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Eat Right Away ~ Introducing $2.00 Packets Built to Bless Your Family Dinner!

June 9, 2015 by Laura 26 Comments

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This idea has been a long time in the making! I’m very excited to introduce our latest project. It’s a collection of downloadable make-ahead recipe and instruction packets called Eat Right Away: Your Guide to Real Food Fast!

Eat Right Away Collection2

Each of these downloadable Eat Right Away packets include:

5 brand new recipes
5 individual meal grocery lists, plus 1 big grocery list to aid you in making all five meals in one sitting (though you’ll actually be standing, not sitting, my apologies).
5 individual recipe instructions, plus 1 “Be Efficient” set of instructions to guide you through making all five meals in one 2ish-hour time frame
Freezer safe instructions for each recipe, plus guidance on thawing, reheating, and serving each meal with little effort.
Serving suggestions so you don’t have to think about the side dishes
Bonus tips

Each packet is only $2.00, and we’ve made it easy by packaging all four packets together into one $8.00 collection! Yep! That’s it. We want to get them into all of your hands to help you save time and money in your real food kitchen.

Each recipe is family friendly, easy to prepare, contains simple, real food ingredients, and can be made ahead and frozen so that you can Eat Right Away!

Bonus! So far, the ten recipes in these two packets can be easily adapted to be gluten free. The only ingredient which is not naturally gluten free in these recipes is pasta. Sub the wheat pasta for rice or corn pasta and voila! 10 gluten free recipes that you can Eat Right Away!

Let’s begin with Eat Right Away: Beef Edition. Recipes included are:

Cheesy Salsa Burgers (The easiest recipe ever. Make it gluten free by serving on a bed of lettuce.)
One Dish Cheesy Beef and Potatoes (Our family’s favorite so far.)
Bacon-Wrapped Individual Meatloaves (Make ’em ahead, pull ’em out, cook ’em up! You don’t even have to thaw these in advance.)
Easy Hamburger Soup (The ultimate comfort food.)
Baked Ziti (Could it be possible that we like this as much as lasagna? Yes.)

Eat Right Away, Beef Edition

Make all five meals in about 2 hours time. Be rewarded with five delicious meals to pull out and serve with little additional effort!

Next, take a look at Eat Right Away: Chicken Edition. Recipes included are:

Teriyaki Chicken and Veggie Kabobs (This one takes a tiny bit of extra effort. It is WORTH IT.)
Easy Apricot Chicken (Takes five minutes to make. No joke.)
Sloppy Salsa Chicken (Also takes five minutes…okay six. I’m serious.)
Mexi-Chicken Pasta (Where has this been all my life?)
Chicken Tostadas (So fast!)

Eat Right Away, Chicken Edition

Make all five meals in about less than 2 hours time. Be rewarded with five delicious meals to pull out and serve with little additional effort!

Eat Right Away: Slow Cooker Chicken Edition ~ Recipes Included Are:

Cheesy Chicken Potatoes and Broccoli
Italian Chicken and Veggies
Black Bean and Corn Salsa Chicken
Barbecue Cranberry Chicken
Ranch Chicken Tacos

Eat Right Away: Slow Cooker Beef Edition ~ Recipes Included Are:

Roast Beef and Melted Cheese Sandwiches
Mongolian Beef
Balsamic Beef Roast
Sweet Pepper Beef Stew
Hawaiian Beef and Rice

Just like the chicken recipes, you can make all five beef recipes in about one hour. Put them in the freezer or fridge. Pull them out and throw them into the crock pot.

Grab these four packets and get started with putting together these 10 great meals so that you can Eat Right Away!

Our Heavenly Homemaker’s Club Members have access to this amazing resource plus ALL of our eBooks, eCurriculum, printables, and so much more – for one very low price! Join us here!

Or purchase separately below:

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The Day I Got Carried Away With the Beans

March 3, 2015 by Laura 10 Comments

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It’s not what you think. {and all the readers breathed a collective sigh of relief}

It’s just that last night I put beans in a bowl to soak, and then I woke up to beans that were threatening to overtake my kitchen. {Wow, Laura. Fascinating.}

beans 1

See, when you add water to beans – they grow. They grow and they grow and they grow. So if you aren’t thinking about what you’re doing, and you scoop 13 cups of beans into a bowl, then cover the beans with water before you go to bed – beware of the growing bean monster which will greet you when you walk into your kitchen to make breakfast.

