31 Cups: DIY

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Thursday, February 14, 2013

Easy-Peasy Homemade Greek Yogurt *Recipe

Homemade Greek Yogurt

Warning: Picture Ladden Blog Tutorial!
Why: Because I learn better with pictures and because I have done this wrong more times than I'd like to admit. Pictures help you do it right!

2nd Warning: You will love your own yogurt so much you will never waste money on store bought again. Unless of course you run out during the summer because the kids eat it like ice cream. :)

I can be a slow learner. Gulp. Tough to admit but true nonetheless. So when I first decided to make yogurt I scoured the internet. I pinned on Pinterest. I searched cookbooks and photocopied recipes from the 70's. Everyone had the best idea and way to do it. They were all similar, and yet the steps were sometimes different. After wading through the helpful Blogosphere and checking on all types of milk and yogurts to culture with (did you know you can buy just the culture through the internet?) I came up with a pretty solid plan. I have now been successfully making yogurt for almost a year.

Easy-Peasy with these directions. I'll be sure to let you in on the whoopsies I had along the way and hopefully you can avoid them. :)

Easy-Peasy Greek Yogurt

Start with about one gallon of milk. We have tried whole, 2%, and skim. I like the skim milk yogurt because it has more 'bite' to it. I have also tried organic and there was no noticeable difference. I have a friend that uses raw milk and she says it is divine. Heat this milk till it is warm enough to be uncomfortable if you dip your pinky in for more than 20 seconds. Totally scientific, huh? If it is too hot it will kill the yogurt culture. Too cold and it won't grow properly. I usually stick it in the Crockpot on low for about an hour or so. Stir occasionally. (Do not be embarrassed to set a timer to remember to stir it. I would forget to change clothes out of the dryer if I didn't set the timer.)

You will need a 1/4 -1/2 cup of a yogurt culture to start your batch. I use a plain Greek yogurt. The plain regular style yogurt will work as well but I have had better and more consistent results with a Greek style thick yogurt.

When the milk is warm take about 1 cup of it and place in a bowl with 1/4-to 1/2 cups of the store-bought yogurt. This is a tempering process. You want to slowly incorporate the yogurt to the milk in the Crockpot and keep the temperature fairly even. By adding a small amount of milk to your yogurt and then mixing it you have a thinner yogurt culture and a similar temperature to place back into Crockpot.

Once the yogurt and 1 cup of milk are mixed it looks like this. Pour this mixture back into the Crockpot.

Pour it slowly.

Give it a gentle stir to incorporate your tempered yogurt mixture into the warm milk in the Crockpot.

Unplug it! (Please don't forget this while you are answering the phone and a question about fractions while sending your toddler to take a potty break.) Place a lid on it. I like to flip the lid upside down so it sits tighter.

Now I usually cover the Crockpot in numerous bath towels and leave it covered on the counter for about 10 hours or overnight. The towels act as an incubator to keep the heat in and help the yogurt to form within the Crock. This works so surprisingly well! However, if you don't have a lot of counter space.....

... you can place it in your empty, cold oven wrapped in towels overnight and up to 12 hours. From personal experience and a melted Crockpot I will insist you find some way to remember that you have a Crockpot and a bunch of flammable towels In Your Oven. I use a sticky note that resides on my 'Bake On' button the moment I place that yogurt in the oven. Trust me when I tell you melted Crockpot electric cord and singed towels stinks up your house and causes your 9 year old to consider calling 911. Use the Sticky Note. :)

Okay! It has been 10 hours! This is a properly set yogurt. It is firm and jiggly; a bit like jello. There is some liquid around it. That is whey.

Line a large colander with some cheesecloth. This is a double layer because I cut it too short in my it is the beginning of the day and I am half asleep so where in the world is my coffee stupor. Usually I use a single layer. Place that lined colander over a mixing bowl.

Pour the yogurt into the colander.

If you want a regular style yogurt after this initial straining you are done.

Place in the fridge and eat up!

If you are looking for Greek yogurt then fold the cheesecloth over the yogurt and place in fridge. Let it strain. Anywhere from 3 hours till 6. Let it go too long and you will have a Ricotta style soft cheese.

The yogurt will be very firm and creamy. Usually there is a slight indentation of the cheesecloth on the yogurt.

Pull the cheesecloth off and place your Greek Yogurt into a storage container.

