Alright, time to get real about some food again!

This time my best friend asked me to talk about cheese. How many of y’all go to the grocery and grab that shredded cheese? Did you know there are chemicals in your shredded cheese to keep it from sticking together or clumping in a ball? Most of you have seen the powder and assume it is flour…well, sorry to burst everyone’s bubble but it is actually not flour, it is something called Cellulose powder. Some of you may look at that term and think it is a type of plant additive, wrong again. Cellulose powder is a chemical that is used as an anti-caking treatment. It is chemically treated until it becomes a microcrystalline powder then added to your pre packaged shredded or sliced cheese.

It all comes back down to ease, right? How simple is it to grab that shredded cheese instead of shredding it yourself? So simple, right? We come back full circle, does that ease outweigh the health benefits of just getting a block of cheese and shredding or slicing it yourself?

Do not even get me started on those kraft cheese slices or the so-called cheese in your mac n cheese boxes. There are so many great recipes out there for mac n cheese but unfortunately, as a society we chose ease over health. Which is why we are the worst in the world for obesity in children and adults.

You will not find shredded prepackaged cheese in my house, only blocks that I purchase from a local bulk food store. When I was growing up on a dairy farm, I took for granted having cheese directly delivered to us by our milk man as he came to pick up the milk, as our milk went to a cheese factory near by. Luckily, the bulk food store i shop at sources their blocks of cheese from the same cheese factory, so I feel good about the purchases I make. You can also purchase blocks of cheese from the grocery store; anything is better than the shredded or sliced cheese prepackaged. You can also get your cheese sliced at the deli counter, which is still better.

You can get simple cheese slicers or shredders anywhere or you can also use a food processor with the correct attachment. Here, i use a good old fashioned square shredder and a metal hand slicer.

Something to think about the next time you reach for a bag of shredded cheese.

I’m about to open up to y’all with one of my biggest insecurities/flaw/discomforts
I have. My weight. I have struggled my entire life with it. I have always felt
unattractive or just plain ugly because of it. I know there are times I don’t
take care of myself but it general I try to watch what I eat, and I am an
active person… haha I’m a mama of two toddlers, of course I’m active! And yet,
I have never felt comfortable in my own skin. I dread bathing suit season and
have even not attended events because of it. All through school I felt like I
was the fat friend, and that people were only friendly with me because of my
pretty friends. It weighed on me heavy for many years and still does sometimes!

I try to take care of myself and try to increase body positivity and
sometimes I feel good about how I look but not always. I have tried diet after
diet, crazy fasting and exercising, and all those fad pills and whatever else I
could do. Nothing seems to work, so time for my next adventure!

Instead of dieting and removing all of those things I love I’m taking a new
approach and eliminating processed foods, well where I can at least.

I started this a little over a week ago—no fast food, no coke, no takeout. I
have been making everything I can from scratch. I set a goal to make a homemade
meal every night for dinner, have leftovers for my lunch at work, and meal prep
a breakfast item. So far, I have stuck to this plan, and I already have
eliminated the cravings for those things, plus I have this amazing reward of self-accomplishment
when I place that dinner on the table. Yesterday was Taco Tuesday, as it is
every week in our house. I made my own taco seasoning, instead of the package.
I made my own Pico, instead of buying it at the store, and I made my own
tortillas! Would it have been easier to just grab all the packages out of the
pantry and use those instead? Yes! Did dinner take me extra time to cook? Also,
yes! But my kiddos loved that they got to help mama make tortillas and watch
how it was done and they ate it all! I have also been making my own bread,
coffee creamer, and whatever else I can do to remove all the preservatives!

Like I said before, I am an active person, but I have increased that even
more. Setting a goal to work out every single day and also practice self-care.
I think we all like the idea of self-care but do not know how to execute it. I
spend 20 minutes a day meditating, 10 minutes a day stretching, and at least 30
minutes of exercising! My hope is with this combination I will not only feel
more comfortable with myself but have the confidence to boost others too!

I want you to find your confidence too, so set your own goal and join me!

This is for all of you mamas out there. First of all, you’re a freaking Rockstar and don’t let anyone tell you different. Whether you’re a mama to one, a mama of 12, a stay-at-home mama, a working full-time or part-time mama, running your own business, or whatever else you might be, you are still awesome!

