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Simple Creamy Pasta in the Instant Pot

April 11, 2019 by Laura 7 Comments

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

Introducing what has become my very favorite pasta meal to prepare: Simple Creamy Pasta in the Instant Pot!

This is one of those recipes you’ll want to keep in your hip pocket for days you have no time to cook. Because guess what? Making this takes less time than it takes to run through a drive through to pick up take-out!

As you know, I love having hamburger meat cooked ahead of time to pull out and use as needed for super quick meals. You can read here about how I cook 5-7 pounds of frozen hamburger meat in 30-minutes in my Instant Pot. It’s a HUGE time saver!

This pasta recipe only takes 10-15 minutes from start to finish!

If I already have meat cooked, I stir it into my Instant Pot with the other quick ingredients, turn on my pot, and have a meal after about 10 minutes. Total. It’s unreal!! (Meanwhile, I get out salad fixin’s and we’re ready to eat this nourishing, very tasty meal!)

If I don’t have meat already cooked, I quickly brown it in my Instant Pot before adding the other ingredients and I’ve only added a few minutes of prep to this dish.

Either way, you can see that this meal is incredibly fast to put together. And everyone in my family loves it. You can’t go wrong with cheesy, creamy pasta!!

Don’t have an Instant Pot?

I have this one and I absolutely love how much time it saves in the kitchen. So do consider investing! But if you prefer, you can mix the ingredients together in your crock pot and cook it on low for 4 hours. Then stir in the cheese and cream, and you’ve got an equally easy meal that cooked in your crock pot with no effort on your part!

Simple Creamy Pasta in the Instant Pot

4.3 from 3 reviews
Simple Creamy Pasta in the Instant Pot
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 1 pound ground beef, turkey, or venison
  • 2 Tablespoons minced onion
  • 1 pound whole grain pasta, any shape
  • 24-ounces spaghetti sauce
  • 3 cups water
  • Sea salt to taste
  • 1 cup parmesan cheese
  • 1½ cups heavy whipping cream
Instructions
  1. Cook ground meat and onion together until meat is no longer pink. (I usually have meat pre-cooked to stir into this recipe. But you can use the saute function on your instant pot to make this a one-dish meal.)
  2. Stir cooked meat and dry pasta into the instant pot.
  3. Salt liberally.
  4. Pour on spaghetti sauce and water, stirring until barely combined.
  5. Seal instant pot and cook on "hi" pressure, manual for 5 minutes.
  6. Do a quick release of pressure to open the lid.
  7. Stir in parmesan cheese and cream.
  8. Serve!
3.5.3229

Want More Simple Recipes?

We’ve got a huge list, and it keeps growing!