There it is! I store mine in a small Rubbermaid container. This one has a 4 cup capacity.

Don't throw out the whey that has strained out of the yogurt. It can be used in place of milk in most any baking item or for cooking. I have used it in homemade bread, pancakes, and homemade hamburger hotdish.

Store in the fridge in another container.

Please don't put it in a juice pitcher because some unsuspecting teenager or husband may think it is lemonade and have a very large swig. It does not taste like lemonade.

Serve with honey or homemade preserves and some granola. Yumm-o!

We also use Greek Yogurt in place of sour cream, for recipes asking for mayo and in any dips I make.

ENJOY!

Always Blessed,

Gretchen :)

Possibly Linking With:

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A Wise Woman Builds Her Home
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Homemaking Linkup Weekend

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Make Your Own Brown Sugar *Recipe

"It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all."~ Laura Ingalls Wilder

cane sugar and molasses

I grew up making brown sugar every time we had a need for it. Somewhere along the line I stopped making it myself and resorted to buying it simply because it saved me an extra 3 minutes in my kitchen. I started up again last year to save me the three dollars and because I have been trying to get back to the basics. The ones I learned from my mama as a child.

Since I am head chef and baker in this house, we are transitioning into more honey, molasses, and (slightly less refined) cane sugar and using much less refined white sugar. I am not the sugar police; just trying to do better with more whole type kind of foods.

I have yet to see a brown sugar substitute of a healthy variety in my local area, so I decided to give my childhood brown sugar recipe a try with the cane sugar I have using. The granules are larger and look different so I wasn't sure.

It turned out lovely! I have used it interchangeably in several recipes that called for regular brown sugar. I see no noticeable difference in taste or texture. *I'm not sure how it would work in candy, such as a caramel. If you try it let me know!

cane sugar

molasses

mixing

brown sugar!

Brown Sugar

1 cup cane sugar (or white sugar)

1/8-1/4 cup dark molasses

Mix with a fork until the molasses is fully incorporated. The less molasses the lighter the brown sugar. Use more molasses for darker brown sugar. The cane sugar does not 'pack' into a measuring cup as well but I have had no problem with it working. Use equal measure for regular brown sugar.

Always Blessed,
Gretchen :)

Possibly Linking With:

Frugally Sustainable
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A Wise Woman Builds Her Home
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Quote from: http://www.searchquotes.com/quotes/author/Laura_Ingalls_Wilder/3/

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Goin' Crunchy~ DIY Furniture Polish

Lemon Juice, Olive Oil, and Lemongrass Essential Oil

I really like how furniture polish smells. The lemony fragrance brings me back to my childhood. I have chatted before on how much I love to clean. Sometimes to a fault. I think it was probably groomed into me from the time I was able to hold a cloth and dust.

The house I did most of growing up in was an old turn of the century two story farm house. My mother would run about fruitlessly trying to keep up with the country dust that whipped across the open fields and deposited rich black topsoil and brown gravel road dust all over the house. The wood floors caught it and so we dusted those daily. The couches and coffee table hid dust of the bunny variety. So there was weekly cleaning to catch those gray fuzzy bunnies. In the summer, when the windows were let open to bring in a breeze, I could wake up and find dust on the kitchen table in a light layer just waiting , begging me to write HELLO with my pinky finger. We rinsed cups before using them even if they came out of the cupboard. It was really everywhere.

My brothers were often regulated to more manly type jobs but I honestly think she just didn't trust them to not waste a whole can of dust spray and go through three dusting rags just on the dining room. So my sister and I got to dust. With rags and special dusting mops! With lemony furniture polish that we could spray on the antique, wooden, buffet table and desk that shined it right up.

I love the instant gratification of a good dusting. I mean, you can SEE the clean! And the house smells clean, even if it isn't in the most tip-top shape. So now it is my Prince Ray's job to once a week dust up this house. He generally talks Princess Petunia into helping him and her little 2 year old self is so very proud to help with a big kid chore. He does not think it manly enough but is willing to to do it without complaining (usually) 'for Princess Petunia'.

A clean dusting of the house always makes me feel better. Yes, I know. Sounding a bit off kilter? I come from a long line of neurotic cleaners. If Lemon Dusting Spray makes me feel better, then so be it.