I feel a bit like a hypocrite because I say all of these things and I do mean them because being a mom is flipping hard and if you disagree then tell me all of your secrets! I often find myself at the end of the night questioning whether I could have been a better mom for the day, I lost my patience, I yelled and yes, (gasp) I smacked a butt or two. I hate doing it and I hate losing my patience but sometimes it happens and at the end of the day when they are both safe and asleep in their beds, I feel like a total failure. I know many moms feel the same way and I wish there was more I could do to help, so, here I am at 10pm, my kids are both asleep I just finished up some work I needed to get done and I am thinking about how I lost it this afternoon and questioning, was I a good mom today? Am I enough for them? I got emotional too, watching a movie I have seen 1,000 times before, one I love, and one my kids love too. Unfortunately, it has a rather said beginning and the children lose their mom. That is when it hit me, like a freaking train rolling down the tracks. I am their mama, and I am the most important person in their lives. Even when we have bad times and I lose it, guess who they run to for comfort because their little emotions got away from them, me, their mama. What if they lost me? Who would care for them like I do? May be an unpopular opinion but there is no one who could love and care for my children the way I do because I am their mom. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends all love my children and would go above and beyond for them, but they will never love them like I do and that is okay, at least they are loved and let’s hope the worry of them being without me is not going to happen anytime in the near future.

Children are like tiny sponges; they are absorbing this whole world around them. A world they have only been in for a short time. Sometimes they get overwhelmed, sometimes they have bad days, but they are not bad kids. I read an article a while back talking about how parents call their kids bad, and I try not to use the term anymore because they are not bad, they have bad moments. They get overwhelmed with the world and causes them to have little tantrums. My advice, let them have the tantrum and it will then pass. Sometimes they just need to release the frustration and that is the best way they know how. Don’t get me wrong kids can be bad and there are plenty out there, but not all. I try to teach my kids manners and how to behave and mind, guess what…they don’t sometimes. Do I get frustrated? Of course, I do but I just say to myself, I am doing the best that I can, and tomorrow is a new day.

So, for all you mamas out there who are maybe having a similar day to mine, questioning your motherhood ask yourself these questions; do your children have a roof over their head, food in their belly, and a family who loves them so much? If you answer yes to any of those, then mama you are a freaking Rockstar.

Support the 2% that feeds the 100%

Well, here we are halfway through January, and it has already been a whirlwind of a month! I am working on some exciting things and plan on post more often but ya know life is crazy sometimes to say the least! I am going to start diving into the nitty gritty of why I started this blog in the first place. Yes, it was about getting my story out there in hopes of helping someone else, plus my own mental health! I learned very quickly that life goes on and sometimes you just have to roll with the punches. I am getting very good at that recently! I spent only a few years in an abusive relationship, and it did a toll on me, I cannot even imagine being in one for a lifetime, like so many are! I am here to tell you it gets better.

As some of you know, I started a new job at the end of December, and I am so happy with it and the treatment I have already been given. I feel so appreciated and valued in such a short amount of time that I know it will just continue to grow. It is so nice to have someone in your cheering section and wanting you to do better and better. That being said I am within the conservation and agriculture world, my true passion. I started this blog to help other see and learn where their food comes from and what all of those pesky labels mean on your food. Hopefully, I can encourage some of you to grow your own gardens or maybe this will just help open some of y’all’s eyes on the industry! I have a t-shirt I purchased a couple years ago from this fabulous online boutique called Wandering Maverick Boutique—look them up on social media, you won’t be disappointed—it says support the 2% that feeds the 100% and I have never felt something more true to my heart than that. Nowadays we see so many things about impossible meats, STOP just stop eating that. I know celebrities and media has implanted in your brain that the cattle and chicken industry is “killing us” but I promise they are not. There is more crap and junk in that “plant based” meat than there is in a nice farm raised burger, I can promise you that. I won’t jump into my soap box quite yet on the subject, but I will soon!

Right now, I just want to let y’all know that I have a few things up my sleeve that I am going to be working on a bit more! Time to get this rodeo started!

Follow me on Instagram and Facebook where I will be posting a lot more often! How do y’all feel about cooking videos and possible podcast???

Hey everyone!

I hope ya’ll had an amazing Christmas and are going to have an even better New Year’s Eve! I am sorry I have been absent for a little while. Things have been crazy around the house! Not only did we have back-to-back Christmases to celebrate with family we also had to take time to recognize my eldest’s birthday, his poor soul was born on December 26^th. Luckily, I try to make that day super special to show him how important he is.

I also took on a new career! One I am very excited about! I finally feel like I’m where I am supposed to be, I know this opportunity is going to be huge for me and my family so I cannot wait to see how I grow.

