Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

High Quality Recipes – Five Ingredients or Less

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High Five Recipes 2

It’s been a while since I posted a new High Five Recipe. Just in case you’re new here, or have forgotten about this feature on my site – I wanted to take a minute to draw your attention to one of my favorite sets of recipes!

You all know that I try to keep life in the kitchen simple. But I also try to keep it as healthy as possible. I’m trying to prove to all of us that simple, inexpensive, and healthy are words that can be used in the same sentence!

It doesn’t get much easier than a recipe with five or fewer ingredients. And all of these recipes call for real foods that are very basic. Most likely, you have many of these ingredients in your kitchen just waiting to be used.

You want simple, healthy, inexpensive, and delicious? Try a High Five Recipe. Scroll through all these pages of High Five main dishes, side dishes, and desserts. I had forgotten about half of those recipes. I just finished looking through all of the ideas once again. Now, I’m feeling the need for some Popcorn Chicken and Peanut Butter Honey Fudge.

With some vegetables, of course. :)

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Warm Pumpkin Custard Drink (and my typo confessions)

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I’m about to share my Warm Pumpkin Custard recipe with you, but…

Just so you know, it is very hard for me to type the word “pumpkin” without automatically adding a “g” to the end – making it “pumpking”. This is what happens when you type words ending with “ing” frequently.

For the record, because of my blog name, I also type the word “heavenly” so often that I can’t tell you how many times the word “have” first comes out “heave”. For instance, every time I’m sharing about my ebook “Have Your Cookie…and Eat it Too“? I almost always first type “Heave Your Cookie…” It is a huge problem. But you probably didn’t even want to know that, did you?

And ultimately, that was a terrible thing to write about when I’m posting a new, delicious recipe. Try not to think about heaving your cookies, and instead, focus on the pumpking. Um, pumpkin.

Warm_Pumpkin_Custard

Yum

We have a friend who absolutely loves anything pumpkin. Since he was coming for a visit on a cold, drizzly day – I was brainstorming as to what I could quickly mix up that would satisfy his pumpkin craving and warm us all up.

Turns out, I didn’t have to think very hard. I simply grabbed my trusty Warm Vanilla Soother recipe and pumkinized it. Easy and delicious! Our friend loved it and had two huge mugs full!

This is a great dessert – or because it’s so full of rich, hearty, nutritious ingredients – I think it will be great for breakfast. As a matter of fact, it would be heavenly. (See? Told you I use that word a lot.)

Warm Pumpkin Custard Drink

Warm Pumpkin Custard Drink (and my typo confessions)
 
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Serves: 3-5
Ingredients
  • 3 cups whole milk
  • 4 egg yolks
  • ⅓ cup real maple syrup
  • 1 cup canned or pureed pumpkin
  • 2 Tablespoon arrowroot powder or corn starch
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. In a medium saucepan, whisk together milk, egg yolks, maple syrup, pumpkin, arrowroot powder, and spices.
  2. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly (I use a whisk) until mixture begins to thicken.
  3. Remove from heat and add  vanilla.
  4. Stir until creamy.
  5. Pour into mugs and serve warm.

Am I the only one with potentially embarrassing typo issues?

Don’t even ask me about the time I accidentally left out the “r” when I was writing about how I store bulk grocery items in my “pantry”. Worst typo ever. Kinda makes you want to heave your cookies, doesn’t it?

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Menu Plan for the Week {And My Four Pound Hamburger Meat Dilemma}

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This weekend I got out four pounds of hamburger meat to thaw. “What are you doing with all the hamburger meat?” was the question I was asked several times during the morning as different family members went into the kitchen and saw the meat thawing. My answer? “I really have no idea.”

You’ve got to love it that my plans are always so clearly laid out and organized. ;)

What can I say? All I knew was that I had a few hours between soccer games to get some cooking done, and that our supply of convenience foods in the freezer was getting low. Therefore, I grabbed out the meat to thaw so that I could make something with it when I actually had time.

