The Christian Home Magazine Issue #133

Happy Friday!

Hope you enjoy this week's issue of The Christian Home Magazine.

Have a beautiful weekend!

Young Ladies at Home

Our Young Ladies at Home writer, Lynzie from Thoughts from a Young Writer, shares an awesome DIY project: Steampunk Altered Altoids Box.

Biblical Womanhood

Biblical Womanhood contributor, Emily from Blessed Homemaking, shares some beautiful truths in The Influence of a Wife and Mother.

Finances and Stewardship

Stewardship columnist Laura Lane offers a challenging look at the cost of clutter in The Thrifty Woman's Real Estate Investment Strategy.

Homemade Home

Homemaking contributor, Sarah Coller of Classical Homemaking, shares a favorite frugal meal idea: Potato & Sausage Bake.

Christian Entertainment

Entertainment columnist, Laura Lane, shares a review of Live On Forever---an album by The Afters. Check it out at Harvest Lane Cottage.

Would you like to be featured on The Christian Home Magazine? We are looking for writers! Send your submissions for our consideration to sarah@classicalhomemaking.com.

Linking with:

The Art of Homemaking

Motivate Me Monday 

Modest Monday @ The Modest Mom 

Living Proverbs 31

Inspire Me Monday @ Create With Joy 

A Round Tuit @ Creating My Way to Success 

Making Your Home Sing Monday
Amaze Me Monday
Soul Survival linkup

Potato & Sausage Bake Recipe: Fast, Frugal, Filling

My six year old, Liam, loves this Potato & Sausage Bake and asks for it all the time! It's one of our favorite lunches---inexpensive, makes a lot, and super filling. It was the first meal now 15 year old Michael learned to put it together so he's usually the one I delegate to make it each time we have it.

I love meals that are simple and filling. We usually have this with some kind of canned fruit: peaches or mandarin oranges. It's comfort food at it's most frugal. Enjoy!

Potato & Sausage Bake (serves 10-12)
5 lb. potatoes
2 TB oil
salt & pepper
4 smoked sausages (hot dog bun size)
8 oz. cheddar cheese

Wash potatoes and cut into bite-size pieces, placing them in a large bowl. Add 2 TB oil and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Slice sausages once lengthwise, then slice, widthwise, into bite-size pieces. Stir into the potatoes then pour the mixture into a large greased baking pan. I use a roasting pan. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour at 350º. Remove from oven and sprinkle grated cheese on top. Serve when cheese has melted.

This article was shared in Issue #133 of The Christian Home Magazine.

The Christian Home Magazine Issue #132

Happy Friday!

Hope you enjoy this week's issue of The Christian Home Magazine.

Have a beautiful weekend!

Homemade Home

Homemaking contributor, Sarah Coller of Classical Homemaking, shares some of her favorite breakfast ideas for those following the Trim Healthy Mama eating plan.

Christian Book Review

Entertainment columnist, Laura Lane, tells about a new book on budgeting for homemakers called Living Well, Spending Less by Ruth Soukup. Check it out at Harvest Lane Cottage.


Healthy Home

Chrissy from Gracefull Joys talks about her family's experiences with Food Allergies in Food Allergies -- Our Story.

Biblical Womanhood

Biblical Womanhood contributor, Emily from Blessed Homemaking, knows children are a special blessing from God. Today she shares 10 Reasons Not to Plan Your Family Size.

Frugal Home

Financial contributor, Laura Lane, has so many great ideas for frugal living. She's begun a series called 5 Days of Frugal Eating. Be sure to check it out at Harvest Lane Cottage.

Homemaking DIY

Here's a cute DIY idea from Sarah Coller of Classical Homemaking. See how she made a simple apron hanger from pretty things she had around the house.

The Homemaking Party #BentonvilleRocks

Welcome to The Homemaking Party! It's been a fun week for our family with a few little adventures. First, we bought a new-to-us PT Cruiser last week. Isn't it nice? I've always wanted one. We are hoping to save up and have a nice paint job done within the next year or so. Just got to pick out a pretty color---although I do like its original color.

