Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Simple Hashbrown Casserole (Instructions for Instant Pot, Crock Pot, or Oven!)

by 15 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Hooray! Simple Hashbrown Casserole is my first (of many?!) Instant Pot recipes to share. But guess what else?

instant pot hashbrown casserole2

I’m well aware that not everyone has an Instant Pot, so I’m also providing instructions for baking this in an oven. Not only that, because there are times we might need a slower cooking option (like, if we need to get dinner started, then head out to ball games, then come home to a cooked meal) – so I’m also including Crock Pot cooking instructions!

As best I can, I will provide all these options each (or most of the) time I share an Instant Pot recipe. Here’s a quick glance at cooking times for this Simple Hashbrown Casserole so you can make your best plan on the day you make this.

Cook Time Options for Simple Hashbrown Casserole

Instant Pot: 15 minutes
Oven: 1 hour
Crock Pot: 3-6 hours, depending on low or hi setting

instant pot hashbrown casserole

You need just five ingredients to make this recipe! One of the ingredients is this Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix, which I love to have on hand at all times. Another ingredient is cooked meat. This time I made hamburger meat in my Instant Pot and I can’t wait to tell you about it! This is the easiest meat-cooking method there is – and possibly my “if you get an Instant Pot for no other reason, this is it!” shout out. I’ll share about this meat-cooking method soon!

You might remember a variation of this new simple recipe: Bacon Ranch Hashbrown Casserole. You can most certainly make that recipe in your Instant Pot or Crock Pot following these instructions! And if you don’t love the “ranch” flavor this calls for, simply sub it out for any spices you like! Truly this recipe is most forgiving, and allows you to make it with any meat you prefer or have on hand, so you can create it to your family’s taste!

And then there’s the variety of cooking methods that allow you to make this no matter how busy your day, so I think we can all agree that this recipe wins the “Cooks Choice Award!”

Simple Hashbrown Casserole

Simple Hashbrown Casserole (Instructions for Instant Pot, Crock Pot, or Oven!)
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 1 pound cooked meat (hamburger, ham, bacon, sausage, or any of your choosing!)
  • 2 cups shredded cheddar or Colby jack cheese
  • 3 cups sour cream
  • 3 Tablespoons Ranch Dressing Mix
  • 1 bag of frozen shredded hashbrowns
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl, stir together cooked meat, shredded cheese, sour cream, and ranch dressing mix.
  2. Fold in frozen hashbrowns until all ingredients are well combined.
  3. Instant Pot Method: Add ½ cup water to the bottom of the Instant Pot before adding remaining ingredients. Cook for 15 minutes on manual mode, hi pressure.
  4. Oven Baking: Bake uncovered in a 350° oven for 45-60 minutes or until casserole is lightly browned and bubbly.
  5. Crock Pot Method: Cook on low for 6 hours or on hi for 3 hours.

Simple Hashbrown Casserole (for Instant Pot, Crock Pot, or Oven)

More Simple Recipes

728x90

Join Simple Meals

Make life even simpler when you sign up to receive our weekly Menu Planning Packets. One tiny price, loads of weekly help. Read about this and sign up here!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Subscribe for FREE to Heavenly Homemakers so you won’t miss all the new Simple Recipes and ideas we share to save you money!

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

Master List of Simple Breakfast Ideas

by 5 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Who is ready to download the Master List of Simple Breakfast Ideas?!

Hopefully you already grabbed the Master List of Simple Lunch Ideas. I’m covering my fridge with these lists to make our transition from summer break to a school schedule a little bit easier. If you haven’t already, be sure to get your lunch list here!

breakfast_cookies

Watch also for our upcoming Master Lists of food and recipes and ideas to make snacks and to fill a lunchbox. (Subscribe here so you don’t miss them!)

Today’s list:

The Master List of Simple Breakfast Ideas

Keep Breakfast Simple

Note: If possible I try to always serve a protein of some sort for breakfast. I also always serve fruit. I’ll begin this Master Breakfast List with the protein and fruit lists that I typically serve with everything else on the list!

