A fellow Homemade Mother recently asked me how I keep my recipes organized.  Aside from this blog – where I post mostly original recipes – I’ve found a few other ways to maintain records of my family’s favorite dishes. 1.Recipes I clip out of magazines or print off the internet are placed in one in [...]

Chicago can’t seem to make up its mind.  Earlier this week it was sunny and in the 90s, but this weekend its cloudy and high 60s. Weather changes like this make it hard to know how to dress the kids in the morning!! Fortunately, I’ve got our stroller packed for summer just in case the [...]

We are very fortunate to live in a generously sized downtown Chicago apartment.  When we first moved in two years ago we thought two bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms, a dining room and in-unit laundry all spaced on two floors would be more than enough room for our young family. Oh, how foolish we were… Christmas [...]

One of the saddest parts about this gray time of the year is the lack of fresh local produce. We visit our neighborhood farmer’s market every week during the summer, so adjusting to imported vegetables can be a subtle shock to the palate. However, my entire family finds great delight in the adorable little clementine [...]

I’ve been feeling really stressed lately. With two little ones, a part-time job, and a husband who works late every night, I often wish I had three extra hours every day just to get things done around the house (oh, and it would be lovely if I had even 30 minutes for myself!). Life can [...]

As I’ve written about countless times before, I really hate plastic. And I especially hate storing food in plastic. All those questionable chemicals leeching into lovely leftovers? No thanks! I have a nice collection of glass storage containers – my favorite are Frigoverre ones that come in plenty of shapes and sizes. I also hang [...]

I’m feeling overwhelmed. With stuff. With a wedding four years ago…and two babies in two years…and thirty years of LIFE…we now have more than enough stuff. Do I really need all of this? Do I really want most of it?! A couple years ago we lived in corporate housing in New York City while my [...]

As a homemade mother, I am responsible for all the family’s records and documentation. In other words, I gotta keep all our photos organized! In the few months following Evelyn’s arrival we took hundreds (maybe thousands?) of pictures and before I knew it they were all over the place and in no special order. I [...]