Making Yogurt

 

Homemade yogurt has become a staple in our house.  We have a bowl every morning for breakfast.  Yogurt is amazingly simple to make. All you need is some milk and some starter.  After making it a couple of times a week since January, we have got it exactly the way we like it.

Let's start by putting the milk in the pan, start heating it.  I'm using 5 cups of whole milk - you can use 2%, soy, almond, whatever you want - those will take a longer time to grow.  I'm using this amount because that's what fits in my maker.  If you want to use a heating pad to grow your culture you can start heating a half gallon milk.



 

While the milk heats you want your starter to sit out and get room temperature.  I have read varying amounts to use from 2 tablespoons up.  I use one small container of Dannon Oikos Plain Yogurt.  You can use any PLAIN/unflavored yogurt.  I've had good success using the same small container when making a half gallon as well.

At some point while your milk if heating you'll want to add in about 1/4 cup of dry milk.  This just helps make the yogurt thicker.  If you like thinner yogurt you can leave this out.



 

Get the milk to about 190 degrees Fahrenheit, whisking frequently.  When the milk gets near ready, turn your yogurt machine on to preheat a bit, OR, if you're using a heating pad, plug it in and turn it on medium.  Remove from heat when it reaches temperature.  At this point, you can let it sit and check it periodically until it reaches 105-110 degrees, OR, since this takes about an hour, I have found a shortcut. . .



 

Partially fill a sink with cold water (add ice if you like) then take your pot and sit it in the cold water.  I whisk the milk while it's cooling.  Doing it this way cuts the cooling to about 15 minutes or less.  I like to remove it from the cold water when it reaches 109 degrees.

Whisk in the starter yogurt.  Once you have made yogurt you can use some of it for your start next time.  I generally use what I've made for 4-5 times then get a new starter.



 

Pour the yogurt into your jars, cover and set the timer to 9 hours.  I really like how it turns out at 9 hours.  If you're using 2%, almond, etc, you will need more time, most like 10-12 hours, you'll have to play with it to see what you like.

If you don't have a maker you can leave your yogurt in the pan with a lid on it.  Sit the pan on the heating pad set at medium, cover with a bath towel or two and leave it be for 8-9 hours.  Once the time is up just pour it into containers and refrigerate.



 

When the time is up, put lids on the jars and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before enjoying.  It will last up to 10 days, never makes it that long around here though.



 

I add a scoop of protein powder to my yogurt, then whatever fruit I'm in the mood for.  I usually combine more than one fruit as you can see, and I chop up a couple of Brazil nuts to toss in.  Get creative and find what you like.  Great way to start the day!

Cancer Sucks!

March is Colon Cancer Awareness month and as a colon cancer survivor I like to take this opportunity to remind you to get your colonoscopy. I was 38 when I was diagnosed, and if I had not been too embarrassed to have the colonoscopy, my cancer would have been found much sooner than Stage IIIc. I had to go through surgery and chemotherapy. I was a candidate for radiation but I opted out of it.

Colon cancer is one of the slower growing cancers and often starts as a tiny polyp, if it's found while it's still a polyp it will be so much easier on you. No matter your age, if you are having any intestinal issues, I encourage you to get things checked out.



I'm sharing this pattern for a Cancer Sucks Knitted Headband. I used blue for the words, as blue ribbon represents colon cancer.

Perching Birds Scarf (double-knit)

I am sharing my pattern for the Perching Birds Double-knitted Scarf. You can find the bird chart here.

Just google double knit if you've never done it before, it's not too hard, this was my first project. The scarf will end up being about 5 1/2” wide if you use 28 stitches, as I did (you can add more stitches to each side to make it wider if you prefer) and you can adjust the length by removing some of the birds or repeating some of them. Gauge isn’t all that important on this project.

I used two different sock yarns and size US 4 straight needles. The yardage needed is about 275 yards of each of two yarns. I purchased two skeins of each of my colors. Any sock yarn will do. Make sure the colors are not too similar or the birds won’t show up very well.  I used the long tail cast on and knit bind off, but feel free to use your favorites.  Also, I knitted my beginning and end stitches when working from top down, and purled those two stitches when working from the bottom up - again feel free to do your edges as you please.  If you decide to make one, I would love to see your finished scarfs!

