Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Start the Day With a Healthy (Quick & Easy) Breakfast {31 Days of Real Food Reality ~ Day 13}

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I’m almost as passionate about eating a healthy breakfast as I am about eating lots of butter. They’re both super important. Therefore…feel free to spread butter all over your breakfast. Oh yeah.

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But wait. You don’t have time to cook a healthy breakfast every morning? Me neither.  I mean, if I felt like losing an hour of sleep, skipping my much needed Bible time, foregoing my morning work-out, or beginning my day by being glued to a griddle while flipping countless pancakes – I could make the time to cook a healthy, hearty breakfast every morning. But well…I don’t.

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That’s what scares us away from making a healthy breakfast isn’t it? Time. Effort. School. Work. Schedules. I get it. I’m with ya. I have plenty of other things to do in the morning and I like sleeping. I don’t like the stress of trying to get everyone going in the morning while trying to keep breakfast from burning on the stove. So does that mean we take the easy way out and buy boxed, convenience foods for breakfast? Sure, if you want to feel like junk all day and start your kids’ school day off with a big, blurry bang that ends in a sugar crash by morning recess. But what if there is a way to have a nourishing breakfast without the morning stress?

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Oh yes. There is definitely a way. I am loving this real food reality which includes a hearty, healthy, no brainer breakfast each morning.

I do everything possible to make healthy breakfast foods ahead of time so that all I have to do in the morning to get a nourishing breakfast on the table is open a container. Or boil water. Or maybe, just maybe, I’ll “go to the trouble” of scrambling or frying eggs, which takes about five minutes. (Or better yet, I assign that task to one of my boys. Hurray for kids who are old enough to use a stove!)

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How do I put a healthy breakfast on the table without much effort each morning?

Seriously, making a healthy breakfast is not hard. We do not have to resort to boxed food. It’s just a matter of planning ahead and focusing on food that is real and nourishing. Real food – it is amazing.

Here are some of my favorite healthy, make-ahead breakfast ideas:

And always, always serve fruit with breakfast.  That’s the healthiest convenience food there is. :)

As soon as we start making some healthy foods ahead of time, and stop assuming that eating healthy food is difficult, we’ll be well on our way to saving money and keeping our lives so much simpler in the kitchen! Plus, when we begin our day with a nourishing breakfast, we get our body off to a great start – setting the pace for a great day ahead.

add fruits and veggiesAnd there’s more!

Need some easy, healthy breakfast inspiration? We have a freebie for you!

To help us all along in this effort, I created a downloadable chart with 31 Days of Real Food Breakfast Ideas. It is internet linked, so all you have to do is click to find the recipe referred to on the chart.

Eggs and smoothies. Smoothies and eggs. Cereal. Cereal. Cereal. Snore. Need a change of pace? Want some fresh ideas? We’ve got a free printable for you that includes 31 Days of Real Food Breakfast Ideas!


All 31 ideas are recipe linked. Every recipe is made from real food: Whole grain, healthy fats, wholesome sweeteners. It’s all simple, it’s all delicious, and it will inspire you with fresh ideas for ways to feed your family each morning.

Unless you enjoy eating breakfast at night for dinner. (For some reason, waffles taste better at night. We don’t understand it. We just go with it!)

Mix it up. Substitute your favorite fruits – whatever is in season! Be sure to add protein to each meal if needed. There’s no right or wrong way to use this free printable full of ideas. We just hope you use it!

 —> Want some simple real food dinner ideas too? Check out this huge list! <—-

By the way, want to eat cookies for breakfast? With bacon? Strawberries and cream? Life is good, and so is your health. Real food for the win! (Seriously. Stop being afraid of bacon and cream. It’s real food, our bodies can utilize it for nourishment, and when we eat real food in balance, we can be healthy!)

We’re happy to share this 31 Days of Real Food Breakfast Ideas printable with you to use in whatever way works best for your family. Adapt it, pick and choose what works for you, and enjoy!

BONUS: Using these recipes will save you big bucks! How? Well, have you seen the price of a box of cereal? Making a homemade breakfast is quite a money saver. We love it!

