Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Gratituesday: God is Good

by 23 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

gratituesdayspring6.jpg

I’m not exactly sure what was wrong with me last week, but I was fighting off some big-time discouragement.

It has a little bit to do with lack of sunshine. I have a tendancy to struggle after a long winter with not enough sun in my life. (Plenty of sons…not enough sun…)

Then, a man from church, whose daughter is a friend of mine, died on Thursday from ALS, the same disease that took my mom four and a half years ago.

When I heard the news, I kind of lost it. Feeling the pain of that family…knowing what they’d been through…and what they’ll go through as they continue to grieve…hurts more than I anticipated. My grief seemed to come back fresh again.

But God is good. All the time. And God works through pain…because he is just that amazing and powerful.

I love how God shows himself to us in incredible ways when we’re hurting. How he helps us see parts of him that we can’t see when we’re “fine”. 

And I love how God can use the pain we’ve experienced to help others going through something similar. 

Today, I’m just grateful for God’s goodness. His consistency and his power and his complete and total care for us, his children.
——————————————

What are you grateful for this Gratituesday? Read the details here, write about what you’re thankful for on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, please leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for.

[blenza_autolink code]

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

High Five Recipes: “Angeled” Eggs

by 44 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

I call ’em Angeled Eggs. I can’t help it.

High Five Recipes 2

I mentioned before that I have a pretty hard time calling these pretty little eggs…deviled. I’m pretty sure eggs don’t really care. I just think that “angeled” sounds nicer.

Have you ever taken Angeled Eggs to a potluck? It seems that they are one of the most popular items. They’re GONE before Great Aunt Edith’s chocolate pie – and that’s saying something! Plus, they are very inexpensive to make!

Here’s my simple four ingredient recipe:

Angeled EggsYum

High Five Recipes: "Angeled" Eggs
 
Save Print
Author:
Ingredients
  • 6 eggs
  • ½ cup mayonnaise (I use Hain safflower brand)
  • 1 teaspoon mustard
  • ¼ teaspoon onion salt
Instructions
  1. Put the eggs in a saucepan with enough water to cover them.
  2. Boil for 10 minutes.
  3. Remove the eggs from hot water immediately and place them into a bowl of cold water.
  4. Refrigerate until cool.
  5. Peel the shell off the egg.
  6. Cut each egg in half and place the yolks into a bowl.
  7. Mash the yolks with a fork, then stir in the mayonnaise, mustard and onion salt until smooth.
  8. Fill the whites of the eggs with yolk mixture using a spoon or a fancy cake decorating tool.

devilledeggs2sm.jpg
Peel the shell off the egg. (I usually start this process by banging it onto the counter, then rolling it around a bit. Cracks those eggs up. I guess it must tickle.)

devilledeggs3sm.jpg
Cut each egg in half and place the yolks into a bowl.
Mash the yolks with a fork, then stir in the mayonnaise,
mustard and onion salt until smooth.

Angeled Eggs
Fill the whites of the eggs with yolk mixture. I used my handy Pampered Chef cake decorator which makes these eggs SO pretty. Plus, the chickens must be really excited about spring because they are laying eggs with SUCH yellow yolks! Lovely!

I love how angeled eggs are a perfect picnic or potluck food – and how they compliment so many spring and summer time meals! And they’re so easy to make!

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

Menu Plan for the Week

by 10 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Remember a few weeks ago when I showed you a picture of my frozen chicken and told you about Matt’s reaction to me taking a picture of my chicken? Ah, the life of “the blogger’s husband”. 

Well, today I’ve gotta tell you what my kids have learned by having a blogger for a mom.

Last Wednesday, a friend of ours was coming over for lunch, and since it was her birthday, Justus wanted to make cupcakes. He did it all from start to finish. I figured he was ready to go play after he was done. Instead, he said, “Okay. They’re done. Let me get a picture real quick.”

justuscupcakessm.JPG
Apparently, my children think that before we can serve food,
we need to take a picture first. 
I don’t know where they get that idea. :) 

Here’s our menu for the week: 

Sunday, March 29
Cinnamon swirl bread, pears
Roasted chicken with potatoes, carrots, parsnips, onions and herbs
Nachos, fruit

Monday, March 30
Whole wheat waffles, milk 
Salmon patties, ranch potato wedges, fresh pineapple
Lasagna casserole, tossed salad, corn

Tuesday, March 31
Cheese omelets, orange slices
Taco potatoes, strawberry-peach slushies
Three cheese chicken pasta, steamed broccoli and carrots

Wednesday, April 1
Baked oatmeal with whipped cream and blueberries
Chicken tostadas, pineapple-orange slushies
Sloppy joes on homemade buns, “angeled” eggs, carrot sticks

Thursday, April 2
Orange muffins, bananas
Grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup
Chicken tortilla soup, tossed salad

Friday, April 3
French toast
Homemade pizza, peaches
Lamb-burgers, homemade french fries, fruit

Saturday, April 4
Giant breakfast cookies
Leftovers
Tacos

Come back for fun recipes, Gratituesday and more Women with a Mission this week!

