Natural Homemade Living

Who doesn't love pasta? I'm pretty sure I could eat pasta every day. Another favorite and simple summer salad to make is this one. It tastes great and it's pretty too! You can add ingredients or take out ingredients according to your taste. I hope you like it! Ingredients : 1 - 16 ounce package of rotini pasta (I use garden rotini - 3 colors) 1 pint grape tomatoes cut in half 1/2 c calamata olives, pitted and cut in half 1 green bell pepper, diced 4 ounces of turkey pepperoni 3 mini seedless cucumbers, sliced 1 - 8 ounce bottle of your favorite Italian dressing 8 ounces shredded parmesan cheese.   Sea salt and coarse ground pepper to taste. Cook the pasta in salted water until done for 10-12 minutes, uncovered. Drain and rinse with cold water. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and stir in the dressing. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving, I usually refrigerate mine overnight. This makes about 8 servings. Enjoy! Love and peace, ~ Simp...

This was the first cookie recipe my Grandma gave to me. We made these cookies every visit and they are still one of my favorites. I have made just one change and that is the coconut oil, Grandma used butter. If you have a stand mixer and you mix them until the batter is a little fluffy, your cookies will be soft, almost cake-like in texture. Otherwise (as long as you don't over bake them) they will be soft and chewy in the middle! I make them both ways, it just depends on what you like. I have a couple of variations listed at the end of the recipe. Yummy! Ingredients : 1/2 c coconut oil 1/2 c softened butter (not melted though) 3/4 c brown sugar 3/4 c white sugar 2 tsp vanilla extract 2 eggs 1 tsp salt 2 c white flour 1 tsp baking soda 1 bag chocolate chips (12 oz) I use milk chocolate chips 1-2 c oatmeal (you can use the old-fashioned or quick cooking) Mix the oil, butter and sugars together until they are creamy and rather fluffy. Then add in the vanil...

This is the best tasting and prettiest punch you will ever drink! I have been making this awesome punch recipe for years and it never fails. It is so good that you will need to plan on running out of punch before your party ends! I make this for every special family event and I have never had leftover punch. Ingredients : 46 ounces chilled pineapple juice 1/2 quart or 1/2 liter of ginger ale, chilled 1 quart or 1 liter of Sprite or 7up, chilled 1 quart strawberry sherbet, soft but not runny.  Our favorite flavors are pineapple, orange, strawberry or raspberry but you can use any sherbet flavor. 1 quart (sometimes I use 2 quarts if I want a creamier texture) vanilla ice cream, soft but not runny. The ingredient list is for the entire batch of punch. I have always mixed half of the ingredients together in a punch bowl or large bowl and stir until most of the ice cream and sherbet melt. (You can use a potato masher to help mix in yo...

We hope you have been blessed with a family filled Memorial Day weekend! Our party was amazing and of course friends and family make it perfect! We wanted to give you an idea of how you could organize a party of your own. Our goal was to keep things simple while offering a nice presentation, without too much clutter. We used our jars with the chalkboard contact paper for our candy and kept that theme by labeling each food item, we just stuck the contact paper to the table linens. We used the paper flowers from a previous post to border the bottom of the graduation banner. We also displayed Shya's artwork with wooden clothespins attached to jute. Hopefully you can get some new ideas and make your party planning a pleasant experience! Paper flowers start with plates, napkins and forks Glass jars with chalkboard contact paper Gardettos DIY cupcake stands Chocolate cupcakes, lemon cupcakes and sugar cookies Hugs and kisses, skittles and lemonheads...

Lemon cupcakes are so fun for summer parties. If you're looking for a simple, reliable, and yummy-licious lemon cupcake recipe, this is one of my favorites! Ingredients: 1 cup unsalted butter, softened 2 cups white sugar 4 eggs 3 cups flour 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp sea salt 1 cup milk 3 T lemon zest 3 T lemon juice (freshly squeezed is best) Mix ingredients in the order listed. I used baking cups in a muffin pan and baked for 20-23 minutes in a 340F oven. This recipe makes 30-32 cupcakes. I frosted them with lemon butter cream frosting and added a few sprinkles of colored sugar - yummy and pretty! Frosting : 1/2 cup butter, room temperature 4-5 cups powdered sugar 2 tsp vanilla extract 4 T lemon juice (I squeezed 1 lemon) 1 tsp lemon zest 3 T half-n-half or a little more until smooth consistency colored sugar for decoration is optional Mix butter and powdered sugar, then add liquid ingredients until frosting is smooth. You can use a decorator bag or just use...

Welcome to my crazy week! I have too many projects right now with final party decorations, our wood floor is being installed which means my dining room table is in the kitchen (not a good thing), baking cupcakes and cookies, trying to finish my garden, working at my day job, and guests arriving tonight (won't they be surprised at this disaster - good thing it's my sister and her family because they'll understand!) If you've been following us for awhile you know I've been planning details of the graduation party but it seems like there are always last minute items to work on. Today I completed the most simple and fast little project that I've put together in a long time. I've seen this idea on pinterest and many blogs, so I tried it my way and it worked! You will need: A jar or container Baking soda Essential oil I filled my jelly jar about halfway full with baking soda and added 25 drops of orange essential oil. I picked orange because it's fresh an...

With kids being out of school, it won't be long (or maybe you've already heard) "I'm bored!" Here is a fun, easy project for all ages to get involved in making, playing or both...unless you're a teenager, they just won't admit they are having fun!  I know there are lots of recipes for clay and play dough, I think I have tried most of them. This is one of my favorites for clay. This is a super soft dough, easy to clean up, and little hands can squeeze and mold it. It will harden if you leave it out or it can be dried in the oven.  We just keep ours in a bag in the cupboard, or the fridge if it's warm. It will last a few weeks in an airtight bag or container. This recipe was adapted from argocornstarch.com. It makes about 2 pounds (about 6, small fist, sized balls) but can easily be halved. Here's what you need: 1 c cornstarch 2 c baking soda 1 1/4 c cold water 1 T oil  food coloring is optional In medium saucepan stir cornstarch and ...