Get your free printable 31 Days of Real Food Breakfast Ideas. Signing up to receive this will connect you to our Savings Club, providing you with relevant money-saving tips, recipes, ideas, and inspiration!

There you go – 31 healthy, make-ahead, family friendly, money-saving, real food breakfast ideas!

What are your favorite ways to get a healthy breakfast on the table quickly in the morning?

It’s here! Check out our amazing Simple Meals program!

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Stop Calling It Health Food {31 Days of Real Food Reality ~ Day 9}

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We were at a friend’s house. The dear lady had been brave enough to offer to feed a meal to our family of six big eaters. As she got pulled a pizza out of the oven, one of my boys (who was pretty little at the time) proclaimed, “Uh-oh, Mama! She made us the unhealthy kind!!”

I shrugged, smiled, and responded by doing what any wise mother would do: I slunk down under the table, never to return.

At that point, it became clear to me that I had created a monster. Four monsters actually, but thankfully the littlest one couldn’t talk yet.

See, when we were transitioning to a whole foods diet several years ago, my kids, who were used to being served meals from a box or a can, found themselves with a freaked-out sort of mama. I swung our food pendulum from one side to the other, and became afraid of anything that wasn’t organic, grass fed, soaked, fermented, and free of all additives, dyes, flavorings – and felt that I would certainly be poisoning us all if even a morsel of it crossed our lips. I did exactly what I now encourage you all NOT to do as you baby step your way toward real food cooking and eating. In an effort to educate my kids as we were making seven hundred changes all at one time, I spoke way too often about what was healthy, and what wasn’t.

Part of this was good. I believe we need to make our family aware of the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to healthy eating. They need to understand why we’re opting to make changes in the kitchen. It’s only fair.

But particularly if you have kids or a husband who is not excited about making healthy changes, and definitely so that your kids won’t throw you under the bus when someone feeds you something that might just contain a bit of Velveeta or MSG – it’s a very good idea to chill out with the “we are now eating health food” family conversations. There is no need to make a big shebang at each meal as you announce that: “The healthy, real food meal is now on the table, and it will nourish us all so much better than the processed food we used to eat, especially since it contains leafy greens and abundant antioxidants…” I mean, maybe that will make your family come running to the table with eagerness, but I’m pretty sure if you just place the nourishing, well balanced meal on the table and holler, “The pot roast is ready!” they’ll be much more relaxed as they join you for the feast.

See, here’s the deal:  The healthy food we should be eating? All of this real food I’m always talking about and encouraging you to focus on? It’s all just…food. When my grandma served her chicken soup, pickled beets, homemade bread, and real butter – while it was all very healthy, in her mind, she was simply serving food. It was food in its whole form, so without even trying, she was serving us “health food.” But it would have made her chuckle for someone to call it that.

Do make your family aware of how they can make good choices when it comes to healthy eating. And definitely don’t be deceitful or sneaky in your food preparation and efforts to get nutrients into your family. But it might be a good idea to avoid making a huge deal about how “we’re going to be eating really healthy now.”

Create yummy dishes. Make tasty snacks. Use real food while you’re cooking and baking. Know that you are putting together delicious, real, whole, healthy food for your family, and that it can be as simple as Grandma’s fried chicken.

To give an example of this, tomorrow’s Real Food Reality post includes a recipe for Cheeseburger Soup. It’s a real food recipe, filled with wholesome goodness, but no one would eat it and declare, “Oh, what wonderful health food we are eating.” They’ll just devour it and call it wonderful. Oh how I love recipes like this. Can’t wait to share it with you!

Have your kids ever embarrassed you by proclaiming someone else’s food to be unhealthy? Come….come join me under the mortified mom’s table.

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Real Food Reality Resources Package – Wait Till You See This!

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It’s everything you need to gently walk through your journey to a Real Food Kitchen. Don’t know where to start? Can’t even find your kitchen? Hoping to save money and time? Need as many menu planning ideas as you can get? Check, check, check, check, and then some. This package covers it all!

