Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Spicy Ranch Dressing

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I just met something wonderful called Spicy Ranch Dressing.

spicy ranch dressing 1

Remember when I went to the Women of Faith conference with my girlfriends and got super silly? It may have been in part because of the meal we ate across the street from the arena before the event. Yes. I blame it on the specialty pizza. It was that good.

Who knew you could put thin slices of red potato on a pizza and turn out something amazing? The pizza had some sort of red-ish sauce drizzled all over it, and that very sauce is what made that pizza taste so good. Well, that and the bacon. Everything is better with bacon.

Of course I came home determined to replicate the sauce. Every potato needs that sauce, whether it’s on a pizza or not. So I looked it up on the restaurant website. It described the pizza blah, blah, blah “with spicy ranch dressing.” Bingo.

So I played. The result is too easy. Make this and forever drizzle it over your baked potatoes, your chicken, and sure – even your pizza.

Spicy Ranch DressingYum

Spicy Ranch Dressing
 
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Ingredients
  • 1 cup homemade ranch dressing (because it is good for you and delicious)
  • 1-3 Tablespoons of your favorite hot sauce like Tabasco, Cholula, or Sriracha
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
Instructions
  1. Mix together, and enjoy.

See how easy that was? You’ll need my homemade ranch dressing recipe.

Want it to be spicier? Add more hot sauce, chili powder, or cumin. Want it to be less hot? Cut down the hot sauce, chili powder, or cumin. Really, it isn’t difficult.

Spicy Ranch Dressing

Later this week, I will share a fun new Baked Potato Casserole I came up with to use with this Spicy Ranch Dressing. You will love how simple it is. And yep, there’s bacon on it. (And all the husbands everywhere said, “Yes. Keep reading that one lady’s blog – the one who gives you recipes that use bacon.”)

Give me more ideas besides potatoes, chicken, and pizza for this dressing. Think it would taste good on a salad? (Yes.) Ooh, maybe with Sweet Potato Fries. Oh my goodness, yes. What else??

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How to Make Gatorade

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Homemade Gatorade!!!!!

Homemade Gatorade

Yum

The thing about me experimenting with an idea to try to come up with a healthy alternative is that I can get super excited about the result – but then immediately question, “Will this taste as good to other people as I think it tastes? Will others who are used to the ‘real version’ think this only tastes like a so-so ‘healthy version?'” These questions were especially tricky when making a Gatorade alternative because 1) I haven’t actually sipped on any Gatorade for several years so I couldn’t even remember what it was supposed to taste like and 2) the homemade version looked so cute in my recycled juice bottles that I was going to be super disappointed if my kids didn’t like it.

It’s all about the cute bottles. Am I right?

So there I was with my “I really need my men to love this Gatorade in cute bottles” conundrum. I had the bottles nicely chilled so that they were good and frosty on the outside, enhancing their cuteness and curb appeal. Hoping for the best, I drove the bottles across town to where my entire family was working on a roof.

When I arrived, they greeted me with phrases such as, “We are so hungry, what did you bring for lunch, I hope you brought cold drinks, we are so sweaty.”

This was a perfect time to say, “I actually brought some homemade Gatorade (in cute bottles, please like them) – so that should be perfect to replenish what you need after sweating so much.”

See, my family can talk about sweat right before eating lunch and it’s not a big deal. We are a family of men (except for me) and I’ve learned to live and breathe and talk all things gross. I only brought it up here because in all fairness, Gatorade truly does give a body some of what it needs – like sugar and salt (electrolytes) – to replenish after sweating. It’s just all the other junk in Gatorade I’m trying to avoid. But enough about sweat and high fructose corn syrup.

My pickiest kid – and also the one who loves junk food more than all the others – pulled out a bottle first. I held my breath. This would be the biggest test, because if this boy liked it, they should all like it. He took a sip, said “Hmm,” then took another sip. After considering the taste for a moment he said the best sentence of all, “If I didn’t know it was homemade, I would think it was real Gatorade.” Had he not been so sweaty, I would have kissed him.

