Natural Homemade Living

These delicious little treats are a perfect addition for your Easter tray of goodies! You only need a few ingredients and a little time to put these together. Recipe makes 20-25 treats. Ingredients : 2 cups flaked coconut 1 bag (11 oz) white chocolate chips (Ghirardelli is my favorite) 2 drops green food coloring Pastel color M&M candies or jelly beans to use for the eggs in the nest Melt the white chocolate chips for 2 minutes on 50% power in the microwave.  Stir the chips after they have melted and add 2 drops of green food coloring.  Add the coconut and stir until it's covered with chocolate.  Use a small cookie dough scoop to form a ball and place them on parchment paper. Use your thumb to flatten the middle of the nest.  Place your candies in the middle of each nest.  Store in a tightly sealed container or freeze them.  Love and peace, Simply Angie and Tammi

Pumpkin pudding with a ginger cookie on the side 😊 Homemade pudding is still one of my favorite childhood desserts. I love to make my own pudding and experiment with different flavors. A perfect fall flavor is pumpkin. This pudding is creamy and has all of the pumpkin pie spices. Try this awesome recipe if you love pumpkin and pudding! Ingredients: 2 T cornstarch 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 egg 1-3/4 cup milk (I used 2%) 2/3 cup canned pumpkin 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg 1/8 tsp allspice 1/8 tsp ground ginger 1 pinch ground cloves 1 pinch salt 1 tsp vanilla extract Directions: Whisk brown sugar and cornstarch in a medium pan. Cook over medium heat. Whisk milk and egg then gradually add to the above mixture. Continue whisking the mixture until it boils, it'll take a few minutes. Boil for 1 minute and keep whisking. Remove from heat and whisk in the pumpkin, spices and vanilla. Place pan on burner over low heat. Whisk for another 2 minutes. ...

This morning seemed like a great time to make a favorite bread from the past. This recipe makes 2 loaves. Enjoy! Ingredients: 1 cup softened butter 2 cups white sugar 2 eggs 2 cups buttermilk 4 cups flour 2 tsp baking soda Cinnamon Topping: 1/2 cup white sugar 2 tsp cinnamon Cream butter then add sugar and eggs. Beat until blended then add milk. Mix in flour and baking soda. Pour batter into 2 greased loaf pans (9x5 inch) until they are 1/4 full. Sprinkle half of the cinnamon topping over the batter in each pan. Spoon the rest of the batter over the top of cinnamon mixture. Sprinkle the rest of the cinnamon mixture over the top. Use a knife to gently swirl the cinnamon mixture throughout each loaf. Bake at 350° for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of each loaf comes out clean. Place on a cooling rack for 15-20 minutes then remove from pans. Slice and enjoy! Love and peace, Tammi and Angie

For me, homemade applesauce is another one of those items that once you've had homemade, the stuff in the jars just doesn't cut it! Both of my grandmas made applesauce without a recipe. I had some notes from them that helped me remember the process. I used organic ingredients, but you don't have to. I would recommend using sweeter apples so you don't need as much sugar. This is super delicious! Ingredients : 6 pounds apples (about 12-16 medium apples) peeled, cored and sliced 1/2 c water 1/2 c white sugar  1 tsp ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp allspice 1/4 tsp ground cloves Directions : I used organic apples, honeycrisp and gala. Peel, core and slice the apples and put them in a large pot. Add the water and sugar. Cook over medium heat for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the spices and simmer over low heat until the liquid has cooked into the apples. Remove from the heat and cool for about an hour. I like to use jars to store the applesauce in the refrigerato...

Maybe you've seen the TikTok trend for frozen yogurts treats. They looked so good I had to make them! There are several variations but I used a couple of my favorite flavors for mine. They are a little messy to make but they are SO good and totally worth chocolate covered fingers! 😋 Ingredients 1 cup vanilla Greek Yogurt 2 cups strawberries, cut into small pieces 2 cups milk chocolate chips, melted 1 T coconut oil Directions Stir the yogurt and strawberries together in a medium bowl. I used a cookie scoop to place them on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet. Freeze them for 1-2 hours. Before you take them out of the freezer, melt the chocolate chips and coconut oil in the microwave using 30 second increments until they chips are melted and smooth. Remove the clusters from the freezer and dip each cluster in the melted chocolate. Place each cluster back on the cookie sheet and freeze again for about an hour. Once mine were frozen, I put them in freezer bags until and returned th...

