Heavenly Homemakers

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Big Family Food and Fun: October 15-21, 2023

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It’s Big Family Food and Fun: October 15-21!

This week started off with a…bang? Opposite of bang? I’m not sure. I had had a huge day on Saturday, speaking at and enjoying a wonderful Ladies’ Conference in Council Bluffs, Iowa. I’d also come down with a cold so by Sunday I had no voice and very little energy.

Thankfully, the Friday before I’d already put together a huge Lasagna for our Sunday lunch. I slid it into the oven Sunday before we left for church and made steamed green beans and buttered corn. (Extra Buttered Corn, actually because when we got home from church and Kelsey was helping fix kids’ plates I said, “Oh! I don’t think I put butter in the corn yet!” So she added some but I didn’t pay attention to that and so then I went and added some too. Ooops. I mean, can you have too much butter in your corn? You know how I feel about this.)

I thought you’d be super impressed with the dessert platter I worked so hard on for our Sunday lunch this day. Since I didn’t feel well, I pulled out all the stops and arranged a platter of packaged treats we’d been given on various Food Distribution days. See how fancy?

That evening, our neighbor John stopped by with produce from his brother’s garden plus more apples from his family’s trees. Amazing!

We got out leftover Chicken Enchiladas from last week and warmed them up for dinner. Cleaning out the fridge feels good!

The kids were still on Fall Break Monday and Tuesday. Matt took Brayden, Kiya, and Keith to the Food Distribution site on Monday morning to help set up for Tuesday (when people come to pick up food). Mid-morning, I made a double batch of Pineapple Fluff to go with our lunch.

Oh, and do you see that huge can of pineapple? I had picked that up at Sam’s a few weeks ago because it was such a great price. But goodness, even for our family, that’s a lot of pineapple! I added a lot to the Fluff, and had a big bowlful leftover. We’ll see how long it takes us to get through it! (UPDATE: It’s almost gone.)

Our neighbor had given us tomatoes from his brother’s garden, so we HAD NO CHOICE but to make BLTs for lunch. With Pineapple Fluff. :)

Brayden and Keith had an appointment that afternoon, so while they were gone with Matt, Kiya and I teamed up to make a huge batch of Applesauce with apples that our neighbor had brought us. We sure are being well cared for!!

Kiya washed the apples and I cut them into our huge stock pot.

This batch made two gallons of applesauce. Between this and the pineapple, we’re set for a few…days?? :)

That night for dinner we had Sloppy Joes, green beans, and warm applesauce.

We had a birthday girl on Tuesday! One of our housemates set this outside her door to surprise her when she woke up. So sweet!

Our kids get to choose all the meals on their birthdays. Kiya’s birthday breakfast choice was Pumpkin Donut Holes she’d been given when helping at last week’s Food Distribution. I made Scrambled Cheesy Eggs to go with them, plus got out applesauce.

I had to take BabyBoy#11 to an OT appointment so Matt held down the fort while we were gone. Then we loaded everyone up to go see Justus and Kelsey’s new house!!!! They closed on it last week and we were so excited to go see it! (Though they used to live only three blocks from us. How dare they move twelve minutes away??) :)

Kelsey had muffins waiting for the kids. Does she know them or what? We properly initiated their new kitchen with billions of muffin crumbs.

Then she pulled out a puzzle and magnatiles. Kelsey’s mom was visiting to help with the move. When she’s visiting, I always wish she and Kelsey’s dad lived closer to us!!


The kids requested that I take their pictures just outside Justus and Kelsey’s house before we left. :)

We headed home to make Kiya’s birthday lunch. She requested chicken nuggets and fries. But I only had a few nuggets in my bag so I pulled out several large chicken tenders to help make enough food for everyone.

After lunch, Kiya enjoyed a pedicure with one of our housemates and her daughter. Here they are, letting their toes dry while watching a show and drinking sparkling water. :)

Later that afternoon, Malachi, Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and I headed to the Food Distribution site to hand out food. I love this SO MUCH. Seeing people come through the lines to get food they need for their families. Seeing how my children are learning to help and serve. Visiting with the other volunteers and making some conversation with the food recipients. It’s all so good.

Malachi was Keith’s side kick that day and their job was to wash out coolers as they were emptied of their food.

We got home tired and hungry – and ready to celebrate Kiya’s birthday in full force! I had grilled 20 burgers before leaving that afternoon and put them into a crock pot to stay warm. Asa, Eva, and Kelsey arrived just as we made it home so we dug right in!

The birthday girl requested Pudding Parfaits instead of cake – though she was given a cake at Food Distribution that we served to those who wanted some.

An #8 candle fits perfectly into a pudding cup. :)

After dinner, we headed into the living room for present time.

Kiya got several hair accessories, a cup holder for her bike, and a new Bible from Matt and me. She can read now, so we felt she was ready for her first “real” Bible. :)

Wednesday the kids headed back to school after being home for five days on Fall Break. I packed Brayden and Kiya cottage cheese with fruit and a muffin for lunch.

Matt and Elias went to York to work on our houses, so Malachi hung with the kids and me all day. We loaded the five littlest and headed to Walmart. As hard as outings are with this many, they are better than no outings. Staying at home alllllllll day makes everyone a bit grumpy. So to Walmart we went!

During lunchtime, I put The Simplest White Chicken Chili in the crock pot. (This was the final meal from the smoked chicken I’d made.) We ate it with Fritos plus pineapple or Pineapple Fluff.

Thursday morning we woke up to delicious biscuits that one of our housemates had baked the night before to share with everyone. That was an amazing treat (and unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures before they were all gone!).

I packed a quick lunch of yogurt, pistachios, and Peanut Butter Bars for the kids for lunch.

I spent some time putting Roast, Carrots, and Potatoes into our huge roaster so that it could slow cook all day for dinner. All day it smelled so good – but the best part was knowing that the work of prepping dinner was completely done!

Three of our kids had speech therapy that morning so we enjoyed our Bridgette time.

The roast with potatoes and carrots was delicious that night!

I used some of the applesauce I’d made earlier in the week to make four loaves of Apple Bread.

Friday was a pretty chill day and we ended the night with Costco pizza and salad!

After it got dark and we brought the kids inside, we gathered around the table to decorate baby pumpkins. Only a little bit of (washable) marker got on the table. ;)

Saturday, Asa and Eva took Brayden, Kiya, and Keith to a birthday party for our friend Jace! Matt and I kept the littler ones home because of sickness.