Your Real Food Master Simple Breakfast List

You can download this entire list here. But I’ll share it all on this post for reference also. I also recommend that you pin it so you can find it quickly as needed!

strawberry

Protein to Go With Breakfast

ham and egg cups1

Fruit that is Great With Breakfast

Any fruit is great! Our favorites for breakfast are:

  • Apples
  • Applesauce
  • Oranges
  • Clementines
  • Bananas
  • Strawberries
  • Blueberries
  • Raspberries
  • Nectarines
  • Peaches
  • Cantaloupe
  • Honey Dew Melon
  • Grapes

Stir and Pour Bread Varieties

This Stir and Pour Bread recipe is a game changer to make it super simple to have Homemade Bread on hand to use for a quick breakfast!

stir and pour bread loaf 5

Breakfast You Can Make the Night Before

orange

Make Ahead Breakfast Cereal

dark_chocolate_almond_granola

Breakfast in a Mug or Glass

Quick Breakfasts From Freezer to Oven

Freezer Breakfast Cookies5

Big List of Muffin Recipes

Breakfast You Can Make in Your Waffle Iron

Great Waffle Iron Hacks

Quick Mix Breakfast Ideas

If you have Quick Mix on hand, you can quickly make:

Would you like to make this Master List of Simple Breakfast Ideas even simpler?

Sign up here to receive the entire Master List of Simple Breakfast Ideas in a free downloadable document! Then you can keep it handy on your computer or print it and put it on your fridge as a super handy reference!

Master List of 60 Simple Breakfast Ideas

Grab a free download of the Master Simple Breakfast List!

Watch for more Master Lists coming this month, filled with real food and simple snacks and lunch box ideas!

What would you add to the list? What are your favorite simple breakfast foods to feed your family?

P.S. What about a simple dinner list? We’ve already got that covered with our Weekly Simple Meals Plans!

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

What I Think About My New Instant Pot

by 19 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

I finally did it. After so many of you told me how great the Instant Pot is, after so many insisted that I would love it, after all kinds of hemming and hawing and rebelling about getting one more appliance for my kitchen…I finally got myself an Instant Pot.

Instant Pot

It was Amazon Prime Day. It was a good deal. It was a big pot for my family’s big needs. It was time.

I’m sure you’re all wondering, has my new Instant Pot completely changed my life? Am I a better mom now? Do I sleep better at night because of it? Does it help my house stay in a less cluttered state? Do I get mail to the box in better time? Am I finally wearing matching socks? In other words, does the Instant Pot help make my world go round?!

The answer to all of the above is “no.” But I do make mean batches of hard boiled eggs in record time, so I think we can all give a cheer and feel that this was definitely a worthwhile purchase.

eggs

I’ve truly had fun with my new toy, which isn’t taking up any extra room on my counter because it has actually taken the place of my coffee pot if you can believe it! (I realized after I started drinking this healthy coffee that I no longer need a coffee-maker taking up space on a daily basis. Away went the coffee pot. In its place went the Instant Pot. A pot for a pot. It just seemed logical.)

At the very moment our Instant Pot arrived on our porch, I was making Tuna Salad. Matt decided he definitely wanted boiled eggs in his tuna since we now had an Instant Pot in which to make them quickly. I read the “how to boil eggs” instructions while he got it set up, and while I’m pretty sure we didn’t do everything right, nothing blew up, our eggs hard boiled like they were supposed to, and Matt got eggs in his tuna the way he wanted. Good story, huh?

Not long after the arrival of the pot and the making of the eggs, we headed back out to church camp for a week. So our Instant Pot sat forlorn and lonely on our counter-top all week. Since coming back from camp, I’ve been playing with it as I’ve had time. Here’s what I’ve tried, though please don’t get excited because my stories might bore you to sleep…

For instance, one night we had company and my stove was full of other big pots cooking other food. So I tried steaming our broccoli and carrots in the Instant Pot. The recommended seven minutes was way too long and our broccoli came out dead and mushy and completely unappetizing. Perhaps it’s not a good idea to try a new appliance when you’re serving food to company?

instant pot2

See, look. My full stove, which is what led me to steam veggies in my Instant Pot. Fascinating.

A few days later I put a whole chicken into my Instant Pot, dumped on some BBQ Sauce, and turned it on. That was ridiculously simple and we ate chicken for lunch 35 minutes later. I served it with okra. It was very good. The end.

instant pot3

instant pot4

The part of the story you don’t want to hear is that I asked Matt to please take the leftover meat off the bones, but I didn’t communicate clearly about saving the bones so I could try making broth in my new Instant Pot. Learning to make broth in my new pot will have to be a lesson for another day.

instant pot beef

Perhaps my favorite of anything I’ve tried so far is cooking frozen ground beef! As soon as I perfect this method, I will for sure share the details. I think this will be a HUGE time saver!