I strained the beans and added fresh water, but of course, none other than my largest stock pot would hold the monster.

beans 2

Why, you ask? Why so many beans?

I told you already. I wasn’t thinking about what I was doing. I needed a large amount of beans for a big batch of chili, so I just kept scooping. I also forgot that beans in a bowl will soak up the water until they become bloated and ready to burst. Whoa, good morning, beans. That. That is what I said when I walked into my kitchen this morning to find the bloated beans trying to crawl over the top of the bowl onto my counter top and floor.

I didn’t really tell the beans good morning. I don’t talk to my chili beans. Coffee beans, though – for sure. Don’t even doubt that one.

After cooking the chili beans (which of course bubbled up and overflowed onto my stove-top because I forgot that they were cooking and because there were so many of them), I realized that I had way, way too many cooked beans for the big batch of chili I was planning to make. All I’m doing is trying to do is to be prepared to feed our high school youth group on Sunday night, see? But we’re going out of town Thursday afternoon and won’t get home until late Saturday night. And I don’t know if you knew this or not, but we have to change our clocks this Saturday night, so we lose an hour of sleep. No one asked my permission to do that this weekend. This is not okay with me.

So in my effort to get ahead, I got very, very ahead. I have beans for chili on Sunday night to feed an army. Plus I now have three other big containers of beans in my freezer to be used another time. Yay me. I am so efficient.

chili beans 3

It seems that I just spent 404 words telling you about my beans – as if I have nothing better to talk about. Blah, blah, blah, beans. Wow everyone. Look at my beans.

So now I shall leave you with this important reminder and advice:

Do not become distracted when you are scooping beans. Stop scooping beans if you know what’s good for you. But if you forget and over-scoop, simply go ahead and freeze your cooked beans for future use.

526 words to tell you that you can freeze beans. Sometimes I amaze myself.

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How to Make Frozen Hashbrown Patties

October 28, 2014 by Laura 16 Comments

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Homemade Hashbrown Patties

I always get my best ideas from you, my adorable readers. A few weeks ago, Camilla left a comment on my Homemade Hashbrowns post asking, “How would I do this if I wanted to make frozen patties?” I left a reply, telling her what I would suggest, then I promptly hollered at my boys to start scrubbing potatoes. What a fantastic idea – to make hashbrowns ahead of time in the shape of patties so that all we have to do is pull them out and fry them up!

25 consumed Hashbrown Patties and 72 frozen Hashbrown Patties later, here I am to share all the fun details with you! This idea is a great one – plus it’s easier than you would think. Don’t you love it when delicious, healthy, and easy all make it into the same sentence?

How to Make Frozen Hashbrown PattiesYum

1. Scrub and bake as many potatoes as you like. We fill a big roasting pot with scrubbed potatoes, cover, and bake for about an hour and a half.
2. Allow the potatoes to cool. You can even refrigerate overnight if you like.
3. Shred the cooled baked potatoes as if grating cheese.
4. Use a large cookie scoop or spoon to scoop out nice portions of shredded potatoes. Put the scoops directly into hot oil to fry OR –
5. Place the scoops of shredded potatoes onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet.
6. Freeze the mounds of shredded potatoes on the cookie sheets. Transfer them to a freezer bag once frozen solid.
7. Store frozen hashbrown patties in the freezer in freezer bags until ready to cook and serve.
8. To cook frozen hashbrown patties, heat palm shortening or coconut oil in a skillet or on a griddle. Do not thaw hashbrown patties. Put patties into the hot oil and fry for about 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown and as crispy as you like. Salt and serve!

How to Make Frozen Hashbrown Patties

Do you love this idea?! Let’s hear it for another great freezer cooking idea to help us get ahead!

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Barbecue Beef and Cheese Hot Pockets ~ The Make-Ahead Lunch Box

September 4, 2014 by Laura 5 Comments

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Hot pockets can actually be eaten cold. Who knew?

