Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Easy 5-Minute Frozen Yogurt Cups

by 6 Comments

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

I think I just discovered my new favorite snack. Look at these adorable Frozen Yogurt Cups!

Frozen Yogurt Cups

How is it that just when I think there can’t possibly be any more great new food ideas, I come across another wonderful new way to make something delicious and fun? I love how many wonderful ways we can enjoy real food.

I am one of the biggest food geeks. Nobody loves food as much as I. Except for maybe you, which is why you and I have so much fun together here. Isn’t food so very much fun!?!?!!!!!!

frozen yogurt2

At the very least, we all love to eat. It’s just that some of us like to also gawk at our groceries, get a thrill out of creating fun menus, and dream daily of new recipe ideas. Occasionally we might tear up when we look at the full shelves in our beautiful pantry. Some of us.

All this excitement over little frozen yogurt cups. Hey. You have no idea. I saw this idea and loved it, but I didn’t know that I would love it, love it. But the easiness of this idea! The endless options of what can be done to create variations that every family member will like! The deliciousness.

frozen yogurt4

Because making Frozen Yogurt Cups is so very easy, this would be a great “recipe” to hand over to your kids to make. Everyone can create these with their favorite goodies (granola, berries, nuts, peanut butter, chocolate chips…).

You can buy pre-made, flavored yogurt if you like, but since many store-bought options are so loaded with sugar and other not-so-great ingredients, I much prefer to buy or make Whole Milk Plain Yogurt and add my own sweetener and vanilla. If you don’t make your own yogurt, plain store-bought yogurt works just fine for this “recipe.”

It’s easy to make yogurt: learn more here.

Easy 5-Minute Frozen Yogurt CupsYum

Easy 5-Minute Frozen Yogurt Cups
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 10-12
Ingredients
  • 1 cup whole milk plain yogurt
  • Sweetener of choice (I used 1-2 Tablespoons real maple syrup)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Toppings like fresh berries or peaches, granola, chocolate chips, etc.
Instructions
  1. Prepare muffin tins with liners (I used silicone liners which makes this very simple!)
  2. Stir together yogurt, sweetener, and vanilla until well combined.
  3. Scoop 2-3 Tablespoons of yogurt mixture into prepared muffin cups.
  4. Top with fruit if you like.
  5. Freeze for 1-2 hours until solid.
  6. Serve.
  7. Transfer leftovers to a freezer bag and pull out for snacking as needed.

Easy Frozen Yogurt Cups

To Fantastic Frozen Yogurt Cup Tips:

1) These worked wonderfully in my Silicone Baking Cups. They popped right out once frozen and clean up was so simple!

2) You can use your Frozen Yogurt Cups to make smoothies! I mean, frozen yogurt and berries? This is what smoothies are made of. Throw some Frozen Yogurt Cups into a blender with a little milk and you’re set!

Raise your hand (and leave a comment) if you’re a food geek like me. Raise your hand (and leave a comment) if you aren’t a food geek, but appreciate that other are so that you can enjoy eating yummy food. See, everyone wins. :)

 

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

How to Make Homemade Chicken Patties for Sandwiches (Freezable!)

by 14 Comments

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

You want to know one of my favorite convenience foods I miss the most since switching to real food? Processed chicken patties for chicken sandwiches. (Bet you never would have guessed that, since that’s what this post is about.)

chicken patties9

I grew up microwaving Schwan’s chicken patties and slapping them on white buns for a quick meal or snack after a sports practice. They were yummy and easy and while I couldn’t care less about many other processed convenience items (I gave up boxed pizza rolls several years ago and never looked back) – I do miss the taste and handiness of chicken patties.

So why it’s taken me this long to figure out a recipe that resembles the beloved frozen chicken patties, I do not know. But here I am, finally learning a way to make breaded chicken patties for sandwiches. The best news is that you can make these in bulk and freeze them for a fast, convenient, ready-made meal on a busy day.