Instead I shrugged and said calmly as if it didn’t really matter to me, “REALLY, FOR REAL?! YOU REALLY THINK SO? I WAS REALLY REALLY HOPING YOU’D LIKE IT!!!!” He just kept sipping, then also dug into the cooler for some lunch, because he is a boy and doesn’t understand the importance of the cute bottle.

So make this. Use it to quench the thirst and bless the bodies of all those around you who do sports or other activities in which they need replenishing and refreshment.

How to Make Gatorade

Homemade Gatorade (adapted from recipe at Deliciously Organic)

4.6 from 5 reviews
How to Make Gatorade
 
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Serves: 6 cups
Ingredients
  • 1 cup 100% juice
  • 2 Tablespoons honey
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt (I use Redmond)
  • 6 cups cold water
Instructions
  1. In a saucepan stir juice, honey, and sea salt over medium heat until the honey and salt dissolve. Pour mixture into 6 cups of cold water.
  2. Shake to combine.
  3. Chill mixture in the fridge until ready to serve.

Homemade Gatorade Recipe

I’m not sure about the exact math on this recipe, but I would venture a guess that it takes about 50¢ to make this (almost a half gallon). 50¢ divided by five 10-ounce bottles is 10¢ per bottle. Store-bought Gatorade costs quite a bit more than that, plus it is full of ingredients our bodies don’t need.

That, along with the cute bottles, should make you eager to try this recipe.

So tell me? How excited are you about my cute bottles??! (And sure, does the recipe make you excited too?)

We love saving money on the good stuff!

Join the Homemaker’s Savings Club so I can let you know about the best prices and freebies I find each week! We’ll start you off with a FREE Money-Saving Cookbook just for signing up!

Top 10 Money Saving Recipes

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No-Bake Chocolate Fudge Bites (Low Sugar, Gluten Free, Dairy Free)

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Happiness is found in No-Bake Chocolate Fudge Bites!

I always hesitate to put “Gluten Free” or “Dairy Free” in the title of a recipe. Why? Because some people see it and think, “I don’t need to eat gluten free (or dairy free) so I don’t need to look at this recipe.”

No wait! Come baaaaaaack! Do you eat apples? Strawberries? Chicken? Carrots? Then sometimes you eat gluten and dairy free. Right? Because that’s what those foods are, without even having to try.

There are soooo many foods that are naturally gluten and/or dairy free because God made a big variety of food to provide nourishment and balance. I wanted to put “GF” and “DF” in the title of this recipe so that the “GF” and “DF” people would know they could join this party. Everyone wins. Especially because this recipe involves chocolate. Amen and amen.

So gather around all you gluten free and dairy free and I can eat anything people. There are fudge bites to be had! These are cousins to No-Bake Snickerdoodle Bites (which are also GF and DF). Both of these snacks are awesome to have in the fridge for a quick pick-me-up.

Note: I noticed two things about this recipe when I tried them on my family:

  1. They were too sweet for me but my boys wished they were sweeter. Add or subtract that 1/4 cup honey amount as you wish.
  2. These tasted a thousand times better after they had been in the fridge an entire day. I don’t know why. Eat them right away if you wish, but chilling these in the fridge for over 24 hours makes these much fudgy-er and tastier.

No-Bake Chocolate Fudge BitesYum

5.0 from 1 reviews
No-Bake Chocolate Fudge Bites (Low Sugar, Gluten Free, Dairy Free)
 
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Ingredients
  • 1 cup almond butter or peanut butter
  • ¼ cup honey (more if you prefer)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
  • ⅓ cup coconut flour
Instructions
  1. Mix the ingredients together in a bowl until well combined.
  2. Roll the mixture into teaspoon-sized (or whatever sized) balls.
  3. Refrigerate before serving.

No-Bake Fudge Bites

Have you tried the No-Bake Snickerdoodle Bites yet? These No-Bake Bites are my favorite way to add coconut flour to our diet (which is rich in fiber, protein, and other great nutrients). It doesn’t hurt that they only take a few minutes and little effort to make. :)

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Make Orange Creamsicle Ice Cream – No Ice Cream Freezer Required

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Orange Ice Cream

Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Orange.

Orange who?

