Hello and Welcome to “HomeNaturallyMade”!
I’m Shirley, a home cooking from scratch fanatic and a firm believer in all-natural whole ingredients for cooking, and personal care products if possible. I am also a huge advocate of natural ways of body & mind exercising, healing, and thriving.
I was born in Suzhou in the heart of China’s Yangtze River Delta, also known as Jiang Nan {江南} in Chinese. An area dubbed as “home to fish and rice” or “heaven on the earth”. With over 2,500 years of history and culture, bountiful resources, including fresh seasonal produce, Jiang Nan is famous for its naturally delicious food known as “Huai Yang Cuisine“.
I came to the States over 20 years ago when I was in my early 30’s to pursue a graduate degree in the New England area. Upon graduation, I moved to Chicago for a job and lived here since.
Chicago became my home away from home. I met my husband here. We started a family and raised two wonderful boys together. We love eating {homemade yummy nutritious food} and traveling.
My Story – what does it mean for “Home Naturally Made”?
Around the early Summer of 2015, I noticed something strange happening inside my mouth every morning. I would wake up noticing a thin layer of loose skin inside of my mouth wall. It would fall off if I tried to use the tongue to touch and feel it. It concerned me initially, but a bit of research showed that I might have developed some sorts of allergic reactions to some chemical compounds found in commercial toothpaste.
I stopped using the toothpaste I was using and switched to an all-natural toothpaste made mainly of baking soda. Sure enough, the symptom stopped as soon as I switched. It relieved me while fascinated me at the same time. I then figured out I can make my own all-natural toothpaste by using virgin organic coconut oil and baking soda.
This experience jump-started my journey of healthier living. Well, I consider myself already leading a healthy lifestyle, but this lifted me to a new level.
My Passion
I became passionate about making my own personal products such as anti-aging serum, healing lotion, lip balm, face & body exfoliation scrub, you name it.
I started rethinking about my cooking approach as well. As a mother, I strive to cook the most possible nutritious & healthier meals for my two growing boys. I started checking out various mother nature’s superfood ingredients and incorporating them into the daily home cooking from scratch routine.
Along the way, I made several major switches. For instance, I ditched commercial salt and replaced with Himalayan pink salt and sea salt. I substituted starch with arrowroot flour, replaced regular refined sugar with turbinado sugar, also known as “sugar in the raw” and organic unrefined cane sugar.
I became a firm believer in “You Are What You Eat”. Our body is a sophisticated organic system that absorbs wholesome ingredients so much better than foreign objects. It is fully capable of doing wonderful things as long as you treat her well and feed her with all-natural, nutritious food. And yes, our body needs all sorts of nutrients, so varieties definitely is the key.
I was hoping by doing so my kids will learn to appreciate original food as they should be. OK, I also learned quickly the importance of balancing taste and nutrition. Ha Ha!
Why I started this Blog, and How I did it?
First, I learned so much along the way and I love to share. Hopefully, this will inspire and help someone out there and do my tiny part to make this world a better place.
Second, my younger son started asking me to document “Mommy’s Recipes“. Whenever I made something nutritious & delicious, he would say: “Mommy, can you put this recipe into Mommy’s Recipe Book? So that when I grow up, I know how to make this?” How sweet! A compliment like this keeps a smile on my face after a long day. I hope this blog will become Mommy’s Wisdom + Recipe Book combo. Ha Ha!
Third, COVID-19 shelter-at-home gave me some extra time needed to kick start my blog.
Last but not least, I’d like to shout out to my friend Anu who encouraged me and coached me along the way. For someone who had no clue how a website is built and how a blog works, to say it is overwhelming is an absolute understatement. I’d like to express my sincere gratitude for Anu’s generous counsel & guidance. It is an amazing feeling when you have someone you can go to just for a quick question. Anu does an exceptional job blogging about Indian style home cooking using simple ingredients. Check it out here.
What’s Next? Join the Community!
Thank you so much for taking the time and reading through my story. I am so happy you found me and I’d love to get to know you too!
- Come and say hi on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest
- Subscribe to my emails and get my weekly updates
- Contact me and let me know what you think
XO and See you around,
September 2020
6 comments
Your blog is absolutely amazing! Thank you for sharing all your knowledge with us. Could you tell me where I could get toon leaves? Do they sell the leaf, powder or extract? Thank you.
Hi Tacy, thank you so much for your encouragement! I really appreciate your kindness and letting me know. As for toon leaves, frankly speaking, I’ve never seen them in grocery stores. I tend to think you have to grow your own, as I do. If you are interested, Amazon sells Chinese toon seeds and Chinese toon live trees.
Love you, Shirley!!! You’re awesome!!!
Thank you! I appreciate it.
One of the best websites I’ve ever encountered. Love your recipes, wisdom and thank you for your courage to share. The details and history of each dish is fascinating. My only problem is your site is a bit addictive. I look up and 3,4 hours have passed. Thank you so much
Hi Ann, Thank you so much for your kind words. It made my day! I am so glad you are here!