Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Healthy Changes Can Be As Easy As Eating Donuts

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You know those baby steps we’re talking about making toward a healthier lifestyle? Let’s go from thinking “Agh, that means I have to stop eating everything I love and instead only eat gross, slimy green stuff!” to recognizing the truth which is, “I can make a healthier donut and actually eat it without feeling guilty. It will taste even better than the store bought kind I’m used to!”

And by the way – never, ever eat slimy green stuff. “Slimy” and “green” should never be in the same sentence. For that matter, “eat” and “slimy” should never be in the same sentence. But let’s get back to talking about homemade donuts, which are neither slimy nor green.

I loved this testimony from Rebecca. This can be all of us!

Hi Laura,

I have been following your blog for over 3 years ever since our family made diet changes and started eating all whole foods. We have found we are healthier with less sicknesses and health problems. I have read lots of healthy eating blogs but yours resonates the most with me– your recipes are simple with ingredients I always have on hand and are tasty. Being a mother if 4 children and homeschooling and working part time I need easy, healthy recipes. We usually use at least one recipe of yours a day! Today I made the Pumpkin Donuts since I finished cooking and pureeing my last garden pumpkin. They were amazing! I thought for sure I had made enough for all of us but they flew off the serving plate so fast! They were so delicious, I think one if the best pumpkin recipe I have made. We all loved them. Thanks for sharing All your great recipes to us and for making this health journey easier. God bless!

Rebecca Klein
Rochester, MN

See how unhappy and miserable Rebecca’s children are because of all the healthy changes they are making at their house?

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I think this little one is being forced to lick that glaze off the plate, the poor dear.

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What a terrible way to wake up in the morning.

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Indeed, it’s almost like she’s forcing them to eat slimy green stuff. Almost. :)

What is one of the most delicious healthy changes you’ve made?

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Cheesy Vegetable Casserole

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This Cheesy Vegetable Casserole makes it possible to help your entire family enjoy veggies!

XmasBrunch2011

This recipe is versatile so you can add your family’s favorite veggies – or be creative so you can learn to eat new ones. The mixture of all these ingredients makes any vegetable taste great!

Cheesy Vegetable CasseroleYum

Cheesy Vegetable Casserole
 
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Ingredients
  • 2 pounds fresh variety of vegetables of your choice (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, green beans, zucchini, or asparagus all work well)
  • ¼ cup chopped onion
  • ¼ cup melted butter
  • ½ cup mayonnaise (I use Hain Safflower)
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1  ½ cups shredded cheese (cheddar or Colby jack work well)
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • ¼ teaspoon ground pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
  1. Chop vegetables into bite-sized pieces.
  2. Stir all ingredients together in a large bowl.
  3. Pour into a 2-quart baking dish.
  4. Bake, uncovered, for 45-60 minutes in a 350° oven.

Cheesy Veggie Casserole

This recipe is perfect to add to your holiday brunch table. Here are some dishes I recommend serving with your Cheesy Vegetable Casserole for brunch:

The thing about brunches is that you’re wide open to serving just about anything – from main dish to side dish to breakfast dish to dessert. That’s what makes them fun. Putting this Cheesy Vegetable Casserole on the table – even with other breakfast type foods like muffins and sausage – really adds something special. And let’s not forget that it means your putting veggies on the table. With cheese. Veggies with cheese are always a hit!

What are your favorite dishes to add to a brunch table?

Check out DHGate for their fun kitchen gadgets!

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FREE Coconut Oil For Everyone! ~A Very Merry Christmas Gift from Tropical Traditions

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Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!!!  Tropical Traditions is offering all of us a FREE quart jar of coconut oil again this Christmas!  I love it that they do this! (You’ll find the free jar on this page – scroll down until you see it.)

This isn’t just any coconut oil. This is a jar of their very highest quality coconut oil – the very best I’ve ever had. It is delicious and super high in nutritional value. It’s an entire quart, and it is free with any order of $19.00 or more!

free oil at tropical traditions

See that? It costs $0.00!!!!!!!

We will have to pay shipping on this order, but I’m planning to put several light-weight items in my cart (like my favorite Natural Soaps!) and I’ll still make out great.

You can also get a free coffee mug in your order. See the link on their side bar and add it to your cart.

