For Today… March 30,2009

Outside my window… the sun is just peeking out…hoping for a bright, warm day, with NO wind!

I am thinking… I am no good at spontaneous. 

From the learning rooms… thinking about Easter crafts.  A fun library book about pill bugs. (Miss A’s favorite thing right now)

I am thankful for… my girls.

From the kitchen… a lot of dirty dishes….if I ever conquer that I’ll consider actual cooking.

I am wearing… flannel pajama pants and a “Subject to Change” t-shirt…(hombre’s band when we were dating.) 

I am reading… Pleasing God by Kay Smith.  I like how simply she writes…one of those books that feels more like a conversation. 

I am creating… plans for an exciting two year old birthday party.

I am hearing… Blue’s Clues.  I love that all three girls have found something they can agree on watching. 

Around the house… general clean up, and putting away of the piles of laundry.

A few plans for the rest of the week…  leaving tomorrow…by myself… to meet Princess Darling and visit my sister.  Excited but nervous…I’m one of those weird people that just really likes being home. 

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you…

They make it really hard to be excited about leaving….

For more daybooks, or if you’d like to participate, click here.

For those who care to know, Princess Darling has finally arrived.  At 6lbs. 15 oz.  it’s a good thing she didn’t get in a big rush and come two weeks ago!

Pictures and info to come soon.

You can all pray I don’t cry my eyes out about her being so far away.

They are all doing great.

I’ve been short on mind-blowing, inspirational links the last couple of weeks.  Not sure why…

Anyway, today is going to be the food edition.

Here are  the recipes I would like to try but haven’t yet.  Let me know if you try any out.

Italian Turkey Burgers

Whole Wheat Donuts with Simple Fudge Frosting

Peanut Butter Honey Fudge

Beef and Cheese Calzones

Chewy Granola Bars

Nacho Cheese Sauce and White Nacho Cheese Sauce

Now go cook something!  But probably don’t make them all at once…this isn’t exactly the “health” food list of links.

P.S.  I have no idea why the baby disappeared from the little counter on the right…apparently even the computer thinks she should be out by now.  Soon, we hope!

I’ve decided that in the midst of my busy-ness, I do a lot better with writing when I have a bit of a theme.

SO, my new Friday theme is going to be “My Favorite Things”. I figured this is broad enough to be interesting, but still gives me a little help.

 For the first edition, I’m giving you a tutorial.

I know I’ve mentioned before that I really like my homemade yogurt.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been messing with the recipe and trying some new things, and I now LOVE my homemade yogurt. (and my kids love it too!)

So I’m going to show you how to make it. Because you all need to try it. It’s super easy, I promise.

Here we go: you start with a gallon of whole milk. MUST be WHOLE milk, no messing with that.

Pour 8 cups of whole milk into your crockpot.

Turn the crockpot on low and let heat for two and half hours.

When the time’s up, turn the crockpot off, and cover with a thick towel or blanket.

Leave it like this for three hours.

After three hours, it’s time to mix in the starter.  I know you can buy actual yogurt starter at certain stores, but I’ve never tried that.  I just use plain, FULL FAT (again, not optional) yogurt.  You want to make sure of course that it has “live active cultures”, and no extra ingredients…just milk.

For 8 cups of milk you will mix in 1/4 c. of yogurt.  Take a cup of milk out of the crockpot and put in a small bowl.  Stir the yogurt into this first,

then stir this mixture into the rest of the milk in the crockpot.

Once this is done, cover the crockpot again with the blanket, and leave for 8-10 hours (eight is enough, but if you are leaving it overnight it’s okay if it goes a little longer).

At the end of this time your yogurt will look like this.

If you want to, you can stop at this point.  Just put the yogurt in a clean container with a lid, and refrigerate.  I don’t suggest stopping at this point unless: you like runny yogurt (some people do) or you plan to use your yogurt mostly for smoothies or baking.  For those things the yogurt at this stage will work perfect.

But if you’re looking for thick, creamy yogurt to eat by itself,  continue with the next steps.

Line a large bowl with some type of cloth to strain the yogurt.  I use a flour sack dish towel; works great.

I use clothespins to clip it to the bowl.  You want to spread your cloth pretty taut so there is plenty of room for the liquid to collect underneath as it drains off.

Now, CAREFULLY, pour the yogurt into the cloth.

Once you’ve dumped it all in, stick this into the fridge for a few hours.  The longer you leave it, the thicker the yogurt will be.  I generally let it sit for  6-8 hours.

When it looks thick enough for you, remove from the fridge.  Mine looks like this:

I transfer my yogurt to a glass dish with a lid.

A spatual works really well to scrape the last of the yogurt off of the cloth.

This is what will be left in your bowl:

If you discover some awesome thing to do with this liquid, please let me know.  I have yet to find a use for it.

And here is the finished product.

I do a couple of different things to flavor it.  Sometimes I will puree fruit to mix in and add a few spoonfuls of sugar.

Our new favorite though, is to just make it vanilla.  I add a teaspoon of vanilla and 2-3 tablespoons of honey.  The girls love this the best.

Other tips:  Timing-wise, I usually start my yogurt first thing in the morning, so the crockpot part is finished by bedtime and I can put it in the fridge to drain overnight.  Or, I start it around three in the afternoon, mix in the starter just before bed, and leave it in the covered crockpot overnight.  Then of course the straining happens the next day.

Cost-wise, I haven’t calculated out to the penny, but I have roughly figured that even with buying the milk and the yogurt for starter, I am spending about half of the money I would to simply buy this much yogurt.

The yogurt is generally fine in the fridge for a week.  If you don’t flavor the yogurt, you can use your homemade yogurt as a starter for the next batch, but you double the amount you’re mixing in (1/2 c. instead of 1/4 c.).  I often just keep the purchased container of yogurt in the fridge only for starting batches; I can usually get three or four batches out of a container before the yogurt is too old to work well.

I think that’s it.  I hope this doesn’t sound too complicated, because it’s really easy.  I know it sounds like a long process, but each actual step of the process takes about two minutes, so it’s really not a big deal. 

Let me know if you try it.  Especially if you find any flaws in my instructions.