Hi, I'm Amanda

So let's start with a little introduction in case you don't know me. I'm Amanda, married to my best friend Jay and we have two boys; James and Zeek. Zeek is a little hairy, drools a lot, and has four legs. James has just learned to walk upright but still licks and chews on things although I'm sure he'll grow out of that phase soon enough. 

I learned to cook from my parents who are both amazing in the kitchen. My dad's parents, several aunts, uncles, and cousins have all taught and inspired me in the kitchen as well. I was even blessed to learn some from my great grandmother. What can I say, we love to eat! When it comes to my style of cooking, I cook whole, real food. I don't know how to use a measuring cup (but for this blog I’m learning), so some of my recipes might call for a palmful or a few pinches of something. You can blame my dad for that; that's his style of cooking and it's worked for both of us so far. My mother is an amazing baker, but I completely missed those baking genes. The inability to measure probably doesn't help. But one of my goals this year is to become more comfortable with flour, and I'm looking forward to learning from Barbara! If you're looking forward to recipes dripping in sugar, that are fast and easy with canned soup, or out of a box but fancied up, sadly, I'm not your girl. I will however share some of my favorite recipes, most modified slightly, some from my family and a lot found online. Most of them will definitely be easy but might include a few ingredients you may not have used before. I am ALWAYS open to trying new things, so if you have a recipe you've been dying to try but are a little nervous, pass it over and I'll test it out for you. My husband (and dog) will eat anything and I haven't killed them yet! 

I'm relatively crunchy by nature having been raised by a dad who works with solid waste and renewable energy and a mom who loves egg-laying chickens, canning, and baking bread for our sandwiches every day. Being the oldest of their five children living on a small farm, I learned a lot about growing and cooking our own food; a skill I will use for a lifetime. I was involved in both 4-H and FFA and raised cattle, sheep, hogs, and a variety of poultry to save money for college tuition. In the process I learned a lot about organic home-grown meats and how they should, and shouldn't, be raised. Once on my own I wanted to continue to live a green lifestyle and pinch pennies at the same time. A lot of my posts will be about living healthy and simple, how to make your own cleaning and health/beauty products, and other posts will be about living within a pretty tight budget. I'm looking forward to sharing how we live and how easy it can be to live a little "greener" without much effort. I know not all of my posts may apply to you, but hopefully you can find something useful and maybe save a few bucks this month. I'm looking forward to sharing with you and learning a few things along the way.