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  • Simple Crock Pot Chicken Soup with a Kick
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  • Last-Minute Lentil Chili
  • Simple Sweet and Sour Baked Chicken Legs
  • 20-Minute Taco Soup
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  • Simple Creamy Chicken Stew in the Crock Pot
  • Simple Italian Beef and Broccoli Skillet
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  • Simple Hawaiian Crock Pot Chicken
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  • Simple Last Minute Nacho Plate
  • Simple Chicken Cheeseballs with a Kick
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  • Simple Italian Chicken and Green Bean Bake
  • Last Minute Creamy Bacon Spaghetti
  • Simple Hamburger Soup
  • Simple Parmesan Broiled Fish
  • Simple Overnight Saucy Crock Pot Chicken
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  • Simple Honey Mustard Chicken Legs
  • The Easiest Mashed Potatoes in the World
  • Simple Garlic Butter Shrimp
  • Simple Crunchy Ranch Chicken Strips
  • Simple Crock Pot Shredded Ranch Chicken (for salad or tacos)
  • Simple Crock Pot Pizza Casserole
  • Simple Barbecue Beef Roast
  • Simple Spanish Rice Bowls
  • Simple Roasted Rotiserie Chicken
  • Simple Green Chile Chicken
  • Simple Tex-Mex Creamy Chicken
  • Simple Waffle Omelets
  • Simple Crock Pot Taco Pasta
  • Simple Grilled Chicken
  • Simple Hawaiian Beef Roast
  • Simple Crock Pot Creamy Stew Meat
  • Simple Cheese Stuffed Burgers
  • Simple Hashbrown Casserole (For Instant Pot, Crock Pot or Oven!)
  • Simple Lasagna Casserole (For Instant Pot or Crock Pot)
  • Simple Chili Mac
  • Simple Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole
  • From Burrito Bar to Casserole (a 5-Minute Meal!)
  • Simple Bacon Cheeseburger Roll
  • Simple Garlic Parmesan Chicken Legs
  • Super Simple Lasagna
  • The Simplest White Chicken Chili
  • Simple Lentil Nachos
  • Simple Tuna Patties
  • Simple Banana Pancakes
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  • Simple Hashbrown and Egg Nests
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  • Simple Lemon Garlic Chicken Legs
  • Simple Noodle Soup
  • Simple Three Cheese Spaghetti
  • Simple Crock Pot Salsa Shredded Beef
  • Cheeseburger Hashbrown Cups or Casserole
  • Easiest Beef Roast in the Instant Pot
  • Simple One-Dish Chicken Florentine
  • Simple Creamy Layered Enchiladas
  • Simple Ham and Hashbrown Casserole
  • 5-Minute Cheesy Hamburger and Potatoes
  • Simple 10-Minute Instant Pot Mac and Cheese
  • Simple Creamy Chicken Soup
  • Simple Broccoli Bacon Chicken
  • Simple Cheesy Salsa Chicken
  • Simple (Mostly Real Food) Tator Tot Casserole
  • Simple Cheeseburger Noodle Crock Pot Dinner
  • Simple 5-Minute Shredded Chicken
  • Simple Popcorn Chicken
  • Simple Popcorn Chicken Tacos
  • Simple Make-Ahead Parmesan Meatballs
  • Simple Saucy Parmesan Meatballs
  • Simple Make-Ahead Parmesan Burgers

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“Just Dump Some Sauce on Some Chicken!”

April 9, 2019 by Laura 8 Comments

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

Frustrated about food, overwhelmed about feeding your family healthy meals, always feel like getting take out instead of cooking? And then are you feeling guilty that this is how you feel day after day? Ok then. I’m about to give you some simple cooking instructions that will change your life: “Just dump some sauce on some chicken.”

Where there is chicken and there is sauce, there is dinner. I know. Profound. No matter if you have boneless chicken, chicken legs, or a whole chicken. Grab you some chicken, grab you some sauce, and “Just dump some sauce on some chicken!”

Just dump some sauce on some chicken…

What kind of sauce, you ask? It matters not. I have been known to use salad dressing out of my fridge, or Teriyaki sauce, or Bbq sauce, or salsa, or anything in a jar or bottle that looks like it might possibly taste good on chicken. Sometimes I mix two or more sauces, which is possibly weird but always tasty. And as an added bonus, this helps me clear out random half-empty bottles hanging out at the back of my fridge.

This is about to become your stress-free go-to meal phrase.

Say it with me: “Just dump some sauce on some chicken!”

  • Not sure what to make tonight? “Just dump some sauce on some chicken!”
  • Tempted to go out to eat…again? “Just dump some sauce on some chicken!”
  • Hate cooking and use that as an excuse to eat poorly? No more. “Just dump some sauce on some chicken!”

Find you some chicken. Get out some sauce. Pour it right on and let it cook while you do something else you enjoy. THIS HAS TO BE THE EASIEST MEAL EVER.

I so badly want everyone to understand this. Making real, good food for our family does not have to be difficult. When all you have to do is open a package of chicken and pour on some sauce – wouldn’t you agree with me that cooking good food really can be easy?

Also? Chicken cooked in sauce tastes incredibly good.

Let me walk you through this step by step

The Crock Pot Chicken/Sauce Meal:

  1. Get a package of boneless chicken, chicken legs, or a whole chicken out of the fridge or freezer.
  2. Put the chicken into a crock pot.
  3. Get out whatever sauce you have available. Barbecue. Italian Dressing. Sweet and Sour. Teriyaki. A mixture of this and that because you are collecting all the mostly empty bottles of sauce out of the fridge.
  4. Dump the sauce onto the chicken. (There’s no exact amount. “Just dump some sauce on some chicken!”)
  5. Put the lid on the crock pot.
  6. Cook the chicken on “low” for 6-8 hours. (A whole chicken may require 10 hours on low.)
  7. Eat the chicken.

