Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Using Our Real Food “Velveeta” and Rotel to make Spicy Mac and Cheese

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Allow me to introduce you to one of the easiest meals and most delicious comfort foods around: Spicy Mac and Cheese.

Spicy Mac and Cheese

Yum

Remember the Real Food “Velveeta” and Rotel Dip recipe I posted a few days ago? You need to make that today. I’m only bossing you around because when it comes to that dip – I know best, I’m right, and that dip will change your life. It’s a proven fact.

Then here’s what you do: You either eat that dip with chips because that’s what we do with dip. Or – you boil 16 ounces of pasta, drain off the water, then stir this dip into your noodles for the most delicious Mac and Cheese with a kick. The most delicious.

My kids, my kids’ friends, all the adults -we all love this dish. I love that it’s super easy, flavorful – and all real food.

A little hint: Double the dip recipe. Eat it one day as a dip. Put the leftovers in the fridge. A day or two later, boil noodles and stir in the leftover sauce for an oh-so-easy meal to throw on the table. (With fruits and vegetables. This is a given.)

I used whole wheat noodles (my favorite kind) and I’m sure brown rice noodles would work great too.

Spicy Mac and Cheese Recipe

This Dip
16 ounces of your favorite pasta

Make the dip as directed. Boil and drain pasta according to package. Stir sauce into cooked and drained pasta. 

Spicy Mac and Cheese 3

Now go make the dip! Then watch as life as you know it improves for the better – one bite at a time.

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Real Food “Velveeta” and Rotel Recipe

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To be clear, this recipe does not include Velveeta as one can not use the words “real food” and “velveeta” in the same recipe and be telling the truth. In addition, this is not a recipe for Velveeta. I refuse to experiment to come up with a way to make a cheese product that has a shelf life.

Real Food Velveeta and Rotel Dip

But. As many of you know, I have a ridiculous love for the completely nasty and absolutely delicious Velveeta Rotel Dip that I grew up on as a kid. You may remember that I wrote a love letter to Velveeta a few years ago and bid her farewell as I created a tasty dip to replace her. Sure enough, we make that dip frequently at our house as it is super easy, all real food, and absolutely yummy.

But. That recipe, as good as it is, is still not the same as the Velveeta Rotel Dip I crave. That is why (and I’m not proud of this) sometimes I put a $6 log of boxed cheese product (otherwise known as Velveeta) into my cart along with 2 cans of Rotel and I bring it home and I melt it together and I eat it even though it is terribly terrible and truthfully it doesn’t even taste as good to me as it used to because of that whole real food thing I’m into now which has made all bad foods taste like chemicals on a tortilla chip.

So what is my problem?

Problem? I don’t have a problem.

Okay fine. Whatever. I have a problem.

And also? When did fake cheese become so expensive? You’d think that would deter me from buying it. But as I said, I have a problem.

It was either time to begin a Velveeta support group or get back in the kitchen to try my hand at another dip recipe since I’ve only tried like seventeen other times and posted like five other cheese dip recipes through the years and may have to rename this website to cheesediprecipesforaddicts.com with the tag line “All Cheese Dip Recipes, All the Time.”

A support group was out of the question because it is my understanding that they don’t serve chip dip at those meetings. So here we are again, back in the kitchen for another attempt at a real food version of my beloved dip.

You guys. I think I nailed it this time. And I mean that with all the humility and sweetness possible, but hey guess what? I just made the best chip dip ever!!! 

So here’s how this dip becomes amazing. Two things:

  1. We must make a cheese sauce for this to work. This requires butter and corn starch and actual cheese. Relax. It’s not as hard as it sounds.
  2. We must use actual Rotel or an off brand of “diced tomatoes and green chilies. Salsa isn’t the same. Thankfully, Rotel is still a real food – read the ingredient label and rejoice.

Note: My wonderful grass-fed beef produces the perfect amount of fat so I never have to drain off grease. In order to make a sauce, one must have fat or grease to work with. That’s why my recipe includes butter. Depending on what meat you have, I recommend either skipping the butter (if your meat has some grease to work with) or draining the grease and adding the butter or using your grease with some butter. Just so you have about 4 Tablespoons of fat to work with, you’re golden.

