Category — Natural Food

There are many things that folks have lost the knowledge of, like making the simple things. Our ancestors (and not that far back) knew these things. We have become dependent on the convenience of finding everything we need on the grocery store shelf. Large corporations, that want you to buy their product, plant the seed of fear and doubt that we can not make things ourselves because there must be some kind of secret process or it’s not safe.

Ok, sorry, I’ll get off my soap box (for now).

I just made yogurt. Right here in my kitchen. There was no secret process. It is entirely safe. I consulted a few books and a few internet sites. Each gave the same general information. Using all those sources here’s the recipe I came up with.

Ingredients:

• 1 quart whole milk (pasturized, not ultra-pasteurized. Raw milk is good to use but pricey & hard to come by.)
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt with live cultures ( this will be my starter. Once I have made my own, I can use that as a starter for the next 3-4 batches. Then I’ll need to start over.)

Equipment:

• A large pot
• Thermometers (one for checking the temp of the milk & an oven thermometer for checking the temp in the incubator)
• Quart jar or container
• A cooler
• Jars of hot water
• Bath towel

Process:

• Heat the milk to about 140°. ( Or, Bring it just to a boil.) Stirring to keep it from forming skin. Remove from heat to cool.
• While the milk is cooling, place the jars of hot water & the oven thermometer in the cooler. Place the towel on top & cover with cooler lid.
• Once the milk has cooled to about 115°, whisk the yogurt starter & 1/2 cup of the milk together until smooth. Pour into the quart jar.
• Pour the rest of the milk into the quart jar & stir. Put the lid on the jar & place inside the cooler with the hot water jars. Check the temp, it should be between 100°-115°.
• In a few hours it should start setting up. Keep checking the temp in the cooler every few hours. Replace the water in the jars as needed to keep the temp right.
• Once the yogurt has become firm, place it in the fridge.

It works! You can now eat it as you wish. I like mine with granola or my homemade grape nuts cereal. You can mix in some jelly or jam, fresh fruit or make smoothies with it.

Everyone here eats yogurt, including the dogs, cats, chickens and ducks. The yogurt I made yesterday (my first batch) passed the taste test with all of us. It was really good. Now that I know the process, I’ll be making larger batches.

One day we hope to have goats. The milk they provide can be made into cheese & yogurt. Having the knowledge of how to make these things will be an asset. Learning to make cheese is next on the list!

Methods of incubation for Homemade Yogurt:

In my research I found several methods of incubation. I chose the cooler method because it used very little electricity (just enough to get the hot water from the tap).

• Yogurt in the crockpot
• Yogurt in the oven
• Yogurt in a gas oven
• Yogurt with a heating pad
• Yogurt in a picnic cooler

Tip: In my research it was suggested that you use whole milk until you get the process down. Then try low fat milk in your future batches.

I completely forgot to mention that the milk and the yogurt used for the starter were Organic!

Curious about something? These are actual questions I get through comments and site searches. Some can be pretty strange. If you have a question or an answer just send it through the comment section of the Questions and Answers for Simple Living page or any post page.

Critter Queries

Q. How old are chickens when they go broody?

Q. Can I keep chickens in the garden?

Q. How long should my runner duck sit on her eggs?

Q. How old are Indian Runner ducks when they lay eggs?

Home and Health

Q. Can i put straight apple cider vinegar (ACV) in my ear?

Q. Can I leave ACV in my hair?

Q. Do the voices in my head bother you?

Learn and help us and others learn about homesteading, farming, gardening, critters and living the simple life. Post your question or answer today.

Go to cereal aisle of a typical grocery store. Now, start reading the ingredients of your favorite cereal. Is High Fructose Corn Syrup on the list? More than likely. I have found only 3 cereals from the top 3 cereal makers that do not have HFCS. They are GrapeNuts, Shredded Wheat and Cheerios. There may be more but my local grocery does not carry them.

I like to know what’s in the food I eat. That’s why I make a lot of our food from scratch. I found a recipe for grapenuts and tweaked it with my own twist.

Homemade GrapeNuts

In a large bowl mix your dry ingredients (as always organic is best):

• 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup sugar (Original recipe called for brown sugar but regular works too. I just add Molasses.)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1 1/2 cup oatmeal
• 2 tsp cinnamon

Pour in:

• 2 cups sour milk or buttermilk (you can make milk sour by adding 1 Tsp of vinegar to it)
• Before blending in the milk add:
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Mix it all together and pour onto a greased baking pan.

Bake at 375 for 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool completely.

When cooled use a food processor to break it up into smaller grapenut size pieces (I make mine a little larger so that I don’t have a lot of tiny crumbs).

Bake at 300 for 1 hour. Stirring every 15 minutes. Turn the oven off and leave in the oven until morning.

That’s it. I love to eat mine with vanilla yogurt and blueberries. Uumm, uumm good!

For a long time I’ve been wanting to start a strawberry patch. Finally, last spring we bought some plants from the county 4H. We prepared a bed down by the creek. Adding compost to the soil we planted them in hills. To keep the chickens out we built a primitive fence around the strawberry patch using sticks and twigs we gathered from the woods (this spring we rebuilt it using bamboo). Then we waited…

We waited for Spring to come around again, anticipating the ripening of our first Strawberries. We have been watching the strawberries flower and then develop little green berries for about a month now. Well, yesterday was the day. I went down to the garden and peered over the strawberry fence. There they were, nice plump red berries!

I was tempted to pluck one off and eat it right then and there. But this was a special occasion. I wanted to get some photos of them before I picked them. I had to wait a little while longer because Charley had gone to town and had taken the camera with him.

Finally, after supper, I took my photos and then picked 7 beautiful, red, ripe organically grown Strawberries. I enjoyed my 3 1/2 berries with a bowl of my home made cereal with a few dolops of vanilla yogurt and a little milk. Ummm Ummm Good!

I can’t wait to make pies, shortcake and ice cream with the strawberries we harvest. But, I need to remember to put some away for those winter time treats.

It’s very satisfying to know that the things we do here at the River Rest takes us one step closer to being self sufficient. Looking back, I see that we have come a long way. But we still have a long way to go.

It’s been a while since I posted a favorite simple recipe. This is for my favorite salad dressing. It only takes minutes to make. It’s so good that when my salad is gone I turn the bowl up and drink any dressing left in bowl! Our dog Opie even likes it! This dressing is also great for slaw and as a marinade for meats.

Homemade Honey Vinegar Dressing

In a bowl or dressing bottle mix together:

Equal amounts of(I use 1/4 cup or 1/3cup for the 2 of us. It usually last for a couple of meals.)

• Apple Cider Vinegar
• Honey
• Oil
• Water

1/2 teaspoon Lemon Juice

1 clove minced Garlic

1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt

Dash of Ground Black Pepper

Stir it to dissolve honey. Shake or stir before using.

I have one of those Good Seasons salad dressing bottles. I have also used a glass measuring cup with a pour spout. You can also reuse / recycle those glass bottles that store bought dressings come in.