When I asked you what you needed in a packed lunch, this is what you told me:

Quick and easy
Can be eaten cold
Hearty and filling

These Barbecue Beef and Cheese Hot Pockets are all that plus they are delicious. You can make them big or small, accommodating big or small appetites. They taste great hot or cold. You can make them ahead of time and pull them out as needed. They freeze well. What more do you need? Just the recipe I guess…

Barbecue Beef and Cheese Hot PocketsYum

Barbecue Beef and Cheese Hot Pockets ~ The Make-Ahead Lunch Box

Save Print

Author: Laura

Serves: 16

Ingredients

2 pounds beef stew meat
1 batch homemade barbecue sauce (more if you like)
2 cups shredded cheese
1 batch whole wheat pizza dough

Instructions

Place stew meat and barbecue sauce in a skillet.
Cook on low heat for about an hour, stirring occasionally, until meat is cooked and tender.
In the meantime, mix the whole wheat pizza dough and set it aside to rise.
Once both meat and dough are ready, remove meat from the heat.
Stir in cheese until it is melted.
Divide dough into about 16 pieces.
Roll each piece of dough into a thin circle.
Spoon meat mixture into the center of the circle, then gather up the edges of the dough and pinch to seal.
Place pinched side down on a baking sheet.
Once all dough is filled with meat, allow the pockets to rise about 15 minutes more.
Bake in a 375° oven for 15-25 minutes or until pockets are golden brown.

This would be a great way to use up leftover roast beef. In addition, you can fill hot pockets with any variety of meats and cheeses. They are a great, versatile meal idea!

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If you’re hitting the restart button with us this fall, I challenge you to find one recipe (maybe this Barbecue Beef and Cheese Hot Pocket recipe?) that you can make ahead of time and freeze. Having food prepared like this in the freezer is a life saver on busy days when you need a healthy meal quickly. You’ll find all of our Make-Ahead Meal recipes here.

Once you’ve completed the challenge, come back to this post and leave a comment letting us know what you made. Can’t wait to hear!

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{Healthy} Make-Ahead Meals and Snacks ~ Now on Kindle at Amazon!

June 17, 2014 by Laura 4 Comments

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Lookie what just made its way into the Amazon Kindle store:

I’m excited to share this with you as I know many of you prefer to read eBooks on your Kindle. Prefer the regular eBook? You can get it here.

Hooray, Amazon Kindle!

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Dark Chocolate Almond Granola – Quick! Make this before it gets too hot outside!

May 21, 2014 by Laura 10 Comments

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First, many of you are thinking, “What do you mean before it gets too hot outside? It’s already too hot outside!” And second, do you want to see my awesome new jar??

Yum

I actually got the jar as a Christmas gift and am just now getting around to showing you. Therefore, it’s really not new as I’ve had it for five months. It’s also an antique, which also means it’s not new, but whatever. My dad’s wife found it at an auction and was sweet enough to think of me, snatch it up, wrap it, and put it under the tree. I opened it and gasped with complete delight, while everyone else in the room was like, “oh look it’s an old, used jar…she really gets excited about weird things.”

I washed it up, and have used it to store many treats. The latest? Dark Chocolate Almond Granola. Which leads me back to my original statement: You really should make this before it gets too hot outside.

See, at my house, it’s finallllllly warming up and staying warm (I hope). This is making me so happy!!! It’s also making me think about foods that require an oven and how I will not want to be using the oven much in the near future. These thoughts are what led me to ask my 14 year old to make a double batch of Dark Chocolate Almond Granola earlier this week. How nice to get this made ahead of time! We baked it on a day it wasn’t too hot, and we can eat it on a day that is too hot.

And it looks so pretty in my new, old jar. Don’t you think?

One thing to consider: The pieces of chocolate in the granola will get pretty soft if (when) my kitchen gets too hot. I may need to store it in the fridge. On the other hand, melted chocolate all over granola is not a bad thing.

So, Dark Chocolate Almond Granola. Make some before it gets too hot. Enjoy it on a morning you don’t have time to cook breakfast, it’s too hot to cook breakfast, or you just have a hankering for chocolatey almond goodness.

Find the recipe here. This recipe is also included in our free Healthy Breakfast Made Simple eBook. Head on over and download it for several more easy, healthy breakfast ideas.

Have you made this recipe before? Is it hot at your house yet? Do you love my new, old jar?

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Poppyseed Bread With Orange Glaze ~ This Week’s Freezer Cooking Challege

April 15, 2014 by Laura 11 Comments

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This quick bread recipe is our family’s favorite, hands down. It is super moist, very flavorful, and well, it kind of tastes like cake. It definitely tastes like a treat, even if you cut down the sugar in the recipe.

