Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Our Whole Foods Pantry, Freezers and Refrigerator

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Real Food Ingredients Resource Page

After several hours of list making, link finding and price figuring, here is the resource I’ve been promising for such a long time! I’ve tried to include everything that typically can be found in my fridge, freezers, pantry and bulk storage. I obviously don’t have all of these items on hand all of the time, but I do try to keep a good stock of most of these items so that I am flexible to put together a variety of healthy meals, as well as open our home to guests frequently.

I’ve included prices I prefer to spend on each item, but prices vary depending on which site is offering a sale. Keep in mind that prices are going to vary depending on where you live as well. Because I live in a small town with very few whole foods/organic food grocery store options, I buy most of my food from local farmers, from online shops or from Azure Standard, depending on where I find a better deal. (Plus, I try to save up most of my Swagbuck earnings to purchase food occasionally for “free” from Amazon.)

I buy almost all of the listed items in bulk quantities because I know we’ll use it. I also try to purchase just about all of the items in this list in organic form if possible.

Because you are all reading from different locations, I also recommend that you read through the comments on this post in order to find a health food co-op or whole food resources in your area. Also, check out LocalHarvest to find meat, milk, eggs and produce in your area.

Hopefully the linking system I used in each section is user friendly!

And now, without further ado, here is my very long list of grocery items I love to have on hand:

Dairy

In addition to the following products, occasionally I make butter and mozzarella cheese, if I have enough milk/cream/time.

Milk – I am blessed to buy raw, organic milk from local farmers.
Cream – I buy this raw from our milk farmers.
Buttermilk – Homemade
 Kefir – Homemade
 Yogurt – Homemade
Sour Cream – Homemade
Butter – I usually purchase a case of Willow Made Sweet Cream, Salted Butter from Azure Standard if I can get it for $3.50/pound or less. Otherwise, I just buy real butter from the grocery store.
Cheese – I purchase raw organic Landmark white cheddar cheese from Azure Standard. It is $5.50/pound if purchased by the case.

Meat/Eggs/Beans

I purchase most of my grass fed beef and free range whole chickens from a local farm – NorthStar Neighbors. Occasionally, I will get it from Tropical Traditions if they have a great sale.

Hamburger Meat
Cube Steak
Stew Meat
Beef Roast 
Chickens (whole) – I try stretch these to feed my family six meals!
Chicken Breasts – I typically purchase Smart Chicken brand when it’s on sale at our local grocery store for $4.0o/pound or less.
Deer Meat – from local hunters who like to share
Tuna (canned) – I buy Natural Value Yellow-Fin by the case either from Amazon, Vitacost, or Azure Standard, shooting for $1.50/can or less.
Salmon (canned) – Rubinstein’s Wild Alaska pink salmon from Azure Standard or Roland’s from Amazon
Frozen Fish, sometimes – I live in Nebraska, what can I say? We don’t have fresh fish here. I don’t necessarily trust frozen fish from a regular grocery store, but occasionally I will buy some tilapia or salmon.
Eggs – I buy these from my friend who raises free range chickens.
Red Beans –  Azure Standard – $1.00/pound
Black Beans – Azure Standard – $1.40/pound
Pinto Beans – Azure Standard – $0.88/pound
Garbonzo Beans – Azure Standard – $0.85/pound
Lentils – Azure Standard – $0.49/pound

Grains

Hard White Wheat – I buy this in bulk from Azure Standard – $0.83/pound.
Whole Kernel Corn – Azure Standard or Tropical Traditions – $0.68/pound
Popcorn – Azure Standard, Tropical Traditions or Amazon – $1.25/pound
Rolled Oats – Azure Standard, Tropical Traditions or Amazon – $0.80/pound
Brown Rice –  Azure Standard, Tropical Traditions or Amazon – $1.80/pound
Whole Wheat Pasta – Tropical Traditions or Amazon – around $2.00/pound

I sometimes have Kamut, Millet, Buckwheat, Spelt and/or Barley on hand – purchased from Azure Standard or Tropical Traditions – all less than $1.00/pound.

