Homemade Yogurt

The next installment of Continuing Homemaker Education is homemade yogurt. 

I'd often thought about, and even pinned a few recipes for making yogurt in my crock pot but I never did anything with it.  Frank sits next to a Jordanian exchange officer at ACSC and we've made an attempt to get to know him and his family.  We went over there to drop off some Danielle bread and while we were there the sweet wife of this officer gave me some of her homemade yogurt to try.  It was awesome!  She invited me over to learn how to make it and I was floored at how easy it was and how great it tasted!  The girls and I have made it several times, most recently for our Y week, and have had great success each time.  I don't think I'll ever buy yogurt again!

Heat whole milk to a boil, whisking continuously so it doesn't burn to the bottom of the pan. 

Once boiling, remove from heat and allow to cool until just warmer than you would drink. 

 

Remove a little of the warm milk into a cup and add in 1-4 TBSP of the yogurt starter (or Greek yogurt from the store) and stir together. 

 

Add the yogurt/milk mixture back into the warm milk and stir. 

Pour milk into a plastic container and put on lid.

 

 Wrap container in a large heavy comforter (I use our down comforter) and let sit for 5 hours. 

 

After 5 hours check and if yogurt is still liquidy, replace lid and re-wrap for another 2-3 hours.  Every time I have made mine I have let it sit for about 7 hours. 

Place yogurt in fridge overnight before eating.  For sweeter yogurt, use less of the starter, for more sour yogurt, use more starter.  If you are using yogurt from the store as your starter, use the full 4 TBSP.

Cotton Pickin'

A sweet lady at our church invited several of us out to watch the cotton harvesting at her farm in Pike's Road this week.  We headed out there on Veteran's Day and had a great time.  It was so interesting to watch and then she allowed all the kids to pick their own cotton by hand.  The farm was harvesting the cotton about a month later than normal because of the cool summer that Alabama had this year!  It was plenty hot out for us while picking cotton and it certainly made me think about what a wonderful inventions the automatic pickers and cotton gin are!

 

 

Grace AnneMarie - 12 Months

The baby is 1.  This week has been party central around here.  For Reformation Day, we celebrated with our new friends here in Alabama.  Just as a side note, I knew that God would be faithful in providing fellowship for us but I am continually amazed at Him and His provision of wonderful, likeminded people everywhere we go who sharpen and love us and our girls!  The next day was my birthday followed by Grace's the next day.  So, there is plenty of sugary desserts at our house :)  Here is Grace in her birthday dress....

Sleeping - Continues as before with no real changes.  2 naps a day and 12 hours at night, it is pretty hard to complain about that! 

Eating - Her appetite has diminished somewhat and she is becoming more picky about what she wants to eat (bread still being her favorite) but she knows that she has to eat what is on her tray before receiving more of anything else.  Her first taste of sugar was a great day for her when she enjoyed her carrot cake cupcake on her birthday yesterday.  She has been fully weaned to whole milk and is taking it just fine in a bottle.  Our next big task is to wean to a sippy cup. 

Skills - At the beginning of the month she was pulling herself up with the aid of a stationary object (or person) but towards the end she is standing up by herself.  She is really enjoying her walker toy and is cruising around the furniture.  Any day now she is just going to take off walking on her own.  She really likes crawling up the stairs at the playground and does really well with it.  She continues to wave at everyone (even the moon).  She has stopped crying when we drop her off at the nursery at church which is nice :)  She has learned to put things back in the box, bag, etc., so we are teaching her the clean-up song. 

Play - Grace still loves dolls, stuffed animals, and books.  She is the happiest baby; squeals with delight at random times.  Her solo play is going better also.  She usually cries for a minute or 2 at the beginning but then settles down to play for about 20 minutes and I could probably lengthen it at any time.   She really loves to empty the laundry basket and the ball pit in the back yard play set.  Between that and the toddler swing she is pretty happy outside!  Grace also loves the little play kitchen and although it is a little trying for the older girls sometimes, she enjoys doing whatever they are doing in the kitchen and craft area. 

I am not doing a year 34 update for myself but here is me in one of the 2 birthday dresses I made myself this year...