Natural Homemade Living

  We have been using the grill almost every day, I love cooking in the summer and taking the mess outside! If you are short on time, you can usually put together an entire meal for 30 minutes. One of our favorite grill meals is Italian chicken and grilled veggies. Wash your veggies, rinse and pat them dry. Slice your veggies, zucchini (yellow and green), green and red peppers, green beans and onions. I used a grill basket, sprinkled a little garlic powder and pepper on them with a light mist of olive oil. It took about 10 minutes on the grill for them to cook. Delicious, healthy and quick to make! Love and peace, ~ Simply Tammi

One of my favorite things about summer are all of the fresh veggies! Lettuce salads are one of my favorite meals in the summer. Summer has now officially arrived and the fresh veggies are calling my name, I am making my version of a Greek salad for lunch. My garden lettuce is not quite ready so I'm using romaine lettuce from the farmers market. Here is my ingredient list for one serving of salad but add or change the ingredients for your favorites: Romaine or green leafy lettuce (or your favorite) - enough to fill a plate Calamata olives, I use -5-6 olives sweet banana peppers, sliced, I use 2-3 shallot or purple onion, sliced. about 1/4 of either one grape tomatoes yellow, green or red bell peppers, sliced feta cheese, 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese (I don't know why but I always need a little mozzarella cheese over the top) Optional: add some sliced, grilled chicken.  Enjoy your fresh veggies and healthy eating! Love and peace, ~ Simply Tammi

A few weeks ago, I tried a new muffin recipe, had it ready to share and forgot about it until this morning when I discovered a few muffins left in the freezer! So here it is ...I adapted this muffin recipe from The Barefoot Contessa . They are simple to make (no electric mixer needed) and the taste testers loved them! Ingredients: 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/2 cups white sugar 4 1/2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp salt 1 cup buttermilk (or add 1 T lemon juice to r egular milk, let sit for 5 minutes) 1 cup plain Greek yogurt 1 tsp lemon zest 1/2 cup melted and cooled butter 2 eggs, lightly beaten 2 cups fresh blueberries Directions: Start by melting the butter then let it sit until the other ingredients are mixed. Whisk the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. I use a 4 cup glass measuring cup to stir the milk, yogurt and eggs, then add the cooled, melted butter and lemon zest. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir (I use a...

  If you're using glass canisters in your kitchen, here's a quick and easy DIY project. Cut a piece of wallpaper, cardstock, fabric or contact paper and use the cardboard from a picture frame as your guide for cutting the paper or fabric to fit in your frame. Cut out a decal or use a large sticker for a decoration in the middle. This is so inexpensive that you can change it out for each season!  Happy decorating!   ~ Simply Angie

A favorite treat for the kids are marshmallow treats. They are simple to make and the kids love them! I made these using gluten-free rice cereal. Ingredients : 5 cups gluten-free rice cereal 1/4 c butter 5 cups miniature marshmallows 1 tsp vanilla extract * optional - 1/2 c organic coated chocolate pieces (or you can use m&ms candies) Directions : Melt butter in a large pan on the stove. Add marshmallows and stir until melted. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and cereal. Spoon mixture into a parchment paper lined or greased 9x13 baking pan. Press into pan using your fingers (I put a little coconut oil on my fingers so the mixture doesn't stick). Wait for them to cool, then cut into squares. Happy snacking! Love and peace, ~ Simply Tammi

Now that so many of us are working in our gardens or the children are on summer break, we wanted to re-post our super simple recipe for a sugar scrub. We have it by all the sinks and tubs. It's great to clean and moisturize your hands and body... and smells yummy! Remember that coconut oil melts easily so you might want to keep it in a cool place, especially in the summer. It's perfect if you've been working in the garden or if you don't like to wear shoes in the summer. You can use it to clean and soften your hands and even your feet! It also makes a great gift! 1/2 c. white sugar or organic cane sugar 1/2 c. coconut oil                                                            ...

  A simple inexpensive decorating idea is to use a shadow box and some of your favorite family items. I lined the shadow box with contact paper and placed an old paperback recipe book, spatula and hand-written recipe. We had several generations of bakers in our family so we have plenty of vintage kitchen items. I also used wrapping paper as a backdrop in a frame of old family pictures. If you don't have items handed down in your family, you can find lots of options at garage sales, flea markets or thrift shops. Happy decorating! ~ Simply Angie

As long I can remember our family has been trading furniture with each other. It's a simple process, when one family gets tired of an item, you start asking the rest of the family if they want it. It can actually take several years for an item to make it's way through the entire family, but sometimes by the time it comes back around, the original owner reclaims it or it is sent away to donation land. My husband still laughs about this funny little routine we have, but it seems normal to us and it saves us money! So now that you see how it works, I was actually the fourth owner of the metal filing cabinet. My daughter called one Sunday afternoon and asked if I wanted the filing cabinet and of course I did! I needed a new filing cabinet but I really am not fond of the metal cabinets and if I got a wood cabinet, I would have to paint it! I also didn't want my home office to look like an office, so I decided I would create a new look for the old metal filing cabinet. I s...