Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Big Family Food and Fun: April 28-May 4, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: April 28-May 4, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: April 28-May 4, 2024

I had put together an Easy Bread Pudding the day before when I was making a big batch of Uncrustables so I baked it for our Sunday morning breakfast!

I packed lunch for us to eat after church with other families who were staying for a fun Sundaes on Sunday event! I had two loaves of bread worth of Uncrustables, four cans worth of Tuna Salad, and a batch of Cream Cheese Salsa Dip. Plus I packed grapes, chips, bread/buns, and sweet peppers.

Keith was supposed to have a soccer game mid-afternoon also, so I packed oranges for us to eat during the game and juice for the kids to drink on the way home.

Keith was prepared to fight a fire that morning but we packed his soccer gear just in hopes that his Fire Chief duties allowed him to play in his game. :)

During church, we got the inevitable “Your child’s game is canceled due to wet field conditions.” I think he’s had more cancelations than actual games at this point. But that did mean that we could stay longer at our church fellowship event.

Our awesome children’s minister had Sundae supplies set up after lunch for everyone!

Those oranges I cut up for the kids to eat during Keith’s (canceled) game? Not to worry – those got eaten right on our kitchen floor when we got home. BabyBoy#11 even got in on the action – sucking out some juice while his sisters gobbled down the fruit.

For about an hour that afternoon, I got all the kids involved in doing some much-needed house cleaning. Were they excited and did they have good attitudes about this? Not really. But did they learn some life skills and life lessons about working as a family team? Yes.

Keith had the privilege of running our steam mop, so he actually LOVED his job. The kitchen floor looked much better after he was finished!

I warmed up leftover pancakes and sausage for dinner that night. Then, our friends, the Bakers, came over to watch the seven littles for us. We grown-ups all loaded up at met up at a nearby church for a…

Rend Collective Concert!!!

This was a Christmas gift we gave our adult kids and we finally got to enjoy it together!

The entire night was full of powerful worship! While the entire group is extremely talented, we were all especially impressed with the fiddler. And look! We found the fiddler and got a photo with him during intermission!! :)

Ah, but you might not have noticed the fiddler in the above photo because Kelsey is holding a tiny babe. :) Indeed. Justus and Kelsey have recently started to foster this sweetheart. She is beyond precious. :)

Monday morning, I packed the BBQ Pork/Cheese Sandwiches I’d put together the week before plus some bags of chips to send with Matt as he headed to York. Malachi and some friends were meeting up at our old house to clean it out one last time before the new owners started to move in.

Elias and Malorie helped me with the kids all day while Matt was gone. I decided it was a piggy-tail day.

A piggy-tail-BUBBLE day.

I had a big meeting with our Case Worker, Casa, and Foster Care Support Person that morning. BabyBoy#11’s adoption is coming up soon and we got more paperwork completed!

That evening, I smoked 14 Brats and 24 Hotdogs for dinner. I threw out Pickles, Fruit Cups, and Chips plus warmed up leftover Baked Beans. We ate as fast as we could then headed out for Brayden’s Ukulele Concert at school.

I could not stop smiling while he performed. Music brings out the best in him, 100%, and I was praising God the entire time for giving Brayden this area of success. I didn’t get any pictures of his fan club, but there were 14 of us sitting in the crowd cheering him on. :)

Tuesday morning Keith took on the task of washing some dishes. These dishes got very, very clean and also very wet.

Meanwhile, in the living room…

Just before taking them to school, I had Brayden and Kiya come in to the kitchen to scrub potatoes for our dinner that night. I’m working very hard to train the kids to serve our family in various ways.

The day before I had discovered a Lilac Bush in our yard that I didn’t know existed. It reminds me of the lane leading up to  grandparent’s house and the scent took me back to my childhood. I’m so excited we have this! I put some lilacs into a vase and took it into our kitchen for us to enjoy!

Late afternoon, Acacia and Josie snacked on grapes outside at their picnic table.

Dinner that evening was leftover BBQ Chicken from Saturday night plus Crock Pot Baked Potatoes and Steamed Broccoli. I also warmed up leftover Corn from the fridge. I needed to be out the door by 5:00 because Keith had Kindergarten Roundup. So dinner was ready by 4:30 and we started feeding kids in shifts.

