Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

How I’m Feeding My Family Next Week (Yep. It’ll be another busy one.)

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Today I thought I’d share a little fun family news, show you a picture of my groceries (you know you love looking at my butter), and share how I’m going to try and keep myself from being overwhelmed as I get meals on the table during a busy week.

First, some family news.

Soccer season ends next week!! I love soccer like crazy, but it also does make me crazy, so I’m always relieved when the season comes to an end. I mostly feel this way because Matt is assistant coach for the York College women’s team and he’s been on the road a lot. I look forward to him being home more.

puma-blues

Just as soccer season ends, basketball season begins. This doesn’t add much busyness to my life yet as Justus is driving now and can get Elias and himself to and from practices. My biggest job right now is to make sure they’ve had dinner in time to digest before they leave for practice (and provide a big snack when they get home, obviously).

Here’s a fun picture from YC Homecoming last weekend:

asa-concert-choir

Malachi tried out for our downtown Christmas theater production and got a part!! He is beyond excited and we’re all pretty excited for him. If you’re familiar with The Christmas Story movie, then you can picture Malachi as Flick. And if you’re familiar with Malachi, you know that role fits him perfectly! His practices are every weeknight from now until the shows are live in December.

Matt and I are leading a marriage retreat next weekend out of town, something we are looking forward to very much.

Justus and Elias are heading to a youth rally this weekend, and then to a big concert on Monday. Therefore, they are working double time on school work to get ahead so they can take a couple days off.

Malachi has decided to dress up like his biggest brother Asa for trick-or-treating. (Is that sweet, or is that sweet?) This plan only works if the two of them dress exactly alike for the evening and Asa is the one taking him from door to door. We’re working on coordinating their “costumes” which will likely be some form of athletic wear. I’ll take pictures to share after the big night! We’re blessed that York College opens up the women’s dorm and apartments for all the kids in the community to trick-or-treat. So, since almost everyone on campus knows Asa, and Malachi looks a lot like Asa (and gets called “Little Asa” by several on Asa’s college soccer team) – this should be a lot of fun!

That catches you up on our lives just a little bit. I’d love for you to leave a comment to share about yours!

Let’s talk food

I had plans to take a picture of my most recent trip to Fresh Thyme Market (the store I always visit when I have appointments in Lincoln because it’s my favorite!). When I got home this time, we threw all the groceries in the fridge and headed out to college soccer games. So the next day I cheated. I grabbed out a few items that I’d bought and took a quick picture. This is obviously not everything I bought (because this amount will only last us about a day and a half). But it gives you an idea of some of the fruits and veggies we’ll be eating with our meals next week. And sure enough, there’s a pound of butter.

simple-meals-groceries

How I’m Feeding My Family Next Week

This leads me to sharing about how I plan to get everyone fed and out the door to all of our events next week. The Simple Meals program we just rolled out this week? It’s definitely for all of you. But this mama is also relying heavily on all it provides. So I guess I should say, “thank you.” Preparing this each week for you is going to be a huge help to my family and me!

Today I thought I’d show you how I’m using Simple Meals to keep my kitchen life running smoothly.

Every menu plan comes with a page that looks like this:

simple-meals-options

With this in mind, I’ll look at the calendar to see everything going on so I can plug in the best meals for the best nights.

Here’s a sketch of our calendar for next week:

Sunday – Malachi soccer game in the afternoon, then Bible study at the Mission in the evening; Justus, Elias, and Malachi to youth group

Monday – Justus and Elias at concert; Asa takes Malachi trick-or-treating at the college dorms – eat dinner after

Tuesday –  Matt out of town for YC soccer; Bball practice begins for Justus and Elias – leave at 6:30; Malachi play practice 6:30 – eat by 5:30

Wednesday – (Busiest day this week) Laura appointment in Lincoln; Justus full morning with piano and college class; Bible class 6:30, then rush Malachi to play practice right after – eat by 5:30…crock pot night?

