Colored Rice Play

We have been having a very fun time. I keep meaning to make a new schedule for my family but I am a big procrastinator so we are still playing it by ear which lead us to colored rice play. So I had been seeing it all over Pinterest and seeing how we now have no structure to our days it was a perfect way to keep Baby J busy while I did some house work. 

I started making the colored rice the night before and what that really means is that I set out the baggies for the rice to be colored in out on the counter for me to work with later on. Yeah that didn't work out to well so I got it done in the morning. I started after I got the big girls on their school buses and had my cup of Tea...lol

Hamburger Buns

We are a burger family and we don't like store brought buns. When we eat we want to be full and not have to come back for seconds so I have had to make a bun that would hold us but not over power the taste of the meat. These buns are great for burgers. They are light enough but heavy enough to keep us full.

Fabric Softener Help!

Nope this is not a post about how to make your own fabric softener, this is a post asking for help with making one for my family. Baby J has very sensitive skin that we had not used commercial laundry detergent since she was about 4 mths and her skin was breaking out so bad that they had to bandage her from the skin being ate off. She suffers from eczema and really bad during the colder months. So we take the time to watch what we put on her skin and in her body. We have been using a homemade laundry detergent that works wonders in our home, plus it helps that I made so much of  it that I have not made any more since she was about 1 years old and seeing how she is now going to be 3 this month that is a long time and I still got more to use. But we had not been using any fabric softener and I really do miss using it, I miss the smell of Tide also. So I'm taking in recipes that use all natural product to soften your clothes. If you have any that you think would be great I would appreciate if you share them so that I can give them a try. Winter is approaching which means that her skin will start back to acting funny really badly again because her clothes will now cover her from about the neck on down to her toe again. We hate the cold months around here. Thanks to anyone who has any recipes to help.

AHHH BUBBLES

What fun the girls and I had making bubbles.  Yes, you heard me right we made bubbles, and we had fun while doing it.  

I JUST KEEP COMING BACK!

Wow, it has been a while. I have been busy with life. I have been playing mommy over here and wife and daughter and have been on a weight loss journey that is like a roller coaster ride with me. When I first started this blog I wanted it to be about my cooking, but I cook everyday and it seems like all day sometimes and it takes so much work to write down the recipes and make sure that I have the measurements and timing down right. I cook at home with a scale and all but sometimes I don't measure and I find that cooking to fit my families taste is easy to do without all the measurements cause in my home I'm a damn short order cook sometimes. I have a daughter who don't eat meat ( only sometimes) and then I have my husband who use to eat only fast food and frozen pizza (don't ask me how he got that way cause you already know the answer, he came to me like that). These two are my nightmare diners, I must always figure out an alternative meal for them. Don't get me wrong they have their days were they are willing to eat what I cook that day. usually that is the day that I make a fast food style meal.Yup, since moving out here from Chicago and they don't have all the lovely corner fast food places that we like I have had to learn how to make them meals, and I have gotten pretty good at it if I do say so myself.

With all the cooking that I have been doing to make more fast food style meals I have had to push myself to workout more. I started my journey in 2012 and I lost a few pounds doing P90X with a modified diet plan from my specialist but it was not motivating me to get up everyday and do it so I found myself at the end of my 90 days adding in an extra week with no rest days to complete the program. I'm not saying it's a bad program but it's not for me. So then I moved on to trying out Turbofire and I immediately fell in love. It's upbeat and so positive and motivating. After I complete my workout I can't wait until the next day. I have never done a workout that makes me sweat and lay on the floor but have me begging for more. I have missed a couple days but it's not because I am feeling lazy and don't really want to do it this time it's because I be so busy that by the time I get to sit down from my day I be snoring and then there goes my workout. I use to live a pretty calm and quiet life but it seems that the more kids I had the less calm and quite I have become. I am always up and moving and I find myself praying for a moments break sometimes.

School is now back in session so that means that I have to play teacher to my 2yr old and my now 8mth old and tutor to my 13yr old and 9yr old. This year is starting off great we have been having some fun with some sensory bins and writing exercises and I have a lot more fun things planned for them this year. I enjoy spending time with my girls and learning with them while teaching them.

