Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting
Cornbread Muffins
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 Tablespoon honey
¼ cup melted butter
1 cup buttermilk
Stir together dry ingredients. Add eggs, honey, butter and buttermilk. Stir until just mixed. Spoon batter into 12 muffin baking cups. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
For Cornbread, spread batter into a buttered 9×9 inch baking pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!Don’t like sweet potatoes? Then might I suggest you try these Sweet Potato Streusel Muffins?
Sweet Potato Streusel Muffins
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup raisins (optional)
1 egg
1 cup mashed sweet potato*
1/2 cup milk
3 Tablespoons melted butter
Topping:
3 Tablespoons sucanat (dehydrated cane sugar juice) or brown sugar
1 Tablespoon butter, softened
2 Tablespoons chopped nuts (optional)
Combine flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg in a bowl. Add honey, raisins, eggs, sweet potato, milk and butter. Stir until just mixed. Scoop into 15 paper lined muffin cups.
In a small bowl, combine topping ingredients. Sprinkle evenly over each muffin. Bake at 400° for 15-20 minutes.
*To make mashed sweet potatoes:
Scrub two medium sweet potatoes. Stab them each with a knife, then place them in a glass baking dish. Cover and bake for 1 hour or until the potato is very tender. Allow potatoes to cool a few minutes, then carefully peel them. Mash the potatoes with a fork or potato masher.
You’ve gotta love a recipe that makes your house smell like everything your house is supposed to smell like in the fall! And, a recipe that helps you get sweet potatoes into your kids. And, a recipe that makes something simple that tastes so good!!
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!
Maybe this isn’t all that exciting to you…but I don’t get out much…so I was pretty thrilled with a little shopping trip I had the other day.
The boys and I went to a little department store in town (Pamida…ever heard of it?) where they were doubling coupons up to a $1 and offering half off all of their clearance! I used to be a coupon queen…but not so much anymore since I’ve changed the way we eat. However, with double coupons up to a whole dollar…I thought surely I could at least get a good deal on kleenex!!
An hour and a half and one cart full later…here’s what we got for a whopping $32:
For $32!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so much fun to come away with so many things we needed for such a low cost.
I’m so grateful that we had such a fun time shopping and that we found so many great deals. AND, I’m really grateful for the four male shoppers who hung with me for such a long time while we found those deals. Boy were they troopers! (And boy, did they ever eat a lot of lunch as soon as we got home!)
——————————————————-
Share what you’re grateful for! Write about it on your blog and come link up here so that we can all come read about how God is working in your life! Read Gratituesday details here.
[blenza_autolink code]
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!I receive lots and lots of emails asking about my whole wheat flour. What kind do I use? Where do I get it? Is it course? Do my recipes turn out heavy from using 100% whole wheat? Do I grind my own grain? What kind of grain do I use?
I decided to tell you about my whole wheat flour preferences. (Some people have a favorite flower…I have my favorite flour. I’d say my husband has it made.)
My favorite flour is freshly ground from organic white wheat berries. I saved up and bought a “Nutrimill” about three years ago. Definitely one of my favorite kitchen tools. If you’re planning to “go whole wheat” I highly recommend investing in a grain mill so that you can grind your own flour. You will never find whole wheat flour as good as the kind that you grind yourself. IT IS SO GOOD. It is also healthier because it is fresher.
I prefer hard white wheat berries over red wheat berries. There is no nutritional difference…I just find that the white wheat berries make a nicer flour and create nicer, lighter loaves of bread and such. My Nutrimill grinds the flour nice and fine so my flour isn’t course or rough, like some might picture whole wheat flour.
I order my wheat berries from Azure Standard…usually 25 pounds a month. We don’t always go through that many pounds each month…but sometimes we do depending on how much baking I do. (25 pounds may sound like a lot of wheat…but we are a family of six big eaters…and I make everything from scratch. We can easily go through more than one loaf of bread at a time. No wonder I always have flour in my hair.)
If you don’t have a grain mill…I recommend trying to find whole wheat flour made from white wheat berries. I’ve been happy to see the Montana brand of whole wheat flour at my Walmart ground from white wheat. Montana brand is also “chemical free”.