Thursday – Bball practice for Justus and Elias – leave at 6:30; Malachi play practice 6:30 – eat by 5:30

Friday – Matt and I leave for marriage retreat, boys make dinner on their own

Saturday – Matt and I arrive home from marriage retreat, boys make dinner to be eaten when we get home

After getting a good feel for all that fills next week…

I printed off the Simple Meals plan for next week and jotted down notes for the nights I plan to use each meal idea:

simple-meals-planning-breakdown2

Well, that was fun!

Want to print off this same menu plan to work with? You’ll find it here. I love how it makes prepping for healthy meals so much easier!

Check out Simple Meals program here. (And really go nuts spreading the word about it so you can earn $10 per referral!)

 

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Do you have a busy week coming up? How are you working to prepare?

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Simple Skillet Taco Pasta

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Today I have for you: comfort food in a cast iron skillet. It’s simple, it’s quick, it’s delicious. It’s Simple Skillet Taco Pasta.

skillet-taco-pasta

First, a word about Cast Iron Skillets. I highly recommend that we all have one (or two). Mine takes the place of what used to be Teflon in my kitchen. Cast iron is crazy healthier to cook with and when oiled or buttered well, it is delightfully non-stick. I use mine at least twice every day – for eggs, for meat, for dishes like this Skillet Taco Pasta. (This one is the Cast Iron Skillet I recommend.)

So back to this new, simple recipe. (More Simple Recipes here.)

How nice is it that this entire dish can be made in one big skillet? Obviously, you will get out salad makings and steam a vegetable to go with this. Obviously. But that will be easy and take a look at how easy this main dish recipe is:

Simple Skillet Taco PastaYum

4.5 from 2 reviews
Simple Skillet Taco Pasta
 
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Author:
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 1 pound hamburger meat
  • Sea salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • 16-ounces salsa
  • 1½ cups water
  • 8-ounces whole grain pasta, any shape (gluten free works great too!)
  • 8-ounces shredded cheddar or Colby jack cheese
Instructions
  1. In a large skillet, brown hamburger meat until no longer pink.
  2. Drain excess grease if necessary.
  3. Season meat with salt, pepper, chili powder, and garlic powder.
  4. Stir in salsa, water, and pasta. Bring to a boil.
  5. Turn down heat to simmer, cover and cook for about 10 minutes or until pasta is tender.
  6. Turn off heat, sprinkle cheese over the mixture in the skillet, and put the lid on for 2 minutes to melt the cheese.

simple-skillet-taco-pasta

This recipe has been a huge hit with my family. Leftovers (if there are any) taste even better because of all the yummy flavors settling in to the pasta and meat.

This meal is practically effortless. Clean-up is a piece of cake (though not literally, bummer for that). And if you need this dish to be gluten free, simply use your favorite GF pasta.

Tell me how much you love cast iron. Do you use it often at your house? Need a Cast Iron Skillet?

This post contains affiliate links.

It’s here! Check out our amazing Simple Meals program!

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49 Favorite Breakfast Freezer Foods

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Bunches and bunches of our favorite breakfast freezer foods…coming up!

49 Breakfast Freezer Foods

First, some of my favorite breakfast tips (that my family supports 100%):

Biscuits and Gravy Made EasyYum

You know how Biscuits and Gravy is one of those breakfasts you save for special occasions because it takes quite a bit of effort to prepare? What if you could follow these Freezer Biscuit instructions and have Turkey Sausage made ahead of time so you can quickly put together Sausage Gravy while your effortless biscuits are in the oven? Then you can have Biscuits and Gravy on the table within just a few minutes without breaking a sweat. My family loves it when I do this! (More details here.)

Biscuits and Gravy

Breakfast Casserole Made Easy

And Breakfast Casserole. That sounds intense right? Except that it’s not intense when you use this recipe and make it ahead of time.

cinnamon_muffins_with_casserole

Cinnamon Rolls Made Easy

How about Cinnamon Rolls? Well now those are for special occasions. Yes, because of the sugar. But not because of the work. Try these No-Knead Cinnamon Rolls that you can make ahead of time and freeze!

cinnamon_rolls

Muffins Made Easy

We’re all in love with the fact that we can mix up muffin batter and freeze it in muffin cups for easy fresh muffin baking! If you haven’t tried this yet, get all the details here. You will LOVE IT!