Baking/Cooking

Coconut Flour – Azukar Organics through Amazon (best price!) or Tropical Traditions when it’s buy one get one free – $3.50/pound or less.
Sucanat – Azure Standard, Vitacost, or Amazon – $2.50/pound or less
Raw Honey – I purchase from a local bee keeper – or I buy it from Azure Standard
Grade B Maple Syrup – Farmers Market, Vitacost, or Amazon – $17.00/quart or less
Cocoa Powder – Azure Standard or Tropical Traditions – $4.25/pound or less
Vanilla Extract – I make my own; read how you can too!
Corn Starch – Azure Standard, Vitacost, or Tropical Traditions – $3.20/8 ounce box
Arrowroot Powder – Azure Standard – $2.57/pound or less
Aluminum Free Baking Powder – Azure Standard or Amazon – $2.65/pound
Baking Soda – Azure Standard or Amazon – $1.00/pound or less
Shredded Coconut – Tropical Traditions– $17.50/gallon pail
Chocolate Chips – Homemade, Vitacost, or Amazon – $4.50/package or less
Butterscotch Baking Chips – Homemade
Active Dry Yeast – Azure Standard or Sams

Herbs and Spices

These are purchased either from Tropical Traditions, Azure Standard or Mountain Rose Herbs. I didn’t link to any specific site for these – where I buy these depends on who has the best price at the time.

Redmonds Real Sea Salt
Garlic Powder
Turmeric
Minced Onion
Onion Powder
Onion Salt
Oregano
Basil
Cayenne Pepper
Black Pepper
Chili Powder
Paprika
Parsley
Cumin
Cinnamon
Nutmeg

Condiments and Sauces

Ketchup – I make homemade ketchup or purchase Muir Glen Organic Ketchup from Amazon, Vitacost, or Azure Standard – $2.70/bottle
Mayonnaise – I like Hain Safflower Mayo from Azure Standard or Vitacost – $5.50/jar or less
Mustard – Azure Standard – $2.35/bottle
Worcestershire Sauce – Azure Standard – $5.00/bottle
Soy Sauce – Azure Standard – $5.50/bottle
Liquid Smoke – Walmart  ;)
Salad Dressings – I make my own, recipes are found here.
Jams and Preserves – Azure Standard, Vitacost, or Tropical Traditions – $3.00/jar
Peanut Butter – I make my own, recipe found here

Fats

Coconut Oil, Virgin (tastes like coconut) – Tropical Traditions, Amazon, Vitacost, or Mountain Rose Herbs – $18.00/quart or less
Coconut Oil, Expeller Pressed (flavorless) – Tropical Traditions, Amazon, Mountain Rose Herbs – $13.00/quart or less
Olive Oil – Azure Standard, Vitacost, or Tropical Traditions – $17.00/25 ounces or less
Butter – Azure Standard (Yes, I’d already mentioned this in the dairy section, but it’s also a fat. Apparently, I love butter enough to mention it twice.)
Palm Shortening – Tropical Traditions, Amazon

Fruits and Vegetables

Tomato Sauce, Tomato Soup, Tomato Juice – we grow and can our own supply for each year or I get them from Vitacost when we run out of our home canned goods
Green Beans, Sweet Corn, Peaches, Strawberries, Applesauce – we grow or buy from local farmers and preserve these ourselves each year.
Frozen Peas – Azure Standard – $7.70/5 pounds
All Other Fresh Produce – Azure Standard or local grocery stores

Nuts

Peanuts – Azure Standard or Amazon – $3.70/pound
Pistachios, Cashews, Almonds – Braga Organic Farms 
Dried Fruit – Azure Standard or Braga Organic Farms

Cereal and Chips (purchased rarely)

Cornflakes – Amazon or Vitacost – $3.00/box
Rice Crispies – Amazon or Vitacost– $3.00/box
Corn Chips – Amazon or Vitacost – $4.00/bag

So that you will always and forever have easy access to this resource list, I have added a link at the top of my site called Whole Foods Resources. I’ve also added this pantry button to my side bar, which will link to this post:

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Menu Plan for the Week

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Our peach tree is loaded this year – it’s awesome! We picked peaches for the first time yesterday and you’d better believe we’re going to have peach juice running down our chins all week long. :)


I also picked a lot of produce from our friend’s garden. They were out of town and told me to help myself – and so I did.

