean with several big pots left.

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Ahhhhhhh…all done.

And that was day one. I’m sorry I only have that first day for you to see. Most of the other days the meals were served in our church fellowship hall. Matt asked the girls on the team to wash all the dishes after those meals and wow was that nice for me!! (And probably a team building experience or something like that.)

I’ll be serving one last meal on Sunday, so if I have a half a brain, I’ll try to remember to take some pictures of it for you.

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Keeping Little People Busy

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Since I asked for some help in this post and received SO many wonderful suggestions, I thought I’d ask you again for some ideas. You’re all such smarties. I love ya.

Some friends of ours have three children (4th grade, 7th grade and 10th grade). They just recently committed to taking on three more children (family members who need a loving home). These new little ones are ages one, two and three. 

Yeah. Talk about changing up your household a little bit. This all came up rather suddenly so they didn’t have much time to prepare.

We’re really proud of our church family who has been generously coughing up all kinds of car seats and diapers and clothing and sippy cups and EVERYTHING else a person needs to help care for three babies.

One of my friends suggested that we put together a list of fun ideas of projects to do with little ones…you know like “How to make Playdough” and stuff like that. I thought this was a great idea so that they’ll have a handy resource to grab in a pinch.

And then I decided that we could all use this handy resource. Yes?

How about if you leave comments and/or email me with your fabulous “keep the little ones busy” activities/ideas/recipes. Then I’ll compile them into a nice down-loadable resource for everyone. Depending on the amount of ideas I receive, it may even become another free ebook. Cool.

I’ll give you each full credit for your idea. Include pictures if you have them. 

Just think, we could all soon be surrounded with bubbles and playdough and flubber. Sounds like a preschool paradise! :)

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Guest Post: Healthy Eating for Wimps

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I’m so grateful for this guest post from Amy at Finer Things. Not only can I now go spend time finding a shovel so that I can dig out my kitchen and once again have a clean dish to cook with….this post is just so well written and helpful. Thank you Amy! And just so you know…I don’t think you are a wimp.  :)
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I’ve learned a lot about healthy eating over the past few years. Mainly, that healthy eating isn’t what I thought it was! While soaking my grains and making my own yogurt and buying everything organic still seems a bit out of reach for me, I am making strides. 

You can, too! Feeling wimpy about your healthy choices? Overwhelmed about a 180°  turn in your eating habits? Here are some of the things I’ve done; painless baby steps if you will.  

  • I make all of our own bread in the bread machine. The machine does the work, then I shape and bake the loaves.
  • I’m gradually increasing the amount of whole wheat in my recipes, rarely making anything with just white flour. We are all adjusting beautifully to the heartier taste and texture of whole wheat, and find it very difficult to eat plain white.
  • We only eat natural peanut butter. That’s an easy fix. It doesn’t cost much more than the partially hydrogenated scary stuff, and it tastes great!
  • I work constantly to reduce the amount of sugar in recipes, especially muffins and sweet breads. Substituting applesauce or mashed bananas for some of the sugar (and oil) works nicely. I also add other fruits to the mix, cutting the sugar nearly in half. We don’t miss it!
  • No more margarine or shortening in my house. It’s all butter here. After I got over the price shock, it was an easy switch. I’ve learned to stock up and freeze butter when it’s on sale.
  • We recently found a farm for our eggs and milk. It completely blechs me out to eat a pale yellow store-bought egg now, and the milk? No more infertility-causing skim milk for us. I had no idea! Did you?!
  • While I still buy the occasional granola bar or box of cereal, those items are stored in our basement “out of site, out of mind.” They are saved for our ballgame bag (can’t be any less healthy than concession stand food!) or spur-of-the-moment road trips.

 

See? Small changes can lead to healthy strides in your wimpy eating! 

What changes are you ready to make?

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Gratituesday – a Guest Post

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FYI – this is a GUEST POST…  Laura is SUPER BUSY this week, so I volunteered to write her Gratituesday post. It was selfish on my part, because I have been wanting a chance to gush a little about my best friend, and what better place than ON Laura’s blog…bear with me! -Char

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So, I got an email the other day reminding me that it’s time to renew the Heavenly Homemakers domain name. (I keep up with some of the “technical” aspects of the site). I shook my head a bit, because it’s hard to believe that another year has come and gone.

In fact, it’s been almost exactly 2 years since the day Laura and I were on the phone and the seed was planted that became an idea that eventually turned into the Heavenly Homemakers website/blog.

Of course, when she and I first started talking, there was no name yet… just a small idea that took shape pretty quickly and a gut feeling that this was something Laura could do. And not just something she COULD do… but something she NEEDED to do.

It’s fun to think back a bit… to all the “what if’s, maybe you could…, do you think THIS might work…” conversations. (And quite frankly, we still have these types of conversations regularly).

I often tell Laura that in all my years working with websites and clients and friends and churches – this Heavenly Homemakers website has been the most successful.

There are some days that it simply blows my mind.

The amount of e-books Laura has written in two years… the encouragement and advice she offers regularly… the passion with which she cares for this website and her ministry…not to mention how stinkin’ FUNNY she is.

It’s astounding to me when I think about the far reaching effects that this blog is having (you only have to check the stats or get a peek at Laura’s email in-box to know she is making a difference in hundreds… no, thousands… of lives).

And of course, the truth is that even though this Heavenly Homemakers idea was a GOOD idea… God is who turned it into a GREAT one. GOD knew that out of those first conversations between two friends… and then the conversations between Matt and Laura… and of course the conversations between all of us and HIM… that HE could make this “website thing” something fantastic.