Michael and I spent a little time doing errands in Bentonville over the weekend. We found this special rock at the library. We have a bunch of community members who paint pretty rocks and leave them around the community to brighten a day. When we find one, we're supposed to take a picture and post it on Facebook, then leave the rock or rehide somewhere else in the community. We left this one where we found it in front of the library.

Here's the back of it. Not sure what the "F" is for---maybe the person who decorated it? This was our first time finding one so I say "F" is for "fun first find!"

Further down the road, we came upon another first---a Little Free Library. This was the first time I'd seen one of these, too!

We didn't have a book to give so we didn't take one but we both committed to bringing one back in the future. How fun!

A few days later, I took Liam, Kynthia, and Brenna to Walmart to look at toys. They had fun showing me all their wishes. Liam had a little money to spend so he got some Legos and a couple minifigures. They each picked out a small bottle of pop that they drank over a few days. Little sweeties!!

I hope you're having a happy week! We celebrated Avalon's 8th birthday tonight and now she and her older sisters are having a sleepover. It's a happy time around here---I'm thankful!

The Christian Home Magazine Issue #131

Happy Friday!

Hope you enjoy this week's issue of The Christian Home Magazine.

Have a beautiful weekend!

Stewardship and Finances

Stewardship and Finances writer, Laura Lane, shares her Simple Potato Soup recipe in an encouraging post on Filling Tummies in Hard Times.

Homekeeping

Homekeeping contributor, Sarah Coller, talks about homemaking priorities in Managing My Home as a Form of Worship to God.

Young Ladies at Home

Young Ladies at Home Columnist, Lynzie Coller, talks about life with Eight Siblings.

Entertainment

Entertainment contributor, Laura from Harvest Lane Cottage, has a review up of Shannon Popkin's Control Girl. Hmm...I think this one might hit close to home!

Family Time

Sarah Coller shares a recent fun family night in which her family took turns presenting things they'd been learning lately. Check out Our Family Biography Share.

Would you like to be featured on The Christian Home Magazine? We are looking for writers! Send your submissions for our consideration to sarah@classicalhomemaking.com.

The Christian Home Magazine Issue #130

Hello Readers!

I'm so excited to announce The Christian Home Magazine is back in print! Several years ago, The Christian Home Magazine was hosted by Mrs. White from The Legacy of Home. It featured encouraging articles by homemakers, for homemakers. With Mrs. White's blessing, we've revived it here at Classical Homemaking and I think you're really going to be blessed!

Each Friday, you'll be treated to several encouraging articles from Christian homemakers and young women at home. As you visit the blog of each contributor, please be sure to comment as well as pin and save articles from their sites, rather than this main magazine page. That way, you'll have easier access to the articles you want to reference in the future and those writers will have the blessing of repeat traffic from your pins.

Let us know how you like the new magazine!

Blessings,
The Christian Home Magazine Team

Homesteading and Healthy Living

Our homesteading and healthy living contributor, Heather from Marine Corps Nomads, shares a delicious recipe for Gluten Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies.

Pretty Thrifty

Emily, our Pretty Thrifty contributor, shares an article that blessed me so much! Check out Pretty Thrifty: Missing Out at Teen For the Lord.

Stewardship and Finances

Stewardship and Finances writer, Laura Lane, is back with some great thrifty tips for Saving Money on Clothes by Mending. 

Young Ladies at Home

Young Ladies at Home Columnist, Lynzie Coller, shares her thoughts on decorating her future home in Future Home Inspirations.

Entertainment

Entertainment contributor, Laura from Harvest Lane Cottage, has written a great review of the Pureflix film, Faith of Our Fathers.

Homekeeping

Homekeeping blogger, Sarah Coller of Classical Homemaking, has an easy recipe for Cranberry Tea Bread and features photos of her reading room update.

Would you like to be featured on The Christian Home Magazine? We are looking for writers! Send your submissions for our consideration to sarah@classicalhomemaking.com.

The Homemaking Party: Our Valentine Celebration and Homeschool Biography Share

Welcome to The Homemaking Party! 

Our family had such a sweet celebration last night. We started by exchanging Valentines and ended with the six oldest reading the biography essays they'd been working on for a month!