My family is my inspiration and what drives me to be better at anything I do. They also have shown me that there are many sides to me and each side is wonderful in it's own way. So I don't know what I am going to blog about, I might blog about my cooking, my kids, projects or just anything in my life in general. I can't promise one post a week which is what I wanted to do in the beginning , but I can promise to come back and post.

Vanilla Cupcakes

My children and I love sweets, we can eat them everyday and we pretty much do. I try to make a snack that will last us a week but one day this week I had the craving for cupcakes. So I asked everyone in the house if they wanted cupcakes too (so I wouldn’t feel bad about eating them I have to share.) Yup, one by one they let me know so Vanilla Cupcakes it was today with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting it was. I don’t ask what flavor just if you want some, if you don’t like the flavor then by all means don’t eat. Needless to say they all wanted simple Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting. Happy me

 

 

Vanilla Cupcakes click for printable recipe

Ingredients:

• ½ cup  unsalted butter, room temperature

• ⅔ cup  granulated white sugar

• 3 large eggs

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• 1 ½ cup all purpose flour

• 1 ½  teaspoons baking powder

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• ¼ cup milk

Icing:

• ½ cup butter, room temperature

• ½ cup shortening

• 2 cups confectioners sugar

• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 ½ ounces of heavy whipping cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

2. In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract.

3. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

4. With the mixer on low speed, alternate adding the flour mixture and milk, in three additions, starting and ending with the flour. Scrape sides of the bowl as needed.

5. Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter and bake for about 17 -20 minutes or just until a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost with icing.

Icing:

1. Cream together shortening, butter until fluffy, add confectioners sugar until well combined

2. Add vanilla and heavy whipping cream until well combined on low. Continue to beat until frosting is fluffy.

Collard Greens and Cornbread

It’s the day before Fathers Day and my girls would like to have their Sunday dinner today so we went to the Old Capitals Farmers Market to shop and talk with our local farmers While there we got some great stuff to eat. I don’t know about you but we love going to our farmers market. I take my girls with me on Saturdays and let them have a go at picking all the ingredients and I plan a meal with using what they have picked out. Sometimes I get to make a dessert and appetizers, but today we just got the veggies for our meal.

Old Fashion Pound Cake Remade

So my family have been craving pound cakes but in both my husband and my family the people that made the pound cakes were gone. Both my grandmothers made pound cakes but only one left me the recipe for hers and I decided that I would give this a try. So I gave it a shot three times and each time the results were different and I was about to give up but then I was online and seen Secrets to Perfect Pound Cake and decided to give it a try and this is my results.

Momma's Fried Chicken Meal

My lovely family had a craving for Fried Chicken and I was none the happier to give it to them. I had been wanting to try my what I call leftover seasoning mix. Yes I said leftover seasoning mix, I have this problem where I put all the seasonings that I am going to use for a recipe in pinch bowls without measuring and then just measuring them out once I need them that way I can tweak the recipe when it needs it without having to go back in my cabinets and grabbing a seasoning with dirty hands. I hate going out of my way so I just put a nice amount in pinch bowls and roll with it. Once i'm done with it instead of just putting them back in their containers I use a glass jar and just throw them all in there. So this left over seasoning mix has a little of everything it. It is a wonderful mix for my chicken so my fried chicken never tastes the same but it always tastes good. The thing that they love about my chicken the most is that it's always crispy.

Lemon Shrimp

I seen this recipe all over pinterest pinned as the "The Best Ever Shrimp", so I decided to give it a try. Let me say, they are not the best ever but they sure are good. My family liked them so much that I had to make them again the same week. Which was good cause the original recipe that I found said to sprinkle the seasoning on the shrimp, I found that putting the shrimp in a bowl and mixing the seasoning in with the shrimp was better, I serves mines with some lemon pasta

The Best Ever Shrimp

Ingredients:

• 3 Lemons
• Italian Seasoning
• 2lbs Shrimp

Directions:

1. Set oven to 320
2. Clean all shrimp
3. Cut each lemon into rounds and layer on a baking sheet lined with foil
4. in a bowl add the Italian seasoning to the shrimp and mix
5. Lay the shrimp on top of the lemon slices and then place in the over until done. (I let mine cook for about 15min)

Garlic Hamburger Buns

Today for my Birthday I wanted a Cheeseburger, but I don't eat much beef and I have eliminated a lot of bread from my diet. For my birthday I told myself I was going to eat me a "Momma Burger". For those who don't know what a "Momma Burger" is, it's just a big burger that is made at home. It is thick and juicy and full of flavor, you add tomatoes, onions, mayo, ketchup, mustard, lettuce and for my house bread and butter pickles to a "Momma Burger". They are some of the best burgers that I have ever had. So I am making them for my birthday dinner with my family. Yes I am cooking my own food for my birthday. But the best "Momma Burger" that I have had came from one of my grandmother's. She made her own buns for the burgers. They were big and hearty buns that all you needed was a quarter of the burger and a small plate of chips or fries and you were full. I have changed it a bit by using Garlic mashed potatoes instead of the plain potatoes. If I don't feel like making mashed potatoes I use potato flakes instead, I add that to my flour and mix.

Taco Pasta

So after everyone else was done being sick in the house they all requested that I make a Taco Pasta meal for them yesterday. This is not what I had in mind but it will work. I am feeding five people in my house and my toddler eats like everyone else with this meal.

Taco Pasta

Ingredients: 

• 1lb box of Medium Shells
• 2lbs Ground Turkey
• 1 can Diced Tomatoes
• 1cup american cheese ( I make my own and it tastes just like velveeta so velveeta cheese will work just fine)
• 1/2cup of mozzarella cheese
• 1/2cup Sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 10oz can of cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 cup milk
• 4tbps Taco Seasoning
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:

You want to cook the pasta according to the directions on the box for al dente pasta. Strain the pasta and set aside.  I tend to cook the pasta while I am cooking the rest of the meal and let it strain until I need it)

Start cooking the ground turkey until it is completely cooked.. Once the turkey is done you will want to drain any fat that has come off of the ground turkey during cooking. Then add the 4tbsp of taco seasoning and salt and pepper to taste. Mix it up well then from that point you will want to add the can of diced tomatoes, mix well. Now you will want to add the 1 can of soup and all the cheese and add the 1/2 cup of milk in slowly until it reaches a thinness or thickness that you like mix it until all the cheese is good and melted. Now you want to add the shells to the meat and cheese sauce and mix them in and then let it rest for about 5 minutes. Now you can serve.

Chicken Noodle Soup Day

Well, while I was all excited about starting a blog I had set out on a venture to make some great meals. Just so happen that life being as unpredictable as it is took over really fast, like the very next day. My house started to come down with the 24hr virus. It hit my second child first early in the day so she never made it to school. Then I got a call from my first child's school that let me know that she needed to come home for her and a few other classmates were sick also. Great is what I am thinking. A bug will now be in my house. I ran to the store to pick up everything to make Chicken Noodle Soup for my girls. No sooner than I made the soup did my third child started feeling sick. Now they are all feeling great and their father is home with the same symptoms, I guess the baby and I are next in this thing.

I was hoping to give a big bang opening of my blog with a recipe but that's not going to happen. So maybe next week once this bug has completely left my home I will post a recipe that I really want to try. It has taken me sometime to pick a recipe that my family will like. Two people in my home will only eat food if it tastes like it came from a box and I have a very picky toddler who likes food mushed up or with extra cheese. So until then, later.

New Beginnings

Hello all, So I'm Natasha and I have decided that I would do a blog about something that I am into at this moment. I am into feeding my family. I have been cooking and I have fallen in love with taking the time to put what some may call "Real Food" into my family bodies. I cook just about everything from scratch and most of the time I take it old school and not use any big kitchen appliances  I do that cause I what to get a feel for what I am making. I can't feel the dough for my breads if I am using a stand mixer or the bread machine. Plus  it helps with stress when I can use my hands to bang out my anger with a meat tenderizer instead of using the one that I got as a gift that just pokes the meat for me. So join me as I go on this journey of feeding my family and fighting the need for processed foods.