Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Can Simple Meals Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half??

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I’ve shared over and over how our Simple Meals plans can make your kitchen life much easier! But is it possible that they would also cut your grocery bill in half?

Can Simple Meals Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half??

I always love hearing how Simple Meals is a blessing to you as it is to us. So I wanted to share this feedback I got from Lori. READ THIS!!!

I just had to send a huge THANK YOU! I’m not really one to use someone else’s menu plan, because I usually end up changing so much that it ends up being counterproductive. However, we have been clean eating/cutting out sugar for the past 2 years, which meant more meal planning and meal prepping for me, since we couldn’t always just grab take out or go out to eat. So needless to say, by the time I found you, I was burnt out! Lol!

When I saw your offer on build your bundle (a few weeks ago), I thought here’s the answer to my prayers! We have just started with our first week and have only tried 2 meals so far, and I’ll be honest, while I was making the recipes, I was doubting the simplicity and wondering if my kids would even like the meals, but I WAS SO WRONG, they LOVED both recipes we’ve tried so far!

The even better part, our grocery bill this week was almost cut in 1/2, by following your plan!! I am a homeschooling mom to 6, with 2 graduates and 4 still at home. We added in some outside classes this year, along with some extra, extracurriculars, haha, so you have saved my sanity, my food budget, and most importantly my time. I can’t wait to see what future menus bring.

Lori’s encouragement was so wonderful that I wrote her back to thank her and to get permission to quote her. Lori’s response?

You absolutely can quote me! I have the 3 cheese pasta in the crockpot for dinner and am still amazed that it took me literally 5 minutes to put together, and all I have left to do for dinner is throw together a salad, like what?!?!?

How cool is that? Simple Meals really makes life simple, and it saves lots of money too!

Here’s a reminder that now through September 4, your one-year Simple Meals is 50% off! To think, our subscription is 1/2 off and you can cut your grocery bill in 1/2 too!!

Get all the details here.

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Simple Cheeseburger Mac in the Instant Pot

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Once upon a time, I had a genius idea to add seasoned hamburger meat to our Simple 10-Minute Instant Pot Mac and Cheese. This magically and beautifully turned into Simple Cheeseburger Mac in the Instant Pot. And once again, dinner is saved!

Mind you, this recipe is made even easier if I have “worked” ahead and have hamburger meat already pre-cooked and in the fridge ready to pull out as needed. And by “worked” I mean that I open several packs of hamburger meat (usually frozen) and plop it into my Instant Pot where it cooks all by itself for a few minutes, providing our family with several meals worth of pre-cooked meat to use easily in recipes as needed.

If you get an Instant Pot for no other reason, get it so that it will cook your hamburger meat for you. I usually cook 7-pounds at once, and it is such a time and energy saver!

Simple Cheeseburger Mac in the Instant PotYum

5.0 from 1 reviews
Simple Cheeseburger Mac in the Instant Pot
 
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Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 1 pound cooked hamburger meat
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ½ teaspoon chili powder
  • 16-ounces whole grain pasta (any shape)
  • 4 cups water
  • 4 Tablespoons butter
  • 2 teaspoons sea salt
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 3 cups shredded cheese (we love Colby jack)
Instructions
  1. Cook hamburger meat and season with garlic powder and chili powder.
  2. Stir meat, uncooked pasta, water, butter, and salt in your instant pot.
  3. Seal and cook on manual, high pressure for 4 minutes.
  4. Quick release the pressure.
  5. Open the pot and stir in the cream and cheese until melted and creamy.

This recipe is incredibly easy to make, and it is a huge hit with the family! Any time I can make pasta without actually boiling pasta is a win in my book. Fewer dirty dishes, less time in the kitchen, and a delicious meal too!

Want More Simple Recipes?

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Last Chance to Join our Take Ten Challenge!

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If you haven’t signed up yet, it’s not too late! We’ve got a fantastic two weeks in store for all of us, and it all begins Sunday night, August 18.

Read all the details of our Take Ten Challenge here. We’re going to walk you through taking ten minutes each morning to do some simple meal prep so that all you have to do at supper/dinner time is put on the final touches and serve your meal. Your family mealtime is going to be SO EASY!!!! All because you decided to:

Take Ten

Click here to sign up for the Take Ten Challenge!

Watch your inbox for a confirmation email, then you’ll receive a complete Take Ten Grocery List and information to get you started. The challenge begins on Monday, August 19! Sign up for free ($17.00 value!) by Sunday, August 18.

 

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

Take Ten Minutes To Prep For Tonight’s Meal!! (Take the Challenge!)

