stuffed portobello mushroom casserole - healthy & affordable


in an effort to meet my health goals, i have been very intentional about what we eat for dinner. 

we cook & eat at home most nights of the week so having a well-rounded list of recipes & meal ideas keeps me motivated & excited!


 skinnytaste, a healthy eating blog,  is one of my go-to places for healthy & wholesome meal ideas. i love her approach to eating well (cooking lighter - but an encourager of good fats) & her love for vegetables. 

she recently posted this stuffed portobello mushroom recipe that looked delicious! after surveying our freezer, garden & pantry, i realized i had most of the ingredients for our tuesday night dinner already on hand. with a quick list, i headed to the store. once at the grocery, i realized the large portobello mushrooms were about $12 for the quantity i needed - well over my allotted budget. i revised & quickly grabbed the carton of small chopped portobellos for just $3. 


at home, i made skinnytaste's recipe, but i revised it to make it more affordable without skimping on health. instead of stuffing each mushroom, i created a mushroom casserole with mushrooms on the bottom followed by the layer of vegetables, marinara & cheese. 


it was absolutely delicious & approved by the family! consider this a little nudge to eat well within your budget & add this recipe to your menu plan this week!

friends, what's on your menu plan this week? please share your healthy ideas! include links to your favorite recipes in the comments section!
love,
natalie

a girls' weekend with grandma


what's better than a girls' weekend, my friends?

last weekend my mom & aunt roxie surprised my grandma with a fun girls' weekend to branson in honor of her first wedding anniversary without grandpa. 

you & i both know this, loss is just so hard. in the most ordinary & simple moments, i think of grandpa & fight back the tears. yet in our grief, we are reminded to soak up every bit of life's goodness so i jumped at the opportunity to spend a weekend with my favorite people.




oh y'all, we shopped! we also treated ourselves to pedicures & enjoyed dinner at the keeter center - an amazing farm to table restaurant at the college of the ozarks. we cried & we equal parts laughed. we made some sweet memories & lordy, we took our share of selfies. 

as annie dillard said so well, "how we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives."

love,
natalie

currently

ring by the mosaic butterfly, cuff by mountain girl melodies, paper beads by noonday collection 
currently...

+ anxiously awaiting the start of roots festival - our favorite fayetteville music festival full of all things folk & food

+ loving the cooler weather but mourning the loss of summer

+ dreaming big & choosing fabrics for the winter natalie creates collection of headbands & happy flags. so many fun collaborations & surprises!

+ eating lots of salads (this one is a new favorite!) & getting serious about #nataliegetsfit


+ canning tomatoes like it's my job

+ soaking up as much pool time as possible before we close the swimming hole for the season!

+ reading for the love & wanting to bottle up every single word. 

+ reminding myself to simply breathe.

what are you currently doing/savoring/reading/enjoying?
love,
natalie

a vintage-inspired backyard birthday barbecue


on saturday, we celebrated my farmer's birthday with a backyard barbecue! 

we grilled brats & paired them with homemade sauerkraut. we cut up vegetables from the garden, made a caprese salad & shared kettle chips with guests. our guests brought along side dishes & we filled up a wheelbarrow with beer. it was such a good night!


this little get-together cost us next to nothing, but it was so much fun! i pulled together rusty, chippy bits from around our home & paired it with goodies from my party closet - paper goods & party decorations i keep for home celebrations. 


we had a dessert table & drink bar on our back patio. i purchased a chocolate cake from the local bakery & put together s'more ingredients for the fire pit in our backyard.


i found this old campfire marshmallow tin at a yard sale this past summer & we have already put it to great use. it's one of my favorite vintage finds.


i got the hog cups from shindig paperie & decorated the tabletops with zinnias from our flower garden.


it was such a simple party filled with good food & great company in celebration of the best guy!

love,
natalie

p.s. for more simple & inexpensive party ideas, check out my blog post here. 

my diy jewelry organizer


i'm all about making lemonade from lemons. or in this case, a necklace organizer from rusty metal junk.

we had so much fun shopping with the canning girls (more details to come from our amazing weekend!)! while junkin' on saturday with the gals, i picked up a rusty ol' piece with hooks for just $8.


with a leftover can of spray paint, i turned this piece of ol' junk into a jewelry organizer perfect for my necklaces!


my friends, you never know what you might reinvent from rust & spray paint! happy creating!

love,
natalie

the shop is open!


friends, the natalie creates shop is open!

while you're there, enter "NATALIECREATESBLOG" to receive 20% your order of $10 or more. yay!
love,
natalie

the simple life magazine feature + shop news!


when citiscapes reached out to write a story about my business & our farm, i squealed! they're such an amazing resource in our region - creating content that's relevant & interesting - so it was such a gift & honor to be featured! 

 learn a bit more about our lives within my studio & on our farm... here's the full article here.
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in other news, my etsy shop opens tomorrow morning at 9 am cst! yay! 


keep an eye out for my favorite set of happy flags to date - the happy homesteader set inspired by the late summer season harvest!


there will also be a limited supply of adult & kiddo bow bands along with stretchy bands & our classic skinny headband!


i can't wait to see you over at the shop tomorrow morning! thank you for being such a gift to my heart & our home. xo.
love,
natalie
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