That evening we pulled the rest of Thursday’s roast meal from the fridge to warm up. It tasted even better than the first night!

And that was our week!

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6 Meals I Made with Two Whole Chickens

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I made six family-friendly meals with two whole chickens. THIS is such a money-saving method of cooking!

Full Disclosure: The two chickens I used were extra large. But so is the size of our family – extra large. There are 11 of our family at home right now (four adults and seven kids). Plus we currently have five housemates (three adults and two kids). We feed a lot of people each day (11-20 per meal). If you know me very well, you know that I love this. Feeding people is one of my favorite things to do.

Finding ways to stretch the food and creatively use what we have is also a lot of fun for me. :) Here’s how I made two whole chickens stretch into some wonderful meals for all of us.

6 Meals I Made with Two Whole Chickens

First, I thawed, then seasoned and smoked the chickens all afternoon.

Both chickens easily fit in our smoker, so I made good use of the space and the pellets to smoke both chickens at once.

We enjoyed chicken straight off of the smoker that night. SO GOOD. We ate it with these sides:

Matt is our designated chicken de-boner. He turns on an audio book, listens, and works to get all the meat off the bones for me. It’s one of my least favorite jobs but he does it happily.

We ended up with two 9×13 inch dishes full of meat after we ate all we wanted the first night!

Time for Broth

We put the bones into a pot of water to turn into broth the next day. I added several pounds of carrots and onions to make it extra nourishing. After several hours, I strained it and blended the veggies to pour back in.

The next day, I used some of the chicken to make a bunch of Chicken Cheese Melts on croissants. Half of them were just chicken and Colby jack cheese – for the kids. The other half was chicken with pepper jack cheese and ranch – for the adults who wanted a little spice. These sandwiches were perfect with Tomato Soup! And we got out canned fruit to help spread out the meal (because I was out of fresh fruit).

Note: I cut the twelve sandwiches in half for kids who needed smaller portions. This was the only way to make this meal stretch far enough for all of us.

The day after that, I used more of the chicken to make a large pan plus a small dish of Creamy Chicken Enchiladas.

The weather turned cold, so the next day we were very excited to use the broth I’d made a few days earlier and more of the chicken to make Chicken and Noodles. Wow, did that hit the spot!


Two days later, we pulled out the leftover Creamy Chicken Enchiladas to warm up for dinner.

Finally, we used the last of the chicken to make The Simplest White Chicken Chili in the crock pot.

So let’s review.

Two large chickens made these meals:

  1. Smoked chicken with sides (16 people)
  2. Chicken Cheese Melts on Croissants (13 people)
  3. Creamy Chicken Enchiladas (11 people)
  4. Chicken and Noodles (16 people)
  5. Creamy Chicken Enchilada leftovers (10 people)
  6. The Simplest White Chicken Chili (14 people)

Using whole chickens like this can really help stretch a food budget! And when you stretch the meal even further, pulling out easy side dishes like this, you can feed a lot of people these great meals! <— this is my favorite way to make a meal fill many people at once – add plenty of fruit and veggie side dishes to make the meal go as far as needed!

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Big Family Food and Fun: August 20-26, 2023

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Our big family food and fun this week revolved around our new school routine and extremely hot temperatures.

First, let’s all be blessed to see these two amazing brothers in the matching outfits I found on clearance at Sam’s. Sweet score!

And now onto the food and fun!

Big Family Food and Fun: August 20-26, 2023

Now, if you recall, last week I forgot to plug in the crockpot when I made dinner to leave for Asa, Eva, Elias, and Malachi to feed all the littles when Matt and I went out for our anniversary. So this week, while making a big Sunday Lunch for guests, I was very intentional about plugging in not one but three crock pots. There, my job is done. Lunch will be perfect. I sent this picture to Eva to show that I’d learned from my mistake.

But alas, when we arrived home from church to finish lunch prep, there sat my smallest crock pot. It had been plugged in. But had its owner turned it on? No she had not.

Well shucks. Can’t win ’em all I guess. Lunch that day was a big Nacho Bar, and the cold crock pot was fully cooked taco meat that was supposed to be warm by the time we got home. Nothing a skillet can’t fix in five minutes, right?!

I forgot to take pictures of our fully set out Nacho Bar with it’s chicken, beef, cheese, tomatoes, cilantro, salsa, sour cream, spinach, and chips. It was a tasty lunch! And here’s a picture of the mess after lunch.

Humidity and temps were high that day (and all week) so dinner that night was leftover burgers from last week, rewarmed on the stove plus bowls of cottage cheese with pineapple.

We ate outside, not because the weather was pleasant, but because the kids were all wet. Matt had set up our little pools and a sprinkler for them. We let them all just get wet in their clothes instead of changing to swimsuits. My laundry pile is big enough as it is. :)

Monday morning I made a griddle full of Eggs in a Nest. These are a favorite of our kids! Except for this particular day, two of my kids declared that they didn’t like them. Ugh. I guess these don’t taste good on Mondays?? (Meanwhile, Kiya ate three of them. No one can predict who will eat what.)

I made Beanie Weanies and packed it in Brayden and Kiya’s thermoses for lunch. I left the remainder of the mixture in the pan to rewarm for the four littles at home for lunch.

For dinner that night, I made simple quesadillas with leftover chicken, cheese, and spinach.

We ate them with grapes and we ate in shifts. Everyone was hot and tired after a big, hot day at school. I finished making the quesadillas but then I needed to feed the baby so I just threw food out on the table and let everyone come eat as they realized it was ready. :)

After everyone ate, Matt got the sprinkler set up again so everyone could cool down.

After they played for a while, I brought out some Go-gurts I had frozen. Now, not only were the kids wet and covered in dirt and grass, they were also sticky. Meh, no biggie. We hosed them all down before heading in for the night. :)

Tuesday morning, we ate yogurt and granola before school. After we delivered Brayden and Kiya to the school door, Matt and I walked back with the five littlest and made a plan to find some kind of air conditioned play place so that we could get the kids out of the house. It was 106 degrees that day, but we were going stir crazy. I packed a snack of animal crackers, cheese sticks, and grapes and we loaded up and headed out.

We checked out a fun play place at a church north of town. It’s open to the public all day long. Very cool!