Speaking of cutting down the sugar – I’ve been really focusing on chopping sugar quantities in most of my recipes. I’ve found that the recipes still tastes great, and my family is definitely benefiting from not eating so much of the sweet stuff. All that to say, a few week’s ago I edited the {Healthy} Make-Ahead Meals and Snacks eBook (where you’ll find the recipe for this bread) to cut the sugar down significantly. If you purchased this book before April, your version likely calls for 1 1/2 cups of sucanat. Yikes. Do that if you must, but I think you’ll find that cutting it in half (or more) still turns out a great product.

poppyseed bread for freezer

For the Freezer Cooking Challenge today, find some time to make a double recipe of Poppy Seed Bread with Orange Glaze (recipe in {Healthy} Make-Ahead Meals and Snacks eBook). Doubling the recipe will turn out four loaves. Once they have completely cooled, you can set aside a loaf (or two, if you are my family) for tomorrow’s breakfast, then wrap and freeze the others for another day. I typically just place them in freezer bags, push all the air out, and seal. Be sure to label your bags.

When you’re ready to serve your frozen loaves, simply get it out of the freezer the night before you plan to serve it and let it thaw on the countertop. In the morning, you can slice and eat!

This bread is wonderful with scrambled or fried eggs and a fruit such as apples, bananas, applesauce, or berries.

I can’t wait for you to try this bread!

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Easy Breakfast Casseroles ~ This Week’s Freezer Cooking Challege Begins

April 13, 2014 by Laura 5 Comments

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Today for the Freezer Cooking Challenge, we’ll be making Easy Breakfast Casserole (x2). This is, for sure, one of the easiest make-ahead-meals to put together.

I save dirty dishes by cracking eggs directly into my casserole dishes. Then I add remaining ingredients, whisk it up, and it’s done. Super simple! If you have kids old enough to crack eggs, delegate that job to them while making these casseroles.

I made two of these casseroles last week with the help of my 12 year old. Once my casseroles were put together (it took 15 minutes, tops) – I put the lids on, and put one in the fridge to bake the following morning. The other, I labeled and put into the freezer, unbaked.

egg casseroles for freezer

To bake my frozen Breakfast Casserole, I’ll simply put it into the fridge overnight, then bake as directed the next morning. I may need to add a little extra baking time if it hasn’t thawed entirely.

You will love how easy it is to make this casserole ahead of time! This kind of freezer cooking is my favorite. It’s practically effortless, and makes putting healthy food on the table for breakfast a piece of cake. (casserole. whatever.)

Go thou into the kitchen and begin cracking eggs. Breakfast has never been easier.

Check out how easy it is to make these great casseroles!

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Menu Plan For the Week ~ Waking Up To a Ready-Made Breakfast

April 13, 2014 by Laura 1 Comment

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Every day this week, our family will be waking up to a healthy breakfast that has already been prepared. You wanna do the same? Here are all the plans to make this happen. You are going to love this!

Speaking of breakfast, you should know that I made the worst breakfast ever yesterday. I think my hair is still holding on to the smell from the nastiness I put in front of my family to eat. I had grand plans to fill us all full of good protein by making a hearty (but quick) meal of Bacon Cheesy Eggs before soccer games. Therefore, I already had the bacon chopped up and cooked ahead of time. While getting eggs cracked open and whipped, I started rewarming the bacon in the skillet – on high heat. Within just a few seconds, it started smoking and smelling up the kitchen. Oh well, I thought. I’ll just quickly add the eggs, scrambled them up together, and all will be well.

If only.

That bacon was apparently beyond repair, making the bacon/egg/cheese mixture taste like ashes. Not that I’ve ever eaten ashes.

We sort of choked it down, because it is very hard to throw away farm-fresh eggs, even if they do taste like burnt fire wood. And that is how I sent my children off to the soccer fields so that they could run several miles and attempt to do fancy footwork. It was not one of my finer moments. But as Asa (our 16 year old) said with a grin, “Well, the cantaloupe sure is good. At least you didn’t burn that.” Yes, at least. :)

These Raspberry Oatmeal Bars aren’t in our freezer cooking plan for this week,
but they are another example of a great recipe you can make the night before
to serve first thing in the morning. We love these bars!