You need to store your flour in the fridge or freezer, especially your freshly ground flour. It has a tendency to go rancid quickly if you don’t.
Occasionally I use soft white wheat berries, instead of hard white wheat berries. (You know, occasionally, like when I accidentally order soft white instead of hard white?) I prefer hard white berries…but you can grind the soft white berries for making pancakes, waffles and muffins. For making bread, you need to use hard wheat berries.
What else?
Well, this doesn’t have to do with whole wheat flour…but I also use my Nutrimill to grind corn into cornmeal. Makes the best cornbread ever. And I’ve used it occasionally to grind rice when I want to experiment with rice flour just for fun.
What kind of flour do you prefer? Do you have a grain mill? What kind do you recommend? Do you also often have flour in your hair, or is it just me? I personally think it is a lovely accessory.
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!We have house guests staying with us this week…some friends of ours from Colorado are visiting!
Can you believe it? I actually have a little girl in my house for seven days!!! There are purses and little hair bow thingies all over the place. How fun! (Of course, I’m having to keep my boys from shooting little hair thingies at each other now, but whatever.)
Here’s what’s on the menu:
Sunday, Oct 26
Oatmeal, toast, fruit
Potluck – I took sweet potato muffins, apple pie and hearty bean casserole
Cream cheese salsa dip with chips, grapes
Monday, Oct 27
Whole wheat pancakes
Potato soup, whole wheat pretzels, carrot sticks
Chicken fajitas, pineapple
Tuesday, Oct. 28
Scrambled eggs, orange slices
Grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup
Roast, carrots, potatoes, gravy
Wednesday, Oct. 29
Orange muffins, fruit and kefir smoothies
Hamburgers on homemade buns, homemade potato chips
Chicken alfredo, tossed salad, steamed veggies
Thursday, Oct. 30
Apricot Breakfast Bars, bananas
Turkey and cheese tortilla roll-ups, cantaloupe
Lasagna, tossed salad, corn
Friday, Oct. 31
Omelets, pears
Homemade pizza, apples
Fall Party – take baked beans and fudge brownies
Saturday, Nov. 1 – My Website-Aversary Celebration begins!!!
Whole wheat donuts
Homemade pizza rolls, peaches
Beans and rice with salsa
This week on the blogging menu:
I’ll tell you everything you ever (or never) wanted to know about my whole wheat flour. And I’ll share a new recipe I found for Sweet Potato Streusel Muffins!
And DON’T forget that my Website-Aversary is coming up at the end of the week!! (Yes, how could you forget with me talking about it all the time? I’m just excited, okay?) You won’t want to miss all of the sales, freebies and giveaways!! And don’t forget the Free Pie Ebook which will make it’s debut in just a few days!!!!
————————————————
Visit 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!Here’s my first attempt at recording video with my new camera a few weeks ago. I thought you might enjoy watching the boys painting pumpkins (while I get up enough nerve to record myself doing something heavenly homemake-y on film for you). At least I know that the Grandma and aunts and cousins who read my blog will enjoy watching the boys!
A few disclaimers:
1. I didn’t know what I was doing when I took this. It was an experiment. You’ll notice that.
2. I haven’t learned how to edit yet. You’ll notice that.
3. You can hear my voice way better than the boys’ voices. I annoyed myself while I was watching it.
4. I talk way too much during the clip. I annoyed myself while I was watching it.
5. For some reason I decided to video a couple of the trees in our front yard while the boys were painting. If while you’re watching you see the video go from boys to trees…and you think, “wow, that was random”…you’ll be right.
6. The boys are wearing Matt’s old t-shirts for their paint shirts and they fit like dresses. You’ll notice that.
7. The reason I didn’t want to get Justus a paper plate was because I didn’t know how to stop the recording (watch video for this to make sense).
Boys Painting Pumpkins from Laura Coppinger on Vimeo.
Wow…the leaves on the trees were all still green just a few weeks ago. Now they’re all turning colors and falling off! Amazing!
Well, that was fun. Now what should I record?
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!I KNOW there really are real issues going on and I’m not making light of those by any means.
But.
All I’ve been hearing lately from all over the place is about how bad the economy is. And everything negative is blamed on the bad economy. And people can’t afford things because of the bad economy.
