Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

My Favorite, Versatile Whole Wheat Dough

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You’ve been seeing this same dough recipe pop up over and over as I post new recipes. It has definitely become my go-to dough recipe for quick, kid-friendly meals that are also healthy. I decided today to highlight and feature my friend, The Versatile Dough. He (she?) is a winner in my book and can multitask in my kitchen to create all kinds of wonderful food.

I guess that must mean that this dough is definitely a “she”. He’s can’t multitask as well as she’s can. This is not an insult to the he’s – no not at all. I’m thankful that God made males able to focus on one thing well. We females can multitask so well, it’s sometimes hard for us to focus on just one thing. Trust me, I’m a she. I know these things. (See, like right now I’m typing this, thinking about the meat thawing in my kitchen for lunch tomorrow, making a plan for what to do with the apples on my porch and creating a chore list for my kids – all at the same time. It’s amazing that my post makes any sense at all. Case in point. So far, this post hasn’t made a whole lot of sense. After all, I’ve just assigned a gender to my whole wheat dough.)

So back to my point, because surprisingly, I really do have one. I love this Whole Wheat Dough. I use it a lot. I think you will love it too.

Versatile Whole Wheat DoughYum

3 to 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground hard white wheat flour)
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 cup plain yogurt

Mix all ingredients and knead together until a nice dough has formed. (If you’re using store-bought flour, you will probably not need all 3 1/2 cups of flour.)  You can roll out and use this dough right away, or you can allow it to sit on the counter-top overnight (covered) in order to break down the phytates in the wheat and make it more digestible.

If you do allow the dough to sit overnight, it is best to knead this dough for several minutes before you try to roll it out. :)

What to Make With This Versatile Whole Wheat Dough

(Click on the links above the pictures to find the specific recipes.)

Pizza Crust

pizzasm.JPG

Poptarts

Pigs in a Blanket

Mini Apple Pies and Pockets

miniapplepies9sm

Pizza Pockets

pizzapockets2sm.JPG

I bet if I think real hard, I can come up with several more ways to use this dough. Have you tried making this dough before or any of the above recipe ideas? You MUST try it – it’s buttery, flaky, healthy, tasty and EASY!

And if you think I’m weird calling my dough a “she” you should hear me talking to my frozen/thawing chickens as I prepare them for soup. Wouldn’t you just like to be a fly on the wall in my kitchen sometime? Oh the things you would learn about me then. ;)

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Homemade Peach Syrup (made with unprocessed sugar)

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We usually top our pancakes with real maple syrup or homemade applesauce. Sometimes peanut butter and jelly. Or peanut butter with maple syrup. Or honey. Or if we sprinkle a few mini chocolate chips into the pancakes, we don’t really need syrup at all. But last week when we had some fresh, local peaches in our kitchen, I made a quick and healthy homemade peach syrup that is oh-my-goodness good.

You need exactly two ingredients to make this: peaches and sucanat. The two together cook to form a syrup. No water necessary. Can you believe how easy this is?

Homemade Peach SyrupYum

Homemade Peach Syrup (made with unprocessed sugar)
 
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Ingredients
  • 3 fresh peaches (or 2 cups frozen)
  • 2 Tablespoons sucanat or brown sugar
Instructions
  1. Slice peaches into a saucepan.
  2. Stir in sucanat and cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally until the peaches are tender and the ingredients have formed a syrup.

You can add a few shakes of cinnamon if you like. Of course I love doing that in the fall when everything seems to need to smell and taste like cinnamon.

I love how the fruit and sugar cooked together form a syrup naturally. This works with both fresh or frozen fruit. No need to thaw the frozen fruit before cooking!

Homemade Peach Syrup

 

Another variation of this Peach Syrup recipe is…

Easy Raspberry Pancake and Waffle Syrup

Easy Raspberry Pancake and Waffle Syrup - Only Two Ingredients!

It’s the same idea – just sub out peaches for raspberries. Or use blueberries instead. Or strawberries. Or any combination of peaches or berries to make a multi-fruit syrup. See how easy this is?

In case you need them (and of course you do want them), here are our family’s favorite pancake and waffle recipes:

What’s your favorite way to top pancakes and waffles?