Here’s what I’ll be trying not to burn this week:

Sunday, April 13
Raspberry oatmeal bars, applesauce
Cheesy beef and pasta casserole (recipe in {Healthy} Make-Ahead Meals and Snacks eBook), tossed salad, green beans
Small Group potluck

Monday, April 14
Easy breakfast casserole, cantaloupe
Chicken patty sandwiches, lettuce and tomatoes, pickles, carrots, fruit smoothies
Cheeseburger macaroni, tossed salad, roasted asparagus

Tuesday, April 15
Poppy seed bread with orange glaze (recipe in {Healthy} Make-Ahead Meals and Snacks eBook), eggs, strawberries
Rice and veggie stir fry with zucchini, carrots, and broccoli
Chicken tacos, fresh pineapple

Wednesday, April 16
Sweet pecan French toast casserole (recipe in {Healthy} Make-Ahead Meals and Snacks eBook), kiwi
Sloppy joes, creamy coleslaw, cucumbers and carrots with ranch, blackberries
Lamb chops, baked potatoes in the crock pot, tossed salad, peas

Thursday, April 17
Poptarts, bananas
Popcorn chicken, potato wedges, steamed carrots and broccoli
Tuna casserole, peas, roasted asparagus

Friday and Saturday – travel days (packing some food for the road, especially fruits and veggies)

Please make plans to join us this week for the Freezer Cooking Breakfast Challenge. You’ll love getting ahead for the morning!

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The Plan ~ Getting Ready For Freezer Cooking, Week Three – Breakfast Foods

April 11, 2014 by Laura Leave a Comment

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350x350_Challenge

I’ve shared with you before that while I am a morning person, I’m not a fan of standing at the griddle flipping pancakes for an hour. After all, there are all kinds of other important things that need to be done to get the day going. Making breakfast the night before or pulling breakfast out of the freezer rocks my world and makes me a much more lovely person in the morning. (Lovely at heart, that is. I’m not saying a word about my frizzed, right-off-the-pillow hair.)

Let’s keep our mornings simple, while feeding our families healthy food too! That’s why we’ll be focusing our Freezer Cooking Challenge around breakfast foods this week.

Here’s what I hope you’ll love about this week: Each day we’ll be making something new from the list below. We’ll put part of it into the freezer for another day. But we’ll be saving one meal’s worth to serve for breakfast the following day. That means each day this week we’ll all wake up to a breakfast that is already prepared! Once you get into this habit, I think you’ll love it as much as I do! Then we can all be lovely at heart in the morning. And for those of you who naturally roll out of bed with pretty hair, you can be lovely in appearance too. Some of us just have to live with the frizz.

french_toast_casserole_3

Here’s what I have planned to make this week:

Easy Breakfast Casserole (x2)
Sweet Pecan French Toast Casserole (recipe in {Healthy} Make-Ahead Meals and Snacks eBook) (x2)
Poppy Seed Bread with Orange Glaze (recipe in {Healthy} Make-Ahead Meals and Snacks eBook) (x2)
Basic Cream Muffins (recipe in Let’s Do This! eCourse, Lesson 4) (x2)
Poptarts (x2)

I always serve fruit with breakfast, and I often serve eggs. Keep that in mind as you plan your menus!

Want to join in? Here’s what you’ll need:

42 eggs (3 1/2 dozen)
5 cups heavy cream (1 quart plus 1/2 pint)
2 cups shredded cheese
Add-ins for the Easy Breakfast Casserole (x2) – I’ll be adding ham I already have in the freezer
7 cups whole wheat flour
10 cups whole wheat pastry flour
3 cups butter (1 1/2 pounds)
2 cups plain yogurt (16 ounces)
2 cups sour cream (16 ounces)
10 ounces 100% fruit jelly or jam for Poptarts
3 3/4 cups sucanat
6 cups milk (1 1/2 quarts)
Add-ins for muffins
2 loaves whole wheat bread (homemade if you like)
2 cups chopped pecans
1/2 cup orange juice

Be sure you have:

Sea salt
Baking powder
Vanilla extract
Almond extract
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Honey
Poppyseeds

Looks like a lot, but these groceries will provide you with 10+ meals!

I’ve created a downloadable and printable grocery list for you here: Freezer Cooking Grocery List Three

Important Note: If you purchased {Healthy} Make-Ahead Meals and Snacks eBook before March, 2014 – I’ve since edited both the Sweet Pecan French Toast Casserole and Poppy Seed Bread with Orange Glaze recipes to cut the sugar (sucanat) in half. Those recipes taste just as yummy without all that sugar!

Your first assignment in this week’s challenge is simply to purchase all groceries, and/or make sure you have all ingredients on hand. On Monday, we’ll begin prepping these great breakfast foods to serve and freeze. It’s gonna be a great week!

Let’s Do This! eCourse and {Healthy} Make-Ahead Meals and Snacks eBook are discounted to just $5 for the whole package. The recipes included in that package are some that we use all the time at our house to get ahead!

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