Freeze Your Muffin Batter 3

And now, from oatmeal cups to muffins to burritos, here are 49 great, real food recipes that can be made ahead of time and frozen.

49 Favorite Breakfast Freezer Foods

Time Saving Tip: These Ham and Egg Breakfast Bowls are tasty and wonderful, but they only save time if you make a bunch ahead and freeze them to warm up later. If you haven’t made them ahead and want ham and eggs for breakfast, I’d skip the cute bowl making step and just quickly scramble ham, eggs, and cheese together. :)

Easy Ham and Egg Breakfast Bowls

Did you see the 24 Favorite Main Dish Freezer Meals I shared last week?

Coming up during the next few days, I’ve got some great new freezer breakfast food tips!

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Make Your Own “Jiffy” Cornbread Mix (the Healthier Way)

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You get to learn to make cornbread mix! Your day is now complete.

Homemade Cornbread Mix

It’s borderline ridiculous how little time I have to spend on meal prep now. #life with teenagers #workingfromhome Or maybe it’s how little time I want to spend on meal prep. This, from a girl who loves to cook.

The thing is – I love food and I love feeding people. But I also love efficiency and simplicity. I’ve learned to make a hearty main dish, then throw out the simplest fruit and veggie side dishes possible. It’s all nourishing and filling and it takes very little work. I love this so much.

So when it comes to “bread as a side dish,” I very rarely have time or spend time or choose to make it a priority. After all, there are many more nourishing side dishes to choose from (tossed salad anyone?).

Sometimes though, we all just need a good cornbread muffin. Like with chili or soup or well, with chili or soup. To me, that’s when cornbread muffins are the best. I haven’t made cornbread in over a year – not because it’s hard to make – but because it’s just one more thing to do and I don’t have time for one more thing. (I’m almost pitiful. Almost.)

Last week, two things happened:

  1. I ran across this recipe for homemade Jiffy mix.
  2. We shared a meal with some friends in which delicious soup and cornbread was served.

I decided that if I had cornbread mix on hand, it would save me a few minutes of meal prep and simplify my life. Instead of talking myself out of mixing up a batch of cornbread because of the extreme difficulty of getting out and measuring flour and baking powder (the struggle is real) I could just dump the pre-measured ingredients into a bowl and stir in the liquids.

I adapted the recipe (included whole grains and cut out some sugar), multiplied the recipe to make it more efficient, stirred ingredients into a big bowl, and had six jars of muffin mix in less than 10 minutes.

Cornbread Mix

Funny how this simple task of making a mix ahead of time is so helpful. It doesn’t take much, you know?

Cornbread Mix in Jars

Will you save money making this cornbread mix yourself? I don’t know. How much is a box of Jiffy these days? They used to be 33¢ but I haven’t looked at them in several years. I didn’t do the math on this mix (because if I don’t have time to make cornbread I probably don’t have time to break down the cost of cornmeal). But I’m almost sure it only takes a few cents to make this – and I used 100% whole grain flour and organic cornmeal.

Homemade Cornbread MixYum

Homemade "Jiffy" Cornbread Mix (the Healthier Way)
 
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Author:
Serves: 6 mixes
Ingredients
  • 4 cups whole wheat flour
  • 3 cups cornmeal
  • ¼ cup sucanat or sugar
  • ¼ cup baking powder
  • 1 Tablespoon sea salt
Instructions
  1. Mix ingredients well in a large bowl.
  2. Scoop about 1⅓ cups of mix into six pint-sized jars.
  3. Store in the freezer until ready to use.
  4. To make cornbread: Empty contents of jar into a bowl. Add 1 egg, ½ cup milk, and 2 Tablespoons melted butter or coconut oil. Spread batter into an 8x8 inch baking pan or scoop into 6-7 prepared muffin cups. Bake in a 400° oven for 15-20 minutes.

Homemade Cornbread Mix in Jars

Easy as that, you have cornbread.

Are you like me? Do you find that mixing up bread to go with a meal is just a little too much effort (pitiful)? What do you like to serve with cornbread?

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Strawberry Cream Muffin Recipe (And My Best Muffin-Making Tip)

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strawberry_muffins_2

You might remember when I posted this recipe three years ago. Now that it is strawberry season again and I am a tiny bit strawberry focused (or sure, we can call it obsessed if you prefer) – I decided to re-post this for you now.

