So happy to hear about your blog, Monica! I've been reading through it and have learned a lot that I didn't know about you and your family - even after all these years (had NO IDEA about the Life Cereal addiction! :-) ) Looking forward to trying your recipes and hearing more about your Yummy Life!

You're off to a great start here Monica--fun reading! :)

I'm in search of the yummy life too! :)

Hi Monica, through Pinterest I became aware of you, my new obsession...
I love your story, I love your attitude. I am 61 but I get what your saying. For me the empty nest was horrible. I miss being needed and the noise and well the noise!!! lol
Due to health issues I have done the same as you. I have always cooked, came from a family where the men where great cooks and just a couple of women. I learned with my eyes, I did later in life go to cooking school which taught me to be better and more confident.
I LOVE your oatmeal recipe. I did my own thing with it, I used Irish quick oats, I used a fresh cut up pineapple and chopped it with the oats, I used lemon juice, honey, milk and plain greek yogurt. I mixed it all up in my blender and topped it with fresh pineapple chunks. Before I was cooking Irish oatmeal the hard way, its my husbands breakfast.
I will be a follower of yours and we can exchange ideas....looking forward to it....

I love your blog is very original and great recipes! I will follow you

Monica,
I am SOOOOO happy to have found your website. I throw lots of parties and this coming weekend I'm throwing my 3rd annual "One Glove" party to honor Michael Jackson. I do a taco bar (rumor has it Mexican was at one time his favorite food...when he still ate food). I am very busy right now and was on the fence about throwing the party this year, I was googling recipes and found your INSANELY ORGANIZED taco bar and I am so excited to host this party. I cannot wait!! So thank you. Oh and I just made my first batch of Dulce de Leche . It's cooling as we speak. My "king-man" also counts all of my party stuff and thinks I have way too much. He says, "You need one more kitchen appliance, Heather Wright!" and tells everyone that everything in the garage is my party throwing stuff. Hmmmm, the dirt bike and all its accessories isn't mine, the tools, etc. It's hilarious how these men just don't get it. but they SURE DO LOVE when we throw down a good party!

Hi Monica, Greeting from Brisbane, Australia.  

I stumbled across your blog when searching for a MicrowVe Conversion Chart - who says I'm easily distracted?  Anyway, I read your story about yourself and felt so many similarities! In other words, I loved it!  Keep up the good work and I look forward to exploring your recipes though I am probably going to struggle with them as we don't have the same ingredients, eg what is light corn syrup. Even our measurements are different!

Hi Monica
I love your website!  I made the grab and go coleslaw today and we
had it for lunch.  Delicious and so healthy!  Right up there with
the incredible grab and go summer porridge which I now eat
daily.  Have passed along your recipes and website to all of my
family and friends that are fellow foodies.  Thanks in advance for
more yummy things to come.
Toni

"...and loose their nutritional value"

LOSE = lose weight, lose your car keys

LOOSE = pants are loose when you LOSE weight, loose change in your loose pants

Hey Monica,  It was a pleasure cooking with you in Nelda's kitchen.  It was a first for me and I enjoyed the experience.  Life is good.  I hope to have the pleasure again.   Kim

A girlfriend after my own heart.  Life sounds so much fun and never a dull moment at your house.  Love the names for the male members of the household....I am afraid if I revealed the nicknames for the males in our household....well you might not find me....only kidding.  Love the site and had to say hi.  Plan to check back.
            Barb

Hello,
I just found your site through a FB post and I have spent the last 1/2 hour pinning recipies to my pinterest board!!  I love love love how healthy your recipies are and simple too!!!  thank you and keep 'em comming!!!!!

Danielle

Hi Monica,
You sound like a hoot! I found your blog via a search for crockpot oatmeal. I love your site and your tips for the oatmeal. Hope to try it soon, and looking forward to reading more of your blog.

Dear Monica, I've been using Pinterest mostly to get new recipes, doing so I found the toffee recipe and that's how I got to your blog!  I feel I have nothing else to do pinning because all I want is in your blog. I want to tell you that what I like the most about your recipes is the litte stories at the beginning of them, the step by step pictures, AND I also enjoy your sense of humor! I don't know where to start! I should make the toffe in a simbolic way to be thankful to it for showing me The Yummy Life!  A hug from a Venezuelan girl living in Canada : )

Hi Monica,

I discovered your blog,  while looking for a review for Mastrad Chips Maker.
I bought one after reading your post.  Thank you.

I recently started living a healthy life and also love cooking and good foods,  
so I am very glad I found your blog.   All of your foods look yummy and
I couldn't help but smiling reading what you wrote. =)
Also I love the fact you don't rely on artificial ingredients to decrease the
calories.  

