It has always been impressed upon my heart to host occasional gatherings or “workshops”  where women could come together to learn and share skills in different areas of homemaking and home-building that inspire creativity and hone in on the innate, femininity that God has put in our being as women, mothers, and caretakers. (phew that was a mouthful)!

Women have an uncanny God-given knack for taking something plain and ordinary and with a little elbow grease and some creativity (and maybe some wallpaper, shiplap, and Benjamin Moore paint) can turn things into a beautiful oasis of comfort and care. A true feeling of “heaven on earth” right in our living spaces – a gift for others to enjoy. Ultimately, when we foster these things it blesses those around us….especially those who live in our homes – our family!

Over the years, a spark has been kindled within the hearts of women everywhere. A deep desire for a “slower” sense of living and a by-gone ara when things were less about outsourced, quick-paced consumerism, and more about creating with one’s own hands. The simple act of creating something from scratch – inspired by a roll of twine, some ribbon, items found in nature…(and maybe some help from Pinterest)! I’m talking about that sentimental, warm, cozy feeling of being cared for through the gift of a homemade jar of jam, a loaf of bread, a hand-knit scarf, or a handwritten note. Simple. Sweet. Sentimental. – you know the feeling! Nothing says I love you to the soul more.

As simple as the gift of a loaf of bread may seem…part of the obstacle many women face is getting back to the HOW. How does one make a jar of jam that can be consumable for others?  Where does one begin to learn how to crochet or knit? Bake sourdough bread and keep a starter alive? The list goes on. Much of it is simple and rhythmic. But as a culture, we are so consumed with “busy” that our efforts feel futile. It just doesn’t seem like there is enough time in the day between caring for children, homes, husbands, and all the other things. Where on earth do we come up with the time to learn a new skill and then do it well?

Some of the best advice I once heard was that it is not about doing it all – but simply learning to do a few things well…deciding if it fits your rhythm… continuing the things that fit…and table the things that don’t! I know it sounds so simple…and it is! Add new skills as you desire or find interest and time. For example, I jumped on the sourdough bread-making train back in 2021 (as many of us did) I did so with deep focus and interest. I read all of the things, watched all of the YouTube videos, bought the starter kits – and kept alive a starter! I baked sourdough bread from scratch for a while. The skill is one I could still do fairly easily with a quick review of a recipe but in this season of life, I don’t often make your traditional bulk ferment sourdough nearly as much as I once did. I find I am out of the house a little more lately with kid activities and drop-offs vs when the kids were toddlers and babies and we had more structured nap times. Lately, I toss in some active bread yeast and use a bread maker! However, if I wanted to…I could revert back to the traditional method. The same goes for other skills you’d like to learn. They may be fun and exciting to learn at the time, and you may not use them rhythmically in your day-to-day…but once you have the tool you just store the skill in your toolbox for a later need! Being a lifelong learner and discoverer of our human abilities as homemakers is a gift! A gift that keeps giving. A gift we can pass down.

Below are photos from a recent women’s gathering I hosted – the topic was Canning 101! I had a couple lovely and very talented friends who do a lot of canning come and teach us all of the things. We learned and reviewed the basics. Watched a pressure canner be used in real-time – which helped with some of those “but what if I blow up my house” concerns that many of us are worried about when we hear the words “pressure canner”. We swapped recipes, shared ideas, and found inspiration! I am thinking the next blog post I share will be the steps I took to make this event happen – it was fairly simple with some helping hands from great friends! And I have a couple of resources I can share. So stay tuned!

Photo credit belongs to my super-talented photographer friend – Jami Groen Photography! Follow her on Instagram HERE

The post Gatherings for Women that Cultivate Homemaking appeared first on Samantha Elizabeth.

I had recently decided that I was going to do my best to find more “healthy” ways to home-make some of my children’s favorite snacks. One of their favorites is the obvious “cracker” – I’ve tried a few times with limited success…I just could not get them to have that delicious flakiness that crackers are known to have. However, after multiple trials and errors, I think I’ve found one that is very close!