I’m very excited to take advantage of this, and I hope you will be too. What a lovely gift to come in the mail!

Go grab your  FREE jar of coconut oil!

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Add Spinach for Extra (Inexpensive) Nourishment

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Have you heard the news? Spinach is the new chocolate. It’s showing up in everything. People can’t get enough. It’s highly addicting. Spinach makes people sooooo happy.

I just made all that up.  Chocolate will always be chocolate, and spinach will…not. But at our house, the “can’t get enough spinach” statement is very true. I’ve been adding spinach to everything. (Actually, I haven’t been adding it to my coffee. I do draw the line there.)  It’s almost become a joke. The boys sit down to eat and say, “So did you add spinach to this, too?”

The good news is:  They are eating it. ALL of it. And they aren’t complaining. Even the pickiest one. Why aren’t they complaining? Because you can add spinach to many, many recipes and it will not change the flavor. It will only add nutrients. And…it might turn the food green, but whatever. I’m not trying to hide the spinach. I’m just trying to add goodness to our food in every way possible.

While I continue to learn more about eating well, the biggest lesson I’ve learned is this:  Healthy eating is not just about what you eliminate from your diet. It’s about making sure you’re filling your body with as many good nutrients as possible so that it can thrive. I’ve also learned never to overfill my blender, which is an equally important lesson, though not so much about nourishment as it is about the regret of finding crusty peach milkshake on the ceiling three days after the episode. But about adding nutritional value to our food…

Spinach has 19 amazing nutrients. Nineteen!!!! Vitamin K, vitamin A, manganese, folate, magnesium, iron, copper, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin E, calcium, potassium, and vitamin C, fiber, phosphorus, vitamin B1, zinc, protein, and choline – all in a spinach leaf.  Impressive.

Add Spinach for Extra Inexpensive Nourishment

The best news of all? Adding spinach to your recipes is a very inexpensive way to eat healthier. I paid $6 last week for a pound of spinach. That sounds like a lot of money until you recognize that spinach is very light weight and one pound of spinach is enough to stuff my pillow. I add spinach to meal after meal after meal. Just think of it. For about 75¢ per meal, I can add 19 fantastic nutrients to my dish.

How to add spinach to your food:

I find that simply tearing up handfuls of raw spinach with my hands and throwing it into the cooking pot works great. My cousin said that she dumps a package of raw spinach into her food processor, adds just enough water to help it spin, then purees it. Then, she freezes the pureed spinach in ice cube trays, throwing a frozen spinach cube into recipes. Brilliant!

What I’ve added spinach to successfully:

What I haven’t tried yet, but you better believe it’s on my list:

If you haven’t tried adding spinach to your recipes, I highly recommend it! If you have tried it, leave a comment to share what has worked for you.

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Switching to Whole Food Sweeteners Without Breaking the Bank

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While switching from processed food to nourishing food doesn’t have to be terribly expensive, there’s no way around this one:  White and brown sugar are cheap. Sucanat, real maple syrup, muscovado, honey, and stevia are not cheap. I can get a 2-pound bag of brown sugar at the store for $1.78. Sucanat, on the other hand, is usually $5.00 for 1.5 pounds. Ouch! It’s worth it to buy the good stuff, but it isn’t fun to pay for.

While I don’t have any earth shattering advice about finding fantastic deals on these wholesome sweeteners, I do have some suggestions based on what works for me.

Switching to Whole Food Sweeteners Without Breaking the Bank

1. Stop eating so many sugary desserts.

I know. You’re rolling your eyes. I feel your pain on this one because I’m a recovering sugar addict. Pray about this and let God’s power be your will-power. You don’t have to cut out desserts altogether (unless you feel called to). You simply need to keep sugary foods a treat instead of pouring on the sugar like it’s a food group. You’ll be amazed at how much money you save on sucanat, honey, and maple syrup when you stop eating so much.

2. Cut the sugar in half.

When baking muffins, quick breads, and breakfast bars, I find that half the sugar called for in many recipes (even mine!) works just fine. The baked goods are still sweet and tasty. This saves quite a bit of money on wholesome sugars!

3. Drizzle your syrup.

Dousing your pancakes or waffles in real maple syrup? That’s an expensive breakfast! A little drizzle of rich, flavorful maple syrup goes a long way. It’s also fun to pour a tiny quarter-sized bit of syrup onto your plate, then dip the corner of each bite to sweeten it just a touch.

