Heavenly Homemakers

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Bacon, Egg, and Avocado Salad ~ Make-Ahead Lunch Box

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How do we get our family to eat a lot of greens? Put bacon, eggs, and avocado in the bowl with the lettuce.

The Make-Ahead Lunch Box

Rarely is my family of men pleased to see a lovely bowl of salad as the main dish at lunchtime. You can almost see the “am I gonna get full?!” look of panic in their eyes. After all, typically a tossed salad lunch just doesn’t stick with a person very long into the afternoon. But if there’s bacon in it? And boiled eggs? And avocado? And cheese? Well, now we’re on to something.

My family devoured this last week when I made it – even the boys who don’t typically love eating avocados. With all the other flavors mixed in, this salad with all its goodness works for even my pickiest eaters. Along with the salad, I served fresh pineapple, fresh cantaloupe, and a new recipe I was experimenting with: Coconut Fudge Bars. We were all very full after our meal – and stayed full until after we got back from swimming that evening at 5:15. At that point we were all ready to eat our own beach towels – but that’s typical no matter what we’ve eaten for lunch.

This recipe is hardly a recipe. Simply throw together whatever amounts of each ingredient you feel is best for each family member. We all ate great big bowls full, because that’s what we do around here. Need to this be Gluten Free? It’s GF without having to try. Need it to be Dairy Free? Leave out the cheese.  You might have been able to figure that one out by yourself.  ;)

Bacon, Egg, and Avocado Salad

Bacon, Egg, and Avocado SaladYum

Bacon, Egg, and Avocado Salad ~ Make-Ahead Lunch Box
 
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Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • Bacon, cut into bites, cooked, and drained
  • Boiled eggs
  • Avocado, cut into bites (as well as you can cut an avocado into bites)
  • Cheddar or Colby jack cheese, cut into small chunks
  • Mixed greens, lettuce, and spinach of choice
  • Tomatoes, chopped
  • Salad dressing of choice
Instructions
  1. Toss ingredients together and have a feast.

To prepare for the lunch box:

Prepare all ingredients in advance, from cooking the bacon to boiling the eggs to chunking the cheese. Toss the fixin’s into a jar or bowl with a lid before heading out for the day. Put the dressing into a separate container to add just before eating.

These ingredients, prepared in advance, will last a week or two in the fridge for quick salad prep. If you chop your avocado ahead of time, simply place the avocado pit into the container to help maintain the nice green color.

Side dish ideas:

You really have to try this salad. Really – even people who don’t normally love salad should love this one. It has bacon in it, for crying out loud. It’s happiness in a bowl.

Hey, have any of you tried the “Salad in a Jar” idea? I am excited to try that sometime, both because it’s a great packaging idea…and of course, because it involves a jar. It’s happiness in a jar. With bacon (for crying out loud).

Find more Make-Ahead Lunch Box recipes and be sure to follow along in this series for more fun ideas!

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Cinnamon Nectarine Muffins

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I am well aware that I feed an army each day. But sometimes, the reality of how much food it actually takes to feed this army leaves me with my mouth hanging open.

Take, for instance, the fact that we got 20 pounds of nectarines last week in our Azure Standard order. Within only 5 days, our family had polished off 15 pounds of them. Do you know how many nectarines that is? Neither do I. But it was a lot of nectarines.

As the box was emptying, I decided to get a little bit creative. Some of the nectarines were getting pretty soft – a little too soft to slice nicely. Therefore, into the food processor they went, skin and all. (I did remove the pit. I thought I’d mention that for those of you who were considering throwing the entire piece of fruit directly into the machine. Don’t do that.)  The food processor turned out a very nice nectarine puree, which when stirred into other fine ingredients, turned out a most deliciously moist muffin.

Feel free to sub peaches for nectarines in this recipe. :)

Cinnamon Nectarine Muffins

Cinnamon Nectarine MuffinsYum

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup sucanat
3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 3/4 cups nectarine or peach puree (4-5 peaches or nectarines)
1/3 cup sour cream
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg

In a large bowl, mix together flour, sucanat, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Stir in pureed fruit, sour cream, melted butter, vanilla, and egg. Once mixed, scoop batter into well buttered or paper-lined muffin tins. Bake in a 400° oven for 25-30 minutes or until muffins are golden brown. Makes about 15 muffins.