The Oven Baked Chicken/Sauce Meal:

Shorter on time? Do this instead:

  1. Get a package of boneless chicken, chicken legs, or a whole chicken out of the fridge. (Thawed meat is best for this method.)
  2. Put the chicken into a 9×13 inch pan.
  3. Get out whatever sauce you have available.
  4. Dump the sauce onto the chicken. (There’s no exact amount. “Just dump some sauce on some chicken!”)
  5. Slide the pan into the oven and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes for boneless chicken, 50 minutes for chicken legs, or 1 1/2 hours.
  6. Eat the chicken.

What should you serve with your chicken?

Well that depends on how much time you have, what you have on hand, and what your energy level is.

If you have time to work ahead, I’d suggest making this incredible Stick of Butter Rice. Or these Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes.

Beyond that, I encourage you to pick a fruit and a veggie or three. Perhaps:

  • A tossed salad
  • A steamed vegetable (such as green beans, peas, broccoli, cauliflower)
  • A roasted vegetable
  • Buttered corn
  • Honey’d carrots
  • Baked beans

But if you don’t want to or have time to prepare or cook anything to go with your chicken, serve it with something like:

  • Sliced apples
  • Oranges
  • Canned pineapple
  • Baby carrots
  • Fresh berries

And if you need something more to round out your meal, you could grab something like this out of your fridge:

  • Cottage cheese
  • Sliced cheese
  • Bread and butter
  • Pickles
  • Olives

There now. You needed a meal for your family. You didn’t have time to cook. You needed a quick solution.

“Just dump some sauce on some chicken!”

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

FREE This Week – New and Improved “Teaching Your Kids to Cook” eBook!

April 9, 2019 by Laura 1 Comment

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

Our Teaching Your Kids to Cook eBook has been around for several years, and we decided that it was in great need of being updated! I handed the project off to one of my talented designers, and voila! All 86 pages of this wonderful book are new and improved – beautiful and ready to help you get those kids into the kitchen with you!

What’s better?

Through Friday, April 12, 2019 – YOU CAN HAVE THIS BOOK FOR FREE!!!!

I’m so happy to offer this! Now you have no more excuses to avoid teaching your kids to cook!

Teaching Your Kids to Cook is written for parents who desire to spend time helping their children learn their way around the kitchen. Filled with instructions, tips, activities, printables, and over 45 simple, kid-friendly recipes – you and your kids will have many opportunities to make messes together and get chocolate in your hair. Here’s hoping your kids learn how to put basic meals and treats together and learn to serve others too!

The recipes in this book include only wholesome, easy to attain ingredients. Teaching Your Kids to Cook is perfect for families with young children – oh the memories you will make!

Teaching Your Kids to Cook

The Teaching Your Kids to Cook eBook is a fabulous, realistic resource for you to print and enjoy with your family. It contains 86 pages worth of activities, ideas, tips, and instructions – plus includes 43 kid-friendly recipes and an entire section of printables! Priced at just $9.95 – this eBook is a steal! But of course, this week you can have it for FREE!

Want $150 worth of freebies?

When you get our Teaching Your Kids to Cook eBook for free, you’ll also get access to $140 worth of other awesome resources to use with and for your kids too. All for free!

This is truly all free and there is no catch. This package is yours courtesy of several other bloggers like myself who banded together to offer you fun and beneficial books for your family!

Get the entire free package here.

On this page, you’ll get all the details about every free book offered in this bundle. If you scroll to the bottom of that page, you’ll be able to sign up to gain access. Then you can download any or all of the free books offered that you like!

See how easy and fun? (And free?!)

Head over to get your free Early Learning Bundle here!

 

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

The BEST Treats Sweetened with Honey

April 7, 2019 by Laura Leave a Comment

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

Technically, any treat can be sweetened with honey. But here are 20 of our family’s favorite easy recipes that call for honey.

Looking to use honey in recipes instead of sugar? I typically use 1/2 the amount of honey compared to the called for amount of sugar. And depending on the recipe source, I often cut it down even more than that. You’re not a bit surprised, are you?

