Heavenly Homemakers

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How to Serve a Snacky Meal That’s Still Nourishing

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It is entirely possible to serve your family a “snacky meal” that is still nourishing. Here are some ideas!

During this busy holiday season, I think it’s especially fun to think of “Snacky Meal” ideas. There are programs and parties to attend, there are gifts to buy and to wrap, there are travel plans to make and big meals to prepare for. So feeding our families a quick meal of finger foods here and there is a great idea!

I also think it’s fine to think of these meals as actual meals. So what if you didn’t cook? Who doesn’t love a plate of fruit, cheese, meat, and crackers?

Did you read my friend Tasha’s post about a Dry Crust? We should take it to heart. A quick meal of popcorn and apples served with love tastes better than a gourmet meal served with stress.

Especially as we’re preparing for Christmas, I think we should recognize that we want our kids to remember the season as joyful, not stressful. If mom is stressed out with holiday preparations, our families won’t fall in love with the idea that Jesus is at the heart of Christmas.

Well, all that to say – in order to stay sane and happy at Christmastime, sometimes you just need to cut some cheese.

I mean…

;)

How to Serve a Snacky Meal That’s Still Nourishing

Who’s ready for a list of Snacky Meal ideas to serve your family on busy days? Here are some ideas I pull out from time to time to throw on the table, depending on what I have on hand:

  • Summer Sausage
  • Lunch Meat
  • Leftover Ham
  • Variety of cheese
  • Carrot Sticks with Ranch or Hummus
  • Cucumbers
  • Celery and Peanut Butter
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Olives
  • Pickles
  • Apples
  • Grapes
  • Bananas
  • Oranges
  • Strawberries
  • Blueberries
  • Cantaloupe
  • Raspberries
  • Pineapple
  • Peanuts
  • Almonds
  • Cashews
  • Crackers
  • Bread and Butter
  • Peanut Butter Honey Toast
  • Chips
  • Guacamole
  • Salsa
  • Smoothies
  • Popcorn

This list may not include roast beef and mashed potatoes, but these foods are fun, filling, and nourishing too.

What are your favorite snacky meals to put together at the last minute on a busy day?

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Easy Flourless Pumpkin Muffins

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If you can’t have wheat in your diet, you will love the Flourless Pumpkin Muffins recipe I am about to share. But even if you CAN have wheat in your diet, I always recommend that we should cut back on eating so much wheat and grain to give our digestion a little break. So these muffins are for you too. :)

What’s great about these muffins, besides the fact that they are flourless and deliciously pumpkin-y is that they are also filling and super nourishing. These include creamy almond butter, which makes these Flourless Pumpkin Muffins such a great start to the day!

Truly, can you believe these don’t have flour in them? They look so normal! (Hmmm, that’s what people have said about my children. “Really? Your kids are homeschooled? But they act so normal!” Ahahaha! Can you even believe it’s possible?! But I digress…)

I mix these muffins in my Blendtec, simply because it means I can throw them together so quickly. I blend the batter, then pour it into prepared muffin tins. Easy and awesome!

Easy Flour Pumpkin Muffins

3.7 from 3 reviews
Easy Flourless Pumpkin Muffins
 
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Author:
Serves: 18
Ingredients
  • 2 cups creamy almond butter
  • 15-ounces pumpkin puree
  • 3 eggs
  • ½ cup sucanat or brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons Pumpkin Spice OR 1 teaspoon ground cloves, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and ½ teaspoon nutmeg
Instructions
  1. Blend all ingredients together in a blender or with a hand mixer until smooth.
  2. Scoop batter into 18 paper-lined muffin tins.
  3. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

*Find the recipe for our Pumpkin Spice mix here. Or substitute: 1 teaspoon ground cloves, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg in this recipe.

Need more Flourless Recipes?

 

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Soup or Smoothies? I Can’t Decide

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pineapple_mango_smoothie_2

March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. I learned that in Kansas in first grade when my teacher Mrs. Howell explained the concept, then gave us paper plates to make lion and lamb faces. We hung them on the wall in the back of the room above the coat rack. (I remember pointless things.)

I’ve since learned that typically in Nebraska, March comes in like a lion and acts like a lion all month and goes out like a lion and greets April like a lion and once in a while a little lamb pokes it soft little head out just long enough to tease the lion. But this year the lamb appears to be a bit more feisty than the lion because the sun is shining and we’re having some unusually warm weather. The boys have been going outside in shorts because they can. We’ve been shooting hoops in the driveway with the sun in our eyes. Awesomeness.

For the first time in months, a smoothie sounds good, especially after playing or working outside. But then we come back into my house and guess what? Brrrrr! The house hasn’t caught up yet with the outside weather. What should we expect? It is still getting pretty cold at night.

So sweaters or shorts? Flip flops or boots? Iced coffee or hot? Soup or smoothies?

I’m thinking both. Lions and lambs can be friends, can’t they? Here’s what I’m celebrating during this fun collision of lion and lamb during the month of March:

1. THE SUN IS SHINING, even during the cold parts of the day. I heart sunshine.  I’ve probably mentioned that here before.
2. I can enjoy baking and grilling at the same time. This doesn’t happen in the winter or the summer.
3. There are no bugs yet because they haven’t yet realized that it’s warm enough to come out and crawl on us.
4. Soup and smoothies taste good together.

Cheeseburger Soup

Today I present to you, in honor of The Month of Crazy Weather, our favorite soup and smoothie recipes. You just never know when you’ll need one or the other or both at the same time.

Soup

Smoothies (and other fun, cold drinks)

While looking through my archives, I realize that I actually have very few smoothie recipes here. That’s because I just throw in whatever fruit we have, which makes smoothies at our house “non-recipe” items.

What are you experiencing at your house? Lion or lamb? Soup or smoothie? Boot or flip-flop?

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