As I stood watching my boys play a soccer game in the late morning, I watched and cheered and memorized every move my children made so that I could talk through the game in detail with them later I mentally made a plan for the cooking I would do in the three hours I had at home before the next game. Going by what sounded good, what I had in my pantry, and what would work best to get me ahead for this week – I ended up making two Lasagna Casseroles and two pans of Cheesy Salsa Enchiladas.

Don’t worry. I can multi-task. I really was watching and cheering while I thought about browning hamburger meat and making tortillas.

Here’s our menu for this week….just to prove that I don’t always get meat out of the freezer without a plan. :)

Sunday, October 21
Oatmeal, pears
Lasagna casserole, tossed salad
Huddle at our friend’s house

Monday, October 22
Whole wheat peanut butter pancakes, bananas
Tuna salad on crackers, sweet peppers, baby carrots
Alfredo sauce with pasta, tossed salad, steamed broccoli and carrots

Tuesday, October 23
Easy no-knead bread, fruit salad
Chicken salad in homemade pita bread with lettuce and tomatoes, apple slices
Cheesy salsa enchiladas, tossed salad

Wednesday, October 24
Granola, dried fruit
Cheeseburger macaroni, peas
Cheesy chicken and rice, tossed salad, green beans

Thursday, October 25
Cinnamon swirl toast, apples
Hamburger patties, ranch potato wedges, green beans, sweet peppers
Chicken and noodles, carrot sticks

Friday, October 26
Easy breakfast casserole, oranges
Potato soup, carrots, coconut flour cheddar biscuits, sweet pepper slices
Hot spinach and artichoke dip, organic corn chips, grapes

Saturday, October 27
Whole wheat donuts, fruit
Leftovers
Fried eggs, blueberry struesel muffins, applesauce

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EASY! Overnight, No Knead Yeast Bread

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No Knead Bread. Let’s make life easier, shall we?

No-Knead Bread

I love having smart friends.

Smart friends who give me great, easy, healthy recipes are my favorite kind of friends. As are my friends who give me chocolate. Or jars. Or hugs. Or the friends who listen to my constant and sometimes nonsensical chatter. And the ones who put up with my unreasonable freak-out moments of stress. And the ones who pray with me. And the ones who deal with me during soccer season when I can’t finish sentences.

Let me just pause and wipe a tear. I really have the best friends ever…

Well now. (stops to loudly blow nose and gain composure)  I really brought all that up to say that one of my great friends, Nikki, shared this recipe with me. She’s one of my smart friends who I believe has done all of the above and then some (God bless her).

Once when I was at her house, she let me try some of the bread she had made that morning. It was great! And then she started telling me how she made it. How you don’t have to knead it. How you start it the night before and how it takes about three minutes to mix up. I think I grabbed her neck, hugged her fiercely, and knocked her over when she handed me the recipe. Not really. I truly can control myself. Usually. But hey, there was a great recipe involved, so no guarantees. See, I told you my friends are great to put up with me.

And now, the easiest bread recipe in the world…

No Knead Yeast BreadYum

5.0 from 1 reviews
EASY! Overnight, No Knead Yeast Bread
 
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Ingredients
  • 3 cups flour (This recipe works a little better with unbleached white flour, but I prefer to use freshly ground hard white wheat so that it is healthier.)
  • 1 ¾ teaspoon sea salt
  • ½ teaspoon active rise yeast
  • 1 ½ cups water
Instructions
  1. Stir ingredients together in the evening. (No need to proof the yeast.)
  2. Cover and allow dough to sit over-night on the counter-top.
  3. In the morning, dump the dough onto a well floured surface.
  4. Shape it into a ball.
  5. Let it sit for 30 minutes.
  6. Preheat the oven to 450°, heating the baking dish in the oven at the same time.
  7. Place the dough in the hot baking dish.
  8. Cover and bake for 30-40 minutes.

Note:  You need a covered dish to bake this bread.  I found a deep-dish casserole dish with a lid that worked for me, similar to this one. But if I can save up and splurge on this one, would that not be the coolest?