Maple Walnut Granola If you're looking for a lower sugar granola recipe, this is a great recipe adapted from Dr. Travis Stork.   This recipe makes 10 cups. Ingredients:  8 c. rolled oats 2 c. walnuts, rough chopped 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp allspice 1/4 tsp salt 3/4 c. canola oil (or melted virgin coconut oil) 2/3 c. maple syrup or honey 1 T pure vanilla extract Combine the oats, nuts, spices and salt together with your fingers. Mix the liquid ingredients together in a separate bowl and pour over the dry ingredients. Stir together until everything is coated. Using 2 parchment paper lined baking sheets, pour half of the mixture on each sheet. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Let cool and store in an airtight container. This recipe also freezes well. Love and peace, Tammi and Angie

Creamy Lemon Curd - Natural Homemade Living We have been busy making creamy, delicious lemon curd! Our favorite is to add it to plain yogurt or use it in overnight oats with a few blueberries or blackberries mixed in! The best recipe is from Ina Garten, it's easy and turns out every time. Ingredients: 3-4 lemons 1 1/2 c. sugar 4 eggs, room temperature 1/2 c. butter, room temperature 1/2 c. lemon juice pinch of kosher salt Directions Remove the peel of the lemons using a vegetable peeler. Make sure you don't get the white part, it is very bitter. Place the lemon peelings and sugar in a food processor and pulse until the lemon zest is mixed into the sugar. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and add the lemon sugar mixture and beat with an electric mixer. Add the eggs one at a time then add the lemon juice and salt. Mix until combined. Pour the mixture into a medium saucepan and cook over low heat until it thickens. It u...

Natural Homemade Living Trail Mix Trail mix is a great snack for traveling, camping, school, lunch boxes and a simple treat for home! I like to buy my ingredients separately in bulk, it is cheaper than cans or packages. The best part is you can use any ingredients you love! This is our favorite combination. Ingredients: 2 c peanuts 1 c cashews 1 c pecans 1 c almonds 1 c raisins 1 c sunflower seeds 1 c chocolate candies Mix with your fingers in a large bowl and store in a large, covered container. If traveling or using for lunches, I use small baggies for each serving, the snack size baggies work great. You can add dried fruit, more nuts, coconut, pretzels or any of your favorite snack items. I like this combination of sweet and salty and I use gluten free ingredients. Enjoy and be blessed! Love and peace, ~ Tammi

No Bake Chewy Granola Bars I wanted to repost this in case you missed it.  It's one of our most popular pins on Pinterest. My kids especially like chewy granola bars but they seem to be one of those things that just keep going up in price and I'm not sure how healthy they actually are. I have tried a gazillion recipes and my daughter repeatedly gave the thumbs down....until this recipe! This one actually tastes better than the store bought kind. YAY!!  It took me under 10 minutes to make them-love that!  I adapted this recipe from Two Peas and Their Pods. So here's what you need:   1/4 c unsalted butter 1/4 c brown sugar 1/4 c honey 1/4 c creamy peanut butter 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 cups oats, I use old fashioned oats, but the recipe calls for quick oats 1/2 c crispy rice cereal OPTIONAL: (3/4 c.) chopped pretzels, (1/4 c.) mini Reese's pieces, mini M&Ms, mini chocolate chips, ground flax seeds Spray pan or put a square of parchmen...

