I’ve always tried to keep our grocery costs relatively low (usually around $450/month for our family of 5, which includes all household supplies like toilet paper and laundry detergent and diapers as well), but lately I’ve been trying to keep it even lower through meal prepping and not buying treats (oh M&M’s, how I miss …
Suburban Homestead Diaries: Using Winter to Improve My Homemaking Skills
Now that I’m a so-called grown up and can largely choose where to live, I sometimes wonder how I’ve somehow managed to land my winter-hating self on a property where winter can last up to 6 months out of the year, where you drive down the hill into town and see yourself descending into The …
How to Cut the Fat of Almost ANY Baking Recipe In Half
I grew up in a very health-conscious home: my mom carefully planned our meals to include lots of fruits and vegetables, we ate a lot of whole-grain stuff before it became super popular, and our meals followed the USDA’s “My Plate” recommendations long before the official nutritional guidelines were released. So, you’d better believe that …
Sometimes I Make Cookies When I’m Cutting Down on Sugar
No, this is not a post about me making “faux” cookies with healthy ingredients like dates and spelt-or-whatever-you-call-it flour. This is a post about how for three days over the past week, I succeeded in going without sugar, and how on the other four days, I ate cookies whose recipe called for a whole …
Beating Back Stay-At-Home Boredom
There have been a lot of things that have surprised me since bringing Raven home just over five weeks ago–my maternal instincts kicking in, the sheer amount of excess skin around my middle, how many hours a day I can spend just looking at my baby, the delirium that seems to come with the 3 …
Strawberry Shortcake + Anticipation of the Future
Today my Sunday schedule was totally thrown off (thanks to my calling, or volunteer work, at my church). Instead of attending choir practice in the morning and church for 3 hours in the afternoon, I went to church meetings from 9-12 and spent the afternoon at home while my husband was attending our regular meetings …
Things That Bring Me Joy: Baking
I know I’ve blogged a bit about my love of baking before, but this is just too big of a passion not to write about a little more. For a long time (up until about three years ago), I didn’t call myself a cook: I only referred to myself as a baker, since my specialties …
Here’s What’s Cooking . . . Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
So I just had to share this with you–I mean, it’s only the most delicious pumpkin bread recipe ever, and you know I love you, right? Plus, there’s just nothing that makes a frosty autumn afternoon better than a hot loaf of pumpkin bread with a cold mug of milk. You’re welcome. And enjoy 🙂 Pumpkin …