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This package includes five wonderful resources to make your transition to real food cooking a reality. I’m so excited to package these up and knock a bunch of money off the price in an effort to save you money coming and going. Yep, while you’ll be saving a nice percentage off the regular price of the eBooks and eCourses in this package, you’ll also be amazed at the money you’ll save by following the steps and tips described in these eCourses and eBooks. Here’s what this package includes:

Do the Funky Kitchen

Having an organized, well equipped kitchen isn’t a must, but well, it is very helpful. Spend a little time following the suggestions in this eBook, and have a functional (funky!) kitchen that you’ll love! Read more here…

Heavenly Homemaker’s 40 Weekly Menu Planning Ideas Packet

You’ll receive 40 simple, real food, family friendly, easy recipe menu plans in this packet. It is internet linked so that when you see a meal idea within a menu plan that you like, you can click the link directly from the eBook to find the recipe online. Be inspired and receive countless meal planning ideas! Read more here…

You Can Do This! The First Five Steps to a Real Food Kitchen

It’s an eCourse that includes five thorough but simple lessons to walk you through transforming your kitchen into a real food kitchen – one little step at a time. Work at your own pace. Work at it in your jammies. Love where this journey takes you! Read more here…

Let’s Do This! Getting Ahead in Your Real Food Kitchen

My favorite way to serve real food to my family is by making food ahead of time so that I have healthy convenience foods ready to grab and go. This five lesson eCourse teaches you how you can not only keep up in your real food kitchen – you can actually get ahead! You’ll love these methods and find that getting ahead in your real food kitchen is easier than you think! Read more here…

{Healthy} Make-Ahead Meals and Snacks

It’s an eBook full of easy, real food recipes that can all be made ahead of time and frozen for easy use. This includes many of my family’s favorite casseroles and snacks. This eBook will save you time and money, and the recipes are delicious too! Enjoy getting ahead with these fun recipes! Read more here…

Bonus!

The You Can Do This! eCourse automatically comes with a free set of What To Do With the Chicken in Your Kitchen Recipe Cards, which includes 24 delicious, real food chicken recipes on cute, printable cards. Enjoy this free bonus worth an additional $6!

Get your Real Food Reality Resources Package

$19.95

click to purchse

And one more thing…

I must also encourage you to purchase my Oh, For Real: Real Food, Real Family, Real Easy printed cookbook. It’s a wonderful resource to have in your hands and in your kitchen. Consider adding the book to this purchase and we’ll get it sent out to you right away.

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Oh, For Real: Real Food, Real Family, Real Easy 

$25.95
Price includes shipping – U.S. only

Add to Cart

Just want the Real Food Reality Resources Package?
Get it here for $19.95.

click to purchse

Our goal is that these resources will be a blessing to you as you venture on this real food journey!

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One Step at a Time {31 Days of Real Food Reality ~ Day 2}

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It’s an exciting time! The holidays are over, and many of us are looking forward to starting fresh and becoming healthier!

Looking forward to chucking all of the processed foods in your house, eating three vegetables with every meal, transforming your refrigerator so that it only contains homemade condiments, keeping up with meal planning consistently, packing healthy lunches every day for your kids, making all of your own baked goods using only whole grains and unprocessed sugars, and never touching store bought candy again for the rest of your life? That’s awesome! These are all wonderful goals. Hoping to do it all by tomorrow? I love your ambition, but chill out with a piece of chocolate. That may not be reality.

As someone who is encouraging you to eat a healthy diet, let me be clear. When I say, “chill out with a piece of chocolate,” I totally mean, “relax while you munch a radish.” Obviously. But my point is that if you try to make too many good changes at once, setting 42 healthy living goals in an effort to completely transform your life overnight, you may become so overwhelmed that within two days you’ll decide that there’s no way you can keep up with this healthy, real food business. At the very least, you’ll likely freak out the people around you, giving them the impression that life as they know it and their loved one’s sanity (that would be yours) just got thrown out with the Fruitie Magrooties.

Let me remind you that every healthy change you make is a wonderful step in the right direction. Usually, taking one step at a time makes the transition from junk food to real food much more doable as opposed to making many drastic changes all at once. People who go from all to nothing (or nothing to all, as the case may be) are much more likely to get frustrated, become overwhelmed, and give up before they even really get started.

