{Thick} Homemade Yogurt

As promised, the accompanying yogurt recipe.

I always said I wouldn't make homemade yogurt. I can almost always get it cheaper at one of our many local discount stores than I can make it. And my few attempts before always turned out some slimy goop that was more drinkable than spoon friendly. Why bother??

Until the day I acquired 2 free gallons of milk that I knew wouldn't get used unless I got creative. I knew just who to call. My dear friend Lynelle who shared her tasty (thick) homemade yogurt during our visit last summer. She kindly shared the recipe too.

I've never made a batch that didn't turn out and well, let's just say I don't make near as many trips to the discount store as I used to. It's just that tasty!

Ingredients

1 gallon milk

1/2 cup sugar

2 1/2 Tbsp unflavored gelatin

1/2 cup cold water

2 Tbsp vanilla

1 cup sugar (additional) or 1/2 tsp. stevia powder

3 oz. plain yogurt

Heat milk and 1/2 cup sugar in a large pan to 180 degrees.

 Meanwhile, soak gelatin in cold water.

 When milk reaches 180 degrees, remove from heat and whisk in gelatin mixture.

Then cool to 110 degrees.

(Hint: The fastest way I know to do this is to sit it in a sink of cold water.)

Add

Vanilla, 1 cup sugar, and yogurt. 

Whisk until smooth.

Fill jars and close tightly.

Fill a large cooler with enough hot water to cover the jars.

Close the lid and leave for 12 hours.

(I do closer to 15 for a bit more of the tangy/sour flavor.)

Refrigerate until well chilled.

I prefer to leave it sit in the fridge unopened for a few days. I think this produces a thicker result than using it immediately.

Optional: If you want flavored yogurt add 1-2 tsp. of flavored gelatin per quart jar.

Note: this recipe makes approximately 4 quarts of yogurt. As you may have figured, we go ahead and double it around here. Thus the pictures of 8+ jars.

Local strawberries will be coming soon to this area. 

Mmm!

The shipped in ones will work in the meantime.

Now I need a bedtime snack!

{my favorite} Homemade Granola

It's a perfectly gorgeous 'summer' day here but it started out dreary and rainy so I started it out in the kitchen. At breakfast time yesterday some not very impressed children informed me that the granola was gone. AGAIN, I might add. Two batches in less than two weeks. I've been making granola off and on for years but over the past 6 months I've been tweaking and combining and rearranging recipes and I think I've finally got it right. At least if the {empty} jar on the counter is a fair judge. So today, I'm sharing it with you.

You will need.

8 cups oatmeal (you can use rolled oats or quick oats, I like a combination)
3 cups rice krispie cereal
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup chopped or slices almonds
2 cups shredded coconut
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Measure the first 6 ingredients into a large bowl. Stir.

Create jobs for over-eager little people {as needed.}

In a heavy pan melt butter, brown sugar and sweetened condensed milk over low heat. Stir occasionally until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Pour syrup over oat mixture and mix well. Spread on two large trays {with sides} and bake at 275 for 1 hour. Stirring every 20 minutes. Cool completely before storing.

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This recipe makes about 20 {1 cup} servings. I go ahead and triple it so there is some left for tomorrow. Okay, maybe it's not quite that bad but I do wonder were it all goes.

Tomorrow's project--Homemade Yogurt. I'll share that one too because they are best combined into a yummy parfait. Add a few fresh berries and you have the perfect breakfast, lunch, dessert or bedtime snack. So simple you can make them in seconds and so good it's always "just what I'm hungry for!" On second thought, maybe I do know where it all goes...

Use it Up -- Cooking Edition

  When we were preparing to move last summer one of my goals was to get the cupboards and freezer cleaned out. To use stuff up. My plan was to have everything in the freezer as ready to serve as possible. I thought we would use the stuff I made in the busy week of packing before the move but lots of kind people brought us tasty stuffs, so most of my preparations weren't needed. In the end it worked out perfectly, those frozen meals became lifesavers while we were living in kitchen chaos for several weeks.

  I got really intentional about planning meals around what I had on hand and really creative about using/substituting what I had for what I wished I had. It was really kind of a fun challenge. It almost became a game for me. I was surprised how easy it was once I adjusted my thinking a bit. I've usually been one of those cooks who can only think of things to make with what I'm out of......the freezers full of chicken so I'm really inspired to make meatloaf. Does this happen to anyone else??

  Now that we've moved and I've been trying to do a form of once a month grocery shopping the need for creativity continues. Here are just a few of my concoctions/inventions lately.

Invention #1-- I had partial cans of beans and corn leftover in the fridge so I sauteed chicken tenders and topped them with the beans and corn as well as chopped tomatoes and fresh cilantro. I added some cheese and ranch dressing and YUM! I wish I had some leftover beans and corn in my fridge right now!