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Who’s ready to make dinner time easier and less stressful? Who’s interested in saving money and eating healthier? Join us for our fun and easy Take Ten Challenge!

Take ten minutes each morning to make dinner prep in the evening much easier! Ready to learn how?

What’s great about this “challenge” is that it’s really not so challenging at all. In fact, all the tips, suggestions, and challenges we’re going to offer should really make your life much, much easier. If you ask me, the actual dinner challenge really comes in not being prepared, in giving in to spending extra money on take-out, in feeling sluggish after eating a less-than-wholesome meal, and in becoming discouraged because we just don’t like cooking or just don’t know how to “get it together” in the kitchen.

The Take Ten Challenge is here to help.

Here’s how it works:

The Take Ten Challenge

Cost: $17.

What: You’ll receive step-by-step instructions and recipes to help you put meals on the table with an easy 10-minute morning prep! You’ll receive a complete grocery list to get you started. Then each evening of your 10-day challenge, you’ll receive an email containing tomorrow’s Take Ten Challenge information.

When: As soon as you sign up, you’ll receive an email with full grocery list for the Take Ten Challenge. Plus you’ll receive all the other information you’ll need. Two days later, your Take Ten Challenges will begin to arrive in your inbox. You’re going to love how easy this is!

How it works: After you sign up, we’ll immediately send you a complete grocery list and all the information you’ll need to know as we launch the challenge.

What you need to do: Read the simple information, grab the (inexpensive, basic, real food) groceries, and be ready to dive in two days after you sign up. (Hint: For the first meal and challenge, you only need 2 simple ingredients. Hooray!)

Then what: Watch for the first Take Ten Challenge email to arrive at 7:00 pm CST two days after you sign up. It’ll look something like this:

When each email arrives, plan to spend about 10 minutes (or less?!) the following morning doing whatever the Take Ten challenge suggests that you do. That evening, complete the final preparations, then enjoy an easy meal around the table with your family!

Not a morning person?

If you prefer, complete some of the meal prep tasks at night before heading to bed!

Watch for your Take Ten eBook!

After you complete the 10-day challenge, you’ll receive our complete Take Ten eBook, full of all of the challenges you completed plus much more great information!

Ready to join the Take Ten Challenge?

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:

Once you’ve purchased, watch for an email letting you know how to access your Take Ten Challenge information. Then you’ll receive our Take Ten grocery list and other important challenge information. Looking forward to saving time and money with you while we put great meals on the table!!

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Simple Creamy Pasta in the Instant Pot

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Introducing what has become my very favorite pasta meal to prepare: Simple Creamy Pasta in the Instant Pot!

This is one of those recipes you’ll want to keep in your hip pocket for days you have no time to cook. Because guess what? Making this takes less time than it takes to run through a drive through to pick up take-out!

As you know, I love having hamburger meat cooked ahead of time to pull out and use as needed for super quick meals. You can read here about how I cook 5-7 pounds of frozen hamburger meat in 30-minutes in my Instant Pot. It’s a HUGE time saver!

This pasta recipe only takes 10-15 minutes from start to finish!

If I already have meat cooked, I stir it into my Instant Pot with the other quick ingredients, turn on my pot, and have a meal after about 10 minutes. Total. It’s unreal!! (Meanwhile, I get out salad fixin’s and we’re ready to eat this nourishing, very tasty meal!)

If I don’t have meat already cooked, I quickly brown it in my Instant Pot before adding the other ingredients and I’ve only added a few minutes of prep to this dish.

Either way, you can see that this meal is incredibly fast to put together. And everyone in my family loves it. You can’t go wrong with cheesy, creamy pasta!!

Don’t have an Instant Pot?

I have this one and I absolutely love how much time it saves in the kitchen. So do consider investing! But if you prefer, you can mix the ingredients together in your crock pot and cook it on low for 4 hours. Then stir in the cheese and cream, and you’ve got an equally easy meal that cooked in your crock pot with no effort on your part!

Simple Creamy Pasta in the Instant Pot

4.3 from 3 reviews
Simple Creamy Pasta in the Instant Pot
 
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Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 1 pound ground beef, turkey, or venison
  • 2 Tablespoons minced onion
  • 1 pound whole grain pasta, any shape
  • 24-ounces spaghetti sauce
  • 3 cups water
  • Sea salt to taste
  • 1 cup parmesan cheese
  • 1½ cups heavy whipping cream
Instructions
  1. Cook ground meat and onion together until meat is no longer pink. (I usually have meat pre-cooked to stir into this recipe. But you can use the saute function on your instant pot to make this a one-dish meal.)
  2. Stir cooked meat and dry pasta into the instant pot.
  3. Salt liberally.
  4. Pour on spaghetti sauce and water, stirring until barely combined.
  5. Seal instant pot and cook on "hi" pressure, manual for 5 minutes.
  6. Do a quick release of pressure to open the lid.
  7. Stir in parmesan cheese and cream.
  8. Serve!