And He so has…

He has taken Laura’s knowledge, passion, love and concern, her skills and her talents, and He has turned it all into this fabulous gift that IS Heavenly Homemakers.

And for that… I am so very, very thankful.

What are YOU thankful for today? Won’t you share it with everyone?

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Menu Plan for the Week

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I tell you what. A girl asks for a little advice and help around here…and she gets it. Thank you SO much for all of your wonderful meal suggestions for this week!! 

If you missed this post then please go read it for this to all make sense. The long and short of it is that I’m cooking for 21-31 people every night this week (except for Saturday). If you want some GREAT bulk meal ideas, go read all of these comments!

You have no idea how helpful you all were with your food suggestions! Made me hungry all weekend. If I didn’t choose to make your meal idea…it is likely because I needed to plan around what the team would be eating on other days when I wasn’t the one doing the cooking. You can rest assured that I will be looking back at all the comments in the future whenever I will be cooking for a large crowd!

Okay…here’s what I’ll be feeding the team (and what I’ll be feeding my family for breakfast and lunch too if I remember to feed them). I’m typing the dinners out in detail. That’s for my sake, not yours…but feel free to enjoy it (or be bored by it). The meals for the team begin with bold text.

Sunday, August 16
Whole wheat and honey zucchini bread, apples with caramel dip
Friends took us out for lunch as a “thank you” gift
BBQ beef sandwiches, corn on the cob, carrot sticks with dip, apple crisp, homemade ice cream

Monday, August 17
Whole wheat waffles with strawberries and whipped cream
Taco potatoes, applesauce
Salad bar:  greens, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, cubed ham, shredded cheese, hard boiled eggs, peas, dressings; homemade soft pretzels, fresh pineapple and cantaloupe, chocolate chip cookies

Tuesday, August 18
Scrambled eggs, hash browns, clementines
Grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup, grapes
Lasagna, tossed salad (mixture of what’s left from salad bar on Monday) with dressing, french bread, orange wedges,fudgy brownies

Wednesday, August 19
Vanilla custard, bananas
Hamburger patties, green beans, strawberry-peach slushies
Grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, relish tray (carrots, broccoli, olives, celery, dip), angeled eggs, pickle spears, cherries, Lynn’s no-bake cookie bars

Thursday, August 20
Peanut butter honey toast, applesauce
Homemade corn dogs, carrots, nectarines
Tacos (Matt’s special cooked beef, corn tortillas, salsa, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, sour cream), spanish rice, watermelon, chocolate sheet cake

Friday, August 21
Homemade oat cereal, dried fruit
Grilled chicken, ranch potato wedges, zucchini
Breakfast for dinner:  Pancakes with homemade peanut butter (if I get around to it) and syrup, sausage, scrambled eggs, grapes and whatever fruit is leftover from earlier in the week

Saturday, August 22
Cereal, leftovers, clean out the fridge, take a nap :)

In case you’re wondering…many items I’m making from scratch…but some things I’m going to just buy pre-made. Like the french bread and the buns for bbq sandwiches and the salad dressing. A girl has to have her limits, you know? :)

Oh and also…I usually do a lot of my writing for the upcoming week during the weekend. But between having a houseguest and then having more company over the weekend and doing a lot of canning and freezing and preparing for all these soccer meals…I have had about five extra minutes this weekend to work on posts. (It takes me a little bit longer than five minutes to write a post, usually.)  :)  I’ll try really hard to get some good things written for you this week, but thank you for being understanding if I can’t. I WANT to because I have so many subjects waiting to be written about. 

If all else fails, I’ll try to take a few pics of my cooking insanity marathon and do a little play by play for you. And…I’ll work very hard to come up with something better than “Oh I’m so thankful that I own a lot of 9×13 inch baking pans” for Gratituesday. :)
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Feeding a Group – Question #43

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I need some input.

My husband helps coach the women’s soccer team for our local college. The players arrived last week to start practices and training. The dorms don’t open for another week and the cafeteria is charging a hefty amount to feed the teams. To help save the soccer budget some money we (coaches and spouses) decided to serve dinner to the girls in others ways. 

Long story short…I offered to cook dinner for 21-31 people each evening next week, Sunday through Friday.

If you know me very well, you know these two things:  1) I’m a little bit crazy and 2) I love to feed people. 

I’m pretty excited about the opportunity and will really enjoy this. I think it will be fun to treat the girls to a great meal after they’ve been working hard for hours. They are all super sweet and this will give me a chance to get to know them a little bit better.

SO…here’s where you come in. I am working hard on the menu planning and food prep this weekend. I have a few ideas of meals that will work well to feed a large group, but we’re talking about SIX meals here and I’d love a few of your meal suggestions.

Here are a few details: 

  • Some of the meals will be at a park…some will be in my home…and some will be in the church fellowship hall. 
  • The girls are going to be having THREE practices a day this week. They’ll need nourishment and a lot of it!
  • On the flip side of that…a couple hours after dinner the team will have a big run. I don’t want the meals to be incredibly bulky if I can help it.
  • I want the meals to be simple to prepare in large quantities, yet I really want to “treat” the girls to some good eatin’. I’d love for them to feel like I really cared enough to feed them well.

So, bring on the meal ideas. What do you like to feed to large crowds? Feel free to give me recipes and links if you’ve got ’em. 

You’ll see my choices on Sunday afternoon when I post my menu plan. THANK YOU in advance for your input. You have no idea how helpful this will be for me. 

Also, if you could come wash a few dishes while I cook, that would be great.

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