The kids loved running around and playing! Then we sat them down to “snack” on what sort of become their lunch. (Keith and Anna’s bus picks them up for preschool a little after noon, so we feed them early.)

Once we were home and got Keith and Anna sent off to school, Acacia, Josie, and BabyBoy#11 played in the living room while Matt and I dug into the fridge for leftovers for our own lunch. We’ve been given lots of lovely fresh garden produce from church friends and neighbors, and the tomatoes right now are amazing! I warmed up a leftover burger from last week and cut it up with a fresh tomato. Of course we also had our smoothies. ;)

The thought of cooking was not pleasant since it was 106 that day, so I made Chicken Salad Sandwiches with spinach. I cut up a cold watermelon and that was a very refreshing side dish!

After we ate, we took the kids for a surprise treat. We needed another indoor, air-conditioned outing so we found a McDonald’s with an actual Play Place (remember how we tried this before and got let down?!).

We especially loved the cool interactive light table!

Matt downloaded the McD’s app to see what deals we could get. He paid for two cups of ice cream to share and got a free large fry. The kids LOVED this! This amount was perfect for our littles to share, and I think he spent about $5 for everything. And phew, we made it through another hot night with the kids.

Wednesday morning I made eggs, sausage, and toasted buttered bagels for breakfast. Matt headed to York to work on our properties and Elias became my side-kick for the day.

We got Brayden and Kiya to school. Then while Elias stayed in the house with BabyBoy#11, I (bravely or ridiculously?!) took all four of the others outside to “help” me wash our van. It needed a good scrub and getting wet on this super hot day sounded like a good idea.

Keith (age 4) was put in charge of the hose. The girls got washrags to help me scrub. It actually all went quite well for about half and hour. We were all drenched (thank you, Keith) and the van wasn’t perfect but looked better than it did. So we decided it was a win.

We hosed everyone off, changed into dry clothes, drank lots of water, and ate leftover quesadillas cold out of the fridge. Then we put on shoes and went to the library to play with their learning toys. Why did we do this? Air. Conditioning. Plus toys that are different from the toys at our house.

BabyBoy#11 isn’t yet sitting up but this was a good spot to practice.

Three out of five kids melted down before we got all the toys picked up at the library. “Librarian Diane” was absolutely beautiful in how she came and helped. She magically got all three little girls on board to help her pick up blocks while Elias and I dealt unsuccessfully with Keith who was beyond tired. We made it home and tucked all five in for naps. (Preschool was canceled because of the extreme heat. Good timing as these kids needed make-up naps after their big transition into school.)

Dinner that night was straight from the freezer because Mama was tired. I threw nuggets and fries into the air fryer and made a blender full of these smoothies so the kids could drink some spinach with their processed food. ;)

For breakfast Thursday morning, I made this recipe for Chewy Granola Bars x5. These were a huge hit (though we had to eat them in bowls with spoons because I didn’t make them in time to refrigerate/harden them).

Later in the day, after the bars had been in the fridge for several hours, I cut and transferred them to a Pyrex dish for easy-to-grab breakfasts and snacks.

We spent a good part of our morning with one of our Early Development specialists. Our littlest kids, ages 0-3, are serviced by this team for early intervention so that we can get ahead of some of their extra needs. This has been such a gift for our family. Today Keith, Anna, Acacia, and Josie all hovered around the specialist, Bridgette, who had captured their attention with a game. I snuck this picture of them all because they were all being so sweet and fun!

Right after this meeting ended, I had to run off to the elementary school for yet another meeting for another of our kids. As much as we loved our homeschooling years and are prayerfully open to homeschooling again if God leads us to do it, we are so very thankful for all of the necessary resources that the public schools offer for our family to meet our needs right now. We were so cared for in York and we are now being very well cared for in Lincoln.

I got home in time for lunch, frying leftover baked potatoes and serving it with Sunday’s leftover nacho dip and taco meat. I also got out grapes for the kids to squish all over everything eat to their hearts’ content.

The kids are all home from school by 4:00 or a little after, and we sit at the table to get homework done right away so we can get it over with. :/

I’ve found that everyone is super hungry by 4:30 and snacks aren’t going to cut it. So at this point, I’m making very early dinners and then giving everyone a small snack around 6:30 before we start getting ready for bed.

That night I had planned to make a simple meal of this 3-Cheese Spaghetti. But while looking in my freezer for parmesan cheese to go with the recipe, I came across a package of shrimp. Ah, that would be good with the noodles! So I turned the 3-Cheese Spaghetti over to Elias and I made Garlic Butter Shrimp, which was a pretty exciting addition to our meal! I grabbed out bacon crumbles for people to stir into their cheesy spaghetti if they preferred that instead of shrimp, plus made buttered peas and got out watermelon.

Dinner was over by 5:00, haha, so while I worked on dishes, I sent Brayden out to set up the sprinkler for everyone. Today was supposed to be the last of the 106 degree weather, and we knew water was the only way to make it through.

I had corn on the cob in the fridge that we’d bought over the weekend at the farmer’s market and I was concerned that it would go bad if we didn’t get it prepped to eat soon. So after they’d played in the water for a while and cooled off, I took the corn out and had everyone help me get it shucked.

Not understanding that the corn needed to be cooked, Josie and Acacia got excited and helped themselves. ;)

The kids went back to their water play, a neighbor stopped by for a visit, and I somehow managed to give Brayden a much-needed hair cut before we headed in for the night.

Friday morning we had cereal and some of the  Chewy Granola Bars I had made the day before. Brayden had to be at school early because he gets to take part in a Ukulele Ensemble – so fun! Lunch was PB&J, which I always forget to add to our menu and always wonder why I don’t make them more often. But then again, the girls get super messy when eating them so…

Dinner was extra fun because some dear friends came and joined us for the evening. We made the corn on the cob plus a big pot of Stir Fry. (We’ve been so blessed with friends sharing their garden produce with us!)

We’d picked up a cantaloupe at the Farmer’s Market and it was extra sweet.

Breakfast on Saturday morning was French Toast made like this – always a hit!

The temps had finally cooled down, so I took advantage by doing some much-needed (or much-wanted, ha) baking. I thawed all the bananas I’d stashed in our freezer and made this Banana Bread/Muffin recipe x4. I also baked a quadruple batch of these Brownies to share at a church fellowship lunch.