I found that these muffins required a little more baking time than a typical muffin. You may want to prick one with a toothpick to make sure it comes out clean so the muffins aren’t doughy.

Which do you like best: nectarines or peaches?

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Whole Wheat Pizza Swirls ~ The Make-Ahead Lunch Box

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The Make-Ahead Lunch Box

I’m excited to kick off our new Make-Ahead Lunch Box series with a fun new recipe I recently tried for my family. We all love these Whole Wheat Pizza Swirls.  Here are my favorite perks to this recipe, and why I think this is perfect for your Make-Ahead Lunch Box:

  • You can make Pizza Swirls ahead of time, wrap them individually, and store them in the freezer until you need them.
  • You can fill the Pizza Swirls with any of your favorite toppings, making this recipe versatile and ideal for accommodating food preferences.
  • These taste great both hot and cold.
  • Pizza Swirls are simple to make.
  • Pizza Swirls are filling and easy to eat.

Whole Wheat Pizza SwirlsYum

1 recipe of Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
1 cup pizza sauce
2 cups shredded cheddar or mozzarella cheese
3 Tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
variety of pizza fillings – your choice – like meat, olives, and veggies
2 Tablespoons olive oil (optional)

Mix Whole Wheat Pizza Dough as directed. On a clean, well floured surface, roll dough into a long oval until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Spread pizza sauce over the dough. Sprinkle with cheeses and your favorite pizza toppings. Roll the dough up, beginning on the long side. Tuck the ends under. Place on a cookie sheet. Spread olive oil over the top if you like. Bake in a 375° oven for about 15 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Slice and serve. Makes about 8-10 Pizza Swirls.

Whole Wheat Pizza Swirls

Bonus Tips:

  • Want to pack these Pizza Swirls to go? Once the swirls have cooled completely, wrap them individually and place them in an air tight container in the freezer. Set frozen wrapped Pizza Swirl in the fridge overnight to thaw to pack in a lunch box the next day.
  • Need to eat Gluten Free? Copy the idea and use your favorite gluten free dough recipe.
  • Tired of pizza? Skip the sauce and use turkey or chicken with cheese to make Meat and Cheese Swirls.

Great to Serve with Pizza Swirls:

  • Fresh fruit like apple slices, orange slices, peaches, cantaloupe, pineapple, or pears
  • Carrot sticks, sliced cucumbers, celery, or sweet peppers
  • Olives or pickles

I double, triple, or quadruple this recipe so that I can make lots at once to make my getting-ahead efforts worthwhile. This also means I can make a variety of different Pizza Swirls to have on hand. Our favorites are:

  • Pepperoni and Cheese
  • Combination (meat, cheese, green peppers, mushrooms, olives)
  • Hamburger and Green Pepper
  • Pepperoni and Olive

What kind of pizza swirls do you think your family will like? Have any other ideas you feel would be good to serve with Pizza Swirls (especially ideas that will pack well in a lunch box)?

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Chocolate Whipped Cream on Strawberries

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My life has not been the same since I discovered this Chocolate Whipped Cream.

Chocolate Whipped Cream on Strawberries 2

My men ban me from doing any work on Mother’s Day. They take over the kitchen, putting together all the meals in a way that is both hilarious and beautiful to me. Sometimes, I shout instructions from the living room. Other times I offer some quiet advice to help avoid culinary disaster. But they always do a nice job working together, and I’ve found it’s best if I simply walk away and let them do things their way.

Therefore, I needed a Mother’s Day dessert that was easy to make. I needed a Mother’s Day dessert that could be made ahead of time. I needed a Mother’s Day dessert that was low in sugar. And I needed chocolate. Obviously.

There’s nothing like inventing a recipe in my head, then writing it down and handing it to my boys to experiment with. Why give them a tried and true recipe when something else sounds better…inside my head. Right? Bless my boys. They are so used to how I roll in the kitchen, they didn’t even blink when I said, “For dessert, we’re going to try something new.” I’m sure they expected nothing less.

