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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:

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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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?

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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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Fruity Baked Steel Cut Oatmeal

I’ve been making this recipe for fruity baked steel cut oatmeal for several years now…and it’s become one of my go-to breakfasts. For us, it ranks right up there with Baked Oatmeal and Sweet Potato Oatmeal. We all LOVE it! It’s so easy to customize to your desire and it works with whatever is in season. I found the general idea online and made my own version. 😉

Steel cut oats can be a little tricky…if you don’t cook them just right, they’re crunchy. I’m not sure about you, but crunchy oatmeal is just not cool – not cool at all. If you expect them to taste like regular oatmeal, you’re going to be sadly disappointed. They do have a bit of a bite to them, but they should not be crunchy when cooked. For us, we had to learn to like them – and buddy, do we like them!

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Keeping Christmas Simple

Everywhere we look, it seems like we’re inundated with things to do for Christmas:

  • Beautiful trees
  • Crafts
  • Fancy desserts
  • BIG gifts
  • Trips
  • Parties

Is there anything wrong with any of that? Absolutely not! Those are all wonderful things!!! The problem is, when those things stress us out, and keep us from enjoying our time with family, we don’t really need them.

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Menstrual Cups: Not for Coffee

I remember when I first learned about menstrual cups – and it’s totally not a normal story. We were at Bible study and everyone knew I loved coffee – so they gifted me a coffee mug that says: Domestic Diva. For the record, I still love and use that mug regularly.

But then, the men started calling it my Diva Cup. And somehow, someone got on the internet and found out what a Diva Cup really was…and I was ABHORRED. No really. 

What!?! No Way!

People do this?! They put a cup up in their hoo-ha?! What a bunch of tree-hugging weirdos!

And now, here we are. In the place where I always find myself…falling off my high horse and eating lots of crow. 

Hear that? It’s the crows in my front yard. 

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