Homemade Chicken Patties for SandwichesYum

How to Make Homemade Chicken Patties for Sandwiches (Freezable!)
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 15-20 patties
Ingredients
  • 3 pounds ground chicken
  • 4 teaspoons onion powder, divided
  • 3 teaspoons garlic powder, divided
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt, divided
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup milk
  • 3 cups whole grain flour (I used whole wheat, but if you need these to be gluten free, use your favorite flour choice)
  • Palm shortening or oil of choice
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl mix ground chicken, 2 teaspoons onion powder, 2 teaspoons garlic powder, and ½ teaspoon sea salt.
  2. Shape meat mixture into 15-20 patties (make them larger or smaller depending on your family's portion size needs)
  3. Beat eggs into a bowl.
  4. Pour milk into a separate bowl.
  5. In a third bowl, mix flour, 2 teaspoons onion powder, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, and ½ teaspoon sea salt.
  6. Heat palm shortening or oil on a griddle.
  7. Dip prepared meat patties in egg, then flour mixture, then milk, then flour mixture again.
  8. Place battered chicken patty into oil on the griddle.
  9. Repeat process with each chicken patty.
  10. Cook for 7-10 minutes on each side, mashing down lightly as needed.
  11. Serve right away, or cool and freeze for future use, then rewarm in a 350 degree oven until heated through.

Are you ready to see some ugly chicken patty pictures? This isn’t pretty, friends. Raw meat pressed into patties – well there’s a reason we call stuff like this “processed food.” But take great comfort in the fact that this is all made from real food and wholesome ingredients and ignore the fact that naked ground chicken pressed into a patty really just ain’t purty.

chicken patties2

See the patty breading process? First the egg.

chicken patties3

Then the flour.

chicken patties4

Then the milk.

chicken patties5

Then the flour again.

chicken patties6

Then comes the part where we fry the patties in oil.

chicken patties7

We watch in amazement as they turn into beautiful chicken patties we can’t wait to put on a bun or between two big leaves of lettuce.

chicken patties8
Sure, it’s thicker than the patties we grew up eating. We like it that way. That means there’s double the meat.

Homemade Chicken Patties for Sandwiches - Freezable

One of the biggest perks is that you can form your chicken patties into any size you need for your family. Have small children? Make small patties. Have teenage boys? Make the patties nice and big. Have some big eaters and small eaters? Make a variety.

The biggest win is that if you make a bunch, you’ll have yummy chicken patties ready to warm up for sandwiches on a day you don’t have time to cook!

Did you grow up eating and loving processed chicken sandwiches? 

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

Whole Wheat Applesauce Pancakes

by 4 Comments

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

Funny thing about this Whole Wheat Applesauce Pancakes recipe: It’s low in fat. Crazy, right? Laura never shares “low fat” recipes. (Though she does sometimes talk about herself in third person.)

Trust me, I did not do this on purpose. I didn’t substitute the butter for applesauce in order to cut down on fat consumption. I did it to create a yummy fall recipe. I did it because applesauce makes a recipe quite moist and flavorful. I did it because as it turns out, this recipe works better without any butter or coconut oil. Who knew?

applesauce pancakes

I tell you what, though. Make these pancakes, then slather them with real butter or natural peanut butter. Those are good, real fats our bodies recognizes and uses to nourish our brains and bodies. Go easy on the maple syrup though, because sugar is where many of our health problems lie. Poor fat. It gets all the blame for what sugar is doing to us. (Don’t get me started.)

Whole Wheat Applesauce PancakesYum

Whole Wheat Applesauce Pancakes
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 8-12
Ingredients
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour (I used freshly ground hard or soft whole wheat)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1½ cups unsweetened applesauce
  • 1 egg
  • Milk or water to reach preferred batter consistency
Instructions
  1. Whisk all ingredients together until smooth.
  2. Add milk or water to make a thinner or thicker batter - however you like it.
  3. Cook pancakes on a buttered griddle, flipping once they become bubbly.
  4. These take a bit longer to cook compared to regular pancakes, so turn the heat down so the outside doesn't burn while the inside cooks fully!

Whole Wheat Applesauce Pancakes

In order to make these Whole Wheat Applesauce Pancakes as wonderful as possible, you’ll want to learn to make Homemade Applesauce. My favorite way is to make applesauce using the very wonderful Victorio. Read more about that here.

victorio

applesauce_victorio

Other great apple recipes

Just in case you wanted to see what the amazing Apple Nachos look like:

apple nachos

Mmmmm, apple season!

P.S. These Applesauce Pancakes freeze well. :)

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

Granola Bar Cups – a Brilliant Way to Make Granola Bars To-Go!

by Leave a Comment

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

If all the brilliant people continue to share all their brilliant ideas, we will never run out of great ways to improve our lives in the kitchen and the ways we feed our family.