This Strawberry Cream Muffin is so delicious, you’ll feel like you’re eating dessert for breakfast or snack. Take note that the sour cream in these muffins makes all the difference in how moist and delicious these are. Can you use milk or coconut milk (to make them dairy free) instead? Yes. But they will likely turn out just a little bit dry. Just eat them fresh out of the oven and you’re golden.

Strawberry Cream MuffinsYum

Strawberry Cream Muffins
 
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Author:
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 1¾ cups whole wheat flour (I prefer freshly ground soft white wheat in these)
  • ½ cup sucanat or brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • ⅓ cup coconut oil or butter, melted
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 cup chopped fresh or frozen strawberries
Instructions
  1. Stir together flour, sucanat, baking powder, and salt.
  2. Add oil, egg, and sour cream, mixing well.
  3. Fold in strawberries.
  4. Scoop batter into 12 well greased or paper-lined muffin cups.
  5. Bake in a 375° oven for 18-20 minutes or until lightly browned.

Strawberry Cream Muffin Recipe

Now my best tip of all: Mix up the batter and freeze it to make your muffin baking/dish washing life easier! Then all you have to do is grab your frozen muffin batter cups out of the freezer, put them into muffin cups the night before you want to bake the muffins, then stumble into the kitchen in the morning and put them into the oven!

The Easiest Way to Make Muffins

I’m loving these Silicone Muffin Cups, by the way. I’ve been using them for a few months now and they make freezing muffin batter so easy! Plus I love that I’m saving money on paper liners. Read more details about this simple time and money saving process here.

Have you tried freezing muffin batter? How about silicone cups? Can’t wait to hear how you like the Strawberry Cream Muffins!

P.S. We have not one but two weddings we are heavily involved in this weekend! Starting yesterday, we have been/are running from party to shower to rehearsal to set up to other rehearsal to wedding to getting hair fixed to wedding. If you didn’t follow all of that, don’t worry. I have it all scheduled down the the minute on my calendar. All that to say, you have no idea how happy I was when I found some frozen muffin batter cups in my freezer on Wednesday. I tossed them at my kids to make for their breakfast Saturday. Perfect!

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29 Fun Treat Recipes for Valentine’s Day – With NO Red Food Dye

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Low Sugar Strawberry Cheesecake Parfait 1

Traditionally we think of red or pink food dye squirted into white frosting to make festive Valentine’s Day cookies and cupcakes. Want to put some fun Valentine meals and treats on the table this year – but want to keep the food real and avoid food coloring?

It is a true fact that food exists that is red without any help from outside sources. There’s also this lovely thing we like to call chocolate. It’s not red, but it certainly says, “I love you,” don’t you think?

Here are 29 great recipes for you that can be turned into Valentine’s Day goodies for your family. You might be able to tell that I am desperately hoping for fresh strawberries to be in season and on sale THIS WEEK.

29 Fun Treat Recipes for Valentine's Day with NO Red Food Dye

Red and Pink Treats (No Food Dye!)

Don’t forget obvious foods that are red – like tomatoes, sweet peppers, strawberries, grapes, cherries, raspberries, and oranges. Ha. Just seeing if you were paying attention.

Chocolate Treats

Do you have foods you traditionally make and serve on Valentine’s Day?

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This Week in Food ~ the Blizzard-Turkey Edition

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Today we focus on a blizzard and also on turkeys.

Our week began with several college students coming over after church for lunch on Sunday. We set out a big Build-Your-Own-Burrito Buffet, along with bowls and jars of fruit, and two different desserts. We found this meal to be a perfect way to accommodate allergies and taste preferences – plus it was really easy. Win!

burrito buffet

Monday morning during our breakfast/Bible time, our kids looked outside and what did they see? Oh, nothing out of the ordinary. Just three turkeys strutting through the yard.

turkies2

turkies1

Malachi declared that watching turkeys for five minutes was his science lesson for the day. Good try, Buddy. But it was a fun school connection for him since he’s currently reading The Great Turkey Walk right now. (Have you read that book? It’s a very fun read!)

the great turkey walk

Ironically, I had a turkey thawing in the fridge to bake this week. I’d picked it up during the holidays when it was on sale. For so many reasons, this was a big turkey week at our house.

turkey1The Blizzard

Everything in town shut down on Tuesday when Nebraska received a blizzard that resulted in 18-inches of blowing snow. Matt and the boys had their work cut out for them digging people out for days (Matt runs a snow removal business). Just about the time they got people’s sidewalks cleared, we woke up to more snow on Friday. It was a small amount in comparison, but guess what we found in our yard that morning?