20 of the BEST Treats Sweetened with Honey

  1. Chocolate Frosting (Honey Sweetened – Low Sugar!)
  2. Honey Peanut Bars (These are like a Payday candy bar, only better tasting and better for you.)
  3. Honey Pecan Pie
  4. Mudballs (Aww, one of the first recipes I shared here at HeavenlyHomemakers.com!)
  5. Peanut Butter Chocolate Granola
  6. Peanut Butter Honey Bars
  7. Peanut Butter Honey Fudge (3-ingredients, and so much fun!)
  8. Peanut Butter Raisin Balls
  9. Stir-and-Pour Honey Oat Bread (So easy to make, and it is HOMEMADE BREAD!!)
  10. Easy Peanut Butter Honey Granola
  11. Honey-Sweetened Flourless Peanut Butter Bars
  12. Chocolate Cheesecake Fudge
  13. Honey-Sweetened No-Bake Cookies (Go therefore and make these cookies!)
  14. Honey-Sweetened Peanut Butter Cups (These are a lifesaver when I need a fast protein/fat fix.)
  15. Honey Cinnamon Muffins
  16. Easy Pecan Pie Bites (Perfect for every holiday, and possibly every other Thursday.)
  17. Honey Zucchini Bread
  18. Honey Whole Wheat Bagels (I haven’t had time to make these for a while, and I miss them. So good!)
  19. Honey Whole Wheat Bread
  20. Peanut Butter Honey Rice Krispie Treats

Have crystalized honey? Here’s how to remedy that.

Need a good source for honey? I love getting it from local sources. But when supply is short, I often order it from Azure Standard for a good price!

Where do you find good honey for your family?

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

How $10 Worth of Meat Fed My LARGE Family 5 Meals!

April 4, 2019 by Laura 8 Comments

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

No doubt, sometimes my family eats $10 worth of meat in 5-minutes {gulp}. But then there is the beautiful occasion that I see high quality, spiral cut hams marked down to just $0.99/pound for quick sale. Quick sale indeed. I don’t even give it a second thought before putting the ham quickly into my cart. Sold!

Ok, fine. Let’s be real. I quickly put three hams into my cart. How could I resist? They were each $10 or less, and I have learned the beauty of how delicious spiral cut ham is, how easy it is to prepare, and how far I can stretch this large piece of meat. $10 for 5 meals’ worth of meat? Yeah, baby. There are teenage boys and college men and all of their friends to feed, plus a 5-year old ham-loving Bonus Boy and a hungry hard-working husband. Somewhere in there, this mom likes to eat too.

Is Laura excited about her $10 hams? Why yes, I guess this fact cannot be denied.

How to Cook a Spiral Cut Ham

First, let’s discuss how easy a spiral cut ham is to bake. Make it difficult if you prefer, but as for me and my house, we will:

  1. Open the package.
  2. Throw away the glaze packet that comes with it, because why?
  3. Plop the ham into a roasting pan.
  4. Put the lid on the pan.
  5. Slide the pan into the oven and bake it in a 325-degree oven for 20-minutes per pound.

Truly, doing the math to figure out the baking time takes longer than actually preparing the ham for baking. (10 pounds of ham x 20 minutes of baking time = 200 minutes divided by 60 minutes in one hour = cook my 10-pound ham for approximately 3 1/2 hours.)

Once time is up, I set the cooked ham, roasting pan and all, onto my buffet to serve it. I use a large bread knife to cut it off the bone, which takes no effort because it falls off the bone anyway, and it has already been spiral cut.

How Delicious is a Spiral Cut Ham?

Oh my dears. There is not much better. And I don’t even add any fancy topping or glaze. Mmm, it is fantastic.

How a Spiral Cut Ham Feeds My LARGE Family 5 Meals

What’s beautiful about how easy it is to stretch one ham into at least 5 meals is that it’s not even a stretch. One 10-pound ham provides a LOT of meat. Amen and amen. Here is a typical way I can use one ham to provide my family (of 7) with 5 great meals!