Have you signed up to win the $25 Gift Certificate yet?

:)
——————————————

Visit Organizing Junkie for all kinds of menu planning help!

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

Feeding the Family: Eating Out

by 39 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Throughout the Feeding the Family series that I’ve been doing (and before I even started it) I’ve had many of you ask if our family EVER eats out since you never see it on my menu plans.

As I’ve mentioned before, our food budget for our family of six is between $500-$550 each month. That amount includes everything we eat for the month…so there really isn’t any room in there for eating out. 

Yeah, we’re pretty sad and deprived around here. Instead of eating out, we are forced to choke down steamy pot roasts with carrots, potatoes and gravy…or homemade popcorn chicken with ranch potato wedges…or delicious homemade pizza, made to order. It’s a tough life, but somehow, we’ll try to deal with it. :)

panpizza2sm.JPG

YES, there ARE times that I’m worn out, tired and JUST DON’T FEEL LIKE COOKING.  I know, you’re shocked. The Heavenly Homemaker doesn’t always feel like putting on her happy little apron and cooking a delicious meal for her adoring family. 

Even when I don’t feel like cooking, grabbing fast food for our family is just really not an option. Even “cheap” fast food can cost $25-$35 to fill the boys’ hollow legs (and yes, that’s without drinks, and with coupons).

WHEN I don’t feel like cooking, we scrounge around for leftovers…or throw some  peanut butter and honey on a tortilla, eat an apple, drink a glass of milk and call it a meal. Or I just quickly make a batch of pancakes and scrambled eggs (which everyone feels is a treat at night anyway!). 

OR every once in a while, we’ll grab a couple of take and bake pizzas from Walmart for $7 each. 

Our kids do enjoy eating out and get excited about the possibilty when the opportunity arises. That means that when we actually do go to Pizza Hut to redeem their Book It coupons…our time out with them is a treasure.

Here are a few of my thoughts on eating out…or not eating out:

  • Food from restaurants is addicting. That’s because it’s often loaded with MSG and sugar, which makes you think that the french fries you’re eating are SO the best thing in the world. The next day…you’re likely to be craving more. That’s how I felt when we used to eat out a little more often. The more we ate out…..the more I wanted to eat out. Now that we practically never go out to eat, I don’t even want to anymore. (It did take me a while to get to that point, though.)
  • In my opinion…by the time we get our kids ready and out the door, into the van, buckled in, drive to the restaurant, get everyone out of the car and safely through the parking lot, find a table big enough for all of us, sit down, figure out who gets to sit by Daddy (since there are only two sides of him), figure out what we’re ordering, wait for the food, try to sit patiently while we wait for the food, try to keep everyone from spilling the food, (do I need to go on, because I’m getting tired and flustered writing this)….we may as well have stayed home and cooked a simple meal. It’s far less work.
  • Very rarely (if ever) do I walk away from a restaurant and say, “THAT was the best meal I’ve ever had”. Instead, I’m usually bummed out that I just spent $12 on a plate of something that will likely make my stomach hurt later.
  • Our boys think it is SO much fun when I decide to open “Mama’s Kitchen” for the night. That’s usually on a night we have hamburgers and onion rings or homemade chicken nuggets and fries. Justus, my assistant chef, gets out a tray and puts straws in our water (or homemade chocolate milk shakes!) and delivers them around the table. They pretend they’re getting a kids meal from “the best restaurant ever”. (I do not pay them to say that. On the contrary, usually I charge monopoly money for the meal.)

Sooo, I hope that helped to answer your questions. What are your feelings on eating out? I know some people really do enjoy it. It just doesn’t work for our family. How do you handle eating out?  What are some of your “I don’t feel like cooking but everyone needs to eat” solutions?
————————————-

This post is linked to Frugal Fridays.

P.S. Be sure to join us on Saturday for The little Green Project…and a GIVEAWAY!

