Experimental Yogurt

   The other day, I was going through some cookbooks of mine, and came across one about making yogurt. I read it, and thought it didn't look that hard, so I'd give it a try.
   Here's the recipe I used: 1-2/3 cup powdered milk
                                         4 cups water
                                         1 heaping tablespoon, plain yogurt that contains live bacteria
                                         1/3 cup powdered milk
                                         1/4-1/3 cup milk
                                         1 tablespoon vanilla extract ( used powdered extract)
                                         Strawberry preserves ( I used Smuckers)
                                         6- 8 oz jelly jars, or some other kind of heat proof container with tight fitting lids
                                         6 Qt. crock pot-heated on low
   Pour boiling water in clean containers.
   I mixed the first 2 ingredients together, and brought to 180 degrees to kill off any unwanted bacteria. I removed it from the heat, and set aside 1/2 cup and poured the rest into a bowl to cool down to 110 degrees.
   I added the plain yogurt to the 1/2 cup milk that I had set aside. When the rest of the milk was 110 degrees,( You don't want to add the yogurt to the milk when it's hotter that 110 degrees because you will kill all the living bacteria) I added the sugar, vanilla, 1/3 cup powdered milk and stirred until the sugar was dissolved. Next I added the 1/2 cup milk, yogurt mixture and mixed well. Pour out the water from the containers.
   I put about 1 heaping tablespoon, (not the measuring kind of spoon), strawberry preserves into the bottom of each 8 oz. jelly jar. Next, I poured the milk mixture into the jars and screwed on the lids.
   I put the jars into my 6 qt. crock pot, and put the lid on, and turned off the heat. I let it sit for 35 minutes and then turned the heat on low for 15 minutes and turned it off for another 35 minutes. I did this for 3 hours. According to the recipe, it was suppose to have gotten thick, like custard. It didn't. This called for further research. I found several sites on the internet that said I could put the jars in my toaster oven if it had a setting for 100-110 degrees. I just happen to have one, so I set the temp for 105 and put the jars in, on a tray, for 1 hour. After the hour was up, it had thickened up, so I put it in the fridge.
   This morning when I went to try it, it looked like yogurt, nice and thick. I stirred it to mix the fruit in the bottom, and it got thinner, like a thin milkshake. It tastes good, just thin.
   I am going to add an 8 oz. jar of yogurt and some crushed ice and make a smoothie with my Magic Bullet. I might add more Strawberry preserves.
   Next time I try making yogurt, I will just use the toaster oven and incubate the yogurt for about 4 hours and see how that works. I've read, that sometimes the most experienced yogurt makers sometimes end up with drinkable yogurt.
   There are ways to incubate the yogurt overnight, but it makes tangier yogurt, but I don't really care for tangier yogurt. Also, some recipes called for 1/2 cup plain yogurt, instead of 1 tablespoon.
   You are suppose to save 1 cup of your yogurt before you add any sugar or anything to it for your next batch of yogurt. You can also freeze the plain store bought yogurt in ice cube trays to use in your next batch. I'll have to try that.
   I will use milk instead of powdered milk next time. I just didn't want to use up my weeks supply of milk. I'd have chocolate milk withdrawls if I did that, and I can't have that.
   Once again, I think I have way too much time on my hands.  I'm trying to get us eating healthier, and I'm trying to figure out how to be more self sufficient. Also, it's a 30 minute trip to the nearest small grocery store.
   The experiments will continue on.
  
    
                                       

  
   

This is The weekend

This is Mother's Day weekend. Up here, that means it's plant your garden weekend. Tim is busy overhauling our rototiller, which has been sitting for a long time. This year, I think we need his and hers gardens. My spot for the garden isn't the approved garden spot. I'd like flowers this year, besides the vegies. Tim was told, and he told me last year, that the men up here "let" their wives have flower gardens if they keep them weeded. What a laugh. Everywhere I want to plant flowers is a bad spot. You'd think, with 5 1/2 acres there would be somewhere I could plant flowers. I am going to plant marigolds in and around the garden. Hopefully, deer don't like them. We'll see what kind of mishaps strike the garden this year.