Pizza Dough Recipe (by demand) :0)

The Pizza Dough recipe I use in my bread maker is a 2 lb dough which makes 2 thick or 4 thin crusts. We typically make 3 with it but according to size of pizza you're making you can even make 5. We have frozen it and had good luck with it still however it takes SO long to thaw and rise it's much quicker to just make fresh dough. You can half everything for a 1 lb dough if you need less. I place everything in my maker in the order I am listing - you should follow the instructions with your maker I imagine.

1 2/3 c Water (80F/27C) (I don't actually take it's temperature, I just feel it and make sure it's cooler than me but not ice cold)

2 T Oil

2 T Sugar

2 t Salt

2 T Dry Milk

4 1/2 c Bread Flour

2 t Active dry yeast

I have a pizza dough setting on my maker and it does the following

3 min knead

22 min knead

30 min rise

If you're using the stones, we set the oven on 550 and cook about 15 minutes, but you can do it on sheets at 425 for about 20 minutes.

Homemade Pizza

We have taken to making our own pizza instead of going out. This way we know what's in it. I rally don't know what has gotten into me, I keep worrying about what is in things and looking for better, healthier ways. Restaurants don't care about my health, but I do. I found a simple dough recipe, I throw the ingredients in the bread machine and an hour later it's ready for us to divide and conquer.

This one is mine! I used pepperoni fresh from the deli, sausage and ground beef as my toppings. The pizza sauce is from a recipe I found, then altered a bit. :0) I'll include it at the end in case you want to try it out.



Check out that crust! yummy!!



We spent a couple of days searching high and low for pizza stones right before Christmas - we made individual pizzas for Christmas dinner. When we couldn't find any nearby I started googling and duh! You can use any unglazed quarry stone/tile. These were 46 cents each, so a significant savings over the label pizza stone. AND these are much easier to store when you're not using them.  Our pizzas are baked at 550 degrees for about 15 minutes.

My Pizza Sauce

1 Big Can of Tomato Sauce or Diced Tomatoes

12 oz can of Tomato Paste (I add this a bit at time, checking the consistency - of course if you get it too thick just throw in more sauce)

1 tsp chopped garlic (I use jarred organic garlic)

Shake in some Dried Onion (I think I use 2-3 tsp)

2 tsp dried basil

2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp salt (this sauce is not at all salty)

1 tsp sugar

1 large bay leaf

2 tsp fennel seed

I just throw all this in a saucepan and simmer for 20-30 minutes.  This makes enough for about 6 pizzas - since there's three in our family I just freeze whatever is left after the first use.

The mice, Brodi and the Lightbox

I have another friend looking to make a lightbox, so thought I would repost this
posted Sunday, 27 January 2008

The mice have went home now, but it doesn't stop Brodi from looking for them.

We babysat my daughter's mice while they were out of town - the mice are no longer in this world

We were contemplating making a lightbox similar to the one Sallad made but we weren't sure where we would put it when we weren't using it. So we opted to use foamboard to line a cubby in an old dresser. We were going to use velcro to hold it all to the sides but found we didn't need to. We put the bottom in, then the sides and back, leaving the top for last and sides and back hold the top up. We also used this real flexible write-on-wipe-off posterboard for the bottom and curved up the back wall so you don't have the line. We just taped some of the scraps together to kind of keep the mice in the box. As a side note, we're using fluorescent bulbs, not only because they use less electricity, but also because they run cooler.

If you can believe it, two years later and Brodi still runs to the box every time I use it, looking for the mice I assume, who said dogs have 7 second memories?!

Dieter's Oven-fried Chicken recipe

This was too good to keep to myself! Very simple, quick and tasty!

