Rachel Kaly, Author at Sweet Simple Living

Sweet ‘N Spicy Boneless Wings

October 18, 2015

Lately I’ve been trying to get more creative in the kitchen for dinner time which led to this sweet ‘n spicy boneless wings recipe! Monday-Friday I always cook us dinner. Saturdays we usually have leftovers or go out somewhere, and Sundays we always hangout with Ryan’s family and eat with them. After getting to the point where I was bored with cooking the same types of things, and bored with a lot things we ate, I decided to try and be a little more creative with dinner ideas which led me to Pinterest and food blogs! (Which I enjoyed so much I eventually decided start my own. :)) Lately I’ve been a little ambitious, making up new recipes or trying out ideas I see online. This has helped me get excited about cooking dinner again, and especially excited to eat it. Ryan and I love food.. So I’ve been enjoying cooking things we can actually look forward to eating and having some fun with it!

This week I had the idea to do an appetizers night! This is in no way healthy, but oh well. Once in awhile is fine. 😉 Ryan and I sometimes go to Applebee’s with our friends for “half-priced apps after 9” and we have a few go-to appetizers we love to order and share. We love the soft pretzels with beer cheese dip, and their sweet & spicy boneless wings! I thought it would be a really fun dinner to just make a bunch of appetizers and pig-out. Perfect for a fun Friday night in with a movie!

So for this dinner I obviously decided to make pretzels with beer cheese dip and sweet spicy boneless wings. I’ll be sharing how I made the wings below! Fried chicken is something my dad taught me how to make and its really delicious, but for these I wanted to try something totally new to make them REALLY crispy and thick like the boneless wings you get at a restaurant. Its definitely not how I’d make fried chicken normally, the breading was thicker than what I’d want for a normal chicken dinner, but for this purpose it was perfect. Just reallyyy messy. This sauce is something I make a lot to go on asian stir fry type dishes. Its sweet, spicy, and garlic-y. These tasted great dipped in the sweet spicy sauce, then in some ranch! Just like how we do it at Applebee’s or Buffalo Wild Wings. 🙂

Fried Chicken Ingredients:
-1 package (1-2 lbs) boneless chicken breasts (or actual boneless wings if you want..)
-1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk + 1 tsp lemon juice or vinegar)
-1/4 cup water
-1 cup whole wheat flour
-1 tbs. paprika
-salt & pepper
-other spices optional
-extra whole wheat flour + breadcrumbs for dusting
-vegetable oil for frying

Sauce Ingredients:
-3 tbs. cornstarch
-3 minced cloves of garlic
-1/2 cup pineapple juice (orange juice is good too!)
-1/4 cup raw honey
-1/4 cup coconut sugar
-1/2 tsp. ground ginger
-1/2 tsp. pepper
-1 tbs. soy sauce
-1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
-2-4 tbs water

Directions:
Cut chicken breasts into nuggets size. Fill a shallow pie pan with equal parts flour and breadcrumbs. Coat all nuggets with flour mixture. In a separate bowl mix the buttermilk, water, flour, and spices into a thick batter. Add more water if its too thick. Carefully dip each nugget into the batter, coating it completely, then coat it in the flour mixture again. Heat about a 1/2 inch of vegetable oil in a skillet and add the chicken pieces and cook over medium heat until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
To make the sauce, add all ingredients to a saucepan except for the water. Heat over medium, stirring frequently until a thick sauce forms. Add a few tablespoons of water as needed to create your desired consistency. Coat the wings in the sauce or just use it for dipping, whichever you would like. Enjoy!

Yummmm…These would be good with tons of other sauces too. Or even as plain ol chicken nuggets. I love me some fried chicken!

Follow Christ, not Christians

October 17, 2015

Originally when I started this blog, I thought it would be a fun place to share my recipes, photos, and natural living tips. I didn’t really plan on writing posts about Christianity or my faith, but I guess this is just a place for me to share a little bit of everything in my life. 🙂

When I’m by myself on a quiet day my mind tends to wander. The other day while my mind was wandering I got to thinking about Christians, and specifically what it looks like to be a Christian. I think if we were to be honest, most people have in their mind, an idea of what the “ideal Christian” looks like. That person that just seems to have it all together. Maybe its that facebook friend who’s always posting encouraging scripture verses on her page.. Maybe its your sweet old grandmother who went to church faithfully every day and quietly read her Bible every night before bed.. Maybe its that person you know who’s always talking about God in every conversation, or the person who always gets really into the praise and worship at church.. Maybe its your pastor or youth pastor or some famous Christian leader.. Maybe its a missionary who’s actually out ministering to people and doing good everyday. Whoever it is, I’m sure we all have people we kind of look up to and put on this pedestal of “amazing Christian person that must really have it all together” as well as the idea of how we are supposed to talk or act to fit in with this ideal type of person.

