I’ve been a work-at-home mom for the past ten years. I remember this because one of my very first posts on the blog was about throwing a bubble-themed birthday party for my oldest daughter. It has been a big learning experience, but I have found working at home suits me (and our family) really well. With the right attitude, the right office setup, and the right resources, working at home is something that may just work for you as well. I’ll share toward the end of this post about my actual workspace, and tell you about the desk and chair I recently received from Autonomous, the sponsor of today’s post. If you prefer to watch a video about this, jump over to my YouTube channel where I just posted a video about it.
Oatmeal Peanut Butter Bars
There is always a hunt for a healthy dessert recipe. But really, is dessert supposed to be healthy? Isn’t it supposed to be an indulgence that we have occasionally just for the sake of the pure enjoyment of food? Sure, it’s cool to say “Here is my apple, it’s my dessert.” But really, an apple is not dessert. You can say it’s dessert – it can stand in the place of dessert – but it’s no piece of chocolate cake. So let’s try a real dessert recipe that’s actually somewhat healthy(ish) – oatmeal peanut butter bars.
[Read more…]How to Make Homemade Bread
I keep getting requests for how to make homemade bread and more specifically, for bread machine tutorial videos. I get it #becausebread. I have done these types of tutorials many times on Instagram, but I finally got around to a full three-part series about how I make homemade bread in the bread machine for our YouTube channel.
But that doesn’t mean you should jump over to YouTube just yet. Let’s cover some basics in this article first which will really help you know the tools and method better.
[Read more…]How to Cook Steak in a Skillet (on the stove)
I’ll be the first to tell you, cooking steak was never my forte in the kitchen. I had never been good at it – and grilling is also a skill that I haven’t acquired because I don’t spend enough time trying to learn the ins and outs of it. But you always should experiment – and so I set out to learn how to cook steak in a skillet on the stove.
I knew it could be done because my friends did it – and I knew that butter HAD to be the answer. I mean, isn’t butter the answer to most of life’s problems?
Dry? Butter. Tasteless? Butter. Old? Butter. Stuck? Butter.
And while we’re on that topic – can we all agree that REAL butter is way better than the cheap garbage that was made in some chemistry lab or factory? Okay…moving on.
So to Google I went – on my quest to research the elusive steak-at-home perfection! Let me just tell ya – there’s about forty trillion tutorials for this on Google. But let me save you a bunch of time so you can just get to the good stuff. Keep reading. 😉
The Steps to an Amazing Steak in the Skillet:
[Read more…]Chocolate Chip Banana Snack Cake
Kitchen Therapy
Getting in the kitchen and baking/cooking is therapy to me. Well, up to a point. When I happen to be worried about something or I’m just out of sorts, getting my hands into flour and batter just really helps me – and it’s cheaper than a therapist. But then there are those times when getting the kitchen makes me feel like I NEED A THERAPIST. I burn everything and throw a hissy fit. The smoke alarm goes off (again). I get mad and throw a dish. Annie says, “what is THAT?” So, yeah. But baking is still cheaper than a therapist. A chocolate chip banana cake to therapy session is about to begin!
I wish I could explain to you the deep satisfaction that I get when I take a conventional recipe and turn it into something healthy (or healthy-ish). It’s a deep sense of calm. There’s a deep sense of pride. It’s a deep sense of humility – because the next time I try to do it, it tastes like sandpaper and you can’t even choke it down. But, I would have to say that about 75% of the time, making a recipe healthy turns out well – and I can suffer through the other 25% that it doesn’t. I’m SURE Barry is going to remind me of that the next time I sit in the floor, crying, rocking, and holding on to a pan of sawdust cake.
[Read more…]Crock Pot Maple Bacon Wrapped Chicken
I’ve been known to say that you can make dirt taste good by adding bacon. I stand by that statement. Bacon is like ketchup, but BETTER. If you want your kids to eat something, add bacon or ketchup. Or sometimes even both. Do you know that my brother in law puts ketchup on everything? E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. Of course, we can’t really stand by his culinary genius, because he also wraps his Pop Tarts in cheese. So, he doesn’t count. Take maple, bacon, and chicken, and you’ve got a real winner.
But yes, I am a bacon lover. Hardly a day goes by that we don’t have bacon in SOMETHING. Last night on Pinterest I saw someone wrapping their Cinnamon Rolls in bacon. Now that, my friends, is culinary genius. Chocolate Bacon. Bacon Bacon. Candied Bacon. The world has gone crazy over bacon. And I hate to say this…but I liked bacon before liking bacon was the cool thing to do. Of course, I was frugal before frugal was cool too – I hope eventually that OCD will also be cool and then I’ll really fit in.
[Read more…]Homemaking vs. Housekeeping
It seems that over the last 100 years or so, the ART of homemaking has been lost. What used to be something that we coveted as little girls, became somewhat of a burden. We were no longer taught that we should desire to be homemakers – that it was LESS THAN. Instead, we should desire a career only and also wanting to keep a home was beneath us.
[Read more…]Crock Pot vs. Instant Pot
When the Instant Pot became all the rage, a lot of my friends get rid of their slow cookers because they didn’t think they would ever use them again. It became a Crock Pot vs. Instant Pot “thing” for some reason. But they’re both pretty amazing in their own ways.
Nothing New Under the Sun
Pressure cookers are nothing new – they’ve been around for a long, long time. I had already been using a stove-top pressure cooker for about two years when Instant Pots became popular, and yet I still had my Crock Pots. Why? Because I used (and still use) both.
While the Instant Pot (or other like versions) do offer the slow cooker option, a lot of times (from what I have read), they don’t work as well as a “real” slow cooker and have a tendency to burn food. I know that’s likely not the case for ALL Instant Pots; however, I think it makes sense for me to have both and I’m going to tell you why.
[Read more…]Surround Yourself with Words that Matter (Because ALL Words Matter)
Part of making-your-home (homemaking) is the decorating part. I’d be lying if I told you that was my expertise. The truth is, I get all my inspiration from Pinterest and then I just copy it. Ha ha! They say imitation is a form of flattery, right?
If you were to come into my home, you’d be instantly aware that I love words.
There are words EVERYWHERE.
I have printed words on the wall. There are printed graphics that are framed. We have blocks of wood with words painted on them. I have painted chalkboards in the kitchen with scripture. There are chalkboards in the bathroom. There is a whiteboard in the kitchen. Letterboards galore live here. I have window clings on the mirrors. Jewelry? Yup, words there too.
Scripture is everywhere. Funny sayings are in abundance.
But why?
[Read more…]Why Rebounding is My Exercise of Choice
Do you want a discount code to save on the best rebounder out there?! Keep reading!
Listen up – I hate to exercise. It’s the lowest thing on my GET IT DONE list each day. But regardless, I knock it out every day before my kids wake up.
Why am I doing this thing that I don’t really like…especially when I’d rather curl up on the couch with a good book, under a blanket, when the house is nice and quiet?!
Well, the short answer is…I just feel better when I do it. But after trying lots of different methods of exercise, I’ve landed on rebounding as my favorite (see what I did there? Ha!). Let’s talk about why jumping on a rebounder is awesome.
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