Over-fried Chicken - 168 calories, 23 g protein, 4 g carbohydrate, 6 g fat, 68 mg cholesterol, 137 mg sodium, 224 mg potassium
2 - 2 1/2 lbs chicken, skinned
1/4 cup cornflake crumbs
1 tablespoon snipped fresh parsley
1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce or white wine Worcestershire sauce
dash ground red pepper

Combine cornflakes and parsley (I used 2 teaspoons dried parsley) - I put them in a ziploc bag and smooshed them with my rolling pin.

While Dennis rinsed the chicken and patted it dry, I combined the yogurt, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, and pepper (I just used some black pepper). You can brush this mixture on your chicken pieces or use a shallow bowl as I did and roll them around a bit.

After you dip the chicken in the yogurt mixture, toss it in your crumb mixture and shake it around a bit.

Bake, uncovered, in a 375 degree oven for 45-55 minutes, or until chicken is tender and no longer pink. Makes 6 servings.

Recipe taken from the Better Homes and Gardens New Dieter's Cook Book, Low Calorie Home Cooking - copyright 1992, page 191

Dill Rolls (low fat recipe)

So, this is absolutely new for me. For one, I rarely cook and for two I wasn't sure how to go about cooking and holding a camera, but it went ok, so I thought I'd share.

Dill Rolls - 88 calories, 5 g protein, 14 g carbohydrate, 1 g fat, 24 mg cholesterol, 171 mg sodium, 54 mg potassium

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 package active dry yeast
1 cup low-fat cottage cheese
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons dillseed or caraway seed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg

In a small bowl combine 1 cup of the flour and the yeast

In a small saucepan heat and stir cottage cheese, water, sugar, dillseed (or caraway seed), and salt until warm. Recipe says 120-130 degrees, I did not use a thermometer, just guessed. Add to flour mixture along with the egg.

Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes.

Add remaining flour, beat at low speed about 2 minutes or till nearly smooth. (I laugh at this photo, but there's room for improvement, lol)

Cover batter and let rise in a warm place until double (about 45 minutes).

Stir with a wooden spoon. Let rest for 5 minutes.

Spray muffin pans with nonstick cooking spray - I was out so I skipped this step. The spoon the batter (somewhat) evenly into cups. Cover loosely with plastic wrap; let batter rise till nearly double (about 30 minutes) - I did not notice this step until I was typing it now, so it apparently works just fine if you forget this step, lol.

Bake in 375 degree oven for 15-18 minutes or till golden. Serve warm. Makes 12 rolls/servings.

We had a couple of rolls with a salad. It was my first time making them and we thought they were very yummy!

Recipe taken from Better Homes and Gardens New Dieter's Cook Book, Low-calorie Home Cooking - copyright 1992, page 372

Hosted by Cecily and Honey Mommy

Cashew Chicken Recipe

Fun Cooking Monday
originally posted Monday, 24 September 2007

Lisa at the Food Snob is hosting this week's Fun Monday; don’t forget to visit her site to see a list of participants. She got us back in the kitchen and I know you will be as shocked as I was at her request ;)

I want to see your favorite recipe, be it either because your grandmother wrote it, it's the easiest thing you can slap together that everyone likes, it makes you feel healthy, it's cheap, etc. You don't have to make it (although you could if you want) but let us see the index card, cookbook, printed paper from the web, and why it's a favorite in your house. If you have a lot, just pick one, I know I'll have to.

I hate to cook. There, it’s out there, I do not like to be in the kitchen anymore than I have to. My husband actually does most of our cooking and he’s fantastic at it! He loves experimenting with foods and he wishes I was more flexible in my food choices (nice way of saying, he hates how picky I am). Unfortunately, he cooks like my mom, they neither one use recipes and just go by taste. Fortunately, I do have a recipe for those of you who like it.

Since moving away from Missouri I have been unable to find one of my favorite foods. In fact, the only Chinese dish I eat, Cashew Chicken. The type of Cashew Chicken I am talking about originated in Springfield, Missouri, so the one you see on the menus elsewhere are most likely not the same.