And we all shake our heads with a grim look on our faces.
Even at the auction last Saturday…people were talking about how the crowd was sparce…and where was everyone and how come not very many people came to the auction?
“I guess it’s the bad economy.”
Seriously…people said that. At an auction. Where you can get a whole box of un-used lighbulbs for two dollars. Or a whole set of dishes for a buck.
Puh-lease. I’m pretty sure the bad economy isn’t to blame for people not coming to an auction where they could get an amazing price on a box of junk someone’s old dusty belongings.
I decided to lovingly point out to the crowd of grim faced head shakers that perhaps since there was a home Husker football game…everyone maybe went to that instead? (Because seriously, when there’s a home Husker game in Nebraska….everyone wears red and flocks to Lincoln for the game.) (And the bad economy hasn’t kept people from doing it.)
Anyway. Maybe…could we not blame the bad economy each time we get a hang nail? Or stub our toe? Or burn the toast?
And maybe could we not listen so much to what the media is trying to do to throw us all into a panic?
And instead…can we keep our trust in the One we know will take care of us no matter what?
Because no matter what is going on with our economy…we are so very rich.
Have you seen all the stuff you have? And the place you have to put all your stuff? And all the food you have to eat?
We are rich. We are just fine. We will always have everything we need.
God told us that we would. (Matt. 6:25-34)
And I believe Him.
Way more than I believe what the grim faced head shakers tell me at an auction.
God is faithful. While everything around us may change, God will remain the same. Always.
God is good.
He is the I AM.
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!When I’m knee deep in tomatoes and making jar after jar (after jar) of tomato sauce and tomato juice and salsa and tomato soup…I get to a point where I don’t really want to even look at another tomato for a long, long time.
Then, as the tomato growing season comes to an end…I begin to feel a little sad that we won’t be able to eat a good fresh tomato for several more months. It is now that time of year. We just pulled our last red tomatoes out of the garden. :(
But…we’re not quite willing to give those good tomatoes up yet. Matt heard about a way to possibly make them last a little longer.
He pulled out the healthiest of our plants…the ones that had quite a few nice green tomatoes on them….and he hung them upside down in our storage room. Apparently, the nutrients in the plant are supposed to go down into the tomatoes and keep them strong and they’ll eventually turn red and be delicious. Maybe?
Hey, it’s worth a try. Now my storage room smells like dirt in a garden. Now that’s not something everyone can brag about.
Another thing we’re gonna try…
Our friend Brenda has an uncle (who has a cousin who has a neighbor who has a dentist who has a florist…)
Just kidding. Our friend Brenda has an uncle who wraps his green tomatoes up in newspaper and they eventually turn red and are very tasty. She told us that her uncle has yummy tomatoes even up until Christmas time! (To which Matt asked, “And do they also still have fruit flies at Christmas time?”) (We’re a little tired of fruit flies around here can you tell?)
Fruit flies or not, we’re going to lovingly wrap up some green tomatoes in newspaper. Because what do we have to lose?
I’ll be sure to let you know how our little tomato experiments go!
Have any of you tried any of these things (or anything else) to make your tomatoes last a little longer? Do you think we might be crazy for trying this?
—————————————————-
Visit Rocks in my Dryer for more Works for me Wednesday tips!
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!
I don’t think I’ve mentioned it here before…but sometimes we take our concession trailer to auctions and other special events to sell lunch items and drinks. We just started doing this during the late summer and have SO enjoyed it. (This is one of the things we’re experimenting with while we pray and decide on a financial future for our family…)
One of the things we enjoy most about it is that our whole family can participate and be a part of the business. It has been a lot of work to get the food prepared each time and the trailer ready, etc…but we have had SO MUCH FUN!!! We’ve discovered that we make a pretty good team, our family.
Last Wednesday we got a call from the auctioneer right here in town, apologizing for the late notice, but asking if we could cater an auction Saturday. As in four days. Gulp. We decided to say yes, because we REALLY want to be a part of the local auction circuit, and hated to miss the opportunity if we could possibly help it.
The only problem was…Matt had an out of town soccer game that day. :) It wasn’t supposed to be a huge auction, plus it was right here in town…so we both felt like the big boys and I could handle it. (We decided for the sake of ease and sanity to leave the two younger boys with friends this time!)