Real Food “Velveeta” and Rotel Dip RecipeYum

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Real Food "Velveeta" and Rotel Recipe
 
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Author:
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 1 pound hamburger meat
  • 2-4 Tablespoons butter
  • 2 heaping Tablespoons corn starch
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • sea salt to taste
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 10-ounce can diced tomatoes with green chilies (Rotel)
  • 1-2 cups shredded cheddar or colby jack cheese
Instructions
  1. Brown the hamburger meat in a large pot.
  2. Add butter to the meat, melting it throughout the pot.
  3. Sprinkle in corn starch, coating the meat.
  4. Pour in water, chili powder, and salt.
  5. Turn heat up and stir until the mixture thickens.
  6. Add cream, continuing to stir as the mixture thickens. (This all happens quickly in my experience.) Stir in Rotel, heating for about 2 more minutes.
  7. Remove from heat.
  8. Add shredded cheese, stirring until the cheese has melted and the dip is smooth.

If you don’t remove your sauce before adding cheese, your cheese will end up funky and not smooth and creamy. You’ve been warned, so don’t add your cheese while your pot is still on the stove, then email me and ask why your cheese got funky. Not that anyone would ever do that.

Real Food Velveeta and Rotel Recipe

If you need me, I’ll be in the kitchen eating another bowl of my homemade not velveeta but way better than velveeta because it’s real food Chip Dip.

Who wants to come join me? I need to know who loves this dip as much as me. Admit it. Join my support group – the one where there IS CHIP DIP AT THE MEETINGS because my support group meetings rock and we support one another by eating dip.

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It’s recipes like this Real Food Velveeta and Rotel that makes Simple Meals what it is. It offers you huge money and time savings. Not to mention you don’t have to think as hard every week about what to cook and what to buy.

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

You will love this!

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We Can Bake Quick Breads in a Slow Cooker!

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It’s a new way to bake quick breads!

You Can Bake Bread in a Crock Pot!

Yum

I had no idea that this was an actual thing. Did you?? I came across this idea here and am ever so grateful.

I’ve been baking potatoes in a crock pot for several years, but I did not know a person could bake quick bread this way too. (And also yeast bread, but I’m trying to perfect that idea before posting about it. You can look forward to that…as will I if I can ever figure out how to do it right.)

This is going to change how we eat this summer. No more avoiding bread on hot days since I never want to turn on the oven. However, since I only have one crock pot, I can obviously only do one loaf of bread at a time. This is a little bit limiting for my family of huge eaters. But all I’ll have to do to remedy this is scramble up a bunch of eggs and make a blender (or two) full of smoothies to go with our loaf, and we’ve got a meal.

I’ve tried this idea with two different types of quick breads – Chocolate Chip Bread and Snickerdoodle (it was a recipe experiment). Both worked great! This leads me to believe that any quick bread recipe will work. (Actually, I’m not sure about gluten free breads. Anyone have experience with this?)

How to Bake Quick Bread in a Crock Pot

How to Bake Quick Breads in a Crock Pot

1. Turn your crock pot onto “hi” to preheat.

2. Mix your quick bread as usual and put it into a buttered loaf pan. (I used glass as I’m not sure about using a stone in my crock pot. Any have experience with this?)

3. Wad up two pieces of tin foil and place them at the bottom of your crock pot. This will offer some space under your bread pan which will help your bread bake better.

bread in crock pot 2
4. Set your loaf pan into your crock pot. (Mine is actually barely the right size, so it didn’t fit all the way in thus negating the need for wads of foil. As you can see in the pictures above, my pan sat on the edge of the top of the crock. It worked perfectly.)

5. Place the lid on your crock pot slightly off centered so as to allow a little bit of steam to escape during baking.

6. Leave the bread to bake in the crock pot for about 2 hours. You’ll be able to watch it baking from the outside into the middle, making it quite easy to see when it has finished baking.

bread in crock pot 3

How excited are you to learn this fun trick?! What quick bread are you going to try baking in your crock pot first? I’m asking because I know you are going to try this right away, this minute, today, as soon as you stand up.

P.S. Look through our quick bread/muffin recipes here.

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Build a Breakfast Burrito Bar

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My family ranks the Breakfast Burrito Bar as one of the best ways to feed a crowd in the morning!

It seems that I’ve been on a bit of a Build a _________ Bar kick during the past few months. I believe it just makes sense now that my kids are older. They definitely have specific tastes and preferences. Laying out ingredients and letting individuals put together what they like just makes sense.

That, and it’s much less work for me. I like this part best of all.

Beyond the family, the Build a __________ Bar idea is wonderful for company. Guests can fill their bowl or plate just the way they like. This is a great way to accommodate people with food allergies or differing tastes.

