Reflections Archives - Authentic Simplicity

A Look Back at 2012 in Blog Posts

December 31, 2012 By Anne Simpson

January

I started out the new year with a goal to learn how to make a variety of dairy products. I made almost everything on my list (except mozzarella and butter, which I determined was kind of pointless for me, since I could get it cheaper from a local farm than I could make it), and I blogged about some of it: Super Simple Yogurt, Sour Cream/Creme Fraiche, and How to Make Ghee. Mission accomplished! (Except the mozzarella. I might never get to that one.)

February

My bloggy friends and I did a series in February called “Sizzlin’ Soups“ (We even made a free eBook – anybody want a copy? I’ll be offering it to subscribers pretty soon here!). My contribution was a delicious healthified version of chicken and dumplings. My mouth is watering even now as I think about it (and the eBook contains a gluten-free dairy-free version as well!).

March

In celebration of International Woman’s Day, March was all about Women’s Wellness. We talked about everything from easing PMS symptoms to the sun and Vitamin D to emotional and spiritual health. Plus, there were a few recipes (of course!): Choco-Cado Smoothie (a favorite around here), Savory Oven Pancake (another favorite), and the Healthified Shamrock Shake (yet another favorite – it was a yummy month!).

April

April was a slower month for me blog-wise, but it did bring another standby recipe that I L-O-V-E: Vegan Oat Muffins. This is one of those recipes I love that always turns out no matter what I do to it. Plus it’s wheat-free, dairy-free, and egg-free, which are kind of important around here.

May

Some friends and I participated ina one-day blog series about The Real Truth About Real Food. My post for the series was all about how I’ve come to learn that relationships with people supercede my relationship with food every time. There’s a great freedom and balance that comes when you learn that important lesson. And your friends (and husbands) are a lot happier, too.

June

In June, I launched my first ever eBook, Your Grocery Budget Toolbox! To celebrate, I focused on grocery budgets for 7 days, with posts like A Budget for Every Personality, Menu Planning, and How to Become a Gardener. It was an exciting week for me, and I’ve been thrilled with the positive response to my eBook. Self-publishing is a highly fulfilling experience; I recommend it!

July

I had the privilege of experimenting with a WonderMill grain mill starting in July, and posted about the experience on the Grain Mill Wagon. Some of the recipes inspired by the mill: The Best Pancakes Ever, Grandma’s Biscuits – with Spelt, and Spelt Pizza Crust,.

August

August brought big changes – this blog went from Quick and Easy Cheap and Healthy (mainly focused on food) to Authentic Simplicity (broadening that QECH focus to include life in general). I didn’t waste any time, either – I participated in a week-long series where I featured all the different ways I save money on organizing products: at yard sales, with empty jars, at dollar stores, and with shipping boxes.

September

I kicked off the school year with a series of posts detailing my simple approach to preschool at home. It was very well received, particularly the posts about phonics and reading. Which is awesome because that happens to be one of my passions in life.

October

In October I was privileged to attend the Allume Conference, which prompted two posts: one a recap of the event, the other a post written by my DH! I have to say, he did a fantastic job. The man has skills!

November

In November, I launched another facet of my online business: I became a distributor of Young Living Essential Oils (note that the giveaway mentioned in the post is no longer open). You can read the whole story by clicking on that link, but to sum up: I’ve decided to focus on essential oils as a natural method of helping the body to heal, and I learned that becoming a distributor was the best way to make high quality oils affordable. I’ve been very happy with my decision, and am, in fact, about to go apply some oils to my coughing little Tiger Cub. I know they will help immensely, and I’m thrilled that I have access to them.

December

December was all about keeping it simple: A Simple Christmas was the theme. I’m going to tell you a little secret: I wrote all the posts and scheduled all the social media updates prior to December, and I took the whole month off of blogging. Oh, I still did some work here and there, but by and large, I had myself a nice, month-long vacation. And a lovely, simple Christmas. Ahhhhh!