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Own It

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~Appreciate Your Spouse~Buoyancy in Marriage~Consult Your Partner~
~Dream Together Part One ~Dream Together Part Two~Empower Your Spouse~
~Have Fun With Your Spouse~Give to One Another~Honor Each Other~
~Be Intentional~Jubilee~Kingdom Focused~Listen~Mentor Relationships~Nourish~

Own It

Man in the Mirror – Matt’s Thoughts

The invisible wall between the two of you looms larger than China’s Great Wall…and yet you are in the same room. Though audibly silent, the decibel level inside the two heads match a jackhammer. You blew it. Your spouse has been wronged by you and he/she is upset. Excuses and people or circumstances to blame fill your head. There are plenty of them. And wow, he/she needs to calm down. They have wronged you before. Remember the time when…HOLD UP!!!

How ’bout a little 80’s flashback to the only Michael Jackson song I reference in a serious way. Remember these lyrics? “I’m starting with the man in the mirror, I’m asking him to change his ways…”

No more justifying, rationalizing or faulting others. And don’t you dare dig up the past.

Take ownership of your action (or inaction) in your mind and heart. Take ownership verbally by speaking the truth without any caveats: “I was wrong.” “I acted selfishly.” “I blew it.”

Genuinely apologize and seek forgiveness from your spouse. If your spouse is still livid, forgiveness may not be extended to you right then. I’m going to advise you not to ask for confirmation on the spot. You may want to suggest a cool down period and then revisit this later.

Whether grace is offered immediately or not you must ask yourself, “What do I need to change so that I don’t do this again?” Don’t ignore this step or you’ll find yourself in the same room with your spouse with the Great Wall between you…again. Make a plan to fix it and share this plan with someone. It may be best to share the plan with your spouse. It may also be beneficial to call in help from a friend who will hold you accountable.

Oaf used to be how I felt after I blew it with Laura. In my head I was telling myself, “You big oaf!”

Now OAF is the acronym for the action steps after I’ve been a big oaf: Own it, Ask for forgiveness, Fix it.

Once more from Man in the Mirror: “If you want to make [your marriage] a better place take a look at yourself and then make a … change. Yeah! Make that change!”

But I Have Baggage – Laura’s Thoughts

Wow, I have to say that I never thought we’d reference any of Michael Jackson’s songs here at Heavenly Homemakers. I’m a little bit speechless. (Okay, not really.)

I think Matt makes a great point – why do we always tend to blame others when we have done something wrong? Sure, we all come into the marriage relationship with baggage. Some of us more than others. This can be incredibly challenging and makes life and decision making quite a bit more difficult. But it doesn’t excuse you from making bad choices and hurting others, particularly your beloved.

Did you do or say something you shouldn’t have? No blame-shifting. No excuses. Own it.

Easier said than done, but who said doing what’s right is always easy?

Hey, at least it’s easier than trying to do the Moonwalk. (That was totally irrelevant, but if Matt can reference Michael Jackson, so can I, right?) (Oh wait – did I just blame-shift?)

Ladies, we know you’re reading here more often than the guys. ;)  We’d love husbands to read this article as well. If you feel so inclined please send the link to your husbands, or if it’s easier, we’ve created a downloadable article for you to quickly print off and share. Healthy Marriage Tips A to Z – Own It

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Coconut Flour Brownies (Gluten Free!)

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I decided to follow my “What Kind of Wheat Flour is Best?” post with a gluten free recipe. Talk about swinging from one side of the pendulum to the other, huh? I’m either trying to be accommodating – or keeping you forever on your toes with what to expect when you check in here. ;)

Beth emailed this recipe to me, saying she found it on the Azukar Coconut Flour package that I’d posted a deal for recently. (The deal is still good, by the way!)  I tweaked the recipe slightly by replacing the regular sugar with sucanat. Also, you could add chocolate chips if you’re feeling the need for a major chocolate fix, or chopped nuts if you’re feeling nutty. Personally, I can always use a chocolate fix, and nutty as I am, I don’t care for chopped nuts in my brownies.

Coconut Flour BrowniesYum

1/3 cup melted butter or coconut oil
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup sucanat
6 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Stir together melted butter (or oil), cocoa and sucanat. Add eggs and vanilla, mixing well. Stir in coconut flour, stirring until all ingredients are well combined. (Coconut flour likes to clump together a little bit – I find a whisk usually helps smooth out the mixture as I stir.)  Fold in chocolate chips and/or nuts if you choose.