You didn’t learn to count, add, subtract, multiply, divide, reduce fractions, and master hyperbolic trigonometry all in the same day did you? Neither will you transform your kitchen and eating habits all in the same day. Or week. Or month.

Take small steps toward switching from processed food to real food. Begin to cut out the bad slowly, while introducing the good at a pace that is doable for you and your family. Why not make a list of healthy habits you’d like to begin, then prioritize them in order of importance to you? Or start with the easiest ones first. Once you get the hang of one, you can tackle another.

Before you know it, you’ll be a whiz at hyperbolic trigonometry. Or rather, you’ll be like me and have no idea what that even is. But by golly, you’ll be drinking plenty of water and eating much less sugar than you used to. And on it goes.

Fruitie Magrooties, it was nice knowing you. Healthy living, here we come!

What is one step you can start taking today that will be doable for you and your family as you work your way toward a healthier lifestyle?

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The Reality Is, We Can’t Do This Without God’s Help {31 Days of Real Food Reality, Day 1}

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I can share all of my greatest healthy eating tips, impart all of my real food wisdom, and encourage you until I fall out of my chair. But the reality is, if eating real food is important to you, and you want to make healthy changes for yourself and for your family – you are going to first need to take your desires to God.

Think God doesn’t have time to listen to your concerns about your picky kids or limited grocery budget? Feel silly asking God for help when it comes to choosing vegetables over potato chips? Figure there are bigger cares to take before the throne than your transition to whole grains and brown rice? Then let me ask you this:  How long have you been burdened by the desire to be healthier? How many times have you felt frustrated when you feel like you’ve failed, when your family hasn’t jumped on board with you, or when you’ve slipped back into unhealthy eating habits? God loves you no matter what, and sees you through His eyes of grace. But if you desire to make healthy changes, oh yes, He very much cares and will help you. He knows exactly what your limits are, and He knows exactly what you need. He’s got this!

Case in point:  Do you know how long I’ve tried to stop craving and eating too much sugar? (From about the time I turned 6.)  Do you know how hard I’ve worked to have self-control when it comes to chocolate? (I mean, it’s chocolate.)  Do you know how many times I’ve tried and failed to help my picky eaters make good choices? (Why won’t they just put the cauliflower into their tiny little mouths and chew?)

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This is going to sound cliché, but what-ever, because it applies to all areas of life, including chocolate and cauliflower:  We can do nothing without God’s help.

If I’ve learned anything the past year, it is that on my own, I am weak and fall short. But when I give up my own control and accept God’s power to work through me, I am incredibly strong. Take it from a (recovering) chocolate, sugar, dessert addict who finally let God take over this weakness a few months ago. I’ve been trying on my own for years. My will power would carry me for a few days, then I’d slip back into my old chocolate-covered habits again. But I’m finally accepting God’s power to work in me with this, which is, without a doubt, so much more amazing than my own pitiful, sugar-coated will power.

Do you want to make healthy changes in your kitchen for yourself and for your family? Then confidently tell God your desires. And none of this worried kind of prayer either. “Oh God, I’m so scared that my kids are going to get scurvy because they won’t eat vegetables. Will you please help?” No, no. God already knows our desires and is our absolute helper.  Pray confidently! “God, you know how much I desire for our family to learn to like healthier foods. I know you can work this out for us. I trust You and am excited to see You do this for us!” or  “Father, you know our resources are limited, and you also know how eager I am to honor you by staying healthy. I trust you to provide and to show me how to make this work!”

Pray, listen, and confidently accept His gift of peace in this area of your life.

Setting goals is good. Making plans is wise. Becoming excited about making healthy changes is wonderful. But don’t start this new year by making goals and trying to make changes. Start by asking God to do His work in you and in your family. It’s the first step you should take toward making real food a reality!

Obviously, this can be applied to anything you desire – not just a desire to become healthier.  Care to share some of your desires for this new year?

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31 Days of Real Food Reality – Featured January 2014!

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Ready to drop kick the sugar habit? Excited about making healthy changes in the new year? Looking to learn more about how to cook and serve real food? Hoping to continue (or start) replacing processed food with whole food?