In an effort to divide and conquer, Matt stayed home with four kids and I took Keith, Anna, and BabyBoy#11 with me to the elementary school. Keith was very excited and has declared that he is already a kindergartener. :)

We got to meet the kindergarten teachers and Keith made a hat in what might be his classroom next year. Anna made one too, because, why not? And BabyBoy#11 ate some magnatiles. :)

It was still early evening when we got home and everyone was hungry again because we’d had such an early dinner. The snack this tired mom decided to provide for her hungry children? Spoon after spoon of Peanut Butter. It was easy and it filled their bellies!

Matt attempted to mow part of our lawn while the kids played before bedtime. Everything went fine until it was time for me to transition everyone into the house to get ready for bed. That’s when kids started to put grass clippings in each other’s hair and then they all rubbed fresh grass onto their hands, creating grass-stained hands. Things can, and often do, go from calm to crazy in the span of five seconds. But hey, the lawn looks nice and we all survived.

Wednesday morning I baked a batch of Bran Muffins. Notice how I didn’t get the cinnamon stirred in well? That actually ended up being a pretty tasty mistake. :)

Keith had been asking for Breakfast Cookies so late morning, he helped me make a double batch. Having muffins and breakfast cookies in our freezer is so helpful!

In the afternoon I bagged up the Muffins and Cookies for the freezer. I also baked several pans of Bacon to have on hand and to share.

I had the little girls help me crack 2+ dozen eggs, then I made two Breakfast Casseroles in an attempt to get ahead.

For dinner that night, we made a simple meals of Boiled Elbow Noodles, Spaghetti Sauce with Meat, and Steamed Broccoli. Brayden helped make most of this meal, taking big pride in already knowing how to do most of it. :)

Most of the littles prefer their noodles without sauce but with butter and cheese.

With so many littles to chase, it is very rare for us all to actually SIT an enjoy a meal. But here we are, sitting. For two minutes. We attempted to practice some Bible verses with the kids, which is something we like to do at meal time if we can possibly get everyone seated and quiet.

Thursday morning, Matt headed back to York to work. Elias has started a new job as a Special Ed Para (such a great fit for him!) so he got out the door early. Malachi had video work to do so we called our dear friend Christina to come help us this morning!

I captured this photo of the girls enjoying a rare moment of quiet coloring as the adults were trying to get out the door.

Meanwhile, Keith had gotten out string, scissors, glue, paper, and a hole punch to make…a mask?

His creativity was flowing so next he made a light saber!

Christina is the best with our kids! She helped make our morning go very smoothly. :)

For dinner that night, we stirred together Wednesday night’s leftovers and Elias topped it with cheese to bake.

I decided to go with paper boats that night so that I didn’t add extra dishes to our needs of the day.

And we ate outside so that the mess would fall to the ground! After playing more, we ate some fruit cups to refresh us before bedtime.

We had refrigerated Wednesday’s Egg Casseroles so Friday morning, I cut them and warmed some up for our breakfast. Then I put the remaining pieces into baggies, and then into freezer bags for easy packed lunches (adults) and easy breakfasts (everyone).

We ran to Sam’s that morning where I grabbed milk, fruit, and veggies.

But the real reason we went to Sam’s is because I’d been researching the best Wagon/Stroller for our outings and they had a great one! We wanted to pick it up and get it ready for the season. Of course, putting it together was a BIG EVENT when we got home and Daddy could not have done it without all of this great help. :)

We loaded up and took it for a test drive all the way to the kids’ school where they were having a special Walkathon outside that day.

It’s going to be great to have, but it was a bit heavy for me once we put 100+ pounds of children inside. :) At the zoo, soccer games, parks, and other events, it will be fabulous!

To celebrate our kids’ school’s Walkathon that evening, our closest community library hosted a gathering for the students. They had a scavenger hunt, activities, crafts and PIZZA.

BabyBoy#11 was all in for this event. ;)

It felt extra special to eat pizza inside the library.

But the best part of the night was interacting with people from our community. Many are still new to us and this was a great gift to be with them in this way.

Saturday morning we ate odds and ends to finish off Breakfast Cookies and Muffins.

Meanwhile, I cut up the great big watermelon I’d gotten at Sam’s the day before. (I spent just under $8 on this. Read here to learn why I think this is a GREAT PRICE.)

We got to go to our favorite Sensory Friendly Library Storytime that morning.

We came home and warmed up leftovers for lunch. I used leftover baked potatoes and bacon to make a skillet full of something similar to what is described here. Wow was it good! Brayden and Kiya helped warm up veggies.

