Large Family Meals of the Week Winter Dinners for 10 to 30

Large Family Meal Ideas of the week is back with another episode of mega and lots in the kitchen. Plus talking about my health journey as a mom of nine, rescuing myself and healing my body through wholesome foods and body movement.

Healing as a Mom of Nine: A Health Update

This week’s Large Family Meals of the Week video ended up being one that many of you really connected with, both for the food and for the health update shared throughout. As a mom of nine, feeding a large family is always part of my everyday rhythm, but right now it is also happening alongside another layer of personal healing that I did not fully expect heading into December.

Over the past several years, I have walked through healing many layers of my health, including reversing insulin resistance and prediabetes. As is often the case, healing is not a straight line. It comes in seasons. This current season is about continuing to address the root cause of many of those past issues for me, which has been long-term chronic stress and how it has affected my body over time.

Based on recent lab work, I made some intentional changes throughout December, including giving my body the gift of extra rest as we moved toward the end of the year. I adjusted my sleep schedule, supplements, and several other personal factors, and I am continuing to walk this out slowly and thoughtfully as we roll into a new year.

Healing in Layers and Doing What Works for My Body

One thing I always try to be clear about, both here and in my videos, is that I am not presenting myself as an expert or giving medical advice. I work alongside professionals, but I am also the captain of my own healing team, making informed decisions for my one life and my one body.

Right now, I am in a temporary season of eating and living that supports gut healing and continued recovery from chronic stress and adrenal fatigue. That means some accommodations, some flexibility, and a lot of listening to my body. There may absolutely be future seasons where things look different, and that is okay.

I also want to say this clearly. I have not stopped gentle walking or running. Those have consistently proven to be beneficial for me, both physically and emotionally, and they help me process stress in a healthy way. Healing is rarely about extremes. Most of the time it is about walking a fine line and choosing what works best bio individually.

Massive Winter Meals for a Family of 10 and Beyond

Of course, this week still includes plenty of real life large family food. Alongside feeding my family of 10 day in and day out, I am also preparing and hosting food for multiple gatherings, which is where those massive winter meals for 10 to 30 really come into play.

In this week’s meals, you will see large family grocery hauls, big batch cooking to support busy winter days, comfort foods that can stretch and serve a crowd, and simple familiar meals that work even with current health accommodations.

Feeding People While Healing

One of the things I hope comes through, both in the video and here on the blog, is that healing does not mean stepping away from life. It means learning how to live within it differently for a season.

• I am still feeding my family.
• I am still hosting.
• I am still cooking big pots of food.
• I am just doing it with a little more intention, a little more rest, and a lot more grace.

If sharing my slow and steady journey of healing layers over the years encourages even one woman to ask questions, advocate for herself, rest when needed, or trust her own body a little more, then I am grateful.

Thank you for being here, for walking this season with me, and for allowing this space to be one of real life, real food, and ongoing healing.

We’re making all the things and helping our future selves. We have friends coming over later, plus feeding my family the equivalent of Thanksgiving 3 times per day, means a whole lot of work now for a whole lot of laughing together later.

1. Roast and Potatoes in the 10 quart slow cooker with the 7 pound roast, a bit of olive oil in the bottom of the slow cooker and topped with 1 teaspoon of Redmond’s Sea Salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1 teaspoon garlic and onion powder, a quart of chicken broth, a 5 pound bag of potatoes all rolled around in seasoning and cooked to perfection. I did end up adding a bit of sweet potatoes in also, just because I had them and more sweet potato is always better.
2. Sweet Potatoes in another slow cooker just stuffing it right full of sweet potatoes, a bit of olive oil, and salt.
3. Blue Lake Green Beans in the slow cooker. I remember growing these and loving them as a homesteader. But lucky us we did score some massive cans on massive sale, so that whole can is filling its destiny in the crockpot to be meals for me the next few days on this healing journey. Plus, a quart of chicken broth, bacon grease and Redmond’s sea salt of course make these green beans delicious and gut-friendly.
4. Rice in a slow cooker is super easy to make by washing 4 cups white rice and adding 2 quarts beef broth plus the rice to the slow cooker. You’ll end up with about 12 cups finished rice.

Batch-prepping some yogurt cups for myself. I’ve been going through a whole 24 ounce container of the So Delicious Dairy Free Coconut Yogurt Alternative each day. I jazz it up with 1-4 Tablespoons of collagen (depends on the brand), a Tablespoon of chia seeds and milled flax seed, a few Lilly’s Dark Chocolate Chips, some stevia and sugar-free almond butter when I’m feeling wild. Plus some gluten-free oatmeal based on where my hormones are at right now. You do have to mix it and all the chia seed to plump, so it makes for a great, easy make ahead breakfast or snack for the week.

I have been spending years at this point, learning and gleaning from experts as I come across them on Instagram, their books, YouTube, etc. These are the experts that I have been learning from and would suggest to anyone else as a good place to start. You take what you can and apply it to your bio-individual needs and research as you find more information. Don’t forget you can hear even more about my healing journey over on my second YouTube channel or on my second site Jamerrill.com.

Who they are & What they teach

• Coach Mama Fox: Insulin Resistance and Anti-Inflammatory Menopause Certified Coach
• The Glucose Goddess: Naturally balance your blood sugar levels.
• Dr. Ben Bikman: Insulin Sensitivity
• Dr. Mindy Pelz: Healing Hormones and Fasting for Women

Christmas House Decorating & Walmart Delivery Haul

We did need a few things to round out our festivities for the night. From Walmart we got:

This is such a fun time every year we do this. Friends bring extra icing and treats to share. The houses are all pre-assembled so kids just need to come in and decorate. I pulled 60 biscuits and we made sausage biscuit sandwiches to share, plus fruit and other brought food to share. It was just a fun time had by all. And you all know, fun is my favorite.

We finished up our massive freezer cooking video yesterday. Today I brought up some sausage gravy, unbaked (but frozen) biscuit dough for breakfast, and of course some chicken stock to drink as I’m rolling through it. You would think I make this all the time but I don’t, and boy do they roll through it when I do. Biscuits and gravy are a big hit around here. One of my favorite things about freezer gravy is being able to just put it in the slow cooker on low and have it ready during the day. If you can thaw it the night before that’s of course better, but you can be like me and just let it melt a bit in the slow cooker and keep encouraging it to melt down to the point you can put the top on the slow cooker.

You all know that walking and running outside is my favorite. What isn’t my favorite, is slipping on the ice. So a treadmill in the house is how we are getting our steps in. We’re doing it. Yey! The evening ended with appointments out. I still needed to hit that protein level I’m aiming for, so a quick stop at Hardee’s was in order for my bun-less burger.

We started the day with a mega massive amount of scrambled eggs in the Mega Mama cast iron skillet. Then we had a full day of appointments and making Burger King work for our protein points. Then we had more walking, work calls, and finishing up the steps with an afternoon run. It was a lot going on but we got it done with fresh fruit and gluten-free ready made desserts for our Homeschool Christmas get-together. But as you will see in the video, my glass dish with berries went for a fall. It’s okay. All still went well.

We did do a trip to Dollar Tree for some fun activity, here today gone tomorrow, type toys for the pre-schooler. Then of course ended our week with another Walmart Delivery fill-in haul for the week ahead.

Hey, if you want to catch all my videos, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube Channel. You’ll be notified each time I share a new video! Be sure to check back here for a round-up of all the recipes made this week as they are published to the blog.