Homemade yogurt

Did you know you can make your own yogurt at home? I have been wanting to try this for quite some time now but it was just one of those things that kept getting pushed to the back burner. After discovering that I have a sensitivity to eggs, my morning breakfast routine was shot, so I resorted to eating yogurt and fruit every day for breakfast. The kind of yogurt I get can get expensive after a while. I buy all of my dairy organic and I also love Greek style yogurt because it's thick. Do you know how much organic Greek yogurt is? Over $7!!!! I only bought that one time before I decided it was time to make it on my own. Really I wasn't even getting what I really wanted anyway, which was a full fat yogurt. The only kind I can ever find in my grocery store is low fat or fat free. Low fat and fat free products are altered and usually have higher sugar and carb content to make up for the loss of fat.

To the internet I went for some yogurt recipes. Some used the stovetop and a thermometer but I don't have a thermometer and don't think I have the patience to stand at the stove that long. The recipe that I chose uses a crockpot and only takes about 10 minutes of hands on time. It really couldn't have been more simple. You need live active cultures to make yogurt. You can use a store bought yogurt the first time and then subsequent batches can be made with your own yogurt starter. Yay! Homemade full fat organic Greek style yogurt on the cheap without all that excess sugar! Go try it for yourself.


Ingredients
1/2 gallon of whole organic milk (or any milk that you prefer)
1 cup of plain yogurt of your choice (I used Oikos Organic Greek)

Directions
Pour milk into crockpot. Cover and heat on low for 2.5 hours. Do not let boil. Then turn off crockpot, unplug, and with the lid on, let sit for 3 hours. Next whisk in a cup of yogurt of your choice. Take out the insert and wrap with a bath towel. Place in a cold oven (not turned on) and let sit for 8-12 hours. I did mine for 8 because I was going to bed. Voila, the cultures have done their job and you have yogurt. If you prefer a thicker yogurt, use a coffee filter in a strainer and strain excess liquid away. If you want flavored yogurt or sweetened, mix in pureed fruit, stevia or honey. Pour finished product into desired container and store in refrigerator. I used glass mason jars.

Adapted from:  http://www.nourishingdays.com/2009/02/make-yogurt-in-your-crock-pot/

C is for Camping

For the big finale of our "C" themed week, I wanted us to go camping. I figured the heat plus a baby and a 3 year old was a recipe for disaster so we opted for indoor camping. Ken and Bailey set up a tent on our porch/playroom complete with air mattresses, blankets, sleeping bags and tons of Bailey's stuffed animals. We grilled steaks, corn on the cob and broccoli for dinner. We roasted marshmallows in our fireplace which was hilarious in 95 degree heat with the air on. Then we put Eli to bed and topped off the evening with Pebble and the Penguin in the tent before bed. Bailey had the best time and especially loved bouncing from mattress to mattress inside the tent. Here are some pictures of our indoor camping trip.

Helping Daddy set up the tent

All set up

Roasting marshmallows

Wrestling with Daddy

Posing with mommy

Cuddling with Eli the next morning

Letter of the week-C

Here are some of the things we did this week to go along with our "C" theme. C proved to be a FUN week!

Crabby "C"
Inspiration: http://homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com/2009/10/c-is-for-crab-craft.html


Car lunch: Cherry wheels, cheese road, and strawberry/broccoli/banana traffic light

Memory Verse

Read Very Hungry Caterpillar and Caterpillar Craft- dipped a soft ball in paint
Inspiration: http://meetthedubiens.blogspot.com/2011/04/balloon-print-very-hungry-caterpillar.html

Made homemade cupcakes


C tracing page
Source: http://momto2boys24.blogspot.com/2010/09/printables-alphabet-tracing-papers.html

Cross Bible lesson(no pictures)

Camping (pics to come in next post)

Tilapia with mango salsa

If you like flavor, this is your meal. Fish by itself is not one of my favorite things. I'll eat it but I much prefer it doctored up with a fresh salsa, sauce, or salad. Tilapia is such a mild fish that it pretty much pairs with anything and just melts into the background. I had bought a mango on sale at the store this week and we had tons of tomatoes from our garden so mango salsa seemed to be a natural fit. If you've never had mango salsa before, try it. It's delicious. I've also put red onion and cilantro in it before but Ken doesn't like cilantro and onions have been bothering him lately so I didn't add either. This salsa would also be good over chicken and even porkchops. I once again was in a hurry and on my way up to church the night I made this so I needed a quick side. Garlic green beans for the win. They are frozen long skinny ones and made such a yummy quick compliment to the fish. I simply sauteed them in bacon grease, added 1-2 cloves of fresh pressed garlic and some salt and pepper. Delish!