I think sometimes we, as Christians, find ourselves thinking about people like this and comparing ourselves to others and how they express their faith. We think about our shortcomings. We think that our expression of faith is somehow inferior because it doesn’t look like someone else’s. We forget to realize that God created us all very differently. We all have different personalities, different talents, and different callings. I was reminded this week that we are not supposed to try and become more like other Christians, but more like Christ. (This seems like a duh moment. Haha but it really clicked for me.) Christians are messed up people, just like everyone else. Christians will let you down and always fall short, because we’re all human. There are no ideal Christians, and no people we should strive to live up to or become like. Only Christ! He loves and appreciates us exactly where we are and how we are. He also takes pleasure in every expression of faith and worship, no matter how big or small, loud or quiet.

Well, that was it! Short and sweet…I just felt like I should share my thoughts. If you’ve ever felt like you don’t quite measure up to your idea of that “ideal Christian person” maybe it’ll be a great reminder for you too that that doesn’t exist, and becoming more like Christ should always be our ultimate goal, and that looks different for everyone. 🙂

5 Ways I Get Rid of Headaches Naturally

October 13, 2015

Headaches used to be a pretty common issue for me. I would get at least a couple every week it seemed like, and sometimes more. About a year ago Ryan and I were chatting about drinking water and he told me some things he had read about how much water you’re supposed to drink per day and how practically no one drinks as much as they should. He also said if he ever has a headache, he chugs a water and it usually goes away. I thought there had to be something to this! (Not that I should’ve been surprised.) When I was younger I didn’t drink much water at all. I basically only drank it when I was doing sports, and never any other time. Last year I decided I was going to start drinking a lot more water and it really changed a few things in my life! My skin got clearer, I had more energy, and I got way less headaches which was a miracle. Although headaches are not common for me anymore, I do still get them on occasion for various reasons, and I have a list of go-to remedies that I’ll try and usually have quick success with! If all else fails I will take some ibuprofen, but its usually not even necessary anymore which is awesome! Here is my list of 5 ways I get rid of headaches naturally!

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links that earn me a small commission if you purchase something through them but don’t cost you a thing. I only link to things I actually use and love myself.

1- Chug a Water Bottle

You should’ve seen this one coming. 🙂 Majority of the time when I get a headache it is because I slacked off in the water-drinking department and I’m dehydrated. If I have a headache and I know I didn’t drink enough water that day, this is always the first thing I do. Sometimes this is all that I need to do to get rid of a headache! If I did drink a lot of water, I’ll usually still try to drink more because it does still help most times.

2- Essential Oils

Something I always always keep with me in my bag is my little roller bottle blend of headache essential oils. I bought this blend from Eden’s Garden and it is my favorite. It is a blend of basil, chamomile, frankincense, lavender, peppermint, rosemary, sweet marjoram and wintergreen. I very highly recommend it and I use it every single time I get a headache! In my roller bottle, I put about 30 drops of this blend in, and topped it off with some grape seed oil to make it last longer. Even at this diluted concentration it usually works well. If I have a killer terrible headache, I’ll use the oil straight from the bottle so its much stronger. I would recommend testing a small patch of skin with the oil before using it neat though because it could be too strong and irritating for some people. I personally love it and it doesn’t bother my skin at all. Before I purchased this blend, I also had success just using peppermint essential oil by itself, but I do prefer this blend to straight peppermint oil. I put the oil on my temples, and along my hairline on my forehead, and on the back of my neck. It smells very minty and feels very cold on your skin. A combination of the cooling effects and the smell work together to ease away the pain of a headache. If my headache is mild, using this oil usually takes it away by itself. If I have a terrible headache, this usually won’t completely take it away, but I still use it because it is extremely soothing and makes a headache a lot more tolerable to deal with while I try other remedies to finish the job!

3- Heating Pad or Rice Pack

I absolutely love rice packs. I’m pretty sure that’s not actually what they’re called but for some reason its always what I’ve called them. 🙂 Its basically an oversized bean bag filled with rice that you microwave and use as a heating pad. They’re awesome for back or stomach cramps and pain, injuries, or headaches. I bought this exact one (not an affiliate link) off Etsy a few years ago and have gotten plenty of use from it. Heating pads would also do the job, but I like the weight of the rice pack; something about the heaviness with the heat is nice. I typically don’t use this for a headache unless its a really bad one. I’ll heat it up for 2-3 minutes and rest it on the back of my neck. If feels SO good and soothing. If I do this at the same time as using essential oils, it is seriously so relaxing and comforting. The combination of the hot and cold feeling does something magical.. It gives me almost instant relief, but the downside is this only works if I’m just chilling at home. If I’m out and about or at work or something, I obviously can’t walk around with a bag of rice on my neck. Haha

4- Eat something

This might not help everyone, and it doesn’t always help me, but sometimes it does, so I thought I would include it. I’ve struggled on and off with low blood sugar issues my whole life. I always have to eat every meal in a timely manner, and eat enough or I will get sick.. This happened all the time when I was little if I didn’t eat soon enough. I would start feeling weird and shaky and just have absolutely no energy. Then I would get a killer headache. Then I would feel nauseous. If I got to that point, it was too late. Nothing would help. I would feel so nauseous and sick that the thought of food would make me want to gag. A lot of times I would actually get sick, despite my empty stomach. Because of this weird issue, I try to always make sure I have a plan for my meals, and if I’m relying on someone else for this, I keep snacks with me. It has saved me from many otherwise inevitable headaches before. I can always tell if a headache I have is being caused by this because I’ll feel weak and shaky and obviously hungry. If I have a blood sugar headache and I eat something quickly it will go away right away. Some foods that I’ve noticed over the years that help with this are anything with natural sugars. Especially if I’m already nauseous and nothing else sounds good, I can usually eat some fruit, and the natural sugars help me bounce back. Side note: Since drinking more water, this is another thing that has significantly reduced. I don’t get low blood sugar as often!