Sooo, while none of this Instant Pot news was super exciting to read about at this point, you can be sure that as we settle into a new school year with lots of teenage mouths to feed, we will be absolutely making the most of our new Instant Pot! And when I figure out all the great food we can make with it, I’ll share all the fabulous details!

I’d love to hear from you if you have an Instant Pot. What are your favorite time-saving recipes to make?

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

Master List of Simple Lunch Ideas

by 4 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

For everyone who is home with a family to feed during lunchtime every day, this List of Simple Lunch Ideas is for you! These lunches are all made with simple, real foods. (Coming soon: A list of great simple, real food lunches to pack and take to work and school.)

Keep Lunch Simple

As a brand new school year approaches and I am praying away the scheduling craze that is trying to creep in along with the turning of the calendar pages, I’ve decided to put together Master Lists of food and recipes and ideas to make lunches, breakfasts, snacks, and lunchbox options as simple as possible each day. Today’s list:

The Master List of Simple Lunch Ideas

But Laura! You home school and work from home so you’re home all day. Why is it difficult to get food on the table?

{And Laura falls on the floor laughing and crying and kicking the chairs in her path while throwing couch pillows.}

Dear friends. Homeschooling only means that our books and software live in the house and our school is operated out of the home instead of a classroom. We are on the run a significant amount of time between music lessons, college classes, field trips, service opportunities, athletic events, church activities, library runs, and the like.

For our family, homeschooling and working from home has offered us the coolest, most wonderful, and fabulously flexible opportunity and we are extremely grateful for the relationships we have with our kids and with the community because of it. But it also lends itself to extremely full days with little down time. So in the name of sanity…

This mama needs a Master Simple Lunch List.

And a Master Breakfast List. And a Master Snack List. Watch for those lists, coming very soon. (Subscribe here so you don’t miss them!)

Where’s the list of Simple Dinners? This is already taken care of with our Simple Meals plans. I follow those, so our evening meals hit the table very quickly. I am so, so thankful for this!

Why not eat sandwiches every day for lunch?

The short answer is that it would cost my family too much money. The other short answer is that we prefer more variety of nutrients and less carb-heavy meals.

No matter what though, I recommend that we always, always…

Eat a fruit and a veggie with each lunch.

This is easier than you think. I’ll tell you how! I think it’s time for the list, don’t you? (To make this much easier, you can download this entire, beautiful Master Simple Lunch List here.)

Your Real Food Master Simple Lunch List

You can download this entire list here. But I’ll share it all on this post for reference also. I also recommend that you pin it so you can find it quickly as needed!

watermelon

We’ll begin with fruits and veggies because instead of thinking of them second, let’s start thinking of them first!

Fruits and veggies that can be pulled from the fridge and served immediately with little to no prep (beyond washing):

  • Baby carrots (I like the petite carrots – they are sweeter and easier to eat!)
  • Grape tomatoes
  • Mini sweet peppers
  • Sugar snap peas
  • Strawberries
  • Blueberries
  • Blackberries
  • Raspberries
  • Unsweetened Applesauce
  • Bananas
  • Grapes
  • Oranges
  • Clementines
  • Fresh Spinach or Mixed Greens

Fruits and veggies that take a few minutes of prep but are still super simple:

  • Sliced apples
  • Sliced peaches or nectarines
  • Steamed peas (frozen peas cook very quickly!)
  • Sliced cucumbers
  • Sliced sweet peppers
  • Raw broccoli “trees”
  • Cut cantaloupe
  • Watermelon wedges
  • Sliced pears
  • Pineapple chunks
  • Steamed green beans (frozen green beans take just a few minutes, but can cook themselves while you get the remainder of lunch ready)

If you have Homemade Ranch Dip or Hummus on hand, these can be thrown onto the table quickly to help get the veggies down!

orange

Simple Lunches that can be made ahead of time and warmed up quickly:

Simple Lunches that can be thrown together with little prep time:

strawberry

Simple Lunches that are flexible and can be eaten in more than one way:

Would you like to make this Master List of Simple Lunches even simpler?