Orange you glad I didn’t bore you with the ridiculous banana knock-knock joke your three year old thinks is funny every time he tells it over and over? Between my four boys, I heard that joke 45,000 times. It was so hilarious every single time, of course. If you don’t know which joke I’m talking about, I am very, very jealous and and also very happy for you. Look it up if you must, but I’m warning you: do not tell your three year old.

All jokes aside, orange you excited to try this recipe? You should be! It’s very refreshing – and super easy. No need to dig out the ice cream maker and rock salt. You do need a high power blender, however. I invested in a BlendTec about a year ago, and I’m not sure how Ma Ingalls and I ever lived without it. That thing is a power horse and makes my kitchen life so much easier. I probably use it three times every day – no exaggeration.

But speaking of exaggeration, check out this orange:

orange ice cream 1

I got two of these giants in my Bountiful Basket order last week. As you can see, this one was so huge, I could barely hold it in my hand. This recipe calls for two medium-sized oranges. The above orange does not qualify as “medium-sized.” He is an over-achiever and we are so proud. I used about 1 1/2 of this size orange for this recipe. And really, this recipe isn’t rocket science because I don’t know what rocket science is and also because this recipe is flexible in its ingredient quantities. Just freeze some orange wedges and throw them in a blender with the other stuff and it makes a really great treat.

Knock, knock.

Just kidding.

Alrighty, here is the very easy recipe, which I found here and tweaked only slightly. Thank you for the great idea, SuperHealthyKids.com!

Low Sugar Orange Ice CreamYum

2 cups whole milk or coconut milk
2 medium-sized oranges
3 Tablespoons maple syrup or 20 drops liquid stevia
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Peel oranges and divide them into sections. Lay them flat on a cookie sheet. Place them in the freezer for about two hours or until they are frozen solid.

Put half the frozen orange segments into a high power blender. Add milk and blend until smooth. Add remaining oranges, maple syrup or stevia, and vanilla. Continue blending until smooth.

Pour mixture into a 9×13 inch dish. Place in the freezer for 1-2 hours before serving. (If it is in the freezer longer than 1-2 hours, remove from freezer a few minutes before serving to make scooping easier.

Orange Ice Cream with dairy free option!

Do you have a BlendTec or other high power blender (like Vitamix)? What all do you do with it? Isn’t it great?!

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Low Sugar {Real Food} Oatmeal Cookie Recipe

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Taking the Super Moist Chocolate Cake from 6 cups of sugar to just 1/2 cup of sugar worked great. I figured why not play with other cake and cookie recipes to make them lower in sugar? And all the people said, “Amen.”

Low Sugar Chocolate Cake

If you haven’t tried this Low Sugar Super Moist Chocolate Cake yet, I have to ask:
Why?
Go make this. For the love of chocolate, people.

Now here’s another low-sugar treat I experimented with. I took my oatmeal cookie from 1 1/2 cups of sugar down to just 1/2 cup. I thought they were great. My kids ate them fine, but were sure to let me know that they would have been much better had I included chocolate chips.

Well duh. Everything is better with chocolate chips. But we’re going for low sugar here. So the boys suggested that maybe next time I could add chocolate chips to half the batch (for them) and leave the other half plain (for me). Apparently I’m the only one who needs to cut back on sugar and the boys still need plenty of it? And I’m not sure where Matt fits into this equation. Does Dad get any cookies, boys?

I’m sure they’d be happy to let me share my plain half with him. They are very nice.

Give these a try – with or without chocolate chips. Hey, you could even add raisins. Or dried cranberries.

Low Sugar Oatmeal CookiesYum

1 cup melted butter
1/2 cup sucanat
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups whole oats
1 1/2-2 cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground hard white wheat)

Stir together melted butter and sucanat. Add eggs, baking soda, salt, and vanilla. Stir in oats and flour until you reach desired cookie dough consistency. (If you’re using store-bought whole wheat flour, you may need less than 2 cups. Freshly ground may require the full 2 cups.)

Scoop cookie dough onto baking sheet leaving about 2 inches in between. Bake in a 350° oven for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are golden brown.