  1. Bake it as directed above, and serve it as a Sunday meal after church with Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole, salad, and veggies on the side.
  2. Use small leftover pieces of ham the next morning to make Ham and Cheesy Eggs in a skillet. (This actually gets them out of bed in the morning because it smells so good!)
  3. Stir pieces of leftover ham into a big batch of Creamy Mac and Cheese. I can’t tell you how delicious.
  4. Stir pieces of leftover ham into a pan of Simple Ham and Hashbrown Casserole.
  5. Use larger slices of ham to make BLTs, or rather HLTs since we are using ham instead of bacon. Or better yet, make HLT Wraps. How can anything taste any better?

We’re talking about 5 meals filled with healthy portions of meat that tastes delicious. Happy, happy, happy.

Other meals to create with your leftover ham include adding ham to:

  • Regular cold ham sandwiches
  • Simple Hashbrown and Egg Nests
  • Simple Three Cheese Spaghetti
  • Simple Waffle Omelets
  • Last Minute Creamy Bacon Spaghetti (except use ham instead of bacon)
  • Use the ham bone to make broth – which takes your purchase even farther!

By the way, finding a $10 ham isn’t a regular occurrence for me, just an incredibly exciting one! But often at Christmas or Easter time I find them for $20ish. While a $10 ham gives us 5 meals for just $2 each (!!!), a $20 ham still provides us with 5 meals at only $4 each. It’s fun to think this through when considering a purchase like this. How far with this meat stretch? How many meals can I get out of my $20 (or $10!)? The same is often true of a holiday turkey. I love it when stretching meat is easy!

How do you like to use leftover ham?

 

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

The BEST Way I’ve Found to Help a Kid Sit Quietly Through a Sermon!

April 2, 2019 by Laura 13 Comments

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

Where was this idea when we were training our “first set of kids?” Gather ’round. I have discovered the BEST way to help a kid sit quietly through a sermon.

But first let’s back up. “First set of kids?” I’ve mentioned our huge life changes here and there, but in case you missed it, allow me to explain again.

Our big kids are currently 21, 19, 17, and 14. Just as we began counting down the years toward empty nesting, God surprised us by moving a 4-year old into our home in April, 2018.

He’s 5 now, and is officially becoming a Coppinger this month. We continue to learn daily that our God is sovereign, that His ways are bigger than ours, and of course, His ways are better.

And with that, I shall show you a better way to quietly and peacefully get your child through a sermon.

The BEST Way to Help a Kid Sit Quietly Through a Sermon

Friends, I’m not trying to brag, but I have discovered the art of making a cheese stick last 25 entire minutes. Indeed. Bonus Boy loves to sing all the songs at church. But come sermon time, it’s harder to sit still, of course.

One particular Sunday early in our days with BB, I happened to have a cheese stick in my purse. I pulled it out, and ever so slowly began pulling off “strings” and handing them to him to eat. Did I mention that I began pulling off the strings slowwwwwlllllyyyyy? And thus, before I knew it, the cheese stick lasted through an entire sermon!

It’s magic. Unless you don’t want your kids to get into a habit of eating a snack during the sermon. Then this is a terrible idea for you. For us and for Bonus Boy, it’s magic.

There are cheese stick rules, of course. BB is allowed to open the package and pull out the cheese, but at that point, the cheese stick goes to either Matt or to me. The adults are completely in charge of the cheese and the strings. Bonus Boy must sit quietly and wait patiently for us to hand him each new string of cheese. There is no grabbing. There are no large strings. This is the only way it will last through an entire sermon.

Seriously. A cheese stick. Lasting for a beautiful 25 or 30 minutes. And a kid. Sitting quietly. For 25 or 30 minutes. It’s like a miracle happens every Sunday morning in the church pew.

Oh, and meanwhile, Bonus Boy is listening to the sermon, he just doesn’t know that he is. Long live the cheese stick.

As an even bigger bonus, I don’t have to lug a heavy bag of books or other quiet activities to use as sermon ammunition. I grab a cheese stick, throw it into my purse, we go to church. Amen and hallelujah.

What have you found to be helpful as you train your little ones to sit quietly and listen during church?

 

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40+ Real Food Muffin Recipes

March 31, 2019 by Bethany Lotulelei 6 Comments

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

Muffin lovers, unite! And bring your chocolate chips when you come. Some of the 40+ real food muffin recipes we’re about to share are going to need them.