Brenna was the first to pass out her Valentine cards. She had one envelope in front of her at the table. When Daddy called on her to hand it out, she started hysterically cracking up and said, "I made one for myself!" Ha!!! We all got a really good laugh and enjoyed watching her open her present to herself!

Cainan made each of us a neat pop-up card.

The kids all pitched in and made this sweet gift basket for me. I love it! They made the rosebud stems with Hershey's Kisses.

The kids made this gift basket for Jamie. So special!

The three older boys surprised Lynzie with a bouquet of Kisses roses stuck in a Parmesan cheese can. Sweet brothers!

My oldest son, Michael, bought me this festive mug and chocolate rose.

Daughter Selah made me this special craft. If you look closely, you can see a little face made with beads inside the bow.

Jamie bought me this pretty box of chocolates.Whitman's are my favorite!

After all the kids handed out their Valentines, Daddy had a special treat for them too! Each year, he picks out something for each of them. This year they each got their own pretty box of chocolates. 

My mom sent special cards, too. This was mine. I used to collect frogs in high school so she sent me a cute frog button.

After we exchanged gifts, the six oldest kids read their biographical essays that they'd been working on for the last few weeks. They all did really well! Michael talked about Amelia Earhart, Avalon---L. Frank Baum, Cainan---Harry Houdini, Lynzie---Albert Einstein, Selah---Steve Jobs, and Elisha talked about Mohammed Ali.

We run our school year differently from most. We usually start mid-January and school until mid-October, so the kids are just getting started. I'm planning to have a presentation night once a week where the kids can read essays or book reports or present other projects they've completed. Looking forward to a great year ahead!

This article was featured in Issue #131 of The Christian Home Magazine.

Cranberry Tea Bread, an Updated Reading Room, and a Special Tea from Bath

“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! -- When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.” 

― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Even though that quote came from P&P's Miss Bingley, a snobbish woman who was likely quite unfamiliar with what constitutes an "excellent library", there's no reason the rest of us can't take the sentiment to heart. While I've got to wait for a few kids to move out before I can set up a full blown library, I can still build my collection of rare and antique books, along with many modern favorites, and create comfortable reading spots around my home.

After writing my thoughts on homemaking as an act of worship early Friday morning, I got up and started working on decluttering my upstairs reading area and setting up this little square coffee table I recently found at Salvation Army. Jamie's recliner sits opposite to this pink chair and there is a fireplace to the left of this photo. I've been wanting to make it a more comfortable reading spot since we moved in early last summer.

I made a very simple cranberry tea bread for the kids' breakfast yesterday morning and saved out a little piece for me. I'll post the recipe below. It's a basic muffin recipe to which one can add any number of spices or mix-ins. I use it often at breakfast time; but rather than filling muffin cups, I just pour the mixture into a 13x9 pan. It's one of those big family shortcuts I use to save time in the mornings.

I also enjoyed a cup of Gillards' Empress of Peking tea. This is a special blend created in Bath, England and only available at Gillards of Bath, a tea shop founded in 1886. I first enjoyed it at the Jane Austen Centre Tea Room on my first visit there in 2013. The following Christmas, Jamie ordered a bag of it for me and it's been a favorite ever since.

I set out these adorable felt coasters that a friend sent me a couple years ago. One thing I've learned about living in the hot and humid South---coasters are a necessity! 

I'm hoping to enjoy some quiet reading time this evening after I've put the younger kids to bed. No sense in having a pretty spot to hang out if one doesn't actually spend time there, right?

Hope you're having a relaxing and blessed weekend!

Cranberry Tea Bread

2 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 c. water or milk

1/2 c. oil

3 1/2 c. flour

2/3 c. sugar

4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 c. dried cranberries

Whisk the eggs, water, and oil together. Add the dry ingredients, except for the cranberries, and stir until almost smooth. Add the cranberries and finish stirring until everything is incorporated. Spread mixture into a greased 13x9 pan and bake for 30 minutes at 400º.

This article was featured in Issue #130 of The Christian Home Magazine.

linking with:

Open House @ Bernideen's Tea Time Blog 

Vintage Charm

Pintastic Party

Friendship Friday

No Rules Party

Creativity Unleashed