Want someone to make it easy for you?

31 Days

Every single day during the month of January, we’ll have a post that will equip, inspire, and encourage you on your journey to real food eating. Why is it called “Real Food Reality?” Because as always, everything about this series will be doable for you. Real food for your real life.  There’s nothing complicated or time consuming about what I’ll be sharing. I’m not going to ask you to stop eating grains or meat or dairy or…chocolate. I’m not going to kill your grocery budget. I’m not going to insist that you eat weird food, make you give up your favorite foods, or heap on any guilt about the fact that you don’t eat a perfect diet.

I’ll share my real food reality with you – and you can simply relax and join the fun. Sound good?

Make your real food goals a reality in 2014!

Before we get started, please share: What is the biggest challenge for you when it comes to eating and cooking real foods?

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Oh, For Real: Real Food, Real Family, Real Easy Book – Bonus With Purchase!

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Don’t have my Oh, For Real: Real Food, Real Family, Real Easy book yet? Already have it but want to give one away as a Christmas gift? We’ve got a book purchase bonus for you this week!

Oh, For Real is a real life, hold in your hands book filled with all of my family’s favorite easy, real food recipes. This book answers the questions of how I’m able to consistently feed my family healthy meals and snacks, how I get ahead, how I save money, how I get it all done, how I regularly don’t get it all done, and how I sometimes eat Doritos.

We’d love for you to have this book in your kitchen. We continue to receive emails from people who are sharing what a blessing this book has been to them. YES! We are so thankful to hear that the information and recipes in the book are blessing you!

Read all the details about Oh, For Real here. Because this book is in printed form, we are unable to offer a discount (oh lovely printing and shipping costs). BUT, we can offer a purchase bonus. So here it is!

Gift Certificate Preview

Don’t look now, but that’s not really the code.

Now through Tuesday, November 26 if you purchase Oh, For Real: Real Food, Real Family, Real Easy you will also receive an immediate $5.00 gift certificate to use on anything downloadable in our shop. Gift the certificate to someone else (Christmas bonus!), or use it yourself on any of our eCourses or downloadable books! The gift certificate will be immediate gratification. The Oh, For Real book will be sent through the mail right away! This price is U.S. only. If you are from outside the U.S., please email me for details.

Oh, For Real: Real Food, Real Family, Real Easy
with bonus $5 certificate

$25.95

Add to Cart

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Easy and Delicious – Black Bean Salsa

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You’ve likely seen this recipe on my site before, but I wanted to highlight it as a delicious meal that costs less than a dollar per plate!

Black Bean Salsa is easy to make and has only five healthy ingredients. It tastes so fresh, and the cilantro makes it so flavorful. I serve it with Organic Corn Chips. The total cost for the salsa and the chips costs less than $6 and will feed my entire family. This is also a great, inexpensive snack to share with guests at a party.

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You’ll find the recipe here.

Looking for more meal ideas that use healthy, real food ingredients and cost less than one dollar per plate? Here’s what I’ve shared so far:

 

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Let’s Do This! Join the Getting Ahead {Breakfast} Challenge

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It’s a great time of year to get a little more organized in the kitchen so that you can stay ahead of your busy schedule. That’s why we created the Let’s Do This! Getting Ahead in Your Real Food Kitchen eCourse and the {Healthy} Make-Ahead Meals and Snacks eBook. Hopefully you’ve grabbed yours already and have started working your way through them. If not, you can do that here.

Whether you’re taking the course or not, I hope you’ll all join me in this Getting Ahead Challenge! We can all benefit from working ahead in our kitchens!

During the next four weeks, we’ll be offering four different challenges so that together, we can take steps to get ahead. I’ll be sharing more getting-ahead tips, new recipes, plus some freebies to help us all in our efforts. My goal with these challenges is to put you to work in the kitchen so that you can see how easy and beneficial it is to get food made ahead of time.

Who’s with me?! Let’s Do This!

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Our first challenge is all about Getting Ahead for Breakfast.