In preparation for our Sunday lunch, I dumped two kinds of sauces on chicken to marinate. Later that evening I smoked the chicken. I planned to rewarm it and put it into crock pots Sunday morning to take to church for lunch since once again, Keith had a soccer game right after lunch (if it doesn’t get canceled).

The rest of the afternoon was spent playing outside, moving a new housemate into our third floor, and getting ready for Sunday.

Our neighbor, John, was planting more flowers into his gorgeous flower garden. He has been so gracious to teach our kids and let them help. This is big for any kid – but for our kids – the time, energy, and love he is pouring in has been beyond big. Brayden was out having Bro Time with Elias, BabyBoy#11 was napping, and the other five kids and I went across the street to plant flowers with John.

He talked us through how he does things, why he does them, and he let the kids do all the work. It was amazing. When we got back to our yard, our kids used their new skills to plant fake flowers in our dirt while I smoked the chicken I had marinated earlier.

I also mixed up two loaves worth of Stir-and-Pour Bread to go with our Sunday lunch chicken. I haven’t made bread in a very long time, and my intent was to pull kids inside to make it with me. But they were playing so well outside and having so much fun I just let them be. They can make bread with me 100 other times or more. :)

I realized I only had whole wheat pastry flour, which doesn’t work for yeast breads. So I used unbleached white flour and the bread turned out great. Truly, anyone can make this bread. It’s so easy and requires no kneading!

The smell of smoked chicken and freshly baked bread teased us as I saved it for our Sunday lunch and instead pulled out leftovers for our Saturday dinner. This was the last of the leftovers in our fridge and it felt so good to get them all cleaned out! I turned the remaining leftover noodles into Mac and Cheese by making a white sauce. Keith grated cheese for this project and was so proud. Then I cut up the leftover hotdogs I’d smoked earlier in the week and stirred them in. We ate it with peas and the kids gobbled it up!

We put a lot of dirty, tired kids into the bathtub, and that was our week!

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Stickers on Produce. I Cannot Handle It.

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Stickers on produce. Why? Oh why??

Those of you who know me well are very aware that I have plenty of weirdness lurking in my brain. Hey, we all have a variety or three of weirdness going on, do we not? We all think our personal weirdness makes sense (and is, therefore, not weird) and we do not understand why other people’s weirdness is different from ours. Then when we see someone else being weird we’re all dude, that’s so weird. When in truth, the weirdness we see in others is simply a different variety from our own weirdness because we are all weird.

The Bible backs me up on this although I think it uses more terms like “different gifts” and “knit together uniquely” and stuff like that.

So here’s one of the ways I’m weird that you likely did not know as of yet.

First, I love staring at my groceries. Yes, you knew that one already. That’s not my weird thing even though it kind of is. What you didn’t know is what I’m about to show you. I cannot handle it. I mean, it looks like a lovely table full of grocery and Bountiful Basket purchases. But as it is at this point, I can not admire it. There’s too much distraction.

Stickers on Produce!!!!

stickers produce 2

There are stickers everywhere. It’s highly alarming. I want to see the pretty produce in all its natural beauty. But the bar codes and the item numbers and the sticky residue – oh it is all too much.

stickers produce1
Say it isn’t so.

stickers produce 3

So weird thing #672 about Laura: I have to take all the stickers off my produce the minute I set it down in my kitchen. The admiring of the produce cannot happen until all stickers are removed.

stickers produce 4

You think I’m kidding.

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Ahhhhhhhh, there now. Now we can all stare at the pretty produce, without stickers, in all its God given glory.

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Before you say, wow Laura that’s weird – let me just remind you that you also have weird things that you cannot handle. They are perhaps different from my weird things because God knit us each together uniquely amen and amen. But you, my friend, are also weird. And I mean that in the kindest, most supportive way. I do.

Today, let us embrace our weirdness. Leave a comment confessing one way you’re weird.

Just so you know, if you make fun of my weirdness, I will pretend to give you a big bear hug but what I will actually be doing is placing all 28 of my produce stickers onto your back then watching to see how long it takes you to notice. Then people will see your back full of stickers and think you’re weird and it would be for real.

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Pictures of Last Week’s Food – and Why We Had Ice Cream Cones For Breakfast

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Before we talk about ice cream for breakfast, we should probably talk about lettuce. Spoiler alert: the ice cream we ate is the same color as the lettuce, which means that one of them has food coloring in it and the other doesn’t, yet I still let my family eat both.