When you mix it and cover it in the evening, it starts out looking like this:

In the morning it will look like this:

After you bake it, it will look like this:

And when you slice it it will look like this:

Once you serve it, it will look like this:

(There’s no picture. The bread is gone. Obviously.)

I highly recommend that you give this recipe a try, and that you consider serving it with this wonderful Calico Beans dish. It’s a wonderful combo!

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Healthy Crock Pot Recipes: Calico Beans

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This Calico Beans recipe packs a punch when it comes to protein. In my household of men, this is much appreciated. Oh, who am I kidding? I may be the only girl in my household, but give me a bowl of beans, beef, and bacon, and I’m a happy camper. I love me a high protein meal! If all the boys in the house enjoy it too, well now, that’s just a huge perk. :)

Add some chopped sweet green peppers, or even a few chunks of spicy peppers to this recipe if your family enjoys a little “kick”.

Calico BeansYum

Healthy Crock Pot Recipes: Calico Beans
 
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Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 8 ounces turkey bacon, cut into one-inch pieces
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • ½ cup chopped onion (or 4 Tablespoons minced onion)
  • 1 Tablespoon yellow mustard
  • 2 - 15 ounce cans baked beans (I use Eden Organics, full of healthy ingredients)
  • 1 - 15 ounce can kidney beans
  • ¾ cup ketchup (I recommend homemade ketchup or an organic variety that does not contain high fructose corn syrup)
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 Tablespoon vinegar (I use either red wine or balsamic)
Instructions
  1. In a skillet, brown bacon, ground beef, and onions together.
  2. Drain and dump into a crock pot.
  3. Add remaining ingredients, stirring until mixed.
  4. Cover and cook on low for six hours or on high for three hours.
  5. Or, skip the crock pot and bake this in a covered casserole dish at 350° for an hour.

Of course, you’ll save even more money if you soak and cook your own beans. Read more about this process here.

Calico Beans

I know everyone is different when it comes to craving meat and high protein meals.  Are you like me and feel like you could eat a half a cow sometimes? Or are you content with a small bowl of beans and the occasional peanut? 

Interested in more Crock Pot recipes? You’ll find several to look through here!

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Healthy Crock Pot Recipes: Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip

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I couldn’t decide. Should I tell my kids what was in this Spinach and Artichoke dip…or should I not?

Turns out, I didn’t have much choice, because they came into the kitchen and asked what I was making and what was in it. I wasn’t going to lie, obviously, but shucks, I was just sure that once Elias, our 10 year old, heard that there were artichokes and spinach in the dip, he’d suddenly be, “not very hungry right now.”

Thankfully, there were chips involved. ;)  Chips are always a good motivator for eating artichokes, right?

All of the boys decided to “give it a try”, which in Elias’ case, means putting a teeny bit of dip onto his chip. Much to my surprise, all of the boys loved the dip. And Elias was the one who raved about it the most.

The moral of this story? I give up on ever being able to predict which of my kids will like which foods, because about the time I think for sure my pickiest child will rebel against artichokes, I will be wrong.

Just a note:  When picking out Marinated Artichoke Hearts at the store, watch out! Many of them contain partially hydrogenated oils. Ick.  I was happy to find a healthier version at Vitacost which contains only artichoke hearts, water, salt and citric acid. Sweet!

As for chips, I recommend an organic variety of corn chips so you will be avoiding bad fats and GMO corn. Or, this dip also tastes great with carrot sticks and other veggies.

Hot Spinach and Artichoke DipYum

Healthy Crock Pot Recipes: Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip
 
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Author:
Ingredients
  • 1 - 14 ounce can marinated artichoke hearts, drained
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
  • 1 cup fresh, torn spinach leaves
  • 1 - 4 ounce can diced green chiles
Instructions
  1. Mix all ingredients and place in a crock pot.
  2. Cook on low for 2-3 hours.
  3. Serve with tortilla chips.
  4. Alternate Cooking Method:
  5. Mix ingredients and spread in a pie dish or 8x8 inch baking pan.
  6. Bake in a 400° for 30 minutes and serve.