I’ve never really been successful with eggplant, so I’m going to do a little searching online to see what recipes I come up with. Do you all have some eggplant ideas?

I finally was able to make tomato sauce last night – so exciting! I’ll share more about that (because I learned a new trick!) soon.

Here’s our menu this week:

Sunday, August 7
Easy breakfast casserole, peaches
Roasted chicken, carrots, potatoes, gravy
Sloppy joes on homemade buns, watermelon, carrot sticks with ranch

Monday, August 8
Simple soaked pancakes, applesauce
Popcorn chicken, fried okra, green beans
Black bean and rice bowls with salsa and kreme fresh, cucumber salad

Tuesday, August 9
Blueberry streusel muffins, peaches and cream
Pizza pockets, strawberry orange smoothies
Tacos (with homemade tortillas and fresh tomatoes from the garden!), death by chocolate dessert (with guests!)

Wednesday, August 10
Scrambled eggs, creamy orange cooler
Sweet bean casserole, corn bread muffins, something with eggplant?, peaches
Taco salad, watermelon

Thursday, August 11
Coconut flour muffins, apples
Meat and cheese burritos, fresh pineapple
Lasagna casserole, tossed salad, sweet corn

Friday, August 12
Homemade poptarts, applesauce
Grilled cheese sandwiches, chips and salsa, carrot sticks
Homemade pizza, watermelon

Saturday, August 13
Giant breakfast cookies, plums
Leftovers
Hot roast beef sandwiches with gravy, peas, tossed salad

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Honor Each Other

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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

My Queen – Matt’s Thoughts

On your wedding day, did you (your name here) promise to honor (your spouse’s name here) above all others for as long as you both live? I’ve heard that phrase at several weddings and whether you said it or not…it is implied. What does that look like in a healthy marriage?

My first exposure to the concept of honor was as a child being taught the commandment “Honor your father and mother.” I was taught that it was by my actions and speech that I honored or dishonored my parents…whether I was with them or not. In the presence of one’s parents, a child often has the fear of punishment that keeps him in line. Thus, there is a greater impression made regarding honoring or dishonoring one’s parents when the child’s parents are not present.

Similarly, it seems to me that one displays the greatest honor or dishonor to their spouse when they are not with their spouse by the way they act and ESPECIALLY talk about their spouse. Therefore, any chance we get, we need to speak positively of our beloved. It is easy to get caught up in negative talk. Yes, your spouse has annoying habits, imperfections and character flaws – just like you and every other married person – but let’s steer clear of the gripe sessions others are having even if we know we can relate. It’s like a pig pen where neither you nor your spouse will get away without getting muddy. Instead, be the one who shifts the conversation from pitiful me to praise for my life-long love. Usually, then, either the crowd disperses or another person pipes in with something positive about their spouse.

Let’s shower our darling with presents when they’re not present by speaking highly of him/her.

I have much room for improvement, but in her presence I try to treat Laura as my queen, and when we’re apart I aim to let everyone around me know by the way I talk about her that she is my queen.

 

Do Unto Others – Laura’s Thoughts

Here’s a question:  What do we possibly have to gain by talking negatively about our spouse to others? Besides the fact that it’s sinful, it actually has the potential to make you look bad. After all – you’re the one who married this person of whom you have nothing nice to say.

There are times I may need to share something about our marriage with another person in an effort to obtain advice on how to handle a situation – but I have to be super careful to do this in a way that still honors Matt. And I have to prayerfully choose the person I confide in.