This time, we’re learning (from wonderful readers like you!) that we can follow my well-loved Chewy Granola Bars recipe, but instead of making them into bars as normal, we can press them into muffin cups. Need to pack them into a lunch box or be able to easily offer a single serving to cut down on the mess?

Try these Granola Bar Cups!

granola cups2

Yum

Recipes that work fantastically with this Granola Bar Cup idea are:

These are both no-bake recipes, which makes them very fast to put together.

The beauty of both of these recipes is that you can make them according to your family’s preferences and allergy needs. The Coconut Fudge Bars are much lower in sugar than other recipes, so I stick with that one now. If you need to use gluten free oats, you can. If you need to avoid peanuts, use another nut butter or sunbutter. The recipes are very forgiving, very quick to make, and very fun.

But even more fun is that you can press the mixture into muffin cups for easy transport and lunch box packing!

Granola Cups

Once they have chilled, you can slip one into a baggie and pack it to-go.

Easy Granola Bar Cups

If you’re thinking to yourself, “Wow, those look like high sugar No-Bake Cookies I love,” you’ll be happy to know that they taste a lot like the beloved cookie we’ve all grown up loving. The difference is that we can eat these made with healthier ingredients and way less sugar. How fantastic is this?!

Thanks to all who shared this fun Granola Bar Cup idea!

Free Download - Lunch Box Cards

Want something else fun to pack into a lunch box?

Check out these great ideas and recipes that are great for the lunch box!

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

Make Your Own Cracklin’ Oat Bran Cereal

by 16 Comments

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

When you think “homemade cereal” you might think tedious, time consuming, or labor intensive. Um, hi. Would I be sharing this recipe if it were any of those things? Ok then.

You mix up the ingredients, you dump it into a pan, you bake it, and you eat it. I’ve already taken it upon myself to double the recipe from what it originally was, because why make a little when we can make enough for two or three meals or snacks? You can make this with wheat flour or gluten free flour – whichever you need.

Huge thanks to my friends Katie and Kim for sharing this amazing recipe idea with me!!

Homemade Cracklin' Oat Bran
I have no idea what the actual boxed variety looks like or tastes like. Don’t know, don’t care. You know why? This homemade version of Cracklin’ Oat Bran is amazing. I’m quite sure making it homemade saves me a nice chunk of change and I know the homemade version is healthier.

Cracklin’ Oat Bran Cereal RecipeYum

Make Your Own Cracklin' Oat Bran Cereal
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 10-12 cups
Ingredients
  • 4½ cups rolled oats (ground in the blender to become flour*)
  • 1 cup whole grain flour (I used freshly ground wheat, but you can use rice, sorgham, or another gf option if you like.)
  • ½ cup arrowroot powder
  • 2 cups unsweetened finely shredded coconut
  • 3-5 teaspoons cinnamon (the cinnamon is what makes this really yummy!)
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • ½ cup sugar of choice (sucanat, coconut palm sugar, or brown sugar)
  • ¼ cup honey
  • ¼ cup maple syrup
  • ⅓ cup melted coconut oil
  • 4 egg whites, whisked to frothy**
Instructions
  1. Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
  2. Add all wet ingredients to the dry ingredients at the same time, mixing until combined. Mixture will resemble large crumbs.
  3. Crumble the mixture onto two baking sheets or Pyrex casserole dishes.
  4. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20-40 minutes, stirring and breaking up large chunks every 10 minutes. (Baking time varies as every oven is different.)
  5. Once cereal is golden brown, turn off oven but leave the cereal in the oven to crisp up.

Here’s what the mixture looks like in “crumb form” before being baked. I found it easiest to break up the mixture with my fingers before putting it into the oven. Then, as it’s baking, I use a wooden spoon to break it up more so it becomes bite-sized cereal pieces. :)

cracklin oats1
* It’s very easy to make Oat Flour in your blender. Simply put the 4 1/2 cups of oats in your blender and whirl until the oats become fine. You can read more details about this here. Be sure to use gluten free oats if you need this cereal to be GF!

** I often have egg whites hanging out in my fridge after I make Tapioca Pudding, so this is a perfect way to use them! Otherwise, separate your eggs for this recipe and save the yolks for scrambled eggs. To “whisk to frothy” I simply put the egg whites in a bowl and whip them with a fork for a couple minutes. Easy as that!

