Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Simple 5-Minute Cheesy Hamburger and Potatoes

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Add this Simple 5-Minute Cheesy Hamburger and Potatoes recipe to the growing list of reasons it is awesome to have a stash of frozen hashbrowns waiting in the freezer!

Around here, we like our recipes to be both easy to prepare and made with real food. Why?

Because loving God and loving people is more important than well, anything else in this world.

(Matthew 22:36-40)

Therefore, we’re learning to do everything possible to keep our food as nourishing as possible, all while preparing it as quickly as possible. This frees up our time and energy to spend doing what God calls us to do each day.

Frozen Hashbrowns for the win!

I shared in this post about my happy hashbrown find and why I now rely on it for a healthy, convenient option. (In summary, Mr. Dells frozen hashbrowns has one ingredient: Potatoes. Beautiful!)

Since discovering these, I’ve come up with a variety of fun Hashbrown Casseroles that my family loves and that take only a few minutes to put together. Many can be made either in the oven or in the crock pot, which means I can make adjustments based on what we have going on each day!

Other super easy (but still real food) Hashbrown Casseroles I’ve shared:

Today we’re adding 5-Minute Cheesy Potatoes and Beef to the list! How can this be made in 5 minutes? Well, with our trusty frozen hashbrowns of course. And also, IF you follow this handy trick of cooking hamburger meat ahead of time, then all you have to do is pull out cooked meat, add it to your crock pot or baking dish with the other ingredients, and in 5 minutes, dinner is ready to bake!

Simple 5-Minute Cheesy Potatoes and Beef

Simple 5-Minute Cheesy Potatoes and Beef
 
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Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 1-2 pounds ground beef
  • 30-ounces frozen hashbrowns (or 5 medium potatoes sliced thinly)
  • 2 Tablespoons dried minced onion
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 3 cups shredded cheese (we use Colby jack)
  • ½ cup chicken or beef broth
Instructions
  1. Brown hamburger meat in a skillet on the stove-top.
  2. In a large crock pot, layer ½ of the potatoes followed by ½ of the cooked meat.
  3. Sprinkle with 1 Tablespoon minced onion, ½ teaspoon paprika, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon sea salt, and 1½ cups shredded cheese.
  4. Repeat with another layer of potatoes, meat, seasonings, and cheese.
  5. Drizzle broth over the ingredients and put the lid on the crock pot.
  6. Cook on "Hi" for 4 hours.

Need some veggies to go with this meal. YES. Always. :) Here are my favorite easy ways to prepare veggies to go with our meals!

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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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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.

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How Your Family Can Eat Healthy Food That Seems Like Junk Food

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Long ago I decided that eating healthy food tastes ridiculously better than eating junk food. I mean, have you ever slathered real butter over a whole grain chocolate muffin made with all real food ingredients? Ever enjoyed a Strawberry Cheesecake Parfait made with fresh, real food ingredients? So much yum! You can’t pay me to trade those in for a poptart from a box after enjoying such delicious real food.

Still, I think we all have our junk-food-guilty-pleasures, right? While I love so many nourishing dishes – a steaming pot roast, cheesy potatoes, fresh from the garden green beans, tossed green salad with homemade ranch – I do have my moments that I get an absurd hankering for Lays potato chips. The Stax kind. These are dangerous in my hands and I forget all things wise and nourishing when I have some {hangs head and shrugs sheepishly}.

What I’m here to share with you today (besides my Lays Stax confession – but I don’t want to talk about that anymore) is that there are many super fun, super nourishing foods I make regularly for my family and they really make us feel strangely like we’re eating junk food. Among them are our two favorites:

  1. Guacomole
  2. Sweet Potato Fries

I’m sorry, but is there any better way to eat vegetables? (Yes, I know avocados are fruit. But they are green so in my head they will always be a veggie, not that it really matters.)

Our family can stand in the kitchen and eat an unbelievable amount of sweet potato fries. We feel zero guilt and 100% joy over this because I make them with healthy oils that can withstand high temps, so we don’t have to fear the fried food. We salt them with Redmond Season Salt and we eat and we eat and we eat. There is nothing bad about these and everything good. Sweet Potato Fries. Best “junk food” ever.

Unless we’re talking about Guacomole. This gives Sweet Potato Fries a run for their money. Yes, we eat Guac with chips, but c’mon now. We’re eating avocados and salsa. Happy, happy health food. (I get chips like these with are a step above, but also, tortilla chips in general aren’t too bad with their three or so ingredients.)

So there you have it. There are many real foods that taste awesome and feel like a treat to eat. Cream Cheese Corn? It’s like eating a bowl full of candy. Strawberry Cheesecake Parfaits? Wowza. Homemade Chicken Nuggets? It doesn’t get any better than this.