Crock Pot or Oven Friendly Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Share with us: Are you a fan of artichokes? I dare you to try this dip whether you are or not. If Elias likes it, I’m pretty sure you will too. :)

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Funky Fresh Menu Plan for the Week

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It’s September. At my house, that means canning tomato sauce, doing math lessons, and going to soccer games…all at the same time. I exaggerate. But just a little bit. I mean, I do usually remember to throw off my stained apron before I chase off to the soccer field. (But only if the boys remind me.)  I have to try and be super organized if I’m going to pull off this month gracefully. Trust me – it doesn’t always happen and I’m often tripping over myself as I try to get everything done. That’s why I’ve asked you to help me by joining in with our month of the Funky Fresh Kitchen! A girl can’t do it alone!

Ready to get your kitchen funky (functional) and healthy? The first Funky Fresh Challenge will be revealed tonight. Be ready!

In the meantime, here’s how our menu looks for this week:

Sunday, September 2
Oatmeal, fruit
Bison brats, baked beans, watermelon
Black bean salsa with organic corn chips, grapes

Monday, September 3
Pancake sausage muffins, cantaloupe
Chicken patty sandwiches, tomatoes, sweet peppers
Italian pasta bake, tossed salad, green beans

Tuesday, September 4
Pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, applesauce
Rice and veggie stir fry, apple slices
Cheesy salsa enchiladas, tossed salad

Wednesday, September 5
Scrambled eggs with cheese, creamy orange cooler
Tuna salad on tomatoes, sweet peppers, carrot sticks
Whole wheat calzones, apples, grape tomatoes

Thursday, September 6
Mini crustless quiches, grapes
Sloppy joes, ranch potato wedges, steamed broccoli
Chicken fried steak strips, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas

Friday, September 7
Peanut butter honey toast, smoothies
Taco salad
Homemade pizza, carrot sticks

Saturday, September 8
Giant breakfast cookies, applesauce
Leftovers
Grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup

What’s on your menu this week? Share some of your “fresh” meal ideas in the comments section of this post to be eligible for our Heavenly Homemakers Shop gift certificate giveway!

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The Month of the Funky Fresh Kitchen! Join Us!

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Our Funky Fresh Kitchen series last fall was so enjoyable, we’ve decided to do it again. Only this time, we have so much planned that we’re going to “party together” the entire month of September!! (And by “party”, I sort of mean work hard…so get out your rubber gloves and a mixing bowl — not to be used at the same time, of course.)

First, what is the Month of the Funky Fresh Kitchen? As summer fades and our fall routines begin, our goal is to inspire you to have a wonderful, fresh start! We want to encourage you to create a kitchen that is healthy and funky (aka functional). It’s time to clean out, clean up, be encouraged, and learn to (or be reminded that you) love your job as a heavenly homemaker!

All throughout the month of September, you can expect to see:

  • Fresh, New Recipes (All are easy, all are healthy, and many utilize a crock pot.)
  • Funky Fresh Freebies! (Including some eBooks from my shop! Some will come and go quickly – so be on your toes!) (Sit back down – that was a figurative statement.)
  • Funky Fresh Challenges (We’re all in this together. Be ready to get your game on. If you have a blog, be ready to link up.)
  • Encouragement and Inspiration (Unless I’ve already overwhelmed you with the obvious “loud excitement” of this post. Really, please do come back…)  ;)
  • because there are GIVEAWAYS!!!

Seriously – the giveaways!! Sprinkled all throughout the many fun (and hopefully helpful) posts this month will be some downright incredible giveaways. Want a sneak peek?

You may remember seeing some of those great giveaways last year at this time, and I am so grateful that so many were willing to work with us again this year as we inspire you toward a Funky Fresh Kitchen!

(It’s possible that I’m using too many exclamation marks in this post, but in all my excitement, I’m not sure I’m capable of editing them out.)  !!!!!!!  (sheesh)

Well now, are you feeling the excitement? Do you feel the love? Do you wish you could give me a chill pill? 

