Yogurt made easy! January 2, 2012

I talk a lot on my Facebook about my homemade yogurt and how it is a total win in my house. We use it for everything from yogurt to sour cream substitute and even faux buttermilk in baking. Many of my friends have asked me about it but I don’t know if they have tried so I’m put together a quick walk through for you with pictures and you can go here and here to see where I learned to make my own yogurt. The yogurt I make is thicker like greek yogurt. On some yogurt pages it is called yogurt cheese because it is strained. This is an extra step, one that you do not have to do. However, if you don’t your yogurt will be thinner like most store bought yogurts but still 20 times tastier if you ask me.

Equipment

crock-pot

milk-1gallon(2%-Wholemilk. Your choice, I have done both. I like the extra richness of whole milk)

instant read probe thermometer ( nice but not totally required)

boiling water(I use my electric kettle but you can use whatever you have to boil water)

2 cup liquid measuring cup

Starter culture( I used organic greek yogurt with live and active cultures for the store. It MUST be plain yogurt but use what ever thickness you like you can also get freeze dried culture flakes here and follow package instructions.)

whisks large and small

ladle

colander( for use with the dish towels)

very clean lint free dish towels or yogurt straining bags or straining tub

place to catch the whey( large bowl or 9×13 dish what ever you have really)

containers to store final product( I use those because of bpa concerns in plastic but the zip lock semi disposables also work great)

way to label the day made

old blankets

Method

A word of caution, I have had a “bad bug” get in my yogurt before. I’m not sure from what but now I am extra careful. This isn’t very expensive but it does take time. I don’t like to have my time wasted which is what happens when a “bed bug” gets in the mix. No one got sick. I could tell it was off from the consistency and threw out the batch. I suggest you do the same if you have any doubts about the texture.

First step: Wash your hands VERY well.Get out crock pot large enough to hold 1 gallon of milk. Use kettle or whatever you use to boil water and fill with boiling water. Let stand for 5 min to sterilize the pot. Pour out the water and pour in the milk. Turn crop pot to high for 3 hours or if you have a way to keep your probe thermometer suspended in the milk not touching the bottom or side of the ceramic until the milks temp reaches 180-190. See easy right? I told you not hard just takes time.

 

 

 

Crock pot turned off and cooling

Second step:Wash your hands. Turn off crock pot and reset thermometer to go off when the milk reaches 110-118 degrees(I forgot to picture the temp taking but I trust you can figure it out). If it is any hotter then that it will kill the good bacteria and the bad and your yogurt will never set up. If it is colder them that the good bacteria will stay asleep and your milk will never set up. If you don’t have a thermometer leave the milk covered. Turn off your crock pot and let sit for 3-5 hours or until you can hold your VERY clean finger in the milk for about 10 seconds. It is hot but not boiling your skin off. I have a thermometer and I only use it for this step. It is not one that can sit in the milk so at three hours I start to check the temp. For me 3 hours is all the cooling the milk needs but, we don’t all keep our house the same temp and we don’t all have the same crock pots so I’m giving you a window but start check at 3 hours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step three: Wash your hands!( I know, I’m sure it is over kill by now but like I said I had a batch ruined once). Boil some water fill the 2 cup liquid measuring cup with water place small whisk, ladle( if it fits if not place that in a container with boiling water that it will fit in) along with large whisk. let stand for 5 min or so to sanitize. Get out your starter be it the powder or the pre made yogurt of your choice. If you are using the powder follow package instructions. If you are using the pre made store purchased open the yogurt them pour the water out of the measuring cup , using the small whisk scoop out the yogurt, if youneed to, get the ladle and pour some of the hot milk in to the measuring cup. Whisk until well combined. Pour starter mixture in to the rest of the milk and use larger whisk to mix well cover and wrap in 4-6,I use older baby blankets, or place in a oven that has been warmed to the lowest setting for mine that is 170 degrees( if your goes lower great 120 is ideal) and then turned off. Leave over night or for 8-12 hours. I start the process around lunch time and by bed time it is ready to do it’s sitting.

