Heavenly Homemakers

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Can You Make Mashed Potatoes Ahead of Time?

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Oh yes. You can. You can make mashed potatoes ahead of time.

potatoes_2

Now, there are some things you’ll need to avoid. Here are two mashed potato tricks that do not work:

1. Do not boil potatoes with the plan to mash and serve them later.

While this seems like such a good idea, this will turn them into a sticky, gooey mess.

2. Do not make mashed potatoes and freeze them as-is.

I’ve never had success with this. Plain mashed potatoes freeze fine but thaw weird. They are always watery and unappetizing. These are not the kind of potatoes I want to include on my holiday table. If you do freeze them as-is, you must cook the frozen/thawed potatoes in a pot to steam off excess water that has formed in the freezing process. More info to come.

Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes ~ What Works, What Doesn't.

Ways to prepare this side dish favorite ahead of time:

1. Scrub or peel the potatoes and put them into a pot of cold water.

Want to get the prep work out of the way on a busy day filled with meal preparations? Typically I pull my family into the kitchen the night before the holiday meal. Together, we scrub and chop potatoes. We put them into a large pot, cover them with cold water, put on a lid, and leave them until boiling and mashing time the next day.

potatoes

2. Make mashed potatoes, then use your crock pot to keep them warm.

What I find very helpful is to follow all the instructions detailed in #1 to prep the potatoes the night before. The next morning – hours before our meal – I cook, drain, and mash. I then put them into a crock pot (with butter, always) on the “keep warm” setting until serving time. In the meantime, I can wash and put away the potato pot, then focus on other meal prep that needs to be done.

3. Embellish the mashed potatoes before freezing them.

While mashed potatoes don’t freeze well as-is, they do freeze well if you add some goodies to them. Take a look at the recipe below for all the specifics! When made like that, they do freeze well. Or, at the very least, you can make them a few days before your holiday meal, refrigerate them, then bake them on serving day. This is the method I plan on using this holiday season.

cheesy_mashed_potatoes

Cheesy Mashed Potatoes are always a huge hit. You can’t go wrong with sour cream and cheese right?

Make-Ahead Cheesy Mashed Potatoes

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5.0 from 1 reviews
Make-Ahead Cheesy Mashed Potatoes
 
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Serves: 8-10 servings
Ingredients
  • 8 medium-sized potatoes
  • 1 cup milk (more or less as needed)
  • sea salt to taste
  • 3 Tablespoons butter
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 cup shredded cheese
Instructions
  1. Scrub and cube potatoes.
  2. Boil them in water until tender.
  3. Drain water and mash potatoes with milk and salt until smooth.
  4. Stir together the mashed potatoes, butter, and sour cream.
  5. Spread into a 3 quart casserole dish.
  6. Sprinkle cheese on top.
  7. Refrigerate until you are ready to bake this dish.
  8. Bake in a 350° oven for 45 minutes.

Freezing Instructions:

Make the potatoes as directed in the recipe above. All it to cool completely. Cover and freeze for up to three months.

To bake and serve, thaw potatoes in the refrigerator and bake as directed. OR, cover the frozen dish with foil. Place the frozen dish of potatoes into a cold oven*. Turn the oven on to 250° and bake for 2 hours. Turn the oven up to 350° to continue baking to heat through.

*Be sure your oven is cold when you put in the frozen dish! Otherwise, the pan will crack because of the extreme temperature change.

What has been your experience with making potatoes ahead of time?

Here are the quick links to all the recipes we covered in this series:

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Make-Ahead Turkey ~ Yes You Can!

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Make-Ahead Turkey? Oh yes, indeed!

turkey22sm

There are people who wake up in the middle of the night to begin cooking their turkey for a holiday meal. There are people who baste and stuff and rub down their bird. These people are so very nice and dedicated to poultry perfection.

And then there’s me.

huge turkey 1

That is one huge bird.
Read the whole tale here.

I cannot find it within myself to do any of this to my turkey. I’m just not as devoted of a holiday baker as some. I’m a plop the bird in a pan, add nothing to it, cover it, put it in the oven, and take it out a few hours later kind of girl.