What are your favorite healthy foods that taste like you’re eating junk food?

Want to learn more about making your favorite foods the healthy way?

Grab our free Simple Real Food Substitutions printable!

This printable shares all our favorite real food substitutions that makes food tastes so delicious without compromising good health! Get yours here.

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Easy Peanut Butter Honey Granola

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Save big bucks and use the finest ingredients when you make this Easy Peanut Butter Honey Granola!

Confession: Sometimes I buy granola at the store. The kind that comes in a box or a bag. The kind that costs more than a pound of grass-fed beef.

Why do I do this? Because it’s convenient. It’s tasty. It’s fun. And because life gets extra full, therefore sometimes store-bought conveniences feed the family and I don’t even feel bad about it.

Interesting fact: I used to think I was busy (because indeed, I was certainly never bored). Then God suddenly and beautifully made us a foster family. Overnight, I learned what “busy” was in a brand new way. Simultaneously, I began to learn that nothing in this world matters more than loving God and loving people.

Never again will I say, “I’m so busy!” with a negative or complaining heart (or at least it is my goal to keep life in perspective like this). How blessed we are to have such full lives, surrounded by so much love and goodness from the Father! He is the ultimate, perfect provider.

I am learning that if we are “busy” loving God and loving people, the rest will all fall into place, whether it’s schedules, appointments, work, laundry, meals, school, dishes, or any of the many tasks that fill our days. And for the record, sometimes I am “busy resting” because God provides for that too and I’ve learned to take full and glorious advantage of down time and moments of quiet.

Well now, what an interesting way to introduce our new Peanut Butter Honey Granola recipe. I can’t help it. I bought some Peanut Butter Granola in a bag on one of “those days” but wanted to try my hand at making some at home with all of our favorite whole food ingredients and for a fraction of the price.

Our 4-year old foster son jumped right in to help me because “I wike to help Mama Copp cook!” Seriously, this is the best “busy” I’ve ever been.

Easy Peanut Butter Honey Granola

Easy Peanut Butter Honey Granola
 
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Serves: 10-15
Ingredients
  • ⅔ cup coconut oil
  • 1 cup natural peanut butter
  • Pinch of sea salt
  • ½ - ¾ cup honey
  • 4 cups rolled oats
  • 1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
  • ½ cup sesame seeds
Instructions
  1. Measure coconut oil, peanut butter, salt, and honey in a large cooking pot.
  2. Heat and stir together until melted and well-combined.
  3. Remove from heat.
  4. Add oats, coconut, and seeds, stirring well.
  5. Spread mixture on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet.
  6. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes, then stir.
  7. Bake for 10 minutes more.
  8. Remove from oven and allow granola to dry on the countertop for about one hour.
  9. Transfer granola to an air tight container.


Stir some mini chocolate chips for an extra special breakfast or snack.

What’s your favorite flavor of granola?

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Mini Crustless Lemon Cheesecakes (Low Sugar!)

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I’ve been wanting to try this Mini Crustless Lemon Cheesecakes recipe idea for months! (Apparently my to-do list is a little bit backed up?)

Why did it take so long to finally give these a try? Goodness, I don’t know. Life. People. Ministry. Unexpected foster care in our home. Graduation. Soccer season. Church camp. Moving not one but TWO sons into the college dorm in August.

We never quite know what God has for us each day, do we? It’s fun to look forward to learning what He has planned. So what if it takes six months to get around to trying a new recipe? Good things come to those who wait.

I met a new friend at my kids’ homeschool basketball tournament back in March. She said, “I make your Mini Crustless Cheesecakes all the time, but I always add lemon. You should try it! And top it with fruit!” Oh man, did that sound good.

Of course I couldn’t wait to try it and share the idea with you!! Except that I did wait. Six entire months.

So here we are, without further ado, and without any more delays (says the girl who actually started writing this post back in July…).

Mini Crustless Lemon Cheesecakes

Mini Crustless Lemon Cheesecakes (Low Sugar!)
 
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Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 16 ounces softened cream cheese
  • 3 Tablespoons lemon juice (or the juice of one lemon, plus zest if you like!)
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 Tablespoons maple syrup or sugar
  • 2 full droppers of liquid stevia
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. Blend all ingredients together until smooth.
  2. Pour into 12 muffin cups.
  3. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.
  4. Turn off heat, open the oven door, and leave the cheesecakes in the oven for an additional 20 minutes. (Cheesecakes will puff up during baking but deflate while continuing to sit in the oven.)
  5. Transfer cheesecakes to the fridge and chill for at least two hours before serving.

Add fresh or frozen fruit to your cheesecakes for an added burst of flavor.

P.S. I find it easiest to bake my Mini Cheesecakes in a silicone baking pan like this. Once they’ve cooled, they pop right out and the pan is super easy to wash out!