Chocolate Whipped Cream on StrawberriesYum

5.0 from 1 reviews
Chocolate Whipped Cream on Strawberries
 
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Author:
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 rounded Tablespoon cocoa powder
  • Liquid stevia to taste (we used about 10 drops)
  • Sliced strawberries
Instructions
  1. In a bowl, whip the cream until soft peaks form.
  2. Add cocoa and stevia, and whip again for a few seconds until ingredients are mixed well.
  3. Serve on top of sliced strawberries.

Chocolate Whipped Cream On Strawberries

Everyone loved this dessert! The boys especially loved that I said, “Have as much as you want.” When do I ever say that about dessert? Never.  But with this, since it is sweetened with stevia, I felt no need to limit how much they ate. This will be a great breakfast, snack, or dessert that we’ll surely be making over and over.

Now it’s your turn. Make this Chocolate Whipped Cream and sit back and enjoy it guilt free. Oh sweet happiness in a bowl.

What dessert did you request for Mother’s Day?

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Honey Glazed Carrots – Only 4 Ingredients

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High Five Recipes 2

If it looks like candy, smells like candy, and tastes like candy – it must be candy, right? Yes. Unless it’s a carrot. Then it’s a vegetable. A really, really delicious vegetable.

When a veggie tastes like candy, costs less than candy, and looks as appealing as candy – you have no more excuses to pull out about why you’re not eating vegetables. I’m not sure if you knew this or not, but carrots are also much more nutritious than candy. Yes, it’s true. That’s why you should choose veggies over candy most of the time.

This leads me to share about one of my new favorite ways to serve veggies. Honey Glazed Carrots take only a few minutes to make – so you can’t use the excuse that “it takes too long to make healthy food.” You don’t have to know a lot about cooking in order to make these, so no excuses there. What else is there? Actually, why are we even still talking about this? Just eat the veggies, for goodness sake. Here, I’ll make it easy for you:

Honey Glazed Carrots

Honey Glazed CarrotsYum

5-6 medium carrots
2 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon honey
sea salt to taste

Peel carrots and cut them into “coins.” Steam them for about five minutes or until they are tender. Remove them from the pan. Melt butter and honey together in the pan until it is runny and well combined. Add the steamed carrots to the butter/honey mixture, tossing to coat. Sprinkle with salt. Serve right away.

This recipe tastes a lot like the honey glazed carrots you get at Cracker Barrel, although this recipe is better in my opinion as it’s not quite as sweet. I mean, if I want something super sweet, I’ll skip the veggies and eat candy. Which of course, I will only do rarely and that just leads us back to our original conversation. Again, why are we still talking about this? Just eat the veggies already.

Honey Glazed Carrots – better than candy in every way possible. Won’t rot your teeth, won’t turn your lips blue, won’t give you a sugar high or crash, won’t freak out your insides.

Serve these carrots with Grilled Barbecue Chicken and a salad, and you’ve got a great tasting, super easy, very nutritious meal.

So now you tell me, what’s your favorite kind of candy? Answer: Honey Glazed Carrots. Now we’re talking.

 Find More High Five Recipes here.

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Bacon Wrapped Cream Cheese Chicken – A Family Favorite Freezer Meal

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I don’t think it would matter how much I of this Bacon Wrapped Cream Cheese Chicken I made – my family would keep asking, “Can I have another piece of chicken?” I definitely never can make enough.

Ah bacon and cream cheese…two of life’s happiest ingredients. Today, I made a batch of this chicken – serving half for lunch and freezing half for another day. It’s a super easy freezer meal to make, and great to pull out and cook quickly. You can even cook it from its frozen state – so having it on hand can save your neck if you forgot to thaw anything for dinner.

Bacon Wrapped Cream Cheese Chicken

What a great way to finish out this week’s freezer cooking challenge! I served this at lunch today with peas and smoothies (full of spinach, strawberries, peaches, and mango). It was a super easy lunch, packed with nourishment for my family. I’m excited to have more of this chicken in my freezer for another meal soon.

Have you made this chicken dish yet?  You’ll find this recipe in our {Healthy} Make-Ahead Meals and Snacks eBook (which is currently part of a package deal you can get for just $5). The recipes included in that package are some that we use all the time at our house to get ahead!

As a reminder, here are the other posts from this week’s challenge:

If you’re just joining us for the Freezer Cooking Challenge, that’s great! You can get started here.