And…my favorite turkey baking tip of all: I cook my bird before the holiday. Like, two days before, usually.

I bake it, de-bone it, prepare all the broth, dispose of the carcass – basically I do all the messy, tedious, laborious turkey work ahead of time. Then on the day of the holiday feast, I take out my big dish of cooked meat, pour on a little broth, cover it, rewarm it, and we eat it. This is stress-free turkey baking.

My turkey always still tastes delicious.

That’s why I keep doing it this way.

No, our table doesn’t hold a big un-carved turkey. There is no turkey carving tradition at our house. For those who love traditions like this, I say go for it! Baste and carve and enjoy that special tradition.

But for those who find the turkey to be tedious, you might instead consider making it ahead of time.

But won’t the meat be dry?

Not if you don’t over-bake it in the first place.

The trick is to drizzle broth over your cooked, de-boned meat (I’d say one-two cups of broth per 9×13 inch dish full of meat), then cover the dish well. I warm it on Thanksgiving day for 30-45 minutes in a 300-350° oven along with other dishes that are baking. I pull it out and have a steaming, moist, delicious pan of turkey.

Make-Ahead Turkey

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4.8 from 5 reviews
Make-Ahead Turkey
 
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Ingredients
  • 1 Turkey
  • Seasonings of your choosing
  • 1 Large Roasting Pan
  • Foil if necessary
Instructions
  1. Place the turkey in the refrigerator for 3-4 days until thawed.
  2. Remove the bag of giblets from the inside of the turkey.
  3. Empty the giblets into your roasting pan as they help make a good, rich broth.
  4. Place the bird, breast side up, into a large baking pan or roaster.
  5. Season however you like.
  6. Cover with foil or with your roaster lid.
  7. Cook at 325° for 15-20 minutes per pound.
  8. You know your turkey is done cooking when the red thing pops up, or when the legs start to pull away from the body. It should be golden brown and slightly crisp looking.
  9. Be sure to save the broth that formed naturally!
  10. Allow the turkey to cool, then de-bone completely. Store meat in baggies or in covered pyrex dishes in the refrigerator.
  11. Save turkey carcass to make another round of broth for gravy, soup, and other nourishing meals.
  12. On serving day, drizzle a liberal amount of broth (one-two cups per 9x13 inch pan of meat) over turkey, cover and warm in 300°-350° oven for 30-45 minutes or until meat is hot and steamy.
  13. Serve right away.

Simple Make-Ahead Turkey ~ Easy, Moist, Delicious

Additional Turkey Tips:

  • Adding a few onions to the turkey while baking is an effortless way to add more flavor.
  • Be sure to save the broth that forms naturally while your bird bakes.
  • Do not wait until your turkey is cold to take the meat off the bones. This makes the job much harder!
  • After you’ve taken all the meat off the bones, save the bones and put them into a stock pot. Fill the pot with water, carrots, onions, and any other veggies you like. Salt liberally. Cook on low for 4-6 hours to create a wonderful broth. Strain out bones. Blend the veggies until smooth and stir them back into the broth for added richness.
  • Use turkey broth for gravy. Use it to make Turkey and Noodles a few days after Thanksgiving. Use it for any soup or recipe that calls for chicken broth.
  • While making your turkey ahead of time is wonderfully helpful in cutting down work on your holiday meal serving day, you don’t want to make it too far in advance! I recommend making it on Tuesday or Wednesday, then serving it on Thanksgiving Thursday.

What’s your turkey tradition? To carve, or not to carve? To baste, or not to baste? Ever made a turkey ahead of time?

Here are the quick links to all the recipes we covered in this series:

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Simple Meals is here! It’s saving my brain (and many of yours too!). If you haven’t joined yet, now’s the time. Get all the details here!

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Easy Make-Ahead Stuffing Muffins

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Of all the dishes that must be included in a holiday meal, stuffing is the one I always try to avoid making if possible. If I’m hosting the meal, when people ask what they can bring, I almost always ask them to bring the stuffing so I don’t have to make it. (Nice, huh?)