We had big plans for an outing that morning, but the plans got derailed by some immediate issues Matt needed to work on at our Castle. It’s such a fabulous place, but it is a historic home, so the age of the house brings with it some issues. Good thing Matt’s so handy!

The change of plans did not set well with our kids, so while Matt was dealing with house issues, I was dealing with behavior issues. Blech. I’m so thankful for God’s provision for us. I have to rely on Him constantly.

Three hours of exhaustion later, and an hour later than planned, we were able to load up and get out the door. Matt and I were both a bit frazzled, but the outing needed to happen so that the kids had a change of scenery. We went to a super cool “Wordstock” literacy event at a park – everything revolved around reading and books.

There were games on the lawn, and of course, everyone got to take home a new book.

They also all got a balloon. Somehow we managed to get all the balloons home without one blowing away or popping?!?!

I had cooked – wait – I had burned some hotdogs in a big pot before we left (who burns hotdogs??). It sort of worked to hide the black parts by putting them burnt-side down. ;)

We ate them at the park after enjoying Wordstock.

Naptime/Rest time was a welcome event for the parents after a morning with extra needs. :) That afternoon, Matt and I worked together to finish that morning’s house issue project while the kids rested and napped.

Oh, but were they napping??? Or were they just dangerously quiet?

Ah, the face of “innocence.”

I used a pizza kit I had picked up at Costco, along with some sausage I had browned to make pizza that night.

I had browned three pounds of sausage, because why just cook what you need for one meal when you can dirty the same amount of dishes and get extra food cooked for the future?

We bathed the three little girls (Anna’s marker turned the water blue), jammied them up, then took a walk to the Sunken Gardens before bedtime.

We got everyone to bed (after making sure all the markers and pens were properly hidden from toddlers and preschoolers). What a week! God is good and faithful. Hope your week was a good one!

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Big Family Food and Fun: July 30-August 5, 2023

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What does our Big Family Food and Fun look like as July ends and August begins?

Before we dive into the week, here are a few more photos that Kelsey took during last week’s surprise birthday party. She was intentional about getting pictures with me in them, since I am usually taking the pictures and therefore not in them. :)

Friends kept showing up to surprise me all day long. Amazing!

The chip and dip buffet:

I had a hard time winding down that night! What a fantastic day!

Big Family Food and Fun: July 30-August 5, 2023

And now for the new week!

Sunday for lunch I tried Pizza Chicken in the crock pot (usually I make it in the oven). It sort of worked??!? I made 8-pounds of chicken thighs at once, so the middle chicken pieces didn’t get thoroughly cooked while we were at church. We ate what was ready and I finished cooking the under-done pieces in a skillet while we ate the rest. We had green beans, corn, bread/butter, and No-Bake Cookies with our Pizza Chicken.

Sunday evening we were invited to swim at our friends’ house and have dinner with them. We had THE BEST TIME!!!!

There were plenty of adults and teens to help with our littles so they got to have fun in the pool too. Then we ate a delicious feast of Sloppy Joes on homemade slider buns, baked beans, grapes, cucumbers, watermelon, salad, pickles, chips, and Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats. We felt so spoiled!


Monday morning we enjoyed Pumpkin Bread and Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread – both made by friends who gifted them to us. So good!

Here’s how Josie felt about it her chocolate bread breakfast. ;)

We needed to go to the bank to both set up an account and to get some paperwork signed/notarized. So  we figured out a way to do it without taking seven babies into the bank, yikes! I packed grapes, animal crackers, and water or juice for everyone and we headed out.

First we stopped at a park to wear them out a little bit. Then we loaded them back into the van and headed to the bank where I stayed with them and handed out snacks while Matt went in to get our account set up. After wayyyyyy to long (it couldn’t be helped), Matt came out and stayed with the kids while I ran in to do my part. We are thankful that the bank people worked with us and that we could get this necessary business done!

Meanwhile, it was past lunchtime because the bank needs took much longer than we anticipated. So I texted Malachi to throw Chicken Strips into the air fryer so we’d have food right away when we got home. At 12:50, we finally made it back and gave them chicken and canned fruit while I warmed up peas to complete the meal. Naptime didn’t happen until almost 2:00 that day but we sure were thankful to finally have our bank account set up and paperwork taken care of!

Dinner that night was Breakfast – pancakes, scrambled cheese eggs, sausage, bacon, blueberries, and applesauce. This is one of our favorite meals! And having a griddle on my stove is INCREDIBLE. I cranked out a huge amount of pancakes in a very short amount of time. Amazing!

The weather was beautiful that evening so we took another walk to the Sunken Gardens before bedtime.

We finished the Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread on Tuesday morning, plus I got out our apple-peeler-corer-slicer and made apple spirals for the kids. (This is actually faster than slicing them and the kids love it!) They ate the apples with our favorite “caramel cheese” so breakfast seemed like a real treat!

Matt kept all the kids occupied outside of the kitchen after breakfast because after eating chocolate bread – I desperately needed to sweep and mop. Then we packed a lunch and headed to the zoo for our morning outing. I used the rest of our leftover smoked chicken from last week to make Chicken-Ranch-Spinach Melts.

We weren’t sure how this would work since these are hot sandwiches. But I packed our cold side dishes and drinks in one cooler with ice. Then I packed the hot sandwiches in a separate insulated lunch bag. I toasted the sandwiches in our air fryer at 10:30 and at noon when we ate at the park, the sandwiches were still hot. Amazing! Now we know!

Flamingos are our favorite. Watch the video here to learn why.

Each time we go to the zoo (we have a membership and we live six blocks away so we can go as often as we are able), we choose something different to “feature” for the kids so that every trip is special. This time it was the Dino Dig. We chose a table by the digging area so that the kids could play and then eat when they were ready. The hot sandwiches were a hit, plus we had applesauce, chips and salsa, and juice.

We headed home and put littles down for a nap then I headed to Costco. I underestimated how long my shopping would take – and how many carts I would fill. Phew. Every time I’m buying food or clothes I’m struck by the reality of how many kids I have. You’d think I’d be used to it by now, haha.

I needed many basics, plus I was getting items for our kids’ lunchboxes for first couple of weeks back to school. Plus I needed diapers, and the yogurt was on sale, and….

I was an hour later than planned getting home. Matt had fed the kids leftovers for dinner but it didn’t matter. They were screaming and extra needy anyway. We somehow unloaded all the groceries while holding very loud children.