Pour into an 8×8 inch baking dish. Bake in a 350° oven for about 30 minutes.

Whether or not you need to eat a gluten free diet, I really recommend that you check into using coconut flour every once in a while. It’s a very healthy flour. Read more about why I love coconut flour.

What have your coconut flour experiences been like so far? Are you a nutty brownie sort of person, or simply just…nutty?

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What Kind of Wheat Flour is Best?

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I get lots and lots of questions about which wheat flour I use and about which I feel is best for baking. I decided to take a few pictures to try and show you the differences and to explain my favorites.

As you can imagine, the grain and flour picture taking thing was fun. We all know that my fanciest and finest accessory is flour in my hair and on my jeans. This gave me opportunity to look my best at a soccer game Saturday afternoon. Yes, somehow I managed to get freshly ground flour at the bottom of my left pant leg by my shoe. It takes talent, people.

I’ve talked bunches about how I love grinding my flour in my Nutrimill. You can read through all of the posts in my Grains and Grain Mills section to learn more about whether or not a grain mill saves money, which grain mills I prefer and how to grind flour in a grain mill.

There really is no comparison between store bought whole wheat flour and freshly ground whole wheat flour. I have found that all of my baked goods taste best when made with freshly ground hard white wheat. I also discovered, after I saved up and purchased a grain mill six years ago, that I made my money back on it within six months. It’s very cost effective to grind your own wheat, not to mention the fresher the flour, the more nutrients it contains.

If you still aren’t ready or able to buy a grain mill, I suggest that you try to find whole wheat flour at the store that is made from white wheat. I’m just starting to see this flour pop in up local stores, so this is encouraging. (Before, I only saw them if I went out of town to a Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s.)  I’ve used and recommend King Arthur’s White Whole Wheat Flour or better yet, try to find an organic variety like this one.

Okay, now a few pictures to show you some differences between red and white wheat, and the flour they each produce.

First, a lovely picture of wheat kernels (or berries). On the left you will see Hard Red Wheat – on the right you will see Hard White Wheat:

See, they are both whole wheat kernels, they are just a different variety. This should answer all those questions about whether white wheat is as healthy as red wheat. The answer is yes. They are both good for you. They are just different kinds of wheat. Red wheat produces a darker, heavier, stronger flavored flour. Some like it – I don’t prefer it. White wheat produces a much milder, easier to work with flour. In many recipes, when I use Hard White Wheat, it’s hard to tell that the baked good is even made with whole wheat flour. I love hard white wheat.

Next, I ground both some red wheat and some white wheat. It may be difficult to tell the difference in the two pictures that follow, but if you look real closely, I think you’ll see a difference.

First you will see a picture of my beloved hard white wheat flour. Notice that it is white in color with a few specks of light brown throughout. It almost looks like white flour, but nope – all of those wonderful nutrients are all still there in the flour.

Second, we have the Hard Red Wheat Flour. Do you see that the brown in this flour is darker and a little more reddish brown in color? This will produce a darker, whole wheat baked product. It’s still tasty and obviously still very good for you – just a little heavier tasting. I had happened upon a great deal on some red wheat, which is why I have any at all! I occasionally mix my red and white together to make it easier for our family to eat the red wheat.

One more thing:  You can also purchase Soft White Wheat. Once ground, this becomes “whole wheat pastry flour” which can be used in any baked good that does not require the use of yeast. You must use a hard grain for yeast breads. Pastry flour is great for muffins, cookies, quick breaks and cakes. However, since my hard white wheat still works fine for these products, I usually just use it for all of my wheat baking. It’s easier that way!

What kind of wheat flour is best? Find out in this post! #wheat #wheatflour

(You can read this post to learn great sources for purchasing grain.)

Your turn to share:  What’s your favorite kind of wheat flour? Have you taken the plunge to grind your own grain yet? Ever found yourself at a soccer game with flour on your pant leg?

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Whole Wheat Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

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Whole Wheat Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins anyone? Grab a cup of coffee or hot chocolate! What a delicious combination, and perfect for fall!

Yum

As several of you requested, I’m sharing my healthy variations to Crystal’s Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins. These were a big hit yesterday morning when I served them in our marriage class.