4. Pull out the cheap stuff when feeding a crowd.

If I’m feeding 40 teenagers, I leave my sucanat in the pantry and pull out the cheap brown sugar. There’s no need to use $6 worth of sucanat when I can use $1.50 worth of brown sugar for a big group of kids who really don’t care about whether or not the brownies were made with organic sugar or not. I certainly don’t mind sharing “the good stuff” with company occasionally, but it just really isn’t worth spending extra money when three pans of dessert are going to be devoured in two minutes. I never compromise on using real butter (instead of margarine), and I always use my freshly ground flour (no one can even tell) – but compromising on sugar? At least it’s actual sugar instead of artificial sugar or high fructose corn syrup. Which leads me to…

At the end of the day…

It’s all sugar.  Sucanat is healthier because it’s processed very little and still contains nutrients. Real maple syrup is straight from the tree. Honey is made by bees and is as natural as it comes. But to our bodies? It’s all sugar. Read this post about Breaking Free of Sugar Addiction for more of my thoughts on this.

This means you may decide that switching to sucanat (and paying the higher price tag) is just not worth it.

I believe the bigger focus needs to be on cutting back on sugar (in all its forms). Focus on filling up on fruits and vegetables instead. You’ll be amazed at how sweet your fruits and vegetables taste when your palate isn’t coated with a cookie.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Which sugars do you choose to purchase and use for your family?

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Cooking for a Family of 7 Living in a Travel Trailer ~ Share Your Story

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The stories you send in continue to be such an inspiration and encouragement to me! You will love reading Cantina’s story of how she is finding ways to make do in a tiny kitchen with very little to work with after her home burned down. God is so good to provide and equip us. Here’s Cantina:

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Dear Laura,

I started following you a couple of years ago and our family has loved some of your recipes. One of our favorites is Cheesy Beef and Rice (I add black beans and diced tomatoes to make it a “mexican” meal).

Last December we lost our home to a house fire and it has been extremely difficult to fix the meals that I used to. For a few months we lived with an older couple and then in May our family of 7 moved into a travel trailer on the land where we are rebuilding our home. It has been a challenge to fix anything, but God is so good and I have learned to use a Fry Daddy in ways I never thought were possible. And we bought an electric skillet and crock pot. :)

I have fixed the Cheesy Beef and Rice by browning the meat in the Fry Daddy and then cooking the rice in the Fry Daddy and finally mixing it all together in a large bowl and baking it in the electric skillet. My family is so happy that we can have some of your delicious recipes again. I have also made the Hearty Green Bean Casserole the same way. Looking forward to our house getting done, buying new kitchen items, and being able to cook in a real kitchen again.

cantina 1

cantina 2
We also love your Giant Breakfast Cookies and Baked Oatmeal for breakfast! In the past month we have visited family that lives out of town and I baked several batches of Giant Breakfast Cookies to freeze and eat on when we returned back home. The day we left from the visit with family I baked a dish of Baked Oatmeal and we had it for breakfast the next morning at the travel trailer.

cantina 3
Although this time in our lives has been tough our prayer is that God would be glorified through our family and our situation. He has continued to provide for us and meet our every need! We serve an amazing God!

Thank you Laura for all you do!
Cantina

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This sure makes me appreciate my kitchen! I believe it can also help us all recognize that none of us have to have perfect circumstances in order to feed our families well. We just need to be creative and trust God!

Please keep sending in your stories! These have become my favorite emails to receive. Getting a peek into your lives is refreshing and encouraging. You are all amazing!

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Make Homemade Broth ~ Money Saving Monday

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Welcome to our very first Money Saving Monday tip! I have to start with talk about making broth. Why? Here’s the back story…

Once upon a time (otherwise known as two weeks ago), we were having a houseful of company for the weekend. I had the meals planned, and worked to get as much cooking done ahead of time as possible so that I could enjoy my guests once they arrived.