Make Your Own Cracklin' Oat Bran

Want other Homemade Cereal ideas?

So far this recipe has been a huge hit with our family! I hope to keep at least one variety of homemade cereal on hand during the school year so I can fall back on it as a breakfast option on busy mornings.

Have you tried any other homemade cereal recipes I should look at?

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

Whole Wheat Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

by 25 Comments

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

You know you’ve got a fabulous recipe when your 14-year old son takes a bite of a fresh Chocolate Zucchini Muffin and says, “Hmm. Great texture.” Or maybe I’ve just got a fabulous 14-year old son. This is a given.

zucchini muffins

Here’s a pic of this amazing kid at church camp this summer. Yes, the girls have noticed him. Every single girl has noticed. Let’s go back to talking about the muffins.

Elias at camp 2016

These muffins are “moist like a cupcake.” Again – the description of my 14-year old.

The original recipe I had for these muffins called for one full cup of sugar and (brace yourself) an entire bag of chocolate chips. An entire bag. Not only am I not interested in adding that amount of sugar to the healthy and necessary meal I like to call “breakfast” – I’m also way too cheap. Would you like a little muffin with those chocolate chips?

With proportions like that, you might think that cutting the sugar so drastically as I did might turn out a boring and inedible muffin. But allow me to remind you of the teenager’s comment from above, that these muffins are “like a cupcake.” This from someone who would never have argued with me if I had chosen to dump an entire bag of chocolate chips into my muffin mix. He didn’t even know what he was missing.

He also didn’t know he was eating zucchini.

When writing this recipe for you, I shared a range of measurements for the sugary ingredients. Your family might prefer these muffins to be a bit sweeter, in which case you’ll want to go with the 1/2 cup portion of sugar and chocolate chips. Either way, the muffins will turn out amazing. You know – moist like a cupcake.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Zucchini MuffinsYum

4.7 from 3 reviews
Whole Wheat Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 1½ cups whole wheat flour
  • ¼ cup sucanat or brown sugar
  • ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1½ cups shredded zucchini
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup coconut oil
  • ¼ - ½ cup mini chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. Mix together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.
  2. Stir in shredded zucchini, eggs, and oil until well combined.
  3. Fold in chocolate chips.
  4. Scoop into 12 prepared muffin tins.
  5. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

I like to use Enjoy Life Soy Free Chocolate Chips when possible. :)

Enjoy these muffins for a Back-to-School breakfast or as an after school snack. Need more breakfast ideas? Find 60 Make Ahead Breakfast ideas in this post.

Here’s your final reminder to sign up to win a copy of our new Low Sugar Treats eBook!!

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

Back to School Breakfast: How to Set Up a Yogurt Parfait Bar

by Leave a Comment

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

You know I like setting up different varieties of “Build Your Own” bars. This cuts down on my work and let’s everyone build their dish to their liking. Other ideas I’ve shared here:

Today’s idea is quite simple, and great for a busy school morning. In fact, this would even work as a “breakfast on the go” option by simply building your yogurt parfait in a plastic cup or glass jar and eating it on the way out the door.

How to Set Up a Yogurt Parfait Bar

Yum

Great options to set out for a Build Your Own Yogurt Parfait Bar

Want to save even more time? Make this 5-Minute Stop-Top Granola!

Your options are only limited by your imagination. And the ways to save money are great. For instance:

  • Typically it is less expensive to purchase larger tubs of yogurt instead of individual cups.
  • If you buy whole milk plain yogurt, you can add any sweetener you like and make it for your sweetness preference.
  • You can make Homemade Yogurt.
  • Offer berries and other fruit that is in season and thus less expensive.
  • Make your own granola as a stir-in option using one of the recipes above. (Pre-made, boxed granola can be very expensive!)

Did you see all 60 of these great Make-Ahead Breakfast ideas? We will survive busy school mornings, we will!

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

How to Make Bacon Bits and Why You Should Make Them

by 17 Comments

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

Five pounds of bacon. That’s how much I cooked at one time a couple weeks ago. This might sound excessive to you, but have you met my family? 

The following are conversations I have every single time I am at the grocery store when people see my shopping cart:

Person: Wow, what are you going to do with all those berries?
Me: Eat them.

Person: Wow, what are you going to do with all that chicken?
Me: Eat it.