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

Homeschool Hubbub: Update on the Year

by 12 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

DID YOU KNOW IT’S ALREADY THE END OF MARCH?

Yes, I suppose you knew that.

I knew it too, but it sorta just hit me a few days ago that after March comes April and then it will be May and well…I can’t believe another school year is coming to an end. 

If you remember, last summer I posted a list of the books we would be reading through for school this year. Here’s how we’re doing by now:

History:  We’ve made our way through the first two Story of the World history books and we’re now reading about ships and how ships were made through history. (Ah, you’ve gotta love reading about those naughty pirates.)  (Well, you don’t gotta love it…but my boys sure love it.)

Science:   We are taking some time to study evolution vs. creation using the books I mentioned in this post…plus some DVDs we borrowed from a friend called Incredible Creatures that Defy Evolution. There are several books on the list we haven’t touched yet…partly because I took a detour to read these books and watch the DVDs about evolution. If we don’t finish all of the books on the list, we’ll read them through the summer or during the next school year.

Math:  I told the boys last week that as soon as they finish their math books…they’ll be done with math for the year. I do believe that was motivating, since Justus started doing five lessons a day…calculating that he could be done in two weeks if he did. Go Justus! Asa’s doing two lessons a day now on his, which is quite an accomplishment since his lessons take longer. Who am I to argue with extra math lessons? Why, with all that extra time on their hands, they’ll be able to fold more laundry.

Bible:  Since January, our Bible focus has been the book of John. Asa and Justus are participating in an event called Leadership Training for Christ (LTC). They’ve been working hard preparing writing projects, skits, puppet shows and sculptures. Most importantly, they are learning the book of John inside and out as they prepare for the Bible Bowl. We’ll head to Kansas City in April for the big gathering! 

Reading:  Elias completed his reading list a long time ago…leaving me forever hopping trying to give him books to read that are on his level. Justus’ books are a little harder to get through, but he’s plugging away. Reading is a little more challenging for him, but he works hard. Asa has finished many of his books too…his just take longer!

Malachi:  Well…some days I do some activities with him…sometimes I don’t. FUNNY how he’s learning anyway. I love that. I will tell you a little secret though:  I’ve been working for over a year on a curriculum for early learners called “Learn Your Letters…Learn to Serve”.  I’m trying so hard to finish it by summertime to make it available for YOU to use in the fall if you’d like…and I’d really like to use it with Malachi too. I think I can…I think I can…
————————————————

So, how’s your school year going? If you homeschool…what have you and your kids been up to? If you don’t homeschool…what have your kids been doing in school? I LOVE hearing about what everyone is learning and doing!!!

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

Gardening 101: The Basics

by 30 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

I’ve been asked by several of you if I would share more about what I know about gardening. As my friend Serenity put it, sort of a “Gardening for Dummies” series.

I’m happy to agree to this…as long as you realize that this series is also written by a Dummy. (that wood be me.)

I PROMISE you that my garden grows completely IN SPITE OF ME.

Here are a few things I’ll share with you to start of this series:

  • Some years are good years for some crops and some years are not. Whenever I have a poor crop of something, most everyone around me has had a poor year too. If you have a bad crop of something, you don’t need to feel like you failed. (And by all means, don’t give up entirely!)  Some years you’ll have so many green beans you’ll be paying others to take them off your hands…some years you’ll barely get enough for everyone in your family to have one bean on their plate at dinner. That’s normal. (Unless I’m the one whose not normal?)
  • Worms are good. You want worms in your garden.  I have been known to chatter excitedly to the worms I see when I’m digging around in my soil, wishing them a prosperous life of going forth and doing whatever good things God made them to do in my garden. Sometimes I’m tempted to lay my hands pinky on them and pray over them. Worms are good.
  • Bugs are bad. I do a different kind of “laying on of the hands” (and feet) when I see them. (I also talk to them, like I talk to the worms, but my words aren’t nearly the same.)
  • To help control bugs, if you want to try to have a chemical free garden, like I do….you can try to plant some merigolds here and there when you plant your seeds. Bugs don’t like merigolds…
  • Compost is great for your garden (and a great way to use produce waste from your kitchen)…the Happy Housewife has a wonderful tutorial here if you want to learn to start composting.
  • Plant your seeds like it says on the package. If it says to plant the seed after the last frost…don’t plant them before the last frost. If it says to plant them four feet apart, plant them four feet apart. You don’t want squash vines working their way into your green beans. Trust me (the dummeee), I should know.
  • If you can get your hands of them, heirloom seeds are best. They may not produce as well as hybrid (because hybrids have been genetically modified to produce like crazy), but they are better seeds. I usually have a mix of both in my garden. I’m hoping to work my way toward more heirlooms through the years.
  • Don’t plant potatoes beside tomatoes. They are both night shade vegetables (except a tomato is a fruit, but whatever) and for some reason they don’t do well together. As far as I know with the searching I’ve done, there are not others you need to be so careful about.
  • You can try starting seeds in the house (for tomatoes, broccoli, etc.), but if you don’t have a good source of light for them they usually get long and spindly very quickly (and non-transplantable). Starting seeds has never worked very well for me so I buy what I can from my 10 year old friend, Hannah, who has started a little “seed starts” business. Her mom has a good set up for her in their house, so Hannah’s already got tomatoes, cabbage, broccoli and other starts going. Yay Hannah…and yay me!
  • If you have enough garden space, it’s best to rotate your crops each year since each plant takes something different out of the soil.