So let’s see. Shall we review the Build a ______ Bar ideas I’ve shared up to this point?

I thought surely I had posted about Build a Chef Salad Bar, but I guess I never have. That’s one of the easiest meal ideas, so I highly recommend it.

And now, consider a Breakfast Burrito Bar. This worked wonderfully for company a few weeks ago.

Build a Breakfast Burrito Buffet

Simply lay out breakfast burrito items and let everyone fill their plate according to their tastes. Here are some suggestions for the buffet:

Build a Breakfast Burrito BuffetYum

  • Warm tortillas
  • Scrambled eggs
  • Cooked meat like ham, sausage, or bacon
  • Shredded cheese
  • Salsa
  • Chopped veggies like peppers, onions, and mushrooms
  • Spinach

Of course, it’s great to offer a variety of fresh fruit for a side dish.

Do you have any other Build a __________ Bar ideas to share? I love how simple this is!

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I Just Spent 45 Minutes in the Kitchen and Made 6 Meals! Boom!

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I decided to give you an idea of how our Eat Right Away Packets work, so I thawed 6 pounds of hamburger and took some really bad pictures of raw meat. My life is glamorous.

Eat Right Away Beef Edition 50
Knowing that your life is probably glamorous also – meaning you might have interruptions in the form of nursing babies, important phone calls, teenagers needing a ride, siblings who need to learn that nice words go a long way, or any other variety of real life stuff – we all know that 45 minutes can turn into an hour and an hour can turn into are you kidding me. So don’t set a timer on this. My 45 minutes of work began at 12:00 noon and didn’t end until 1:30 pm because someone stopped by to pick something up a few minutes after I started, my husband and 10 year old had some questions, and somewhere in there I realized I needed lunch because what was I thinking starting this project on an empty stomach?

In other words, I did 45 minutes of kitchen work, but those minutes were broken up a bit by life and lunch.

The beauty of the Eat Right Away Packets is that they help you be efficient with your time, they help you make the most of your effort in the kitchen, and they help you turn out some pretty awesome meals with very little effort. But there’s no right or wrong way to go about putting these meals together. Case in point:

Here are the five beef recipes in the Eat Right Away: Beef Edition Packet ~

  • Cheesy Salsa Burgers
  • One Dish Cheesy Beef and Potatoes
  • Bacon-Wrapped Individual Meatloaves
  • Easy Hamburger Soup 
  • Baked Ziti 

But seeing as we’re not into soup this summer, and knowing I was low on time – I decided to skip the Easy Hamburger Soup and the One Dish Cheesy Beef and Potatoes. I went with the crazy easy Cheesy Salsa Burgers, the almost as crazy easy Bacon-Wrapped Individual Meatloaves, and the no-brainer Baked Ziti.

I doubled the Baked Ziti. Why not, right? So when all was said and done, I had spent 45 minutes of work time to make 6 meals. Sweet!

NOTE: If your family is smaller than mine or eats less – these Eat Right Away Packets are going to turn out way more than 5 meals for you. How’s that for a bonus return on your time investment?!

So here’s an ugly picture run-down of my Eat Right Away: Beef Edition meal prep…

I threw 2 pounds of meat into a pot to begin cooking (for the double batch of Baked Ziti).

beef1

While it began cooking, I mushed up another two pounds of meat in a bowl, then stirred in the ingredients for Cheesy Salsa Burgers. Here and there, I stirred the meat cooking on the stove.

beef3

Side Note: My dad and his wife got me this amazing meat squisher
(spoken like a true professional) for Christmas. I super love it.

Before shaping the patties, I put a pot of water on to boil. (Had I not taken the time to snap a picture, you all would surely be left in the dark as to what this step looks like. You are very, very welcome.)

beef4

I shaped 18 Cheesy Salsa Burger patties – in a variety of sizes. See how great this is? You can make different sizes to accommodate different sized appetites. That, and you can just be a total non-perfectionist who really doesn’t care if all her patties are uniform in size. This may not work for you Type A’s. Shape your patties according to your personality type. We can all still be friends.

beef5

Somewhere in there, my water hit boiling point. I poured in the pasta and continued shaping patties.

beef6

The meat was finished cooking on the stove, so I added sauce ingredients.

beef7

If you look at my Baked Ziti recipe in the beef packet, you’ll see that I didn’t follow my own instructions correctly. I blame it on the fact that I hadn’t eaten lunch.

And it was at this point that I stopped my work and ate some tuna salad and cole slaw.