Why had stuffing always been such a hard one for me? I just hadn’t found a stuffing recipe I love. I look at stuffing recipes and get completely overwhelmed. After all, there are usually no fewer than 28 steps to take to go from bread to stuffing.

Until now.

stuffing2

Oh look. We made toasted bread.
It wasn’t even hard.

Homemade Stuffing Made Easy

Once I finally wrapped my brain around all the instructions in all the recipes I looked at, I realized that I didn’t need to perform 28 steps. I could simplify everything and cut it down to four:

1. Cube and toast bread.
2. Brown sausage with onion and sage.
3. Stir everything together with a few other ingredients.
4. Bake.

What? That’s it? Yes.

Some may prefer their stuffing with additional spices. Many like celery. But this turned out plenty flavorful for us with very few ingredients. Plus, not one of the six of us likes celery. So I skipped it.

This recipe can be made ahead of time. You can make this stuffing spread into a dish or as scooped into muffin tins. I may actually make this more than twice a year for holiday meals. After all, when I was was testing driving this recipe to make it as easy as possible, my family dug in and kept going back for more. Even if I did burn the first batch.

stuffing muffins4

Indeed, my pictures feature over-baked Stuffing Muffins. It’s because I was baking them while having unfortunate cat drama. It was day 2 of baby kitties and Wiggams wasn’t sure she was cut out for the mama business. (WHAT?!) I told her she didn’t have a choice, that sometimes we all have hard days, and that she needed to get over it at go try to keep her last baby alive (yes, we’re down to only one). She ignored me. So I was trying to keep the last kitten alive by holding it to warm it up and by giving it milk from a dropper. This is when my muffins burned. I am not cut out to be the mother of a kitten.

Other bloggers would have started over in an effort to take better pictures. Me? I just took pictures of my burned muffins. There just are not enough hours in the day, okay? I get overwhelmed easily. It was either burned pictures or no pictures. At least we saved the kitten.

Easy Stuffing Muffins

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5.0 from 1 reviews
Easy Make-Ahead Stuffing Muffins
 
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Serves: 18 muffins
Ingredients
  • 6-8 slices of whole wheat bread
  • 1 pound ground sausage
  • 2 Tablespoons butter or oil
  • ½ cup yellow onion, chopped or 3 Tablespoons dried minced onion
  • 1 teaspoon ground sage
  • ¾ cup chicken broth
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • ½ cup Parmesan cheese (optional)
  • 2 eggs
Instructions
  1. Cut bread into ½ inch cubes.
  2. Lay cubes on a cookie sheet and bake in a 300° oven for 10 minutes to toast.
  3. In the meantime, brown sausage with onion and sage.
  4. In a large bowl, stir toasted bread cubes, cooked sausage mixture, and the remaining ingredients together.
  5. Scoop mixture into 18 muffin tins or spread it into a 9x13 inch baking dish.
  6. Bake in a 400° oven for 25-40 minutes or until golden brown.

Recipe links you might find helpful:

To Freeze Stuffing Muffins

Allow muffins to cool completely. Place them in a freezer bag and seal, air tight. Freeze for up to one month.

To reheat: Thaw and warm muffins in a 250° oven in a covered dish for 10-15 minutes.

Easy Stuffing Muffins

You should know that saying Stuffing Muffins most often comes out of my mouth as Muffing Stuffers or Stuffern Muffings. It can’t be helped.

And now for some adorable cat pictures. I mean, if I’m going to show you burned muffins, I should at least show you the reasons they burned:

With assistance from our neighbor, some much needed help from a friend, and now some persistent work with Wiggams, I think we’ll be able to keep one little kitten alive. Wiggams seems to be getting the mama thing figured out, finally. If this isn’t the sweetest…

lionel2

Look at this little one’s face. See why we named it Lionel? (I mean, besides the fact that we named it after Lionel Messi. He just looks like a Lionel.) Look at his little lion cub face. We are in love.

lionel1
And that is why my muffins burned. 