All said and done, I spent $653 for Costco groceries and we are well stocked up, at least for a few days before we run out of fresh produce again. :)

Wednesday morning Matt and and Elias headed to York to work on our houses there. Malachi was my side-kick all day, helping me with littles. I had an at-home 9:00 meeting for our littlest kids. Then at 10:30 we decided that a fun morning outing would be McDonald’s Play Place. Malachi’s app told us that we could buy nuggets for a good deal so I told the kids that everyone would have a fun snack of 2 chicken nuggets each and that we’d play and come home and bake pizzas.

Good idea, Mom.

Except – do McDonald’s Play Places not exist anymore??? It’s a been a long time since I’ve looked for one. My phone told me there was a Play Place so we drove to that location. But in fact, there was no Play Place. Moving on to Plan B…

Malachi still grabbed nuggets, we handed everyone their tiny 2-nugget snack to eat in their car seats, and we headed to the Scheels to enjoy their Play Place. Phew.

Oh but did I mention that our wagon broke while we were in there?! Good grief.

The kids had a great time playing, Malachi grabbed himself some frisbee golf discs, and we headed home – much later than intended. Too late to bake pizzas before having screaming children who had become hangry.

Soooo, when we got home I told the kids to wash hands, get a drink of water, and meet me at the table for fun sliced apples. We scooped out peanut butter for them to eat with their apples, I found leftover pancakes to warm up with butter, and that was lunch. THEN IT WAS NAPTIME, thank you Jesus.

Oh wait. It was not naptime. I had missed the fact that the three little girls had been taking turns smearing their peanut butter in each others’ hair. Oh no they hadn’t. Oh yes they had. I took them to the sink at stuck their head under the water to clean their hair the best I could. And then it was naptime. Wet hair and all.

That afternoon I experienced something new…

Grocery Delivery

After yesterday’s crazy Costco shopping trip I decided to see how I could make grocery shopping easier to meet our family’s needs. So I put in an Aldi order and took advantage of a Free Delivery deal.

Having my groceries delivered to my door? AWESOME. But will I do it again? I’m not sure. Probably not??

While shopping, I noticed that Aldi’s online prices were all higher than in-store prices. This is the case for both pick-up and delivery. With the high volume of items I need to buy, it will not be worth it to pay the extra amount per every item. Anyone have experience with Aldi pick-up or delivery? Any tips for how to save? Or should I skip it and just shop in the store somehow each week?

Is it still only Wednesday?

Thank goodness for afternoon rest times. I enjoyed some down-time (sitting with my feet up  and uploading pictures of all of our food, hehe) then got ready for company. I was so excited about this because friends from York were coming for dinner. Kelsey happened to be free to join us and I’m not sure if you know this, but she is a professional watermelon-cutter-upper. That’s always her job when she comes. ;)

There were 22 of us for dinner that night and it was magical. We smoked two different kinds of brats and ate them with salad, watermelon, grapes, oranges, carrots, chips, No-Bake Cookies, and Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars. (<— awww, I wrote this when Asa was only 15.) We enjoyed our visit so much!!

I was visiting with our guests, the bigger littles were playing outside with their kids and our neighbors, and it was getting close to bedtime. Kelsey grabbed the three little girls and gave them a bath to get the rest of the peanut butter out of their hair. Bless. Then Kelsey, along with guests Julie and Emma put them girls down for the night. This was such a precious scene as they said goodnight and headed to bed…

Thursday was my big birthday. :) Just like the day before, I had meetings all morning for our little ones (The Early Childhood Development team is highly involved with our kids ages 0-3 because they are all at high risk and need early intervention. We met with them frequently in York and now we are getting set up with our new team in Lincoln. Lots of meetings later, we are almost ready to roll!)

While I was in our living room filling out paperwork and answering questions, Matt and the kids made a picnic lunch for us. They made Chicken Salad and put it on croissants for sandwiches, plus packed applesauce and chips. I had splurged on Kirkland’s Organic Chocolate Milk for a special treat for picnics but none of the kids enjoyed them very much. A bummer, but now I know not to buy them again. :)

After we ate, the kids ran around the park and attempted to climb a tree.

After naps, they put together a special show for me for my birthday, hahaha.

Elias cooked and perfectly seasoned the shaved beef steak I had gotten in our Aldi delivery, then everyone else worked together to put together a buffet for Steak Nachos for my birthday dinner. All the Bigs were able to join so all 15 of us were together – just what I wanted for my birthday!

My nacho bowl was so delicious!! Cilantro, white queso, seasoned steak, corn, black beans, garden tomatoes, and chips. It was a perfect birthday meal.

Ah, but then there was cheesecake!!

After we ate, we headed outside to hang out.

Kelsey taught me how to play Cornhole. Super fun!

It was a great birthday!

Friday morning we ate cereal and bananas, then headed to a bookstore that was featuring a Reptile Storytime.

We ended up being there with several families from church which was a fun surprise! Most of our kids were brave enough to pet the snakes. :)

Since we were already out and about, we found a park that we hadn’t tried out yet and ate the rest of the Chicken Salad on croissants and No Bake Cookies with juice and clementines. But oooops. This park didn’t have bathrooms, which is a no-go with this many kids! We cut our picnic short and came home so that we could make a mess of food all over our kitchen floor. I mean, so that some of the kids could potty while we finished lunch in our kitchen. :)

For dinner that night I decided that I wanted NO DIRTY DISHES (or drama), so I threw a bunch of chicken nuggets into the air fryer and made these smoothies. Disposable plastic cups with fun straws for the win!

Malachi had made himself a pizza for lunch and the cardboard circle was still on the counter. So that became my fancy serving tray for the nuggets. Nice, eh? The kids ate outside while playing because the weather was wonderful.

Meanwhile, Justus had been coming back and forth all day working with our smoker to made his delicious ribs for some buddies that night. Brayden was his side-kick, which is good beyond what I can express. Our little kids need our bigger kids pouring into them like this. Thank you, God, for moving us to Lincoln so that we could be together in these ways. We all need this.

Acacia gave up on her straw and went all in, drinking her smoothie like a big girl.

Plan B again

If we’ve learned anything we’ve learned that we can make plans, but they almost always need to change.