The post Delicious and Flaky Sourdough Crackers appeared first on Samantha Elizabeth.

History of Sourdough Bread
Sourdough bread, also known as “wild yeast” is an ancient bread leavening practice that dates back to as early as 3,500 BC in Egypt with the discovery of fermentation.

Fermentation is best defined as when a group of chemical reactions induced by microorganisms or enzymes split complex organic compounds into relatively simple substances, especially the anaerobic conversion of sugar to carbon dioxide and alcohol by yeast.

The fermentation of grain or flour…introduced a form of bread making called adding “leaven” to bread. This ancient practice is proved by unearthed wall paintings and the analysis of bread loaves and beer remains from the ancient Mesopotamia region. Creating wild yeast cultures was a simple and practical way to create “leavened bread” at a time when baker’s yeast was not yet invented – not until 1860!! Unleavened bread is mentioned numerous times throughout the Christian Bible from the Commemoration of Passover for Jews during the Exodus to the teachings of Christ in the New Testament. According to the Hebrew lexicon, the term unleavened bread is derived from the word matzoh, which means “bread or cake without leaven.”

The Israelites ate unleavened bread as part of the Passover celebration. It was symbolic of the haste with which the Israelites fled Egypt during the Exodus—they left so quickly that the bread did not have time to rise. God instructed them to commemorate the event by eating unleavened bread: “You shall eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days you shall eat it with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction—for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste—that all the days of your life you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt” Deuteronomy 16:3. Other verses that command the eating of unleavened bread are found in Exodus 12:8; 29:2; and Numbers 9:11.

By 800 BC Ancient Greeks had learned from the Egyptians about using leaven for bread which soon catapulted the expanse of adding sourdough or “leaven” to bread recipes throughout the rest of Europe. The Roman Empire around 750 BC played a large part in the growth of the bread-making industry.

Sourdough bread making – a connection to the past
While food culture varies across the world the one thing that seems to be a pattern of consistency has been bread making…specifically, sourdough bread, which has been a main staple in many cultures and homes throughout the ages. Families of the medieval era depended on bread as the main source of nutrition for their families. Grain was often easy to come by and rather “inexpensive” for most families. It didn’t take much to make a loaf of bread. All someone needed was ground wheat and water.

Rumor has it that Christopher Columbus brought a small crock of sourdough starter to the New World in 1492 and advanced sourdough bread making in America. Coal miners and women traveling West in America would sleep with their sourdough starter in order to keep them alive, warm, bubbly, and ready for use the next day. As the decades went on… many American kitchens and homesteads had a large crock or jar of sourdough starter sitting on the shelf – ready for use to feed an often large and hungry family.

As time has gone on and our culture has developed into a culture of “busy”… convenience is a factor that plays into every aspect of our lives…and with it…sourdough starters slowly but surely became a nuisance to care for and with the invention of bakers yeast it created the opportunity for bread to be made more quickly and without the hassle of maintaining a starter. However, one of the biggest cons to this evolution of bread making and the invention of baker’s yeast… is that bread made with baker’s yeast and that skips adding a fermented starter now lacks nutritional benefits. Commerical storebought bread although convenient does not carry the same nutritional value that sourdough does. Sourdough bread introduces a plethora of organisms that have prebiotic and probiotic-like properties, which help improve overall gut health and releases healthy bacteria called “gut microbes”. The standard American diet has all but removed homemade, fermented foods…which greatly affects our overall health as a population.