Now it’s back to the grind for me! But thankfully, I happen to love my chosen grind. Here’s to a wonderful New Year here at Authentic Simplicity!

Find more inspiring and informative posts at Make Your Own Monday, Motivational Monday, Homestead Barn Hop, The Bulletin Board, Better Mom Monday, Natural Living Monday, Trivium Tuesday, Titus 2sday, Teach Me Tuesday, Hip Homeschool Hop, Titus 2 Tuesday, Delicious Dishes, Open Call Tuesday, Tiny Tip Tuesday, Healthy 2Day Wednesday, Frugal Days Sustainable Ways, Works For Me Wednesday, Real Food Wednesday, Whole Food Wednesday, Allergy-Free Wednesday, The Mommy Club, Encourage One Another, Thought Provoking Thursday, Simple Lives Thursday, Homemaking Link Up, Keep it Real Thursday, Frugal Thursday Rewind, Your Green Resource, Homeschooling on the Cheap, Thrifty Thursday, Fellowship Friday, Fight Back Friday, I'm Lovin' It, Weekend Bloggy Reading, Weekend Whatever, Snacktime Saturday

1 Comment Filed Under: On My Mind, Reflections Tagged With: new years

The Top 12 Posts of 2012

December 28, 2012 By Anne Simpson

It’s been a big year on the blog: a name change, domain change, design change, and the whole nine yards! I can barely even remember the old Quick and Easy Cheap and Healthy! But the spirit remains: the focus on all things simple but real, and, of course, ~~cheap~~ frugal.

So many new friends have joined us along the journey, and I am so delighted to have each and every one of you here to help me figure out this delicate balance between authentic and simple. So for new friends and old, here’s a quick backward glance over this past year as we head into the promise of the new.

The posts listed below are the most popular ones this year based on my traffic statistics. In other words, readers visited these posts more than any others on the blog. So that means they must be good, right?

The Top 12 Posts of 2012 on Authentic Simplicity

12. Pumpkin Soup

This kind of tickles my funny bone, because I made this pumpkin soup exactly once. I liked it and everything, but I haven’t had the desire to make it since. The honest truth is that I really like my soup to have stuff floating in it – you know, like meat, and noodles, and vegetables, and all that yummy stuff. When I eat a bowl of straight pureed soup, I sort of feel like I haven’t actually eaten anything. I keep thinking I’d like to make this soup as an accompaniment to a meal (like maybe with sandwiches) but I haven’t done that yet. Maybe one day!

11. Don’t Throw Away Those Sweet Potato Peels

It’s kind of my mantra: wait, don’t throw that away! You can still use it! Even for the homely old sweet potato peel. These make a yummy snack, let me tell you. And this I have made more than once.

10. Easy Protein-Rich Snacks

Upon embarking on my low-carb diet, I found it tricky to have high-protein snacks available in between meals, so I made this post so I would have a quick reference whenever the munchies hit. It’s come in handy more than once!

9. Gluten-Free Vegan Samosas

This is another one-hit wonder. I made these gluten-free vegan samosas for the Secret Recipe Club, and *I* enjoyed them thoroughly, but they weren’t such a big hit for My Certain Little Someone. Since I have no need to eat gluten-free vegan anything, there’s no way I’m going to go through the effort of making these purely for my own enjoyment. Maybe when he’s older, we’ll give it another go. Actually, maybe not, since he is no longer wheat-free. Well, anyway, you can enjoy these, because although they require quite a bit of effort, they are quite yummy.

8. Clean Your Oven Safely and Naturally

In the interest of full disclosure, that is not my oven in the picture. I wish! My oven is clean, but it ain’t that clean. I’m glad this post made it to my top ten, because I want everybody to know that cleaning your oven without exposing yourself to dangerous chemicals is totally do-able, and frankly, easier than the chemical-laden alternatives.

7. A Little More Mexican: Pork Carnitas

Whenever I buy a pork roast, I always think of this pork carnitas recipe first, and nine times out of ten, this is what I do with said pork roast. I can’t help it; it’s just so yummy!