Person: Wow, what are you going to do with all those peaches?
Me: Eat them.

And on it goes. Every time. Without fail. At least one person at the store comments on the abundant contents of my shopping cart. Apparently my cart looks like one big party. This is what happens when you have a household of teenage boys. Also, when there is a good price, I buy in bulk. It only makes sense, but apparently people aren’t used to seeing a woman with 15 packages of cheese. I had no idea I was such an anomaly. As if 15 packages of cheese at one time is somehow weird. It’s a day in the life, man. A day in the life.

So back to the bacon. No, we did not eat all five pounds at once. Goodness.

I found it for a fantastic price, which of course means that I bought 10 packages. (Wow, what are you going to do with all that bacon? We’ve been through this already…)

I froze five packs and then proceeded to cook the other five pounds. Why?

  1. Because why cook one when you can cook five and only dirty one pot?
  2. Having bacon bits in the freezer saves oodles of time and means all I have to do is grab the cooked bacon and use it in a meal (see ideas below).
  3. When I cook bacon, my clothes and hair smell like bacon. I’d prefer this scent to be my perfume of choice only occasionally.

How to Make Bacon Bits and Why You Should Make Them

Yum

What’s the easiest way to make Bacon Bits?

I pick up the entire package of bacon, with the strips all stuck together, and I cut it with kitchen shears like this:

bacon bits 1

For five pounds, I use my largest pot. Once the pieces are cut, I cover it and cook it on medium heat for about an hour, stirring every once in a while so it cooks evenly. (A smaller amount of bacon would take much less time, but I know nothing about cooking in small amounts.)

bacon bits2

Once the bacon is fully cooked, I strain out the grease, allow it to cool, then package it up in meal-sized portions for the fridge and freezer.

bacon bits4

bacon bits3

What will I do with all the Bacon Bits? As needed, I’ll pull some out to quickly make:

In other “why you should make your own Bacon Bits” related news, I believe it is important to be aware that we’re aware that: “Bac’n Pieces™ Bacon Flavored Bits are artificially flavored textured soy flour to imitate bacon pieces.” Ingredients include Textured Soy Flour, Canola Oil, Salt, Caramel Color, Maltodextrin, Natural And Artificial Flavor, Lactic Acid, Yeast Extract, Disodium Inosinate And Disodium Guanylate (Flavor Enhancers), And&Nbsp;Fd&C Red 40.

I’d stick with real bacon if I’m you. It’s not difficult and the taste is no comparison.

Ever made your own bacon bits? Ever get amazed comments at the store because of the amount of food you buy? Ever cut bacon with scissors?

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

Make Ahead Breakfast Ideas to Make Back-to-School Mornings Easier

by 8 Comments

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

Here you go. 60 Make Ahead Breakfast Ideas to give us a boost as we kick off the school year! All of these are made with real food ingredients and will hopefully save our mornings from being too hectic.

60 Make Ahead Breakfast Recipes and Ideas
The beauty of these ideas is that they make mornings easier whether your kids have to get out the door for school in the morning or you homeschool and want to get your day off to a productive start without spending too much time putting breakfast on the table. (For that matter, these ideas are great even if you aren’t in the kids-in-school season of life!)

I love getting breakfast foods made ahead of time so that my kids can easily help themselves in the morning. Often we’ll also scramble or fry eggs to go with our meal and we always get out fresh fruit. My teenage boys often also crave protein at breakfast, so I try to have something meaty available for them to cook for themselves. Hmm, it sure does sound like we eat a lot around here. Truth: We eat a lot around here.

So 60 Make Ahead breakfast ideas. Here we go!

Recipes and Ideas You Can Make Ahead for a Fast Breakfast

breakfast_cake_3

All of these recipes can be made the day before and served right away in the morning!

Homemade cereal recipes you can make ahead and serve right away in the morning

Some mornings are cereal mornings, so there. Here are some homemade cereal options we enjoy!

dark_chocolate_almond_granola

Recipes that freeze well and can be thawed and reheated easily

If you have these in your freezer, you can thaw and rewarm in the oven or toaster oven!