Step four: Wash your hands. Boil water and place large whisk, ladle, kitchen towels /straining bag( or wash the staring tub) and 2 cup measuring cup in water. Let stand. Unwrap your crock-pot or take it out of the oven. Use the large whisk to break up the solid mass. This allows for more whey to be drained if you are straining and if you are not it homogenizes the whole thing you could also use a stick blender at this point to do the same thing. Be sure to wash well or place in boiling water the portion of the blender that will be in contact with the yogurt. Now you can ladle or scoop with your measuring cup the well blended yogurt in to your strainer of choice or the storage containers of choice. If you are staining, this step takes a while it takes about 3 hours for me to hang the bags and strain out enough liquid to have the thickness of yogurt I want.

 

I have used both the kitchen towel lined colander method. I place in a bowl the boiled kitchen towel lined colander and let drain every our or so pouring out the excess liquid from the bowl and the staining bag I hang from twine I have suspend in the corner of my kitchen with a bowl below to catch the whey. They both work well. After straining, wash your hands and using a spoon or whatever place yogurt in container of your choice date and eat with in 10-12 days. If you save 1 cup of yogurt you can use that for the culture for your next batch.

Just be sure to always wash your hands before serving and to ALWAYS use a clean utensil as to avoid getting a “bad bug” in your finished product. You can make your own fruit yogurts. Just mix in fruit of your choice or fruit spread add a little honey to sweeten if needed I do this per serving I have no idea how it will hold up if you pre mixed a batch of fruit in to the finished yogurt. I hope you enjoy this, please let me know here or on Facebook how you like it and WASH YOUR HANDS!

 

 

Why I’m having my baby at home August 25, 2011

It takes less than 20 min for me to get to my nearest hospital. I’m going to take my chances at home. I’m not crazy, I’m not a masochist, I’m not a hippie or afraid of the government. I am an informed, powerful, women; who trusts myself, my husband, my baby, and my body to know how to birth.  All of us are going to have a baby the biological normal way, in the historically normal place of our home.

I am excited to give birth in the exact way I want to! Having had both a normal birth( what I call drug free birthing) and  medical one( a birth with interventions vaginal delivery or other wise) I know the difference between two. The power, joy and connectedness I had with my body and my baby after my normal birth was AWESOME. My first birth ,the medical one, I didn’t know what the other was like so I didn’t know what I was missing and I was very happy connected and in love holding my new child but I will never have a medical birth again unless I or the baby is about to die. First of all induction are PAINFUL, there is something wrong ,you might be dying painful.  Secondly, I hated how helpless I felt before and after my epidural. I felt helpless for 36 hours of labor. 18 hours of  it in the most body rocking pain I have ever had in my whole life. My normal birth I didn’t feel like I was dying. Was there pain? Sure. At home I dealt with it a lot better. I was able to give myself over to the process and release in to the sensation. At the time I didn’t even know home birth was an option but after having my youngest, I thought to myself “I wish I could have stayed home” and that is what got the ball rolling for me. I didn’t have bad birth experiences. I actually like my last hospital birth. My midwife was awesome and it was at a military hospital no less. But, I knew it just wasn’t the right fit for me it still wasn’t quite what I wanted.

I’m still looking for a midwife because my husband asked me too and I hope to find one soon. We are paying for the whole thing out-of-pocket because our insurance(TriCare) won’t pay for a home birth. I’m not sure why they are less expensive than a hospital birth. on average a hospital birth that is normal is around $7,500 with insurance most couples pay $1,500-$2,300 out-of-pocket. A home birth with a midwife is on average $2000-$3000 and this covers everything your prenatal check ups, ultra sound, the birth and postpartum care and your insurance may cover a portion if not all of the home birth except of course you are military/DOD like me and they won’t cover anything at all. You would think that since they are business they would want to do things that keep their cost low but I guess not because they just won’t cover home birth or chiropractic care.

Birth Pools Seized by FDA in Portland, OR (via CUNTastic) May 28, 2011

I’m kinda crunchy. I don’t blog about it a lot but I am planning on blogging about it more and of course blogging about my home birth that I am planning. Center of that being my birthing tub the FDA apparently wants to take away my and your right to birth how I/you want.