6. Frosting Without Powdered Sugar: Fluffy Coffee Frosting

This one is an oldie but goodie: I originally posted it back when I was on Blogger! Seems like forever ago, but really was only a couple years. Anyway, this twist on the old-fashioned 7-minute frosting is delicious and much more nutritious than other powdered-sugar-full frostings.

5. Pickles 3 Ways: Fresh-Packed Pickles

I referred to these instructions earlier this summer when once again embarking on my pickle-making adventures. Turned out just as well the second time! The easiest ever way to make canned pickles.

4. Decadent (and not so decadent) Indulgences: Cream-Cheese Frosting

Yet another oldie, and yet another non-powdered-sugar frosting. This cream cheese frosting boasts honey and a small bit of sugar as the only sweetener. And it’s delicious!

3. How to Get Canning Supplies for Cheap or Even Free

Canning doesn’t have to be expensive, as I explain in this post. I share my favorite strategies for purchasing all the needed canning equipment on the cheap!

2. How to Make the Most of Your Grocery Budget Dollars

Once-a-Month-Shopping (grocery shopping, that is) is something I am quite passionate about, mostly because it is the number one tool in my grocery budget toolbox and saves me LOTS of money on food every month. This post explains the nuts-and-bolts of the process, but I highly recommend (naturally!) getting my eBook for even more info and other money-saving tips.

And…. drumroll please….

The number one visited post this year was:

1. No Butter? No Eggs? You Can Still Make Cookies!

When I originally wrote this post, I had no idea that it would become BY FAR the most visited post on this entire blog. It gets almost twice as much traffic as the runner-up, and for good reason. This recipe is reliable, flexible, easy… and delicious! These cookies always turn out no matter what I do to them, and we eat the entire batch in a day or two. Every single time. And yes, this is one I make a lot. I won’t tell you how often because you really don’t need to know how often I eat cookies. But this one’s a keeper.

Come back on Monday to see my own favorite posts from this past year!

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A Simple Christmas Tip #25 – Happy Birthday to Jesus!

December 25, 2012 By Anne Simpson

If you want more information, click here or on the graphic itself to take you to a full-length post on the topic. Click here to see all the posts in this series.

Come back tomorrow for another quick tip to help you simplify your Christmas by focusing less on spending and more on celebrating.

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Of Christmas and Tragedy

December 14, 2012 By Anne Simpson

This picture was posted on Facebook by a local radio station. I am not sure who is the original source. But I think this is what Heaven looked like today.

To some, Christmas seems like a terrible time -as if there’s ever a good time – for events like the tragedy in Connecticut to occur. Tears come to my eyes as I imagine the presents bought and perhaps even wrapped, but never to be given. Of children with excited anticipation awaiting the holiday of the year in less than two weeks. Of empty chairs at family gatherings… if the family can even bring themselves to gather together. Certainly, those won’t be gatherings of celebration. Not this year.

And yet, part of me feels like -if such things must happen – perhaps the Christmas season is better timing than it seems at first. Hope. Joy. Peace. We are desperately in need of these things. We are desperately in need. We are desperate.

We need a Savior.

Christmas – no, the Christ of Christmas – brings us hope. Hope for an eternal future as bright as day, regardless of the darkness that is our night on earth.

The Christ of Christmas brings us joy. Not always an exuberant dance, but sometimes a sober “The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” A smile washed with tears, a hug tight with love. Joy that supercedes our deepest pain.

And the Christ of Christmas is the only source of true and lasting peace. There is no peace on earth without the Christ-Child. There is no peace in the heart without the presence of His Holy Spirit. There is no peace between fellow-men unless God is there in the midst of them.

In fact, without Him, we are broken. Lost, deluded, dying, hopeless.

I cannot help but think of that young man, so filled with the burden of bitterness and hatred that he sought solace in violence, not only against those he believed to have wronged him, but against the innocent and helpless.