I will come to visit often!  

Happy holidays,
Sandra from IL

Hello Monica!   I am so happy that I found your blog & website!   I  have to adopt a healthier lifestyle and I want to be able to cook in a healthy but yummy way, especially for my grandson!  My son and daughter-in-law are vegetarians and I have found great recipes here!   Thank you so much for being out there and for sharing!  

i thought i failed yogurt.  the first time i tried it was perfect.  than i tried again and failed yogurt.  I kept it in the fridge because i used h&H.  I was going to use it as cream for whatever.  I had cocoa and heated the cocoa and used the H&H that was my failed yogurt and when I mixed the warm cocoa with the cold H&H it got hard like yogurt.  wow I heated the rest of the h&h that had been in the fridge in the microwave for 2 minutes and put some towels around it for the nite.  It was Harder in the morning. I put it back in the fridge and will make greek yogurt out of it.  When i failed i ordered a yogurt maker so now i will have both.  I used h&H because i have diabetes and it doesn't have sugar in it.  Once i tried making my own i liked it.  

You are a riot and I wish you lived closer to CT!!!!!

http://germanfood.about.com/od/introtogermanfood/r/birchermuesli.htm

Please refer to the above website for the origin of your refrigerator oats recipe. While it is a site for German foods, you will note that the product is Swiss.  My Swiss husband introduced it to me decades ago and now, the world is slowly catching on to Dr, Bircher's recipe and healthy living.

Hi I was making the overnight no cook oatmeal. I am making the raspberry vanilla. It has the vanilla in the ingredients but not in the instructions. D

Hi Monica, I found your site and I can't wait to try the oatmeal smoothies.  and the over night oatmeal.  You sound like a very nice person  so keep up the good work.   If you ever come to Florida let me know so you can give me some cooking lesson.  

hi monica,
i found you while searching for kind bar recipes. btw i tried them and they turned out, well, yummy!  the unexpected synchronicity is that i use the word yummy all the time. in fact, i've used it for many, many years and call my community the Yum Tribe!
i do love tasty, healthy, easy to prepare foods and i do cook all the time, but, honestly, it's not reallly my passion.  if i didn't have a husband (who is from St. Louis) and two teen sons who enjoy variety in their diet, i would eat quinoa, roasted beets and beet greens 4 out of 5 meals (they call that combo 'veronica food').  
of course i use the word yummy to refer to food, but what i'm really into is ALL things yummy, like cuddling (i'm a major cuddler and have many cuddle buddies), a good massage, clothing that is as comfy as it is flattering!, warm sun on my skin, beautiful music that opens my heart, you get the idea...
i'm in the midst of re-doing my website, i'm a transformational, mind, body, spirit, life coach, and thought about calling it the yummyt life!!!  delighted the site with this name has such lovely energy, how could it not right!  goes to show goes to show, Yummy lovers think alike.  
blessings of infinite yumminess

Oh my Gosh- we have the same last name!! I have gone almost my entire life not knowing a single other Matheny!! Lol. Glad to know I'm not the only one!!

Hi Monica,
Just stumbled onto your blog while researching the Mastrada microwave chip maker.  Yes, it's that New Year's Resolution time of the year once again, and well, you know...  Maybe I can go longer than four weeks this time.

So cool to find a St. Louis blogger with this amazing site!  Easy, peasy recipes that are healthy and look like stuff my DH will eat.  
I too have a "unique" hubby who is a serial cereal eater - every morning when he gets up at 4:00 am or so to use the bathroom (we're in that nearing 60 age group).  When he wakes up, he's hungry and just has to have his flakes.   Then, at about 6:30 am, he (or we) have to head to a McD's for his cinnamon roll and coffee.  It's a ritual, only interrupted by the weekend ritual trip to Waffle House.  Well, I have my own "quirks" too, so I can live with this harmless one.

I too live in St. Louiey!   Even had a Matheny or two as students in the past (I am a long-time teacher).   Who knows? Maybe we'll run into each other in this "small town" sometime.  Looking forward to trying many of your recipes.  Love the gourmet caramel apples recipes!  A real weakness of mine.  Can't wait to try them all!  See?  Already slipping away from that resolution, and just getting started on it!

If you can, please post a collection of recipes to kick-start that resolution, and, oh, some "healthy" super bowl recipes.  Thanks!  Have bookmarked you as a fave!

Hi Monica, glad I found your blog ! Love your outlook on your life, family, love and food. Your blog had me laughing. Bless you, and looking forward to enjoying your blog.

