Busy Day! Feels good.

Today has been busy & productive.  It's fall break here, so the kids are out of school today & tomorrow, & Jimmy doesn't have to work (working for the schools has its perks!).  I was actually able to SLEEP IN until 7:30am, which is almost unheard of for me.  My body has an internal clock that is set between 5-6am, and it rarely budges, so this was a nice treat.

I did a lot in the kitchen today.  I roasted/cooked four chickens for most of the day, got all of the meat off, and will make chicken broth with the carcasses tomorrow.  I bought the chickens (organic, all natural) from Costco- two for around $22.  That is a lot compared to what I normally spend on chicken, but I decided it was worth it.  I've seen all natural chickens for $22 a piece, so I decided it was the middle ground... a good compromise.

I got a lot of meat out of them, too.  If I stretch it out a bit it is enough for seven meals, plus all of the chicken stock I'm making tomorrow.

I was able to fit one chicken in my smaller crock pot, two in my larger crock pot, and then I roasted one.  The instructions for roasting said to put it in the oven at 350 for one hour.  It didn't say whether or not to cover it, so I did, thinking that it might dry out uncovered.  I took it out at one hour, and it didn't seem quite done.  I put it back in for 30 more minutes, and even then parts of the leg/thigh didn't seem done.  So I think I should have cooked it another 15 minutes at least.  The chickens in the crock pots cooked for 8 hours, and were definitely done.  Hopefully not too done- but they seemed all right. 

I decided to try making yogurt again, with a few changes from the first time.  Everything went much better, except I let it come to a boil again, dang it!  It happened a lot quicker this time.  In the instructions it said to stir it about every 10 minutes, so I had stirred it once after 10, I set the timer, and thought I had time to run down & throw in a load of laundry and make it back in time to stir again.  I made it back in less than 10 minutes, but it was already boiling.

I googled it, and found out that everything is fine if it reaches the boiling point, but the yogurt might not be as smooth.  That's a relief.  I can handle that, as long as everything else is working fine.

I had plenty of time to let it cool down (plan on hours!).  After more research I've discovered that you can cool it down by placing the pan in cool water, too. (DUH, Jan!)  Once it was about 90 degrees I poured it into the jars, added a tablespoon of Greek yogurt to each one and stirred them up.

I decided to use the cooler again, but this time I used a hot water bottle, and then covered it with a towel.

This should work a lot better than the cooler all by itself (duh, Jan! It's like I'm in the kindergarten of natural living).  I was going to use a heating pad, but we don't have one & I was going to have to buy one.  Everyone that I found had a 2-hr automatic shut-off, which wouldn't work.  The hot water bottle should be just fine.

I couldn't get the lid to stay down tight.  Like my red-neck solution?

I started my first sprouting project a few days ago.  Here's an update:

SWEET!  Kind of creepy, but sweet!  I took this picture in the morning, and now the sprouts are 2-3 times longer!  I can't even remember what's coming up in my meal plan that I'm making with this.  Can't wait to try it, whatever it is.  (Now if I can get my family to eat it!)

And last, but not least, I made Cowboy Cookies.  I was supposed to make these last week, but didn't get around to it. 

I know they're not much to look at, but they are GOOD.  I used a recipe from my October grainless meal plan that I ordered from http://www.homehealthhappy.com/. 

They have almond flour (I ground up my own almonds), coconut flour, salt, butter, eggs, vanilla extract, honey, pecans (I used walnuts instead), shredded coconut (I used chipped coconut), and raisins or other dried fruit (I left this out).

My family LOVED them.  Jimmy couldn't believe that they had no processed sugar, only honey.  He still can't get over the fact that butter is okay.  Yesterday he asked if he could buy some "I Can't Believe it's Not Butter" to put on his popcorn, and I said NOOOOO!  If only I could get him to read the book... :)

Remember the Yogurt?

I've had a little adventure making yogurt this week (HERE and HERE), and thought that the yogurt I made was a failure. 

All sorts of things went wrong while I was making it: 
*I brought the milk to a boil, which you're not supposed to. 
*I couldn't stay up late enough to let the yogurt cool down enough (it was taking FOREVER), so I waited until morning, and it had cooled off completely.  I turned on the burner & warmed it back up. 
*When I was done mixing everything up I put the jars of milk/yogurt into a cooler, which was supposed to keep it warm.  When I checked on them later, they felt like room temperature, which is a bit chilly lately.

So with all that happening, I thought for sure it was a failure.  Well, the day after my last post about it I got the jars out to clean up, and lo and behold, the milk had thickened up!  It looked like yogurt!

I wasn't sure if it would be safe to eat, but i put the jars in the fridge to chill.  I really wanted to try it, but decided to wait for a time that would be alright if I got sick or something.  Last night I tried it.  I put 4-5 drops of stevia in it, mixed it up, and ate it.  YUUUUMMMMY!  It was so good.  It was not quite as thick as yogurts at the store, but I've read they often add things to those anyway to thicken them up.  This was delicious, and no, I didn't get sick.  I ate some more this morning, this time adding cinnamon to it, and it was even better!  So, yea!  I'm glad I didn't throw it out.  I'll still use a heating pad next time instead of the cooler, but now I know the cooler worked & I can compare the two.

Now, Here's How You REALLY Do It!

I just found a tutorial on how to make homemade yogurt, and WHOA am I off on what I did yesterday! 

Remember how I mentioned before the great menu & meal planner for the GAPS diet I found on www.healthhomehappy.com?  Well I still like it over all, but I found another flaw.  Her instructions for making yogurt are pretty vague.  It says:

Heat milk gently on medium heat, stirring approximately every 10 minutes, until milk is close to a boil
[I was very consistent at stirring it, but when it was getting hotter & hotter the boiling point took me by surprise.  Too hot!] 
Cover, remove from burner, and allow to cool until the yogurt is comfortable to the touch, 90-110* F. [Check.  Finished this step at about 10:30pm.  At 12:30 am my milk was still too hot, so I went to bed, and did the next step in the morning. Nope, milk wasn't hot any more.] 
Pour nearly warm milk into jars.  Using one tablespoon of commercial yogurt per quart mix yogurt into the jars of warm milk.  Cover, and shake to distribute culture.  Keep it warm in a yogurt maker, food dehydrator, or cooler [Cooler?!  This is what I did, and it didn't keep it warm at all!  When I checked the bottles in the cooler later this afternoon, they were normal room temperature- not warm at all.]

So I googled "how to make your own yogurt", and I found an awesome TUTORIAL right away.  Things I'll do differently next time I try to make my own yogurt:

* Use a thermometer from the start so it doesn't begin to boil.
* Start earlier than 10:00pm. 
* When you're done use a heating pad to set the yogurt on  the counter top instead of in a cooler.

Have any of you made your own yogurt?  I'd love to hear your tips & advice.

Lesson Learned: Don't Start Making Yogurt at 10 PM

I love my new menu & planning guide for the GAPS diet that I purchased on www.healthhomehappy.com.  I love that it helps me plan ahead & prepare things the night before.

One thing that I was supposed to start tonight is yogurt.  I've never made homemade yogurt, but decided that it is time.  I started heating up the milk at about 9:30pm.  It finally came to a boil (which in the instructions it says nearly a boil, so I hope I'm not out of luck already!), so I turned off the heat & put a lid on it.  I'm supposed to wait for it to get in between 90-110 F before I add some yogurt to the milk to start a new batch yogurt.  It's now 12:30 AM, and it is still about 120 F!!  Seriously?  I had no idea it would take so long to cool off.  Now YOU know & can avoid my mistake.