I cannot help but think that I am much like him. I find myself angry, frustrated, and irritated when my day doesn’t go the way I planned. I carry heavy burdens of ingratitude and selfishness that continually inflict pain on me and those around me. I harbor grudges against people, against situations, against God.

I need grace.

I need forgiveness.

I need a Savior.

Oh, may we all humble ourselves before Him and accept the grace, forgiveness, hope, joy, and peace He freely offers us, wrapped up in the precious and unassuming gift of a tiny baby in a manger.

How desperately we need Him.

How grateful we are that He came.

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A Simple Christmas Tip #3 – Simplify the Outdoor Decor

December 3, 2012 By Anne Simpson

If you want more information, click here or on the graphic itself to take you to a full-length post on the topic. Click here to see all the posts in this series.

Come back tomorrow for another quick tip to help you simplify your Christmas by focusing less on spending and more on celebrating.

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A Simple Christmas Tip #2 – Redefine the Perfect Holiday

December 2, 2012 By Anne Simpson

If you want more information, click here or on the graphic itself to take you to a full-length post on the topic. Click here to see all the posts in this series.

Come back tomorrow for another quick tip to help you simplify your Christmas by focusing less on spending and more on celebrating.

Leave a Comment Filed Under: Home, On My Mind, Reflections Tagged With: a simple Christmas

Happy Thanksgiving

November 22, 2012 By Anne Simpson

image source – This Heart of Mine

Earlier this year, my Certain Little Someone struggled – as we all do occasionally – with the little monster of materialism (otherwise known as “the gimmies”). Those toy company marketers really know what they’re doing, don’t they?! With every toy he received, there was a little slip of paper, brightly colored and filled with pictures of even more wonderful and amazing toys that he suddenly simply had to have. No trip to the store was complete without a stop by the toy section, followed by polite (or not-so-polite) requests to purchase this, that, or the other wonderful amazing toy. The denial of said polite request was usually followed by much weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Frankly, I was getting sick and tired of the constant begging for this that and the other amazing toy that he simply could not live without. I couldn’t seem to get him to understand how richly blessed he was: whenever I pointed out how many awesome Cars characters he had at home, he could always give me another lengthy list of the Cars characters he did not have.

It struck me one day that the antidote to envy, greed and discontent was gratitude. And that the only way to eliminate a bad habit was to replace it with a good one. That thought process led to a simple but effective practice that continues several months later with great success.

All I did was ask him every morning at breakfast to thank Jesus for one thing in his life (besides the food in front of him). Already being in the habit of thanking Jesus for his food, it was easy enough to add one more “thank you” into his little breakfast prayer, although to be honest, he balked at it the first few days. My only condition was that it had to be something different from the day before, and something specific. Not just “I’m thankful for my toys”, but “I’m thankful for my Thomas trains”. Sometimes, he’s just thankful for the beautiful day (which is particularly touching when I consider it to be a rainy, dreary day!), and that’s OK. As long as he’s expressing gratefulness in an appropriate manner, the mission has been accomplished.

After a few weeks of diligently practicing gratefulness every morning, it dawned on me that we had experienced little to no episodes of “the gimmies” during that period of time. Maybe a little bit of whining when we left the toy section once or twice, but no begging for this that or the other wonderful amazing toy, and no lengthy lists of the Cars characters he did not have.

It occurs to me that I could stand to develop this habit myself. My attitude is far too often one of envy and greed or discontent, when the truth is that I have been richly blessed in many ways. The only way to eliminate “the gimmies” or “I wannas” is to replace
them with “I already have” and “Thank you”. So as I celebrate Thanksgiving with my wonderful family, I am indeed grateful for God’s many blessings on my life, not the least of which is you! I hope you also have a very Happy Thanksgiving – made happy not by your circumstances but by your gratefulness.