This year we’re planting potatoes, peas, spinach, lettuce, broccoli, green beans, corn, spaghetti squash, tomatoes, bell peppers, chili peppers…and maybe another fun thing here or there. Here’s a (lovely) drawing of our garden plans for the year.

I’ll plan to show you all of our seeds and plants as they go into the soil. I’d love to hear any questions you might have that you’d like me to address in this series. Plus share with us here any great gardening tips you know of to get us started on the right foot!

 

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

Gratituesday: Our Science Museum

by 19 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

gratituesdayspring5.jpg

Have I ever told you about our science museum? (Yeah, okay it’s not OUR science museum…we just like to visit there.)  It’s only about 25 minutes away from us and it is an incredible hands-on museum filled with all kinds of scientific wonders. We bought a family membership so we can go visit whenever we are able to.

Once a month, the museum hosts a “homeschool day” inviting families to come participate in the planned lesson for the day. Our kids have learned about building bridges and heating a home efficiently and everything you could ever want to know about reptiles (and then some!). 

Before and after the program…the boys love to hang out in the great big room full on science exploration! 

sciencemuseum6sm.JPG
Here’a nice view of several of the tables filled with educational fun. 
Asa’s trying to re-create one of the shapes on the table with his tangrams.

sciencemuseum7sm.JPG
Here’s Elias doing…something cool…sorry I’m not as familiar with this activity. I think it has something to do with the speed of light? (Am I smarter than a first grader? Apparently not.)

sciencemuseum5sm.JPG
Have you EVER seen an Operation game as big as ths one? 
That poor patient has HUGE butterflies in his stomach. 
It’s okay though…Dr. Justus is taking care of it.

I’m so grateful that we have such a neat facility so close to us and that our boys love exploring there. I love all the great things they’ve learned and that the hard working folks there are so “homeschooler” friendly. We can’t wait to go back next month!

—————————————————–
What are you grateful for this Gratituesday? Read the details here, write about how God is working in your life and link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, please leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

[blenza_autolink code]

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

High Five Recipe: Popcorn Chicken

by 70 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Popcorn Chicken – One of our most popular High Five Recipes!

High Five Recipes 2

Here’s what I always wondered as a little girl:

Why DID the chicken cross the road?  And how did he manage not to get hit en route? And if he just wanted to get to the other side, WHAT exactly was on the other side that he was so excited to get to? And why wasn’t he just at home where he was supposed to be? Where was his owner?  

Silly little chicken.

popcornchickensm.jpg

Yes, I will be happy to continue to give you these little morsels of deep thoughts to ponder while you do your dishes.

Here’s the promised recipe for Popcorn Chicken. I don’t suppose the chicken ever suspected he’d be turned into delicious edible items such as this…

Popcorn ChickenYum

5.0 from 1 reviews
High Five Recipe: Popcorn Chicken
 
Save Print
Author:
Ingredients
  • 3 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • ¾ cup whole wheat flour
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • butter
Instructions
  1. In a medium sized bowl, stir together flour, salt and garlic powder.
  2. Using kitchen shears, cut chicken breasts into tiny bite sized pieces.
  3. Toss chicken in flour mixture to coat well.
  4. Smear a thick layer of butter on the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.
  5. Pour coated chicken into dish, spreading so that they are in a single layer.
  6. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes. Stir chicken and bake another 10 minutes.

5 Simple Ingredients - Popcorn Chicken

This recipe really is as simple as it sounds. Make the chicken pieces as big or small as you like. Want more High Five Recipes like this one? You’ll find all of our real food, 5 ingredient recipes here!