I’m warning you now, there will be a lot of posts this month. Freebies, giveaways, recipes, challenges – they will all be posted at random times, sometimes up to three or four posts each day. Don’t worry – I will keep each post short and sweet. After all, how are you supposed to create a funky fresh kitchen if you’re spending all day reading about it?

If you haven’t already, you may want to Subsribe to Heavenly Homemakers, and/or Like Heavenly Homemakers on Facebook so you won’t miss any posts. Of course, scrolling down through the posts on my blog works too. ;)

Take note:  All throughout September, each time you leave a comment on a post which displays our Funky Fresh Kitchen button (as shown at the top of this post), you will be entered in a drawing for three gift certificates to our Heavenly Homemakers Shop, good for any downloadable items. We’ve got two $25 certificates and one $50 certificate to give away!

Shall we start practicing now? Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win. AND, if you share about this post about the month of the Funky Fresh Kitchen on Facebook, leave another comment on this post for a second entry!

Let the Month of the Funky Fresh Kitchen begin!

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Make Breakfast the Night Before {Eat Healthy, Save Time}

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I know I’ve shared this tip before, but within this Eat Healthy, Save Time series, I decided to say it again:

In an effort to easily and quickly provide a healthy breakfast for my family each morning, sometimes I find it helpful to get breakfast made the night before I plan to serve it.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins and Blueberry Muffins with fruit and milk.
Fast, easy, and a total family pleaser.

This sometimes means that I bake muffins at night after dinner. Or it might mean that I multi-task while making our evening meal and stir together Giant Breakfast Cookies while our dinner casserole is baking. Or, it might mean that I put together an Easy Breakfast Casserole right before I go to bed so that all I have to do is get up in the morning and put the casserole directly into the oven.

 

And shucks, as someone quite goofy but very practical once said, “If you’re making one you might as well make two…” Therefore, you might even decide to make an Egg Casserole to bake in the morning…and make a second one to put into the freezer for another morning. 

 And when breakfast has been made, and dishes have been washed the night before? Clean up after breakfast in the morning is a breeze! Kitchen efficiency (and a healthy eating!) just keeps getting easier, doesn’t it? :)

What kinds of breakfast foods have you found to be easy to make the night before?

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Apple Muffin Throw Down

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Remember the Boxed Brownies vs. Homemade Brownies experiment I did? And the Boxed Mac and Cheese vs. Homemade Creamy Mac and Cheese experiment I did? How about my Sunday Dinner Challenge, which took a whopping one minute, forty eight point nine seconds to make? My boys love that I keep making them bring the stop watch into the kitchen for these “races”. It’s that male competition thing they have going on. 

I finally got around to completing another “boxed vs. homemade” experiment in an effort to prove that making homemade food from healthy ingredients doesn’t take a lot of time. I figure that some might still be having a difficult time believing me when I say that it truly doesn’t take a long time to prepare healthy foods. So I’m having fun trying to “prove” my case, and my family is having fun eating the results of my experiments. ;)

This time, I decided to see which took longer to prepare: boxed muffins…or muffins made from scratch. I found some great looking “healthier” boxed muffin mixes from Vitacost. While these were organic, they were still made from white flour and white sugar, although at least I could control the oil I put into them. None of that has anything to do with the experiment necessarily, except just to say that these muffins really didn’t hold much in the way of nutrition. Anyway, back to the point, which I know that those of you who haven’t fallen asleep while reading this post are waiting on pins and needles to hear… 

From the time I opened the boxes, to the time I put the muffin pans into the oven, 6.25 minutes had passed. 

A few weeks later, I mixed up my Applesauce Bread recipe and made the batter into muffins. How long did it take? Right at 7 minutes.  And these had whole wheat flour, honey, and real, unsweetened applesauce in them. Nutrients! For my family for breakfast! What a concept.  This, because I spent about 45 seconds longer making muffins from scratch. 

What other thoughts do you have about what I could experiment with?  My boys are waiting with their stop watch…

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