5- Reduce/Remove any tension

This includes everything from switching to glasses if contact lenses are causing the eyes to strain, taking your hair down if its pulled back or removing headbands or hats. It also includes stretching your back, shoulders, neck, and jaw. One time I had a terrible headache all day that I could not get rid of. I had tried everything above, as well as taking actual medicine, multiple times, and could not figure out why my headache wouldn’t go away. Eventually I realized I had a headband on so I took it off, and 10 minutes later my headache was gone. That little bit of pressure can sometimes do this. I’ve also had this happen with ponytails if I have my hair pulled back for several days in a row. By removing strain, you’re removing the cause of the headache. Some people have a really tense neck/shoulders/back from sitting or standing all day, and a lot of people also have a tense jaw (Me). If I’m concentrating on something, or if I’m anxious or stressed about anything, or even if I’m just driving, my jaw tends to tense up without me even realizing it. I regularly stretch my jaw and it has helped a lot. Stretching in general really helps you relax and ease any tension you may not realize you have, and make a headache go away faster.

Bonus- Acupressure Techniques
I added this as a bonus because I’ve never actually tried it yet. I was Skyping with my sister yesterday telling her this idea for a blog post, and she told me about it! There are certain pressure points on our bodies that, if massaged, can release headache tension and relieve the headache. Here’s what she has to say:
“I use pressure points in my hands to get rid of headaches. I mainly get tension headaches, and heard that the best way to relieve headache pain was to massage the L muscle in your palm. (The largest muscle that you see when you make an L shape with your hands.) It takes a few minutes of deep tissue massaging but you immediately start feeling the pressure release. Once I’ve massaged both hands my headache feels much better.”

The next time I get a headache I will definitely try this! Does anyone else find success with these things or have any other go-to natural remedies for a headache before resorting to sleeping or taking medicine? Let me know!

My Photo-Biz Journey

October 11, 2015

This is a question I hear pretty often, so I thought I would address it here and explain a bit about my experiences in starting my own photography business, where it has ended up, and my future with it. This is kind of long and goes into details that I feel are important in understanding my journey and decisions I’m making for myself and my business. You’ve been warned. 🙂

For those who don’t know, I have a photography business that specializes in portraits of families and children, while occasionally shooting other things like couples, engagements, seniors, etc. I started this business unofficially during the fall of 2011 kind of by accident. I always really enjoyed photography, but knew nothing about the technicalities of it. An old classmate of mine contacted me about shooting his engagement photos. As someone who just purchased my first “real” camera and loved taking photos, this seemed like the coolest and funnest opportunity, so I took the job, not knowing what I was doing whatsoever. 🙂 After that session I was so excited, and thought I had done a pretty awesome job. (Ha! If I only knew.) From there I went on to create a Facebook page to share my work, and spent my days learning more and more about photography, light, shooting in manual, interacting with and posing clients, contracts, legalities, taxes, business licenses, and the list goes on. I used my friends and sister as my subjects, doing fun photoshoots all the time which helped me grow. Somehow this passion eventually did turn into a real, professional, tax-paying business, and I did get much better at it!

I’ve always had pretty realistic expectations about my business and knew that if I ever wanted it to be a full-time job then I would have to do a few things- Charge a lot more for it, work a lot harder, and continually invest a ton of time and money back into it. Becoming a full time professional photographer can be done, but it is incredibly challenging hard work. I have a few photographer friends who have done this and I have so much respect for them. It is really not an easy job. Even though it may look and seem simple, easy, and fun- it is WORK. I found this out in a huge way when I relocated my business from Virginia to Tennessee.

In Virginia my business was pretty small-time, but also growing. I lived in a very small town where everybody is connected by mutual friends and acquaintances. Word of mouth goes a long way in a town like that and its the best advertising you can get! Here in Tennessee I live in a suburb town of Nashville which is a lot bigger than what I’m used to, and growing rapidly. And of course when I first moved I didn’t know anyone. There are wayyyy more people here, and also way more photographers. I didn’t have a clue as to what I was going to do to get my business up and running in my new town.

I did some research for ideas, and talked to a few photographer friends and eventually decided that I would post a “deal” on Living Social and Amazon local for my business. If you’re not familiar with these sites, they work with local businesses to give them a boost of traffic by advertising for them and selling a voucher for their service that is significantly discounted- which is awesome for consumers and sucky for the business owner. Just saying. At the time I thought this would be the easiest and fastest way for me to get my name out there even though it would mean working for next to nothing. The deal sites took my normal rate, which was already very low at the time, cut it by 75% because they said they can’t sell photography vouchers for any more than $xx amount, and sold the vouchers for that much. In turn I got roughly 40% of the total profit. They got half, and I got half, but the credit card precessing fees got taken out of my half so it ended up being even less. Once the deal was finished, I ended up selling about 60 vouchers for hour long photo sessions, which I was stoked about. Little did I know, I was about to lose my love for photography and be completely miserable for the next 5-ish months..

