Natural Homemade Living

It's early morning on the day before Thanksgiving and I am in the kitchen! Since I am a list maker I have been planning my strategy for weeks. My cleaning is done (except for the floors) and I've already spilled at least 1/2 cup of flour on the floor. How does this happen anyway? The buns are rising, 4 pie crusts are chilling and I am looking forward to spending most of my morning in the kitchen. After the baking and cooking is done, my daughter has gifted me a wood floor cleaning (I'm blessed, I know). And just like Mom always says, "set the table the night before to avoid unnecessary stress tomorrow."  I'll be posting my homemade pies recipes soon (the pies aren't done yet so I don't have any pretty pictures). So here is what my 13 guests will be eating tomorrow. I pretty sure I'm more excited than the children!! My Thanksgiving Menu: Turkey (20 pounds) Ham Mashed Potatoes Turkey Gravy Simply the Best Homemade Gravy (bottom

Not sure if this ever happens to you but I open the microwave door to find a food explosion has occurred! Just sayin' that I always use a paper towel to cover my food in the microwave but some people in the house do not! A quick and simple way to clean your microwave without scrubbing your fingers to the bone is to use vinegar and water. Here are the super simple steps: Using a 4 cup glass measuring cup, add 1/2 c white vinegar and about 3 c water. Place the cup in the microwave and turn on the microwave to high for about 4 minutes, I usually wait for the water to boil. Let sit, without opening the door for about 5 minutes. Using a wet rag, wipe out the inside of the microwave. Enjoy your sparkling, clean microwave until the next food explosion occurs!   Love and peace, ~ Simply Tammi

Yes, they are as wonderful as they look! We have some lemon lovin' people in our family, so I used my favorite muffin recipe, added some lemon curd to the middle and tops and they are now the favorites! I must admit I had to bend a homemade rule and bought the lemon curd in a jar. These only take a few minutes to put together but they will disappear rather quickly! Ingredients: 2 c flour 3/4 c sugar 2 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 2 eggs 1/2 c butter, melted (I let it cool for about 10 minutes) 3/4 c milk or half-n-half 1 tsp vanilla extract fresh lemon juice from 1/2 lemon, squeezed 1/2 jar lemon curd Directions : Whisk dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.  Add eggs, butter and milk. Stir with a spatula or I use a wooden spoon.  Add vanilla and lemon juice. You don't need to use an electric mixer so stir together with your wooden spoon. I use a muffin-cupcake baking pan and paper liners and fill them about 1/2 full (using a cookie dough scoo

Running out of ideas for a home cooked meal? Roasted chicken is a favorite at our house. There is only a little preparation time and if you're lucky enough to have left-overs, you can actually get a couple meals out of one chicken. Ingredients: 1 whole chicken 1 T rosemary olive oil or butter salt and pepper if you like Directions: Rinse the chicken with water, inside and out (don't forget to take the inside parts out!) Preheat oven to 400F Pat chicken dry with paper towels Mix rosemary with as much olive oil or butter you want (I usually use about 1/4 cup) and rub the mixture over the chicken (use your hands or a pastry brush) Place the chicken, uncovered, in a roasting pan (mine has a rack), in the oven Bake for about 1-1/2 hours, depending on the size of the chicken I place a piece of foil to cover most of the chicken for the last 15 minutes Remove chicken from oven and let it rest for about 10 minutes Slice the chicken, I remove the legs and wings first th

My family loves to eat breakfast together on the weekends and french toast is a favorite. This is a simply delicious french toast recipe that I have used for years. Today I actually measured the ingredients so you can make it just like me! You can use Texas bread if you like big slices, french bread, white bread, gluten free bread, pick your favorite bread or my favorite is to choose the bread that is the least fresh, rather than throwing it away. Ingredients for 6 pieces of french toast: 2 eggs 1/2 c milk 6 slices of bread 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 1/2 tsp cinnamon a pinch of sugar Directions: I mix all of the ingredients on a dinner plate (because that's how Mom did it). With a fork, whisk the eggs until they look slightly scrambled, add the rest of the ingredients and whisk together. I use my electric lefse griddle and heat it to 325F. Dip one side of the bread into the egg mixture, turn it over and coat the other side of the bread. Place it on the griddle for about

Simply the easiest DIY project ever!! As I was cleaning out my kitchen cabinets, I found some outdated food items and had an idea to make a dining room table centerpiece. I layered black beans, split green peas, garbanzo beans and topped it off with some yellow popcorn in a decorative glass bowl. I love bees wax candles so I placed one in the middle of the bowl. For those of you that never have time for projects or if you think you are lacking in the creativity department, you can absolutely tackle this little DIY project or have you can have your kids help!  It's a nice fall look for the dining room table. Love and peace, ~ Simply Tammi