Poodles and weeds don't mix

Chip decided to play in the weeds today. He rolled and ran in them. He had such fun. Unfortunately, poodles and weeds don't mix. I tried picking them out of his hair, but he was a mess, so he was attacked with a pair of scissors. His hair was about 2- 2 1/2 inches long. Now, it's about 1/2 inch long. He is still a wooly little dog. I do like longer hair on him, but I think he'll just have short summer hair cuts from now on. My scissor haircuts are getting better. This is the second time I've cut his hair this way. Soon, I hope, I will be buying these scissors with hair cutting guides called Scardy Cuts. Chip doesn't mind scissors, but he's afraid of clippers. I hope they do the trick. I did know Chip would be a high maintenance dog when I got him. Cutting Chips hair could be worse, he could be a sheep dog or a puli.

Next Winter

I just heard on our local news that next year is a La Nina year, which means another cold, wet winter. The newscasters were joking with one another about getting a house in Cabo in January. I think that's a bad sign. I guess we need to start stocking up on food now, since I'll be grounded. We haven't even planted our garden yet. It's a good thing I still have things to do. We'll see what the weather will really be like. It could probably change and be another warmer dryer winter. Time will tell.

It's That Time Of Year Again

  Yes, it's that time of year again. I know, you're thinking along the lines of gardens, etc, but I'm thinking of garage sales. Yes, it's garage sale time. When we lived in California, I never paid much attention to garage sales. What did I need someone elses junk for when I have enough of my own? I held garage sales to get rid of unwanted things.
  Up here, garage sales are held to get rid of excess stuff, get some money and as a social gathering. People up here love to talk, and a garage sale is a good way to meet people. We also go to estate sales. I do know how people feel watching others pick through their things and having to part with them because they need the money. I also know how it feels just to unload too much junk.
  We have found several good deals and passed up several bad deals. We have paid more than things were worth because someone needed the money. We have seen things that should have just been trashed.
  Along time ago I saw a bumper sticker that said " I break for garage sales". We need one of those. The garage sale signs we see call us,we have to follow them. It's fairly cheap entertainment and a good way to pick up something we can use at a good price, and meet people. We here some pretty interesting stories and  ideas. It's nice when we learn some of the history behind what we are buying, so we can tell it when we show off our "new" treasures.
  I guess it really is true when someone says one man's junk is another mans treasure.

What is that weird noise?

Lately, Tim and I have heard a weird tapping in the house. I thought it sounded like the pipes making noise. If you were in one end of the house, it was loud there, but if you walked to the other end of the house, it was loud there, also. I thought I had it narrowed down to the water heater. I was wrong. I went outside to see if I saw anything flapping in the breeze. Nope, nothing flapping, just a bird flying away. A bird wouldn't be making that type of noise. Wrong! It was a woodpecker. A confused woodpecker. It was pecking at all the metal vents on the roof, hopping from one vent to another, pecking all the way. The mystery was solved. We have a metalpecker. It pecks at different times of the day, all day long. It drives the dogs crazy, but they are getting used to it. It was kind of driving me crazy trying to find out what it was, too.We have even seen it pecking the stop sign down the street. OK, I suppose it could be another metalpecker at the stop sign. We do have your normal run of the mill woodpeckers out here as well, but this is the first metalpecker we've seen or heard. We have discovered that, sometimes, the wildlife up here is just weird. People up here jokingly call it W.A.C.O., Wild Animal Conspiracy Organization, and they are getting even with people for all the things people have done to animals. Sounds fair to me. So, if you ever hear a weird tapping at your house, look outside. Maybe you have your very own metalpecker, too.