According to Barbara Harper, author of Gentle Birth Choices and founder of Waterbirth International, the FDA has seized a shipping container of AquaBorn birthing pools at a dock in Portland, Oregon, and have ordered agents to "inspect and destroy." "They claim they are unregistered medical equipment, but they are not providing a way or means to get them registered. In other words, if the medical authorities can't stop waterbirth, then just have t … Read More

via CUNTastic

she’s crafty, she just my type. May 23, 2011

Yes, I did just use a Beastie Boys lyric for my blog title because I am just that awesome.

Anyway it’s true I am crafty. I love to make things I know I could buy. I like the return to the homemade it’s nice being able to say I made it not I got it at TJ Max . as a stay at home mom I am able to stay on top of the house pretty well so what else am I supposed to do while the children  nap and I have no more laundry to fold. Rather than sit on my ass watching Dr. phil I chose to do something else. I fill my house with home-made love I sew my cute cute kids skirts and dresses. I recover my couch pillows and I make myself a summer wardrobe because I’m crafty. I Think these old skills should be put to use more often. Plus I hate to pay double for something I could make.

Oh blog about it why don’t you! September 25, 2010

Has anyone else gotten the feeling that there is a growing penchant of bloggers that are a bunch of whiny school kids? To make matter worse they aren’t just whiny they are also self important high and mighty all “don’t you know who I am” styli. It makes me sick. No no one should care that you left your fortune 500 job to go around the world in search of pepper or what ever the hell you decided was your life’s passion. Grow the ef-up get a real job and stop ruining peoples livelihoods because they had an off day with the risotto or the b&b wasn’t fully comped and how dare they not know you. Get over it you selfish children. You are a person just like the rest of us and that business owner.

You always hate the band that beat you. March 20, 2010

I realized this listening to my husband talk to one of his childhood friends and as a former marching band member myself. I also took note that I too I still hate the band that always beat my band. Meade High School….FUCKERS!  Their routines were always the sickness. Always!!! like one year they had a slow pick up pf movement it started in the back corner and washed over there band a like a kick ass slow-moving wave and the colorgaurd made me sick. They were so clean every person on point all the time. Frankly it was unnatural.

When I was at a competition and I saw they were there it made me just want to turn around and leave sometimes, but one year my junior year of high school they lost! We beat them! Let me just tell you never in my life have I wanted to do an unladylike nana nana naa naa dance so much. However I didn’t I held it together but on the inside I was losing my mind. I know it isn’t very sportspersonly or what have you to feel genuine joy and elation when someone else fails but at that moment I did. I may have been petty but hey I was 16 I think I’m allowed to be a little petty at that age.

Mommy mommy everywhere and not a moment to sleep February 16, 2010

I am always doing something related to this house be it cleaning or making a calendar so my crazy husband can know what the girls and I do all day. If he wants to know so bad he should pay attention on the days he is home. Yes the house is a mess no I have don’t have any intention of cleaning up the toys again that would be the third time today yes peanut butter and jelly does seem like an acceptable dinner because I know they will eat it. These are the type of questions and answers I am fielding everyday. It makes me a little nuts at time sometimes I want to yell and scream “Do I come to your job and tell you how to do it?! No so shut the fuck up I am mommy and I make the rules!” but he has to live here too and even if his job has him work crazy hours 4 days a week. It doesn’t exclude him from the family even if I am sick of concessions and rescheduling. So i did talk to him about his insane attempts at micro managing me. It was made very clear if he want to be the boss of someone start a home business because that is the only way he will be the boss. We are a partnership, I am not his ward. Ward and wife may both start with “w” but don’t get it twisted again. I also made it clear that children live here. It’s not a gd museum and I have no intention of keeping it that way. Being a stay at home mom sucks if you don’t have a maid. I don’t want all the other crap. I just want the kids. Give me the children let someone else clean the mess.