Hahaha, I let them eat lettuce. As if they had to beg me for it. “Please Mom can’t we just have more salad?!” said none of my children ever.

I mean, they don’t dislike salad. They just like other parts of the meal better. But whatever. They are good eaters and they eat a wide variety of fruits and veggies and so what if they ate green ice cream for breakfast last Wednesday?

So lettuce. Let-us talk about that already. (get it? lettuce=let-us. that is so amazingly funny) Look what came out of our garden last week!

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We’ll be enjoying meal after meal of this lettuce from our garden as the rain has made our lettuce go crazy. (I won’t even tell you that none of the rest of our garden is even planted yet. Hello graduation preparation and bathroom remodel. You are cramping our gardening style.)

See what a pretty lunch we had the first day we picked lettuce? Creamy Mac and Cheese with peas and salad is the easiest lunch ever, by the way. (Can you actually call it a salad if you don’t add anything but Ranch Dressing? We were out of other salad veggies that day.)

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Now, about that green ice cream. First the back story:

About four years ago I surprised the boys by making Homemade Ice Cream for breakfast on our very last day of school. The following year, they declared that we had always had ice cream on the last day of school and that it was a tradition and that we simply must do it again. I believe they told me this at bedtime the night before our last day of school, which of course meant that while I loved the idea, I did not love the idea making homemade ice cream at midnight or 6:00 am. So I told them no, and then I decided on a splurge of all splurges and surprised them the next morning with not only store-bought ice cream – but a box of ice cream cones too.

(The “Best Mom Ever” Award went to me that day. But then I made them do their living room and bathroom chores so I immediately went back to “Best Mom Ever” status after breakfast.)

Anyway, the Last Day of School Ice Cream tradition has continued (which I only do because we home school because it would truly be wrong of me to feed my kids sugar cones filled with drippy sugar and then send them to be instructed by other adults). The three younger boys finished their school work last Friday, but patiently waited for Asa to finish his last college final on Tuesday (he’s been getting dual credits for high school/college this year – woot!) so that we could celebrate by having ice cream for breakfast.

food week may 9 5

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It was grand. But now we should probably talk about vegetables again.

I hit some great price matching deals on berries this week. 99¢ for blackberries? Yes, please. Plus I got great prices on strawberries and raspberries. We’ve been eating these delicious fruits with just about every meal, so these are already almost gone. (We put the food away at our house, I’m telling you.)

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Don’t ask me why I bought mixed greens this week. Hello, Laura. Your garden is kicking out lettuce right now, remember??

Have any of you ever tried that Hormel Natural Choice Bacon? I was excited to see it at the store since it is a “better for you” brand. It was quite tasty!

Friday night I experimented with another new recipe we all loved: Sloppy Salsa Chicken. Don’t tell, but I’m almost finished with a project I’ve been working on for several months in an effort to simplify our (yours and mine!) evening meal time. Later this week, I plan to reveal some packets I’ve been putting together which include recipes, complete grocery lists, and instructions for creating five meals that can be made ahead all at once, then frozen for fast real-food meals for your family. Details coming!!

sloppy salsa chicken 1

Here’s a little sneak peek at one of the packet cover pages:

Eat Right Away Beef Edition 50

There’s also a Chicken Edition, and then I’ll be working on several additional editions (I couldn’t resist) for the future like breakfast, lunch box, ground turkey, and others!

So back to last week’s food details. It was a Bountiful Basket week for me, and I almost bought the whole truck. Man, we get some good deals from BB!

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Along with all you see here, I also got a huge box of sweet corn. Which leads me to Mother’s Day.

I wanted grilled burgers with watermelon and sweet corn. So that is what my men made me. As you can see, I worked on my corn and melon before my burger. Ooh, and Matt put some fresh asparagus from our garden on the grill too. So yum.

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After we digested, we played our traditional game of three-on-three Mother’s Day soccer. I so stink at soccer. But it sure was fun.

One final bit about last week…

Some sweet friends gave me a basket full of thank-you gifts and look what was included!

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Yes, it is a coffee mug that is almost as big as my head. Almost. As you see here, I filled it just about to the top. This meant that after I finished drinking it on Saturday morning, I absolutely did conquer the world and solve all of earth’s biggest challenges (it’s a caffeine miracle).