We worked together to get everything prepared and Matt drove the trailer to the auction site the night before and got it all set up. (No WAY am I able to hitch that thing up and drive it anywhere or back it into wherever it needs to go. I cook, he drives. It’s a nice arrangement.) (Oh, and sometimes I stand outside close to the trailer while he’s backing it into the spot we need to park it and yell things like, “Go LEFT! No, stop. Go a little to the right! Wait. Just go straight back.” I’m really helpful.)
The catering went very well…and Asa, Justus and I made a great team. Asa took orders and took care of the money…Justus got out the pop and chips for the orders (Yes, we just sell mostly junk food at these events…it’s about the only way to do it. I don’t think people are expecting pot roast.)…and I served up the hot food. It worked out just fine. I LOVED the day with my big boys. It’s so exciting to work as a family. (And can I just say here that my big boys are the coolest big boys around? You should have seen them with the customers.)
I’m so grateful for this fun family business and for the joy it brings to all of us while we work together. (Someday, maybe we’ll actually make money at it too.)
Also, I’m so super grateful for our friend, Miss Nancy, who kept Malachi for me on Saturday. (Elias went to spend time at a buddy’s house that day…a place where nerf gun wars would take place for hours on end.)
Miss Nancy and Malachi have been special friends since the day he was born. Nancy has a grandson the very same age as Malachi…only her grandson lives in Egypt. Since Malachi doesn’t have a grandma in town…and Nancy doesn’t have a grandson in town…the two of them get to love on each other instead. Malachi loves his Miss Nancy and went to spend the day with her while I was at the auction. I’m so grateful to have a special woman here in town who is so willing to help me and give love to my children. Knowing he was in good hands was a huge relief to me on Saturday.
Oh, but remind me not to tell Malachi of any “Miss Nancy plans” until the morning he’s to go be with her. All I heard for four days was, “Now do I get to go play with Mith Nanthy?”
————————————————-
What are you grateful for this Gratituesday? Read the details here, then come link up with us! We’d love to read about the ways God is working in your life!
[blenza_autolink code]
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!Last month, I decided to order this vegetable alphabet pasta from Azure Standard. It was on sale and looked like something fun for lunch. I decided to do a product review of it for you!
Not only is this pasta fun…it is also healthy and yummy! (Hear the enthusiasm. See the raised eyebrows and cheesy grin.) They are not expensive (when you’re talking about organic vegetable pasta that is)…and they were VERY easy to make. We got TWO meals out of this little box of Vegetable Alphabets. I NEVER get two meals out of one box of pasta.
Here’s how we enjoyed this Vegetable Alphabet Pasta:
Alphabet Soup
1 pound beef soup bones
1 small onion
3 carrots
10 cups water
sea salt
1 box vegetable alphabet pasta
Boil beef soup bones, onions and carrots and water all morning (at least three hours) in a pot to make broth. Remove bones from broth. Pour in the pasta and sprinkled in quite a bit of sea salt. Boil the pasta in the broth for about 10 minutes, then lunch is served!
The kids loved it! Here’s one meal I actually allowed them to play with their food. If you look real close at the picture below, you’ll see that Asa stuck his name on the edge of the bowl.
The best part of this meal? I decided to surprise the kids with my homemade pretzels made into letters too!! It was one word filled lunch!
You’ve gotta love a personalized pretzel.
Elias was trying out my camera while I made the pretzels. So here we have the Headless Homemaker…
We filled up on the Alphabet Soup at lunch…then I used the leftovers to make this Alphabet Casserole:
Alphabet Casserole
3 cups alphabet pasta cooked in beef broth (most of the broth should be absorbed in the pasta)
1 pound ground beef, browned with onion
1 cup sour cream
sea salt to taste
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Stir together the pasta, meat and sour cream. Salt generously. Spread into a casserole dish. Sprinkle cheese on top. Bake uncovered in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or until bubbly.
Both the soup and the casserole were very yummy! (Um, if I do say so myself.)
And, I’m not totally sure about this…but I think we were all just a little smarter after we ate these meals. At least our vocabulary was enhanced.
Really. (Absolutely.) (Without a Doubt.) (Enormously.)
;)
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!