Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Meals to Make for Picky Eaters

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Have picky eaters at your house? Here are some meal ideas that will hopefully please everyone!

I’ve found that with this many to feed each day (we currently have 10 regular eaters at our house), it’s almost impossible to please everyone at every meal. This doesn’t mean that I become a short-order chef and make different food to make everyone happy. No way.

But there are some very easy ways to set out meal options and let people build their plates the way they like. Here are some examples!

Meals to Make for Picky Eaters

1. Baked Potatoes

I bake a crock pot full of potatoes like this. Then I put out a variety of toppings for people to choose from like:

  • Chili
  • Diced Ham
  • Bacon Bits
  • Cheese
  • Sour Cream
  • Butter
  • Steamed Peas
  • Steamed Broccoli

Our littlest will eat a buttered potato with diced ham and peas or broccoli on the side. Our seven-year-old won’t eat the potato but will eat a bowl of chili with cheese. Our nine-year-old will eat any or all of this. Our adults eat loaded potatoes with any variety of these toppings. AND EVERYONE IS HAPPY. Especially me. :)

2. Chili

Unfortunately, not everyone at our house likes chili. But if I make a pot of chili with hot dogs or baked potatoes, each person can make a meal from this that they will enjoy. Here are some options:

  • Chili in a bowl with cheese and sour cream and fritos, or
  • Chili over a hot dog with cheese, or
  • Just a baked potato with fixins, or
  • Just a hot dog with fixins

Again, everyone is happy.

3. Nacho/Burrito Bar

This is one of my favorite go-to meals for our large family. I can set out tortillas and/or chips along with the following fillings/toppings and everyone builds their plate or bowl the way they like.

4. Pizza

This one is simple, especially if you already have pizza crust frozen and ready to pull out out of the freezer for a quick meal. For our family, I make three to six pizzas, depending on how many of our grown kids will be home for the meal. I make a variety of pizzas with different toppings, making sure I have something that everyone likes!

Some with just cheese, some with meat and cheese only, and some with meat, cheese, and veggies.

5. Healthy Snack Meal

Our former foster son, age 4, visits regularly and is an extremely picky eater. While the rest of us eat the meal I prepared, here are some food choices I’ll offer him:

  • Spinach-Filled Smoothies (how amazing that our pickiest eaters will guzzle these down!)
  • Colby Jack Cheese
  • Fruit (he eats just about any fruit I have on hand)
  • Muffins (I try to keep pumpkin, apple, or zucchini muffins on hand so that the muffins I give him are more nourishing.)
  • Mudballs (I make batches x8 of these about every two weeks because our littles love them and they are great for snacks.)

TIP: I always serve each meal with a variety of fruit and veggie side dishes for people to choose from, so that helps accommodate picky eaters too. Here’s more detail about how this works at our house.

What are your go-to meals for picky eaters?

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Big Family Food: How to Use Produce Before it Goes Bad

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Here are some suggestions for how to use produce before it goes bad!

Obviously, my biggest tip is: EAT IT.

Great post. See ya next time.

But I actually have a few other tips too, simply because I realized that as I regularly buy my big family such a large amount of fresh produce, I also have a system for how we eat it all up to avoid anything going bad. If only everything could be turned into banana bread like over-ripe bananas!

First, a look at my produce selections

I frequently buy a large quantity of fresh fruits and veggies each time I go to the store. My hauls look something like:

Typically, I load my carts with:

  • Berries
  • Apples
  • Bananas
  • Clementines
  • Pears
  • Grapes
  • Mixed Greens
  • Nectarines
  • Kiwi
  • Carrots
  • Broccoli
  • Potatoes
  • Onions
  • Cucumbers
  • Whatever is in season and for sale at a good price

How to Use Produce Before it Goes Bad

We usually go through what you see in each of those pictures in about a week or a week and a half. Here’s my system to eat it before it goes bad:

  1. We eat the berries first. These are the most sensitive and tend to go bad quickly. We try to eat all of our berries within just two days, and usually, it’s not a problem because we love berries! If they do begin to go bad, I freeze them for smoothies so that they don’t go to waste.
  2. We start on the grapes next. They’ve stayed good in the fridge while we’ve worked our way through the berries. If they begin to get squishy, I freeze them for smoothies.
  3. Mixed greens get eaten within a week, otherwise they get slimy. We go through two pounds every week by eating them in these smoothies and these. So they almost never have a chance to go bad at our house.
  4. We’ve been eating on the bananas all along, but we never feel urgency to eat them quickly because we love over-ripe bananas in smoothies and muffins. Sometimes I buy extras just so we’ll have enough to use in these recipes. ;)
  5. Clementines are also being served all throughout the week after the berries are finished off. We find that they taste best if eaten within one week, but sometimes they last longer. If they start to get hard (or mushy), I peel and freeze them for smoothies like this.
  6.  Meanwhile, the pears, kiwi, and nectarines have ripened and are ready to eat. We start slicing these to put on our plates at every meal. If we can’t get through all the nectarines before they turn mushy, I slice and freeze them for smoothies.
  7. The potatoes, broccoli, carrots, onions, and cucumbers have kept just fine, so we just use these as needed without much worry.
  8. The apples are usually just fine too, although we have found that if we haven’t eaten them in a few days, they stay crispier if we refrigerate them. If we do happen to have any grainy apples, I blend them and make Applesauce Bread.