40 + Real Food Muffin Recipes

For eleven years now, I’ve been posting muffin recipes here to share with you. We decided it would be nice to list them all in one place for you to access! But first, two of my favorite muffin-making tips…

  1. Make Muffin Batter ahead of time!

    Follow this tutorial to easily freeze muffin batter for later. I love this time-saving trick.

  2. Make Muffin Mix!

    Make a big batch of Muffin Mix so you can easily whip up a pan of muffins without getting out all the ingredients!

And now it’s time to share our favorite muffin recipes. These are all either whole grain or grain free!

40+ Real Food Muffin RecipesYum

  • Almond Flour Muffins (gluten free/dairy free)
  • Bacon Cheese Muffins
  • Banana Muffins
  • Banana Cheesecake Muffins
  • Blueberry Cheesecake Muffins
  • Blueberry Streusel Muffins
  • Bran Muffins
  • Breakfast Cake Muffins
  • Chocolate Banana Muffins
  • Chocolate Cheesecake Muffins
  • Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Muffins
  • Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins
  • Chocolate Swirl Muffins
  • Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
  • Coconut Flour Muffins (gluten free/dairy free)
  • Coconut Flour Banana Muffins (gluten free/dairy free)
  • Cornbread and Cornbread Muffins
  • Cream Cheese Pumpkin Muffins
  • Eggnog Muffins
  • Flourless Brownie Muffins
  • Flourless Pumpkin Muffins
  • Honey Cinnamon Muffins
  • Lemon Muffins
  • Muffin Waffles
  • Orange Muffins
  • Pancake and Sausage Muffins
  • Peaches and Cream Muffins
  • Peanut Butter Muffins (grain/gluten/dairy free)
  • Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins
  • Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Muffins
  • Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins
  • Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
  • Snickerdoodle Muffins
  • Strawberry Cream Muffins
  • Stuffing Muffins
  • Sweet Potato Streusel Muffins
  • Vanilla Muffins with Cinnamon Crumb Topping
  • Whole Grain Chocolate Chip Muffins
  • Whole Grain Lemon Muffins
  • Whole Grain Orange Poppyseed Muffins
  • Whole Wheat Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
  • Whole Wheat and Honey Zucchini Muffins
  • Whole Wheat Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins

My boys’ favorite muffins are the Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins. Matt’s favorite is the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffin. My favorites are any that are topped with cheesecake!

What’s your favorite kind of muffin?

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Simple Whole Grain Lemon Muffins

March 29, 2019 by Laura 3 Comments

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

With spring right around the corner, these Simple Whole Grain Lemon Muffins are practically perfect. It’s already spring, you say? I know. Technically it is. But it still feels a bit wintery where I live, with only the occasional hint of spring. We’re still inside baking to stay warm most days. :)

Our 5-year old Bonus Boy loves baking with me, and muffins are an easy favorite to put together. I keep a huge container of Homemade Muffin Mix on hand so that he and I can stir together any muffin variety we want. We recently experimented to make Lemon Muffins and the results are super tangy and fun!

Note how simple it is to make muffin variations! I simply subbed out some milk for lemon juice in my basic muffin recipe. Suddenly we went from Plain Muffins to Lemon Muffins, without any trouble at all!

Want to stir in some fresh lemon zest? Go for it! At this point in my life (adding a 5-year old to our home and caring for an infant), I tend to take every shortcut I can while still keeping our food as nourishing as possible. I use bottled 100% lemon juice in this recipe; therefore I have no lemon to zest. :)

Simple Whole Grain Lemon Muffins

Simple Whole Grain Lemon Muffins
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Serves: 12-15
Ingredients
  • 2 cups Muffin Mix** or...
  • 1½ cups whole grain flour
  • ⅓ cup brown sugar or sucanat
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 egg
  • ¼ cup milk
  • ¼ cup lemon juice
  • ½ cup sour cream
  • ¼ cup melted coconut oil
Instructions
  1. Scoop Muffin Mix or measure dry ingredients together in a bowl.
  2. Add egg, sour cream, milk, lemon juice, and melted coconut oil, stirring until ingredients are combined.
  3. Scoop batter into 12-15 prepared muffin tins.
  4. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 18-22 minutes or until muffins are golden brown.
3.5.3229

**Do you have our Simple Mixes to Save the Day eBook yet? Grab it so you can save time and energy by using the Muffin Mix for this recipe!! I LOVE having these mixes on hand!!!