These are the some of the things I try to consider regarding how I talk to my husband or talk to others about my husband which I adapted from a post I wrote a year and a half ago called Make Him or Break Him:

  • Would I want him/her to talk to me like this?
  • Would I want him/her to look at me this way when he’s/she’s talking to me?
  • Would I want him/her to talk to his/her friends about me like this?
  • Would I want him/her to talk to me in front of other people this way?

If the answer is “no” to any of those questions, then with all due respect, I have to suggest that you just hush.

Or on the flip side, as Matt talked about, if instead you are intentional about saying honorable things about your spouse to others, you will be amazed at what a rewarding experience this is!

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 A to Z – Honor

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No-Oven Treats for Summer

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We’re finally experiencing a little break in the heat here in Nebraska – as in – it’s only in the upper 80’s instead of 101° with a heat index of 115°. I know many of you from the south are experiencing drought and intense heat that makes my 115° seem like winter.

Regardless of how it’s cooled off to “only the 80’s”, I still don’t like heating up the house to do much baking if I can help it. Here are a few yummy treats we’ve enjoyed this summer that don’t require the use of an oven:

Peanut Butter Honey Fudge

Homemade Pudding Pops

Healthier Rice Crispy Treats

Mock Frozen Yogurt

Homemade Ice Cream

homemadeicecream3sm.JPG

Add to the list! What healthy, no-oven treats have you enjoyed this summer?!

 

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Homemade Butterscotch Baking Chips

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Check one more item off the Heavenly Homemakers Recipe Challenge List! We have Butterscotch Chips!

These are more than just a little bit sweet – wowza, these chips are quite sugary. Therefore, I must advise that you don’t eat the entire pan of butterscotch chips all in one sitting. I’m pretty sure you knew that already. I’m also pretty sure you are planning to eat plenty of vegetables before (and after) you make these. Right?

Here are the reasons I attempted Homemade Butterscotch Chips:

  1. Many of you wanted me to do this. I aim to please.
  2. Every single package of butterscotch chips I’ve seen on the market has hydrogenated oil in them. Bleh. It is very important to avoid hydrogenated oils.
  3. I need some Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies.

You will notice that I used organic brown sugar in this recipe instead of sucanat. I did this because I was afraid that the molasses flavor of the sucanat would effect the flavor of these chips, making them not taste like butterscotch. I had some organic brown sugar on hand, so I used it and was pleased with the results.

Homemade Butterscotch ChipsYum

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup coconut oil (I used expeller pressed so as not to have a coconut flavor)
1 cup organic brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a saucepan, melt together butter, coconut oil and brown sugar. Stir continually until all ingredients are mixed well, bringing the mixture ALMOST to a boil, then turning down the heat. Cook and stir some more on low heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is a liquid.

Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in vanilla extract. Pour the contents onto a parchment paper lined container. I used a 9×13 inch dish.

Place the dish into the fridge for 3-4 hours to allow the mixture to solidify. Cut or break the butterscotch into small “chips”.

Store them in an air tight container in the fridge.

And would you look at that? These homemade butterscotch chips make fantastic Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies! (I’ll share my recipe next week.)

Are you a fan of butterscotch chips? What’s your favorite way to use them?

Read about making Homemade Chocolate Chips here!

 

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Menu Plan for the Week

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This weekend, I created a big bread mystery at our house. I made a double batch of Honey Whole Wheat Bread, making two regular loaves and two Cinnamon Swirl Bread loaves. I failed to pay attention to the pans I put them each into, therefore, when I pulled them out of the oven, I had no idea which loaves were regular and which loaves were cinnamon swirl. (duh)

One of them, I could quickly label by (pardon me) sniffing it’s underside. The other still remains a mystery. Here’s hoping we figure it out before it’s time to make tuna sandwiches. ;)

This week is our official first week of school for this year. Books are ready, plans are made, boys are excited. I’ll share more about our schedule and curriculum in upcoming posts!