Coming up next week, we’ll be filling the freezer with breakfast items. I’m so excited about this, as having quick, easy, and healthy breakfast foods on hands is such a life-saver for me!

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Quick and Easy Shortbread Recipe

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High Five Recipes 2

Three ingredients. A super quick snack. Amazing deliciousness. Supplies you always have on hand…

Wait, you do have butter on hand, right? Okay. I mean, we can still be friends even if you have run out of butter, but don’t let it happen again. This has nothing to do with me and my butter obsession. I’m just looking out for you, that’s all. I have your best interests in mind. Opening the fridge or freezer to find that there is no more butter waiting – well, it is reason to panic. It’ll send a woman into a crazed frenzy, causing her to frantically toss a whole frozen chicken and eight packages of hamburger meat off a freezer shelf, hoping in vain to locate a forgotten pound of butter buried in the back under some frost.

It could be that I got going on that paragraph and couldn’t find a logical time to stop. Just save yourself (or me, apparently) the emotional trauma of running out of butter by always keeping a nice supply on hand.

So butter. You’ll need it for this recipe. You’ll also need flour and sugar. Plus a bowl, a spoon, and a pan. That’s it. Could it be any easier?

Quick and Easy ShortbreadYum

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground hard white wheat for this)
1/4 cup sucanat (or brown sugar if you prefer)
3/4 cup melted butter

Blend all ingredients well. Press mixture into a 9×9 inch baking pan. Bake in a 350° oven for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Cook and cut into 12 squares.

Quick and Easy Shortbread

As you can see, this is a no-brainer recipe. I discovered it as I’ve been working on a brand new healthy snacks eBook. This shortbread can be stirred up and put into the oven within just a few minutes. We love it because it is just lightly sweetened, and deliciously buttery. It is awesome with a cup of coffee or tea in the afternoon.

It is worthwhile to note that this is not a snack you’ll want to hand your kids while they are running into the living room you’ve just vacuumed. This shortbread is a bit crumbly and needs to be eaten while holding ones head directly over a plate while sitting at a table. Trust me. I know these things.

And one more thing. Go check your butter supply. We’ll all sleep better tonight knowing you’re well stocked.

‘Fess up. How much butter do you have right now? 

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Black Bean Chicken Nachos – A Last Minute Meal

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Where does the time go? My kids are not babies anymore, I’ve been married for almost 20 years, and just last week, I realized that it was almost lunchtime and I had forgotten to put the chicken into the crockpot. Yes, time flies after breakfast. And when you’re happily married, raising kids, and all that.

I have no advice on keeping time from moving so quickly. I can, however, give you an idea for a quick meal for when you haven’t managed to prepare anything in advance. It all starts with frozen chicken. This is because not only did you not start lunch or dinner on time, you also forgot to thaw the chicken. For all of you perpetually prepared people out there, don’t worry – thawed chicken will also work in this recipe. For the rest of us, we rejoice in the fact that frozen chicken and a cold crock pot does not prevent us from putting a great meal on the table in a short amount of time.

This recipe is a result of me realizing at 11:30 one whirlwind morning that while I had been planning to serve Chicken Tacos for lunch that day, not only was the chicken still frozen, I didn’t have any tortillas prepared or purchased. Without thinking too hard, I chucked the frozen chicken into a saucepan on the stove, dumped on salsa, and hoped for the best. I covered the pan and turned the heat on low. Within an hour, my chicken thawed, cooked in delicious salsa flavors, and was ready for lunch – which we had with chips instead of tortillas. It turned out so delicious, I decided we would make it this way again and again. This recipe turned out to be a “six out of six” which means that all six of our family members loved this. A brainless, effortless, healthy recipe that we all liked? Score!

Black Bean Chicken Nachos

Black Bean Chicken NachosYum

Black Bean Chicken Nachos - A Last Minute Meal
 
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Author:
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 1½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 2 cups salsa
  • 2 cups cooked black beans (or one can of prepared beans, if you've - you know - not remembered to soak and cook them ahead of time while you were busy not thawing your chicken...)
  • tortilla chips, cheese, sour cream, tomatoes, and other nacho toppings of your choice
Instructions
  1. Place chicken and salsa in a medium-sized saucepan.
  2. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for 20 minutes (if chicken is thawed) or 45-50 minutes (if chicken is frozen).
  3. Use a fork and knife to shred chicken and stir it back into the salsa.
  4. Stir in black beans, and continue cooking until beans are hot - about five minutes more.
  5. Serve with shredded cheese and other nacho toppings of your choice.
  6. Scoop up Black Bean Chicken nachos with tortilla chips and congratulate yourself for throwing together such a wonderful meal with such minimal effort.

