Sunday mornings are always a rush, with everyone in a scramble to get dressed and groomed and ready for church. To make breakfast prep easy, I made a batch of Amish baked oatmeal on Saturday night, and popped it into the oven when I woke up this morning.

I live near an Amish community, and I found this recipe in an Amish cookbook that I picked up at a church garage sale for only 50 cents. This recipe is wonderful because it’s very inexpensive, easy and versatile. It can be topped with strawberries, peaches, blueberries or any other fruit you like. You can also stir in 1/2 cup of raisins, dried cranberries, pecans, or chocolate chips before baking. It’s so delicious that I have served it as “oatmeal pie,” topped with vanilla ice cream, for dessert at a dinner party. Everyone wanted the recipe!

We usually get home from church around eleven, and it’s our tradition to have a quick, simple lunch, and then take a nap. Ahhhh…naps. Since I became a mother, I’ve developed a love affair with napping, and for some reason I’m always just exhausted after church. I think it’s because my youngest daughter is such a handful, and I spend most of the service wrestling her into her seat and trying to keep her occupied, or worrying about how she’s doing in the nursery. She typically doesn’t like the nursery, and she cries the entire time, which is no fun for anyone. She has been doing a bit better lately, and I’m very thankful for that!

Today I whipped up a batch of homemade tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. My tomato soup recipe is quick, easy and inexpensive, but it tastes so much better than store bought! While lunch was cooking, I put a whole turkey breast in the slow cooker. I buy these when they go on sale for $1.69/lb or less, and we typically get 3-4 meals out of one whole breast. After slow-cooking on high for about 6 hours, the meat is incredibly tender and juicy.

Sundays are a special meal day at our house, because I still believe in having a big, old-fashioned Sunday dinner. After we woke up from our nap around two (we slept for over an hour — it was great!), my husband folded some laundry, the girls played Barbies, and I went through my daughter’s “Friday Folder” from kindergarten, to see if there was anything that needed attention. I also baked a double batch of Pillsbury “Grands” biscuits. I had coupons for these, and I watched our local grocery store’s sale flyer for a good special. By combining my coupons with the sale, I was able to purchase them for less than it would cost to make scratch biscuits. I froze half to eat later in the week, and we ate the rest for dinner with our scrumptious turkey a la king.

I made this dish using 2 cups of cooked, diced turkey breast meat, and my husband just raved about it. However, it wasn’t a big hit with my picky kids, who don’t want different foods to touch each other (I know — it’s completely ridiculous). However, it’s our policy that they can choose what they will eat, but we don’t make special meals for them. If they don’t eat what’s put in front of them, they get nothing else until the next scheduled meal or snack time. I’m such a mean Mom!
After dinner, I carefully removed all of the leftover cooked turkey from the carcass, diced it, and froze it in 2-cup portions for meals later in the week. I also saved the extra-large turkey wishbone for my six-year-old daughter, who loves to pull it. I always pull my end way at the bottom so that she’ll win, but if I do accidentally get the larger half, I always give my wish to her. She once asked me why, and I told her that I already have everything I could possibly want!

(NOTE: All recipes mentioned in this post can be found on my recipe blog, Economical Eats)

Thank you for opening your kitchen to us all this week, Heather.

If you are interested in participating as a guest blogger for this 3 Moms feature, please leave us a comment or send us an email at 3moms@happytobeathome.net. We are looking for a variety of women willing to open their kitchens for one week to all of our readers. You do not even have to have your own blog in order to participate.

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