Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting
May our focus always be on the One who made all things possible. Wishing you a Christmas filled with love to overflowing!
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!I love how simple and tasty it is to make green beans in the air fryer!
Do you have an Air Fryer? If no, you might consider putting it on your Christmas wish-list. Here’s how I’ve found it to save a lot of money. Not to mention it turns out some super fun foods, making us feel like we’re eating a treat meal from a restaurant!
So green beans in the Air Fryer? Well, these are super healthy and our kids gobble them up because they’re so delicious. They take about two minutes to prepare, so you can’t go wrong there.
These have an awesome crunch. And did you see that simple hack I shared in the recipe? I simply open a bag of frozen green beans and use the bag as a bowl! Drizzle in the olive oil, sprinkle in the seasonings, shake the bag, and pour the coated green beans into the air fryer. No dishes!! NO DISHES!!!! That is my favorite part, besides of course, the fact that we can make this awesome vegetable in the air fryer. Nourishing and fun all in one!
P.S. I have this Air Fryer and we’ve been very happy with it!
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!I love baking, but who wants to spend all day in the kitchen when there’s hot chocolate to sip, family memories to make, and stockings to open? I am all about doing the work days earlier so you have a stress-free, peaceful holiday with your family. That’s why I put together this list of Christmas make-ahead breakfast ideas, to encourage you to get that baking done ahead of time so you have more time with your family.
Just in case you, too, are looking for ways to spend less time in the kitchen this holiday season, here are a few of our favorite tried and true Christmas make-ahead breakfast ideas!
We can mix up the pumpkin donuts, roll out the dough, cut the shapes, then freeze the uncooked dough on parchment paper or silicone mat-lined cookie sheets. We transfer the frozen dough into freezer bags, then any time we want fresh donuts (and when would we notwant fresh donuts?), we can grab some out of the freezer and fry them up fresh to eat while sipping a cup of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate!
Simply purchase the ingredients beforehand, make the granola or other add-ins a few days beforehand, chop up the fruit the day before, and you are set!
Here are some of my favorite toppings:
I have to know: Is this “freezing muffin batter” a brand new idea to you, or have you tried it before? Once I tried this and learned how well it worked, I went on a muffin freezing frenzy (as confessed above). I now have Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffin batter, Blueberry Muffin batter, Chocolate Chip Muffin batter (recipe in Kids in the Kitchen eBook), and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffin batter in my freezers. What a time saver!
Looking for a few new recipes to try for Christmas morning? Check out this list of 23 Muffin recipes!
This recipe is easy enough for your kiddos to make! Invite them into the kitchen, and whip these up together!
I love to make these poptarts and freeze them before I bake them. On a day I declare to be a Poptart Morning, I pull a few out and bake enough for each person to have a couple with our eggs and fruit. So good!
Make the dough ahead of time, scoop the cookies out unto cookie sheets, freeze the cookie dough balls, and you’re set! Hot breakfast cookies on Christmas morning! Serve with fruit, and bacon (of course).
Biscuits and gravy is one of my favorite special breakfasts. Make your biscuits ahead of time, and pop them in the freezer then make your gravy the day before, and heat it up in the morning. Easy peasy!
I couldn’t make a list of Christmas breakfasts without including Cinnamon Rolls! These are deliciously easy, and mostly low in sugar! They kind of resemble those frozen orange rolls you can buy in the freezer section – except that these have a little bit of nutritional value and not nearly as much sugar, so we can all rejoice.
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!Is there anything better than a plate full of Christmas cookies? This is a great time of year to spend a Saturday making several different types of cookies, wrapping them up, and gifting them to your friends, family or neighbors!
Some might say that Christmas desserts are treats that should not be messed with. Perhaps whole wheat flour does not belong in a Christmas cookie. Maybe “low sugar” should not be included in a Christmas cookie title. It’s a treat, right? Can’t we just leave it well enough alone?
Sure.
But the more I experiment with cutting down the sweetener in my baked goods, the more I’m discovering that treats still taste like treats even with the sugar cut in half or more!
Try these cookies, you won’t even miss the sugar!