Sign up here to receive the entire Master List of Simple Lunches in a free downloadable document! Then you can keep it handy on your computer or print it and put it on your fridge as a super handy reference!

Master List of 40 Simple Lunch Ideas

Grab a free download of the Master Simple Lunch List!

Watch for more Master Lists coming this month, filled with real food and simple snacks, breakfasts, and lunch box ideas!

What would you add to the list? What are your favorite simple lunches to feed your family?

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

Simple Cheese-Stuffed Burgers

by 6 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

True friends are the kind that hear your family mini-van has died and they say, “Here. Take our car until you find a vehicle. Keep it as long as you need it.”

True friends are the kind who come over to check out your “new” used mini-van and pick up the car they gave you on loan and while you’re talking in the driveway, you decide you must certainly invite them in for dinner, even though dinner is…

Random leftovers.

Yes. You can invite true friends in to share your random leftovers.

So we did. We said something like, “You guys want to come in for dinner? We’re not sure what we’re eating…” It was an invitation they couldn’t refuse.

We sat together and ate re-warmed Hawaiian Beef Roast with a few other odds and ends, and it tasted just as good as a meal made fresh that day, because true friends make any food taste better.

But what really makes a friend true is when you’re eating leftovers together and they tell you about burgers stuffed with cheese. Indeed, a true friend is someone who tells you to cut a hunk of cream cheese and wrap your burger around it before you grill.

Today, my friends become your friends and this recipe becomes your BFF, because today I’m sharing my friends’ brilliant idea to make Cheese-Stuffed Burgers.

cheese stuffed burgers

So what if these make your grill a little bit messy? Also, so what if I served these burgers on white burger buns? Indeed, I did. Would you like to know why I did this?

1) Because I don’t have time right now to make Homemade Buns. Maybe I will again eventually. Right now I have to compromise a little so I can keep up with life.
2) Also, I compared the ingredients to the 100% Whole Wheat Buns available at my local store. The ingredients in those were still terrible and they don’t taste as good. Why pay more for something that doesn’t taste good and isn’t actually healthier?

So I caved and I bought gross, cheap white store-bought buns. I’m not proud of this but I just ate a Cheese-Stuffed Burger so I actually don’t even care because all of life is better with these burgers. (Which, for the record, I ate without a bun because I’m personally not interested in buns right now. Meat and cheese though? Yes, please.)

cheese stuffed burgers2

To make these burgers, you’ll need to cut the cheese. (Saying that never, ever stops being funny.) I made it simple by cutting my cream cheese half, then in half again, then in half again…until I had eight squares of cream cheese. I then divided two pounds of hamburger meat into eight pieces, wrapped the beef around the cheese, and onto the grill they went.

I’m quite sure you could use any variety of cheese you like. I’m thinking Pepper-Jack would be a fantastic choice!

Simple Cheese-Stuffed Burgers

Simple Cheese-Stuffed Burgers
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 2 pounds hamburger meat
  • 8-ounces cream cheese (or any cheese you like)
  • Sea salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Divide meat into 8 patties.
  2. Cut cheese into 8 pieces.
  3. Wrap meat around the cheese and flatten slightly.
  4. Grill or pan fry until meat is no longer pink, seasoning to your liking.
  5. Serve right away.

Simple Cheese Stuffed Burgers

More Simple Recipes

Join Simple Meals

Make life even simpler when you sign up to receive our weekly Menu Planning Packets. One tiny price, loads of weekly help. Read about this and sign up here!

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

Simple Crock Pot Creamy Stew Meat (with Rice, Potatoes, or Pasta)

by 4 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Did you know that life is terribly unfair? It’s not fair that we let our youngest son go to camp by himself at age 11 but we made his brothers wait until they were 12. It’s not fair that one boy got more ice cream than his brothers. And it’s not fair that our entire family had to smell this Stew Meat cooking all day but couldn’t eat it until the evening came.

Torture. Smelling this meat cooking all day is torture, I tell you.

Slow cooker stew meat

Honestly, it doesn’t look like much in the picture. But the flavor of this meat is incredible because of the simple seasonings you sprinkle on. The crock pot does the work of cooking this slow and low so that the meat becomes tender and juicy. Then you add cream at the end to finish it off to perfection.