What do we do when the produce has run out and we haven’t made it back to the store?

We open cans of fruit (in 100% juice) like pears, peaches, and pineapple. This gets us through until we can make a run to the store.

What about other veggies?

We keep frozen green beans and peas in the freezer at all times. That way, if I’m out of fresh vegetables, I can quickly steam something from the freezer.

What do you do to keep produce from going bad?

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Big Family Food: The Great Compromise (Is that Frozen Pizza?)

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As we begin our Big Family Food series, I thought it would be wise if I shared what might seem to be “The Great Compromise.” Why? Because as I share our current Big Family Food journey, you will see items in my grocery cart that might shock you. I shall now take a moment to explain myself.

I could sum up my food journey right now with this:

  1. I used to care deeply about the free-range chicken. (2004)
  2. I began to question if I should care so much about the free-range chicken. (2010)
  3. I started to care quite a bit less about the free-range chicken. (2018)
  4. I couldn’t care less about the free-range chicken. (2021)
  5. I have completely run out of chicken. (Real-time update)

We now have ten kids. We eat a lot and the needs are many. Food needs? Well, sure. But beyond that, the emotional needs. The spiritual needs. And I guess it’s even worth mentioning the laundry needs. Goodness, the diapers. Also the dishes.

So at this point, I’ve completely revamped my priorities, mostly because I have no choice. We have four kids under the age of three so I do almost everything one-handed. If I even think about rolling out and cooking all of our tortillas right now, I will have a melt-down (man, they were delicious though). Also, did I use to make our own mozzarella? What in the actual world?

Do I even care about healthy food anymore?

I don’t know. I guess. But in some ways, I almost feel like I should apologize for ever talking about it and making it a big deal. Hear me out.

Is it important to try and stay healthy? Absolutely. Is what we put in our mouths important to our health? So very important. Is it good to be informed and educated and to do our best when it comes to healthy eating? Sure.

I’m really glad that I know what I know. Like – I’m glad I know that hydrogenated oils are bad. I know that butter and coconut oil is good. I know that high fructose corn syrup and msg are bad. I know that vegetables and fruits are good. So I have a good framework in my kitchen for ingredients that are of the real food, nourishing variety.

But I no longer overthink our food and I no longer worry over every ingredient, nor do I make everything from scratch like I used to. I don’t have time or energy and I actually don’t really care anymore. I mean, I do. Like, sort of – as in I’ll never buy margarine or fruit loops. While I think it’s important to teach my kids about healthy eating habits and good food choices, we have very little space for that right now.

  • Our kids need to know how much God loves them. How much we love them.
  • Our kids need security and safety.
  • Our kids need to be held and kissed and rocked.
  • Sometimes, our kids really need a bath and sometimes I have to actually get out my broom and sweep my floor. With one hand. So.

My Big Family Food life is very different from my Regular-Sized Family Food life of 2009.

From 2004-2014 I was very focused on all things healthy. Healthy food, healthy supplements, healthy cleaners. ALL GOOD THINGS. Praise God for all these good things and for people who know about them and teach us about them! I have friends who are my go-to people for all these good things.

But I used to spend more time learning “how to soak my grains” than I did learning “what it means to live through the Holy Spirit.” Soaking my grains (and making my mozzarella) made me anxious and fearful (was I doing it all right? What if I gave my family cancer because I wasn’t doing it right?!). Learning to live through the Holy Spirit is making me free. 

I’m choosing now to live in freedom, and I hope you are too. This means that you might be a free, joy-filled, Holy Spirit living, grain soaking, mozzarella cheese maker!!! I think this is fantastic!

As for me and my house, we will not soak the grains and we will buy the cheese at the store. I will even buy it pre-shredded – in bulk – and I will not feel bad about this.

What is Our Great Compromise?

We buy a lot of food that is different from what I ever used to buy, but I don’t actually consider it to be a compromise. It’s simply a new way of life for us because our entire life is different now. Many days we are simply trying to survive and get the children fed (frozen pizza and beef hotdogs). Other days I have a little more time and make full meals (but just this kind because “more time” doesn’t mean “lots of time”).