I LOVE the way these cookies make my house smell! Spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves they are oh so tasty!
These tiny, old-fashioned cookies are one of my favorite holiday treats! They’re great to package up in small bags to give as Christmas time gifts to coworkers and neighbors.
I’m not a big fan of raisins in my cookies. But adding dried cranberries to this simple butter cookie? Well, that takes them up a notch without adding any effort.
While I’ve shared that I just can’t get behind Pumpkin Spice Coffee (typing it actually makes me shudder just a little bit), I most certainly enjoy making many Pumpkin Spice treats this time of year – to eat while I drink my (plain, non-pumpkin-spice) coffee. If my house smells of nothing but Pumpkin Spice from now until Christmas, there will be much joy in the holiday season.
These lightly sweetened cookies taste amazing with a steamy cup of coffee or a cold glass of milk. Ah, life’s simple pleasures. :)
The combination of butter and sugar in this recipe makes for a perfectly sweet and rich cookie that melts in your mouth. Don’t worry though. The ratio of butter to sugar is such that these are only lightly sweet, but deliciously buttery. I’d still consider these a dessert, but I think they fit in the “low sugar treat” category.
These simple cookies are a hit. Fun to make…fun to eat. I like that they are made with honey and whole wheat. And they really don’t take much time at all.
These are one of 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.
I like that these aren’t super rich or heavy…just kind of like a little bite of chocolate cake.
The cookies have cream cheese in them and the frosting is made with cream cheese. Let’s just say these cookies are soft, rich, and I have to work hard to keep myself out of them.
A Christmas classic! Your kids will love helping you make these sweet, Whole Wheat Gingerbread Men!
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!Perhaps you’ve gotten the majority of your shopping done for Christmas, but you still need a few small gifts for stockings? I’ve got you covered! Today I am sharing a list of my absolute favorite easy and inexpensive stocking stuffers!
Can you let you in on a little secret? Stocking stuffers are my favorite thing to make or buy. There is something about a stocking stuffer that’s so much fun! Throughout the years, I’ve discovered many ideas for fun stocking stuffers including homemade goodies, purchased trinkets, and other fun gift ideas!
When we were kids, our parents always put a pomegranate in the toe of every stocking. So we would open every little gift, and then fish out our pomegranate. We never purchased pomegranates any other time of year, and even now, whenever I eat a pomegranate it makes me feel like it is Christmas day!
Side note: if you, as the mom, love stuffing your family’s stockings, but yours always seems kinda empty, might I suggest you stuff a friend’s stocking, and she stuffs yours? Laura’s done this for years! She shares all the details here!
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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!Once again, Bethany (my assistant) comes through for us with this awesome list of gift ideas for men!!
The men in my life are notoriously difficult to find presents for Christmas. I don’t know what it is, but every year I struggle to nail down the perfect gift for them! So this year, I decided to make a list of the best gift ideas for men that I’ve used over the years, or found while I was doing a bit of online shopping, to share with all of you!
Take a look through this list, pop a few items in your cart, and you are set!
I don’t know what to tell you about these, except they made me laugh!
Looking for some additional ideas? Check out the last few year’s guides as well!
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!It’s here: the Ultimate Christmas Gift Guide for Women. (Huge thanks to my assistant Bethany for putting this together for us!!)
I created this list of tried and true gift ideas to help take the stress out of your Christmas shopping. There’s nothing worse than standing in the aisles of Wal-Mart the week before Christmas, desperately trying to find something for everyone on your list. Even typing that scenario makes me sweat a little. I’ve had Christmases where I procrastinate my shopping until the last minute, and years where I’ve gotten it done ahead of time, and I can tell you: I vastly prefer getting it done early!
Just in case you, too, are hoping to cross your shopping off the list in November this year, here is my very best ideas for your mom, sister, and bestie!
You might, also, want to send this list to your hubby. He might appreciate a few suggestions as well. And if there is something in particular you love on this list, give the guy a little head’s up. ;-)
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!Exciting news!! We have a batch of our delicious Heavenly Homemakers Vanilla Extract bottled up and ready to ship out to you!
