Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

5 Easy Breakfast Ideas to Have Every Week

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Need breakfast ideas to have every week to make life easier?

How many decisions do we make in a day, I wonder? I’m guessing it would blow our minds to know the answer to that.

Tip: I’ve heard that it’s wise to always take the same “route” as you walk through the grocery store, simply to cut down on the decisions you have to make.

Hmmm, interesting. Hearing that tidbit of advice made me think about what other decisions I could cut out of my very full brain (that is so busy making decisions that it can’t help me remember where I set my pen).

So let’s talk about breakfast!

I’ve just figured out how wonderful it is to save my brain energy by planning the same basic breakfast meals every weekday!

Here’s the basic breakdown of what I now make or serve each weekday:

Monday – Muffins
Tuesday  – Toast
Wednesday – Oatmeal
Thursday – Eggs
Friday – Granola or Cereal

With this skeleton plan, I can now make fun adaptations each weekday to keep our menu fresh and fun! (I save pancakes or waffles or other special breakfast ideas for Saturdays.) :) And now I will give you more specifics about how this works for us…

5 Easy Breakfast Ideas to Have Every WeekYum

Monday – Muffins

I can choose from these 40 recipes so that Mondays are never boring. I shall call this “Muffin Monday” because cuteness in the kitchen is underrated.

Tuesday – Toast

Let’s hear it for “Toast Tuesday.” Though now I have to admit, my cute names for days of the week have now run out. Anyway though, we can make this Stir and Pour Bread and then top it however we like. Peanut butter and honey is a favorite for most of us. And homemade bread is tough to beat!

Wednesday – Oatmeal

I try to keep this Homemade Instant Oatmeal on hand, but sometimes I splurge and buy these too. Either way, this makes for a fast breakfast!

Thursday – Eggs

We mostly prefer scrambled cheesy eggs, but occasionally we’ll fry them. I love how easy eggs are to make!

Friday – Granola or Cereal

We like different kinds of homemade granola like:

Or, I can make these Homemade Chewy Granola Bars for a fun change of pace.

Always serve fruit

Fruit at breakfast is a given at our house. So with all of the above day-of-the-week breakfast ideas, everyone can choose what fruit they like best. I try to keep a variety on hand, depending on what is in season. Our favorites for breakfast are:

  • Blueberries
  • Cantaloupe
  • Apples
  • Oranges/Clementines
  • Bananas
  • Applesauce
  • Peaches
  • Pears
  • Strawberries

How might this idea work for your family?

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How to Make Food Easy!

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It’s time for a brand new challenge! Ready to learn how to Make Food Easy?!

Our Take Ten Challenges were so fun and popular that we decided to create a brand new challenge – this time with a twist!

The Make Food Easy Challenge offers this:

  1. A complete Make Food Easy eBook full of everything you’ll need to easily complete this two-week challenge! (We’ll send it to you right away after you sign up to join!)
  2. Two weeks worth of menu plans and grocery lists.
  3. Simple instructions for spending just a few minutes prepping meat for each week so that you can easily and quickly put your weeknight meals together.
  4. Daily weekday emails during the two-week challenge, telling you just what you need to do each day to quickly prepare your evening meal. (With bonus ideas and recipes!)
  5. Guidance to help you see how one meal leads to another!

Here’s how we’re making food easy:

One meal will lead to another. Like this…

If you’ve made meat for one meal, you’ll set some aside to use for another meal later in the week. If you bake potatoes for one meal, you’ll save the extras to use for a brand new meal later in the week. If you’ve prepped potato toppings for one meal, you’ll pull them right back out later in the week to use for tacos. See how easy and wonderful this is!!?! One meal truly does lead to another, making your daily meal prep incredibly simple and your family meals perfectly delicious!

Once you sign up to join this challenge, we’ll give you the complete eBook, grocery lists, recipes, and everything you need so you’ll be guided through these great ways to learn how to Make Food Easy. Here’s a peek at the first week’s menu and prep-ahead guide:

Here’s a little “map” to help you see how one meal leads to another:

Clear as mud? Don’t worry! The eBook and daily guides walk you through everything you need to know, step by step. Like this example for Day #3 of the Make Food Easy Challenge:

You’ll use the leftover baked potatoes from Day #3 to make a delicious Ham and Potato Skillet on Day #4. You’ll use the leftover Potato Toppings from Day #3 to fill your Tacos on Day #5. Your meat will have already been prepped ahead so that all you have to do each night is pull out what you need and create your quick meal.