You might be interested to know that when Matt and I visited west Africa in ’95, there were all kinds of animals crossing roads at all times of the day…and some of them were chickens. Indeed, it did look as if all they wanted to do was get to the other side. How ’bout that?

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

Menu Plan for the Week

by 15 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

With the hint of spring in the air…I’m having a very hard time wanting to make soup anymore. (In fact, I’m so excited about gardening and the idea of fresh veggies and trying new things, that last night for dinner I made parsnips AND beets for the same meal. Both of these were new to the kids. It’s a good thing Daddy grilled steak.  The beets were good…but I’ve gotta figure out something else to do with the parsnips.) 

I’m a little bit out of control. I need a little sunshine in my life. I am SO hungry for “summertime” foods like tortilla wraps and salads and cookouts. The next couple of days are supposed to be pretty decent. BUT, later in the week, we may even get snow.  I may need to trade in one of these meals for a big pot of potato soup. I LOVE potato soup. I just don’t want it anymore. I WANT SUNSHINE!!! (Be glad you can’t see me kicking my feet and swinging my arms in the air while I scream that.) 

Here’s my “I Wish It Was Springtime EVERYDAY” menu…

Sunday, March 22
Leftover breakfast cake, fruit
Lamb roast, carrots, potatoes, gravy
Tuna tortillas, “angeled” eggs, fruit salad

Monday, March 23
Whole wheat waffles
Grilled cheese sandwiches, guacamole dip with chips, carrot sticks
Easy chicken alfredo, tossed salad

Tuesday, March 24
Fried eggs on toast, oranges
Popcorn chicken, creamy cole slaw, fruit kabobs
Cheesy beef and rice, green beans

Wednesday, March 25
Apricot breakfast bars, pears
Creamy mac and cheese, steamed carrots
BBQ chicken, ranch potato wedges, peas

Thursday, March 26
Scrambled eggs, turkey sausage
Garlic butter shrimp, stir fried rice and veggies
Meatballs, baked potatoes, steamed broccoli and carrots

Friday, March 27
Applesauce bread, bananas
Pizza casserole, tossed salad
Bean and rice bowls, fresh pineapple

Saturday, March 28
Breakfast burritoes, clementines
Chicken and cheese quesadillas, carrot sticks, strawberry-peach slushies
Fish and chips, tossed salad

On the blogging menu this week:

And now…since I can’t have all the sunshine I want to have this week…I’m going to go pray for a contented heart. Rejoice in ALL circumstances. I can do that. I can DO that. I CAN….

Thanks for putting up with me. :)
———————————————

Join Organizing Junkie for more menu planning ideas.

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

The little Green Project: Shorten Up the Showers

by 18 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

littlegreenproject1.jpg

We do our best to conserve water around here. Partly because we know it’s the right thing to do for the earth…and partly because it saves money on our water bill.

We’ve taught the boys to turn off the water while they’re brushing their teeth. We always have a full load of dishes in the dishwasher when we run it (crammed full…I might add). When I wash pots and pans by hand, I only put a little water with soap in the sink…really it doesn’t take very much. 

However…showers around here have been a problem.

Three out of four boys can take a shower on their own now. (hoo-rah!)  We usually say something like, “Okay guys go get your showers real quick!” 

Do you know what telling our boys to so something “real quick” looks like? It looks like…it’s kinda like…well…it’s slow.

There are distractions and fun things and “I can’t find any clean socks in my drawer” all along the way to take a shower. Then, once one of them is in the soothing warm water…all thoughts of doing anything “real quick” that were remaining go…down the drain.

It can take them sometimes three or four times as long as it takes me and it is my personal opinion that the mama’s shower should be the one that logistically takes the longest.

Is it just my boys? Do little girls do this too?

We finally made the “taking of the shower” routine into a race against the clock.  ANYTHING that is timed or “competitive” usually works for our kids. 

They now set a watch timer right before they hop into the shower and then see if they have “broken their shortest shower record” as soon as they hop out. 

This little plan is working so well for us…and I’m pretty sure the boys are still getting clean. 

Have you found any tricks to help your family learn to save water?  My boys We would all love to hear about it. 
———————————————

How about another little Green Project you have up your sleeve? Blog about anything you have going on or want to try that has to do with saving green, going green, making extra green, eating extra greens…anything at all that has anything at all to do with the color green! Link up here with us so that we can read about your little Green Project!

[blenza_autolink code]

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