Want More Simple Recipes?

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Simple Make-Ahead Parmesan Burgers

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I’m not sure if you’re keeping track or not, but this is the third variation I’ve shared in two weeks using the exact same recipe. Woohoo for easy versatility! Today we’re taking our Simple Make-Ahead Parmesan Meatball recipe and basically smashing the mixture into Simple Make-Ahead Parmesan Burgers. Are we smart or are we smart?

The idea came to me as I was working ahead to make a bunch of Parmesan Meatballs for the freezer. Either I got tired of scooping out meatballs, or I got a brilliant idea. It might have been both. After scooping out about 2 1/2 pounds of meatballs, I decided to abort my meatball endeavor. I took my remaining mixture and formed it into burger patties. I froze them, then we pulled them out to fry another day.

Fantabulous!

Might I recommend that you make these Simple Make-Ahead Parmesan Burgers with a side of Sweet Potato Fries or Simple Seasoned Potato Wedges?

Simple Make-Ahead Parmesan Burgers

Simple Make-Ahead Parmesan Burgers
 
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Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • 2 pounds ground beef or turkey
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 Tablespoons dried minced onion
  • ½ cup shredded (or grated) parmesan cheese
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • ¼ teaspoon ground pepper
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
  1. Mix all ingredients together until well combined.
  2. Press together burger-sized patties.
  3. Fry in a skillet or on a grill for 8-12 minutes or until the meat is no longer pink.
  4. Serve right away, or refrigerate or freeze cooked burgers to easily reheat for a meal later.
  5. OR, freeze the prepared raw burgers, thaw as needed, and fry as directed.

Want Parmesan Meatballs instead? Or would you prefer Saucy Parmesan Meatballs? Nothing like getting 3-meal-varieties from one recipe!

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Simple Saucy Parmesan Meatballs

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If it seems too simple, that’s because it is. Today I am sharing what is so obvious, you probably already thought of it yourself. Still, it is worth taking the time to mention the idea to take the Simple Make-Ahead Parmesan Meatballs, add sauce, and make the meatballs into a brand new meal of Simple Saucy Parmesan Meatballs!

Oh how I love food that is versatile like this. When we can make one recipe, but turn it into whatever we need it to be – now THAT is a recipe to keep in our back pockets!

Like literally. Print this out and put it in your back pocket. Later, you’ll reach in and say, “Oh! I have something in my back pocket. Could it be a $5 bill I forgot about? No? It’s a recipe for Simple Make-Ahead Parmesan Meatballs? Well that’s even better than surprise cash!”

Yes, that is exactly the scenario that will happen when you put this recipe in your back pocket.

Now my friends, watch and see how easy it is to make a delightful (and ridiculously obvious) variation to our newly beloved Simple Make-Ahead Parmesan Meatballs. We shall now add sauce, serve them with our favorite pasta, and make everyone in our family very happy. But no one will quite be as happy as we are because we are the ones cooking the food and we are the happiest about the ease of this recipe idea!

Simple Saucy Parmesan Meatballs

Simple Saucy Parmesan Meatballs
 
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Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 1-2 pounds of pre-made Parmesan Meatballs*
  • 16-ounces of our favorite pasta sauce (red or white!)
  • 12-ounces cooked pasta
Instructions
  1. Reheat or bake meatballs* as directed.
  2. Pour sauce over meatballs and simmer until heated through.
  3. Serve over your favorite prepared pasta. OR
  4. Serve with rice or potatoes if you like!

* Here’s our recipe for Simple Make-Ahead Parmesan Meatballs.

Another of our favorite ways to enjoy these Simple Saucy Parmesan Meatballs? With this 10-Minute Instant Pot Mac and Cheese. Along with a salad and veggie, of course.

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Simple Make-Ahead Parmesan Meatballs

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Who gets excited about something silly like Simple Make-Ahead Parmesan Meatballs? This girl. Indeed, I get very, very excited.

I like beef. I like meatballs. I like anything that can be made ahead of time. No. Scratch that. I LOVE anything that can be made ahead of time. And if it’s also made from beef, well, that makes me one happy girl!