The only task left on my list was “make broth for soup” which kept getting pushed down because of everything else that kept getting added to my list – you know how it is. I decided, “Fine, I’ll just buy the broth. No need to kill myself and be exhausted before guests arrive.” So I checked “make broth for soup” off my to-do list and added “broth for soup” to my grocery list. (This has got to be the most intriguing story you’ve ever read…)

Fast-forward to the part where I was standing at the store in the aisle of broth. I saw the tiny little box of broth along with its price tag. Out loud to the shelf, the broth, the price tag, and likely to a few other shoppers passing by, I said, “Ugh. $2 – for this??” I cringed as I put three boxes in my cart. I cringed even more when I poured the watery broth into my soup pot. When I make broth, it’s thick and rich, full of vegetables, fat, and gel from the bones.

Purchasing broth that day really was a life saver. But a money saver it was not. Plus, what I make at home is much more nutrient packed. So Money Saving Monday tip for today:

Make Your Own Nutrient-Packed Broth

For the price of three boxes of store-bought (watery) broth, I can make 2 gallons of homemade, nourishing broth. I pack it full of veggies. I cook it slow and low until the good fat and nutrients seep out of the bones. You haven’t had broth until you’ve had homemade bone broth. This is incredibly delicious, and so very good for you!

Even better, beef bones are very inexpensive to purchase. I purchase beef bones from a local farmer who raises grass-fed beef. You can also check butcher shops and your grocery store meat department to see about getting a good deal on beef bones.

I personally love how easy beef bone broth is to make. In addition, I often make Chicken Broth, which is also incredibly nourishing and rich. But it does take a little more effort if you are starting with whole chickens. Making broth from beef bones requires very little effort – and very little money – just to restate one of our main points today!

Below you’ll find links to our Beef Broth and Chicken Broth instructions:

How to Make Beef Broth

Homemade Beef Broth

How to Make Chicken Broth

How to Make Chicken Broth

So, three cheers for homemade bone broth! It’s one of the most inexpensive ways to get loads of nourishment into your family.

What to do with Beef Bone Broth or Chicken Broth:

In case you lost count, that’s 12 amazing ways to fill yourself and your family with nourishment in a very inexpensive way. Homemade Beef and Chicken broth are amazing!

Make it Ahead

Beef and Chicken Broth can easily be made ahead and frozen for future use. This means you are not only saving money, you’re saving time! To freeze broth, be sure it has completely cooled. Pour it into jars, leaving 2-3 inches of space at the top of the jar to allow for the broth to expand as it freezes. You can also freeze the broth in freezer bags. Just be sure the bags are sealed well before putting them in the freezer. Otherwise, they will spill and leak, creating broth-sicles all over the freezer – ask me how I know. :(

What are your favorite ways to make and use beef or chicken broth?

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Menu Plan for the Week ~ With a Fun Menu Planning Resource Announcement

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Last week’s new (to me) menu planning idea worked out pretty well! I loved the flexibility, knowing I could make anything on the list for any meal of the week.

The great thing about menu planning is that there are so many ways to go about getting yourself organized. One thing is for sure though – menu planning always saves money, time, and energy. This is why I talk about it so often here and share my menu plans with you.

Want to know a little secret? It’s about menu planning, and it’s different from anything we’ve offered here before.

We’re almost finished creating a really fun menu planning resource packet to add to our shop. It’s full of printables for you to pick and choose from. Then based on your needs and preferences, you build your own menu planning notebook. It’s a never ending resource of fun and organization. Who says menu planning can’t be FUN!?!?!?!

Coming early November…

Build Your Menu Planning Notebook 550x

That’s a sneak peek at the cover of the “Build Your Menu Planning Notebook” packet. More details to come as we finish it up and offer it for sale. I can’t wait to share more about what this is like. Watch for it soon!

In other news around the Coppinger household, we are still buried under apples. It’s a wonderful and tasty “problem” to have. :)  I made 17 more quarts of Applesauce this weekend. Then I mixed up 9 quarts worth of Apple Pie Filling. Instead of canning the filling, I froze it in bags. This girl, if you can believe it, is almost out of jars! That’s what happens when you are having a fantastic produce year!

apple work 2

I also made a big Apple Crisp for a Fall Festival at church Saturday night. Apples, apples everywhere!

apple work 1

Like last week, I’m listing meal ideas for the week according to the meal instead of scheduling them specifically for each day. I’ll mix and match depending on how much time I have each day. Here are our food lists for this week:

Breakfasts

Lunches

Dinners

Fruit and Veggie Side Dishes (I always serve 1-4 fruits and veggies with each meal)

 What’s on your menu plan this week? Praying your week is off to a great start!