Inspiration  #2 -- Ok so this is not original with me of course but......Believe it or not, my kids are not big on hot dogs. They'll eat them in the summertime because it's fun to roast them over the fire but their just not fans. This is ok with me for the most part. I don't see a need to convince them to like over processed-who-knows-what, but I had a bunch of hot dogs in the freezer leftover from a cookout in the fall and I wanted them used up. I made these pretzel dogs with my favorite soft pretzel recipe--big hit!

Solution #3 -- Hide it in the soup! I very sweet friend had given me ready-to-freeze mashed sweet potatoes, which I thought were delicious, but again the kids were not convinced. I was making "use up what's in the fridge" veggie soup one day and I decided to add some of the mashed sweet potatoes to it. Worked like a charm! The kids of coarse never knew it was in there and it made the soup nice and thick, just perfect for little people to scoop up easier.

Idea #4 -- Garbage to gourmet! =) After baking potatoes for a breakfast casserole I cut a bit deeper when I took the skins off and turned them into these tasty appetizers. Don't they look like something you would order as a appetizer when you go out to eat?? And to think I usually just throw the skins in the garbage bucket.

 I even tried my hand at homemade tortillas one day. I had a rice and beans mixture leftover  that I knew the kids would turn their noses up at. I decided my best options was to hide it in tortillas and cover it with cheese sauce as a disguise. But there was not one tortilla in the house so I made some. You've already noticed that there isn't a picture of them and for good reason! They weren't exactly picture worthy but they didn't taste bad and they did the trick.

 Thanks to my good friend Google you can find recipes for almost anything these days. I found a recipe that called for biscuit mix, which I did not have. 2 minutes on Google and I found a substitute. Love it!!

  And of course I have to mention my all time favorite use-it-up tip......make sure you always have plenty of cheese on hand. Everything tastes better with cheese on it. If your invention doesn't turn out quite like you imagined--sprinkle some cheese on it. If you left something in the freezer a little too long and it's gotten a bit freezer tasting--sprinkle some cheese on it. If you left it in the oven a few minutes to long and it's a bit dark on top--sprinkle some cheese on it. It's a miracle cure I tell you!~~

 I'm still a work in progress on this venture so if you have an idea for using stuff up I'd love to hear it!

Home is where.....

...the fresh warm COOKIES are! 

I caved! It was such a dreary, rainy, fall day.  Perfect for sweet tempting aromas to be filling the house! After 3 weeks of serving my family freezer meals and Little Debbie snack cakes, I decided it was time for some fresh homemade goodies. I had been gifted a bag a of fall colored M&M's that were just begging to be made into Monster Cookies. 

I used the recipe from KitchenCookie's Blog, you can find it here.

While I was looking for that recipe, I came across this one. I remember thinking they looked fabulous when I first saw them, but I had forgotten about them. They seemed like the perfect fall treat. Better make some of those too!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Caramel Drizzle

I highly recommend them!

There is one problem with that recipe though, it uses only part of the can of pumpkin. So to resolve that issue I decided to make an old favorite of mine. 

Jumbo

Pumpkin

Cream Cheese 

Muffins

Since I know you're gonna be making those rolls and you're gonna need  to use up your can of pumpkin too, I'll share the recipe with you.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins 

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 1/4 cup Pumpkin

1/4 cup oil

1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 1/4 cups flour

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt 

Beat sugar, eggs, pumpkin, oil and vanilla together. Combine flour, cinnamon, soda and salt. Add to pumpkin mixture and mix well. Divide batter into 9 paper lined jumbo muffin cups. (I only made 8 today but  I wasn't able to use all the filling.) 

Filling

8 ounces cream cheese

1 egg 

1 tbsp. sugar

Beat together until smooth. Drop large tablespoonfuls into the center of each muffin. Sprinkle with chopped nuts (optional.)

Bake at 350* for about 25 minutes.

 

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So now we have some homemade goodies in the house again but I know they won't last long. There are still a few boxes patiently waiting for some attention but nothing makes a house a home like the smell of warm cookies, right?

And the best part of all, while I was busy with all of that, supper was simmering away in the crockpot.

 Just a simple pork roast with a bit of seasoning but it was enough that the boy declared supper to be "really good" the moment he walked in the door after school. With a generous portion of Sweet Baby Rays bbq sauce and soft kaiser rolls, the hubster dubbed it "worth eating."

I love to cook! I love that my family loves when I cook! 

And I love that everyone is in bed for the night, so I can sample one of those Cinnamon Buns with a steamy hot cup of coffee!

It would be nice to share with a friend though!

Anyone??