After spending hours of time responding back and forth to emails from that many people, trying to schedule that many sessions (while working a normal day job), traveling to and from the sessions, actually shooting them, culling and editing the photos, and then following up with the individual clients, I ended up making significantly less than minimum wage for a ton of very stressful time-consuming work. When I ran the deal, it was the late summer of 2013, which meant that everyone who bought a voucher wanted fall photos in time for Christmas, and I was trying oh-so-hard to accommodate everyone’s wishes. I was working like crazy y’all. Every single Saturday and Sunday that year I had a session or two and even some during the week. I think one weekend I had 5.. I had zero time to enjoy my favorite fall season or do anything other than work, take photos, edit, and email people. During this time, I started to really hate photography, and honestly, I dreaded every single photo session I booked. If someone had to cancel or reschedule last minute or if we got rained out, instead of being bummed/upset/annoyed which would be a normal photographer’s reaction, I REJOICED. I knew that had to be a bad sign. I was burnt out and found absolutely no joy in my business anymore, which was really sad!

Eventually the crazy rush of the Living Social clients subsided, winter began, and I got to lead a calm pleasant life again, but I was left wondering. Wondering if it was worth it. Wondering if anyone would actually rebook me with my normal prices after paying a fraction for the same thing previously. Wondering if this was the beginning of my success story, or if I was done. I decided to be proactive with the base of clients I had formed and I used a variety of marketing strategies to try and keep my business going. Email lists, mini sessions, referral cards, hand-written thank you notes, repeat client discounts, black Friday deals. To make a long story short, I never really found anything that worked that well for me.

Business has slowly dwindled and dwindled, and eventually I just stopped trying. When asking successful photographers for advice, they’ve always said the same things. “Raise your prices…You’ll find clients that really value you once you charge more…You need to value yourself and your time and your art and then you’ll find the type of clientele who will…If you keep offering deals, you’ll only attract people looking for a deal…You can’t be successful unless you’re charging enough for your time…” And so forth. These types of sayings are all too common to hear in photography groups. They emphasize all these points from a business and money perspective. I know that these statements are true, but they’ve always come off as harsh and almost snobby to me. Please know that I mean no disrespect to any photographer who has ever given advice like this- I know this way of thinking is what has led to many successful businesses, but to me, it makes it all about the money which has been what’s ruined it for me. I guess I’m just not much of a business person! When I was constantly hearing those things, and thinking about my business from that point of view, I got kinda caught up in my ego and thinking about how much my skills were worth and how to find people who would finally see that and appreciate it and pay for it, which then made me feel snobby, which then made me feel guilty. My goal with my business was never to make a ton of money. It was to do something I loved as a job, with the perk of getting paid for it and creating beautiful images for people to treasure. If I didn’t love it anymore, what was the point? Over the course of the past couple years I tried raising my prices and I’ve tried discounting them. Both have given me minimal results at best, and neither ever made me any happier with my business.

Whew!!! That was a lot of stuff to get out. I write all of that to basically say…My business is on the back burner right now. I haven’t totally quit, but I’m also not really moving forward. I’m trying to find my love for photography again and to stop thinking of it as work. This year I’ve had a handful of paid sessions, and that’s it. I’m enjoying most of my weekends photoshoot-free and absolutely loving it; not taking any spare weekend for granted. I’ve started taking photos for me again, of things I want to take photos of (mostly nature, food, and everyday memories). I’ve volunteered my services for my church, which I’ve enjoyed, and I’m taking some photos for friends home in Virginia, for free/donation or as a trade/barter, and that’s the way I like it right now!

This might be totally weird, but when I get paid to do a session I feel like there is so much more pressure on me. Its a totally different mindset to me to volunteer my time for people who I know genuinely appreciate it, versus just getting paid to do a job and having certain expectations put on me. I have more creative freedom with volunteered work, and I feel legitimate joy for being able to help and give someone that gift. The formalities and money aspects of business were truly turning me away from something I used to have a real love and passion for. I’ve had family and close friends encourage and persuade me to stick with it, telling me I can do it, and saying that I shouldn’t “waste” my talent but honestly, it would be a true waste for me to continue to do business like that and to keep dreading and loathing photography like I did. The little money I was making just wasn’t and isn’t worth it to me.

Maybe I will decide to quit my business. Maybe I’ll take a year or two off and revive my business feeling fresh and renewed. Maybe I’ll go on to have an incredible successful photo business in the future. I really have no clue at this point. I’m open to any and all of those options, but right now I’m just starting to fall in love with my hobby again, and its been a slow process. Prayers and encouragement are more than welcome! If you’re one of my clients reading this, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for trusting me to capture precious memories of your family. I truly appreciate each and every person who’s ever hired me and don’t want anyone to think I’m opposed to working with them in the future. If you are interested in a session, please do reach out to me. For the rest of this year at least, I’m not turning away opportunities for photo work, I’m just in the slow-lane and not actively pursuing bookings. If for some reason I’m not able to work with you, I still have lots of photography connections and will be more than happy to find someone in your budget who can work with you. OR I am always open to trading and bartering as I wrote in my previous blog post. If you have a service, skill, or product you offer and want to trade for photos, please let me know!