I got this recipe a couple years ago from the Kelsey's Essentials on the cooking channel. I have made it for gifts, it also makes a yummy sweet and crunchy treat to have around. They are easy to make and it makes 4 cups, so it makes quite a bit. Especially if you divide it up and put it in those cute little cello bags with a ribbon. Here's what you need: 4 cups almonds, I usually buy them either at Costco or in the bulk food section at the grocery store where they are cheaper. You can get roasted, salted or unsalted. I get half of each unless one of them is on sale, then I buy the cheap ones. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, store bought or make your own homemade vanilla extract 1 egg white beaten 3/4 cup sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Beat the egg white with the vanilla extract, add the almonds and stir to coat. Combine the sugar, salt, and cinnamon with mixture. Place in a single layer on a greased baking sheet. ...

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

I'm so excited - the girls and I are getting ready for a road trip! My niece's annual dance recital is this weekend so my daughter and 3 of my grand-daughters are headed north! One of our family traditions is to bring snacks so we don't have to buy them along the way. I decided to make some popcorn treats for the trip, of course we'll bring the fruit too, but sometimes you just have to eat some gooey, sweet treats! This is a simple and quick recipe, perfect for all of us that are just too busy!! Ingredients: 12-14 cups air popped popcorn 1/2 bag miniature marshmallows, melted 1/4 c butter, melted 2 T coconut oil 1 c honey roasted peanuts Pop your popcorn and place in a large container, add peanuts (I used a large cookie storage container). In a large saucepan, melt marshmallows, butter and oil over medium low heat on stove. When melted pour over the top of the popcorn and peanuts and mix together. Pour into a 13x9 buttered pan and press down. Let it sit uncove...

I love snacks! I'm pretty sure I could snack my way through every day. One of our favorite snacks when we want something sweet is sunflower, sesame and flax seed brittle. It only takes a few minutes to mix the ingredients, a few minutes cooking on the stove and some cooling time. I use organic ingredients and raw seeds but use what you like. Ingredients: 3/4 c sugar (I use organic cane sugar but white sugar will work) 1/4 c honey 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg 1 T water 1/2 c sesame seeds 1/2 c sunflower seeds 1/4 c flax seeds 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 T butter 1/4 tsp baking soda Use a medium-small saucepan over medium heat, mix sugar, honey, nutmeg and water, and stir until mixture is fairly smooth.  Add seeds and stir. Continue to cook over medium heat about 10-12 minutes. I used a candy thermometer and waited for the mixture to reach 302F. Remove from heat. Stir in the vanilla extract and butter, keep stirring until the butter has melted.  Stir in t...

It's been a tradition in our family that we all make our "specialty" goodies for Christmas. One of my sister's treats that we all love are her Christmas tree wreaths made from corn flakes and marshmallows. Well, this year she brought the ingredients to my house so we could "whip them up" when we had a minute. To make a  long and dreadful story short, this did not happen. We both came down with the awful influenza that has hit the country and we laid around for 3 days. We thought it might be one of those things that's funny to reflect back on and laugh someday ...but that day has not arrived yet!  So anyway.... recently I noticed that I still had the ingredients for the wreaths in my cupboard and decided I would use them to make heart treats for Valentine's Day. I'm not really into using food coloring so I left them white, but you could a couple of drops of red food coloring if you want. (These can also be gluten free, check your labels). ...

No Bake Chewy Granola Bars I wanted to repost this in case you missed it. It's one of our most popular pins on Pinterest. My kids especially like chewy granola bars but they seem to be one of those things that just keep going up in price and I'm not sure how healthy they actually are. I have tried a gazillion recipes and my daughter repeatedly gave the thumbs down....until this recipe! This one actually tastes better than the store bought kind. YAY!!  It took me under 10 minutes to make them-love that!  I adapted this recipe from Two Peas and Their Pods. So here's what you need:   1/4 c unsalted butter 1/4 c brown sugar 1/4 c honey 1/4 c creamy peanut butter 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 cups oats, I use old fashioned oats, but the recipe calls for quick oats 1/2 c crispy rice cereal OPTIONAL: (3/4 c.) chopped pretzels, (1/4 c.) mini Reese's pieces, mini M&Ms, mini chocolate chips, ground flax seeds Spray pan or put a square of parchment on th...