See how fun it is to Make Food Easy?!

The Make Food Easy Challenge comes with two entire weeks’ worth of grocery lists, menu plans, prep-ahead guides, daily to-do pages, serving suggestions, recipes, and more.

And I suppose I should mention: Today through October 20 it’s completely FREE!! ($17 value!)

Yep, as we launch this brand new challenge, we want to make it accessible to everyone!

Here are the simple Make Food Easy Challenge details:

  • This Make Food Easy Challenge will run October 21-November 2.
  • Sign up for FREE by Sunday, October 20 and we’ll send you your brand new Make Food Easy eBook, grocery lists, prep guides, and everything you need to be prepared for this challenge.
  • Share this post with your friends so they can sign up too!! Email me a screenshot of your share on any form of social media and we’ll thank you by sending you a FREE copy of our Let’s Do This! eCourse. It’s worth $10 and it teaches you how anyone can get ahead in the kitchen! You’ll love it!!
  • Stick around through the entire two week’s Make Food Easy Challenge. Take pictures of each day’s meal prep or final meal. At the end of the challenge, send me all 10 meal pictures and I’ll send you ANY one eBook from my shop that you want. Yep, you can pick from any of them. (There are 21 to choose from!)

Get this for FREE when you share our new challenge on social media!

Notice how the free stuff just keeps on coming!

We’re giving every one of you up to $52 worth of free products here – are you amazed!?

  • FREE Make Food Easy Challenge package ($17 value)
  • FREE Let’s Do This! eCourse when you share this challenge on social media and send me a screenshot ($10 value)
  • FREE eBook of your choice from the Heavenly Homemakers Shop when you complete the entire challenge and send me picture proof (up to $25 value)

Ready to get started with the fun?!

Sign up here and watch for an email with your Make Food Easy eBook and getting-started instructions. Then watch for emails full of all the simple details you need throughout our Make Food Easy Challenge October 21-November 2.

We’re going to head into the holiday season stress-free and with all kinds of simple recipes and meal plans at our fingertips!

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Can Simple Meals Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half??

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I’ve shared over and over how our Simple Meals plans can make your kitchen life much easier! But is it possible that they would also cut your grocery bill in half?

Can Simple Meals Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half??

I always love hearing how Simple Meals is a blessing to you as it is to us. So I wanted to share this feedback I got from Lori. READ THIS!!!

I just had to send a huge THANK YOU! I’m not really one to use someone else’s menu plan, because I usually end up changing so much that it ends up being counterproductive. However, we have been clean eating/cutting out sugar for the past 2 years, which meant more meal planning and meal prepping for me, since we couldn’t always just grab take out or go out to eat. So needless to say, by the time I found you, I was burnt out! Lol!

When I saw your offer on build your bundle (a few weeks ago), I thought here’s the answer to my prayers! We have just started with our first week and have only tried 2 meals so far, and I’ll be honest, while I was making the recipes, I was doubting the simplicity and wondering if my kids would even like the meals, but I WAS SO WRONG, they LOVED both recipes we’ve tried so far!

The even better part, our grocery bill this week was almost cut in 1/2, by following your plan!! I am a homeschooling mom to 6, with 2 graduates and 4 still at home. We added in some outside classes this year, along with some extra, extracurriculars, haha, so you have saved my sanity, my food budget, and most importantly my time. I can’t wait to see what future menus bring.

Lori’s encouragement was so wonderful that I wrote her back to thank her and to get permission to quote her. Lori’s response?

You absolutely can quote me! I have the 3 cheese pasta in the crockpot for dinner and am still amazed that it took me literally 5 minutes to put together, and all I have left to do for dinner is throw together a salad, like what?!?!?

How cool is that? Simple Meals really makes life simple, and it saves lots of money too!

Here’s a reminder that now through September 4, your one-year Simple Meals is 50% off! To think, our subscription is 1/2 off and you can cut your grocery bill in 1/2 too!!

Get all the details here.