Hi Monica,
I would love to try your recipes. Why don't you include measurements - how much yogurt to oatmeal, milk, fruit? That would be helpful.
Thank you.

What a refreshing blog! I am totally enjoying reading it. Can't wait to try some of your recipes. I love cooking and eating and talking about food. I started my working life at the age of 16 in a family run restaurant. I married the owner's son and later we bought the business. I know what it is like to cook, serve, tend bar, hostess and manage a restaurant. I have been called a professional, but I am still learning a lot in my retired life.
In addition to cooking, I also enjoy time with my family, although all my children are grown and have children of their own. We are not empty-nesters, as we are now raising some of our grandchildren. I take lessons on rouxbe.com and do family tree research.
I too lead a  Yummy Life! Blessings!

Have just found your website today and see the newest comment above is from 2 years ago, so I hope you are still adding to and monitoring this blog.  I know sometimes life just gets in the way.  I have enjoyed reading all about you, your family, and how you got started, because I am a people person and love to hear all about them.  I am a Midwesterner like you (Indiana), but unlike you, I hate to cook.  I am 69 and have been widowed for 1 year and 9 months now, so up until recently have been eating any old non-cook foods I can get my hands on, just to get thru the days.   But now my cardiologist has been suggesting I lose weight and eat healthier because of my blood pressure, so I have been perusing the net for healthier, easy and quick to fix recipes that I can stick to (if it involves a lot of steps, I won't even bother).  I love your overnight oatmeal recipes and look forward to trying them.  Haven't even had time yet to look at all your recipes, so hope to find some for the rest of the day that are basic fruits, veggies, poultry, fish, and some pastas or meats, and will be on the lookout for any new ones like that.  Your website is terrific!  Your techy son has done a wonderful job with it!  Look forward to visiting more.  

Happy to meet you Yummy Monica. First time. I enjoyed your bio. I have been married to my Sweet Queen for 53 years. She stops me in my tracks just as when I first saw her. Our baby is a 43 year old chef. We are blessed. I truly forgot that this is Father's Day until the older Son called. I am a foodie and a poet. Check me out on Amazon. Bless you.

Hi! I just discovered your blog via Pinterest and your nutritious backpacking food post. I am hooked! You put a smile on my face and I share the love of the nutritious and organic... as well as your beliefs on cookbooks, baskets and the like! :-)  I'm 54 and I have a 28-year old son whom I could also gush forever on! Aren't they wonderful?  

I live by myself and sometimes it's difficult for me to find the motivation to cook. Well, it's not so much the cooking that I mind, I rather enjoy cooking and experimenting, it's the cleaning that must follow that I dislike... Anyhow, it's fun to connect with you/your blog, it does help with the whole motivation thing. :-)  

I love backpacking too and I'm looking forward to try some of your recipes. I'll be very soon testing your slow-cooker oatmeal, that's for sure (I have a tiny crockpot, I think it holds about a quart, perfect for one person. I'll let you know how it works out). I'm an oatmeal lover. I usually cook it with nuts and frozen berries, then top it with yogourt. Your slow-cooker groatmeal versions just seem so... yummy! BTW, I'm from Montréal, Québec. Cheers! :-)

I have the "Perfect Tortilla" bowls.  How do you get the tortillas to come out crispy.  Do you add oil or dip them in oil before putting them on the form?  If I tried to bake longer that 5-6 minutes, they burn.  Thanks

Hi Monica, love your site and browse it often. I wanted to share a recipe combination I made for crockpot steel cut  oats, lemon blueberry. I used my favorite recipe for cherry almond as a guide. I used the zest of one lemon instead of cherries and vanilla extract instead of almond extract I added the blueberries after it was done cooking. Other than these two changes I followed the recipe for all other ingredients. It was a hit in our house!

Hi Monica,  I came across your  backpacking meals on Pinterest.  I went on my first 5 day backpacking trip and I  made them for my boyfriend and myself when we went backpacking. They were delicious!! I prepared them just as the recipe described, but it was too much food.  We ended up splitting one meal between the 2 of us for dinner.  

I made your bread and butter pickeles, but now I can't seem to find the B&B stickes/lables to put on my jars.  I've looked everywhere.  Please tell me again where to find this.  
Love the small recipe for the pickes.
Betty

Hi Monica its thrilling to come across Yummy Life again, it was a few years ago when I used your wonderful idea 'how to throw a Taco buffet, I think that was your site how can I access it again, here Toronto.Canada its FALL and time for A Fiesta Taco Buffet