On Friday mornings I make meals for shut-ins, elderly, or those recovering from a medical procedure. I have a list of meals I choose from. Most of them are meals my family used to enjoy. However, our diets have changed so much that I end up making a totally different version of the meal for my family. It's amazing the differences I now see in foods. Food that I once considered home-made from scratch, I now laugh at because I know the difference. Here's an example:
The first picture is using canned soup mix. The second picture shows the same recipe, but made with a homemade soup mix, totally from scratch using dried herbs, seasonings, and almond milk.
Now for the good part! Below, I will share with you the recipe I make for my family. Enjoy!
Tater Tot Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground hamburger meat
- 1/2 medium onion, chopped
- 1/3 cup DIY soup mix (see notes below)
- 1/4 cup almond milk (or water)
- 32 oz frozen tater tots
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Brown ground beef, season with salt and pepper.
- Add chopped onion, cook until tender.
- Meanwhile, mix soup mix with almond milk and set aside.
- In a 9x13 casserole dish, combine ground beef mixture and soup mix.
- Top mixture with tater tots.
- Bake, uncovered, for 30-40 minutes, until bubbly and tater tots are golden brown.
Note: If you are not dairy free, you can add cheese to the top and return to the oven to melt it.
You can find the soup mix recipe here.
🌸 From my homestead heart to yours —
If you’re walking this same journey of homemaking, decluttering, and creating a peaceful, faith-filled home, you’re not alone.
I’d love to share encouragement, simple living inspiration, and homestead wisdom with you — right to your inbox.
If you’re walking this same journey of homemaking, decluttering, and creating a peaceful, faith-filled home, you’re not alone.
I’d love to share encouragement, simple living inspiration, and homestead wisdom with you — right to your inbox.
– Amanda | The HomeGrown Mom 🌾
A huge part of our path to better health and wellness started over 15 years ago. We just had our 2nd baby, a beautiful baby girl. She started out healthy, but after just 1 month she fell below the charts. It took some time (and trying to convince the doctor) but we finally figured out what the problem was. She had severe thrush, which is why she wouldn’t nurse or take a bottle, it hurt too much. This lead her to become undernourished, which I believe to be the root cause of many of her current dietary needs.
Fast forward a few years…It was fairly common for her to have out-of-the-blue high temps for no apparent reason. By high I mean 104-105 temps. That’s pretty scary for a mom, especially when you have no answers. The doctors didn’t seem too concerned. This happened until she was about 3 years old. By the time she was 5 she was getting blood in her urine, another problem that took time to figure out.
I won’t go into the rest of the story here, instead I’ll direct you to my daughter’s blog (here) where she gives more details about her diagnosis. After reading her post, you will see why it became so important for us to do what we could to take her health, the health of our whole family, into our own hands. We have done loads of research and lots of trial and error. We now feel that, thanks to a few life-changing events back in 2014 (more on this later), we are on the right track. We still have our moments of not knowing what to eat or what steps to take next, but we're making progress!
Read my daughter’s story here.
Need some help and encouragement on your journey to better health? Join my group where we share healthy tips and more!
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🌸 From my homestead heart to yours —
If you’re walking this same journey of homemaking, decluttering, and creating a peaceful, faith-filled home, you’re not alone.
I’d love to share encouragement, simple living inspiration, and homestead wisdom with you — right to your inbox.
If you’re walking this same journey of homemaking, decluttering, and creating a peaceful, faith-filled home, you’re not alone.
I’d love to share encouragement, simple living inspiration, and homestead wisdom with you — right to your inbox.
– Amanda | The HomeGrown Mom 🌾
Homeschool is certainly on the rise right now, though not all by choice. It can be a hard adjustment, especially if you have been thrown into it. This is my 5th year of homeschooling and I'm still making adjustments. It's certainly not a one size fits all type of thing. Every family has the challenge of figuring out what works best for them. This becomes even more challenging when one of both parents are working from home. How do you fit it all in without going absolutely crazy??
Here's a look at our daily routine. It does change from time to time (one of the benefits of homeschool!) and, yes, we still get dressed and brush our teeth *wink*.
Get up
Get dressed
Eat breakfast
Do chores (feed pets, unload/load dishwasher, etc)
Start school by 9
Done by 11:30 (sometimes earlier)
Have lunch
Quiet time : everyone in their own places for reading (usually school work), crafts, and play time (use that imagination!)
Shows on tv with a snack
Free time
Electronics (usually playing with a friend or cousin online)
Supper
Clean-up
Get ready for bed (showers, pet chores, etc)
While the kids do their school work, I take care of things around the house (unless they need help). During quiet time I get caught up on "adulting" like paying bills, doing some business work, or anything that my brain needs quiet to function. I know this isn't a "one size fits all" kind of schedule, but it works well for my family. I know of many homeschool families who don't really keep to a schedule and it works for them. However, my family tends to be very schedule oriented...even if we don't all admit it. We function so much better when we know what's expected and when it's expected to be done.