If you’d like to read more about how I adapt a recipe to make it healthier, check out this post. You’ll find a free, downloadable recipe conversion sheet which you can tack onto your refrigerator to reference when you need to convert a recipe.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

(adapted from MoneySavingMom)

5.0 from 1 reviews
Whole Wheat Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
 
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Author:
Serves: =24
Ingredients
  • 3 cups whole wheat flour (I used freshly ground hard white wheat)
  • ½ cup sucanat
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 cups pureed pumpkin (or one 16 ounce can)
  • 1 cup melted coconut oil (or butter)
  • 1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. In a large mixing bowl, stir together all dry ingredients.
  2. Add eggs, pumpkin and oil.
  3. Mix well.
  4. Fold in chocolate chips.
  5. Spoon batter into 24 paper lined muffin cups.
  6. Bake in a 400° oven for 16-22 minutes or until the muffins are golden brown.

 

(I prefer either homemade chocolate chips or soy free chocolate chips)

 


These are easy to put together and make your house smell just like the fall season is supposed to smell. Pumpkin and cinnamon smell awesome. Plus, adding chocolate to a muffin never, ever hurts my feelings. :)

Want more pumpkin recipes?

  1. Overnight Pumpkin Spice French Toast Casserole (Such a wonderful recipe to put together at night, then bake and serve to guests in the morning!)
  2. Super Moist Sour Cream Pumpkin Bread
  3. Pumpkin Spice Roll-Out Cookies (Simple and sweet, one of my favorites!)
  4. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
  5. Pumpkin Donuts (I make these all year round as an excuse to feed my kids a vegetable for breakfast.)
  6. Warm Pumpkin Custard (Oh yes, you should drink your pumpkin.)
  7. Simple Pumpkin Pancakes
  8. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake
  9. Pumpkin Pecan Pie Squares (Such a fun combination of two holiday favorites.)
  10. Pumpkin Pie
  11. Pumpkin Breakfast Cake
  12. Pumpkin Cheesecake (Making life better, one delicious bite at a time.)
  13. Pumpkin Pie Bars (These are a Thanksgiving tradition at our house.)
  14. Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
  15. Easy Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins (With chocolate chips on top. Amen.)
  16. Flourless Pumpkin Muffins (Flourless and fabulous!)
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Menu Plan for the Week

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As I mentioned in last week’s menu plan, our family will be hosting a marriage class each Sunday morning and a high school youth group meeting “Huddle” each Sunday evening. I’ll be preparing a light breakfast for our marriage class (7-8 couples) and a big dinner for Huddle (30-35 people). This week, I decided to make Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches for our Huddle dessert. I made smaller sandwiches than explained in these directions. Just to be sure they tasted good, we all had to try one. They were approved by the whole family. Ah, you’ve gotta love having the job of “quality control”. :)

Here’s our menu for this week:

Sunday, September 25
Crystal’s Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins (with healthy ingredient substitutions), coffee, juice
Easy chicken burritos, green beans
“Huddle” – Lasagna (x4), tossed salad, bread (provided by my friend), homemade ice cream sandwiches

Monday, September 26
Whole wheat waffles, blueberries
Pigs in a blanket, carrot sticks with homemade ranch
Orange chicken and rice, peas

Tuesday, September 27
Turkey sausage, hashbrowns, strawberry-peach slushies
Tuna salad on homemade cheese crackers, fresh tomatoes, peaches
Three cheese garlic chicken pasta, tossed salad

Wednesday, September 28
Whole wheat soaked biscuits with butter and honey, pears
Black bean taco salad, apples
Easy breakfast casserole, orange muffins, fresh peaches

Thursday, September 29
Vanilla muffins with cinnamon crumb topping, bananas
Alphabet soup, leftover muffins
Pizza casserole, tossed salad

Friday, September 30
Peanut butter honey toast, pears
Turkey ranch pinwheels, apples
Pizza, green beans

Saturday, October 1
Scrambled eggs, oranges
Leftovers
Potato soup, carrot sticks, sweet peppers

What are you eating this week? And have you tried making Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches before? Then you could also do a little “quality control” before serving them. :)

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Nourish Your Marriage Relationship

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~Appreciate Your Spouse~Buoyancy in Marriage~Consult Your Partner~
~Dream Together Part One ~Dream Together Part Two~Empower Your Spouse~
~Have Fun With Your Spouse~Give to One Another~Honor Each Other~
~Be Intentional~Jubilee~Kingdom Focused~Listen~Mentor Relationships~