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Turkey tracks!

I guess those turkeys have been wondering around town all week, poor things.

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I’ve tried a couple of the recipes from the Paleo Freebie this week. The first was a Bacon Roast recipe (which I adapted slightly by using stew meat and adding green beans). I cooked it low and slow all morning for Matt and the boys to eat when they came home from moving snow. It got devoured!

paleo1

I already mentioned the Chocolate Ganache I made. Wow. It’s low enough in sugar that I can eat it without feeling crummy. I’m not sure if this is a blessing or not. It is soooo good. (If you got the free Paleo package, the Chocolate Ganache recipe is in the 5-Minute Paleo Recipes book and the Bacon Roast is in the Paleo Crock Pot Entrees book. If you haven’t gotten these yet, it is still available and it is completely free. Sign up here and you’ll get all the recipes! You can read my thoughts on the Paleo diet here.)

chocolate ganache with fruit

Over the weekend, 130 teenagers came to town from all over Nebraska, and even some from Kansas, Iowa, and Missouri. Our church hosted a Youth Rally from Friday to Sunday – one of our favorite (and most exhausting) weekends of the year. Here we are worshiping together on Saturday morning:

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Friday and Saturday nights, 15 teenage boys crashed at our house. Aside from not getting much sleep, it was a fantastic weekend. (I took a nap today and I’m taking tomorrow off to rest too!) Most of their meals were hosted at the church fellowship hall, but we did get to feed our guests snacks each night and breakfast Sunday morning!

youth rally breakfast

Did you have snow at your house this week? Turkeys in your yard? Anything fun to share? I’d love to hear about your week too.

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This Week in Food ~ the Ridiculous Amount of Cauliflower Edition

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One doesn’t notice how strange one’s house smells until one walks outside and then comes back in a few minutes later. This is how I realized that my entire house currently smells strongly of weird cauliflower stench. Bet you wish you were here.

See, I got excited when I saw that Bountiful Baskets was offering cases of cauliflower – 22 pounds for just $14.50. I snatched it up because I’m tired of paying over $3 for one small head. I figured it would be great to have this on hand to easily make Cheesy Cauliflower Hashbrowns. This morning, we picked up our basket along with a case of tomatoes (that are sadly very green), two packs of tortillas, a pack of bread, and yep – a case of beautiful, large heads of cauliflower! They were nearly twice the size of those I’ve seen at the store lately – and the cost of these broke down to just over $1.60 each. Great savings!

food1303

I wasn’t particularly looking forward to prepping the cauliflower for the freezer – so I just decided to dive in and do it before I got busy with other work. I soon had a nice system going to blanch all the cauliflower: wash, cut, blanch, rinse, repeat. The process is just like blanching and freezing broccoli, so head over there to read those instructions if you find yourself with plenty of cauliflower or broccoli.

My long counter-top was soon covered with blanched cauliflower. I nibbled as I went, because why not?

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After it cooled, I bagged it up in freezer bags and stuffed it into a freezer. Then I left to drop off two of my kids at church to work on a project. I arrived back home, walked in, and almost gagged. There is a heavy hovering stench of cauliflower in my home. I guess this means I should probably bake something chocolate to knock that out. I mean, this smell cannot be what greets people when they come here.

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In other, better smelling food related news, we were so thrilled when our little friend Abigail handed this to Malachi at church on Sunday:

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She and her family have been working through Learn Your Letters, Learn to Serve. You guys, we did this with our kids beginning when our son Justus was 3 years old. He’s almost 16 now!!! I can’t even believe this. Watching Abigail’s family work through the curriculum makes me so happy and brings back so many memories. (Back when Justus learned the letter M, he made mini-muffins to take to Madge and Mabrey Miller. These dear ones have both passed away now, so not only did Abigail’s Monster Cookies for Malachi bless us and bring back memories of our kids learning and serving when they were little – they also reminded us of the dear Millers who were such a blessing to our family.)