Having Ranch Dressing Mix and Onion Soup Mix on hand makes putting this meal into the crock pot very quick. As you probably expected, I didn’t thaw my stew meat ahead of time. I just pulled it from the freezer and put it directly into the crock pot. Easy, easy, easy!

Crock Pot Creamy Stew Meat

Simple Crock Pot Creamy Stew Meat (with Rice or Pasta)
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 2-3 pounds beef stew meat
  • 3 Tablespoons Ranch Dressing Mix
  • 2 Tablespoons Onion Soup Mix
  • ½ cup water
  • ½ cup butter
  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream
Instructions
  1. In a crock pot, stir together stew meat, seasoning mixes, and water.
  2. Put a stick of butter on top.
  3. Place lid on crock pot and cook on low for 6-7 hours.
  4. Add cream and heat for another 10 minutes.
  5. Serve over rice or pasta

Simple Crock Pot Creamy Stew Meat

We really loved this stew meat over steamed brown rice. But it would be equally wonderful served over mashed or baked potatoes, or even whole grain pasta!

Keep in mind that if you do make mashed potatoes to go with this meat, you must make them in the simplest way possible! (I suppose this would require that you have two crock pots though. Hmm…)

More Simple Recipes

Join Simple Meals

Make life even simpler when you sign up to receive our weekly Menu Planning Packets. One tiny price, loads of weekly help. Read about this and sign up here!

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

The Simplest and Best Grilled Chicken (My Very Favorite Summer Food!)

by 6 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

You should know that there is much significance in me sharing that this Best Grilled Chicken is my favorite summer food. After all, do you know how many great summer foods there are to compete with this chicken?

There’s cold watermelon. There are strawberries, which can be made into this amazing Strawberry Cheesecake Parfait. There’s fresh corn on the cob (hello, I’m from Nebraska). There are peaches and nectarines. There’s asparagus and okra (sure I’m weird, but these actually are summer favorites of mine).

I guess the best news is that all of the above mentioned summer food choices can be served with The Simplest and Best Grilled Chicken, creating the best meal on the planet, amen and amen. (By the way, remember how our grill was broken? My genius husband was able to fix it. I am so very thankful!)

grilled chicken3
What I love about grilling is that all I have to do is throw out some simple fruit and veggie side dishes to complete the meal. Anything goes with this chicken. Any veggie. Any salad. Any kind of potato, pasta, or rice. Any fruit.

And even better: You can make it with any sauce you like!

Great Sauce and Dressing Ideas to Marinate The Simplest and Best Grilled Chicken

If your time is limited, you can do what I’ve been doing lately and buy a few sauces pre-made to have on hand for Simple Recipes like this. Homemade sauces are awesome, but as I’ve shared, right now I’ve got to pare back to keep my schedule a little lighter. So I’m not making everything from scratch right now (and I’m smiling more often).

I do read the labels (no high fructose corn syrup or other nasty ingredients allowed!). I am searching for good prices. But I’m appreciating the ease of opening a bottle and dumping it on chicken to marinate for our dinner. Sooooo simple!!!!

Do you see how easy it is to make real food for your family? And do you see how delicious real food tastes? (Wait. Can you see how food tastes? Who even wrote that sentence??)

Lemme just say this: If you’re afraid of real food and the word “healthy” makes you cringe and think of sprouted beans and tofu (I cringe at those too!), let go of the fear and make yourself some of this chicken with a slice of watermelon and some steamed green beans on the side. It’s as easy as that and you will learn that real food is the best thing you ever ate!

My Favorite Grilled Chicken Tip

My Best Chicken Tip

I’ve shared this before, but let me share again that the secret to making perfect chicken on the grill is to use boneless chicken thighs instead of boneless chicken breasts. Breasts get dry quickly. Thighs retain juiciness and the flavor is unbeatable.

Bonus

Boneless chicken thighs are usually less expensive than chicken breasts. Who knew?

Simple Grilled Chicken

Simple Grilled Chicken (My Very Favorite Summer Food!)
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 2-3 pounds boneless chicken thighs
  • 2 cups of your favorite marinade (bbq, teriyaki, Italian dressing, etc.)
Instructions
  1. Place chicken in a single layer in a 9x13 inch dish.
  2. Spread dressing or sauce over the top.
  3. Cover and allow chicken to marinate until grill time or for at least two hours (overnight is fine!)
  4. Grill marinated chicken on low heat for 20-25 minutes, watching to be sure chicken is cooked evenly on both sides.