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Touched By Cancer – New Series

November 10, 2012 By Anne Simpson

Have you been touched by cancer? Maybe not you personally, but a close friend or family member? Then this series is for you. In honor of a dear friend of mine who was diagnosed with colon cancer earlier this year, I dedicate this small space of the internet to spreading hope and compassion in the face of a terrible disease. Hope for prevention and treatment, and compassion for those suffering. Please share the posts in this series with anyone you know who has been touched by cancer.

I was so saddened when I read of the loss that you, my readers, have experienced at the hands of cancer. It intensified my desire to move forward with this series in the hopes that future generations can be spared the devastation. And since I personally know nothing about cancer other than what I have learned vicariously through my friend’s experience, I have asked a couple of my fellow bloggers who are more knowledgeable than I to share their expertise.

Mary from The Encouraging Home, who has personally dealt with cancer in her own immediate family, will be sharing with us how to deal with the side effects of conventional cancer treatments. Most people will choose surgery and chemotherapy, but the side effects of those treatments can seem worse than the disease itself. Mary will teach us how to deal with those side effects using natural methods that will also hopefully counter-effect the damage of the treatments.

Jill from Jill’s Home Remedies will be sharing with us things we can do in an effort to prevent cancer. (Many experts suggest that cancer is largely preventable with a few important lifestyle changes.) As an herbalist, Jill has much wisdom to offer in the realm of prevention and natural treatment of disease.

And if you are interested in natural treatment options for cancer, I will be compiling a list of excellent trustworthy resources for your information.

In discussing this topic of cancer (or any debilitating or terminal illness) with friends of mine, they all expressed one huge concern: “What do I do when someone I love is diagnosed?” We all want to help our friends and family in anyway we can, but when we have no prior experience with something so big and huge and life-changing, we feel a little stymied as to how we can best be an encouragement and support. This is one area I feel qualified to write about, especially since I took the opportunity to ask my friend what has been most helpful to her since her diagnosis. I will be kicking off the series with a post that will give you the confidence and tools you need to encourage and bless your loved ones who have been diagnosed.

I would also love to take the time to mention my sponsor for this series, Crystal from Survivors Collection, an Etsy shop that specializes in cancer awareness jewelry and wine charms. Crystal, a cancer survivor herself, also created a website, Faith Hope Cure, that is dedicated to all those who have been touched by cancer. Please check out their products and share their encouraging website with anyone you know who might benefit from it.

And even if you don’t currently know anyone struggling with the disease, I believe this series will be very helpful for you, and I encourage you to subscribe, read along, and share, because I have learned to my sorrow that eventually… you will be touched by cancer.

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5 Words About Allume

October 29, 2012 By Anne Simpson

I had the privilege of attending the Allume conference for Christian bloggers this past weekend, and it was just as wonderful as I remember it (back when it used to be the Relevant Conference). A little larger (OK, twice as large, at least as far as attendance is concerned), and in a totally different hotel, but still very much the same.

I’ll try to sum it up in 5 words.

(Yeah, right.)

Friendship

Online friendships are a wonderful thing, but real life friendships are, well, real. Authentic. Whenever possible, I highly recommend you turn your online friendships into the real-deal, authentic, face-to-face in-real-life friendships. Because it’s a beautiful -and irreplaceable – thing.

Community

None of us can survive without a community. Once again, the authentic face-to-face variety is always to be preferred, but an online community can fill in the gaps. I was challenged with the privilege and responsibility of cultivating the community right here at Authentic Simplicity, a treasure I have heretofore taken for granted.

Sugar

What can I say? I ate a lot of sugar. Way more than I have been used to recently. And I drank a lot of coffee. More than I’m used to, for sure. Henceforth and therefore, I stayed up way too late, talking, chatting and laughing with the above-mentioned friends. But it was all totally worth it.

Dreams

Whether it was intentional or not, one of the prevailing themes in the keynotes and sessions was that of “dreams”, but not perhaps in the way you might expect. Dreams are wonderful gifts, and if we have one, we should pursue it with passion and intensity. But for those of us who desire the will of our Heavenly Father to guide us, sometimes we have to lay those dreams down at His feet, and instead pursue HIS dream for us with the same passion and intensity. And the wonderful thing is? His dreams for us are much bigger and better than our own dreams.