So in summary, Abigail’s cookies made me cry. This is a very good thing. Memories are so sweet. (As were her cookies. Malachi shared with his brothers and they enjoyed them very much!)

Now can I show you my favorite meal from last week? I baked a spaghetti squash, which I would eat any day over actual spaghetti noodles. (The boys still choose wheat noodles while Matt and I finish off an entire spaghetti squash by ourselves.) The squash with tasty meat sauce, green beans, and salad was so crazy delicious. I need to make this more often.

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Since I was already baking squash that day, I baked the acorn and butternut squash I had sitting around. I then proceeded to turn those into pumpkin pies. (Don’t tell the pies that they are actually squash pies.)

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A nasty sinus infection has now made its way through every member of our family (except for Asa who is living at a dorm and apparently not exposed to germs – ha!). My homemade Orange Julius made with homemade buttermilk and freshly squeezed oranges has been so refreshing and filling.

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Dare I ask?? What does your house smell like right now??

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My New Year’s Resolution to Stop Making Breakfast

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egg_casserole_meal
For all of my (18+) parenting years I have been making breakfast for our family. Cereal has been a rarity, saved only for the “I can’t even” mornings. Big breakfasts for our family have been necessary and good for the following reasons:

  • Our growing boys need to eat something substantial to keep them full until lunchtime.
  • Fixing one big breakfast for everyone has been easiest up until now.
  • Eating our meal together has been a special time as we begin our days together with yummy food and Bible time.

I’ve always been a careful planner, adding a breakfast plan into our overall meal plans for the week. I’ve worked to make breakfast foods the night before to make the mornings simpler. This has all been working well for years and years. It’s been working so well, in fact, that it has been a part of our nightly routine for the boys to ask in anticipation, “What’s for breakfast tomorrow?!”

The past few months, however, I’ve been growing a bit burned-out on breakfast prep. Our days are constantly full, our evenings are super busy, and lately when the boys have asked the nightly question, “What’s for breakfast tomorrow?” I’ve had an unseemly urge to grunt loudly and throw a pillow at them. Sweet, huh? Bet you wish I was your mom.

Breakfast? I am so over it. Ask me again in a few years when my daily life-with-teenagers schedule demands aren’t so…demanding. Of course, by then there will be fewer people here to feed in the mornings and I’ll not know how to make less than a triple batch of waffles. So basically I’ll be having breakfast issues for the rest of my life.

It’s Time for a ChangeYum

I am giving in to a new way of doing breakfast around here. My morning God time before all the boys get up is so dear to me and basically necessary to my family’s survival – even more than food. This mom needs her quiet chair time in which she spends time seeking Jesus while drinking coffee and soaking in the Word. My sanity depends on it, so I think we can all agree that staying in the chair for as long as possible each morning is much more important than baking muffins.

Instead of cutting into my sleep (no, no, no, no, no!) or my God time (we’ve been through this already) I’m checking breakfast off my to-do list. I’m not done eating this meal, mind you. We will all continue to eat breakfast. I’m just done regularly cooking big breakfasts for everyone on a regular basis. Deciding this has been a pleasantly nice relief. I didn’t even know it was bothering me that much. (The urge to throw pillows woke me up to the truth.)

The New Breakfast Plan

We still need to eat breakfast. We still want to eat this meal as a family. We still want to have our family Bible time together first thing in the mornings. But from now on, the boys will figure out their own breakfasts (except for the rare occasion I find my sanity at an earlier hour and surprise them with French toast).

Remember how I told you that teaching your kids to cook when they are young (or old) comes back to bless you one hundred fold when they are older? This is one of those glorious times. My boys are so capable! They can all prepare a simple breakfast for themselves each morning. Then we can all sit down together as normal and instead of starting my day overwhelmed, I’ll sit down with everyone and enjoy our morning devotional.

