Category: Blogger of the Month Feature

Miss February 2018 – Diane Roark

My Southern Recipes

When I first started blogging, November 2011, I added my favorite southern recipes. After all, I am from the south. I quickly realized that I did not have time to fix complicated recipes, blog about them nor did my readers have time to make them.

My Real Problem Putting Dinner On The Table Quickly

My real problem was putting dinner on the table or entertaining others with incredibly delicious but easy quick recipes. I love southern food, but it is the quick and easy recipes that solved my biggest problem. Cooking when you have little time to spend in the kitchen. You know what I mean! When you have a hungry family, including teens, children, and grandchildren you need something quick easy and filling to feed them. Life is busy, and life can be stressful.

Recipes For Our Daily Bread and Our American Travels are personal blogs written and edited by Diane Roark. Recipes For Our Daily Bread is where I blog about easy recipes to help you put dinner on the table quickly. Our American Travels is where I blog about family fun travel ideas in America. You can reach me with the email link at the bottom of this page.

By giving my readers weekly menus, easy recipes with simple ingredients and often video instructions, they can feed their family in thirty minutes. This includes holiday recipes to celebrate every season too. Hopefully, they will not cringe when someone says “What’s For Dinner”? “What can I make to take”? They will say no problem. I can whip up some ___________.

Where Am I From?

My name is Diane Roark. Alabama is where I was born. I have lived all over the South including Tennessee, Louisiana, and Georgia. Currently, I live near Little Rock, Arkansas.

My Family

My husband and I have been married since August 1984. We have five children between the ages of 13 and 24. Our twin boys are named Casey and Caleb. You will hear me talk about Caleb often. He was born with a brain bleed and has had seventeen brain surgeries. Caleb has cerebral palsy, seizures, processing problems and rarely speaks. You can read more about Caleb here. Our youngest two children are adopted from Eastern Europe at ages four and seven years old. They have many struggles themselves.

Growing up, my mom walked out and left our family when I was thirteen. I learned quickly how to cook easy recipes and still love them today. My blog is all about helping others prepare easy recipes to help put dinner on the table quickly. I love my cast iron skillet, Crockpot, and one pot meals. Cooking healthy is always a goal for me, but you will find the delicious southern recipes on my blog too.

Passionate About

I am passionate about faith, family, food, travel, photography, and food competitions. My blogs are used to encourage others. I believe that the best advertisement for a product is word of mouth. If I am looking to purchase a new product, I search for someone who has used the product to give me their opinion.

Food Competitions I Have Placed In This Year

3rd PLACE AT WORLD FOOD CHAMPIONSHIPS in Desserts

November 2017, I competed in the World Food Championships in Desserts. God opened up the doors and overwhelmed me. After the first and seconds rounds, I finished not only in first place but had a perfect score on my first dessert. This was my first time competing at the World Food Championships. I had no idea I would do well enough to place in the top 10 in the World so I was not prepared for a third recipe. My third dessert placed well enough to finish fourth with gave me an overall third place finish. READ THE FULL DETAILS
In May 2017, I was a Finalist on the TODAY SHOW for top dessert category in the Ultimate Cookoff Contest. Read all about my TODAY SHOW experience.
May 2017, I was a featured on the TODAY SHOW FOOD CLUB Breakfast Challenge.
In June 2017, I was a Finalist on KARK news in Little Rock with the top four BBQ recipes in Arkansas.
July 2017, Recipe Lion had a contest called Summer Potluck Recipe Challenge; I was a top 10 Finalist with TWO of my recipes.
In October 2017, I was a top 10 Finalist at the National Banana Pudding Contest championship.

Recipes For Our Daily Bread was started November 2011, and Our American Travels was started November 2015. Travel posts on Recipes For Our Daily Bread were moved to Our American Travels in November 2015.

Please Help My Blog, Recipes For Our Daily Bread, Grow

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I would love for you to follow my blogs! I send out weekly emails whenever new posts are added to my blogs and what is happening behind the scenes.

Homemade Honey Lemon Sore Throat Lollipops

by Amanda Fiveash, Miss December 2017

I do love the look of fall and then winter. The colors of fall are beautiful with the crisp, cool nights. The snow makes everything brighter, even on cloudy days. During the cold months of winter, I love the sun. Just like the cold that lingers outside, it is just that time of year when runny noses, sore throats and coughing seem all too abundant as well.

When my throat has a tingle or that morning dryness seems to be hanging on, I often turn to a throat lozenge. Have you looked at the package lately of the ingredients? They are full of all kinds of things I do not like to give my kids. There are some natural options available but my kids are not big fans. The solution, make my own! Why not, they are super simple and you can customize them in so many ways.

Now let me warn you, once you make these for your kids, whether they are big or little, they may just pretend to have a throat tickle more often! (Just warning you!) You need just a few simple ingredients for your base and then you can customize them however you would like.

When You are So Done…But God Isn’t

by Jamie Smith

Today at 4:16 a.m., I turn 40 years old.