So, if you find yourself suddenly having to homeschool and feel as if you are floundering...give yourself some grace! Make the adjustments that suit your family. Have a 10 min break as needed (I do this daily for my 6th grader. Sometimes he'll work for 30 min, then take a break to have some quiet fun. When his break is up, he's able to re-focus and get more work done). Also, check out my guide for less stress!
Here are some of my favorite homeschool curriculum sites.
I'd love to hear any tips/tricks you have for homeschooling!
Happy Homeschooling!
🌸 From my homestead heart to yours —
If you’re walking this same journey of homemaking, decluttering, and creating a peaceful, faith-filled home, you’re not alone.
I’d love to share encouragement, simple living inspiration, and homestead wisdom with you — right to your inbox.
If you’re walking this same journey of homemaking, decluttering, and creating a peaceful, faith-filled home, you’re not alone.
I’d love to share encouragement, simple living inspiration, and homestead wisdom with you — right to your inbox.
– Amanda | The HomeGrown Mom 🌾
Did you know it's super easy to make a powerful foaming hand soap with just 3 ingredients?? What's even better is that you can make it have any scent you want! I, of course, use the Young Living Thieves blend in mine. I may switch it up a bit from time to time, but it's hard to beat Thieves!! This blend has Clove, Lemon, Cinnamon, Eucalyptus Radiata, and Rosemary, giving it a rich, spicy aroma. Add it to some liquid Castile Soap and boom, a powerful cleaning combo!
Thieves Foaming Hand Soap - DIY
Ingredients
- 2 TBS Pure Castile Soap
- 8 oz Distilled Water
- 5 drops Thieves essential oil
Instructions
Combine into an 8 oz foaming soap bottle and gently shake.
Check out the video version here.
My family loves this soap! It doesn't dry out our hands (even though we are all being sure we properly wash them!), it smells wonderful, and it's an amazing combo for all sorts of goodness.
If you make this soap, please be sure to share with us your favorite essential oil combos to use.
Interested in more ways to stay healthy? Check out my FREE guide on ways adopting a more natural lifestyle can change your life. Bonus: Immune Boosting Rollerball Recipe!
🌸 From my homestead heart to yours —
If you’re walking this same journey of homemaking, decluttering, and creating a peaceful, faith-filled home, you’re not alone.
I’d love to share encouragement, simple living inspiration, and homestead wisdom with you — right to your inbox.
If you’re walking this same journey of homemaking, decluttering, and creating a peaceful, faith-filled home, you’re not alone.
I’d love to share encouragement, simple living inspiration, and homestead wisdom with you — right to your inbox.
– Amanda | The HomeGrown Mom 🌾
I'll be the first to admit that exercise, more often than not, is lacking in my life. Why? Well, like everyone, I have a long list of excuses:
I don't have time.
I don't have time.
I don't enjoy it.
I'm too tired.
I'm too tired.
I'm too out of shape.
These are just a few of my more common reasons. But the fact is, when I take time to exercise on a regular basis, I feel SO much better! As a busy stay at home, work at home, homeschool mom, finding the right time to exercise can be interesting. I don't like an audience, so I need a peaceful, uninterrupted time. Even then, I want it to be quick.
Here are a few ways I have found to easily fit exercise into my schedule without it "interfering" with my life:
- Use an app on the phone.
- One of my favorites is the Daily Yoga app. It has a variety of yoga
routines to fit everyone from beginner to advanced. - My daughter likes to use the Workout for Women app (7M Women). It has a variety of workouts that can be done in just 7 minutes. She and I like to do some of these together, giving me an accountability partner.
- One of my favorites is the Daily Yoga app. It has a variety of yoga
- Take a family walk or hike. Just 20 min a day can do wonders for you! Not only are you getting some exercise, you are also getting fresh air!
- Take a family bike ride.
- Pinterest. Man, there are sooooo many options!
- Online. These days you can find anything online, right? That goes for personal trainers too. No need to go to the gym, you can pull up a video or site and get to work!
- Clean the house. Yep, that's right..think it's not exercise? Think again! While it's not full blown exercise, it is considered a mild form of it. Add it to a regular routine of exercise and you're on to something! Here's an interesting article you can read about it.
These are all fairly simple ways to get started. Once you adjust to short spurts of activity, you can add to it and really get your body moving! Remember to drink water as you move. I love adding a drop of Peppermint to mine to help refresh my body and keep me moving!
Interested in more ways to stay healthy? Check out my FREE guide on ways adopting a more natural lifestyle can change your life. Bonus: Immune Boosting Rollerball Recipe!
🌸 From my homestead heart to yours —
If you’re walking this same journey of homemaking, decluttering, and creating a peaceful, faith-filled home, you’re not alone.
I’d love to share encouragement, simple living inspiration, and homestead wisdom with you — right to your inbox.
If you’re walking this same journey of homemaking, decluttering, and creating a peaceful, faith-filled home, you’re not alone.
I’d love to share encouragement, simple living inspiration, and homestead wisdom with you — right to your inbox.
– Amanda | The HomeGrown Mom 🌾