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Stick of Butter Rice – AMAZING!

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Now that I have discovered how to make this Stick of Butter Rice, I will never go back to making it “the regular way.” Wow, wow, and then some. It’s because of the butter, of course. Wait until you try this!

Some people be like, “Go easy on this rice because it’s so high in fat because of the butter!” But Laura be like, “What a great and delicious way to add good fat to a whole grain carb dish!”

I’m not a huge fan of empty carbs, which turn to sugar in our bodies, which offer little if any nourishment, and therefore can turn to fat in our bodies as they try to serve some sort of purpose for us. So if there’s any reason to go easy on this rice, it is because our bodies don’t need loads of carbohydrates or grains for nourishment (unless we are avid athletes with rigorous daily workouts).

As for me? I enjoy this wonderfully flavored, high fat rice in small quantities with a large side of veggies and a delightful portion of meat.

The flavor of this rice, though!!! Wow, you must try it. Between the broth, the onion, and the butter (the obvious MVP of this dish), I think you’ll be like me and decide to never go back to making plain rice again!

See how simple this Stick of Butter Rice is?

Measure uncooked rice and minced onion into a baking dish. Cut butter into pats and add to rice.

Add salt and chicken broth and stir.

Cover and bake in a 350 degree oven for one hour. Your job here is done.

We love serving some sort of shredded meat with this rice, such as:

Those are our favorites, though this Stick of Butter Rice makes a great side dish with just about any meal!

Enjoy the simplicity of this wonderful dish! Once you try it you’ll never go back!

Stick of Butter Rice

5.0 from 4 reviews
Stick of Butter Rice - AMAZING!
 
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Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 2 cups brown rice (uncooked)
  • 4 cups beef or chicken broth
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 Tablespoons dry minced onions
  • 1 stick of butter (1/2 cup)
Instructions
  1. Measure rice, broth, salt, and onions into a 9x13 inch baking dish and stir.
  2. Cut a stick of butter into 8ish "pats" and spread over the dish.
  3. Cover dish and bake in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour.

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Lunch in a Jar: Tuna Salad & Crackers

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It’s one of the most basic, simple foods. But still, Tuna Salad & Crackers is one of my favorite lunches to pack in a jar and take on the road.

You might remember that I shared our favorite Tuna Salad recipe last month when talking about these Tuna Salad Wraps. I’ll share the recipe again below, just to make it simple for all of us to quickly stir together tuna salad!

Lunch in a Jar: Tuna Salad & Crackers

Lunch in a Jar: Tuna Salad & Crackers
 
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Serves: 1-2
Ingredients
  • 6-ounce can tuna in water, drained
  • 3 Tablespoons mayonnaise (I use Hain Safflower mayo)
  • 2 teaspoons sweet pickle relish
  • Dash of sea salt
Instructions
  1. Mix tuna, mayo, pickle relish, and salt until well combined.
  2. Transfer to 4 or 8 ounce jars to pack in lunches.

Send along your favorite crackers with the jar of Tuna Salad. Crackers are great tuna scoopers! I love this lunch with a side of fresh fruits and veggies!

Our Favorite Ingredients to use in Tuna Salad:

Best Jars to use for Tuna Salad in a LunchBox:

  • 8-ounce wide mouth jars
  • Or these 8-ounce wide mouth jars
  • Tiny 4-ounce jars for smaller appetites


—-> Did you see the fun list of supplies and jars I recommend for packing lunches? <—–

Great add-ins to your Tuna with Crackers Lunch in a Jar

Not a fan of Tuna Salad? Use this same idea but make Chicken Salad instead!

We’ve got 10 super fun Lunch in a Jar ideas to share this month – perfect for your Back to School lunchbox! Subscribe here so you won’t miss a post!

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Lunch in a Jar: Veggies with Dip

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Hopefully you’ve already seen this genius idea for putting veggies with dip in a jar and packing it for lunch. This has become one of my favorite ways to eat well on the road!

Do you see that?

  1. You put Ranch Dip or Hummus or any of your favorite veggie dips into the bottom of small jar.
  2. Then you add your favorite raw veggies.
  3. Put on a lid and you’re good to go.

When it’s time to eat, your veggies are already dipped. Pick up a carrot, eat the carrot covered in dip. How can eating well get any easier than this?

—-> Did you see the fun list of supplies and jars I recommend for packing lunches? <—–

Our Favorite Veggie Dips to Pack in Lunches

Our Favorite Veggies to put with our Dips

  • Petite Baby Carrots (so much sweeter and easier to eat!)
  • Sliced Cucumbers
  • Broccoli
  • Cauliflower
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Celery (ok, not really our favorite, but still worth adding it to the list in case it’s one of yours!)

