Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting
Here it is!
I think this is the sweetest picture of Austin
showing his quilt to his mommy and daddy.
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!I have decided that these are my favorite Christmas cookies. And this recipe makes a lot of them…which is why it’s a good idea to have lots of people in mind to share them with!! Because having them just sitting around the house screaming at me to come eat them is a bad idea.
I’d like to give in to the notion that since they have orange juice in them, they’re good for me and just packed with vitamin C. Oh, if only.
Orange Cream Cheese Cut-Outs
1 cup melted butter
1 8 oz. pkgs cream cheese, softened
2 cups sugar (I used organic unbleached sugar crystals)
2 eggs
1 t. baking powder
1 t. vanilla
1 t. finely shredded orange peel
3 T. orange juice
4 cups whole wheat flour (I used freshly ground soft white wheat)
Cream butter, cream cheese and sugar. Add eggs, baking powder, vanilla, orange peel and orange juice. Stir in flour one cup at a time until mixed well. Chill dough for about 2 hours.
Roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness, cut with cookie cutters and bake on a cookie sheet for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees. Allow cookies to cool completely before frosting.
Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 t. vanilla
2 T. orange juice
2 1/4 – 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Cream together cream cheese, butter, vanilla and orange juice with beaters. Gradually add powdered sugar.
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If you’re wondering if this recipe is worth going to all the trouble of actually shredding orange peel (a step that takes a total of about 20 seconds), it is. If you’re wondering if I’m serious about making them, and then giving them away as quickly as you can so that you won’t eat too many of them, I am. And if you’re wondering if there will still be other fun Christmas recipes soon, there will.
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!
Well, I’m feeling a little better but oh my goodness I’m low on energy. Who knew typing (and thinking) took so much strength. Sorry in advance for typoos and mistakz.
I’m thankful for our time in Kansas, where I was able to rest and rest and sleep and rest. A couple of times I even felt like getting up to play some games. Saturday I was so very thankful to feel well enough to have an awesome visit with Marie and her family. It’s so incredible to meet cyber friends in person!
When we arrived home Saturday night, my fever came back and I haven’t been out of bed much since. I’m so thankful that Matt and the boys are taking such good care of me. I’m thankful that my fever is now gone and I’m beginning to crawl out of my place of sickness. I’m thankful for DVDs and PBS (which the boys are getting an overload of right now). I’m thankful for soup. I’m thankful for pillows and quilts. I’m thankful for Karen Kingsbury books. (And if I wasn’t sick, I suppose I would be thankful for the opportunity to actually lay around and read.) ;)
I’m thankful to finally be feeling a little better so that I can do a few things. I’m thankful that I am not going to overdo it. (Yes, that was a hint to myself and also a reassurance to all of you that I’m not going to overdo it and get sicker.) (In the next few days while you read any upcoming posts that involve cookie baking or any other activitiy that requires remaining upright for longer than five minutes…just know I’m not overdoing it…I already started working on those posts and taking pictures last week.) (Which is probably when I overdid it but we won’t go there.)
I’m also thankful that my boys are going to clean up the mess they made in the living room while I spent so much time in bed. (Yes, that was a hint to my boys to come in here and clean up the boxes and markers that are ALL over the place. And why is my gallon bucket of coconut oil on the steps?) :)
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Please share what you’re grateful for this Gratituesday! It continues to be so encouraging to read about how God is working in your lives.
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**UPDATE** Looks like Mr. Linky may be under the weather too. I heard something was going around, I just never knew it would reach him too. SO…leave your Gratituesday link in the comments if he’s not cooperating. Thanks!
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Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!Fever. Aching. Coughing. Headache. Tired.
Starting to feel better.
Going back to bed now.
Getting up in time for Gratituesday.
;)
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!Here’s the Turkey-n-Biscuit recipe I promised you! If this doesn’t sound good…there are 19 other turkey ideas here. And if none of those sound good…you seriously need to put the rest of your turkey in the freezer and go make yourself a hamburger. With onion rings.
But, if you can handle another meal of turkey, I think you’ll really like this dish:
Turkey -n- Biscuits
2 cups cooked turkey
3 cups turkey broth
4 medium potatoes, diced
3 carrots, diced
2 cups frozen peas
2 T. arrowroot powder
1/3 cup water
sea salt
Stir together the arrowroot powder and water in a glass or a jar until arrowroot powder is dissolved. In a large pot, bring the broth to a boil. Stir arrowroot powder and water mixture into the broth. Continue to stir until broth thickens. Add turkey, potatoes, carrots and peas. Salt liberally. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down and cook vegetables until they are tender. Pour into a casserole dish. Top with whole wheat sourdough biscuits rolled very thin. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 –30 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown.
So have you all been eating bunches of turkey lately, or are you on to other meats? Why is pork called the “other white meat”? Sorry, that was random.
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!As you all know, I love tweaking recipes and working to create a healthier version of recipes I find. Thanksgiving and Christmas time give me plenty of excuses to exercise this crazy hobby of mine. Nobody around me seems to mind. :) (Hehe, funny that I used the word exercise…talking about baking cookies! Hey, exercise comes in many forms.)
My favorite part of holiday baking: I LOVE THE WAY CHRISTMAS BAKING MAKES THE HOUSE SMELL!!!
I’m planning on baking up quite a few treats in the next few weeks to share with neighbors and friends…so be looking for several new recipes coming up here!!!