Here’s our menu for the week:

Sunday, July 31
Cinnamon swirl bread, peaches
Cheeseburger macaroni, green beans, grape tomatoes
Youth dinner at our friends’ house

Monday, August 1
Whole wheat cinnamon rolls, apple slices
Taco corn fritters, fruit smoothies
Cheesy beef and rice, stir fried zucchini and yellow squash

Tuesday, August 2
Chocolate chocolate chip muffins, applesauce
Meat and cheese burritos, carrots with ranch dip, pears
Lamb chops, baked potatoes, peas

Wednesday, August 3
Scrambled eggs with cheese, creamy orange cooler
BLTs, chips and salsa, cantaloupe
Grilled steak, creamy cole slaw, corn on the cob

Thursday, August 4
Pancake sausage muffins, blueberries
Black bean salsa with organic corn chips, watermelon
Alfredo sauce with pasta, steamed broccoli and carrots

Friday, August 5
Peanut butter honey toast, strawberry-peach slushies
Hamburgers on homemade whole wheat hamburger buns, corn on the cob, sweet peppers
Creamy mac and cheese, peas, fried okra

Saturday, August 6
Applesauce muffins, bananas
Homemade pizza, plums
Leftovers

Be sure to visit our brand new sponsor:  The Modest Mom!

 

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Teaching Your Kids to Cook and Learn to Cook Books

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We are excited to announce that our new books, Teaching Your Kids to Cook and Learn to Cook, are now ready for purchase! We are offering these books as a download (pdf file), so you can purchase and receive a download link directly in your email inbox. In addition, we are offering you a chance to purchase both Teaching Your Kids to Cook and Learn to Cook in a package, offering you a hefty discount!

Teaching Your Kids to Cook – For Parents of Kids Ages 2-12

Teaching Your Kids to Cook is written for parents who desire to spend time helping their children learn their way around the kitchen. Filled with instructions, tips, activities, printables and over 45 simple, kid friendly recipes – you and your kids will have many opportunities to make messes together and get chocolate in your hair. Here’s hoping your kids learn how to put basic meals and treats together and learn to serve others too!

The recipes in this book include only wholesome, easy to attain ingredients. Teaching Your Kids to Cook is perfect for families with young children – oh the memories you will make!

Help yourself to free sample pages of Teaching Your Kids to Cook.

Learn to Cook – Because You Gotta Eat

Learn to Cook is written to anyone old enough to use a stove (I’d say ages 8 and up). Not only for kids, this book may also be helpful for adults who are new to cooking. This book can be handed directly to “the student” and while you should certainly be available to guide them along as they learn new kitchen skills, your sons and daughters, newlyweds and cooking novices can read Learn to Cook on their own and take off with all of the new skills they are learning! From measuring to menu planning to grocery budgeting – this book covers all the kitchen basics. Not to mention, it includes over 55 simple to prepare recipes!

The recipes in this book include only wholesome, easy to attain ingredients. Learn to Cook will equip the reader with basic kitchen knowledge – an incredibly important life skill!

Help yourself to free sample pages of Learn to Cook.

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The Package Deal

Depending on the ages of your kids or the needs of your family, you may be interested in owning both of these books! We’ve combined them into packages and chunked off a nice piece of the price, as several of the recipes and printables in the books are duplicated.

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Healthy Foods for the Freezer

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One of my big Two Week Tackle projects was to pre-make some healthy convenience items for our freezer. This way, on busy days all I have to do is grab burritos or pizza pockets out of the freezer and warm them up quickly for us to eat.

I didn’t do all of this cooking at once. This is the result of 14 days of off and on work in which I simply made one extra batch of food to put into the freezer, whenever I could find a spare moment. Sometimes, I just doubled what we were making for dinner and froze half. This is the best way (in my opinion) to do freezer cooking without stress!