Revived by food, I stirred in other Ziti sauce ingredients, then began to build the casseroles.

beef8

beef9

beef12

Having this done, I went to work on the Bacon-Wrapped Individual Meatloaves. Two pounds of meat in a bowl, other ingredients dumped in (because life is too short to get out measuring spoons).

beef10

Meatloaves were shaped and wrapped in bacon. Husband walked in and said some really nice things about my bacon. ;)

beef11

I put the pans of Meatloaves and Salsa Patties into the freezer. Then, I loaded the dishwasher and hit “start.” While the meat froze and the dishes washed themselves, I took Malachi to meet some friends at the swimming pool because life is hard.

beef13

So much glorious vitamin D later, I came home and put the frozen meat items into freezer bags. I labeled them and put them back in the freezer for a quick meal another day. YAY!!

beef14

That night, I threw some of the Cheesy Salsa Burgers on the grill for our dinner (meal #1). In the freezer I have another meal of burgers (meal #2), two meals worth of bacon meat-loaves (meals #3 and #4) and two zitis (meals #5 and #6).

beef15

You guys – this is not hard!! If you don’t love cooking, I believe you will really love this way of prepping ahead to make your kitchen life easier. These recipes are super simple, and once the work of preparing these foods is done (and cleaned up after, woot!) – all you have to do at meal time is pull something out of the freezer and cook it. You don’t even have to think at that point. (I’m not ashamed to say that the not thinking is my favorite part of this.)

I’ve got many pounds of chicken coming in a Bountiful Basket order Friday, so this weekend I’ll be pulling out my Chicken Edition and taking more bad pictures to show you how that one works.

Get all the details on these Eat Right Away Packets here. Ready to add them to your kitchen collection? Download them right away and get started!

Eat Right Away: Beef Edition
$2.00

Add to Cart

Eat Right Away: Chicken Edition
$2.00

Add to Cart

 

 

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

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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 Chicken Edition Banner

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

Eat Right Away Slow Cooker Beef Edition Banner

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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Why I Rarely Make Big Meat and Potato Meals (Plus 9 of My Family’s Favorite Real Food, Real Simple Meals)

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My true confessions about meat and potato meals…

You know what I love about mashed potatoes? Eating them. Otherwise, I am so over mashed potatoes. Therefore, I kind of stopped making them.

Why did I stop? It’s not like they’re difficult. My family loves them. They make a filling side dish. They are a real food. And above all, we can stir lots of butter into them. Why wouldn’t I make them more often?

Because, this:

why i don't make big meals

I decided to make mashed potatoes a couple weeks ago since I had pretty much avoided the task since Thanksgiving. The family was thrilled. But making a meal of lamb chops, mashed potatoes, gravy, a veggie, another veggie – well by the time it’s all said and done – I had spent a very long time in the kitchen and had a sink and counter full of dirty dishes. That’s just one meal, people. (Except for the muffin tin and probably like, a spoon.)

I’m convinced that this is why so many people don’t enjoy cooking. Am I right? It takes too long. There are too many steps. There’s too much clean up. You know what? I don’t enjoy it either when it looks and feels like that.

Well, I’m not here to tell you what to do (except for never eat margarine). But as for me and my house, we’re only going to make mashed potatoes for special occasions. Otherwise, we’re going to stick with simple meals that don’t require many steps. Fast (real) foods that don’t dirty many dishes. Real food made easy.

Real Food, Real Simple Meal Ideas

Here, I’ll list a few of our favorite Not-So Meat and Potato Meals:

Instead of mashed potatoes, I’ve been making a lot of baked potatoes recently. I love this because they are so versatile and easy. Here’s a post detailing what I do with leftover baked potatoes.

taco potato skillet 3

‘Fess up. How often do you make mashed potatoes? (The real kind, not from a box. Don’t get me started.)

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If you love the idea of keeping your meals simple and good, you will LOVE Simple Meals!!

simplemeals300

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Favorite Things for Summer Giveaway

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favorite summer things 2

Want to know my favorite thing about summer? Well let me think…SUNSHINE!!! (You know I love it when I interrupt myself to blurt out my answer.)

I love sunshine coming in through my windows. I love sunshine beaming down on my face. I love warming up in the sunshine. And I love laying in the sunshine, soaking up Vitamin D. (Responsibly, of course. Don’t go all “harmful UV rays” on me. God made the sun, the sun is good, we need Vitamin D from the sun, amen and amen. I don’t overdo it, but still, sunshine is my very favorite thing about summertime.)