Great add-ins to your Veggies with Dip Lunch in a Jar

We’ve got 10 super fun Lunch in a Jar ideas to share this month – perfect for your Back to School lunchbox! Subscribe here so you won’t miss a post!

Next up, fruits and dips. Wait until you see all the fun ideas!!

Some of these links are my affiliate links.

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Simple Summer Supper: Broccoli Bacon Salad

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I promise not all of the Simple Summer Suppers we’re going to share have bacon in them. (At least I think I promise this. Yes. I do. I promise.) But it only made sense that this Broccoli Bacon Salad recipe follow the BLT Wraps recipe. Because obviously you made extra bacon when you made the BLT Wraps, right?

When one makes bacon, one should always make extra. This is not so all the people can over-eat the bacon. This is so the mother can get ahead in the kitchen. And who am I kidding? Here’s the real reason I make lots of bacon at one time:

I don’t want my hair to smell like bacon any more than is necessary.

When I make bacon my hair, clothes, and house absorb the delicious smell of bacon. But I don’t want to wear bacon hair for three days, nor do I want my house to constantly smell as if I’m burning a bacon-scented candle. (I am amused and slightly horrified that these actually exist.)

So I make bacon bits like this, or I bake bacon in strips like this. I make many pounds at one time so I can get ahead and then I wash my hair. The end.

Now that we have the bacon cooking situation under control, we can make all kinds of delicious meals in a hurry! This Broccoli Bacon Salad is packed with flavor! Of course it’s easy to make, because easy recipes are the only kind I like to make and share.

Broccoli Bacon Salad

5.0 from 1 reviews
Simple Summer Supper: Broccoli Bacon Salad
 
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Serves: 3-6
Ingredients
  • ¾ cup mayonnaise (I use Hain Safflower Mayo)
  • 2 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • 5 cups of chopped broccoli (1 large head)
  • 2 Tablespoons chopped onion
  • 8 slices of cooked bacon bits
  • ¾ cup grated cheddar cheese
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl, combine broccoli, onion, bacon, and cheese.
  2. Stir in mayonnaise and vinegar.
  3. Serve right away or make ahead and chill until serving time.


Truly, this Broccoli Bacon Salad is a meal in and of itself. It can be packed in a lunch or eaten on the road. It can be made ahead of time and pulled out of the fridge for an instant meal. It makes a perfect Simple Summer Supper on a hot day!

You can look forward to getting more Simple Summer Supper ideas like this during the entire month of July. Stay tuned! (Be sure to subscribe here for free so you don’t miss any of these ideas and posts!)

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Just Say No to Russet Potatoes and Red Delicious Apples (When Sub-Par Food Doesn’t Inspire You to Eat Well)

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Could it be that you’ve only been eating sub-par food and have been missing out on what better varieties of real food have to offer? It’s possible that you might actually enjoy healthy eating – you just don’t know it yet!

While ordering a burger with a friend during a dinner out recently, I said, “No cheese please.” The person taking my order teased me by saying, “Ok, but you’re missing out on the best part!”

I agree. Cheese on a burger is fabuloso. But not when it’s fake, American cheese. I just can’t. It ruins the taste of my burger, it sticks to the roof of my mouth, it comes off the bun like a weird piece of plastic. I certainly don’t want to appear to be a food snob. I just like my food to taste good.

This is why I don’t buy russet potatoes any more. I mean, they’re fine. They’re okay. But Yukon Gold potatoes? Now those are incredible!!! They make every potato dish taste better. And they are more nutritious too. Score!

Red delicious apples? I’ve never liked them. They are flavorless and grainy and the skin is weird (bless their hearts). But give me a Gala, a Pink Lady, an Empire apple – oh the list goes on. There are so many fabulous apples choices available to us. Why settle for what doesn’t taste great?

I usually skip Iceberg Lettuce and go for more nourishing greens that are more flavorful and fun. Margarine is a non-food and you already know how I feel about that. But I will say that since I switched over to real butter a few years ago, my baked goods and all food using butter tastes 100% better.

Fresh or frozen veggies vs. canned veggies? There’s no comparison. Real cream compared to commercial creamer? Oh my.

In summary: Real food tastes incredible and when you eat it you will feel that you are eating like royalty.

Stop settling for sub-par food and go for what tastes amazing!

The prices of these great food varieties are only slightly higher (if they are higher at all) than their sub-par food counterparts. (I did a big real food price comparison here. You’ll LOVE the results I found about the price of real, healthy food!!)

Leave a comment to share what some of your favorite real foods are! It’s fun to hear what inspires others to eat well!

Did you get this awesome FREE PRINTABLE yet? It shares all our favorite real food substitutions that makes food tastes so delicious! Get yours here.

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