What are your favorite summer foods?

More Simple Recipes

Join Simple Meals

Make life even simpler when you sign up to receive our weekly Menu Planning Packets. One tiny price, loads of weekly help. Read about this and sign up here!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

lilla rose summer sale celtic paula

Lilla Rose is having a Summer Sale Thursday–Saturday – FREE SHIPPING on all orders over $50! (Must select “Free Shipping” at checkout.

This sale can also be combined with the monthly special for July. (One free bobby pin with a $40 purchase, and two free bobbies with a $50 purchase!)  So yes, with just a $50 order, you can get both free shipping AND two free super-strong bobby pins that will NOT slip out of even super-fine hair.

So many lovely styles to choose from! Plus there are beautiful new natural hair sticks and cute new summery U-Pins, such a ladybugs, sand dollars, sea turtles, and flip flops!

Sale runs Thursday, July 13th, 2017 at 7am Pacific, through Saturday, July 15th at midnight Pacific. This is a sale you won’t want to miss!

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

33 Simple Summer Recipes and Tips (New Freebie for Simple Meals Subscribers!)

by 1 Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

I thought it was hot here in Nebraska until my friend from Las Vegas told me about the temps they get there. Phew! What’s it like where you are?

You know me, though. I never complain about the heat because I love summer, sunshine, and being warm. I’m cold all winter so I embrace all the heat of summer while I can!

However, I don’t like heating up the house to cook or bake during the summer. Why run the air conditioner and the oven at the same time??

What should we do though because we all still eat three meals a day at home during the summer. Man shall not live on fruit smoothies alone. So what else is there?

Beat the Heat cover

Simple Meals members have already been enjoying Weekly Menu Planning Packets that offer mostly oven-free meal ideas for the summer. But what about breakfast and lunch? And what about snacks?

Beat the Heat has 33 Simple Summer Kitchen Tips and includes 49 real food recipes to use this summer that will keep your kitchen from heating up!

This resource is packed with ideas to get you through the summer. All real food ideas. Bunches of recipes. Oodles of tips for ways to have fun feeding your family delicious treats, light lunches, great snacks – you will love this!

This new eBook is a freebie for all of our Simple Meals Members. This is our only paid subscription (though super inexpensive!) offer here at Heavenly Homemakers and for good reason. Members get a thorough menu planning packet every single week! All the thinking and planning has been done for you. Your grocery list is made for you. You get bonus ideas, time saving tips, and extra recipes. This comes to your inbox every Thursday morning so you can plan for the next week. And the best part is that every single recipe and meal we suggest that you make is ridiculously simple.

Nothing complicated. All real food. All family friendly. Spend very little time in the kitchen. Endure no stress if you forgot to thaw meat (there’s a back-up plan for that!). Simple Meals really is making people’s kitchen lives easier!

All for one little dollar per week!

This week, members will get this fabulous Beat the Heat bonus resource along with all their regular menu planning info! We’ll send it out in this week’s regular Simple Meals Planning Packet email. Then to be sure we’ve caught all new members who want this, we’ll send it one more time on July 20. So join Simple Meals before July 20 for sure so you can receive this Beat the Heat booklet in your inbox with your planning packets!

Get all the details about Simple Meals here!

[wp_eStore_fancy1 id=19]

 

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

“Processed Food” I Buy on a Regular Basis

by 15 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

It’s true. I buy processed food all the time. Check it out…

groceries feb 172

What you see there is none other than cases of processed Spaghetti Sauce, Salsa, and Canned Black Beans. Processed food, baby. Store-bought, canned, jarred, food right off a shelf.

And you thought you knew me.

But there’s more…

groceries-11-2

Are those hotdogs? What is this world coming to? Oh, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet:

groceries feb1710

This might come as a surprise, but I do not have a maple tree in my yard to tap in an effort to provide our family with this golden pancake and waffle topper. Also – and it might hurt to hear me say this – I don’t always take time to squeeze limes. Indeed, I have stooped so low that I actually buy jars of lime juice to make my Guacamole. Can we still be friends?

Those baked beans though. They are on my shelf ready to be served with the hotdogs you saw above, but you’ve already seen my Beanie Weanies and you haven’t abandoned me yet. Pizza sauce? In a can? Well, thank goodness that at least it is organic.