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How to Cook Spaghetti Squash

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If you’ve never tried Spaghetti Squash, I highly recommend you add this to your veggie eating repertoire.

For the record, I don’t think I can pull off correctly pronouncing the word repertoire. I just thought that sentence sounded better than me simply stating, “Yo. You should totally eat Spaghetti Squash.”

We were blessed with several fantastic spaghetti squash in our garden this summer and fall. I’m not sure there’s a better meal than home grown spaghetti squash, served with sauce made from home grown tomatoes. It’s delicious! Plus, practically free. Plus, super healthy. It’s merveilleux! ( I can’t pronounce that either, but it means “wonderful” in French. In other words: YUM.)

How to Cook Spaghetti Squash

1. Rinse outside of the squash.
2. Poke squash with a knife or fork 3-4 times.
3. Place squash in a baking dish, uncovered.
4. Bake in a 350° for 45-60 minutes or until squash is tender.
5. Cut squash in half to open.
6. Pull out seeds and discard.
7. Use a fork to pull “spaghetti” away from the inside of the rind. (This is the fun part!)
8. Serve cooked spaghetti squash as is, or serve with your favorite red or white sauce.

How to Cook Spaghetti Squash

Beyond Spaghetti Sauce, we love this squash with Alfredo Sauce and Italian Cream Cheese Chicken.

Are you a fan of Spaghetti Squash, or is this something you’ve not yet added to your veggie repertoire? What’s your favorite way to serve Spaghetti Squash? Can you pronounce the word repertoire?

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Money Saving Monday ~ Stretching Your Dollars While Eating Healthy Food

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Never before have I recognized the need to find money-saving grocery methods as I do now. My boys have always been big eaters. But now that 2-almost-3-out of 4 of them are teenagers? There is no sentence to follow that question.  It’s just. The food. They eat. I’m so. Wow.

It’s a pleasure to watch them eat actually. Big appetites are fun for a food lovin’ Mama like me. But I have to find as many ways as possible to make our grocery dollars stretch. Just last week, I decided to buy some thick deli-sliced ham for a quick lunch. It was on sale, so I bought several inches of it, hoping I could stretch it with a bunch of side dishes, and therefore save about a half pound to go with eggs for breakfast the next day. Y’all.  I fried every last bit of that ham, fried some leftover baked potatoes, opened a can of baked beans, pulled out half a pineapple, pulled out a pint of pickles, pulled some tortilla chips to go with leftover Cream Cheese Salsa Dip and leftover Spicy Avocado Dip, pulled a bowl of raw broccoli with homemade ranch dip – and nothing was left at the end of the meal. Then they said, “Can we have the rest of those peanut butter cookies?”

This is why their legs keep growing and their shoes are too small before they even get them broken in. (Praise God with me! Two of our boys found brand new pairs of very nice quality running shoes at our church clothing exchange last week for FREE. Hallelujah! Put the money we would have spent on shoes toward more eggs and meat.)

You know how I share that I buy in bulk all the time? A friend of mine came over to take a look at my food purchasing and storage system. She saw all of the containers of pasta. She saw all the jars of home-canned produce. She saw all the 50-pound bags of wheat, oats, and rice. She saw my all my cocoa powder, bottles of ketchup, jars of mayo, and cans of tuna. She saw my three freezers (THREE!) full of meat and frozen fruits and veggies. She saw it all. Her question:

“So, would this food last you for about a year do you think?” Oh dear, no (said I, with a giggle). What you see here will be gone in three months.

Well anyway, money saving tips on food are necessary – for all of us, wouldn’t you agree?

Each Monday for the next few weeks, I plan to share a way to save money while eating healthy food. Healthy food is so important so that we can all thrive physically and emotionally! These posts won’t be about skimping on nutrition, but rather attaining nutrition without breaking the bank.

Money Saving Monday at Heavenly Homemakers

Of course, I’ll continue to share all the great online deals I find at anytime throughout the week. But I continue learning new tricks to keep my healthy food grocery budget reasonable. I can’t wait to share!

Will you help out as we start this series? Leave a comment letting us know:

1. What are your favorite ways to save money on healthy foods?
2. What are the areas you struggle with most while trying to save money on healthy foods?

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