The first recipe I’ll share is one that smells just like Christmas!! MMMmmm!!
These cookies are soooo yummy with a cup of hot cocoa!!! (If you haven’t tried this hot cocoa recipe, you really, really should!)
Upcoming cookie recipe: Orange Cream Cheese Cut-Outs!! Possibly my favorite!
P.S. Don’t fall out of your chair, but some of the recipes I’ll share might contain some compromising ingredients like powdered sugar and (gasp!) sprinkles. What’s Christmas without an occasional red and green sprinkle??
So, what are your favorite kinds of Christmas cookies??!!
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!
With Thanksgiving right around the corner…being grateful is in the forefront of our minds.
Hopefully.
Sort of.
I mean, it should be.
But there are so many things to do to get ready for Thanksgiving.
I’m focused right now on getting food ready for the big day. And making sure laundry is done so that we can pack to go to my Dad’s for a few days. And getting gifts ready to take to Kansas since we won’t be there at Christmas time.
How grateful I am that today is Gratituesday so that I can take a few moments to be still and focus on being thankful. In honor of Thanksgiving…here is my top 10 list of things I’m thankful for:
10. You. My blog would be very lonely and not at all fun without you. You enrich my life. Thank you.
9. Provisions. We always have everything we need. And then some.
8. My home. It’s not just my house, it’s my home.
7. Challenges. Yes…because they make me rely on God more fully.
6. My Christian family. We need each other.
5. My friends who sharpen me, hold me accountable, teach me, laugh with me…and just make me better because of who they are.
4. My extended family. How great it is to have so many people in my life who love me and take care of me.
3. My four sweet boys. They are my joy.
2. My husband. Who would I be without Matt? I don’t want to know.
1. Jesus…the reason I can be thankful. The reason for life.
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I hope you’ll take some time to just be still…and focus on the things you are thankful for. What a wonderful week Thanksgiving time is!! Please share on your blog what you are thankful for, then come link up with us here so that we can all read about what God is doing in your life. If you don’t have a blog, please leave a comment telling us what you’re grateful for this Gratituesday!
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Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!Let’s talk turkey.
Raise your hand if you like having all those turkey leftovers after Thanksgiving. Mmmhmm, that’s what I thought. Not all of you are raising your hands. C’mon now, turkey leftovers are a great thing. Really. Here, I’ll prove it:
20 Things to Make With Leftover Turkey:
Substitute turkey for chicken in any of your favorite chicken recipes. (*Psst, for those of you who have What to Do With the Chicken in Your Kitchen, you’ll find many of the above recipes in there…just pretend it’s called What to Do with ALL THAT TURKEY in Your Kitchen.)
After a few days of turkey leftovers….divide your leftover turkey into freezer baggies (about 2 cups each) and freeze them to pull out later when you can stand to look at turkey again. You’ll be so glad to have the ready-to-go meat later! Then, come back and look at this list again!
What are your favorite things to make with Turkey Leftovers?
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Visit Tammy’s Recipes for more kitchen tips.
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!We had a very productive weekend, cleaning our house and putting up our Christmas tree!! Yes, I know it’s a little early to put up the tree, but I kinda feel like if we’re going to go to this kind of trouble to put something up, I’d like us to be able to enjoy it for a while. Thus, the tree.
After reading this post, Donna asked if I was planning to make a menu planner for these special holidays ahead. I couldn’t let her down!! I made a Turkey Menu Planner, just for Donna. I like it call it…”Just for Donna”. (Oh, if you aren’t Donna, and you’d like to use it too, please do help yourself!! It’s not really just for Donna…it’s just called that because she requested it and I think Donna is awesome. If you want me to name a menu planner after you, it can be arranged.) :)
Download Just For Donna Menu Planner
Here’s our short menu for the week:
Sunday, Nov. 23
Oatmeal, apples
Company coming over: Homemade chicken and noodles, mashed potatoes, steamed carrots, homemade bread with butter, cookie platter
Leftovers
Monday, Nov. 24
Whole wheat pancakes, milk
Alphabet soup, homemade pretzels
Homemade chicken nuggets and french fries, carrot sticks
Tuesday, Nov. 25
Sweet Potato Streusel Muffins, milk
Alphabet casserole, green beans
Chicken alfredo, steamed broccoli
Wednesday, Nov. 26
Orange muffins, bananas
BBQ chicken, potato pancakes, peas
Sandwiches on the road to KS, homemade graham crackers and fruit leather for snacking
Thursday – Saturday
Thanksgiving time with our Kansas family.
I’m taking: Homemade rolls
Monkey Bread
My dad’s favorite lemon pound cake
This week on the blogging menu:
I’ll share 20 things to do with leftover Thanksgiving turkey…plus I’m starting a series called “It’s Beginning to Smell a Lot Like Christmas…Cookies”. (Can you guess what that’s going to be about?) And, I can’t think of a better week to join Gratituesday, can you?! :)
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Find more menu planning ideas at Organizing Junkie.
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!Here are a few random things I thought you might need to know to help get you through the weekend :) …
Not that you can tell…but there are two long lumps in sleeping bags
on the matresses, a medium sized lump on the top bunk,
and a little lump on the bottom bunk.
Four boys, one room.
I’m going to go look for Justus’ glasses. I’ll try to post it on Twitter if/when we ever find them!!
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!