I’m not even done. There’s more for you to see:

groceries feb179

That there is a box of spaghetti noodles. There are a couple ingredients in that cream that I would rather not know about, and see that cheese? That’s 10 pounds of Colby jack all wrapped up in a package.

So here’s an idea…

Let’s change our thoughts about processed food

Not all processed food is bad.

When I first started making the switch from “bad food” to “good food” I got an idea in my head that all processed food was evil, that I must make everything from scratch in order to be a “good mom” and canned food would never again enter my home.

Eleven years later I have come to terms with the fact that someone else can juice my limes. Having shelves full of canned pizza sauce and black beans in my pantry makes my life so much easier I smile every time I see them. I open and use jars of salsa like there’s no tomorrow but guess what?

It’s all still real food.

It’s all real food!!!! Do you hear what I’m saying? The “processed” food I buy hasn’t been turned into something horrible. The spaghetti sauce in those jars is made from actual tomatoes and spices (and nothing else because I’m careful about the ingredients in my jarred and canned food purchases). These items started as food and ended as food and they help me put Simple Meals on the table like a boss.

This is what we must consider when choosing food from a shelf, a box, a bag, or a can:

Is this real food and does it nourish?

There are all kinds of processed “foods” that I don’t even call food because they do nothing to nourish and everything to harm. If it started as one thing (corn) and came out completely different (high fructose corn syrup), it isn’t real food and it doesn’t nourish. If it took a detailed process to create in a factory (margarine) instead of starting as one thing (cream) and becoming something good for us naturally (real butter), it isn’t real food and it doesn’t nourish.

Don’t be afraid of a box, jar, or can.

groceries 3181

Read the labels. Do your homework. Consider what’s actually inside the container. Ask: Is it real? Does it nourish?

Sometimes these are the foods that help us get through a day in peace and with a smile.

What are the “processed foods” you keep on hand to help make your real food life easier?

P.S. As many of you requested, I am slowly but surely making a list of items and brands of “processed food” I trust and purchase. Don’t hold your breath, but know that you can look for that list in a few weeks.

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

Make Grilled Cheese in the Waffle Iron (and Final Day for Simple Meals $10 Coupon!)

by Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

If I need to make an entire loaf of bread worth of grilled cheese sandwiches, I may as well get out my cast iron griddle and knock them out. But for the days my boys are in and out of the house and lunchtime doesn’t sync up for the entire family, using the waffle iron for grilled cheese is a pretty fun trick!

waffle grilled cheese3

To catch you up on the collection of Waffle Iron recipes and ideas, I invite you to check out these links in all their waffle iron glory:

Great Waffle Iron Hacks

Many have asked which waffle iron I recommend. I have this one. It’s nothing fancy, but it does the trick.

waffle iron 2

Also, a friend of mine gave me this one when she moved, and it is fantastic for making grilled cheese sandwiches. It perfectly fits two sandwiches at once, which is great for my family!

waffle iron 1

For days the entire family is home, I get both waffle irons fired up at the same time and crank out circles and squares as fast as I can. Phew, my family can eat.

And speaking of how my family can eat…we do all love our meat around here. Adding a couple thin slices of ham or turkey to our grilled cheese sandwiches makes these even better!

A note about cheese: For the love of real food and a sandwich that actually tastes good…use actual cheese. Skip the Velveeta. Turn your back on “American Cheese Slices.” In the cheese section at your grocery store, you will find several varieties of sliced cheese that are perfect for these sandwiches. Colby jack is our absolute favorite, but you can usually find cheddar, sharp cheddar, swiss, or others.

How to Make Grilled Cheese in the Waffle Iron

Make Grilled Cheese in the Waffle Iron
 
Save Print
Author:
Ingredients
  • Bread
  • Sliced cheese (we love sliced Colby jack!)
  • Softened butter
  • Thinly sliced ham or turkey (optional)
Instructions
  1. Build each sandwich according to your preference.
  2. Spread a generous layer of butter on each side.
  3. Place buttered sandwich in a heated waffle iron.
  4. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until sandwich is golden brown.

Grilled Cheese in the Waffle Iron

Sometimes we make these sandwiches for a quick evening meal when we’re on the run. Serve them with cold fruits and veggies and you’ve got one of the simplest, tastiest meals there is!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

728x90

[wp_eStore_subscribe_fancy id=19]

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