Mountain Lion Attack

  Tim and I found out from our next door neighbor, that, a couple of weeks ago, a mountain lion attacked a horse in the yard of the people that live across the street from him. By the time the horse's owners found the horse, it was a couple of miles from here, and was pretty clawed up. The horse survived the attack.
  Tim told some coworkers about the attack and they told him to be sure and look up into the trees when we go out and get some bear spray and an air horn.
  We live in a wooded area, but we aren't really out in the sticks. We have neighbors all around us. I never have gone out too much when it's dark outside because ou all the eyes you see at different heights. Pretty creepy. I don't see well in the dark anyway. Tim is having second thought about his going out at night, too. We have one of those million candle lights he takes with him whe he leaves for work in the mornings to see what's out there.
  I'd need to get a backpack to carry everything in just to go to the street and get the mail. I guess when Jake and Chip and I go to get the mail and take the trash out, we are really trolling for mountain lions.

Uh Oh! I'm Thinking Again

Yup, I'm thinking again, and sometimes it's scary. It's not, this time. At least not much. I think I will have to get an outdoor cast iron dutch oven and try cooking in the great outdoors. It is suppose to be easy to do, with practice. I have been looking at dutch ovens and have decided that the weight of the oven will determine the size I get. Being the weakling that I am, I don't want one that weighs more than 17 or 18 pounds empty. I think that's about a 5-6 quart size.  Along witht the dutch oven, there is the lid lifter, and cleaning brush and cookbooks to get. Next, it will be the tripod to hold the dutch oven. Lots of gadgets and gizmos you can get, but all you really need is the dutch oven. It would be nice to take camping, use when the electricity is out, since our house is all electric, and just to cook with at home. There is the problem of finding someplace to store it when not in use. Guess I'd just have to use it all the time to take care of that problem. Think of the muscles I'll get hefting it around. Then again, I could just wat until Tim is hame and have him move it around for me. I would really like to do it all without help. I hear weight bearing exercise is good for osteoporosis so it'll do me good.

Spring Is In The Air

We have had one of the warmest winters on record up here, and people are ready for spring. We missed out on todays snow, which is just fine.
The birds are out busily collecting nest building materials, the sheep behind us are ready to lamb, (I really hope they all stay in their own fields this year), and soon, we should see little spotted fawns, and ducklings and goslings, and let's not forget all the wildflowers. I really wish my camera worked. Maybe, I wore it out taking snow pictures from the previous winters. Oh, and lets definately not forget all those yard and garage sales.
Gardens seem to be the topic on alot of peoples minds right now. It's so nice, should I get ready to plant now, or wait. I guess the rule of thumb up here is, if the snow is off of Mica Peak, it's time to plant. I don't think Mica Peak had snow this year, but it might have had a tad bit, if any. If that doesn't work, it's Mother's Day or Memorial weekend. We planted most things around Mother's Day last year, and of course winter decided to have the last laugh.
We can't see Mica Peak from our house, but we can see Mount Spokane, and it still has snow on it.
Last year, I jumped the gun a little, (ok, it was a couple of months), and started most of our seeds in the house, not knowing about the Mica Peak thing. I had to practically use a weed wacker to get through the dinning room. This year, I think I will just plant the seeds in the ground and take my chances.
Since we didn't have the amount of snow pack we need for water, lets hope we don't have a bad drought and bad fire dangers, since we live in the woods.
For now, I'll just go through all the new seed catalogs we have and figure out what to plant and enjoy our spring like weater.

I Have "IT"

I don't usually get sick, because I tell myself, it's bad for my health, but this year I managed to catch "IT". Tim brought "IT" home from work and really tried not to pass "IT" on, but no such luck. I was in the grocery store, coughing into my arm, and a woman came up to me and said, " I see you have "IT", too. "IT" just hangs around forever." Now, I know "IT" has a name. Tim and I are really tired of "IT". "IT's" one of those viruses, or something, that has to run "IT's" course. I've had "IT" for almost a month, and Tim's had it a couple of weeks longer. I keep thinking I might have to break down and go to the Dr., but I don't think she'd be able to do anything.
This year, no broken bones (I hope I just didn't jinx myself), just this case of "IT". Not much snow this year, and I'm really looking forward to spring this year.