Jarod has become my most devoted helper in the kitchen. He did a great job of helping me knead bread dough this morning. He took my instructions so well. I told him to push the bread then fold the bread, and he did exactly as I showed him, over and over. What a boy!
He kept pushing the dough farther and farther away from him, so by the time he was done he had flour all over his little brown belly from leaning on the counter. So adorable!
By the way, the orange pot on the stove in the background is full of black beans that I soaked and boiled this morning. Healthy and delicious!
I've been reading a new-to-me website, passionatehomemaking.com, and I've come across a lot of wonderful ideas to feed our family healthful food frugally. One of the author's ideas that I had to try was Crock Pot Yogurt. I didn't even know, until just the other day, that one could make yogurt one's self. It never occured to me that yogurt could come from anywhere except the yogurt factory to Walmart! The recipe on passionatehomemaking.com was so simple, I could hardly believe it. I put a half-gallon of milk into the crock pot and turned it on low for 2 hours and 45 minutes. Then, I turned off the crockpot and let it cool for 3 hours. (So far, the only ingredient is milk. How simple is that?)
After the 3 hours of cooling, I removed 1 1/2 - 2 cups of milk from the crockpot and whisked it together with 1/2 cup of plain yogurt. Then I added it back to the milk in the crockpot, whisked it just a bit, put the lid back on, and covered it with a couple of bath towels. It then had to sit for 8-12 hours; I actually let it go for 14 because it finished at 4:45 am. Not getting up to check then, uh-uh.
When I opened the lid of the crockpot, what I saw looked like milk, but with a considerably thicker consistency. I poured it into these two quart containers and put 1/2 cup into the tiny container in the foreground of this picture. That 1/2 cup will be the yogurt that I whisk into the next batch after heating and cooling. The yogurt has to sit in the fridge for a day before using. I haven't tasted it yet . . . I don't like the taste of plain yogurt, so if I tasted it and it tasted bad, I wouldn't know if it was really bad or if it was just me. I don't plan to use the yogurt for eating, anyway. I have been in the habit lately of making smoothies for breakfast and will use this yogurt in those smoothies.
So . . . Is it really cheaper than store-bought? I had to buy the quart containers for storage since I didn't have anything that would be just right. I paid $1.68 for 4 of those, and only need 2 for yogurt. So that means a yogurt-cost of $.84 per batch, or $.42 per quart. Milk costs us less than $3.00 per gallon, so I used just under $1.50 for this yogurt, $.75 per quart. I did have to use a bit of store-bought yogurt in the recipe. I pay $1.72 for a quart of Walmart-brand plain yogurt, so my 1/2 cup costs $.22. Grand total for this batch of yogurt, then: $2.56, or $1.28 per quart. I already beat Walmart's price by $.44 per quart. Next time around, I won't have to buy the containers or the starter-yogurt, so my cost next time will be just $.75 per quart, a savings of almost $1.00 per quart over Walmart's best price. AND I have the added bonus of knowing what's going into the food I'm eating. I think it's too easy and too frugal to not make my own yogurt from now on.
On an unrelated note: it's been really nice to be off this week, with the exception of the Summer Seminar sessions I was involved in. I had permission from Dr. Shoemaker to attend some different sessions this year. I attended 5-6 grade Language, 5-6 grade Reading, and 5-6 grade Spelling and Penmanship. It was very informative to get a better perspective on how those subjects are taught. It's been about 6 years since I taught them, and I needed a boost. :) I also got to teach 4th grade History and 5-6 grade Science. Both very enjoyable and I got good feedback from delegates. Of course, I don't think anyone would walk up to me and tell me that I was terrible and they never want to see my face again. I'm thankful, though, for the kind words, and for the idea that I might have helped some teachers face a new year.
Dianna, Jarod, and Ayden are ready for a "splinker" day, so I'm off to man the splinker, then to make rice, eggs and pisupo for lunch. (Oh, I hope I spelled that right; I'm so embarrassed if I didn't.)
1 comment:
crock pot yogurt sounds awesome! I'm going to have to try it. I remember mom making yogurt when we were growing up but using the crock pot will make it that much easier. I use it for my smoothies too, so this is an awesome tip. Love you guys! Hope your splinker time went great :)
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