Now, women shall not live on sunshine alone. (I mean, we also need butter. Duh.)

In celebration of summer (and sunshine!) (and sure, butter. why not?) – I’ve teamed up with 11 other bloggers to share many chances for you to win some of our very favorite things for summertime. What’s included in our Heavenly Homemakers favorite summer things giveaway?

  • A “Night Owl” Flexi-Clip from Lilla Rose (valued at $14.00)
  • A Half-Tee Tank from Deborah and Co. (valued at $17.99)
  • 1/2 pound of Vanilla Beans from Olive Nation (valued at $39.95)
  • Bug Block Bar, BeeSilk Stick, and Peppermint Lip Balm from MadeOn (valued at $29.10)
  • Stainless Steel Fruit Slicer, Pastry Blender, and Mini Slotted Turner from Paula’s Bread (valued at $24.99)
  • My very own Oh, For Real Cookbook (valued at $25.95)

Altogether, that’s over $150 worth of my favorite items for summertime. You can win all of it!

summer giveaway4

Why are these my favorite things for summer?

  • I keep my hair pulled back in my Lilla Rose Flexi-Clip all summer long.
  • I wear my Half-Tee Tank from Deborah and Co. under my summer dresses and tank tops for modesty and comfort.
  • I start a batch of homemade vanilla extract with Vanilla Beans from Olive Nation in June so that it will be ready to give as gifts at Christmastime.
  • I safely protect my family from mosquito bites with MadeOn’s Bug Block Bar – and I use BeeSilk Stick, and Peppermint Lip Balm every single day of the year.
  • I use a Stainless Steel Fruit Slicer, Pastry Blender, and Mini Slotted Turner from Paula’s Bread for fresh summer produce and fun summer dishes.
  • I use my Oh, For Real Cookbook pretty much alllllll the time.

Simply leave a comment on this post for a chance to win this entire package. I will draw a random winner on Monday, June 1. Be watching for a post stating the winner!

Are you new to Heavenly Homemakers? Sweet! I have the greatest readers ever, and I’d love for you to be one of them. Subscribe (for free!) to receive our daily(ish) newsletter which includes everything from easy real food recipes to encouragement in your marriage or parenting to really ridiculous thoughts that you should read at your own risk.

Here’s my latest craze: coming up with recipes that are delicious but low in sugar. Check out the low sugar treats I’ve come up with so far, then be watching for this Low Sugar Strawberry Cheesecake Parfait recipe coming within the next week or so. It is incredible!

UPDATE: Here’s the recipe!

Strawberry Cheesecake Parfait - Coming Soon

See you back here soon!

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Want a chance to win even more of these wonderful Favorite Things for Summer Giveaways? Click around on all the blogs below to see what they love about summer and to enter their giveaway too!

1. Thriving Home // 2. Happy Money Saver // 3. Happy Home Fairy // 4. Heavenly Homemakers // 5. Kitchen Stewardship // 6. Nourishing Joy // 7. The Nourishing Home // 8. Intoxicated on Life // 9. Tried and Tasty // 10. The Frugal Girl //11. Mommy Hates Cooking // 12. Stephanie Blue

 
 favorite things summer 1

Here’s a little bit about each of these bloggers:

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Thriving Home

Friends and stay-at-home moms, Rachel and Polly, began Thriving Home in 2012 as a way to encourage and equip moms in several areas of home life. They share healthy kid-friendly recipes, evangelize about freezer cooking as well as documenting many other topics relating to running a home and family including a few spectacular parenting failures from time to time. Swing by to join in on their crazy journey through parenthood.

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Tried and Tasty

TriedandTasty.com is a premium and well established recipe blog with a friendly, conversational writing style paired with magazine quality food photography. The recipes are typically very health conscious, with rich and decadent desserts occasionally included for good measure. TriedandTasty.com has a loyal following of ‘foodies’ and is gaining new followers every day thanks to its recipes being featured on the websites of high profile magazines, news outlets, popular Facebook pages, Pinterest boards, and more.

logoHeavenly Homemakers

Laura Coppinger and her husband have four sons ages 10-17. HeavenlyHomemakers.com is dedicated to inspiring women daily with healthy (and easy!) recipes, homemaking tips, spiritual encouragement, and good ol’ clean fun.

logoMommy Hates Cooking

Mommy Hates Cooking is a national cooking and lifestyle website that encourages families to take back the dinner table. Through her easy-to-prepare (yet looks like you spent all day in the kitchen) meals and her knack for breaking down meal planning, Kristy has become the busy-mom’s resource for the modern family.