As I begin to share my grocery hauls with you, you’ll see:

  • Frozen pizza
  • White flour buns
  • Bags of French fries (that we cook in an air fryer, which is SO YUM)
  • Bags of chicken nuggets
  • Boxes of mac and cheese
  • Other frozen prepared food
  • Boxes of crackers
  • Who knows what else

You’ll also see:

  • Lots of fresh veggies and fruit
  • Lots of frozen veggies and fruit
  • Lots of canned fruit, fruit cups, and applesauce pouches in 100% juice
  • Whole grains like brown rice, oats, and wheat
  • REAL BUTTER (do you even know me at all?!)
  • Coconut oil, honey, real maple syrup, and other real food baking ingredients
  • Whole milk products like yogurt, cottage cheese, and well, whole milk (we also still get raw farm milk but not enough for our family’s needs right now)
  • Grass-fed beef and wait for it…
  • The occasional free-range chicken

What?! Well, sometimes. I mean, if I have the funds and the grocery source, I’ll grab that good meat. And if I can’t? If there’s only “regular beef” and “whats-it chicken?” Well, it’s still meat and I refuse to overthink or even underthink it. I don’t even actually think about it at all. We simply need to eat and I need to get out of the meat section to get home to my family. I buy the meat. We cook the meat. We eat the meat.

Love wins

Thank God for freedom! Thank God for you, this community here! And thank God for these mixed-green smoothies that I drink every single day because they give me more nourishment on the fly than I could ever get any other way, woot!

Stay tuned for more Big Family Food posts, where I share all about how I make food for our big family!

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Join our Real Moms Cooking Community!

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This is for all the moms (and aunts, friends, sisters, and grandmas) behind and in front and in the middle of all the daily grind beauty of every day. Introducing the Real Moms Cooking Community!

Cooking for the family…
While trying to keep up with the family?

What actually is most important?

When it comes to food, so many of us are seeking to:

  • Feed our families well
  • Save money on groceries
  • Stop eating out so much
  • Figure out menu planning
  • Spend less time in the kitchen

AND, we want to keep God first. This is vital.

Ummm, balance??

It almost seems impossible to do them all at the same time, right? There’s so much to learn and you and I can’t possibly know or do everything.

Is it possible that this is the missing link? —>

We need each other.

If the 2020 quarantine has taught me anything, it’s that community is so very necessary. So we created an opportunity to find the support, resources, and togetherness that we all need as we ask questions about what is most important as we strive to feed our families.

We want to do it well, and we want to figure out how to balance it all. I don’t have all the answers. Neither do you. But I do know what has worked for me through my 23 years of raising a family so far. And you know what has worked for you during your time raising a family. So I decided:

Why not form a Real Moms Cooking Community where we can work together and share all the recipes, tips, and ideas we’ve learned!

Our Real Moms Cooking Community Package includes:

  • A special 2 week series of emails highlighting topics like grocery budgets, family-friendly recipes, saving time in the kitchen, how to eat out less, and how to make vegetables actually taste good. :)
  • Exclusive access to our brand new Real Moms Cooking Community Facebook Group – so we can all share ideas, tips, and recipes!
  • This incredible packet of fun and practical resources —>

Yep, throughout this series, among all the wonderful tips, links, and information we’ll also send you these fantastic bonus resources:

  • 30-Minute Meals eCookbook – Filled with our favorite real food, family fun recipes that can be on your table within just 30 minutes or less!
  • Simple Kitchen eBook – Loaded with fantastically simple ideas, recipes, and tips to help make your real food kitchen life so easy! Make your own ranch dressing mix, make bacon bits, make and freeze muffin batter – so many wonderful ideas!
  • Real Tips eBook – Here’s where you’ll learn how you really can eat out less, but still have SO MUCH FUN. This eBook will help you save lots of money. Oh, and you’ll learn tips about helping your family eat more fruits and veggies too!
  • Budget-Friendly eGuidebook – Want to save money while living a real food lifestyle? This guidebook is just what you need. You can do this!
  • Printable Recipe Cards – All the recipes in the eBooks can be printed as super cute recipe cards! The fun never ends!

Who is this for?

This community is for everyone. Some of us are stay-at-home moms, some of us work outside the home, some of us work from home, some of us are empty nesters, some of us are new moms, some of us are veteran moms. Some of us carry more than one of those labels, and some of us have both adult children and babies (Laura raises her hand). :)

What do we all have in common? We want to do the best that we can to care for our families!

Certainly, all women are welcome, moms or not. Shucks, men can even join! But this community and its contents are geared toward guiding women who are regularly cooking for a family. It’s a big job and we can work together to do it well!

Real Moms Cooking Community Goals:

  • Add new quick and simple recipes to your regular rotation that your family will love
  • Find ways to save time in the kitchen
  • Discover great tips for saving money on groceries
  • Learn simple ways to eat out less
  • Add more fruits and veggies into your meals
  • Gain tips for making menu planning easier
  • Support one another!

Ok, ready to join us?

Purchase your package below and let’s get started! We’ll hang out via email and Facebook. We’ll share the best of the best tips and ideas, recipes, and encouragement! You’ll love every email and all the bonuses that are included!

Let’s join this community and learn and share together!

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