If you read all of that, thanks so much. I know it was long. If anyone has any questions regarding my business please don’t hesitate to ask. I know that wasn’t exactly a good news post, but its also not bad news, because I’m in a better place now and enjoying life and finding more inspiration. That, to me is so much more important. 🙂

My 5 Favorite Old Fashioned Habits

October 9, 2015

This is a just for fun post to learn about me and some of my *new* favorite old fashioned habits. 🙂

5- Letter-Writing:

Since moving away from home I’ve occasionally written home to mom and dad, and now its a more regular thing and my dad writes me back on behalf of them both. I also now write to my sister MaryBeth in Alaska and my cousin Mandi in Massachusetts. Some of my favorite people ever! With Facebook and the internet its really easy to talk to people whenever you want, but there is something SO so special about receiving a handwritten letter or note in the mail that someone took the time to write you. Especially when its filled with hilarious inside jokes and bright colorful stickers all over it (MaryBeth ;)) I keep and treasure every note I get, no matter how unimportant the contents might seem. If any family or friends want a pen pal, let me know, I write back! Getting mail is so great and always puts a smile on my face!

4- Growing a Garden:

This past summer was the first time I tried gardening. I really enjoyed it and had a pretty successful season! My dad had a garden growing up for as long as I can remember, and fresh summer vegetables just can’t be beat. A quote that I love is “Growing your own food is like printing your own money.” I’m not sure who said that, but its so true! This past summer I had a container garden since I don’t have my own yard or space for a ‘real’ garden yet. I grew zucchini, bell peppers, cayenne peppers, tomatoes, onions, and herbs. Watching the little seeds sprout in the spring and turn into full plants is so rewarding and exciting. After this past summer, I can’t imagine not having a garden every year.

3- Repurposing/Reusing Things:

Repurposing and reusing things that would otherwise go in the trash is not only creative and fun, but it is useful and can save money too. If we have old clothes that aren’t donate-able, Ryan usually uses them for “shop rags” since those are usually used for messy jobs anyway. I also love saving any glass bottle or jar to store my different homemade beauty products and such. Canning jars are always handy too for storing things like homemade broth. Mason jars are usually about $1 a piece if you buy them new in the store, but save an old honey jar and its free! You can also make cute decorations out of things normally thrown out. This is a photo of a blue-tinted wine bottle that I took the paper wrapping and sticky residue off to make it into a cute vase for my sunflower. 🙂

2- Trading & Bartering:

This is something I would really love to do more of. Trading and bartering your skills, services, or product for another person’s used to be common, but doesn’t seem too common anymore. I design logos and also do food and portrait photography and have loved trading for services with others before. These photos are from a shoot I did with my former hairdresser (I say former because she moved away. :/) We traded a cut and color for a photo session of her and her husband. I think I was extra lucky with this one, because look how photogenic they are! These ended up being some of my favorite photos I’ve ever taken. I also love to barter with my high school friend, Meghan. She’s an excellent seamstress and makes amazing outfits and photography prop items. She also made table runners for my wedding. (Check Out Her Etsy Shop) I helped her design her logo and I’m also taking her family portraits later this month. Trading and bartering is an all-around win for everyone involved! You both get something you want for basically free. Sure, you’re giving away your own service, but for most people, giving away a service is better than paying for something with money. Its also a great way to network. (If anyone I know has a skill, service, or product and you want to barter with me for design or photo work, please let me know! Even if its something I don’t need right now, I’d love to have a network of people to trade and barter with in the future! Its seriously the best!)

1- From-Scratch Cooking:

This one is probably obvious if you’ve read my blog or know me at all.
Some time, not long after Ryan and I got married I decided we were going to eat healthier- but not in a going-on-a-diet type of way or avoiding carbs or fats, but more of a eat-only-whole-foods-made-from-whole-ingredients type of thing. For me, this just meant to stop buying processed commercially made food and products and to start making my own stuff, the old-fashioned way. As much as I can anyway. 🙂 This doesn’t exactly mean everything we eat is “healthy” as some people think of “healthy”, but its made from whole ingredients and isn’t so processed with preservatives and whatever else goes into that pre-packaged stuff, so it is healthier.
Doing this has made me a much better cook! I’ve learned how to make so many things I would have just bought a mix or box to make before. This not only saves us money, but its better for us, and obviously homemade always tastes better. I love it! Some of the things I used to buy pre-made were boxed side dishes like flavored rice, or scalloped potatoes, boxed muffin and brownie mixes, packets of spice mixtures, frozen hashbrowns and french fries, pizza crust mix and pie crusts, etc. This seemed kind of challenging at first but I got used to it in no time and learned how easy it is to make stuff myself even if it takes just a bit longer. This is still a work in progress and there are still a handful of items I haven’t quite mastered to make myself, but I’m working on it! Convenience food is great sometimes, don’t get me wrong, but most evenings I have time to make things myself- it just takes a little bit more planning ahead. And it doesn’t take that long at all now that I’ve gotten the hang of this. 🙂
What are your favorite old fashioned habits? Does anyone else love letter writing, bartering, or gardening? Does anyone want to barter for some photos!? Let me know in the comments. 🙂