Holiday Make-Ahead Tip:

Getting Ahead for the Holidays

If you are in charge of stuffing for this year’s holiday festivities, I suggest you make these Stuffing Muffins at least two weeks in advance. Freeze them until the night before your meal. Thaw in the fridge. Rewarm just before serving. These are great drenched in turkey gravy (recipe coming up during this series).

Here are the quick links to all the recipes we covered in this series:

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Simple Meals is here! It’s saving my brain (and many of yours too!). If you haven’t joined yet, now’s the time. Get all the details here!

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

The Easiest Way to Make Muffins, Plus 23 Delicious Muffin Recipes

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The Easiest Way to Make Muffins

I love it when I order something and then I forget about it. When a package comes I get to be surprised! What did I order? What did I get? What’s in the box?

It is especially silly that I do this even when ordering with Amazon Prime two day shipping. There are just too many things to remember from a Wednesday to a Friday, apparently.

Remember when I told you about the fun-shaped silicone muffin cups for a great price? I got me some of those, then I surprised myself with them two days later when the package came. “What’s in the box?” asked the boys. I have no idea. And then this was inside:

silicone4

I think I squealed.

The 12 regular Muffin Rounds together with a set of 12 Stars is still on sale. You, too, could surprise yourself with a package.

Early this week I went with the freeze muffin batter for easy breakfasts idea. The easy idea just got easier with these cups!

silicone muffins 1

silicone muffins 2

silicone muffins 3

See how easily the frozen batter pops out?

silicone muffins 4

To clean these, I simply rinsed them well in very hot water.

silicone muffins 5

I put all of the frozen batter shapes into a freezer bag for another day.

silicone muffins 6

Then I baked a few muffins for a snack. Not only do I sometimes forget what I order online, I also sometimes forget I have muffins baking in the oven. This is what timers are for, Laura. Ah well. So they are only slightly overdone. This is what milk is for, Muffins. But are those cute, or what?

silicone muffins 7

Well, I for one am very excited about my new toys. I also love the bright colors. Silly as it is, the rainbow of muffin cups made the stirring and the freezing and the baking more fun. It doesn’t take much for me, apparently. After all, I’m the one who squeals when I open a package that I ordered for myself.

Did you get yourself some of these? Check out all the varieties I found, along with the coupons some of them offer. (These circles and stars are the best deal though.)

Here’s a list of the 23 wholesome muffin recipes we have listed here at Heavenly Homemakers:

23 Kid Friendly Muffin Recipes

What are your favorite muffins? Please tell me you’ve tried the “freeze the muffin batter” idea. Did you get some of the fun silicone muffin cups? Think of all the fun we’ll have!

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Easy (Make-Ahead) Baked Potato and Bacon Casserole

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It’s a Potato and Bacon Casserole. Life is good.

Bacon Baked Potato Casserole

This is so easy we can hardly call it a recipe. I’m pretty sure my family will be having this every other week for the rest of our lives for the following reasons:

  1. Bacon. Of course. And also, cheese.
  2. We can slather it with Spicy Ranch Dressing, which tastes so good I believe I shall become addicted to it.
  3. I can make several of these casseroles at once and freeze them for later, making this easy meal even easier.

This “casserole” is basically baked potatoes cut up in a dish with bacon and cheese all over it. I’m sorry that I can’t make it more complicated for all of you who would rather spend many more minutes sauteing, braising, and broiling. This time, you’ll have to get your steeping and zesting fix elsewhere.

Everyone else: I lovingly suggest that you go scrub some potatoes. You’re having this for dinner tonight.

Baked Potato and Bacon CasseroleYum

Easy (Make-Ahead) Baked Potato and Bacon Casserole
 
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8 medium-sized potatoes (any variety) 1 pound bacon 2 cups shredded cheddar or colby jack cheese Sour cream, chives, and/or Spicy Ranch Dressing for topping
Author:
Ingredients
  • 8 medium-sized potatoes (any variety)
  • 1 pound bacon
  • 2 cups shredded cheddar or colby jack cheese
  • Sour cream, chives, and/or Spicy Ranch Dressing for topping
Instructions
  1. Scrub and bake potatoes by putting them into a covered dish in a 350° oven for 1½ hours.
  2. In the meantime, cut bacon into bite-sized pieces and cook thoroughly on the stove-top.
  3. Cut baked potatoes into chunks, spreading them out into a 9x13" baking dish.
  4. Sprinkle cooked bacon over the potatoes.
  5. Top with shredded cheese.
  6. Bake in a 350° oven for about 10 minutes or until the cheese has melted.