Low Sugar Oatmeal Cookies

These are great dipped in milk, and of course, I’ll be having a cup of coffee with my half of the cookies. Not that I’ll eat the entire half-batch at once. That would be a bit counter-productive, wouldn’t you say?

Are you a plain oatmeal cookie fan – or do you prefer them with raisins or chocolate chips?

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Garden Veggie Chicken Skillet Recipe {Quick, Easy, Healthy, and Delicious}

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Garden Veggie Chicken Skillet 2

Several of you have commented that you would love more one-skillet-meal recipes. Tell you what – me too. I have very few recipes like that, especially those that fall under the healthy, real food, easy categories. So I tinkered last week and hoped my family would like what I came up with.

Did they like it?  Well, would I be posting it here if they didn’t? We were six for six on this one. Sweet! (Actually, it’s savory, but you get the point.)   So now I present to you a recipe which:

  • Takes only a few minutes to prepare
  • Takes only a few minutes to cook
  • Will help you stretch the meat, saving you money
  • Is full of tasty veggies
  • Is a complete meal in one dish
  • Tastes amazing (my family said so)

This recipe filled my large electric skillet, feeding six of us. If you have a smaller family, you may want to cut this recipe in half. Also, while this recipe covers all your nutritional bases, I still recommend serving this with a salad (more veggies!) and/or some fresh fruit.

Garden Veggie Chicken Skillet Recipe

Yum

5 medium potatoes, any variety, cut into small cubes
1 pound uncooked boneless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into small bites (I use thighs because they taste better to us)
4 cups chopped veggies – any variety or combination (zucchini, asparagus, sweet peppers, mushrooms, and onions recommended)
1/2 cup Italian dressing (I use my simple homemade Italian Dressing recipe)

Combine all ingredients in a large skillet. Stir dressing around to coat veggies, potatoes, and meat. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 12-20 minutes or until veggies are tender and meat is cooked thoroughly.

 Garden Veggie Chicken Skillet

Garden Veggie Chicken Skillet Recipe {Quick, Easy, Healthy, and Delicious}
 
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Ingredients
  • 5 medium potatoes, any variety, cut into small cubes
  • 1 pound uncooked boneless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into small bites (I use thighs because they taste better to us)
  • 4 cups chopped veggies - any variety or combination (zucchini, asparagus, sweet peppers, mushrooms, and onions recommended)
  • ½ cup Italian dressing (I use my simple homemade Italian Dressing recipe)
Instructions
  1. Combine all ingredients in a large skillet.
  2. Stir dressing around to coat veggies, potatoes, and meat.
  3. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 12-20 minutes or until veggies are tender and meat is cooked thoroughly.

The Italian Dressing is the rock star in this recipe. It gives the meat and veggies awesome flavor, plus the oil in the dressing helps in the cooking process. Delicious and super simple!

 Think your family would like this meal?

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Honey Peanut Bars ~ Like a Healthy Payday Candy Bar

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Ladies and um, other Ladies (although surely there is a gentleman or three around here too):  We have a winner! Honey Peanut Bars it is!

Thanks to all who put in their vote as to which of the new healthy snack recipes from our upcoming eBook we should reveal early. It was a pretty close call on several. I put Malachi to work making tally marks as votes came in (a great school project for him). He had a lot of fun with it…

counting votes

Here’s how my afternoon sounded:

“Pizza Muffins are in the lead. They’re going to win for sure!”
“Mom! Peanut Bars have a ton of votes. They caught up to Pizza Muffins.”
“I think Oyster Crackers are going to pull ahead!”
“It’s back to the Peanut Bars. Why is everyone choosing that one?”

Yeah, Malachi doesn’t like peanuts. ;)

When it was all said and done, the Honey Peanut Bars won by several votes. Not to worry though. Our 227 Healthy Snacks eBook is almost finished. Then you’ll have access to all the recipes forever! (Our goal is to have the book ready for you by Sunday night.)

I mixed up a batch of these Honey Peanut Bars tonight again, just because they sounded good. Our older boys will probably finish them all off once they get home from basketball practice. What a perfect post-workout/bedtime snack for them. (With apples and cheese and whatever else they get out because…do I really need to explain?)

