Natural Homemade Living

I have had this framed mirror hanging around my house in different rooms for years. Most recently it's been in the Dining Room. I really like the size of it, but I wanted to give it a new look. I used Black Acrylic paint with just a little water added, a brush, taped off the mirror. I put paper on the wall around the edges and painted it-right on the wall!  It took less than 30 minutes! Now my mirror...and my room, have a whole new look!  ~ Angie

Wow - what a crazy busy week! I'm not sure if it's just me but it seems that the summer days are flying by! Busy schedules means projects are piling up! So I have decided I needed to get back on track. I started with a suggestion from my husband, food! I guess in retrospect I can't really remember what we ate for supper last week, but I'm sure we ate! During the summer, I'm sure I could live on yogurt, granola, veggies, and fruit, but it seems that my husband is asking for a little more than that - haha!! Here are a few of my tips: For the grill: I always grill a few types of meat, fish or poultry at the same time. My usual routine includes 3-4 chicken breasts (enough for 3-5 meals), 2 buffalo burgers (enough for 1 meal), and a pound of cod wrapped in foil (enough for 2-3 meals).  My favorite side grilled dish: Wrap in foil: baby potatoes, zucchini cut in 1 inch chunks, red onions cut in 1/2 inch chunks, 2 garlic cloves diced, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle...

The other day the Farmer's Market had pickling cucumbers and fresh dill available and I just couldn't resist, I ended up buying 4 pounds of cucumbers and a couple bunches of dill.  I found several recipes that I had used in the past and adapted a little from all of them to make these refrigerator dills. They were ready to eat about 2-3 days later. This recipe made 6 quarts of crunchy, delicious pickles! What you need: Jars, I used Quart size 4 pounds pickling cucumbers or you can use regular cucumbers if that's what you have fresh dill, I used about 3 heads per jar(2 on bottom and 1 on top) fresh garlic, I used one clove in each jar one large onion sliced 1 Tablespoon of sugar per quart jar For the brine: 12 cups water 5 cups white vinegar 1 cup salt, I used sea salt but you can use pickling salt also Bring brine to a boil. In each quart jar: add 1 slice of onion, 1 clove of garlic and 2 sprigs of dill on the bottom, then put in the sliced cucumbers...

Blueberries and lemons are a great combination! I found this recipe (and made a few minor changes) at www.mybakingaddiction.com .  I served them warm...and yes, they are so YUMMY!  Ingredients: zest of 2 lemons (about 1/2 cup) 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened 1/4 cup canola oil 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp baking soda 3/4 tsp sea salt 1 cup milk 1 1/3 cups fresh blueberries Glaze : 3 T unsalted butter, melted 1 cup powdered sugar 1/2 tsp vanilla 2 T freshly squeezed lemon juice Directions : Preheat oven to 325F, line muffin pan with paper liners. In a medium bowl, mix lemon zest and sugars together. I used a stand mixer with a paddle attachment and creamed together the sugars, butter, oil then added the eggs and vanilla, until all ingredients were mixed. Add flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and milk to your butter...

My garden cucumbers are finally ready - yay!! I love to use cucumbers in summer salads, but one of my other favorites is to make a creamy sauce for them.  I like to serve these within a couple of days when I make them in the sauce otherwise they will get a little soggy. I like my sauce on the sweet side, but you may experiment with the amount of sweetener you use. Ingredients : 4 cucumbers 1/3 cup mayonnaise 1/3 cup plain yogurt, Greek style works great 2 T white vinegar 2-3 T agave or sugar to taste 2 tsp diced shallots or onions (optional) Salt and pepper to taste Peel cucumbers if the outsides are thick, otherwise slice them without peeling.  In a medium bowl, whisk mayonnaise and vinegar together until creamy. Add sweetener to taste. Add diced shallots or onion.  Add sliced cucumbers, cover and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour.    Love and peace, ~ Simply Tammi

If you have some scrap material that you don't know what to do with, I have the perfect, simple project for you! During the hot summer months, cold drinks are a must but you might notice that your beverage glasses will sweat and leave a ring of water on your desk or table. I was tired of the papers on my desk getting wet, so I decided to make some mug and glass mats based on a place mat idea but smaller. And now, no more rings of water! The mat absorbs the water and it dries rather quickly. I gave a few to my daughter, so I guess they could be used as gifts too! I started with 2 kinds of material. The first was quilted material and the second was denim from old jeans (that holds some sentimental value for our family). I used denim with pockets for a few mats because I thought it was kind of cute! My daughter had a great idea with the jeans pocket, she said she could use that one for a remote control holder. I like that idea too! These are my steps: First, I cut my material i...

With the weather here in the midwest being so hot lately(100 degrees) today and last week in the high 90's, I was really looking for something cool and refreshing. I had been wanting to make this recipe for a while but hadn't had time, there is a little planning involved...and I'm not really much of a planner.  It's really not hard to make but you do need a little time.   Here's what you need: 4 small packages (3 oz size) of jell-o, I picked 4 different flavors but you can use any combination of 4. 2 packets of unflavored gelatin(I used Knox brand) 1 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk  1/2 c. cold water 1 1/2 c. boiling water  So here is the planning part- you need to make this a couple days before you want to eat it.  Make the 4 packages of jello (use the directions on the box) I made mine in these small 3 and 4 cup containers. You don't want the jello to be too thin.  After the jell-o is set up(about 4 hours) cut it up into sm...