Why are we starting with a breakfast challenge? Because that’s the meal I struggle with most as I try to get ahead in my kitchen. Dinnertime casseroles in the freezer? No problem. Burritos in the freezer for a quick lunch? Done. But breakfast? I often forget that there are so many make-ahead breakfast options. Therefore I rarely remember to put these items on my make-ahead-to-do-list. (Except for freezing muffin batter. I’ve been obsessed with that recently, as you know. But man can not live by muffins alone.)

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As much as I appreciate being ahead and having dinner time foods prepped and ready, I think I need healthy breakfast foods prepared and accessible even more. We need to get our day started quickly and smoothly. We need a full, hearty breakfast. We need to not have to think straight the minute we roll out of bed with fuzzy brain, crazy hair, and a long to-do list for the day ahead – am I right?

Therefore, for the past few weeks, I’ve been focusing on creating new recipes and coming up with new ideas for ways to get ahead for breakfast. I am so excited to share all I’ve been learning! You’ll be glad to know that not all methods of getting ahead involve filling the freezer. And they definitely don’t involve spending a lot of extra time working in the kitchen. (The eCourse already taught you that though, right?!)

Now through next Thursday, make plans to join me in getting ahead with breakfast foods. What’s involved in this challenge? Simply pick one (or more!) breakfast foods that you can prepare ahead of time – and get it done! Here are some suggested ideas:

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There are lots of great ways to get ahead for breakfast! (Here are all of the Healthy Breakfast Recipes on this site.)  You aren’t limited to the suggestions above. Do whatever you can to make healthy breakfasts easier at your house. Be watching for more recipes and ideas in the coming days. I can’t wait to share!

Are you joining this challenge? Leave a comment on this post letting me know that you’re taking part.

So let’s hear it!  What are you going to make to get ahead for breakfast?

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Getting Ahead in the Kitchen When You Don’t Want To Heat Up the House

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I love seeing how many are grabbing the Let’s Do This! Getting Ahead in Your Real Food Kitchen eCourse and {Healthy} Make Ahead Meals and Snacks eBook. It is especially great to hear how some of you are already using the techniques described in the eCourse and the recipes in the eBook to get ahead. As one person commented this morning, “Because of your course, I now already have dinner made for tonight! That’s a first for me!” Awesome. :)  It’s so exciting to me to see how many of you are saving yourselves so much time and energy in your kitchen!

Today, I wanted to share an additional tip that has helped me to get ahead this week. It’s been hot at our house the past several days – too hot to bake. In fact, I’ve hardly even wanted to cook anything on the stovetop because even that heats up the kitchen on hot days. But I still found myself with about thirty minutes of time yesterday that I could work ahead in the kitchen.

So what did I do? I mixed up items that could be frozen raw and baked later. It was the perfect solution to getting ahead without heating up the kitchen!

Here’s what I made:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (a necessity, right?)

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To freeze cookie dough, simply mix up the batter and scoop it out onto a cookie sheet. Place the cookie sheet in the freezer until the cookie dough is frozen. Transfer the frozen dough to a well-labeled ziplock bag. Store in the freezer for up to two months. To bake the cookies, place the frozen balls of dough onto a baking sheet, two inches apart. Bake as directed, adding a few minutes extra baking time.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffin Batter

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Here are the details you’ll want to read to learn about freezing muffin batter. On a chilly morning someday soon, I can use these frozen muffin balls to make fresh muffins without any effort!

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Quick Mix Biscuits

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Don’t like the hassle of rolling out and cutting out biscuits at breakfast or dinner time? Me neither (even though it really isn’t hard). I mixed up a double batch of biscuits, rolled them, cut them, and froze them on a cookie sheet. Once they were frozen, I transferred them to a freezer bag. To bake frozen biscuits:  Place desired number of biscuits on a baking sheet to thaw for 30 minutes to one hour before baking.  Bake as directed.

Other ideas of ways to get ahead when it’s too hot to cook/bake:

What else have you done to get ahead in your kitchen that doesn’t require using a stove or oven?

How has it been going for you as you’ve been
working through the eCourse and trying new recipes from the eBook?
Haven’t started yet? We’d love to have you join us!

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