So there you have it. Berries, vegetables, ice cream, and a huge mug of coffee. That about sums up last week for me. (I also did laundry and cleaned, but who wants the boring details on that? No one.)

Tell me about your week in food! Find great deals? Make yummy meals? Drink giant-sized mugs of coffee? Splurge on ice cream? Share, share, share!!!

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Menu Plan for the Week and My First Bountiful Basket!

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Many of you have told me about Bountiful Baskets through the years, but it wasn’t an option for me until now. Early Saturday morning, this is what I picked up:

bountiful baskets

It was so fun to get such a huge amount of good produce for such great savings. The best deal I got was 20 pounds of broccoli for just $12.50. It ended up being 36 broccoli crowns. That, my friends, is a lot of broccoli. I’ll share more about my broccoli adventures later this week. Be on the edge of your seat for this.

My actual basket order included everything from purple potatoes to asparagus to jicama to an English cucumber. Wow are we set for this week! Plus I had already purchased $80 worth of produce at the store like mixed greens, spinach, strawberries, blueberries, cucumbers, mushrooms, carrots, cantaloupe, apples, and pears. (Remember, we are a family of 6 and three of our boys are teenagers, so we tear through the groceries!)

I decided to share my weekly menu just a little bit differently today to give you a better idea of how I am now (easily!) adding many more fruits and veggies to our days. Ever since I began including 1-4 fruit and veggies sides with our meals, my menu planning has become so much easier. This seems opposite to people who feel that healthy eating is time consuming. Not the way I do it – I promise! Take note that all I have to do for most of the side dishes is pull them out of the fridge and give them a wash. I also try to keep raw veggies sliced ahead of time to make them easy to throw on the table with our meals. Cooked veggies only require a quick steam before serving. Easy, easy!!

Here’s an idea of what a week’s worth of meals looks like for us:

Breakfast

1. Peanut Butter Honey Toast, Applesauce, Blueberries
2. Pumpkin Donuts (pumpkin is a bonus veggie!), Sliced Apples
3. Quick Mix Biscuits, Sausage Gravy, Pears (Justus’ bday choice)
4. Scrambled Cheesy Eggs with Spinach, Strawberries
5. Zucchini Carrot Bread, Applesauce
6. Green Machine Milkshakes (yay, avocado!), Apple Slices, Toast
7. Instant Oatmeal Packets, Blueberries, Clementines

Lunch

1. Taco Salad (mixed greens, tomatoes), Pineapple
2. Tuna Casserole, Mixed Greens or Spinach Salad, Peas, Cantaloupe
3. Pizza Soup (includes carrots and tomato sauce), Clementines, Raw Carrots, Cucumbers, and Sweet Peppers
4. Easy Cheesy Bean Dip with Chips, Avocado, Salsa, Pineapple, Raw Carrots, Cucumbers, and Sweet Peppers
5. Lamb-burger patties, Cheesy Cauliflower Cakes (with spinach added), Sweet Peppers, Homemade Dill Pickles, Green Beans
6. Baked Potatoes in the Crock Pot with Broccoli and Cheese, Peas, Kiwi
7. Pizza Boats, Mixed Greens, Olives, Sweet Peppers, Raw Carrots and Cucumbers, Apples

Dinner

1. Lasagna (recipe in What to Do With the Cow in Your Kitchen eBook), Mixed Greens, Green Beans, Strawberries (Justus’ bday choice)
2. Ham and Egg Breakfast Bowls (with spinach), Fruit Salad (apples, strawberries, pineapple)
3. Calico Beans, Mixed Greens, Raw Carrots, Cucumbers, and Sweet Peppers, Pineapple
4. Easy Noodle Stir Fry with Asparagus, Broccoli, Carrots, Spinach, and Yellow Squash; Cantaloupe
5. Crock Pot Barbecue Chicken Breasts, Mixed Greens, Green Beans, Honey Glazed Carrots
6. Popcorn Chicken, Sweet Potato Fries, Raw Carrots, Cucumbers, and Sweet Peppers
7. Potato Soup (carrots and onions cooked into the broth), Homemade Pickles, Olives, Mixed Greens or Spinach

Now that doesn’t seem so hard, does it? Really, the trickiest part is finding room to fit all the food into the fridge (I have two, thankfully) when I get home from the store – or in the case of this week – when I get home from picking up my co-op order. Preparing and serving it though? That’s a piece of cake cucumber.