The Name Game February 11, 2010

I know I will have posted about this twice on two different blogs but it affects me two different ways. Personal outrage being an “ethnic” person with an “ethnic” name and as a mother. I outrages me to know my children would have been given the fuzzy end of the lolly pop if I had chosen names like my own. I like may name,  nay,  I love it. I didn’t give my daughters “white” names. I gave them family names and names I like. The color that would be associated with them had nothing to do with it. My daughters wold be the same great girls no matter what their names. If I had named Olivia Surai instead she isn’t going to magically become an underachiever and poor worker and had of named Josephine Ayanna she wouldn’t suddenly abandon her morals and end up on drugs because a name doesn’t make you. You do! Your actions ,intentions and personal philosophy. I would still raise my children the same with heavy morals, great work ethic, a strong sense of self, knowing right from wrong, recognizing it and stomping it out. I don’t understand why in business it has become ok to abandon these thing we teach our children to hold dear . It is not ok and eating away at the fabric of society.  I am deeply saddened and truly disgusted by this.

If you would like to read the article about the study for yourself go to http://www.nber.org/digest/sep03/w9873.html

Pretty girls and the masked man January 21, 2010

Yesterday I took the ladies to the dentist office for their 6 month check up.The experience I had with each girl were drastically different. Josephine was very clam and grown up about it. She sat nicely in the chair calmly let the dentist remove some plaque. Quietly let the hygienist clean her teeth with the spin brush thing, floss her and cost her teeth with the fluoride paste stuff . Had no problem I was very proud of her. Olivia on the other hand was a whole different story. This little one hated the whole thing. She was having none of it and all he wanted to do was look at her teeth. There was kicking, screaming and big big tears as he looked at her teeth with the mirror. Her reaction was as if he was trying to pull teeth with out medication. I felt bad for her because I know it was scary for her but at the same time it was comical how over the top her reaction was. And then it was over he removed the mirror thingy and sat her back up. they gave her a little bag with a tooth brush and she was fine. “TOOTH BRUSH” she exclaimed in her highest pitched voice, she said ” thank you” and went out the the lobby to play like nothing happened. I really like their dentist and I know they do too. He was great with both of them Dr. Callahan rocks!

Ooops?!I guess I never told her she can leave her room to go to the potty January 10, 2010

On a Saturday a few weeks ago Jason,my husband, and I were sitting on the couch when we hear a cry nothing serious we had just put the girls down for a nap and figured that one of the babes was putting up a bit of a fight about going to sleep. so we ignore her, it gets quiet. Five min pass then we hear a shrill scream of a cry, race up the stairs throw open the door and look upon my three-year old daughter standing in the middle of  her room stark naked screaming bloody murder. I ask her what’s wrong . Jason picks her up thinking she had a bad dream or something no she hadn’t as soon as he picks her up I see something between her cheeks! POOP! She is having a bowl movement and didn’t know what to do.  She knows that she isn’t to leave her room when it is nap time but she had to go to the bathroom so she was conflicted and scared. I tell Jason to go put her on the potty. Then I start to check out the room, because I can smell a fecal scent in the air but I don’t see it anywhere and there are somethings out-of-order like there is an empty wicker basket on her bed and I can’t find the under pants I put her down in anywhere but there is a new pair out. I look in the basket and there is a small bm. It was her make shift potty this child is genius I’m thinking to myself. then I step in a wet spot on the floor so clearly once she saw that it didn’t hold water she abandoned that plan and moved on. I clean up the wet and the bm.  I’m still smelling the poop so I keep looking around only to see that she had cleaned up some of her bm by putting it in a plastic bag and then putting said bag in the diaper genie. Frankly, I am so proud of her by now I don’t care that she woke up her sister and they aren’t going to take a nap that day. She is a proactive problem solver and I like that. I did finally find her missing underpants they were in the basket where her clean unders are I explained to her that if you need to go to the potty in the future that it is ok for her to leave her room but she has to come right back and that wet unders go in the sink if she has an accident not back with the clean underpants. She still doesn’t leave her room she has had maybe three more accidents at nap time she will get it eventually but other than that she does a great job. Well except for when she had an accident at our friends house. She just waited to long. She was playing and I look over to see her holding herself. I say go to the bathroom then she starts to cry and I know she can’t move if she moves she will pee herself but in turn if she doesn’t she will still pee herself. Hard choices for a three-year old to make. Anyway we are working on it and most days she stays dry just how I like it. Next week I am going to start cutting off liquids and hour&half before bed time to get her totally out of diapers.  She still wears them at night and most of the time she wakes up dry.