Peanut Butter Mug Blondie

October 7, 2015

I love recipes that I can have done in under 5 minutes. Especially desserts! I don’t normally keep sweet stuff on hand, so anytime we want dessert I’m in the kitchen whipping something up. This recipe is so perfect for a quick weeknight when you’re watching movies and need a quick sweet tooth fix. Grab your favorite mug and mix up a delicious peanut butter blondie! This is also really fun and easy to customize if you want to get creative and experiment!

Ingredients:
-5 tbs homemade baking mix (or pancake mix, bisquick, or flour + 1/8 tsp baking powder)
-1 1/2 tbs coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
-1 tbs melted butter
-3 tbs milk
-1/4 tsp vanilla
-1 tbs peanut butter
-2 tbs chocolate chips

Directions:
Mix all ingredients well in a mug at least 12 oz. in size. (It doesn’t look like much when you have it in there, but it rises and almost doubles in size when cooked!) Microwave on high 1-1:30 minutes until dough is firm in the middle. ENJOY!

Side note…This makes kind of a big portion. I’ve made this a few times and have never been able to finish mine. Its perfect size for a man. 😉

Whole Wheat “Bisquick” Baking Mix

October 6, 2015

Hey y’all! My blog got a makeover today, what do you think!? I am so excited to have purchased my first theme. (I got it from this Etsy shop.) Anyways, this post is about making your own “bisquick!” I’ve had several people ask me for this recipe so I thought it was time to share it on here. I’ll also be adding some recipes for things you can make with it! I use this ALL the time. Ryan always cooks breakfast for us in the mornings, so I like to have this on hand to make life easy when he wants to make pancakes. I also use this for homemade biscuits, my mug cobbler, and in mug blondies! (I made this the other day and they turned out SO good. I’ll be sharing this recipe soon!) So this stuff really comes in handy and is so so simple to make. I make mine in a giant mason jar so I can just add the 4 ingredients and shake it up. Here you go!

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links that earn me a small commission if you purchase through them but don’t cost you a thing. I only link to items I truly love and recommend.

Ingredients:
-4 cups whole wheat flour (I love this brand)
-3 tbs. baking powder
-1 tsp baking soda
-1 tsp salt

Mix well! 🙂

-To make pancakes, mix 1 cup of mix with 1 cup of milk, 1 egg, and 1 tsp vanilla.
-To make biscuits, mix 1 cup with about 2 tbs butter and about 1 cup of milk. Knead with more mix until its a biscuit dough consistency. Roll out and cut into biscuits, or just make drop biscuits!

If you have a wide funnel like this one, it makes it really easy to make the mix in a jar!

Healthy Pumpkin Donuts With Sorghum & Honey

October 2, 2015

It is officially pumpkin-everything season, and if you’re like me, you try and make and eat as many pumpkin flavored things as possible. After all, that’s one flavor that you’re only supposed to eat in the fall! And it makes fall all the more special. 🙂 I absolutely love pumpkin bread and wanted to create a healthy recipe that we could enjoy all season long.
This is my second attempt at a pumpkin bread recipe. My first attempt was…not so good. Our teeny tiny oven is pretty difficult to use sometimes. Ryan and I are living in our fifth wheel camper right now while we save for our first house. Its pretty fun, and I truly am enjoying this season of our lives, but I do not enjoy our oven.. I have to cook things longer at a lower temperature to get things to cook all the way through without burning which can be a challenge with some recipes. So that was an issue with baking a thick loaf of pumpkin bread. It also turned out way too UN-sweet. I wanted lightly sweetened, but the previous recipe wasn’t hardly sweet at all which is no good..So I revamped it and swapped my loaf pan for a donut pan. This attempt was much better!
My dad suggested to me that I try using butternut squash instead of pumpkin. I had never heard of this before, but he said that its sweeter than pumpkin. He also told me that butternut squash is all my Nanny ever used in her pumpkin recipes. That was enough reason to give it a shot! So I guess technically these are butternut squash donuts, but that doesn’t sound as good. Haha
The ingredients that make these donuts sweet are the banana, sorghum, and honey!

Disclosure: This post has affiliate links that earn me a small commission but don’t cost you a thing. I only link to products I use and love myself.

Ingredients:
-1 medium butternut squash (or about 1 3/4 cups pureed squash)
-1 banana
-2 eggs
-2 tbs sorghum syrup
-2 tbs honey
-1 tsp vanilla
-2 cups whole wheat flour (I use this)
-1 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp baking soda
-2 tsp vital wheat gluten (I use this)
-1 tsp cinnamon
-1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
-1/4 tsp nutmeg

Directions:
Peel and seed your squash. Cut into cubes and boil until cooked. Puree the cooked squash. (This takes some time so I did it the night before.) Add all ingredients to a food processor and blend until smooth. If mixing by hand, mix wet and dry ingredients separately before mixing them together. Grease your donut pan (Buy one here, they come in handy!) and add the batter. Bake at 350 for about 10-15 minutes. You can eat them as-is, sprinkle powdered cinnamon sugar on top for a sweeter treat, or make a glaze!