Offer sour cream, chives, and/or Spicy Ranch Dressing to complete this main course. Serve with a salad and another fruit or veggie. It is too easy. Makes 6-8 servings.

Baked Potato Bacon Casserole

To Freeze This Dish: 

Make it as directed above. Allow it to cool completely. Cover and label. Put it in the freezer.

To Reheat and Serve This Dish:

This is my favorite trick. Get the casserole out of the freezer. Cover the frozen dish with foil (somebody needs to invent a 9×13 glass cover for my pyrex dishes). Put the frozen casserole into a COLD oven. Turn the oven on to 250° allowing it to heat up along with the casserole. After one hour, turn the oven up to 350° and bake for one more hour or until the casserole is thawed, heated through, and looks like wonderful cheesy deliciousness.

Let us all add this recipe to our “Reasons to Make Extra Baked Potatoes When We’re Making Baked Potatoes Anyway” list.

7 Ways to Use Baked Potatoes

Switch out the bacon in this casserole for other cooked meats. Switch out the regular potatoes for sweet potatoes. Just whatever you do, try it with the Spicy Ranch Dressing. Ah-mazing.

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9 Foods I Like to Make-Ahead to Help Make Meals Simple For “Back to School”

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Preparing for Back to School

It’s like I’m nesting or something – which I am not thankyouverymuch. I just get this way at the end of a summer break as we head into full school days, regular music lessons, and a busy soccer season. I like to be prepared, and I also somehow have a mind-set that I’ll never again have time to go to the store so I’d best purchase 52 boxes of kleenex to ensure that leaving the house for any variety of nose issues will not be necessary for a very long time.

This makes no sense, except that it is how my brain works so I just go with it. I’m a stocker-upper, and a prepper-aheader, and I want to ease us in to our full schedule with as much grace (read: frozen food and kleenex boxes) as possible.

This mind-set will go away completely after precisely 3.5 days of school, at which time we will all settle into a routine and I will realize that life outside the home hasn’t stopped. Plus I will learn that fresh plums are on sale and determine that we should buy some. We will also be out of eggs.

9 Foods I Like to Make Ahead to Help Make Meals Simple for Back to School

In the meantime, here are 9 of my favorite foods (random though they may be) to have prepared ahead of time to make life easier overall. Want to borrow my list? I highly recommend it. Also, here is a toilet paper coupon because if you’re like me even a little bit, you realize that stocking up on tp is even more important than stocking up on kleenex.

Homemade Peanut Butter

I make several jars at a time, otherwise we would run out within just a few days. If I’m dirtying up my food processor, I might as well make it worth it, right?

peanut butter

Whole Wheat Quick Mix

I use this mix to make Quick Mix Biscuits, Quick Mix Fruit Pizza, Quick Mix Honey Cinnamon Muffins, Quick Mix Pancakes, and Quick Mix Very Vanilla Cookies. (These recipes and more in my Oh, For Real cookbook.)

Homemade Granola

I love having this on hand because it is so versatile and convenient. We can sprinkle in dried fruit, chocolate chips, fresh fruit, or plop in some applesauce – whatever sounds good.

dark_chocolate_almond_granola

Pictured is the Dark Chocolate Granola variety.

Freezer Muffins

Do this. It’s an amazing trick. You will love the convenience of fresh-from-the-oven muffins without any work.