That feels weird for me to type. I don’t think 40 is old, in fact, I have never even thought of my parents as old. But when I was growing up, the general medical consensus was that most kids with my level of Spina Bifida wouldn’t live too far into middle age. Combine that mentality with the fact that I was once more than 200 pounds overweight and continue to be 100 pounds overweight, my auto-immune diseases, and my general clumsiness, making it to 40 years old seemed preposterous.

It seems that God isn’t finished with me yet. In fact, this is a message he’s been telling me all year.

I have a story to tell you. READ MORE…

Let’s Get Crafty with Penguins

by Amanda Fivash, Miss December 2017

With the chill of the approaching winter in the air and reading several stories about these amazing animals I decided it would be fun to do a penguin craft to go along with our school lessons. Penguins are such amazing creatures and so much fun to learn about.

During our homeschooling afternoons my children love to craft. These cute penguins take the fun of watercolor painting to create a Northern Lights feel with fun shapes that your kids can customize. You can mix and match or use it to teach your little ones shapes. When I created this craft my two oldest were only four and five year olds, and they loved to practice their cutting skills. If glue was involved, even better! So grab your favorite book and get ready to get crafty.

Holiday Music and Movies

When you are worn out from all the holiday shopping and such it’s nice to just sit down and relax. Rebekah Elizabeth has put together a great list of must-see holiday movies. She has also built a great holiday playlist on Spotify. Go check out her recommendations. READ MORE…

Dairy-Free Snickerdoodle Cookies

By Amanda Fivash, Miss December 2017

Baking is something that we love to do together in our house. Maybe it is because we enjoy eating sweets (guilty!) but I think even more, is that the children are old enough now to start really helping and they love telling Daddy they made them.

We have our favorite cookie recipes that we have over the last few years altered to be a dairy-free and today we decided to try out another favorite. The girls love cinnamon toast and have recently been enjoying anything with cinnamon so we gave our Snickerdoodle recipe a makeover to make it into a dairy free cookie recipe.

Miss December 2017 – Amanda Fiveash

Hello, Y’all! Thank you so much for the opportunity to introduce myself to all of you. I’m a native Arkansan but have lived in Mississippi, Utah and Florida before returning back to Arkansas in 2004 with my husband to create a home and start our family. Since then our family of two has grown into a family of six. We live in North Central Arkansas in a small town full of folk music and friendly neighbors.

I started blogging back in 2009 as an outlet for myself, as my husband was undergoing chemotherapy and my mother was diagnosed with a terminal illness. I certainly didn’t intend for anyone to find my blog and a few months in I quickly learned just how fast things online could be shared. My blog went from an average of twenty page views to six thousand in a single day! It was shocking for me to realize that there were real people out there going through many of the same things who needed to also find comfort and someone they felt they could relate to. As my life changed over the years, so has my blog. Now I use my blog to share about our adventures in homeschooling, life with four children, family-friendly recipes (many of which are allergen friendly), our love of being crafty and family travel.

Over the years, blogging has given me amazing opportunities. Through blogging, I have been able to take my family on amazing adventures. I’ve met so many amazing women online that over the years have become friends. The biggest blessing has been that over time, I’ve been able to become a full-time stay at home mom and homeschool my children. There are many tough moments when deadlines loom and life can get in the way, but blogging has been a true blessing for my family.

Five random facts about myself:

1. I have a serious love for dark chocolate.

2. Having my hands in the dirt is one of the most relaxing moments for me.

3. Spring is my favorite season as everything in the world is being new life.

4. My ultimate bucket list vacation would be to take my family on a cross-country road trip.

5. I love making anything and everything homemade.

My blog is not Pinterest perfect because my life isn’t. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’d love for you to join us on our crazy adventures over at Our Homemade Life. You can also follow us on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest.

Oark General Store

by Brenda Embry, Miss November 2017

Traveling by motorcycle has become one of our favorite ways to explore Arkansas. We love the fresh air, sunshine (hopefully!), back roads and small towns we find. One of our favorite destinations is a small cafe in the backwoods of the Ozark National Forest.

A Beekeeper’s World

by Brenda Embery, Miss November 2017

Becoming a beekeeper was not a fly-by-night decision. My dad had been a beekeeper and had been toying with the idea of getting hives again. I had been reading and going to classes about becoming a beekeeper but didn’t feel I was ready to take the plunge. After my mother unexpectedly passed away, I decided it was a good time to elicit his help to get me started and hopefully begin a healing process for both of us. Here’s a glimpse into a beekeepers world.

A Pollinator Friendly Garden

by Brenda Embry, Miss November 2017

Gardening, for me, is a state of mind. To connect with nature, to create beauty, and to provide food for birds, bees and butterflies, gives me great satisfaction. Pollinators, in particular, have a rough time when their habitat is limited. Restoring the landscape with native perennials or nectar-rich annuals can hopefully bring a balance to their uncertain future.