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Company is Coming This Weekend! Here’s What We’ll be Eating…

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I super love when people come to visit us! I love planning the meals and preparing the meals and serving the meals and doing all the food up right in an effort to bless our guests while we visit. And of course, I love to visit with our guests.

In summary: Would one of you please come clean my house for me?

Man, I do not like to clean. I do like my house to be clean, but the act of cleaning is low on my fun list. Actually, it’s not even on my fun list. It’s on my do it because it has to be done so get over it list.

Hiring regular cleaning help is not in the budget right now, but I’m seriously thinking about seeing who might want to trade cooking for cleaning. Some people like to clean but not cook, right? Yes, I hear that this is true.

My boys are very helpful with their assigned cleaning chores, which is another reason I’ve not wanted to outsource this task to hired help. But sometimes my idea of clean differs from my boys’ idea of clean. (I probably don’t need to explain this.)

Well anyway. All this talk about cleaning is starting to make me upset. Let’s talk about food!!!! Aaaaahhh yes. Now I’m happy again. :) :) :) :)

Family is coming to town this weekend for our York College Homecoming festivities. I can’t wait to feed see them! This is always a wonderful weekend with people we don’t get to see often enough.

In order to enjoy my guests and avoid having to talk very much while I cook (this is a serious problem for me) – I’m making most of the food ahead of time or at least planning very simple, no-brainer dishes (like this Stir-and-Pour Bread).

Whole Wheat No-Knead Bread

Here are the meals we’ll be having:

Breakfast Foods

chocolatechocolatechipmuffinssm

Lunch Foods

  • Potato Soup
  • Chili (with Fritos – yes really – and shredded cheese)
  • Sub Sandwich Bar
  • Veggie Platter (carrots, cucumbers, sweet peppers, olives, pickles)
  • Fresh Fruit

potato_soup

Dinner Meals

(The Crock Pot Roast Beef recipe was originally written to be used for Roast Beef and Melted Cheese Sandwiches, but we love the flavor of this one so much, and it only takes about 30 seconds to prepare {seriously!!!!}, so we make it frequently to eat as a main dish without the cheese and buns.)

creamy salsa enchiladas

Here’s a picture of Creamy Salsa Enchilada Casseroles I like to serve guests.
So, so, so, so good. And easy.

Snack Foods

sugar cookies 4

Any of these meals sound particularly good to you? What do you like feeding guests when they come visit? Who likes cleaning?!?

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Menu Plan for the Week

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Today after church, one of my friends rounded up a bunch of ladies and we all went out for lunch together. Matt and the boys fended for themselves. What a treat!

Cheesy Cauliflower Cakes

Have you tried these Cheesy Cauliflower Cakes yet? So delicious!

Here’s what our menu looks like this week:

Sunday, March 16
Easy breakfast casserole, fruit plate
Out for lunch with friends
Small Group:  Italian pasta bake, sides brought by others

Monday, March 17
Whole Wheat Waffles with blueberries, strawberries, and whipped cream
Baked potatoes in a crock pot, green machine milkshakes, sliced cucumbers
Baked three cheese chicken pasta, tossed salad, steamed broccoli

Tuesday, March 18
Pancake and sausage muffins, applesauce
Calzones, pineapple mango smoothies, carrot sticks, sweet peppers
Homeschool basketball team award night dinner

Wednesday, March 19
Scrambled eggs with cheese, snickerdoodle muffins, clementines
Calico beans, honey whole wheat bread and butter, fresh pineapple
Beefy enchilada bake, tossed salad, green beans

Thursday, March 20
Dark chocolate almond granola, apples
Bean and cheese burritos, strawberry peach slushies, sweet peppers, olives
Alfredo sauce with pasta, tossed salad, roasted asparagus

Friday, March 21
Flaky cream cheese pastry, kiwi
Black bean chicken nachos, oranges, carrot sticks
Chili, cheesy cauliflower cakes, cucumbers with homemade ranch

Saturday, March 22
Whole wheat donuts, strawberries
Leftovers
Cheeseburger macaroni, peas, tossed salad

What are you eating this week?