Saturday morning we had plans to go to Walmart to get a few school supplies and some of our WIC items for the month, especially formula for BabyBoy#11. But, the roofers we’d been waiting on for over a month to come do repairs FINALLY came that morning. So Matt needed to spend time with them, pushing back our plans.

By 11am we were finally able to get out the door, and we decided we needed to work our plans out differently. I put together a snack of animal crackers, applesauce pouches, and cheese sticks and we made our way to the store. All the kids stayed in the the van with Matt and he handed out snacks while I ran into Walmart and hurried as fast as I could to get everything we needed. It wasn’t a very fun outing for the kids, but at least the necessary shopping got done.

I forgot to take any pictures, sorry! I got formula, cereal, juice, cheese, yogurt, frozen hashbrowns, spring mix, spinach, grapes, pears, bananas, strawberries, plus a few packs of glue sticks, crayons, and pencils. Matt and the kids were hanging in there in the van, bless. We unloaded groceries as fast as we could when we got home then quickly warmed up leftover brats and served them with watermelon before naptime.

We made fresh green beans from our friends’ garden that night plus corn on the cob. I put a bunch of Burritos from our freezer into the air fryer to heat up while the veggies cooked and that was dinner. (By the way, make these burritos to have on hand for nights you don’t feel like or have time for cooking. They are so great!)

This was my view of dinner from the corner of the room where I sat feeding BabyBoy#11.

We just have one more week before school starts. We are both excited and sad that summer break ends and a school year begins. When do your kids start their school year again?

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What to Make When It’s Too Hot to Make Dinner

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Sometimes it’s just too hot to make dinner. Here are 20+ ideas for what to make and serve to your family!

I love to cook. I love the heat. I love summer. I love sunshine. I actually love to be hot. But even I get to a point where I don’t feel like cooking when it’s super hot outside.

And while our kids play hard all day and work up big appetites, their food preferences change when they’re hot. None of us want a heavy hot casserole or steamy pot of stew, right?

So if you, like me, need a list of ideas for meals you can serve when it’s too hot to cook, I’ve compiled one. I basically created this on an unusually hot day in April when nothing sounded good. :) I started to brainstorm and THIS LIST is what sounded good!

What to Make When It’s Too Hot to Make Dinner

  1. Cottage Cheese with Fruit (pineapple is our favorite, and peaches are a close second)
  2. Peanut Butter Banana Toast with a side of Fresh Fruit
  3. Yogurt Granola Parfaits (set them up as a build-your-own like this)
  4. Lunchmeat, Cheese, Veggie, and, Fruit Tray
  5. Smoothies and Muffins (if I’m lucky, I have muffins in the freezer so that I don’t have to bake)
  6. Scrambled Egg Sandwich (which requires a little bit of cooking, but it’s not so much that we want to cry, right?)
  7. Beef Hotdogs and Watermelon (again, this takes a little cooking but the meal is easy and refreshing)
  8. Chicken Salad on Crackers with Veggies and Fruit or a Smoothie
  9. Tuna Salad on Bread or Buns with Veggies and Fruit or a Smoothie
  10. Meat and Cheese Wraps with Spinach on a Tortilla with a side of Fruit
  11. Rotisserie Chicken (they cost $4.98 at Sam’s and Costco, and you can make any combination of these 12 meals with them!)
  12. Any of these Salads
  13. Or you can Drink Your Salad like Matt and I do (we do this in the winter too, but oh in the summer these are so refreshing!)
  14. Tortilla Pizzas on the grill with Veggies and Fruit
  15. Guacamole with Chips and Smoothies.
  16. Easy Bean and Cheese Salsa Dip with Chips and Fruit
  17. Fruit Tray (watermelon, grapes, berries) with Cheese
  18. Popcorn, Apples, Peanut Butter, Carrots
  19. Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches with Veggies and Fruit (almost too obvious not to mention)
  20. Turkey and Cheese or Ham and Cheese Sandwiches with Veggies and Fruit

What is your go-to meal on a hot day?

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12+ Ways to Use a Rotisserie Chicken as Fast Food

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Use a Rotisserie Chicken as fast food? Oh yes! Here are 12 full meal ideas to work with as you get your creative meal idea juices flowing…

Seeing as Costco and Sam’s offer their delicious Rotisserie Chicken for just $4.98 every single day – we should keep this in mind as a Fast Food option as a way that saves money and provides a healthy meal! Here are some tasty ideas to create a meal with a Rotisserie Chicken:

Ways to Use a Rotisserie Chicken as Fast Food

There are so many different food combinations we can put together to enjoy a rotisserie chicken as a meal! Anything you choose will offer a fast food meal at a fraction of the price compared to ordering take-out at a restaurant. And you can put together some very healthy meal options too!

Look through all the different Rotisserie Chicken meal combinations below. Put these items into your cart, take them home, and put them on your table. Or, how about taking any of these to the park for a simple picnic?? So delicious and fun!

Rotisserie Chicken Meal Ideas:

  1. Rotisserie Chicken, Caesar Salad Mix, Fresh Strawberries
  2. Rotisserie Chicken, Croissants, Romaine Lettuce, Grapes (at home, grab out mayo, mustard, and ranch to complete your sandwiches)
  3. Rotisserie Chicken, Potato Salad, Pickles, Blackberries
  4. Rotisserie Chicken, Mixed Greens, Sliced Cheese, Crackers, Watermelon (enjoy salad dressing that you already have in your fridge with your mixed greens)
  5. Rotisserie Chicken, Hawaiian Rolls with butter, Coleslaw, Grapes
  6. Rotisserie Chicken, Baby Carrots with Hummus, Veggie Straws, Cherries
  7. Rotisserie Chicken, Tortilla Chips with Guacamole, Grape Tomatoes, Sliced Melon
  8. Rotisserie Chicken, Baked Beans, Fruit and Veggie Tray
  9. Rotisserie Chicken, Pasta Salad, Cherry Tomatoes, Fruit Cups
  10. Rotisserie Chicken, Tortilla Chips with Salsa, Olives, Pickles, Peaches
  11. Rotisserie Chicken, Tomato Soup, Cheese and Crackers, Pears
  12. Rotisserie Chicken, Steamed Veggies, Rolls with Butter, Cuties

Mix and Match any combination of these, or add anything else you find that looks good! Simply grab a Rotisserie Chicken (or two if you have a large family, pick up some simple sides, and you have a quick, easy, and healthy meal!