Family

I was reminded once again that nothing can replace my precious family. All the blog followers in the world will never make me anymore important to the world than I already am to my family. If I were to become a mega-blogger with book deals and TV shows and speaking engagements across the country (hey, it could happen!)… but my family hated me… I would have lost everything.

So. Want a little taste of Allume? Go pick up the phone and call your friends to have some fun over sugar and coffee, then wrap your arms around your family and pursue the dreams God has given you together.

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Help I have two boys (Wait Three) and I Blog

October 20, 2012 By Anne Simpson

Today we have a very special guest post-er. It’s my DH, known in real life as Jonathan. I don’t know what I would do without him and I am grateful every day that God brought us together. He’s sharing today about how the Allume conference has blessed me in the past (when it was Relevant) and what he hopes for me as I attend it once again next week.

There have been many times my wife has called me at work telling me the latest “adventure” one of “MY” sons has been on that morning. Many times she is at her wits end and needs someone to vent to. Being a man, I want to solve the problem and get back to what I am doing at work. Sound familiar to any husbands out there? This is not the right response but it is what men do. Men do not think like women (I know, shock!). There is something about talking to other women of like faith and who are at a similar place that calms the troubled soul. When I think of Allume I think of renewal.

First my wife gets a renewed focus on her blog and gains an excitement that she is not just writing to herself. Talking with other fellow bloggers is a wonderful time to share insights you have and learn from others. My wife loves that most of the ladies that come to this conference may not be blogging on spiritual things but are blogging from a Christian perspective. She has been to other conferences where making money was above time with family. Allume emphasizes God, Family and then blogging and making money on blogging comes somewhere after these things. They make sure to focus on the eternal and not just the temporal.

The second way Allume has helped my wife is getting a renewed vision of raising her boys. Remember I said that men do not think like women. My wife has gone to the meet up Mothers of Boys (MOB). They can commiserate and share (I did not say fix the problem). This helps my wife know she is not the only one going through this. I have a feeling there is a lot more commiserating and listening happening then problem solving. Maybe I should learn from this and be “Swift to hear and slow to speak”. I am sure there is also some good insight that is gained.

Finally and most importantly would be spiritual renewal. My wife is able to go and get her batteries recharged. Everyday life with two very active boys is hard. The house seems never to be clean, the kitchen seems to always be dirty and, the boys always want to eat (Big Boy included). You feel like you are giving all the time and never have time to come up and breathe. You are drowning from everyday life and you feel like everything is falling apart around you. Taking time to stop and bring your focus back to our great and loving God is vital to being the person God wants us to be.

I hope my wife is able to gain some great insight about her blog and have a fresh enthusiasm to continue the great job she is doing. I also hope she is able to talk to friends and other ladies at the conference and commiserate and share “Wonderful” stories about our active boys. Most of all I hope my wife is able to (as she has in past) have a spiritual renewal as she drinks from the well that will never run dry.

P.S. The free coffee and swag is great also.

Other husbands have been hacking their wives’ blogs, too. Check ‘em out here.

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December

The Top 12 Posts of 2012 on Authentic Simplicity

12. Pumpkin Soup

11. Don’t Throw Away Those Sweet Potato Peels

10. Easy Protein-Rich Snacks

9. Gluten-Free Vegan Samosas

8. Clean Your Oven Safely and Naturally

7. A Little More Mexican: Pork Carnitas

6. Frosting Without Powdered Sugar: Fluffy Coffee Frosting

5. Pickles 3 Ways: Fresh-Packed Pickles

4. Decadent (and not so decadent) Indulgences: Cream-Cheese Frosting

3. How to Get Canning Supplies for Cheap or Even Free

2. How to Make the Most of Your Grocery Budget Dollars

1. No Butter? No Eggs? You Can Still Make Cookies!

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