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Don’t forget! Today only, you will get a bonus gift certificate if you purchase Oh, For Real! cookbook. Get the details…

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Menu Plan for the Week ~ And Our Weekend Fun

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We’ve had quite a weekend! Our older boys had both a basketball tournament and a church youth rally going on. Both were held in our home town (thankfully!) so they were able to run back and forth to both events. I do believe they will sleep well tonight.

Because our church was hosting the youth rally, with over 130 teens from Nebraska and Kansas in attendance, we were among the families who signed up to house kids. We had 10 extra middle school boys stay with us Friday and Saturday night. They were all so much fun and super sweet. Middle school boys – sweet? Why yes, they were. How about that?

Our breakfast this morning was bigger than normal since we were feeding so many. I made all the food yesterday, so prep this morning was simple. We had Easy Breakfast Casserole, Oatmeal Breakfast Bars, Raspberry Oatmeal Bars, and fruit.

youth rally breakfast 3

See all the crusty stuff on the egg casserole dish below? That’ll be fun to clean up, huh? That mess is a result of me trying to hurry this morning. Somehow I had in my head that the casserole would be more solid than liquid. Um, eggs, cream, ham, and cheese – unbaked? Liquid.  Okay then. I was reminded of its liquid state as I sloshed it up and over the edge of the casserole dish on my way to the oven. What a waste – and a mess! Two blessings:  Egg goo did not get on my church clothes, nor did it slop into the open drawer I was standing by. It all hit the floor, making clean up easier. Oh wait – a third blessing:  At least I did not slosh it into the oven. Yeah, don’t even picture it.

youth rally breakfast 2

Now we’ll settle back down with our family to begin a new week of school and life. I’ll probably air out the house a little this afternoon. I mean, those middle school boys are sweet, but their socks and shoes are not. God bless ’em.

Here’s our menu for this week:

Sunday, February 2
Easy breakfast casserole, oatmeal breakfast bars, raspberry oatmeal bars, fruit
Sub sandwiches at the youth rally
Super Bowl Party – Pizza, pizza soup, fruit plate, veggie tray, chips and dip

Monday, February 3
Quick mix pancakes, blueberries
Black bean salsa, corn chips, fresh pineapple
Easy noodle stir fry with broccoli, carrots, zucchini, and chicken

Tuesday, February 4
Bacon cheese muffins, raspberries
Chicken patty sandwiches, lettuce/tomatoes/pickles, pears
One dish meat and potato casserole with peas, tossed salad

Wednesday, February 5
Dark chocolate almond granola, oranges
Pizza boats, sliced cucumbers and sweet peppers, kiwi
Creamy chicken and rice casserole, roasted vegetables

Thursday, February 6
Warm chocolate soother, toast with peanut butter, bananas
Grilled cheese sandwiches, homemade tomato soup, carrot sticks
Orange chicken, baked potatoes, tossed salad, green beans

Friday, February 7
Almond flour muffins, scrambled eggs, pears
Taco potatoes, pineapple
Lasagna Casserole, tossed salad, steamed broccoli

Saturday, February 8
Whole wheat waffles, blueberries, whipped cream
Leftovers
Hamburgers, sweet potato fries, raw veggies

Are you doing anything fun for the Super Bowl tonight?  I’m very proud of myself for finding out (five hours before game time – a record for me) who is playing tonight. What can I say? I just go to these parties for the food.

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Menu Plan for the Week – Branching Out and Eating a Variety

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31 Days 300

My Real Food Reality tip for you today is to be brave! Try something new! You know…like cauliflower. It’s a brand new vegetable. It’s the latest craze in the produce section. Everyone is talking about it.

Uh-huh.

It’s just that our family has just never been very big on cauliflower. So this week, in an effort to give us more vegetable variety (green beans, peas, broccoli…green beans, peas, broccoli…yawn, ho-hum, snooze) – I’m branching out and experimenting with a new cauliflower recipe. Actually, I haven’t found a recipe yet, but I’m sure it’s out there. Have anything for me???

How can you branch out? What “new” real food can you try? I encourage you to continue trying new foods to expand the variety of healthy options you can serve to your families!

Crock Pot Hamburger Cream Cheese Dip

My kids have been requesting this Crock Pot Hamburger Cream Cheese Dip for several weeks. 
I’m finally remembering to add it to the menu plan.
Tasty, fun, and easy!