Nourish Your Marriage Relationship

I Heart Gardening – Matt’s Thoughts

Okra, sweet corn, green beans, tomatoes, jalapenos and best of all sweet bell peppers. Our garden plots have been producing those for us this year. Last year our green beans didn’t yield very much, but our sweet bell peppers have consistently performed well. We rotate where we plant most of our veggies each year and I’m convinced that the soil where we planted the green beans last year lacked nourishment. The one exception to rotating our crops has been the sweet bells. They are my “babies” that are always planted in our raised garden bed. If they don’t thrive then the year has been a disaster in my opinion. I mix all kinds of nutrients in that soil and make sure they are given proper care so the fruit will be fantastic!

Yeah, this is a marriage post, so I’m guessing you can tell where this is going. Let’s make some connections in this metaphor. I have several relationships (garden plots). The more time and effort I put into nurturing a relationship, the better opportunity (soil) there is for that relationship to be healthy (produce a good harvest). Some of my relationships have grown strong and then faded through the years. I’m convinced it is because they haven’t been nourished as well. The one relationship I have committed to put above all others is with my wife…she is my “baby.” Since she is my highest priority (raised garden bed) I want to mix all kinds of nutrients into that relationship and give her proper care so our marriage will be healthy.

Check out this ginormous red bell pepper from our well nourished soil. Go Big Red!

Empty Calories – Laura’s Thoughts

I’ve shared in the past how sick I got physically when I wasn’t getting enough nourishment. A diet consisting of lots of Pepsi and other empty calories can and will slowly suck the life out of a person. I learned this the hard way. We must have healthy nutrients in our bodies in order to thrive physically.

Are you, as the wife or husband, sucking the life out of your spouse, feeding your relationship full of empty calories and causing your marriage to be unhealthy?

Are your actions and words encouraging your spouse to be more godly, more productive and more loving…or are the things you do and the words you say tearing down your spouse and wearing him/her out? The more you fill others with the garbage that flows out of you, the less nourished your relationship with that person will be. It is incredibly wearing on a person to constantly have to work at pleasing you, satisfying your whims, guessing what your mood will be like today and so on.

Don’t be a 2-liter bottle of wasted, life draining calories to your spouse. Instead, be intentional about offering nourishment in the form of words, actions and attitudes that build up, encourage and refresh the soul of the one you love.

In what ways are you nourishing your spouse?

Ladies, we know you’re reading here more often than the guys. ;)  We’d love husbands to read this article as well. If you feel so inclined please send the link to your husbands, or if it’s easier, we’ve created a downloadable article for you to quickly print off and share. Healthy Marriage Tips from Z to Z – Nourish Your Relationship

 

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Homemade White Chocolate Chips

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We have homemade chocolate chips, homemade butterscotch chips, and now we have homemade white chocolate chips! As with the butterscotch chips, I didn’t use sucanat on these because I felt like the flavor would be too strong. Instead, I used organic raw sugar, which isn’t much healthier than regular white sugar, but at least it hasn’t been bleached. :)  (You can read more of my thoughts on healthy sweeteners here.)

I ordered cocoa butter from Mountain Rose Herbs and was very pleased! I also found that I could get it through Amazon, but it was a little more expensive there. The little cocoa butter wafers look good enough to eat all by themselves, but beware, they are not. I may or may not have taken a little nibble just to find out for sure. But alas, chocolate is not chocolate without sugar, no matter how tasty it looks. ;)

White Chocolate ChipsYum

1 cup cocoa butter
1 cup organic raw sugar
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine cocoa butter, sugar and coconut oil in a medium saucepan.


Stir with a whisk and heat until all the ingredients are melted and mixed thoroughly. This takes several minutes.

Remove mixture from heat and add vanilla extract. Pour it into a parchment paper lined baking dish (I used my 9×9 inch pyrex).


Refrigerate for several hours until hardened. The mixture may separate while it’s cooling, but that’s okay!

Break the hardened mixture into little chunks. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.


We stirred some homemade white chocolate chips into these fudge brownies…

See those bits of white chocolate chips in there? It was like candy in a brownie. You must try these. (After you eat a good dinner of course.)

What do you like to make with White Chocolate Chips?