Then, before you forget, get out the meat for tomorrow’s meals so it can be thawed and ready to use. Not being prepared certainly worked for this recipe, but let’s not push it.

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Pizza Soup

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Pizza Soup: One of the best inventions in my kitchen so far this winter. Not including the Super Creamy Peanut Butter, of course. I can’t get enough of this soup. Plus, it’s super easy to make. I love this!

In a freaky, way less artificial, and way more wonderful sort of way, this soup tastes kind of like Spaghettios. I only mention this for those mothers who have kids they are trying to break from Spaghettios. If you hate Spaghettios, trust me, this soup tastes nothing like Spaghettios. Really. Okay then.

pizza soup

You’ll notice this recipe is similar to my Cheeseburger Soup recipe. One night as I was making Cheeseburger Soup, I realized I didn’t have enough chicken broth. I decided to add some tomato sauce to the soup for more liquid. Then I added a few different spices and some pasta. Then I fell in love. Don’t worry. I still love Matt best.

Pizza SoupYum

1/2 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup shredded carrots
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
3 cups chicken broth
4 cups tomato sauce
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups milk
8 ounces whole wheat or rice pasta
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup sour cream (optional)

In a large pot, brown hamburger meat with onions, carrots, basil, parsley, oregano, and garlic powder. Once thoroughly cooked, add chicken broth and tomato sauce, then bring to a boil. Salt and pepper to taste. Add pasta, then reduce heat to medium while pasta cooks, about ten minutes. Add milk, stirring and cooking until bubbly – about two minutes. Remove from heat.  Add cheese and sour cream, stirring until melted. Serves 4-6.

Make this dairy free by simply substituting coconut milk and leaving out the cheese. Add chopped green peppers to the meat, onion, and carrot mixture for a more flavorful soup.

Is it super cold at your house like it is at mine right now?  Soup is rockin’ my world as I work to keep us warm and fed!

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Now, Now. Let’s Not Make This Difficult ~ Easy Orange Chicken, A Super Quick, Real Food Recipe

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31 Days 300

Why do we make it hard? Why do we think that cooking healthier foods always takes a long time? Relax now. My recipes are all made with real food, and most all of them are very low maintenance. This Easy Orange Chicken recipe will prove it.

The truth is that eating a real food diet is actually rather simple. We just have to get the hang of it. We just have to plan ahead a little bit. We just have to buy some chicken – at least if you want to make this recipe. I think I had this dish in the oven after about five minutes of prep time. That’s faster than making a box of mac and cheese, and I think it goes without saying that this tastes much better.

High Five Recipes

Have you scrolled through all of my High Five Recipes? If not, you should. If so, you should again. They are all high quality recipes which call for five ingredients or less. We’re talking everything from main dishes, to side dishes, to snacks and desserts. Real food. Real easy. So how about a new High Five Recipe?

Easy Orange ChickenYum

1 cup orange juice
2 Tablespoons onion soup mix
10-12 chicken legs

Place chicken legs in a 9×13 inch baking dish. Stir together orange juice and onion soup mix. Pour mixture over the chicken. Cover and bake in a 375° oven for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

Variation:

Pour orange juice mixture over 6 chicken boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Bake in a 375° oven for 25 minutes, then uncover and bake for an additional 5 minutes or until juices run clear.

Easy Orange Chicken

During the final few minutes of cook time for your chicken, put together two or three vegetable side dishes. Brown rice is also wonderful with this chicken. Your meal will be satisfying, delicious, and you won’t even break a sweat preparing it.

Having homemade MSG-free Onion Soup Mix on hand is always super helpful. In fact, I encourage you to spend a few minutes putting together several of the seasoning mixes you’ll find on this page. They save so much time, taste so much better than purchased packets, are much healthier, and save money too!

I hope you’re beginning to see that eating a real food diet really isn’t complicated. What are your favorite “throw it together” healthy meals?

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