Sourdough Bread Nutrition
A loaf of sourdough bread will provide you with vitamin E, vitamin B1, B6, B12, thiamin, niacin, folate, riboflavin, potassium, zinc, iron, magnesium, selenium, calcium, phosphorus, and manganese. All bread contains essential minerals and nutrients – however, our bodies can’t easily absorb these nutrients because of a compound called phytates or phytic acid which binds up the nutrients. Phytates are found in most grains and especially your common store bought white breads…sourdough however, when made using a starter, creates a lactic acid that neutralizes phytates by lowering the pH of the bread….leaving sourdough bread with a higher level of available minerals that are more readily available for our body to use.

The below information is taken from a pub med research article that dug into the details on how sourdough bread supports the microbiome in our intestines.

“….The sourdough microbes, particularly the lactic acid bacteria (LAB), give much benefits to our body’s gastrointestinal system. It improves our digestion system and increases nutrient absorption into our body. The sourdough fermentation process induced naturally by LAB and yeasts produces invertase enzymes which aid in digestion of short-chain carbohydrates present as non-digestible starch while the enzyme phytase will neutralise phytic acid present in grain-based products to free up the digestive enzymes of trypsin, pepsin and amylase to act more effectively in breaking down proteins, starches and fats in our body. The natural fermentation process in sourdough breadmaking helps patients with gastrointestinal disorders, e.g., irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and also patients with celiac disease, e.g., gluten intolerance syndrome through alteration of carbohydrates and protein molecular structures, respectively. Consumption of sourdough bread allows better food digestion, promotes better nutritional uptake of minerals and vitamins and also improves gut health with the presence of LAB in the form of prebiotic food. From the point of view of artisanal baking, sourdough bread is always highly praised for its authentic and rustic look coupled with unique sensorial and eating properties. The organoleptic properties are much improved through enhanced flavour compounds and dough softening. The acidic environment resulting from the LAB fermentation gives the bread a longer shelf life.”

With all of the above now in our arsenal of knowledge…it is good to always eat carbohydrates and breads in moderation. However, if one must or is interested in having bread in their diet. Using sourdough breads, whole grains, and seed breads are your best option for optimal health and nutrition.

The post Sourdough Bread History + Health Benefits appeared first on Samantha Elizabeth.

Every July we go to my childhood cabin in Michigans Upper Peninsula. The cabin sits on a small inland lake and was built by my grandpa and my dad. The cabin is log, has a sauna, and is on a secluded side of the lake where eagles fly and loons call. It’s one of my favorite places in the entire world to be. When we go in mid-/end of July the thimbleberries are always ripe and tasty! We pick them by the bucket full and then we make thimbleberry jam. Thimbleberries are a coveted berry in this part of the country because they are not found as easily as most wild berries. Thimbleberries are popular in parts of the mid-west and on the east coast.

After picking the ripe berries you spread them out on a baking pan. Pick out the small twigs, leaves, any little bugs, or blemished berries that got into your bucket.

You can freeze the berries in zip loc bags to make jam later or make the jam immediately.

• Boil the berries in a pot on medium heat. Stir continually so they do not burn. The berries will start to naturally break down into a liquid and mashed form.
• Once the berries look partially smashed and heated through…turn down the burner heat to the lowest temp.
• Add 3/4 cup of sugar to 1 cup of berries. Use less sugar if you want a more “earthy” or “natural” berry taste.
• Stir the sugar until well blended. Turn the burner back up to medium. Stirring consistently for 5-10 minutes.
• After 5-10 minutes and the sugar has blended nicely turn off and remove the pot from the burner and let sit and cool.
• Once the jam is cool…add to mason jars. Cap. Eat immediately, refrigerate or place in pantry for later use.
  
  Enjoy!

The post Homemade Thimble Berry Jam appeared first on Samantha Elizabeth.

These cheesy potatoes are delicious and taste like the real deal! It had been my goal for a while to create a dairy-free version of my favorite childhood comfort food – and voila! Here it is. Here’s what you’ll need.