P.S. These are a little bit pricey to make – but I try to avoid white chocolate chips from the store because they are full of hydrogenated oils. I’ll probably only make these every once in a while for a very special treat. :)

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Menu Plan for the Week – Let the “Feeding the Masses” Season Begin! *With a Bun Update*

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I mentioned several weeks ago that we’d be hosting our High School Youth each Sunday night beginning in the fall. (This has traditionally been called “Huddle”.)  This begins today! I’ve been both excited and intimidated about this committment. Each Sunday night we’ll have around 30+ teens in our home. They are great kids though, plus we have two or three other great adult couples who will be joining us and who have offered to help with the food prep at any time. I plan to say “yes” to this offer of help whenever I need to – I’d be crazy not to! I’ll also be referencing this list of “Food to Feed a Crowd” as well as all of your helpful comments for meal ideas each week.

In addition to hosting the high schoolers on Sunday evenings, Matt and I have started teaching a marriage class on Sunday mornings in our home for six young married couples. We meet before worship time begins at church, and I’m hoping to provide some sort of muffin or other breakfast item along with coffee and juice each morning during class. Having these treats seems to put everyone at ease and well, the smell of hot coffee and muffins is just welcoming, isn’t it? We really want these couples to feel welcome and loved in our home. (Yes, food is my love language.)  :)

In order to pull all of this off this year, I’m going to have to be very organized and try to get as much done on Fridays and Saturdays as possible. When I can, I’ll take pictures to share. Although it’s not terribly exciting, I was able to snap a shot of my beverage table this morning before class. I had to put the Applesauce Bread in a separate spot since this table filled up too quickly!

Today, we also had a church potluck. Food, food and more food! Here’s our menu for the week:

Sunday, September 18
Applesauce bread, fruit plate, coffee, juice
Potluck – Italian pasta bake, frosted brownies, green beans
“High School Huddle” – BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, cream cheese corn, homemade pickles (provided by my friend), carrot sticks with homemade ranch, grapes, butterscotch bars

Monday,  September 19
Simple soaked pancakes, blueberries
Taco potatoes, fresh peaches
Chicken noodle soup, carrot sticks

Tuesday, September 20
Crustless breakfast quiches, oranges
Tuna salad on tomato slices, strawberry-peach slushies, sweet peppers
Cheesy salsa enchiladas, tossed salad

Wednesday, September 21
Coconut flour muffins, apples
Black bean salsa, organic corn chips, grapes
Chicken veggie quesadillas, fruit salad

Thursday, September 22
Pancake sausage muffins, applesauce
Cheeseburger macaroni, peas, cantaloupe
Lamb chops, baked potatoes, zucchini

Friday, September 23
Peanut butter honey toast, pears
Chicken burritos, fruit
Hamburgers, potato wedges, peaches, green beans

Saturday, September 24
Scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, peaches
Leftovers
Beef stroganoff, green beans, tossed salad

Question for you – for tonight’s pulled pork sandwiches, I purchased a 9 pound pork roast. I feel like that will be plenty of meat for 30 people, but I don’t think I got enough buns. How many buns would you feel necessary for 30 teens and adults? I know this shouldn’t be so complicated but for some reason I can’t feel comfortable with the amount of buns I got. But I don’t want a bunch of extras because one of my sons LOVES white flour buns and I’d prefer not to have lots leftover for his happy little white bun indulgence. :)

—————————————————–

Hi. I have a bun update. :)

I had originally purchased 40 buns, but we went and got two more packages just to be safe. We ended up only using 38 (surprisingly), even though there were 35 people here (my kids included). Therefore, we would have been okay with only the 5 packages of buns. Still, it was great to have piece of mind about the buns. Also, the 9 pounds of meat was the perfect amount as we only had enough meat leftover for two sandwiches.

Several ate only meat and bbq sauce without the bun. Several others came back for seconds. I still think using what many of you suggested as a general rule, estimating 1.5 buns per person is a great idea. I’ll do it this way from now on.

Also, the Butterscotch Bars and Cream Cheese Corn (recipe in Holiday Hospitality ebook and Learn to Cook ebook) were HUGE hits!!!

Most exciting of all – we asked the kids to each rinse their plates and cups and put them into the dishwasher after they were finished eating. At the end of the night, all I had to do was wash a few serving dishes and turn on the full dishwasher. Awesome! We are definitely going to go with that system every week!

Thank you all for your helpful input about my buns. I mean about the burger buns. Oh, you know what I mean. ;)

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