I feel like it’s possible that I’ve broken some sort of tortilla making record during the last few weeks. I lost track of how many tortillas I rolled out and cooked. I think I made at least five double batches, in which we ate or made into burritos. We now have loads of frozen burritoes and around 18 plain whole wheat tortillas in our fridge for easy quesadillas next week! (Just doing some quick math, I think this means I may have made 120 tortillas between last week and this week. Not that you cared. I just felt like multiplying it out. Why do I do these things?)

I was excited to try making Chicken Burritos and will be sharing the recipe soon.

And, not that you can tell them apart, but because I somehow feel the need to prove my tortilla making madness, here is a big batch of meat and cheese burritos. (Are you bored with my tortilla picture parade yet?)

I hate to disappoint you, but the rest of the pictures have nothing to do with tortillas. Instead, we have a pan full of lovely pizza pockets that are now frozen and ready to bake for a quick lunch.

I made a batch of homemade hamburger buns and didn’t let us eat any of them. Buns in the freezer means easy burgers, sloppy joes or even turkey/cheese melts.

I made a quadrupal batch of Whole Wheat Waffles – these are the BEST for toasting in the morning when we need a fast breakfast.

One of my favorite main dishes:  BBQ Meatballs. I intentionally made way more than we needed for one meal so that I could freeze the leftovers. Meatball subs anyone?

I needed a batch of homemade rolls for something last week. Therefore, I made bunches. I have no idea what happened to the rolls in the upper right-hand corner. Mysteries like this happen in my kitchen regularly. We may never get to the bottom of it.

I surprised the boys one morning with homemade donuts, then because we had quite a few leftover, I froze them for another breakfast soon.

Last but not least, I shook up a jar each of Taco Seasoning, Ranch Dressing Mix and Italian Dressing Mix. I LOVE having these in my pantry to grab and use in a moment’s notice.

And that, my friends, is the result of the intentional extra cooking I have been doing in an attempt to get ahead before August begins.

What are your favorite ways to get ahead in the kitchen? (Yeah, yeah…I know. Getting ahead in the kitchen is almost like getting ahead on laundry – next to impossible. But still.)

In case you’re curious, here are a few posts that might help answer some of your questions about how I freeze foods and try to get ahead in the kitchen:

 

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Homemade Non-Toxic Liquid Hand Soap

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I have something to say.

Commercial non-toxic liquid hand soap is way, way too expensive. Since switching over all of our household products to chemical free varieties, purchasing liquid hand soap is something that always makes me choke. We need easy access to soap at our sinks, but good grief all the options I found to order were crazy expensive -like around $5.00 for 12 ounces. Ouch.

Shame on them.

Do you know how much it cost me to make an entire gallon of non-toxic, all natural, organic liquid hand soap? Three dollars and fifty cents. Total. For an entire gallon. (A gallon, by the way, is 128 ounces. That’s some awesome savings!)

This may have been one of the easiest items I’ve ever made. It took hardly any time. And it only cost me $3.50. (Pardon my redundancy. I’m hung up on the fact that it only cost me $3.50 for a gallon of the healthiest hand soap ever. $3.50. $3.50!)

Because of this, I plan to get on a soap box (ha!) and encourage all of us to save a bunch of money by making homemade liquid hand soap.

Other recipes I’ve seen call for several ingredients I didn’t feel safe to use. Then, my friend BryAnna told me she’d been playing with making soap and had found these simple directions. She’s a genius. I love her.

Homemade Liquid Hand Soap

Homemade Non-Toxic Liquid Hand Soap

4 ounce bar of natural soap (I used a bar of coconut oil soap from Tropical Traditions. Any natural bar of soap would work. I think the bars from Victorian Rose Soap Company would be great!)
1 gallon of water

First, heat the water in a pot, just long enough to steam:

In the meantime, grate your bar of soap.

Take the steaming water off the heat. Immediately pour the grated soap into the water. Stir the mixture, then let it sit for about 15 minutes.

Use a hand mixer to blend the soap and water mixture well. Let it sit overnight.

The next morning, use the hand mixer again to blend well. Done. You have a gallon of non-toxic liquid hand soap!