Tell me about some of the fruits and veggies you’re serving and eating this week!

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Menu Plan for the Week, a Freezer/Pantry Clean Out Challenge Update, and How I Got Ahead This Weekend

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It would appear that my “only buy produce, eggs, and dairy” challenge has also turned into a “see how deep you can dig down into the pantry and freezer to surprise your family with random food choices” challenge. I’m having a lot of fun. My family? I don’t even think they’ve actually noticed.

It’s just food to them. As long as there is plenty and as long as it is tasty, there doesn’t seem to be any argument to eating muffins made with freeze dried strawberries (this recipe, only with almost expired freeze dried strawberries) or an un-named casserole that used up the rest of our turkey and some odds and ends of pasta.

Kids: Mmm, what’s this casserole called, Mom?
Me: Dinner.
Kids shrug and get seconds

I have not made a dent in our store of food, though I am panicking a little bit as it appears we are completely out of the vital ingredient dried cranberries. I’m not sure how we will survive.

I had fun doing some price matching and buying our fresh produce for the week. Actually, most of what you see in the picture is gone already. We plow through it. I’ll probably head back to the store on Wednesday if we can wait that long.

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Yes, that is one big sour cream tub.
I like that this brand contains only one ingredient, “cultured cream.”
We go through it pretty quickly, and as a side note:
When I use up the sour cream, the container is perfect for soup when I take meals to other families.

Regarding my plans to get ahead, can I just confess (again) how much I dislike cleaning? I was very willing to spend hours in the kitchen, but finding the motivation to go upstairs to tackle some filth? That is not nearly as much fun. Let’s focus on the fun food, shall we?

First thing, I grabbed out my Oh, For Real book and all spices needed to make Turkey Sausage and Ranch Salad Dressing Mix. Two full jars of spice mixes later, I put 12 pounds of ground turkey with spices on the stove to cook.

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While the meat was cooking, I went to work on muffins. I had already put together and frozen Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins the night before, so I started on Banana Muffins and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins. Super easy!

Realizing I was hungry and about to faint (not really, but I thought I should add some drama), I pulled out tuna salad and a bunch of fruits and veggies. The boys had slept in and weren’t hungry yet for lunch, so I munched alone while jotting notes in my Menu Planning Notebook.

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After working on menu ideas for this week, I turned over to the Freezer Section of printables. I decided to start jotting down what I have left in my freezers since I’m working on getting them cleaned. Having a running list will be helpful. I didn’t finish the list, because the turkey sausage was finished cooking and I was done eating. I’ll take my list out to my freezers later to take final inventory.

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Yes, I know. Corn isn’t a vegetable. 

Last, I took a few minutes (yep, that’s all it took) to make a double batch of Instant Oatmeal. It filled three half-gallon jars, so we should be set on that for a while. I love having that on hand!

 weekend 4

After the meat cooled, I separated it into freezer bags for easy “almost ready” meals. We’ll be using some for Sausage Gravy this week!

Here’s what our menu choices look like for this week:

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Fruit and Veggie Sides and Snacks (I serve 1-4 with every meal)

By the way, this Easy Veggie Dip continues to be a big hit as we work our way through lots of raw vegetables!

How has your weekend been?

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Menu Plan for the Week

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We’ve been on the road for many days. My husband’s family is from California, so once every two years we make the long journey to visit them. Flying and renting a car would be super expensive for the six of us, so a three day road trip (one way) it is! Phew, what a trek.

We are en route right now, getting hungrier and hungrier for home cooked meals as we go. Once we arrive at home, here are the meals we look forward to (depending on what fresh produce I’ll be able to pick up at the store):

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Fruit and Veggie Side Dishes (I serve 1-4 per meal)

  • Fresh Pineapple
  • Apples
  • Pears
  • Clementines
  • Carrots
  • Broccoli
  • Applesauce
  • Asparagus
  • Spinach
  • Mixed Greens
  • Green Beans
  • Peas
  • Pomegranates
  • Blueberries
  • Sweet Potatoes
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Cucumbers

Did you do any traveling this holiday season?

Be sure to get your free shipping and BOGO coconut oil this weekend!

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These Pyrex Bowls Are Being Used Constantly!