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January 2023 Groceries and Meals We Ate

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Here’s a look at our groceries and meals we ate in January!

The first part of January is a bit of a blur and I didn’t cook much because our church family brought meals to us for over a week. Why? Because this happened:

We were blessed to welcome home a baby sibling to some of our current foster/adopted kids. This little guy is so sweet and gets at least 4,000 kisses every day.

January 2023 Groceries and Meals We Ate

With a newborn in the house, it didn’t work for me to make my normal monthly trip to Lincoln for a big grocery haul from Costco and Sam’s. So instead, I opted for two big pick-ups from Walmart. The first one was the largest I’ve ever ordered!

This order cost $750.
I got chicken, hamburger meat, ham, lunch meat, frozen hashbrowns, $150+ worth of fresh and frozen fruits and veggies, shredded cheese, cheese slices, sausage patties, salad kits for Elias and Malachi, cream, butter, sour cream, bread, buns, bagels, and chips.

I also splurged on some convenience items since Matt and I aren’t getting quite enough sleep at night right now. This has been well worth it so that when our hands are full we can have Malachi bake some pizzas or throw nuggets into the air fryer.

When I got home from the store that day, none of our big kids were available and Daddy was holding Baby, but all six of our other littles pitched in to bring in groceries and put food away. It was so cool to see them all so eager to help! Even our 1-year-old got in on the action. (I couldn’t get a good picture of all of them helping because they were all moving around and trying not to trip over bags!)

It took over an hour to put all the food away, but we sure were stocked up again!

Instead of putting away all the meat I had bought, I decided to make a few meals to try and get ahead for the next couple of weeks.

I put an entire package of chicken thighs into a big casserole dish and made Pizza Chicken (forgetting the cheese before placing the pepperoni, oops!). I put this into the fridge to bake that week. That made dinner so easy that night!

My 7-year-old helped me crack about 2 dozen eggs into baking dishes. I whipped them, then baked them in the oven for half an hour. I put cheese on top right away, which melted. Then I built 23 egg, cheese, and sausage breakfast sandwiches for our freezer. This has been awesome for early before-school breakfasts for five of our kids!

Meanwhile, instead of freezing the 5-pounds of ground beef I had brought home, I cooked it in a big pot. I packaged it up in separate containers, one for tacos later in the week, one for whatever I needed in the future (which I froze), then I added chili ingredients to the rest of the meat in the pot. We ate the Chili with grapes and strawberries for lunch after church the next day. SO EASY and nice to come home to a hot meal ready to eat.

A few nights later we baked our Pizza Chicken, which I served with broccoli, corn, strawberries, and oranges. While waiting for their plates to be fixed, six of our littles stood at the counter and finished off an entire 5-pound bag of oranges! I couldn’t keep up with slicing them! :)

One morning for breakfast, I toasted some bagels and served them with Warm Chocolate Soother. I forgot to take a picture until the kids had almost finished eating everything.

I spent a few minutes one morning slicing 3 pounds of cheese for easy snacks.

A super easy meal one night was BBQ Chicken Legs, baked potatoes, and peas. This tasted soooooo good!

All month long our family passed around a lovely variety of illnesses. One night when Malachi finally had an appetite again, I made him a plate with warmed pumpkin muffins with melted butter, a sliced apple, and a peach cup. Best thing he ever tasted, so he said. :)

I invested in a handy gadget to make our own healthier and much less-expensive Uncrustables. My daughter-in-law, Eva, spent some time helping me make a bunch for the freezer so I can pull them out for kids’ lunchboxes.

She threw all the scraps into a pyrex dish and I used them to make Easy Bread Pudding. This was so great because nothing went to waste and then I had breakfast ready to bake the next morning!


Mid-month, our kids had two snow days home from school. We took advantage by making some extra fun foods. I had some pre-made pizza crusts in the freezer, so one day I let all the kids make their own mini-pizzas.

The next day we made these Snowflake Quesadillas.

When the four littlest were napping, I trudged outside and got a big bowl full of clean snow. We made Snow Ice Cream, which was sooooo much fun because Grandma was there to join us for a few days! The littles had never tried Snow Ice Cream, and they loved it. I made a bowl for Elias and Malachi also, which was extra fun because it reminded them of their childhood days. :)

Matt and I were blessed to have a night away at a church retreat (we took Baby with us) while Grandma and big brothers/sisters-in-law and a few others came to help hold down the fort. It took a lot of effort to prepare for our get-away so I was thankful for the bag of Chili in the freezer which I thawed and warmed for a meal the night before we left.


I also put in a second Walmart pickup order for the month so everyone would have easy food to eat while we were gone.

The retreat was wonderful and everyone back home had a great time with their caretakers. We brought home a huge bag of miniature candy bars (leftover from the snack table at the retreat), so I used them up one Sunday when we served a meal to young adults at church. Candy Bar Cheesecake anyone?

Prepping for the meal was made easier because one of our daughters-in-law has been coming once a week to help me. She helped me prep three huge cheesecakes on the Friday before the Sunday meal. So thankful!

Sunday meal and fellowship, a fantastic time!

I’ve been using my crock pot more since Baby came, and Spicy Ham and Potato Soup is one of my favorite easy meals to make in the morning. It cooks itself all day and is ready to eat at night.

I had picked up a 7.5-pound pork roast that had been marked down to $1.69/pound. So I put it in the crock pot to cook one day and then shredded it to pull out and use for these meals. Have you tried this yet: Make 5 Meals with 1 Pork Roast?? I love this inexpensive meal deal!

I had also found a great mark down on ground beef so I cooked it all and made a big batch of Sloppy Joes.

Maybe I’ll never pay full price for meat again?? It’s pretty great to find these deals!

Another markdown I found was these 1/2 pound burger patties. Even with the markdown, it still felt like a splurge to buy these. So I used them to make Hamburger Steak one night with mashed potatoes and veggies. It was a higher maintenance meal (with toddlers tugging on my legs) so by the time I had the meal completed, I didn’t remember to take pictures and I was reminded why I stick to Simple Meals right now. :) :) :)

On the last Saturday of the month, I made a huge pile of pancakes and scrambled a dozen and a half eggs. I don’t make pancakes much anymore so the kids (and the hubby) were thrilled!

The Uncrustables Eva had earlier in the month made were such a hit (and so nice to have in the freezer!) that I made twenty more at the end of the month.