You should be excited to know that it only took about five minutes for me to mix these up tonight. Their simplicity is of the many reasons I love them. :)

Honey Peanut BarsYum

Honey Peanut Bars ~ Like a Healthy Payday Candy Bar
 
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Serves: 8-10
Ingredients
  • 1¼ cup roasted, unsalted peanuts
  • ¼ cup roasted, unsalted almonds
  • ⅓ cup honey
  • 3 Tablespoons natural creamy peanut butter
  • ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
  1. In a small saucepan stir honey, peanut butter, and salt together over low heat until well combined. Remove from heat.
  2. Stir in peanuts and almonds.
  3. Spread mixture into an 8x8 inch pan.
  4. Chill for 2 hours.
  5. Cut into bars.

Honey Peanut Bars - Better Than a Payday

Told you they were easy to make! Go grab your simple ingredients and get busy on these bars. You will love them as much as we do (well, everyone but Malachi).

Grab your copy of 227 Healthy Snacks which includes this recipe and 226 more recipes and snack ideas that are super delicious!

227 Healthy Snacks 2

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Simple Spinach Tuna Melts – Don’t Knock it Until You’ve Tried It

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Now that we’ve realized how easy it is to add spinach to our meals, I think we’re working it onto our table at least once each day. The day these Spinach Tuna Melts were invented, Matt was the guy in charge of figuring out lunch.

We almost always have several cans of tuna on hand, our freezer held plenty of cheese, and I think it goes without saying that we had spinach in the fridge. Here’s what Matt came up with:

Simple Spinach Tuna Melts

These were awesome.  I lost track of how many he had to make, as these are one or two bite tuna melts – and I’m not sure if you’ve seen our boys eat lately, but let’s just say they eat a lot of bites at each meal. We went through a lot of spinach, and not one boy complained that there was no bread involved in this meal.

This meal is perfect for days you’re limited on time to cook, days you don’t have meat thawed, and days you want extra nourishment in the form of spinach. (Every day is the day you want extra nourishment in the form of spinach. Join the spinach-eating bandwagon.)

How to Make Spinach Tuna MeltsYum

Open and drain a can of tuna. Use a fork to separate the tuna pieces, then place about a tablespoon on each leaf of spinach. Top with about a teaspoon of shredded cheddar cheese. Place prepared spinach/tuna/cheese on a baking sheet and broil in the oven for 1-2 minutes until the cheese is melted.

One 5-ounce can of tuna makes 6-8 Spinach Tuna Melts. If feeding teenage boys, open many cans of tuna and be prepared to make many pans of tuna melts.

So there you go! A super easy meal you can make that packs a big nutritional punch.

How are you doing on eating spinach? Have you found fun ways to work it into your meals?

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Hawaiian Fruit Salad

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XmasBrunch2011

This salad is super easy to make and super refreshing to eat. It is perfect for our Christmas Brunch!

Hawaiian Fruit SaladYum

Mix together three cups combination of any of the following:

Fresh or canned pineapple chunks or tidbits
Canned mandarin oranges or fresh clementines
Sliced bananas
Coconut flakes

Stir in:

1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix well and serve. See how easy that is?!

Hawaiian Fruit Salad

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Whole Wheat Zucchini Carrot Bread & Natural Value Foods 25% off Plus 20% off at Amazon

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The more nutrients you can stuff into one recipe, the better, right? My friend Emily tried this idea of adding shredded carrots into zucchini bread, then let me know that I should try it. Great idea. Mmmmm, so good!

Zucchini Carrot BreadYum

3 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup honey
1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
1 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup melted butter
2 eggs

In a large mixing bowl combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, sea salt, nutmeg and baking powder. Stir in honey, zucchini, carrots, eggs, and melted butter. Mix ingredients until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour into two well buttered loaf pans. Bake at 350° for 45-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

zucchini carrot bread

Slices of this Zucchini Carrot Bread would be perfect in your Make-Ahead Lunch Box! Simply allow the bread to cool, slice, wrap individually, then freeze. Pull a wrapped slice of bread out of the freezer, then toss it into your lunch box for a dessert or snack!

What other veggie combinations have you thrown together in quick breads?

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