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pyrex bowls 2

First let me say that I can’t believe this 8-piece Pyrex Bowl Set With Lids is still at Amazon. This is an incredible price. I now have two sets of these bowls in my kitchen, and I can’t remember how I ever lived without them. Take advantage of this 46% discount. You will love these bowls with their handy lids!

Below is an example of one shelf in my fridge, just to give you an idea of how I’m using these sets:

pyrex bowls in fridge2
I love that I can see exactly what I have in these bowls.

I find these are great to store prepped fruits and veggies to pull out and go with our meals or for snacks. In the above picture, you can see that we have a bowl full of grapes, one of sweet peppers, one with sliced strawberries, and one with Chocolate Whipped Cream.

These bowls are great for pasta salads, potato salads, and tossed salads. Of course, they are also great for mixing up muffins and breads. In fact, last night I stirred together all the dry ingredients I needed for our breakfast muffins, put on the lid, and went to bed. This morning, all I had to do was add liquid ingredients and bake the muffins. So handy!

I’m not sure how much longer this , but I really want to encourage you to look into these. I use them constantly at my house, from prep to serve. They are awesome!

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The Three Day Menu Plan…Then We’re Hitting the Road (Plus, Want Some Vanilla?)

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As I mentioned last week, we’re heading to Nashville this week for a family reunion. I can’t wait to hug my Nana, hold the new babies, see all the cousins, watch the kids get reacquainted and play together…it’s going to be great!

On the way, I’m very excited to meet some of you!! If you live in the St. Louis or Nashville areas, please stop by our Meet and Greet locations so we can have a chance to hang out and visit. Get all the specifics here. I look forward to meeting many of you!

Fruits and Veggies On the Go

We don’t mind the treat of eating out here and there while we travel, and enjoy our fair share of burgers and fries on the road. But to keep our stomachs from rebelling too much, we try to take along some fruits and veggies too. :)

Doing any traveling this summer? Here are some posts you might enjoy.

Our menu this week is short and sweet since we’re taking off on Tuesday. It’s been fun to celebrate Father’s Day with Matt today – making many of his favorite foods.

Sunday, June 15
Peach cobbler (recipe in Oh, For Real cookbook)
Grilled steak, baked potatoes in the crock pot, grilled asparagus and sweet peppers, cantaloupe
Tuna salad on tomatoes and lettuce, watermelon

Monday, June 16
Banana bread, blueberries
Chef salad with leftover chicken, watermelon
Italian roast wraps with tomatoes and lettuce, peas, fresh pineapple

Tuesday, June 17
Scrambled eggs, pineapple mango smoothies (with fresh spinach thrown in)
Pasta Salad Bar – before we hit the road, we’ll each build a big pasta salad to eat on the way for lunch. Easy and nutritious!
Dinner at my cousin’s house – can’t wait!

pasta salad bar 3

One last thing:  We actually made enough Vanilla Extract this time to avoid selling out within a few hours! If you want some, come get it now as we’ll only be offering it for sale through Monday or until supplies last. :)

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Easy Fruits and Veggies On the Go

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Last weekend, we headed out of state to a weekend-long basketball tournament for our boys. It was two and a half days full of hotel continental breakfasts, fast food, and other treats. Weekends like that can be a lot of fun. At the same time, we knew our stomachs would start to rebel after a meal or two of white flour, white sugar, and grease. In an effort to give us some good nutrition in the midst of ice cream cones and burgers, I packed as many colorful fruits and vegetables as I could.

While I was getting it prepared the morning we were to leave, it occurred to me how pretty it all was. Out came the camera.  After all, I had plenty of time for food photography in the midst of laundry, packing, and making last minute preparations, right?

Fruits and Veggies On the Go 2

I made good use of my Pyrex dishes with lids. These travel well, and keep fruits and vegetables from getting squished. They all stack nicely together in a cooler, and keep the food fresh. I simply stuck a few ice packs in and around the food containers, and it all stayed chilled and nice all weekend long.

My encouragement to you with this post is to think outside the box a little bit as you pack fruits and veggies for travel. Before just a year or two ago, I didn’t really think beyond packing apples and carrots. Those got old after a while. Then I started noticing what other families had packed to eat during games. Oh, there are so many great options!

For this round of travel, beyond apples and clementines, we washed, prepared, and packed 2 pounds of strawberries to munch on, grape tomatoes, sliced cucumbers and ranch dip, and sweet peppers. We also had a few applesauce and peach cups packed with spoons.

