As mentioned in my canning green beans post, next on the list was tomatoes. If you made it through the green beans, I promise you will do just fine with tomatoes! Tomatoes can be canned multiple ways; this post will focus on smooth, flavorful tomato juice, but open kettle canning is another option and provides you with Continue reading
Chex mix is a favorite Fall snack in my family and one my Mom graciously makes for us around the holidays every year; in my opinion, no store bought chex mix tastes as good! We recently had our family over for the now annual Fantasy Football draft, a fun new tradition my husband’s stepdad started, and although the start time was a little later in the evening I still wanted to have some snacks available for us to munch on. Chex mix sounded perfect and Continue reading
Do the years really go faster as you get older, because I’m starting to believe that common phrase is actually quite factual. Summer break is coming to an end and Hailey is about to start 7th grade! Like I said, time if flying! I recently came across the most adorable flowers on Pinterest, you know ones made of pretzels and M&Ms, and thought “I knew there was a reason I still had an unopened bag of these chocolate candies from Easter”! I’m glad I did as it was the perfect little treat to make with Hailey before she went back to school! Not only are these Continue reading
This is simply my two cents, but it seems to me unhealthy eating is directly correlated with ease and convenience. Pause..I just spelled convenience right without the help of Spell check! That never happens; it’s been the one word in my life that just would not stick in my memory. Woo! Okay, undo pause. I hope my ‘Homemade Alternatives’ category can do some good in this world of processed food that’s easy to grab without second thought and show people how easy the healthy options are too! This particular one just may be one of Continue reading
Are you ready for another smoothie recipe? (queue song ‘I’m Ready’ by AJR) Well now that I’ve mentioned a song I have to tell you movie trailers are the best place to discover new music! Thank you Google for always answering my question ‘What song plays in the so and so movie trailer?’ Insert the movie Trainwreck into the question this time and you have AJR – I’m Ready 🙂 It’s a cute video and really fun, upbeat song! Wait, did you click on this post to Continue reading
This past weekend I spent Saturday morning at my grandmother’s house learning how to can green beans grown in her garden; I’m wondering why we didn’t plan to do this sooner, but I’m thrilled we’ve done it now! My grandmother has been a gardener for as long as I can remember spoiling our family with fresh produce every Summer and carrying us through the Winter months by canning, a very valuable skill to have on your life resume. Now that I know just how Continue reading
Comfort food seems to be mostly associated with the cold and dreary days of Winter, but I think it’s something to be enjoyed throughout the entire year. Rainy Summer days are open invitations for comfort food as well in my opinion. My favorite part about this dish is the added health benefits! You don’t always get lucky enough to combine Continue reading
Another Summer salad? You bet! If I make enough surely the Summer-like weather we dream about all Fall, Winter and Spring will come back and stay a while….right? I’m hoping, because we’ve had a bit too much rain for my liking this Summer. I’m certain my flowers could even go for a break; don’t worry Mother Nature, if we have a few sunny days in a row I promise Continue reading
Happy 4th of July!! We didn’t partake in the usual activities of parades and cookouts today, but we did have quality family time and made some festive drinks to celebrate! Oh…and of course we had sparklers, because it’s definitely not the 4th without sparklers to end the evening! I found the red, white and blue drink recipe a while back and with Hailey here for the 4th of July this year I was excited to finally put the science to the test! The key to making this drink is the order of the beverages and the technique of pouring. Let me explain… Continue reading
What’s Jicama? That was my first question when I found this great salsa recipe over at the Two Peas & their Pod blog! Naturally, I turned to Google for the answer. Remind me again what we did before the internet and search engines existed? Perhaps lived simpler lives 🙂 Jicama, sometimes called the Mexican yam or turnip and pronounced ‘hic-ema’, is a root vegetable that looks similar to a potato; it adds the perfect Continue reading
Our Front Door Looking in... 