So in my search to make my own cleaning supplies I found a good one here and here. I tweaked the recipe and this now my favorite for homemade Lemon Dusting Spray.

oil

lemon

water

DIY Lemon Dusting Spray

one 4 oz spray bottle

1/2 teaspoon of olive oil

3 teaspoons lemon juice

10 drops of Lemongrass Essential Oil (or lemon, or orange...)

distilled water *

Using a funnel to pour into the spray bottle, combine the olive oil, lemon juice, and essential oils.

Fill the rest if the bottle with distilled water.

When using: shake the bottle well before using and spray on soft cloth or directly on the furniture. Wipe clean! :) This can be doubled or tripled but I usually just make it as I need to. Smells like summertime and childhood.

*distilled water is just filtered, boiled, and then cooled water. Any possible organisms in your water are then killed and thus a product that does not turn into a science petri dish.

So make some better for you and the environment, frugal, Lemon Dusting Spray and then DUST IT!

Always Blessed,

Gretchen :)

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Friday, February 1, 2013

Goin' Crunchy~ Orange Peel All Purpose Cleaner

Last year I was on a mission to save us some money AND healthy up my house. My sister and I started using all natural, homemade cleaners. I was shocked at how easy and how frugal it was to use homemade cleaners.

Now, I am a confessed, reformed, cleaning supply lover. I used to coupon clip for exciting new household cleaners. All those shiny colors and comic strip starred 'WOW! All New Formula!" call to me like a siren's song. I also loved those pre-packaged towels with disinfectant super powers. I was a sucker for smelly, linen-scented sprays and sprinkles. Something to scrub the bathroom sink and a different one to scrub the shower. A toilet cleaner, a floor cleaner, cleanser, and window spray all for just the bathroom. Oh yeah, and the blue smelly bar to make my toilet water blue because it somehow seemed cleaner.

One day while teaching Prince Ray which cleaner was for what so he could do his bathroom 'quick clean' chore (Yes, they take turns quick cleaning the bathroom because it is NOT me or the Princesses that pee BEHIND the toilet. Just sayin'.)I got a wake up call. Prince Ray gives me this slightly confused look and in all his boyishness type honesty says "Why do we need so many!?"

Good question. Do I really need a separate cleaner for the floors and the baseboards? Do I need to have cleanser, and toilet scrubby, and window cleaner, and electronics cleaner, and dust spray, and wood oil, and all purpose cleaner, and de-greaser, and dish soap, and grout cleaner, and... well you get the idea.

Better question is: Do I need to be spraying all of these ridiculous chemicals into the air daily that can affect my family's breathing? Do I need all this fake air freshener and surface disinfectant? What are we breathing into our bodies?! YIKES!

If you don't believe that your bought cleaning supplies could make you sick all you have to do is a quick google search and be amazed at the number of people whose health has responded positively by dropping the store bought, chemically laden cleaners. I can attest that my asthmatic child is breathing better and using his inhaler 1/3 of the time he was using it. We changed how we eat and we changed how we clean and it has made all the difference in the world. This is of course our personal experience, but it might be worth a try!

On to the recipe! So easy you will be on board for trying it with the next orange you eat!

Orange Peel All Purpose Cleaner


Peel the oranges! I did 4 this day.

Give the yummy oranges to your children for breakfast!

I use most all the Orange peel. Sometimes I save some out for making Dried Orange Peels.

Place in a glass jar that has a tight fitting lid. This is a canning jar but I have used any glass jar that is available.

Pour in straight white vinegar to the top. Cover the orange peels.

It is ready to be used when it is orange in color and the peels have begun to sink a bit.

Here are 3 different stages of 'brewing'. Three weeks, two weeks, and just made.

I like to strain it through a small sieve before placing in my spray bottle.

Ready to clean!

We use this for floors, counters, walls, the stove, door knobs, bathroom sink and shower, any mildew, dirty baseboards, yucky, greasy messes and pretty much any other hard surface that needs cleaning. It smells delightful. It is super inexpensive. It uses what I always already have around my house. And... It Works.

Note* I have also thrown in grapefruit, lemon, or lime peels as we have them. They can be a bit acidic but all citrus has natural cleaning and disinfectant qualities. See here for more information.

Always Blessed,
Gretchen :)

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Frugally Sustainable
Raising Homemakers
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A Wise Woman Builds Her Home
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