Ingredients:
2 Lb bag of frozen diced potatoes
1 cup Daiya cheddar shreds (or similar DF cheese)
1 stick Earth Balance Butter (or similar DF butter)
1 medium yellow onion
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 – 8oz tub of Toffuti cream cheese original (or similar DF cream cheese)
1 – 14oz can of Chicken broth

Step 1) Warm cream cheese in a microwaveable dish until soft and can mix with a spoon. Add half can of chicken broth and stir together.

Step 2) Dice up the onion and in a large mixing bowl combine potatoes, onion, and cream cheese and chicken broth mixture – add the rest of the chicken broth and mix.

Step 3) Melt one stick of DF butter. Add to potato mixture.

Step 4) Add 1 cup of Daiya cheddar shreds. Mix! Add garlic and salt. Mix!

Step 5) Pour into a 9″x9″ baking dish.  Bake in the oven at 375 for an hour or until potatoes are cooked through and the top is a light golden color.

The post The BEST Dairy Free Cheesy Potatoes appeared first on Samantha Elizabeth.

Below is a sneak peek at the items we selected (with links for your convenience!) and photos of the finished look. How do you think it turned out?

Outdoor Gray Throw Pillows | Small “Home Sweet Home” Pillow | Navy Blue Seat Cushions
Large Outdoor Area Rug | Small No-Slip Rug | Deck Railing Planters

This collaboration was sponsored by Wayfair. 

The post Creating a Cozy Outdoor Deck Space with Wayfair appeared first on Samantha Elizabeth.

Spring is the perfect time to revisit all that God has so intricately crafted on our earth and in nature. This spring lesson is meant to draw attention to and create awe in God’s creation and in the “birds of the air” (Gen 1:30). Please feel free to use all or some of the ideas below. Search online and find other ideas to boost and add to this unit study – make it your own!

Click Here to learn more about how I used a $36 Lowe’s shelving unit to create a Montessori-style activity + tray learning center that we change out for each unit study. You can buy these simple trays with handles from Hobby Lobby!

Bible Verse
Look at the birds of the air, they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? – Matthew 6:26
Steve Green Memory Verse – Matthew 6:26 + Youtube Video

Library Books List
Common Backyard Birds by Doris Dumrauf
Bird Builds a Nest  by Martin Jenkins
A Nest Full of Eggs by Priscilla Belz Jenkins
Mama Built a Little Nest by Jennifer Ward

Prints + Visuals
(each printable below was fairly inexpensive, in total it all cost under $15! Laminate them and use for younger children or pass on to a friend)
Birds of Winter mini-study
Spring Songbirds mini-study
Printable Songbird Poster
Spring Robin Shadow Matching
Spring Number Counting Flashcards

Display Inspiration + Ideas
Hang up posters/prints – use clipboards or simple thumbtacks
Display library books in easy to reach location 
TY Beanie Baby birds or other stuffed bird visuals
Set out bird ID flashcards 
Birdhouse visual
Birdnest visual
Binoculars
Notebook or sketchbook
Pencil, crayons, colored pencils
Tweezers (bird food) – Montessori skill tray

Bird Songs
Minnesota/Midwest common backyard birds

Outdoor Activities

• Nature Hike + Bird Watching – pack a backpack with your binoculars, sketch pad, colored pencils, and a book or guide to the birds you might see.
• Bird Scavenger Hunt
• Make Your Own Bird Nest – scavenger outside just like the birds would to find items to make a bird’s nest!

Indoor Activities

• Bird Song Match – find the song of each bird on Youtube, play the song of each bird out loud, match it to the picture/flashcard and name it! Test your skills during an outdoor nature hike or next time you’re in your backyard
• Books – read books from the book list above – identify which birds you’ve seen in your own backyard.
• National Geographic Video – 50 Birds, 50 States
• Baby Robins Feeding and First Flight – Youtube Video (friendly for all ages)
• Science Experiment – Bird & Beak Adaptations
• Outdoor Bird Feeder – set up a bird feeder outside that is visible from an indoor window, make sure the binoculars are handy and keep watch for different types of birds that visit your feeder! A songbird mix is usually the best and brings the most variety.