What Bailey ate: She said fish smelled disgusting but loved the mango and tomatoes. She ate mango, tomatoes, green beans, strawberries and peanut butter.


Tilapia with mango salsa

Tilapia (I made two small fillets per person)
coconut oil
salt and pepper

salsa
1 mango diced
1 tomato diced
1/4 large red pepper diced
1 clove garlic pressed
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp basil
2 T olive oil
1 T red wine vinegar

Combine all salsa ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Chill in refrigerator until ready to eat. Heat 2 T coconut oil in skillet. Season fish with a slight amount of salt and pepper or only pepper. Cook fish fillets for just a few minutes on each side until fish begins to flake. When plating, top with a generous serving of fresh mango salsa.

Zucchini pizza

What do you do with all of that zucchini in your garden, especially the ones that accidentally got WAY too big? You make zucchini pizza of course. This is a recipe that I was inspired to make that I got off of pinterest. I just love that site. So many lovely ideas and eye candy floating around. The basic idea I got from there but I made my own sauce and topped it differently than my inspiration. This is the second time I have made these this summer and they are a hit every time. They're healthy and fun to eat, just like pizza. Give it a try, I think you'll like it. Full disclosure, Bailey still isn't sure about zucchini. I have yet to make it a way she'll eat it. She just eats the toppings on this one.

Zucchini pizza
inspired by: http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2010/08/recipe-for-grilled-zucchini-pizza.html
1 large fat zucchini
small can tomato sauce
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp basil
1/8 tsp salt
shake or two of red pepper or flakes
mozzarella cheese (I used fresh and sliced it)
desired toppings (mushrooms, peppers, pepperoni, sausage, spinach, olives, etc)


Slice zucchini into 1/4 inch thick rounds and place on lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until zucchini is tender but not all the way cooked. While zucchini is baking combine tomato sauce, garlic, oregano, basil, salt, and red pepper in sauce pan over med-low heat. Simmer until zucchini is done. Top zucchini rounds with sauce, mozzarella cheese, and desired toppings. Turn up the heat to 450 degrees and baked until cheese is bubbly and veggies are cooked.

What we ate {2}

None of these are "recipes" but I'm still going to post them to give you some meal ideas. This is what I cooked for dinner last week. We also ate one meal at my grandparents', one at church, and one at the mall. Breakfasts were some combination of greek yogurt, fruit, smoothies, eggs, or breakfast meat. Lunches were leftovers or salads. Enjoy!

Cajun chicken sausage kabobs with tomatoes, peppers, onion, and zucchini all from our garden.
Sausage was nitrate, msg, gluten free and minimally processed. No funky ingredients.

Pork roast in the crockpot with roasted asparagus and carrots. Sorry for the dark pic. We ate this at almost 9pm. :(

My take on a BLT: Lettuce wrap with bacon, spinach, tomato, peppers, avocado, and shrimp. Yummy.

Buffalo chicken salad: Fast, delicious and healthy. All the taste of buffalo chicken wings without frying.

B is for Ballet

Yes I know we have already done a "B" letter of the week roundup post but this was just too cute to not have an entire post by itself. I could be a bit biased though because having been a dancer myself, I have been itching to get my little girl dancing and interested in ballet. So today for our "B" craft and activity we did ballet. We first made a ballerina craft which was adorable and she loved. Then we got all dressed up in her new fancy ballet dress thanks to Grandpa Kenny and GiGi and put her hair up in a bun. I found some old ballet shoes of mine that are still too big for her but she didn't care. She really thought she was big stuff. Then we put on some classical music and worked on our routine. It was really a lot of fun. Unfortunately my camera battery went dead because I REALLY wanted to show you how Eli got in on the action. While we had our recital, Eli sat in his own gray tutu chewing on a ballerina stuffed animal. Daddy would have had a fit. Hilarious!!!!

Last minute adjustments to her shoes before she performs.

Twirling
(too bad I don't know how to use my camera well enough to capture this)


Pointing her toe in shoes that are 10 times too big for her feet. So serious!