Breakfast Food Options

There will almost always be eggs and fruit for the boys to start with as they figure out their breakfast plan each morning. They can all scramble or fry eggs. Here are other options that will be available (though not always at the same time):

  • Stir-n-Pour Bread

    Because this bread is so easy to make, we frequently have some hanging out and ready to eat. It toasts up nicely and makes a tasty part of breakfast.stir and pour bread loaf 5
  • Granola ~ 5-Minute Stove-Top Version
    I can easily whip up a batch of this or have one of the boys do it. It keeps for quite a while too, so making huge batches is a good idea – then we have it for breakfast options for a few weeks.5-Minute Stove-Top Granola
  • Muffins or Bars (loads of recipes here!)If one of us finds ourselves with time the afternoon or night before, we can prep some baked goods to go with breakfast the next day. It is so helpful to have these on hand IF we can squeeze it in.raspberry_bars_8
  • Homemade Instant Oatmeal
    I always have a big jarful of instant oatmeal ready for the boys to make for themselves. It is a life-changing recipe. Make some of this if you haven’t already.Instant Oatmeal in a Jar
  • Giant Breakfast CookiesOne of the boys can mix these up and bake them. Then we can keep them in the freezer to pull out as needed.
    breakfast_cookies

Those basic options, along with eggs and fruit will take care of our breakfasts just fine. When I do have time to make pancakes or waffles, I’ll be sure to make extra for the freezer for additional options.

So there you have it. My new breakfast plan for our family. I no longer feel like throwing pillows. Now to figure out a new and improved laundry system…

How do you do breakfast at your house?

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This Week in Food…

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Several mentioned that they’d like to read more about and see more pictures of our day-to-day food life. I thought this would be fun, so I started taking notes right away.

  • Forgot to thaw chicken
  • Warmed up leftovers
  • Kid #3 complained about the casserole
  • Spinach got slimy

As you can see, this is going to be really exciting and we should make this a regular blog feature.

This was our second week of Christmas break. I made it till Thursday afternoon before I said to Matt, “Take them all away from this house as soon as possible.” The lack of routine and the downtime has been so wonderful, but at a certain point the people need a routine. Seeing the desperation in my eyes, Matt whisked them all away to his current work spot where he wore them out hauling off lath and plaster and got them very dirty. Best dad ever.

But this post is supposed to be about food.

I invented a most delicious new recipe for Cream Cheese Chili. I loved it so much that I ate it for lunch the day I made it, at 9:45 that night before bed because I was hungry, and again for lunch the next day. I will make this again and again. The recipe definitely made the cut to be a part of the newest Eat Right Away Packet series. I’m currently trying to finish the Soup Edition, Meatless Edition, and Breakfast Edition. There will be a lot of taste testing going on around here.

cream cheese chili

Thursday I made a plate of veggies with Homemade Ranch Dip, along with a plate of Low Sugar Lemon Melt-Away Cookies to take to our church’s New Year’s Eve gathering because I am the life of the party. Everyone loves to ring in the new year with cucumbers.

veggies and dip

lemon cookies

Friday we headed out of town for a New Year’s Basketball tournament for Justus and Elias. It was our last full day with Asa home (he’s heading out to go on the York College Choir Tour for a week). We stopped into Walmart on our way out of town so I could grab blueberries and blackberries. I was planning to price-match them because I found such a great deal, plus I thought they’d be great travel food. Alas, there was not one blueberry to be found in all of Walmart. Boo. Therefore, instead of showing you a picture of my blueberries, here is a picture of Elias (#32) jumping for the ball at a recent game. I take amazing pictures with my phone.

elias bball

As we get back into a school routine next week, I’m hoping to also get into the swing of taking more food pictures to show you. Make plans now to see pictures of next week’s chicken carcass.

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I’m finally getting around to drawing giveaway winners from the week of Christmas!

The winner of our 227 Healthy Snacks eBook is: Julie C: zoeblessing4u@

The winner of our  Learn Your Letters (and Numbers), Learn to Serve Complete Curriculum Kit is: Donna: dkonvalin@

Winners, email me and I’ll send you your gifts!

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Here’s to a great first week of 2016!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!