Chicken Broth and Beef Broth

Having broth on hand means I can make soup very quickly on a busy day. And ooooohhhhh the health benefits. :)

chicken week 5

Cooked Bacon

I like cutting several pounds of bacon into bit-sized pieces and cooking in a big pot. Why? Then I have cooked bacon on hand for Bacon Cheesy Egg mornings, and to use in recipes like Bacon Cheese Muffins, Bacon, Egg, and Avocado Salad, BLT Chopped Salad, or BLT Wraps. Also, my hair won’t smell like bacon every single day we eat bacon – only the day I cook several pounds of it. See what a great strategy that is?

blt salad

Instant Oatmeal

Or you can make Frozen Oatmeal Cups. Or you can make both.

instant_oatmeal_jars

Ranch Dressing Mix

If I have a jar of this mix on hand, I can quickly make Ranch Salad Dressing, a Ranch Cheese Ball, Ranch Potato Wedges or Cheddar Ranch Burgers.

ranchdressin2sm.JPG

Italian Dressing Mix

Not only do I use this mix to make Italian Salad Dressing, I use it for these easy recipes: Italian Cream Cheese Chicken, Italian Roast Wraps, and Italian Stew. It also makes a great marinade for grilled meats.

I haven’t completed this list yet, but here’s what I did over the weekend:

I got out my food processor and made several batches of Homemade Peanut Butter.

school food prep1

I turned out 4.5 jars of Super Creamy Peanut Butter variety, but left one jar for me which is just straight Peanut Butter with nothing added. I labeled it “Mom’s” but I’m very nice and willing to share. I just wanted to avoid accidentally dipping into the wrong one since I prefer the straight peanut variety.

school food prep2

 

Also pictured is the Oatmeal Breakfast Bars I had made for Sunday morning.

I cooked four pounds of bacon, then froze it into six bags. If we’re making salads, we might need two bags for our whole family. But if we’re making Bacon Cheesy Eggs we can get away with one bag, less than a pound. (Yay for stretching meat.)

school food prep4

Everything is getting back to normal at our house now that all the boys are home from camp – as in we are blowing through food faster than I can keep up. Thankfully we have cooked bacon and peanut butter on hand so we won’t starve. (Because we were all so worried about that after seeing my freezers.)

In all the years past, our family has begun our school year the first week of August. This year we’re pushing it back two weeks for these reasons:

  • The three older boys were at Guys Camp the first part of this week.
  • The boys need to recover from church camp (lack of sleep).
  • Matt and the boys are redoing someone’s roof – a project that couldn’t be started while they were away.
  • Asa is moving into the college dorm in a week and a half and will be on a college schedule. (How do I feel about this? I’m excited for him and I also cry. Just like one would expect.)
  • Justus is taking a college class, which makes it even more necessary to stick with the college schedule.
  • None of us are quite ready yet and that’s just the truth. But hey, at least the peanut butter is ready. And the kleenex.

As soon as the books are ready, I’ll try to post about what we’re doing for school this year.

What are your favorite foods to make and have on hand for convenience? When does school start for your family?

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My Favorite Cheesecake Factory Salad Makeover

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Who loves a Cheesecake Factory BLT Chopped Salad more than cheesecake???? This girl. I’ve only been there a few times, but I found a salad there that I love soooo much. This begs the question: A salad? At cheesecake factory? Why?

See, here’s the thing. When one goes to the Cheesecake Factory, one wants to enjoy the cheesecake right? Therefore, eating a salad as a meal preceding the cheesecake makes perfect sense. One must save room for the cheesecake! That is how I discovered this salad. Or a salad much like this.

I believe the salad I ordered at Cheesecake Factory had chopped apples and some chicken in it too (but it’s been about a year since I’ve been there so I can’t remember all the specifics). Add those to this if you like. All I know is that this salad is so good that our family devoured a huge bowl of it – two days in a row. And I want to make it again tomorrow.

Helpful hint: Want to get your kids to like salad? Add BACON.

BLT Chopped Salad with Feta Cheese

BLT Chopped Salad with Feta CheeseYum

5.0 from 1 reviews
My Favorite Cheesecake Factory Salad Makeover
 
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Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 6 cups chopped mixed greens, lettuce, or spinach (any combination you like)
  • 2 chopped tomatoes
  • ½ pound bacon, cut into bites, cooked, and drained
  • 1-2 cups sweet corn, cooked and cooled
  • 1-2 chopped avocado
  • 4 ounces feta cheese crumbles
  • Dressing:
  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • Juice of one lime (about 2 Tablespoons)
  • salt and pepper to taste (I put in a few shakes of each)
Instructions
  1. Toss salad ingredients into a large bowl.
  2. In a small jar, shake together dressing ingredients.
  3. Pour over salad and toss.
  4. Serve right away!

