I Guess It's A Phase

This past weekend I decided to make yogurt. That's right... yogurt. I guess I'm going through a phase. I decided that I want to learn how to make all of these things that I take advantage of in the grocery store. SOMEONE has to make all of these things that we consume so I thought that if they could do it, there was no reason that I couldn't, right?

On to how I made homemade yogurt.

I put the following into a large saucepan:

4c. whole milk
1/2 c. dry milk

Stir to dissolve dry milk powder and slowly heat milk to 180 degrees. You do this to kill off the bacteria that prevents the milk from firming up. Turn off the heat and let milk sit at room temperature until it is between 110 and 120 degrees. Take a ladle full of milk and add it to 1/4 - 1/2 c. of plain yogurt WITH ACTIVE CULTURES. I used plain Fage greek yogurt. Whisk together and then whisk the mixture into the warm milk.

Now you put the mix into the containers that the yogurt will be processing in. I used glass mason jars. There are several ways to let the mixture process, but i used my crockpot. I poured my yogurt into my mason jars and put them into a preheated (on the "warm" setting) water bath in the crockpot and put the lid on. Every couple of hours I would turn my crockpot on and off to try and keep my crock pot at about 110 degrees. In about 6-8 hours my yogurt had firmed up and I put the jars in the fridge to chill overnight. Now I have yogurt! This morning I drizzled it with a little bit of wildflower honey and it is GOOD!


Try it, you'll like it!


Tomorrow I'll tell you how I used some of my yogurt to make yogurt cheese.

Making Butter

So... I made my own butter. Why, you ask? Because it sounded like fun! It was SO easy, and it tasted GREAT! The process really was simple, so I'll share.


I poured 4c. of cold heavy whipping cream into my stand mixer bowl and flipped it on. I kept increasing the speed until I got it up to 9. Then, I waited. The cream got super thick (whipped cream) and then, after a few minutes, it all just kind of collapsed and I had this grainy yellow stuff (butter) and liquid (buttermilk). I stopped the mixer and drained as much of the buttermilk off as I could - I saved it to use in my bread I made the other day. Then basically you just add cold water and "knead" the butter to get out more buttermilk. I did this about 3 times, until the water was pretty clear. Then I salted the butter slightly and formed it into 2 balls that were probably roughly 1c. of butter each. I wrapped each ball in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge to firm up a bit.

I'm telling you, I'm never going back to store bought. If I could just get my hands on some raw milk and cream. Mmmmm.....

It wasn't me that died - it was my computer!

Well, after 3 months of being unable to blog, I'm back! My computer blew up on me and it's taken me awhile to get another one, but I'm officially back in action. Fire up the band. Stay tuned because I have a LOT to talk about and more posts are coming VERY soon!

Have a great weekend!



Update: THE NEXT DAY my freaking computer died again. Stupid computers.

My son, Mothman.

I decided this afternoon that my son has reached an age where it should be required by law to keep him locked up like a caged wild animal. Mostly because he is a wild animal. Obviously there was a horrible mix up at the hospital last year and they mistakenly gave me the adorable wild boar couple's baby from down the hall. My house, my son, and my sanity are completely in shambles.

Today boar-child and I went to a friends' house to relax and visit and that is exactly the opposite of what happened. I spent the 2 hours or so that we were there chasing him around the house trying to stop him from destroying every object in my friends' home in addition to her brand new (very expensive) wood floors. He tried to eat muddy shoes. He tried to pull the tablecloth (and everything, including lunch, with it) off of the table. He dumped his milk on her aforementioned brand new (very expensive) wood floors. He tried to climb on top of her 3 month old granddaughter. He attacked her dog with a rattle. Are you getting the idea yet? I'm pretty sure the stress of the visit killed brain cells.

And then it happened....

My son ate a dead moth.

And that is the thought that I will leave you with today. Enjoy.

Plum Cobbler

So my plum tree was overflowing with ripe fruit this weekend. I ended up picking about 6 pounds of juicy plums and wondering what in the world I was going to do with all of it. After staring at the gigantic pile for a few days, I decided to make a plum cobbler last night (I've never made one before) and it turned out REALLY good, so I thought I'd share the recipe. It'll be even better with vanilla ice cream so I'm heading to the store in a bit to pick some up.

Plum Cobbler
Fruit:
3/4 cup plus
4 cups of chopped or sliced plums
2 Tbsp corn starch
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Topping:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 Tbsp of white sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten

Directions:
1 Preheat oven to 350°F.

2 In a large bowl, combine white sugar, plums, cornstarch and cinnamon. Place the fruit mixture in a 2-quart casserole.

3 In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and 2 Tablespoons of sugar. Cut the butter in with a fork or pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the milk and egg until just moistened.

4 Drop batter on fruit, or if desired, spread batter in stripes. Bake in a 350°F oven for 35 minutes.


Hope you like it, tell me what you think!

This Is Quite Possibly The Most Horrible Thing I've Ever Heard In My Entire Life

Seriously, I think my ears are bleeding.



And, for your amusement, here are the lyrics. I had to read them because I couldn't understand a thing she was saying.

Heidi Montag - Fashion

Red One

Heidi!

Bridge:
ohhh ohhh
la la la
We Love Designer


I am, I'm too fabu-lous
I'm so fierce that it's so nuts
I live, to be model thin
Dress me, I'm your manne-quin

Chorus:
Fashion put it all on me
Don't you want to see these clothes on me
Fashion put it all on me
I am anyone you want me to be
Fashion put it all on me
Don't you want to see these clothes on me
Fashion put it all on me
I am anyone you want me to be

Repeat Bridge

I need, some new stile-ttos
Can't walk, down the street in those
You are, who you wear it's true
A girl's just as hot as the shoe she chooses

Repeat Chorus

Repeat Bridge

Repeat Bridge (again)

Repeat Chorus

Repeat Chorus (again)

Repeat Bridge

Repeat Bridge (yet again)


Ladies and Gentleman, this is who our kids are watching.

Apparently Surviving on Coffee Isn't So Bad

So, my (almost) 14-month-old son just learned how to open doors and our baby gate. He now has access to knives, chemicals, kitty litter and the trash can. And then he discovered he could drag the kitchen chairs over to the counter for even more access to all sorts of wonderful things. Oh, goody!

As I'm sure you can imagine, I've been running myself ragged chasing him around the house to keep him from killing himself - so I have had no time to eat, sleep, or shower. I've been surviving on coffee, crackers and string cheese for two days. Lucky for me, I found this article on MSN Health & Fitness that has made me feel slightly better about my sudden coffee dependency.

Apparently, the Autonoma University in Madrid, Spain did a study with 42,000 men and 84,000 women on the relationships between coffee consumption and dying from heart disease or cancer. Surprisingly (at least, to me) they found that women who drink between 2 and 3 cups daily of either regular or decaffeinated coffee had a 25 percent lower risk of death from heart disease, and an 18 percent lower death risk from a cause other than cancer or heart disease compared with non-coffee drinkers. For men, the 2-3 cups a day showed no difference in health risks. Bummer for the guys. But seriously, C'mon all my sleep-deprived mommies out there, how awesome is that?

It also said that their research showed that up to SIX cups a day showed nothing but positive effects on your health. Which is cool, because I had 5 cups already today. Now I just need to find a study on the positive effects of surviving on crackers and string cheese and I'll be good. Maybe between the caffeine, malnutrition and chasing my kid around I can at least lose a couple pounds, right? That just might make it all worth it...