Letters + Letter Sounds
Baby Bird Alphabet 

Arts + Crafts
DIY Bird Feeder – toilet paper roll, sun butter, birdseed, yarn, hole punch
Coloring Pages
Robin Hand Craft

Enjoy! Please tag me at @samanthaecollin on Instagram if you try out this unit study!

The post Spring Unit Study: Backyard Birds appeared first on Samantha Elizabeth.

We did it! We finally have our kitchen mostly done! Aside from a few cosmetic updates – we will call it complete. One year later…but better late than never! We love the results and how much brighter it is. It was definitely one of the bigger projects we undertook after moving into our new home. When starting this project we knew that it would need to be done on a budget. We wanted to keep it under $5,000 which in reality, isn’t a lot of money when you’re updating a kitchen (so we found out the hard way). I’ll be sharing tips on how we saved money and what we did below – keep scrolling!

But first….a before photo! I have never loathed green countertops so much in all my life.

Solid Surface Countertops:
The photo below is of the new countertops going in! Putting in the new countertops was the most expensive part when updating the kitchen. It cost us roughly $2,300 for the countertops alone. We went with Solid Surface countertops. After reviewing the pros and cons of not going with a granite or a quartz…it was clear to us that we really would get a much better deal going with solid surface and it would keep us within our budget. Unlike granite or quartz…you can’t cut on solid surface countertops with a knife or put anything hot on it, however, the similarities are quite comparable. This info from the solid surface website can help you out! We ended up getting our countertops from Home Depot! Our new white castiron double sink came as a special offer with the purchase of the countertops. Keep an eye out for deals and specials at places like Lowe’s, Menards and Home Depot! The new kitchen faucet and garbage disposal were roughly $200 total.

Ta-da! Below images are the “finished” product.

Cement Tile Backsplash:
For the cement tile backsplash, we worked with Riad Tile and got their Emma Grey Tile. It was delivered fast and really is the show stopper in our kitchen. The cement squares are beautiful, durable, and add a fun style to this space. Riad Tile offers the lowest prices in the country! We highly recommend them! We measured out roughly 34 square feet and the cost for the tiles and all of the installation supplies was roughly $600. We saved on labor and had my dad do the install and use his wet saw for cutting and fitting the tiles. We also updated all of the light switches and outlets and changed out the ceiling boob light!

Painting the Cupboards:
Installing completely new cupboards would be quite a costly undertaking so to save money we decided to sand and paint them! Err well… my dad was the hero again for this project and helped us out a lot by doing most of the grunt work! We went with Behr Paint and the color Whitewash Oak. We paid roughly $150 for the one gallon of paint that we needed, brushes, and primer. We bought new hardware for the cupboards – handles and hinges to match the faucet. We went with the color Brushed Nickel. We paid about $125 for all of the hardware! Around the island, we put up wainscoting which was super inexpensive and easy to install. It gave our otherwise very plain island a nice updated look.

The post Our Kitchen Update on a Budget appeared first on Samantha Elizabeth.

This post is sponsored by Wayfair. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Grilling season is here and there’s nothing better than the smell of a grill cooking a delicious meal for your family or guests! One of my favorite recipes to cook up for friends and family is a yummy Shish-kabob recipe! I love that I can prep it ahead of time and basically turn it into a one-and-done cooked on the grill meal that everyone loves. It’s loaded with veggies and can be customized with beef, chicken, or vegetarian options!

Having the proper tools is key when it comes to hosting a BBQ. We love this Whetstone BBQ Grilling Set from Wayfair – it has all of the tools neatly organized in a carry-all. Having a fantastic grill is also key – we love our gas grill but there are SO many different types of grills out there. You may like one of these Traeger pellet grills, charcoal grills, and Kamado grills! Make sure to get some fun outdoor tableware and invest in some fun yard games! We recently purchased this super fun and easy-to-take with you Badminton Set!