This is a perfect spring or summertime meal. I think I could eat this every day. And believe it or not, I don’t even have to have cheesecake afterward. :)

I can’t tell you how delicious and flavorful this is. You MUST try it. Every bite is delicious.

What’s your favorite thing to get at Cheesecake Factory?

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Easy Ham and Egg Breakfast Bowls – a Quick and Filling Breakfast To-Go!

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Oh man (lady – whatever). You are going to love this idea! Unless you don’t like eggs.  But for those of you who love eggs, and for everyone who wants an easy, real food meal that will pack a punch with nutrition and keep you full until the next meal…

Please allow me to introduce you to these delightful little Ham and Egg Breakfast Bowls:

ham and egg cups1

See that? The ham is the bowl. Isn’t that clever? I didn’t think of this myself, but was enlightened by my friend who was excited to tell me about her fun breakfast of the day. She knew I’d need to know about this idea. She knows me (and my hungry crew) well, don’t you think?

Everyone get out your muffin tins and get ready to have some fun.

How to make Ham and Egg Breakfast BowlsYum

You will need:

Muffin Tins
Thin Slices of Ham
Eggs
Shredded Cheese
Sea Salt
Garnish like Fresh Spinach, Green Chilies, Mushrooms, Peppers, Onion, Broccoli, or Salsa

Push a piece of thinly sliced ham down into each muffin cup.

ham and egg bowls 4

Crack an egg into each “ham bowl.” Poke each egg yolk with a fork and carefully scrambled it around inside the bowl. Sprinkle with salt, top with cheese, and garnish however you like. Bake in a 350° oven  for 10-20 minutes or until the eggs are cooked through.

You can make these ahead of time, then rewarm them for a quick, ready-made breakfast or lunch! (That’s my favorite part, of course.)

You can also scrambled up your eggs in a dish, and then scoop some out into each ham bowl if you prefer. My kids like the texture of these better if I do it that way.

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Easy Ham and Egg Breakfast Bowls - a Quick and Filling Breakfast To-Go!
 
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Ingredients
  • Muffin Tins
  • Thin Slices of Ham
  • Eggs
  • Shredded Cheese
  • Sea Salt
  • Garnish like Fresh Spinach, Green Chilies, Mushrooms, Peppers, Onion, Broccoli, or Salsa
Instructions
  1. Push a piece of thinly sliced ham down into each muffin cup.
  2. Crack an egg into each "ham bowl."
  3. Poke each egg yolk with a fork and carefully scrambled it around inside the bowl.
  4. Sprinkle with salt, top with cheese, and garnish however you like.
  5. Bake in a 350° oven for 10-20 minutes or until the eggs are cooked through.

 

Easy Ham and Egg Breakfast Bowls

Is this idea genius, or what? You must try this! :)

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How I Prepared 2 Healthy Meals in 20 Minutes

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eathealthy

I dropped Malachi off at piano lessons at 10:00 this morning, arriving home at 10:05. I needed to leave again to pick him up at 10:25. That leaves 20 minutes. (That was your math lesson for the day. If only all story problems made that much sense. Who invented those anyway?)

Knowing my day was super full:  school and website work throughout the day; piano lessons for Malachi at 10; soccer for Matt, Asa, Justus, and Malachi at 2; grocery shopping for Elias and me at 2; someone coming by to pick up a co-op order at 3:30; friend coming over to study with Asa at 4; Bible study at 6:30 – and did I mention there’s a “ready to be assembled” shower in my living room  and plaster dust all over my house right now?? Well, I knew I needed to stay on top of meals if we were going to actually eat today.