What is most exciting right now about us offering our vanilla for sale is that while vanilla extract at the store is pretty pricy right now, we can send you our completely pure (no sugar, not watered down!) vanilla at around the same price (or less!) than it can be found at the market. And with FREE SHIPPING too!!
When you buy 2 or more 8-ounce bottles of vanilla, or 3 or more bottles of 4-ounce bottles of vanilla, we’ll send you a FREE copy of our brand new High Five Recipes Cookbook! No coupon code necessary – the book will simply be included in your order. :)
Made with only the best ingredients, this vanilla extract is 100% pure! Ingredients include high-quality vanilla beans and vodka - that's it! Slow brewed for 6 months, this vanilla is delicious and perfect for your baking needs. Because this extract has such a strong, pure flavor, feel free to cut the amount of vanilla in half when following a recipe - then you can get even more bang for your buck. FREE SHIPPING included with your purchase.
Made with only the best ingredients, this vanilla extract is 100% pure! Ingredients include high-quality vanilla beans and vodka - that's it! Slow brewed for 6 months, this vanilla is delicious and perfect for your baking needs. Because this extract has such a strong, pure flavor, feel free to cut the amount of vanilla in half when following a recipe - then you can get even more bang for your buck! FREE SHIPPING included with your purchase!
Want a peek into how we make our Vanilla Extract? Here you go! We highly recommend that you try this at home. ;)
Want to make it quickly – even in time for Christmas? Here’s how to make Vanilla Extract in your Instant Pot!
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!It’s the sale we’ve all been waiting for…the Lilla Rose Black Friday Sale!
Save up to 50% on everything!
Get Free shipping and a Free Essential with a $75 purchase (So many new “essentials” like Rose Water spray, dry shampoo, luxurious bamboo hair towels, a deep-conditioning hair masque and more!)
Get an additional 10% off with a $150 order
Get a chance to Win your Order for Free as well as a chance to Win $500 Cash with every $50 purchase! Wow!
Save 30% on beautiful Gift Sets! These are a super-easy way to find the perfect gift for anyone on your list! I don’t know about you, but I like “easy”! They even come packaged in a pretty organza bag.
Here are just a few of the gift sets, from daughters to teachers.
There are also gift sets for every hair type, from thick hair, fine hair, curly hair, to short hair! Be sure to click on “gift sets” to see them all!
So many pretty new things that I can’t show them all here!
As always, if you have any questions at all, please contact my Lilla Rose stylist Paula Ramm, and she will be more than happy to help you out!
Sale starts at 6am PT/9am ET on Friday, Nov. 27 and ends at midnight PT on November 30.
I will leave you with this gingerbread man Flexi and bobbies…what a super-cute gift these would make! Have fun shopping! ?
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!Need an easy homemade gift that is unique and inexpensive? These Easy Christmas Potpourri pouches are fun and simple!
I began making these a few years ago and love how fun and easy they are. The combination of ingredients is perfect for the holidays, and you can make several at once which is very inexpensive and perfect for gifting teachers, neighbors, church members – whoever you want!
I get most of my ingredients for these at Olive Nation (free shipping if you spend $50 or more; 15% off any size order when you use the code: home).
If you’re going to take advantage of that 15% discount I mentioned and grab cinnamon sticks from Olive Nation (I buy them in large quantity this time of year!), here are some other great ways to use them:
Make Cinnamon Extract. Get the details and directions here.
Buy a fun holiday candle and glue cinnamon sticks onto the jar for a fun and festive look! Get the details and directions here.
Make Cinnamon Pancake and Waffle Syrup. Get the details and directions here.
Purchase a small plant and glue cinnamon sticks around the pot. The example shown below is one I made in the summertime. But for a holiday gift, purchase a small poinsettia or another wintery plant. Tie with a red ribbon and you have a lovely gift! Get the details and directions here.
Make Crockpot Cranberry Apple Cider. This is always a hit with guests and so very easy to make!
Try making Homemade Vanilla Extract. EVERYONE loves receiving this gift!
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!