As we ring in the new year tonight, I want everyone to think about how far they have come in the past year. Maybe you bought a new house, maybe you go married, maybe you had a baby, or maybe you just trudged through the year like so many others did and guess what? THAT IS OKAY TOO! Do not let anyone make you feel less just because you had a trying year, so many other did as well! Also, for goodness’ sake STOP looking at social media accounts and assume their lives are perfect. No one gets real with their social medias and we have this unrealistic portrayal of a perfect couple or a perfect couple when they also have demons in their closets.

A new year is a new beginning to become the best version of yourself, take time to figure out who that person is, you won’t regret it.

Something I have always wanted to do was convert over to cast iron. If you saw earlier, I posted a video on restoring cast iron skillets. I am proud to say I no longer have any other skillets other than my cast iron ones. They are relatively easy to “season” and I personally think the taste of food is so much better.

My mom would use cast iron growing up, but I feel like within my generation the use of cast iron kind of fell off, especially with the introduction of all these fancy appliances we have now! Something about cooking with cast iron brings me back to a different feel, a different time, an easier time. I know it is just a skillet, but it makes me think about a simpler life. Don’t get me wrong there is no life that is simple, just different. In our world now, everything revolves around our phones. We can do everything on it! Even in my generation I have seen technology I never thought I would see. Yes, I remember the days of VHS and dial up internet and yes, I am old. Somehow when I use cast iron, I feel like I have been taken back to a world where my smartphone doesn’t exist and maybe it is just my imagination running wild, but I wouldn’t change it any other way.

It is not just the feeling I love when using cast iron, I also love the way my food tastes after cooking with it. I can absolutely taste a difference between food cooked in cast iron compared to Teflon. It has a sizzle; I like to call it.

If you haven’t noticed already, I like to share. I like to share my life, my troubles, my triumphs, my recipes, a little bit of everything. I have opened up myself for this page and my hope is to create a connection and maybe, just maybe, my rambling will help someone along the way.

Stay tuned for an upcoming video where I can show you how I cook with cast iron!

Hey ya’ll, sorry it has been a while. Everyone knows life just gets away from us sometimes and that is okay! I’m here to remind you, live your life, do the dang things, and just love every minute of it.

It is hard for me to say that too because I am a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to just living life. I STRESS, like do so many others but I let it get the best of me sometimes. I have been really working hard at doing what makes me happy and focusing on self-care. I know I have talked about this before and that is because I believe it is so important, especially as a mom. You are not the best you can be when you have mounds of stress on your shoulders. I know my body tells me when I need to cool my jets. After so much exhaustion, your immune system starts to suffer and when that happens, it’s inevitable; you’re going to get sick. When I start to feel down, I know I really need to take care of myself for a little while otherwise everyone suffers.

Moms especially, I know we have that dreaded mom guilt about letting someone else take care of your kids for a while, but it is so important to take care of yourself too. If you have a loving and supportive partner who takes 50% of the responsibility of caring for your children, then that is awesome, and I am so happy for you! Use that to your advantage and remember, they need a break too now and then. I think as women we are expected to be the caregiver, it’s in our nature and that is how it has been done for years. However, we live in a world now where single income is not enough to care for your family and you need that second income so many moms are out here doing both, dads too. I just want to say, were total badasses!

If you’re a single mom like me then not only are you the sole caregiver for your kids, you’re also the sole provider too. Let me tell you, I see you out there, killing it, and I know how hard it is! I am fortunate enough to have family and if I need a break, sometimes I just have to take it. But, as soon as I do, I immediately feel guilty about it. Its normal.

The past week has been especially hard on me because my youngest has decided he had separation anxiety from me. Its mild for the most case, except when we are all headed to bed. Sometimes it takes 2 hours to get him to calm down and fall asleep, sometimes it leads to vomiting. It’s been slowly getting better as I have been trying new things and suggestions, but I have been so exhausted that I felt a headache and some sickness coming on, so I did what I thought was right and asked a family member to watch the boys while I took a nap. Let me tell you, I woke up from a 40-minute nap like a brand-new person.

I am also a fan of essential oils. I do think they help, especially when I’m trying to get to sleep. I have a diffuser in almost every room of my house, and I have been trying to keep up with them. If you haven’t used them before I suggest you do some research and decide if it is something you want in your home. Like before I mentioned Melaleuca, I get my oils from there as well and have never been let down.

Whoever you are, remember self-care is important and take some time for yourself. You deserve it!