You can make this recipe ahead and store the meatballs in the fridge or freezer UNBAKED. Or you can PRE-BAKE up a huge batch and pull out a few as needed to reheat quickly. This recipe is flexible to meet your family’s needs!

Simple Make-Ahead Parmesan Meatballs

Simple Make-Ahead Parmesan Meatballs
 
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Serves: 16-20 meatballs
Ingredients
  • 2 pounds ground beef or turkey
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 Tablespoons dried minced onion
  • ½ cup shredded (or grated) parmesan cheese
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • ¼ teaspoon ground pepper
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
  1. Mix all ingredients together until well combined.
  2. Scoop any size balls out onto a cookie sheet (I use a large scoop).
  3. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30-45 minutes or until the meat is no longer pink.
  4. Serve right away, or refrigerate or freeze baked meatballs to easily reheat for a meal later.
  5. OR, freeze the prepared meatballs UNBAKED, thaw as needed, and bake as directed.

I love serving these Simple Make-Ahead Parmesan Meatballs with:

Meals like this are truly satisfying, extremely delicious, and still very simple to put together!

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Simple Popcorn Chicken Tacos

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Here’s an idea for you. Make extra Popcorn Chicken to serve in tacos for a super simple meal! Popcorn Chicken Tacos are surprisingly good and of course, super fun.

Here’s our very easy, very delicious Popcorn Chicken Recipe. I love making a double, or triple, or quadruple batch of this chicken and then freezing it to reheat at another time for a super easy meal. As an extra fun variation, I reheat it and we use it to build tacos any way we like!

Simple Popcorn Chicken Tacos

Simple Popcorn Chicken Tacos
 
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Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 1 pound pre-made popcorn chicken*
  • 8 whole grain flour or corn tortillas
  • Fresh taco fixins like tomatoes, lettuce, black beans, sweet peppers, corn, cilantro, onions, salsa, olives, etc
  • Shredded cheese
Instructions
  1. Rewarm popcorn chicken.
  2. Prepare taco fixins and set out a buffet for each person to build Simple Popcorn Chicken Tacos per their preference!

*Find our Simple Popcorn Chicken recipe here.

Want toasted tortillas? Simply warm them in a skillet over low heat for about 1 minute on each side until they turn lightly brown and barely crispy!

Want More Simple Recipes?

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Simple Cheesy Salsa Chicken – 2 Minute Prep!

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What has kept me from thinking of this idea Simple Cheesy Salsa Chicken before? After all, I’ve been on a grand mission to use the same basic, real food ingredients in all different ways to create a variety of easy-to-throw-together meals. And yet, it never occurred to me to put chicken and salsa together, then stir in some cheese?

It’s like the idea was too simple to even become an idea. But aha! We have thought of it, it has become a wonderful idea, and now we can put dinner together with 2-minutes of “work.”

You may recall the Simple Crock Pot Salsa Shredded Beef idea, in which we put a frozen (yes, frozen!) roast into the crockpot and dump salsa on top. It cooks itself, falls apart like magic, and tastes amazing in tacos, burritos, salads, or simply on a fork. Now let’s take that same idea and use chicken instead.

Frozen chicken, to be exact. Unless you are the type to actually remember to thaw your meat. Thawed meat works well too. Some of us are underachievers who cannot handle thinking of and walking to the freezer hours before meal prep time. We feel ridiculous about this weakness, but it is what it is. Dinner arrives at the table just the same because we have learned ways to compensate for our lack of meat-thawing skills. We have accepted that thawing meat is not our gift. We have moved on.

Therefore, we take frozen, boneless chicken and put cook it with salsa until it falls apart. We eat it with joy, and because of this, we are never motivated to remember to thaw meat again.

Simple Cheesy Salsa Chicken

Simple Cheesy Salsa Chicken - 2 Minute Prep!
 
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Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 2 pounds boneless chicken thighs or breasts
  • 2 cups salsa
  • 1 cup shredded cheese (we like Colby jack best, but any will work!)
Instructions
  1. Place chicken and salsa into a Crockpot, Instant Pot, or cooking pot.
  2. Crockpot: Cook on low for 7 hours.
  3. Instant Pot: Seal and cook on manual at high pressure for 10 minutes.
  4. Stove Top: Cover and cook over low heat for 20-30 minutes or until chicken is cooked thoroughly and shreds easily.
  5. Once meat is cooked, shred or cut into chunks and serve with cheese on top.
  6. Serve over cooked rice or tortilla chips or a bed of lettuce.

Want More Simple Recipes?

We’ve got a huge list, and it keeps growing!

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