{Easy} Crockpot Swedish Meatballs and Bible Study

My husband, Chris, and I have been part of a bible study group for about five years now. I really love being able to get together and learn more about the bible. Just about every single time we meet, I have one of those "Aha!" moments where I realized something that I never had before until that very second.

 

I love those moments. I  love learning something new - and new way to look at my life.

 

 

Our bible study group is now going through one of the HomeBuilders Parenting Series from Family Life Today. Our book is "Improving Your Parenting" by Dennis and Barbara Rainey. So far, we're into the second chapter and already I'm seeing new things about our parenting style and how much is really reflects how our parents parented us!

 

The last chapter talked about our core values as parenting - what we consider to be the most important traits we want to pass onto our children. Something Chris and I never thought about before we had kids - but I am thankful that Chris and I share a lot of the ideals.

 

Our group meets on Friday evenings and rotates houses each week and this week we are the hosts! I really enjoy having people over so I'm glad that it's rotated back to us. For our group - the hosts provide the main dish along with water and another drink (we'll do lemonade) and everyone else brings a side dish or dessert to go along. It makes for a nice end to your week and for us - it's something fun to do! The kids love it too - we have a little activity set up for them and make sure they eat first! (We learned quickly how important this is!) And after their craft - they all play or watch a movie together.

 

For our night we decided to do something easy for the food and have my Great Aunt Betty Lou's Swedish Meatballs. This is something that our family eats along with our turkey every Thanksgiving - it's extremely popular in our family! This is a simple but delicious dish! I love anything I can throw into a crockpot and forget about!

 

Betty Lou's Easy Crockpot Swedish Meatballs

(serves 20)

 

2 bags of frozen meatballs

5 cans of brown gravy

2 cartons of sour cream

1 tsp garlic salt

2 tsp Italian seasoning

pepper to taste

2 bags of egg noodles

4 tbsp. butter

 

Turn your crockpot on low and add the meatballs. In a separate dish mix together your gravy, sour cream, garlic salt and Italian seasoning. Add mixture to the meatballs and stir well. Cook on low for 4 hours. Stir well when done. Make sure and taste before serving to add more salt and pepper if needed.

 

When your meatballs are done cooking, that's when you'll want to start cooking the egg noodles. Cook according to package directions. Drain and add butter along with salt and pepper to taste.

 

Serve meatballs over egg noodles and enjoy!

 

 

 

Hint: If you need to cook these meatballs in a shorter time frame, you can warm the meatballs up in the microwave or a skillet for about 5 minutes then add them into the crockpot and cook on low for 3 hours.

 

 

I hope you enjoy these Swedish Meatballs and much as our family does! They were a hit with our bible study group too!

 

If your church has Community Groups or Life Groups (as our church calls them) - you should really look into joining one! They are a great way to meet new people in your community - the people in my group have become my very best friends. It's also a wonderful way to grow in your faith and even help teach others. If you don't have community groups - read my article about starting your own bible study.

 

I'd love to know what you're studying right now?! Do you have a bible study group that you mean up with? Are you interested in wanting to become a leader yourself? Did you try the meatballs?? (lol)

 

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a beautiful day!

 

-Sam

Today I've linked up to:
Creative Kids,

Teaching Our Kids to Serve Others

From HomeGrown Hospitality 

I....very recently.....(last week) have started serving as a Sunday School teacher to the 2nd graders at our church. I found that it was a lot of fun and really rewarding.

The lesson plan for last week was teaching kids how to serve others.

Once Sunday School had started, kids from all grade levels walk into one larger room.

There was trash all over the floor.

The kids filed in and took their seats around the room.

The youth pastor came in, purposely tripped on a piece of the trash and asked

"How did all this trash get in here!?"

He went on to ask the kids if they had noticed all this trash laying around when they came in the room.

Most said they had.

He asked why none of them had thought to pick it up.

Since...trash should not be one the floor.

None of the kids had much to say as to why they didn't pick it up.

Including my own son.

What hit me the most was at the end of the youth pastors talk with the kids, he said:

"Every time you do something to help someone else...without thought of how you will be rewarded, you are honoring God. Think about how you can honor God every day."

It made me think about how I serve others and making sure that I'm teaching my kids the importance of serving others too.

Showing them how to honor God.

Here are a few passages that I've been reading about serving others....

Romans 12: 6-8

Matthew 5:14-16

"In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven."

Philippians 2:1-4

"Each of you should look not only to your own interest, but also to the interests of others."

Mark 10:45

The scripture goes on and on about how Jesus wanted us to serve each other, to think of others before we think of ourselves and to follow the gifts of serving that were given to us.

My heart is serving the less fortunate. That's where I find my joy. I feel like I do a number of things to serve others. I don't find myself seeking out opportunities like I should, there is certainly more that I could be doing.

Ashton (my oldest) has a huge heart for those that are sick.

My youngest, Colton, is 4 and way too young to know what his gift is yet...but it certainly won't hurt anything to show him how the rest of us can serve others every day.

By showing them how their dad and I can serve others can help them discover their own gifts.

I already have a few ideas in mind of things they could do...

- Pick up trash found in our streets or sidewalks while we're walking around the neighborhood

- Helping sick friends with meals

- Mowing the yard of a neighbor that's having a rough time
Find 30 more ideas from Meet Penny

I'm linking up to these amazing blogs:

HOH, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Dolan Diaries, Beyond the Picket Fence, Live Laugh Rowe, Living Well Spending Less, The 36th Ave, Truly Lovely, Sincerely Paula, 504 Main, Kitchen Fun with My Three Sons, Chic on a Shoestring, Creative Geekery

My Motivation Board

I finally read The Secret.

What an amazing book. It includes everything that we should already know about life, but don't really think about much. 

I decided to make my motivation board. This includes (most) everything I want for my family and myself. 

This sheet hangs inside my kitchen cabinet and serves as a daily reminder to stay positive, to focus on my family and my faith. 

This motivation board was really easy to make...I used construction paper and took a stack of old magazines and started going through them, cutting out words or phrases that hit me. Along with taking my trusty old Sharpie marker and adding my own personal touch. 

I glued and taped and love the way it turned out. I find myself repeating certain phrases to myself everyday. If you're needing some daily uplifting, I really suggest making one of your own. 

What words or phrases will you put on your motivation board?


Today I'm linking up to:
Keeping It Simple, Craft O Matic, Destination: Craft, Serendipity and Spice, Homemaker on a Dime, Flour Me with Love, CRAFT, Marvelously Messy, Sew Can Do, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Mad in Crafts, It's So Very Cheri, Singing Three Little Birds, HOH



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