Therefore I had a lot of crusts again and made another Easy Bread Pudding to bake on a Sunday morning for everyone to eat before church.

It was a great month with great eats!

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Easy Meals for Christmas Break

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The kids are home. They eat a lot. We need easy meals for Christmas break. Here are my ideas!

First, I know it’s cold outside but we’ve all been eating too much sugar, am I right? Let’s make everyone some spinach-filled smoothies. Yes, these have sugar in them too. But they also have spinach, so it’s a win. (Turn on a space heater while sipping these cold, but necessary, drinks!)

If you drink these out of a Christmas Mug they taste better. Scientific fact.

Easy Meals for Christmas Break

Beyond the beloved smoothies, here are some meals my kids love and eat well when they play hard all day! By the way, have you found some good indoor places to take your kids to run around so they get their energy out even while it’s cold outside? Looking for ideas!

Here are meals our kids love:

1. Sloppy Joes

2. Beanie Weanies

3. Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with Tomato Soup 

You can make grilled cheese in the waffle iron for a fun twist on this meal!

4. Pizza 

5. Quesadillas (made like Snowflakes or made like this with extra protein)

6. Chili with cheese, Fritos, and sour cream

7. White Chicken Chili

Sometimes, my kids eat this as a dip with tortilla chips.

French Toast with fruit and sausage or bacon

Pizza Chicken

Here’s hoping your Christmas break is enjoyable and relaxing as you spend great time with your family!

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Meals I’m Making with my Grocery Haul

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I recently shared details about all the groceries I bought in April. Some have asked, “What meals do you make with all of these groceries?” So I decided to give you a peek into what I’ve done with all this food!

If you’d like to see more specifics about what I bought and how much I spent (oy!), you can do that here.

 

First, did you see that I bought quite a few boxes of prepared snacks at Costco and Sam’s? Yep, it’s soccer season! I used all of the following groceries for snacks either to take to the ball field or on stroller walks for the littles:

  • Granola Bites
  • Yogurt Squeezies
  • Heavenly Hunk Snacks
  • Fruit Bars
  • Gogurt
  • Applesauce Squeezies

Next, it can be assumed that all of the fresh fruits and veggies I pick up throughout the month serve as snacks between meals or as side dishes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Along with frozen veggies, I typically keep these on hand as much as possible:

  • Mixed Greens
  • Spinach
  • Broccoli
  • Petite Carrots
  • Blueberries
  • Strawberries
  • Clementines
  • Pears
  • Apples
  • Grapes

Now, here’s an idea of some of the meals I put together with some of groceries I bought in April:

  1. I used the canned chicken and croissants that I got at Costco to make a meal of Chicken Salad on croissants with spinach.
  2. I used the Cinnamon Streusel Bread from Costco along with eggs from our neighbor to make french toast. SOOO good.
  3. We marinated the chicken thighs in barbecue sauce, then threw the chicken on the smoker. This is one of our favorite meals!
  4. Usually, on Fridays, we make a simple meal of chicken nuggets and fries in our Air Fryer. We call this “French Fry Friday.” But I also call it “Mom’s Night Off.”
  5. We used the pizza-making-kit to have a fun pizza night. Everyone loved this!
  6. The loaves of bread I bought were used to make quick sandwiches. All of the adults in our family often need to eat on the run, so it’s good that I keep bread and lunchmeat on hand for them. Also, about once each week we make peanut butter sandwiches for lunch for the little ones.
  7. I also used a loaf of bread along with the sliced cheese to make a meal of grilled cheese sandwiches. I served it with tomato soup, which I already had on hand, and fruits and veggies.
  8. I plan to use the Tilapia for fish tacos soon!
  9. I baked the package of hamburger patties and put together burgers for all of us to eat while watching Malachi play a soccer game one evening. We went through almost the entire package of 18 burgers that night because an outing like that calls for all hands on deck!

That’s some of us at a recent soccer game. :)

Snacks I made with these groceries

  1. I used the almond butter from Costco to make two big batches of Snickerdoodle Cookie Dough Bites. I love having these on hand for the kids to eat. (I already had honey and coconut flour to use in this recipe.)
  2. I used the baking ingredients to make muffins. We eat muffins like crazy at our house, working our way through these recipes.
  3. I use all of the mixed greens and frozen fruit to make our daily smoothies. (Like this for the grown-ups. Like this for the kids.)

Justus College Graduation Party

Our Justus graduated from college at the end of April. We had a “Fire Pit Party” so much of the food I’d picked up from Costco or Sam’s was set aside for this gathering. I filled in some gaps with a last-minute Walmart pickup order.

  • Hotdogs, Brats, and Buns
  • Boxes of Individual Chips
  • Potato Salad
  • Grapes
  • Strawberries with Cream Cheese Parfait
  • Small water bottles

Stay tuned for a post coming soon that shares the cost breakdown for some of these meals!

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The Easiest Way to Make Hamburgers

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This really is the easiest way to make hamburgers. I’ll grill them in the summertime, otherwise I will forevermore do this!

The Easiest Way to Make HamburgersYum

Short answer: Bake them.

Not because we’re afraid to fry them. But because we don’t want to stand at the stove to fry them. It’s messy. It takes maintenance. We don’t have time to maintain our patties, am I right? The patties must maintain themselves.

I love buying a package of hamburger patties at Costco. I set them out all afternoon and they are semi-thawed by 4ish. I cover two cookie sheets with parchment paper and place the partially thawed patties on the pan.

I bake them at 350 for about an hour. If I remember, I flip them all over halfway through their baking time. But if I don’t, I don’t. Why? Because we don’t have time to maintain our patties. Our patties must maintain themselves.

Now. My pictures are ugly. These patties do not look done, but they are done and you’ll be able to tell that your patties are done with they are sizzly and brown.

Right out of the oven, I put some sliced cheese on the hot patties for those who prefer cheeseburgers. Some in my family like Colby jack. Some like pepper jack. I like mine cheeseless.

Dinner is served with burger fixins, fries in our air fryer, carrot sticks, pickles, and baked beans.

Leftover patties (if there are any) warm up quickly for lunches, and I’ve been known to pull one out of the fridge and eat it cold when I simply need sustenance. Apparently, not only do I have time to maintain my patties, but I barely have time to maintain myself. So a cold leftover burger patty fills my belly. With a glass of this, of course. :)

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