Tara Lee Hills - Big Family Mom

One of our favorite big family meals is, hands-down, baked burritos. Delightful maxi-Cali flavor, quick to make, and only a few ingredients have made this dish a crowd-pleaser for kids of all ages. It's so simple to make that my son on the spectrum has easily learned how to make it with some coaching from mom. Once the filling is made the burritos roll up easily. A dairy-free version can be made simply by substituting the grated cheese topping for a brushing of salsa. One backbone ingredient is the baked bean component. You can use my go-to baked bean recipe or go canned if you prefer. You can add more ingredients to the burritos such as diced fresh tomatoes, guacamole, rice or anything else that suits your taste (or you just need to clean out of the fridge). To round out the meal we make a quick pot of rice and a simple garden salad. In under an hour, this entire meal can be made and on the table ready to feed your hungry crew.  If this 12-person serving is a bit much for your pr...

  Deep down I’ve often worried that the hidden ministry of a stay-at-home big family mom is too hidden .  Having a thriving social life full of gospel-sharing opportunities is low on my priority list and impractical when I’ve been pregnant or nursing while homeschooling for nearly two decades and consider having only two children of eleven in diapers a win. How could God possibly use my life to spread the Gospel to anyone other than my husband and children?  It’s a reasonable concern from a human perspective. Mathematically,  have few face-to-face, in-depth relationships outside my immediate family and only a handful of people I direct my limited bandwidth of time and energy towards.  How can God use my life when I’m at home ninety-nine percent of the time ? He reminded me of just how when I slipped out for a rare (think annual) coffee date to hear the backstory of my neighbor's salvation this week.  Her story echoed the heavenly perspective repeated throug...

For many years as young Christian parents we chose not to do Christmas presents at all. Just a little stocking and a birthday cake for Jesus to keep things simple.  We grew up with Western cultural Christmases filled with Santa stories, lots of presents under the tree and tons of sugar.  For all the good memories there was also palpable stress from all the work, prep, cleaning, food, cost, etc.  Once we chose to trust God with our family size, our craving for simplicity and budget sanity grew with each child. Now that we are blessed with eleven children, I love how simple, budget friendly and calm our Christmas is. All because of three principles I’ve developed over the years. 1. Budget : I’ve learned the hard way that a single income only stretches so far until the credit card bill comes due in January. To keep things simple we set our budget per child and only do stockings and three gifts under the tree reminiscent of those the Wise Men bore. A bronze-tier gift that is...

One of my greatest fears as a big family mom is parental death. If my husband is a little late coming home on icy roads it can take only seconds before I’m already imagining myself at the funeral, trying to comfort devastated children while spending the long years ahead weeping alone in our bed. But, what if it’s me who goes first? I have walked a tender road with ten c-sections under my belt, each one carrying its own very real risks of maternal death.  Then there’s always the things no human could predict or really prepare for.  Rather than stay locked in helplessness and pre-emptive grief, I have found there are steps I can take to ease my mind in the face of the one guarantee in this life (next to taxes). 1 - Make Arrangements  We made our first will and purchased life insurance when I was pregnant with baby number four.  The peace of mind this one action alone gave me was worth many nights’ sleep (which is a precious commodity for any mom of many!).  Plann...

Growing up one of my favorite meals was Sloppy Joes. There's just something about the tangy, juicy meat barely staying in between the hamburger bun. I'd have to lean over my plate to catch any of the meaty goodness that fell so I could pop it in my mouth later. Now that I have a big (some would say huge with 11 children) family to feed, it's a joy to share this classic crowd pleaser that is easy to make, good for a big family budget and whips up in half an hour.  This has become a regular favorite at our home and my teenage sons, who do the weekend meals as part of our stress free big family chore system  , request it regularly in the cooler weather season (which lasts about 6 months where we live in Canada). The game changer tip that keeps your hamburger buns from quickly becoming Soggy Sloppy Joes is to toast them breifly before serving. I place the dozen burgers face up over two cookie sheets and broil them on the top rack for 2 minutes or less. Then I can scoop a genero...

One of our favorite budget friendly, big family breakfasts is Baked Oatmeal. It’s simple to make, flexible for dairy, gluten & sugar free and can be made with a variety of fruits for fun flavors. This yummy crowd pleaser whips up quickly in one bowl and can be made the night before to make things simple in the morning. Fruit (or combinations) can be added to the simple cinnamon & vanilla flavored base recipe such as chopped apple, raisins, cranberries, chopped dates, blueberries, raspberries or even mincemeat! You may even have a fun flavor addition that you family enjoys that you could experiment with using this baked oatmeal recipe. We enjoy this baked oatmeal awesomeness at least once a month for a Sunday morning breakfast before church. I love how quickly it prepares the night before and that it bakes up quickly in the morning for a simple yet heart warming and tummy filling breakfast. You can save time by just popping it in an unheated oven then turning on the heat to 350 ...