Here’s our menu plan for the week:

Sunday, January 19
Instant oatmeal, dried fruit
Leftovers
Small group – Alfredo sauce with pasta, sides others bring along

Monday, January 20
Easy biscuits and gravy, apples
Hamburgers, chips, carrots, raspberries (friends coming over for Elias’ birthday)
Chicken tacos, fresh pineapple

Tuesday, January 21
Pancake sausage muffins, oranges
Grilled cheese, tomato soup, applesauce, sweet pepper slices
One dish meat and potato casserole, tossed salad

Wednesday, January 22
Breakfast cake muffins, bananas
Easy noodle stir-fry with broccoli, carrots, and zucchini
Sweet and sour meatballs (recipe in Let’s Do This eCourse, Lesson 5), rice, something with cauliflower  :)

Thursday, January 23
Homemade grape nuts cereal, blueberries
Chili mac, peas, sliced cucumbers with homemade ranch
Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans

Friday, January 24
Raspberry oatmeal bars, clementines
Hamburger cream cheese dip, corn chips, fruit-kefir smoothies
Crock pot bbq chicken breasts, baked potatoes, tossed salad, steamed broccoli and carrots

Saturday, January 25
Zucchini bread, applesauce
Leftovers
Cheeseburger soup, tossed salad

Help a girl out! Give me some good cauliflower recipes (please)! And let us know what “new” real food you can try this week. :)

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Menu Plan for the Week {31 Days to Real Food Reality ~ Day 12}

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This post is sponsored by Great Homeschool Conventions. I am honored to be working with them to spread the word about the wonderful conventions they offer!

Homeschool Convention 450X150

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How have you been enjoying the 31 Days of Real Food Reality series so far? I pray it’s been helpful to you!

My Real Food Reality Tip for you today has to do with organization:  When planning what meals to serve to your family, keep it simple. Pick a main dish, then choose one or two veggies to go with it. Easy as that! You’ll see in my menu plan below that there is nothing fancy about our Real Food Reality. Don’t make eating a healthy diet difficult! Remember…it’s just food. :)

On another note, I have to give a big shout out to the Homemade Instant Oatmeal recipe. A healthy breakfast (or snack) does not get any easier than this. It takes about five minutes for me to mix up a double batch of this oatmeal. I store it in a jar in my pantry, then scoop it out and add boiling water when we want it for breakfast. Better yet, my kids can make a bowl of oatmeal for themselves. Love this!

Instant Oatmeal in a Jar 2

Here is my very non-fancy, but still very real food and family friendly meal plan for the week:

Sunday, January 12
Homemade instant oatmeal, dried fruit
Cheesy pasta bake, already prepared and in the freezer, ready to bake! (Recipe in {Healthy} Make-Ahead Meals and Snacks eBook), tossed salad
Small group – Chicken pot pie, with side dishes provided by others

Monday, January 13
Bacon cheese muffins, oranges
Baked potato with broccoli cheese sauce
Roast, carrots, gravy, green beans

Tuesday, January 14
Cinnamon swirl bread, apples
Black bean salsa with corn chips, pineapple
Chicken burritos, tossed salad

Wednesday, January 15
Oatmeal breakfast bars, applesauce
Chicken salad on pita bread, cottage cheese with peaches
Cheesy salsa enchiladas, tossed salad

Thursday, January 16
Pumpkin chocolate chip bread, pears
Chicken noodle soup, carrot sticks
Lasagna casserole, tossed salad, steamed broccoli

Friday, January 17
Pancake and sausage muffins, applesauce
Pizza boats, green beans, olives, blueberries
Shepherds pie, tossed salad

Saturday, January 18 – Elias’ b-day!
Still waiting for him to decide his birthday meal choices. :)

What’s on your menu this week? 

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Menu Plan for the Week {31 Days of Real Food Reality ~ Day 5}

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During our 31 Days of Real Food Reality, I’ll be including my normal weekly menus as part of the series. Why? Because these menus are very much a part of my family’s real food reality. I want them to show you how simple it is to put together real food meals!