When my friend BryAnna made her batch, she found that it was quite thick and almost gel like the second day. My batch, on the other hand, was still quite runny. If your soap is too thick, you may want to blend in a little extra water. If your mixture is too runny…it doesn’t matter. It works just fine!

I had some extra pump bottles around the house which I filled and put by each sink. The remaining liquid soap, I funneled into a gallon water jug for storage.


If you’ve never tried making your own liquid hand soap, you’ve got to give this a try. So simple. So safe and pure. And so, so, so much less expensive.

Like, only $3.50 for a gallon. Or did I mention that already?

Ever tried making your own soaps? Which kind(s) have you tried? Hand soap? Laundry detergent? Bar soap?

 

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Menu Plan + Two Week Tackle Update

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Green beans from our garden!

First today, I’ll share our menu plan for the week. Then below, I’ll give you an update on how my Two Week Tackle is going!

Sunday, July 24

Coconut flour banana muffins, applesauce
Teriyaki chicken and veggies
Grilled cheese sandwiches, chips and salsa, honeydew melon

Monday, July 25
Turkey sausage, scrambled eggs, oranges
Homemade corn dogs, green beans, carrot sticks with ranch dressing
Taco potatoes, watermelon

Tuesday, July 26
Giant breakfast cookies, plums
Chicken veggie quesadillas, tossed salad
Chicken fried steak strips, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas

Wednesday, July 27
Pancake and sausage muffins, cantaloupe
Peanut butter and honey sandwiches, peaches, carrot sticks with ranch dressing
Three cheese garlic chicken pasta, tossed salad, zucchini

Thursday, July 28
Smoothies, toast
Turkey ranch pinwheels, strawberry-peach slushies
Grilled burgers, sweet baked beans, corn on the cob

Friday, July 29
Blueberry streusel muffins, bananas
Alfredo sauce with pasta, steamed broccoli and carrots
Italian roast wraps, tossed salad, corn on the cob

Saturday, July 30
Easy breakfast casserole, grapes
Leftovers
Lamb chops on the grill, Italian pasta salad, zucchini

And now, my updated Two Week Tackle List:
  • Organize school books and create a schedule for our school year
  • Clean out kitchen cabinets – replace shelf liner
  • Deep clean the entire house
  • Plan and begin to prep soccer meals
  • Make and freeze healthy convenience foods for the month of August
  • Make homemade hand soap and laundry detergent (just because I really want to try)
  • Experiment with homemade white chocolate and butterscotch chips for the Heavenly Homemakers Recipe Challenge
  • Finish creating the Whole Foods Pantry resource list that so many of you have been requesting

~”Deep clean the entire house” is never going to be crossed off the list, mostly because it’s a never ending job. We’ve accomplished a lot, and plan to begin our school year on August 1 with a nice, clean house…but come August 2, there will be more cleaning to do. If only dust understood that once we’ve rid our house of it, it is not supposed to return. Ugly little intruder.

~The Whole Foods Pantry resource list has a small start, and I’m hoping to dedicate more time to it this week. All the extra time I’ve had on the computer recently has been devoted to editing the new kids cooking books. (Watch for an update about those very soon!!!)

~I’ve got a list started for soccer meals and hope to fine tune it within the next few days. I’ll be asking for your help regarding these meals, so watch for a post about cooking for a crowd!

~Books. Books. Books. They fill my living room. I’ve been saving this job for last because I LOVE sitting down and organizing and planning our school year. This will be my reward for checking the other items off the list. But, I can’t wait much longer because we officially begin our new school year in 8 days!

~Throughout the next couple of weeks, you can expect posts showing you how to make butterscotch chips, white chocolate chips and homemade hand soap. I am taking “make homemade laundry detergent” off my list for now – I’ll come back to it when I have more time because I’m really excited to try to make homemade detergent without borax. But not this week. I have books to organize!

What all did you get accomplished last week? Did you cross anything off your list?!

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