Shish-kabob Ingredients

• Meat of your choice (chicken or beef) I like to use ribeye steak!
• 2 large Zucchini
• Assorted peppers (red, green, yellow, orange)
• One large red onion
• Portabella  mushrooms
• 3 tbsp – minced garlic
• 2 cups soy sauce
• 1 cup brown sugar

Shishkabob Recipe
1) In a bowl mix soy sauce, brown sugar, minced garlic

2) Chop all vegetables and meat into large sections, leave the mushrooms whole.

3) Take shish-kabob grilling skewers and alternate between vegetables and meat.

4) Place skewers into a baking dish and drizzle with soy sauce mixture, coating the entire skewer. Let sit for 5 minutes, rotate skewers and drizzle on the other side. Cover with tin foil or saran wrap and let sit in the fridge for a few hours until ready for the grill.

5) Grill shish-kabobs on high until veggies are crisp on the edges and the meat is cooked thoroughly.

6) Remove from the grill and serve immediately!

The post BBQ Backyard Hosting + Delicious Shish-kabob Recipe appeared first on Samantha Elizabeth.

I am not an interior designer by any stretch of the imagination and I don’t claim to be one! I actually have a hard time with interior decorating and design things – I can never make up my mind. This little space used to be an open square hole in the wall that dated back to the 70’s – I’m not even sure what it would have been called or what it was used for? I had my dad close it in and put shelving inside so that I could put some little items in it to help create a spot to show off some of our own unique style (aka another place for little plants)!  I wanted to share how I went about styling this shelf for under $20!

1) Thrift Stores
I love thrift shopping. It’s a fun way to find unique items that have character and the price point typically doesn’t break the bank. On this particular shelving space, I have two faux greenery items that I found at a thrift store – the little sprigs in the round jars. I think they might have been 50 cents each! I have a little tub in the basement that contains little thrifted things I like to put on shelves throughout my home.

2) Use What You Have
The two photo frames are things I had up in our old home and didn’t have a specific place for here in our new home – until I needed something on these shelves! I dug them out and was elated to find that they fit perfectly. So go digging in your boxes, tubs, etc…and check out what else you might have around the house and change it up – take something that was in the bedroom on your dresser or nightstand and give it a new location in your home…simple little things like this make things feel brand new without spending the money!

3) Shop at the Dollar Store or Target Dollar Spot 
We’ve all done it. We’ve all walked into Target and spent more time perusing the Dollar Spot than we anticipated – and we likely took home a few things. Thankfully…the items are at a good price and usually pretty darn cute! They always have pretty seasonal vases, candles, and other items that fit great on open shelves. Just don’t go overboard! Another great place to visit is your local Dollar Tree or General Dollar…they usually have some fun things to play around with and make your own. On this shelf the little round vases, home sign, and two little mini succulent plants were Target finds most of which were in the Dollar Spot section. Each item costs roughly $5 or under and in total was roughly $20! (the only money I spent)

4) Personalize it
Rowan and I did some watercolor paintings recently (he created the top one) and mine is of the palm branch. We played music, did some painting, and ate snacks together…then I got to show him how once our paintings dried – we could put them in frames on the shelf. Now he likes to point them out to Dusty and when people visit and say “look, mom and me painted those!” They are cute and add a special and personal touch to for the space. I’ll have fun switching them out with new paintings we make. Homemade items or artwork is a very inexpensive and personal way to make a shelf unique and special!

5) Neutral color palette
I’m pretty predictable when it comes to color palettes. I like neutral tones and warm hues. Whites, creams, beige, and wood textures make it easy to switch things out with each season without having to completely swap everything out. Keeping the items in that color family will help you keep costs down when it comes to decorating your shelf!

The post 5 Tips for Styling Open Shelving for Under $20 appeared first on Samantha Elizabeth.