31 Days 300

None of these meals cost a lot of money. None of these meals takes much time to prepare. I rebel against difficult-to-make recipes, knowing that while I love to cook, I really only love it when it is easy and fast. And delicious, of course. :)

Here’s another part of my Real Food Reality:  I don’t always stick to my weekly menus. Sometimes what I have planned on Sunday doesn’t sound good by Thursday. Sometimes I forget to thaw the meat. Sometimes I just don’t feel like being tied down to a menu. And sometimes we have leftovers I wasn’t expecting, so we ditch the menu in order to clean out the fridge so that food doesn’t go to waste.

I consider my menu plans to be a guideline to follow…and that’s it. Feel free to use my menu plans to give you ideas, suggestions, and inspiration to make real food a reality for you!

raspberry bars small

These Raspberry Oatmeal Bars have become one of our favorite snack and breakfast foods.
I love that they can quickly be made anytime I have some spare minutes, then eaten when we need them.
They are perfect to make in the evening to serve for a ready-made breakfast!

Sunday, January 5
Instant oatmeal, fruit
Bacon cheeseburger casserole (from {Healthy} Make-Ahead Meals and Snacks eBook), tossed salad
Small group fellowship – Nacho Bar with all the fixins

Monday, January 6
Chocolate chocolate chip muffins, apples
Chicken noodle soup, carrots
Calico beans, tossed salad

Tuesday, January 7
Easy breakfast casserole, clementines
Cheeseburger macaroni, green beans
Creamy chicken and rice casserole, tossed salad, steamed broccoli

Wednesday, January 8
Cream cheese pumpkin muffins, applesauce
Homemade tomato soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, carrots
Fiesta chicken, homemade tortillas, lettuce, tomatoes, avocados, olives

Thursday, January 9
Raspberry oatmeal bars, bananas
Easy noodle stir fry with broccoli and carrots
Barbecue brisket, baked potatoes, green beans, cream cheese corn

Friday, January 10
Homemade grape nuts cereal, blueberries
Calzones, apples
Chicken pot pie, tossed salad

Saturday, January 11
Homemade poptarts, pears
Leftovers
Sandwiches on the road

Tell us your thoughts on how menu planning fits in with your real food reality!

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Menu Plan for the Week – and a Pickle Tradition

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pickle ornamentWho’s heard of the German pickle ornament tradition (which may or may not be true)? I won a pickle ornament at a white elephant gift exchange last year, so our boys decided that we definitely needed to make this a part of our Christmas fun. Who wouldn’t want to find a pickle hanging on the Christmas tree, after all?

The long and short of the tradition is this:  Christmas Eve night, parents hide the pickle ornament somewhere on the Christmas tree. In the morning, the first child to discover it receives an extra gift. This explains why my kids were interested in this tradition, right? It’s all about a bonus gift.

All was well until Christmas Eve afternoon when it occurred to me that the boys were counting on us hiding the pickle, and I had forgotten all about providing an extra gift for the winner. Thinking quickly, I brainstormed for something that would make the winner feel special but that all the boys would enjoy (after all of their pickle searching efforts). I refused to go back out and buy something. I was done shopping, thank you very much.

Aha! I ran to the computer and created a certificate which entitled the finder of the pickle to pick all of the menu items for New Year’s Day. I made the certificate goofy (shocking) with a bunch of ridiculous disclaimers, printed it, and put it into a gift bag. There. Pickle present done.

Justus (13) was the winner. Here’s what he chose:

Wednesday, January 1
Whole wheat waffles (which the boys are now all calling “Super Mama Waffles” – I guess they are just that good?)
Tilapia, rice, steamed veggies
Spicy pasta (recipe from a friend), tossed salad

If you’re wondering what happened to Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday in our menu plan…I didn’t come up with plans for those days because we’re with family and working together on food prep. :)

Thursday, January 2
Snickerdoodle muffins, apples
Beefy vegetable soup, fruit
Alfredo sauce with pasta, steamed veggies

Friday, January 3
Poptarts, applesauce
Creamy mac and cheese, peas
Calzones, tossed salad

Saturday, January 4
Honey whole wheat bagels, clementines
Rice and veggie stir fry with broccoli, carrots, and chicken
Beefy enchilada bake, tossed salad

Tell me if you’ve heard of the Christmas Pickle!

Homeschool Convention 450X150

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