Home Cookin'

All-Natural Fresh Fruit Pops – No Artificial Ingredients and Stress Free Cleanup!

May 16, 2017 by Laura Tucker Leave a Comment

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #allessentials #allsulfatefree #CollectiveBias

There’s just something so special about those hot summer afternoons. Breaking out the tank tops and flip flops and feeling the warmth of summer on my skin are just a few of the little things in life that take me right to my happy place. Aside from the ferocious humidity here in Alabama, the sweet summertime is something that I always look forward to. I honestly can’t think of anything I’d rather do than watch my daughter prance around the front yard, running through the sprinkler and eating a freeze pop while she’s catching a break from the summer sun, and then snacking on a fresh bowl of hand picked fruit when it’s time to come in. I mean really, y’all….does it get any better than that?! It’s a dream I’ve always wanted for my children – and watching that dream come to life this time every year makes my heart soar!

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Easy Patriotic Sugar Wafers

May 10, 2017 by Laura Tucker 5 Comments

Can you believe that summer is just right around the corner? 2017 seems to really be flying by! We’re inching closer to Memorial Day, and I know that this time of year is the time when a lot of people start packing their belongings up and celebrating our country and our freedoms with family vacations, trips to the beach, heading out to the lake, etc. Before we know it, we’ll be celebrating our nation’s Independence Day in July with all sorts of delicious foods and desserts!

If you’re planning a fun trip or outing centered around those two holidays, these sweet little treats are just the thing to bring along with you! They’re super easy to make, really inexpensive, adorably festive and totally scrumptious! They’re also really fun for kids to make as a fun summer activity, too! 😉

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Dunkin’ Donuts Pretzel Croissant Breakfast Sandwich – A Breakfast Dream Come True!

April 25, 2017 by Laura Tucker 1 Comment

Thanks for Dunkin’ Donuts for making breakfast a real treat 24/7 and for partnering with me for today’s post. All opinions expressed within this post are completely my own.

You know what really gets me excited? Like – jump up and down, sing at the top of my lungs, and maybe throw in a cabbage patch dance kind of excited? Food. Always food. No doubt about it.

That should come as NO surprise to many of you who have been following this blog for a while. Food instantly takes me to my happy place. When it’s time to eat, I’ll be the first one to show up and show out to get some grub in my tummy. I never miss a meal, and I especially never miss breakfast. Just to keep it 100% with you all, breakfast is the most coveted and anticipated meal of my day! There’s just something about breakfast food that screams “comfort food” to me, and I love it all!

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Easter Bunny Peanut Butter Cheese Ball

April 10, 2017 by Laura Tucker 1 Comment

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #RITZpiration #CollectiveBias

My almost-two year old has recently taken a major interest in bunny rabbits. (And who could blame her – they’re the cutest!) We have a bunny rabbit that lives nearby our home, and usually in the late evening we’ll find him outside nibbling at the grass under the big tree in our yard. Every time my daughter sees it, her smile is bigger than the moon itself! All of this is perfect timing, too, because Easter will soon be here! The shelves at the stores are overflowing with the cutest spring decor, and every time my daughter spots a bunny rabbit she gets downright giddy!

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Brown Sugar & Bacon Green Bean Bundles

March 10, 2017 by Laura Tucker Leave a Comment

Yesterday was a day, y’all. My toddler was giving me a rough time for most of the morning. I patiently waited for the first sign of sleepiness in her eyes, and I pounced at the opportunity to put her down for a nap so I could have some me time where I wasn’t being bullied by a strong-willed almost 2 year old. That may sound bad, but yesterday I was really in the trenches, and I know ALL parents have those days.

Once she went down, I grabbed a cookbook off of my shelf and sat down and thumbed through it to unwind and get my mind off of the whirlwind of a morning I had been having. Plus, I was getting pretty hangry, so I needed a little inspiration for lunch time.

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Broccoli and Cheese Baked Potatoes

March 8, 2017 by Laura Tucker 4 Comments

Every Sunday afternoon, my family heads across the street from our church after worship service and gathers around the dinner table at our Mema’s house. Mema cooks an incredible meal for us every week, and it’s always something so scrumptious that you daydream all week about what you’ll get to have next!

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Mocha Mint Frappe Shake

March 1, 2017 by Laura Tucker 1 Comment

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #CoffeeHouseBlend #CollectiveBias

Coffee.

Ah, my sweet, sweet friend. How much do I love thee? Let me count the ways! I haven’t always been a coffee drinker if you want to know the truth. In fact, pretty much the first 25 years of my life were coffee-less. I like to refer to those years as “the lost years.”

No, it wasn’t until I actually became a parent that coffee made it’s grand entrance into my life, and since that time we’ve bonded together like long lost best friends. It started out as a casual friendship (my need for it mostly being based out of necessity,) but now we meet each other every morning to help get our day started on the right foot. For me, coffee time = bliss!

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Easy St. Patrick’s Day Pancakes

February 27, 2017 by Laura Tucker 1 Comment

Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day at school as a kid was always so much fun. The teacher would usually share a little bit about the history of St. Patrick’s day, and it’d always be followed by doing some sort of fun DIY project or snack craft for us all to dig in to. The first thing the other children did when you got to school was to check and make sure you had at least a speck of green on your some where, because they definitely had their “pinchers” ready and were hoping to find someone to pinch! 😉

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Broccoli, Bacon and Quinoa Salad

February 25, 2017 by Laura Tucker Leave a Comment

Here lately I’ve been doing a not-so-hot job of incorporating greens into my diet. I love veggies for the most part, but sometimes I struggle with finding creative ways to cook them. I’m not much of a raw vegetable eater at all. I often have to sort-of trick myself into eating them by hiding them in the meals that I cook. The southern culture that I’m accustomed to (and love dearly, hence the name of this blog) is notorious for frying vegetables. I’m not knocking fried veggies..heck, I LOVE them (‘sup, fried okra,) but I also realize that frying them pretty much cancels out all of the goodness in them. Hard pill to swallow, I know, but it’s true. 😉

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St. Patrick’s Day Sugar Wafers

February 23, 2017 by Laura Tucker 7 Comments

SOUTHERN MADE SIMPLE IS A PART OF SEVERAL AFFILIATE ADVERTISING PROGRAMS. AFFILIATE LINKS ARE INCLUDED THROUGHOUT THIS POST. ALTHOUGH I PARTICIPATE IN THESE PROGRAMS AND HAVE SPONSORED CONTENT, ALL OPINIONS ARE MY OWN.

When I was 13 years old, I packed my bags and boarded a plane with 30 other teenagers and 4 adults and headed straight for Europe. I spent nearly an entire month exploring England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It was absolutely the trip of a lifetime, and I still have many friends from that trip that I keep in contact with. One of the most special instances during that trip was spending my 14th birthday walking down O’Connell street, shopping at all sorts of little fun stores and boutiques. It was a blast! I especially loved being able to see Ireland with my own eyes and experience their culture and learn much about their history.

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