Cashew Chicken

* 5 whole chicken breasts
* 1 t sugar
* 4 T soy sauce
* ½ c cashews (unsalted)
* ½ c green onion tops
* 4 eggs beaten slightly w/ milk
* Cornstarch
* Oil
* Salt
* 1 t monosodium glutamate

Cut chicken into cubes. Let cubes marinate in soy sauce for at least 30 minutes. Dip cubes in egg batter and then in a mixture of cornstarch, salt and monosodium glutamate.

Brown chicken in oil, remove, and add ½ cup cashews. Simmer w/ chicken for 10 minutes. Add a few teaspoons of water for chicken to steam. Place over cooked rice and garnish with more nuts and green onions. Pour oyster sauce over dish.

Oyster Sauce:

* 4 chicken bouillon cubes
* 1 c water
* ~bring to a boil then add
* 2 T cornstarch mixed to a thin paste with ¼ c of water
* ~stir constantly, then add
* 1 t sugar
* 1 t salt
* 1 T oyster flavor sauce

I have only made it that way one time. The way we (we being my husband) typically make it is:

Short-cut Cashew Chicken

* Cook some frozen popcorn chicken.
* Make some white rice.
* Heat in a pan, a can of Chicken Stock and thicken with some cornstarch.

Throw rice on a plate, place chicken on top, add your cashews and onions then add sauce. Enjoy. While it’s not exactly the same as my dearly missed Missouri dish it is a decent substitute.

Lightbox Tutorial

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Winter is the perfect time to take pictures inside. So, let’s make a light box. Above are some of the supplies you’ll need to make the frame. PVC pipe and connectors, PVC Cement, something to cut the pipe with, Plexiglas. You’ll also need fabric to wrap around it, to create your backdrop and lights.

I won’t go into lengths, as you will want to decide what size you want your box to be. We made ours 2’x4’ and at least 2’ tall. You can tell by the pictures we did this in the fall so I really don’t remember our exact dimensions.

A pipe cutter is so easy to use! I totally recommend figuring one into your project.

We cut some PVC pipe in short pieces to use on the ends. Then used some cement (glue) on it, as well as. . .

putting glue inside the connector.

Then we pushed them together tightly. The cement dries pretty quickly.

We then put cement on the exposed end of pipe. . .

. . .and a corner connector.

Then squished them tightly together.

And twisted them into proper alignment quickly, before the glue set.

This is how it should look when you’re done. Then you just repeat the above steps on the other end of the corner connector.

And you should have this. You will need eight of these, or four, depending on how you want to do things.

Cute the pipe in the length you want for the height of your lightbox and glue into the T connectors.

Now we have four corners started.

We used cross connectors in place of the T connectors for the other end because we are putting legs on ours, You can do this to keep it elevated slightly or just use the T connectors again to keep in flat.

Here’s one completed corner.

After you cut four pipes to your width, and four to length and glue them all together then it will look like this.

Now it’s time to cut the Plexiglas. We placed the frame on the Plexiglas and marked the corners so we could notch them out.

All of the upright pipes will need to be marked for cutting out.

Since we think it would be easier to cut the openings square instead of rounded Dennis used a square to reshape the cut lines.

Now we’re ready to cut.

You can use a dremel to make your cuts.

This particular tool is used for cutting sheetrock/drywall around electrical boxes.

Or you can use a jigsaw.

The Plexiglas we chose is too thick to cut with a box knife.

I venture to say, this is the hardest part of the whole project.

Then pop the Plexiglas into the bottom of your frame. Now it’s probably safe to remove the blue protective film. You can slide different fabrics under for different items you may want to photograph. The color will show through the Plexiglas.

You need a light weight white fabric (I love white flag fabric) to encase it in so your lights can shine through it. I haven’t gotten around to sewing ours yet so I can’t show you those steps. We just have our fabric draped around it and the clamps from the lights are holding it on. It works, so I haven’t made time to finish it up.

Because of the open connectors on the bottom you can cut pipe lengths to make legs for the light box and just use T and corner connectors (like on the top) to give your legs feet.

Clear as mud?

Added:  Someone asked about seeing photos in it, you've already seen many but I know that all the photos in this post were taken inside the light box.