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I love that these muffins are made with whole grain flour, but they are still wonderfully light and fluffy! This is because I use freshly ground soft white wheat (pastry flour). What a difference this makes! You can read more about whole grains and grain mills here.

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

Simple Make-Ahead Parmesan Burgers

March 26, 2019 by Laura 1 Comment

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

I’m not sure if you’re keeping track or not, but this is the third variation I’ve shared in two weeks using the exact same recipe. Woohoo for easy versatility! Today we’re taking our Simple Make-Ahead Parmesan Meatball recipe and basically smashing the mixture into Simple Make-Ahead Parmesan Burgers. Are we smart or are we smart?

The idea came to me as I was working ahead to make a bunch of Parmesan Meatballs for the freezer. Either I got tired of scooping out meatballs, or I got a brilliant idea. It might have been both. After scooping out about 2 1/2 pounds of meatballs, I decided to abort my meatball endeavor. I took my remaining mixture and formed it into burger patties. I froze them, then we pulled them out to fry another day.

Fantabulous!

Might I recommend that you make these Simple Make-Ahead Parmesan Burgers with a side of Sweet Potato Fries or Simple Seasoned Potato Wedges?

Simple Make-Ahead Parmesan Burgers

Simple Make-Ahead Parmesan Burgers
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • 2 pounds ground beef or turkey
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 Tablespoons dried minced onion
  • ½ cup shredded (or grated) parmesan cheese
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • ¼ teaspoon ground pepper
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
  1. Mix all ingredients together until well combined.
  2. Press together burger-sized patties.
  3. Fry in a skillet or on a grill for 8-12 minutes or until the meat is no longer pink.
  4. Serve right away, or refrigerate or freeze cooked burgers to easily reheat for a meal later.
  5. OR, freeze the prepared raw burgers, thaw as needed, and fry as directed.
3.5.3229

Want Parmesan Meatballs instead? Or would you prefer Saucy Parmesan Meatballs? Nothing like getting 3-meal-varieties from one recipe!

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12 Fun and Wholesome Ways to Cook with Whole Rolled Oats

March 24, 2019 by Laura 4 Comments

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

Why am I giving you so many fun ways to cook with whole rolled oats? Well…

If I confess to you that I do not enjoy eating a bowl of oatmeal in the morning (or any time of day) – can we still be friends? I’ve tried to like oatmeal. But I simply cannot eat it (Sam I am). I get to the third bite and try as I might, I can’t put one more spoonful into my mouth. I realize that this is because I am a spoiled, privileged person who has a plethora of food options, and in many other life settings I would be grateful to have a bowl of oatmeal.

So it is with gratitude that I share 12 other options for ways to use and cook with this wholesome ingredient!

How fun it is that delicious rolled oats can be stirred into these recipes and transformed into a wonderful breakfast option!

12 Fun and Wholesome Ways to Cook with Whole Rolled Oats

  1. Stir-and-Pour Honey Oat Bread
  2. Baked Oatmeal Cups
  3. Breakfast Cake
  4. Breakfast Cake Muffins
  5. Cracklin’ Oat Bran Cereal
  6. Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies
  7. Dark Chocolate Almond Granola
  8. Giant Breakfast Cookies
  9. Granola
  10. Granola ~ 5-Minute Stop-Top Version
  11. Raspberry Oatmeal Bars
  12. Oatmeal Breakfast Bars

Can you use Quick Oats in any of these recipes? Sure! I just always have Whole Rolled Oats on hand because I like them better. I mean, I like them better for baking. Not in a bowl. How spoiled is this girl? ;)

If you do happen to be an “oatmeal in a bowl” kind of a person, I highly recommend that you make yourself some of these: Instant Oatmeal Packets. It’s a wonderful time and money saver, plus you can include any of the favorite healthy ingredients that you like! I usually make big batches of Instant Oatmeal and put it into jars as pictured above. My family scoops out a “packet” amount and has a quick and easy breakfast!

What are your favorite, wholesome ways to eat oats?

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