*Notes on Sorghum: Curious about sorghum? I didn’t know anything about it until I visited the Amish farms with my parents a few weeks ago. I bought a huge jar of the stuff for just 6 bucks so I had to read a bit about it! Its similar to molasses. Check out the photo below for a few fun facts about it. 🙂 If you don’t have sorghum (which is highly probable) you can substitute any other natural liquid sweetener like more honey, maple syrup, or molasses.

Maple Latte {Naturally Sweetened}

September 30, 2015

In honor of National Coffee Day I wanted to share a delicious latte recipe with y’all!
Ryan got me an espresso machine last Christmas and we loved using it during the cold months. We haven’t used it at all in the past few since its kinda too hot in a Tennessee summer to enjoy a latte, but today I broke it out again in honor of coffee day, and the start of fall. If you like maple, you’ll love this naturally sweetened maple latte! 🙂

Ingredients:
-1 shot of espresso (or about 1/3 cup of super strong coffee)
-roughly 1 cup of milk
-1/2 tbs. real maple syrup (adjust to your sweetness level)
-1/8 tsp. vanilla
-1/8 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Directions:
Brew espresso or coffee and add to mug. Add the maple syrup, vanilla, and spices, and stir well. Steam milk and pour milk into your mug and top with the milk foam! If you don’t have an espresso machine, you can heat the milk and then add it. 🙂 ENJOY a guilt free fall beverage!

DIY Skin Perfecting Moisturizer

September 27, 2015

This is one of my DIY beauty concoctions that I’ve been using since this past winter so I can definitely vouch for how awesome it is! Let me start out by saying I used to have a problem with acne. It was bad in high school and I started taking medicine for it that didn’t do much…I guess it helped a little but I always had problem skin. I always figured it would go away as I got older but it never really completely went away. I would have good weeks and bad weeks…totally unpredictable. It gradually got to be less of an issue, but I never truly had good skin I was happy with until this past year. I tried so many things and even bought this really expensive “miracle treatment” type of thing before my wedding that was supposed to do wonders, but the results were pretty minimal. I never felt comfortable going anywhere or letting people see me without make-up on.
For the past year I’ve been ditching my commercial products for natural homemade alternatives. This process started really slowly. I started learning about how many toxins are in our everyday products, and I knew that anything I could do to put less of those on/in my body would be a good thing. I had no idea how much better the results were going to be, how much healthier I would be, how much money I would end up saving, and how much fun I was going to have in the process, but I’ve only had positive experiences from it! 🙂
Anyways.. The first thing I started doing was using coconut oil on my face back in December of 2014. After a few weeks of doing this I noticed a significant difference in my skin. It was clearing up and staying cleared up! I attributed this change in my skin to my use of the coconut oil, as well as greatly increasing the amount of water I was drinking. Once I got my first essential oils kit for Christmas I started adding some of those into the coconut oil and I loved it even more. I’m happy to say I’m super comfortable in my skin now and don’t need to wear makeup constantly to feel good about my appearance. I still wear makeup, but much less of it. I don’t feel like I need to hide my skin behind it anymore.
Here’s my favorite skin perfecting moisturizer recipe with info on all of the ingredients!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links that earn me a small commission, but don’t cost you a thing. I only link to products I actually use and love!

Ingredients:
-Coconut oil (enough to fill your container about 3/4 of the way full)– Coconut oil is super moisturizing, and has been known to help with so many skin issues including acne, eczema, rosacea, fungal infections, and more! It also offers some sun protection.
-Shea butter (I used about a tablespoon, but you can use more or less. I’ve also made this without shea butter, but added it this time for more skin benefits! Plus I love the texture it helped create.) Shea butter is a great natural source of vitamins A, E, and F. It is another oil that helps with sun protection, reduces inflammation, and it also gives your skin nutrients to help produce collagen.
-Vitamin E Oil (I used about 1/4 tsp, but it is an optional ingredient. Use it if you have it, but don’t worry if you don’t!) Vitamin E oil is also very moisturizing and it probably most known for its ability to heal scars or damaged skin.
-Lavender Essential Oil (I used about 15 drops.) Lavender has so many uses, but its great on your skin because it helps with acne, scarring, and wrinkles to keep your skin smooth and youthful. (My favorite brand)
-Tea-tree Essential Oil (About 15 drops) The main added benefit for tee-trea oil is that it prevents and treats blemishes. While blemishes are a more rare occurrence for me now, I do still get one occasionally and I always put tea-tree oil on it! It works better than anything I’ve ever used. The blemish is usually gone within 1-2 days, so I put this oil in all my skin products to prevent them! (My favorite brand)
-Lemongrass Essential Oil (About 15 drops) Lemongrass is overall great for your skin as well. Great for preventing acne, toning and brightening skin, and it smells really good. (My favorite brand)
-Frankincense (About 15 drops) Frankincense is my favorite essential oil. It seems like it helps with every ailment out there! Its so good for your skin. It reduces and prevents wrinkles, heals and prevents scarring, and it has even been proven to kill cancerous and other abnormal cells. Here’s one of many studies that talks about this more in depth.(Side story: This is gross, but I had a wart on my finger that I could not get rid of for almost a year.. I tried every medicine and even tried freezing it off. The stupid pesky thing always came right back. I finally got some frankincense, and applied it daily and it went away after a couple weeks and has never come back!) Frankincense is just amazing. Its no wonder it was one of the wise men’s gifts for baby Jesus. The stuff is awesome, and I will keep putting it in my facial cream foreverrr! (My favorite brand)