Recipes that Can Be Made Easily with Whole Wheat Quick Baking Mix

quick_mix

Fun Ideas to Enjoy Stir-n-Pour Bread

stir and pour sandwich 3

This super easy Stir-n-Pour Bread takes practically no effort, but turns out a delicious loaf of bread. When I have this on hand, we can slice it and make:

  • Peanut Butter Honey Toast
  • Fried Eggs on Toast
  • Cinnamon Toast
  • Scrambled Egg Sandwiches
  • Simple Buttered Toast – maybe even with jelly :)

Drink Your BreakfastYum

Most smoothies are pretty quick to make and can be filling if you include peanut butter or cottage cheese. Add fresh spinach for an extra punch of nourishment.

pineapple_mango_smoothie_2

Muffins,  Muffins, Muffins!

I’ve learned to love freezing muffin batter, which you can read about here. What a time saver! I’ve also learned that silicone muffin cups are fantastic. More about that here.

silicone muffins 3

Make it Ahead, but Cook it in the Morning

Overnight Whole Wheat Waffles

  • Mix up Overnight Waffle Batter before bed so that all you have to do in the morning is cook the waffles and serve.
  • Make Turkey Sausage in large batches and freeze it in meal sized portions. Make Freezer Biscuits, and thaw only the amount you’ll need in the morning for a meal. Make a quick meal of a big treat – Biscuits and Gravy – when you’ve done the prep work ahead! Here’s my Sausage Gravy recipe.
  • Follow the freezing muffin batter idea mentioned above, set some out at night before bed, then bake them in the morning.
  • If you want to serve pancakes, mix the dry ingredients the night before so that all you have to do in the morning is add your liquids and cook. This isn’t as fast as other ideas shared here, but it does make the pancake process a little easier in the morning! Here’s our favorite Whole Wheat Pancake recipe.

I have several new breakfast ideas in the works, so be on the look-out for those. Sign up here for our free weekly newsletter to be sure you don’t miss a post!

Leave a comment to share your favorite Make-Ahead Breakfast ideas!

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

Easy BBQ Chicken Marinade

by 7 Comments

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

Once upon a time I went to visit two of my sisters-in-law in California for a few days. (Actually, we try to do this every two years, so there have been several once upon a times in which I got to go visit my sisters.)

sisters at the beach

Fun facts: I get along amazingly well with my sisters-in-law. This trip we went to the beach, went shopping, ate leisurely brunches and dinners, and talked for hours. It was fantastic. Oh, and we also went to Disneyland, for free, for an entire day. What did three moms do at Disneyland without kids? We rode all the rides we wanted and screamed like little girls on Hyperspace Mountain. Three times. Talk about exhilarating! (And yes, now I need a chiropractor.)

When I got home from this trip, I kept noticing things. Things like a new exhaust fan installed above my “new” stove. All my spices put back and organized over the stove after the exhaust fan was installed. A cute shelf put in place behind the stove. In short, everywhere I turned, I kept seeing more projects that Matt and Malachi had worked on to surprise me when I got back from my trip. My husband is dear and I’m so thankful for him.

This has to do with bbq chicken how?

Well, a day and a half after I got back from visiting my sisters in California, I had to turn right around and go out of town for a doctor appointment. Phew. Matt was left at home to hold down the fort again. It was while I was there that Matt called to say he was getting the chicken ready to marinate for dinner but, “Where is the bbq sauce?”

Oh that. I don’t have any. I was going to make some but ran out of time. Maybe look up the recipe on my site? Sorry I didn’t get it done before I left.

That’s when he took it upon himself to mix up a little of this and a little of that and create a super fun sauce that I now need to tell you about. Why make normal bbq sauce when you can make it fun?

Easy BBQ Chicken MarinadeYum

5.0 from 2 reviews
Easy BBQ Marinade for Chicken
 
Save Print
Author:
Ingredients
  • 1 cup ketchup
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • 2-3 Tablespoons pineapple juice
  • 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
  • 1 Tablespoon mustard
Instructions
  1. Mix ingredients and spread over chicken for at least 2 hours before grilling.
  2. Add a chopped onion to the mix for extra flavor while the chicken is marinating.
  3. This makes enough sauce for 2-3 pounds of chicken.

Matt's BBQ Marinade

Remember my biggest chicken grilling tip? Read the details here, but to sum it up, we much prefer to grill boneless skinless chicken thighs instead of breasts. That’s what I highly recommend for this marinade and grilling recipe! You’ll have yourself some super moist and flavorful chicken this way!

What special ingredients do you like stirring into your barbecue sauces and marinades?

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