Fruits and Veggies On the Go

While we enjoyed our fair share of restaurant food, we were able to counter it with nutrient-filled food too. This was especially important, we felt, for our boys who were playing hard and sweating all weekend long. They needed energy and nourishment!

Here’s a list I created so you can get some fruits-and-veggies-on-the-go ideas at a quick glance:

  • Apples
  • Oranges or Clementines
  • Pears
  • Grapes
  • Cherries
  • Blueberries
  • Raspberries
  • Strawberries
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Grape or Cherry Tomatoes
  • Carrots
  • Celery
  • Cucumber Slices
  • Applesauce Cups
  • Peaches, Pears, Mixed Fruit Cups in 100% Juice
  • Fruit Leather

I would add bananas to the list, but have found that they get squishy quickly while being carried in bags from car to gym. What fruits and vegetables would you add to this list?

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How To Always Have Fruits and Vegetables to Serve With a Meal {31 Days to Real Food Reality ~ Day 16}

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How to Serve Fruits and Veggies

Always, always, always serve a fruit or a vegetable or three at each meal. Then snack on them throughout the day too. Fill your body with the nourishment that comes from these wonderful convenience foods!

Without a doubt, eating fruits and veggies is the easiest way to eat healthy. Yet somehow, it is often the food group that is left out of a meal and forgotten as a snack option. Why is that? Why does it sometimes seem hard to serve vegetables with our dinner? Or to pack them in our lunch? After all, most of them come pre-packaged! (Banana, anyone?)

I find that I have to make a conscious effort to be sure to serve enough fruits and vegetables to my family. Often, we focus on cooking the main dish (which is typically meat and carbs – both good, but only when balanced with fruits and vegetables). Side dishes in the form of fruits or vegetables are often an after-thought. Let’s make this easier, shall we?

1. Buy Them

Duh, but still. You can’t serve them and eat them if you don’t bring them home from the store or farmer’s market, so I felt it was worth a mention. Get into the habit of spending several minutes in the produce department each time you’re at the store. Look for sales, look for a variety, fill your cart. Shop for them when you’re hungry (something I would not recommend if I were to send you down the candy aisle).

2. Keep frozen fruits and vegetables in the freezer at all times

They aren’t expensive (generally). They aren’t difficult to store. When I have frozen green beans and peas in the freezer, I can easily cook them to go with our lunch or dinner. Our family goes through about two – 5 pound bags of these frozen veggies every month. It’s one of the easiest foods to prepare, and they taste delicious with our meals.

3. Corn is not a vegetable

Sorry, but it’s a grain. Enjoy it every once in a while (with butter!), but don’t rely on it as a vegetable side dish.

4. French fries don’t count

But you knew that, right?

5. Keep containers of fruits and vegetables in the fridge, ready to eat

See that picture above? Cutting those veggies into a bowl took about 7 minutes, and will last our family through a couple of lunches. Washing the blueberries and grape tomatoes took just a few seconds. That picture shows what I have now gotten into the habit of putting out to go with our main dish at lunch. The kinds of fruits and veggies vary depending on what I find at the store that is reasonably priced and looks good. But quickly pulling those foods out of the fridge to go with a meal is crazy easy.

6. Serve salads often

Don’t tell me it’s hard. A two year old can tear lettuce.

7. Enjoy smoothies frequently

Smoothies are a delicious way to load up on the good stuff! As an added nutritional perk, I almost always add fresh spinach or other salad greens to my smoothies, along with different frozen fruits and some yogurt or kefir. You can’t taste the greens, but you still get the nutrients. Score!

8. Just do it!

I don’t care if all you do is (lovingly) slap a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich onto the table or into a lunchbox for your kids. Take two minutes to serve or pack fruits and veggies too.

By the way, I also try to always have Homemade Ranch Dip in the fridge to put on the table with our veggies. There are many fruit and vegetable options – and eating a variety, buying in season, and watching for sales is very helpful. Here are some great, basic options to keep on hand to serve with meals or as snacks:

Apples, bananas, oranges or clementines, blueberries, pears, grapes, cherries, peaches, strawberries, raspberries, fresh pineapple chunks, applesauce, grape tomatoes, carrot sticks, sliced cucumbers, sliced sweet peppers, frozen green beans, frozen peas, frozen and/or fresh broccoli…

What would you add to this list? What have you found that works best for you to keep you in the habit of serving and eating vegetables?

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