Kitchen Stewardship Chalkboard Logo - BlackKitchen Stewardship

The mission of Kitchen Stewardship is to present healthy living in bite-sized baby steps, challenging people to make positive changes in their kitchens without being overwhelmed, and providing tools to balance a family’s health, budget, time and the environment. Katie Kimball and her team share family-friendly whole foods recipes, weekly challenges, and science-geek research on what’s healthy and what’s not.

logoNourishing Joy

Nourishing Joy is dedicated to real food and natural living. We’re on a mission to equip and inspire parents like you with the tools to make intentional, thoughtful decisions that work for YOUR family easy. Or at least easier.

happyhomefairy facebook pageHappy Home Fairy

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Easy Dessert to WOW Your Guests: Build a Brownie Sundae Bar

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Need a fun but simple dessert? This Brownie Sundae Bar is the way to go!

brownie_fudge_sundae

I didn’t have time to make a fancy dessert for our Easter guests two weeks ago. We’d been out of town, arriving home late the night before. Knowing this ahead of time, I’d bought ice cream. Boring and not very Eastery. I mean, it wasn’t even homemade. But…

Sunday morning before church, I baked some Brownies and sliced some strawberries. Those two items alone make a dessert pretty special. Once we arrived home from church, I made some Homemade Hot Fudge and whipped some cream. Thus (I like saying “thus”) – after we cleared the table of the wonderful (and also simple) Easter dinner, the boys helped me carry all the fun brownie bar goodies out to the table.

How to Set Up a Brownie Sundae Bar

Set out items like:

As each item appeared on the table, our guests (5 college students) gasped – especially when the hot fudge came out. It was like I had spent hours on a fancy dessert and presented them with a one-of-a-kind treat. Dude, it was just brownies and ice cream. But hey, when you put all these simple treats together, they really do make something special.

Build a Brownie Sundae Bar

Yum

So the moral of this story is this: If you need a special dessert for company, but you don’t have a lot of time, consider preparing a Brownie Sundae Bar. Your guests will love it and you will too. It’s simple but fancy and obviously delicious.

What else would you add to your Brownie Sundae Bar? 

P.S. This is not a low sugar dessert. ;)

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Make Extra Baked Potatoes on Purpose Because…

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7 Ways to Use Baked Potatoes

What’s better than a baked potato? A baked potato with butter. Obviously.

But also, I have found that leftover baked potatoes can be a great meal-brain-time saver. This is why I typically bake twice (at least) as many baked potatoes as we will need for one meal.

First, let us be reminded of my favorite way to bake potatoes – particularly in the summertime – but also pretty much all the time because it’s just so easy:

How to Bake Potatoes in the Crock Pot (Without Foil)

I typically have my boys scrub enough potatoes to completely fill the crock pot since I know having the leftovers will give me another easy meal later in the week.

What do I make with leftover baked potatoes?

1. Homemade Frozen Hashbrowns or Hashbrown Patties

We shred baked potatoes into hashbrowns for the freezer. Oh how I love pulling these out for a fast side dish. If I take the time to freeze them into hashbrown patties, they are an extra special treat.

Homemade Hashbrown Patties

2. Fried Potatoes

Leftover baked potatoes make the best fried potatoes. We love to chop them up into a skillet with butter and sea salt. They cook up quickly since they have already been baked, and they have incredible flavor!

3. Potato and Egg Scramble

A favorite breakfast around here includes leftover baked potatoes fried in butter, then scrambled up with eggs.

4. Baked Potato and Bacon Casserole

This can be made and frozen, which makes an easy meal even easier. Grab the recipe here.

Bacon Baked Potato Casserole

5. Potato Veggie Skillet

Leftover baked potatoes, cut up and fried in butter with veggies like onions and sweet peppers (and mushrooms and broccoli and spinach and asparagus) is incredible.

 6. Baked Potato Soup

If I have leftover baked potatoes, I can make my Potato Soup recipe super quickly. The baked potatoes give the soup a great flavor!

7. Taco Potato Skillet

This makes a super fast meal! Simply brown meat, add taco seasoning, then add chopped leftover baked potatoes – cooking until it is heated through. Top with shredded cheese. Serve with veggies. My family loves this meal. I love it because I can make it in about 15 minutes with little effort.

taco potato skillet 3

What do you do with leftover baked potatoes?

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