I decided to see how much meal prep I could get done in my 20 minutes of time before picking Malachi up from lessons. See, I can’t just say, “Here’s how to put a nutritious meal together when you’re low on time.” No. I have to go into all the details about my schedule and give my opinions on math problems and tell you about the new toilet that promises to flush efficiently that’s still in the box but will soon be in my new bathroom but not until we get all the tile issues figured out. (That is a story problem in and of itself.)

So busy day, blah, blah, blah. Here’s how to put a nutritious meal together when you’re low on time:

2 Healthy Meals in 20 Minutes

Today I decided to make Easy Noodle Stir Fry for lunch and Taco Salad for dinner.

At 10:06 I started browning meat for the Taco Salad. While it was cooking I washed and cut carrots and broccoli, throwing it all into a pot with spinach for Stir Fry. (The asparagus I had planned to use up was slimy so I had to throw it out. I was very disappointed and apparently need to re-read this post somebody wrote recently about not wasting food.)

I gave the meat a stir from time to time. I answered a question about an English assignment, drank a few swigs of water, and threw some blueberries into my mouth for a snack. I put water in a pot to boil noodles at noon. I got out the noodles. I dumped mixed greens into a big bowl, poured in cheese I had shredded Monday, and tossed it all around with the freshly cooked taco meat. I mixed up French Dressing for the Taco Salad.

At 10:26 I ran out the door to pick up Malachi.

With all the major prep work done for our day’s meals, at lunch time all I had to do was turn on the stove to cook the prepared veggies and boil noodles. At dinner time all I had to do was get the prepared salad out of the fridge, dice some tomatoes (which I picked up at the store this afternoon on my grocery run), and get out the tortilla chip crumbs I’ve been saving for such a meal as this. I also cut up a pineapple to complete our evening meal. That took two minutes.

Now you tell me. Is it really so terribly time consuming to prepare healthy food? I think not.

What are some of your quick-to-prepare meals that pack a punch with nutrition? Have any great “prep-ahead” methods to share with us?

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Join the fun! Check out our amazing Simple Meals program!

This will save your money, save your energy, and give you back more time to spend with your family. You will love this!

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Beef Summer Sausage Recipe

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Summer Sausage has always been a favorite finger food of mine during the holiday season. I’ve tinkered with recipes before, but haven’t felt like I’ve nailed them – until now.

Folks, we can now eat Summer Sausage – worry free. High fives all around!  No MSG, no nitrites, no preservatives. Actually, salt is a natural preservative, so I guess I can’t say “no preservatives.” But the least of my worries is sea salt, especially when I use Redmond. That means that “summer sausage” and “good for you” can be used in the same sentence. Yay!!!

I think you’ll be as excited about this recipe as I am. It’s homemade beef summer sausage!! You will not believe how crazy easy this is to make.

Homemade Beef Summer Sausage - Easy and Healthy!

Homemade Beef Summer SausageYum

5.0 from 1 reviews
Beef Summer Sausage Recipe
 
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Serves: 2 sausages
Ingredients
  • 2½ pounds hamburger meat
  • 2½ Tablespoons liquid smoke (I prefer Wright's Brand)
  • 1 Tablespoon sea salt (I prefer Redmond brand)
  • 1 teaspoon sucanat
  • 1 Tablespoon ground pepper
  • 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1 Tablespoon mustard seeds
Instructions
  1. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl, squishing with your hands until everything is well combined. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours.
  2. Knead meat mixture, then shape into 2 logs, about 13x2 inches each. (I found that rolling them in parchment paper helped form a nice, round shape.)
  3. Place logs in baking dishes such as Pyrex 9x13 inch pans (so fat drippings will not spill over into the oven).
  4. Bake in a 300° oven for 2½ - 3 hours.

To freeze Summer Sausage:  Allow baked summer sausage to cool completely. Wrap in parchment paper, then with plastic wrap. Place in a freezer bag, storing in freezer for up to 2 months.

As if it wasn’t already wonderful news that we can enjoy healthy summer sausage – it’s even better news that this will be perfect for your Make-Ahead Lunch Box. I’ll be packing this for road trips, for sure.

Share with us! What’s your favorite holiday finger food?

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