If you need a gift idea or just want to make something for a yummy treat you should try our Caramel Corn Crunch, it’s perfect! I made this for my daughter’s dance class. I doubled the recipe and got about 25 cups. Here's what you need: 1 c butter  2 c packed brown sugar  1/2 c light corn syrup 1/2 tsp salt-I omitted because I used salted butter 1 t. baking soda Bring first 4 ingredients to a boil over medium heat in large sauce pan. Boil 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda. Mix well, it will foam up-this is why you need a large pan. Pour over 8 quarts of popcorn and stir to coat evenly. Bake for 1 hour at 200° stirring every 15 minutes. Then pour onto foil or wax paper and spread out to cool. I melted both chocolate and white chips and  drizzled over cooled mixture. You can add nuts, m&m's (or anything else you like) to the mixture. This makes about 10 cups. Enjoy! ~Simply Angie

If you are looking for a crunchy, healthy snack then this is a recipe for you. I have to admit, I was a little skeptical at first, I'm not particularly fond of... beans, but thought it was worth a try. After all, garbanzo beans are cheap so wouldn't be out much if I didn't like them. I found several recipes for them on allrecipes.com. You can add what you like, there are several ideas and seasoning combinations that can be used.  I didn't really follow a recipe I just added what seasonings I like and was happily surprised when they actually tasted good! Here's what you need: 1 15oz can garbanzo beans 2-3 T olive oil or oil of your choice, canola works well too cayenne pepper Spanish paprika dash of salt, optional any other seasonings you like, If you prefer sweet instead of salty you can use 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 T honey and 1T sugar Rinse and blot dry with a paper towel, this will also get some of the extra skins off the chickpeas. Drizzle with oil and spri...

I'm always trying new recipes for Granola, I like putting it in my yogurt for breakfast, or just grabbing a handful as a mid-afternoon snack.  I don't like to add anything to it but sliced almonds, then depending what I'm eating with it, I add fruit or other nuts later.  I have made it several times and change it up a little each time, but this is one of my favorites. I adapted this recipe from Blackberry Farms. You can find the original recipe here. What you need: 5 c oats, I used the Old Fashioned but Quick probably works too 1/2 c ground flax seed 3/4 c brown sugar 3/4 c Maple syrup or honey (I used 1/2 c honey and 1/4 c Apple Cinnamon Syrup)* 1/2 c almonds, I used sliced 1/2 c oil, I used Canola for this recipe 1 tsp cinnamon (optional) Pour into a large bowl and mix together then spread onto a cookie sheet lined with foil or parchment paper. Bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes or so. Check after 35-40 minutes, mine took longer, ...

Here is a simple and yummy snack idea I got from tasteofhome.com.  It's a lemony refreshing version of People Puppy Chow (made with peanut butter and chocolate chips). What you will need: 9 c Rice Chex (this is exactly a 12.8 oz box) 1 1/4 c white baking chips 1/4 c butter or margarine 4 t grated lemon peel 2T fresh lemon juice 2 C powdered sugar In large bowl measure cereal and set aside.  In a microwavable bowl, microwave chips, butter, lemon peel and juice uncovered on High for 1 minute, or until it can be stirred smooth.  Pour mixture over cereal and stir until coated evenly.  You can either put the powdered sugar in a resealable 2 gall. bag and shake it, or just pour it over the mixture and stir it until it's all covered.  I never have much luck with the bag so I just coated it in the bowl.  Spread out until cool then store in airtight container. Enjoy! UPDATE 8/29/12: It seems I left out one of the important ingredients before...it ...

I know there are tons of different trail mix recipes out there, but usually it's hard to get everyone to agree on what to put in it, or someone doesn't like something so they eat everything but that one thing..ok, I'm guilty.  This is one the kids helped mix up, we all picked our favorite things and threw them in for our week long camping trip.  (Even the non-raisin lovers ate the mix without picking them out!) You could also put them in small snack or sandwich baggies for individual servings.  Feel free to make it your way and share your recipe with us! Here's our recipe: 1c. raisins 1c. dried blueberries 1c. pecans 1c. whole and sliced almonds 1c. peanuts 1c. chocolate chips 1c. butterscotch chips 1c. sunflower seeds ~Simply Angie