Directions: Put all ingredients in a mixing bowl and whip it up nice and fluffy. A kitchen-aid mixer works great. A hand-mixer or hand-blender with whisk attachment would probably work well too. I whipped mine on high for about 45 seconds.

Whipping it incorporates all the ingredients nicely, gives it a super nice body butter texture, and keeps the coconut oil manageable. Those who use coconut oil in the winter know how hard it can be to work with. In the winter the oil becomes so hard and brittle, you almost need a chisel to get it out of the jar. I whipped some up last winter, and even when it was really cold, the oil was in a softer state since it had been whipped.

Enjoy and let me know if you try it! More DIY beauty recipes coming soon!

Jalapeño Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf

September 25, 2015

Every Thursday/Friday I plan what meals I’m going to make for the following week so I can make my shopping list. I struggle sometimes to think of interesting meals so we’re not eating the same thing everyday, so I usually ask Ryan for ideas. Last week in an exaggerated joking tone, he started rattling off over-the-top sounding meal ideas…among those was jalapeno-bacon meatloaf. I thought hey I could do that! I already have an amazing meatloaf recipe from my dad. I don’t care for jalapenos myself, but I figured if I made meatloaf in muffin tins, I could line the cups with bacon, and make a plainer meatloaf for me, and then load up the rest of the meatloaf with spiciness for Ryan. Seemed like a great idea so I tried it, and it was yummy, so I’m sharing the recipe!

Ingredients:
-1 lb. lean ground beef
-10-12 strips of bacon
-1 egg
-1/2 cup rolled oats
-1/2 cup diced onion
-1/2 cup diced bell pepper
-1 cup diced tomato
-2-3 minced jalapenos
-3-4 dashes tabasco
-salt + pepper to taste

Glaze:
-1/3 cup ketchup
-1 tsp mustard
-2 tbs brown sugar

Directions:
Line muffin cups with the bacon, touching the edges as much as you can. Mix up all meatloaf ingredients. Form balls of meatloaf and place inside bacon-wrapped muffin tin. Ours made 11 muffin cups worth.
Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes. Take out the muffin tin and carefully transfer the meatloaf cups to a baking sheet. (This gives the extra grease some place to go, but the meat will have cooked enough to keep the bacon in place wrapped around the meat. If you leave it in the muffin tins, there will be pools of bacon/hamburger grease everywhere…gross.) Finish cooking until meat is cooked through and bacon has crisped up a bit more. Mix all glaze ingredients and brush over meatloaf as soon as its out of the oven!

These would be awesome with some cheddar on top too! Enjoy. 🙂

Low Sugar Apple Pecan Mug Cobbler

September 16, 2015

I’ve been meaning to make some apple-y things since I bought a big bag of winesap apples from the Amish farms last week. My parents were visiting from Virginia and we ventured up to Kentucky where there’s a lot of Amish farms and they all sell different things. (Its so neat and really cheap! If you’re in middle Tennessee, you must go.) Apple-y things are so perfect for fall, which is in 1 week, y’all!! So I was pretty excited to try a new version of my low sugar cobbler except make it quicker in the microwave.
This recipe makes 2 servings of cobbler, and it only has 1 tsp. of coconut sugar per serving. (Plus a tsp. of honey.) Surprisingly I actually thought it tasted really sweet. Lately, since I’ve been making more low/no sugar recipes, my taste buds seem overly sensitive when I eat sweets.. Like, splurge desserts I use to LOVE have seemed like sugar overkill to me. I guess that’s a good thing though. 🙂 Anyways, here’s the recipe!

Ingredients:
Filling:
-1 apple
-1/4 tsp. cinnamon, divided
-2 tsp honey, divided

Crust/Topping:
-1/4 cup baking mix*
-1/4 cup oats
-1/4 tsp. cinnamon
-2 tbs. melted butter
-2 tsp. coconut sugar (or substitute brown sugar)
-2 tbs. milk
-1/4 cup chopped pecans

*(Note: I make big batches of homemade baking/pancake mix that works great, but you can also just use flour with a pinch of baking powder + baking soda, or regular bisquick/pancake mix if you have it)

Directions:
Chop the apple and divide between two mugs. Add a tsp. of honey and 1/4 tsp. cinnamon over each mug and and stir. In a separate bowl, mix the crust/topping ingredients together until all moist. Divide this batter between the two mugs. Microwave each mug individually for 2-3 minutes, depending on your microwave. Enjoy!

Mine didn’t last long. 🙂