Dry Mix For Scalloped Potatoes

I would love to write about things I think about and recent current events, but it just causes comments that I need to delete. I don't need the stress. Being an older woman already makes me invisible and open to criticism. It's amazing what people can say when they don't know you, so what do I do? I cook, even if it is for myself. I had a birthday a few days ago and wanted comfort food. This is the result.

 

What is this? It is a dry mix to make Scalloped Potatoes. I really like them but making them from scratch requires planning ahead and having the proper ingredients on hand. The scalloped potatoes at Costco are really good, but the carton is too big for me and they don't freeze that well. This dry mix is perfect for me. I can quickly make the portion I need. I would like to give credit to the person who came up with the original recipe but I don't know where I got it. The original recipe included dried chives and minced onion but I left that out. I actually made half the amount in this recipe because I don't need so much. I stirred all the dry ingredients together and stored it in a quart jar. I sealed the jar with a vacuum sealer.

Scalloped Potato Dry Mix

 

2 Cups powdered milk

1 Cup flour

1 Cup cornstarch

1/2 Cup dried parsley 

2 T. salt 

4  t. mustard powder 

2 t. pepper

1 t. garlic powder 

1 t. Italian seasoning 

Put 3 cups of peeled and sliced potatoes in a buttered baking dish 

Mix together 1/2 Cup of dry mix and 2 3/4 Cups water.

 

Pour over raw potatoes. I added a 1/2 cup of diced ham. You could add some diced onion if you like that flavor.

 

Dot with 2 T of butter

 

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

 

Apple Pie Bread

Today I was doing my normal morning chores as best I could, and I noticed I had some apples that needed attention. I usually make my own apple pie filling and these would be perfect. This is how I make it.

Apple Pie Filling

4 apples (different varieties require different cooking times)

2 T. butter  

1 t. cinnamon (more or less depending on your taste)

1/3 cup sugar

3 T. water

4 t. cornstarch

2 T. water

Peel, core and chop or slice 4 apples

Melt 2 T. of butter and 1 t. cinnamon

Stir the apples into the melted butter and cinnamon, then add 1/3 cup sugar and 3 T. of water

Cover and cook them for about 5 minutes or until they are starting to soften

Next dissolve 4 T cornstarch into 2 T water

Add this to the hot apples. Stir until the apples are soft and the filling has thickened. Boil for one more minute.

This filling can be used to make a pie or eaten like chunky applesauce. 

I was going to freeze the filling until Thanksgiving, but I changed my mind. I had seen a Apple Pie bread recipe on Facebook. It called for one can of apple pie filling. I figured my homemade filling would be the same thing. I found one can of filling equals slightly more than 2 cups of filling. This recipe makes about that amount. 

Apple Pie Bread

1 can apple pie filling, mashed (or 2 1/2 cups of homemade filling)

1 yellow cake mix

4 eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup self rising flour

1 T. cinnamon

1 chopped apple

I had purchased a yellow cake mix at Walmart in the clearance aisle.  It was a Dolly Parton edition for $.75. I haven't tried this mix before but it's just cake mix. How bad can it be?

I had eggs and cinnamon plus another apple.

The only thing I didn't have was self rising flour, but that is easy to make.

Self Rising Flour

1 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

Just mix all the ingredients together. If you use a mixer, add the apple pie filling and extra chopped apple last and mix in with a spoon.  This makes two loaf pans. Sprinkle some cinnamon and sugar on top before baking.

Bake at 325 degrees for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Homemade Rice-A-Roni

On the heels of my Hamburger Helper recipe http://www.thecabincountess.com/2024/01/make-your-own-hamburger-helper.html, I also tried one for Rice-A-Roni. I don’t buy that product either because of all the sodium and preservatives to give it shelf life. The box mix has palm oil, corn syrup and lactose. These are all ingredients we should avoid.  You have to be careful with dried soup base because some of them have corn syrup and high sodium also. 

In a clean mason jar add 1/2 cup of broken up vermicelli. You can make the pieces as small as you want.

Then add 1 cup of plain long cooking white rice (not instant), 4 t. of the best dried soup base you can find (either beef or chicken), 1 t. dried parsley, 1/2 t. Italian seasoning and 1/4 t. garlic powder.

Seal it up and keep it in your pantry.

To prepare brown 2 T. of butter in a pan. Add the dry ingredients from the jar and brown to your desired color without burning it.

Add 2 3/4 cups of water and simmer for 20 minutes. The liquid should be absorbed.

This can be eaten as a side dish or add some meat and vegetables for a hot dish.  It’s very good.

Baked Breakfast Egg Cups

If I actually had a job or somewhere to go in the morning, this recipe would be a perfect for on the go breakfast. I see them at Costco whenever I go but because these are so easy and less inexpensive to make, I don’t even consider it.  They are egg bites. I will include the original recipe, but I rarely follow a recipe exactly. I like to use what I have on hand. Most recipes have wiggle room. I had leftover ham cubes, green pepper from the freezer and some cheddar cheese leftover from Christmas. That is what I used. These are good right out of the oven or you can freeze them for later. If you freeze them either thaw first before heating or heat on a paper towel to absorb moisture. 

Bacon and Egg Breakfast Cups 

Ingredients:

12 slices of Canadian bacon (I used Ham cubes)

1 dozen eggs

2 T. grated parmesan (I used cheddar)

3/4 cup chopped grape tomatoes (I used green pepper)

1 T. chives (I omitted)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and spray or grease a 12-cup muffin pan

Arrange a bacon slice in each muffin cup. You might have to cut the circle half way through to fit

Crack 1 egg into each muffin cup (I mixed like scrambled eggs)

Sprinkle with salt and pepper

Put the cheese on top.  If you use chopped tomatoes, put them on top also.

Bake for 15 minutes at 400F.  When cool pop them out of the muffin cups and eat or let them cool before freezing.

When frozen warm in the microwave for a few seconds. They heat up quickly.

Make Your Own Hamburger Helper

You wouldn’t think it would be necessary for someone in my situation to make meals in a hurry.  For me it’s a waste of time to spend hours making meals. Not that I don’t have time but food has become a necessity more than an experience. Recently I watched the Tic Tok of someone named "The Organizer Man”. He helped me out by coming up with an idea. For a year I could not remove the bowl from my kitchen aid mixer. I tried anything I could find on the internet to solve the problem. Washing it was an ordeal, but I love the mixer so I had to make it work. Since this contributor was addressing how to adjust the height of the beater, I asked if he had any ideas on how to remove a stuck bowl. He said his sticks too but he whacks the handle until it loosens. Mine didn’t have a handle to whack so I told him that. He wasn’t sure but said to wrap a piece of electrical tape around the bowl and pull. I used duct tape instead. I made a little loop at the end and put the handle of a mallet through the loop for leverage. In less than two seconds the bowl released. I have since bought a mixing bowl with a handle in case it happens again, but it was a simple idea that I would not have thought of. 

Since I was sucked into Tik Tok by that time, I watched a few more of his videos. He likes to make dry mixes like ranch dressing, creamed soup mix and the one I made.  It’s a Hamburger Helper mix. I am not sure I ever made Hamburger Helper. Maybe I tried it back in the 1970’s because it was cheap so I really can’t say if this recipe is as good as the box mix but this fellow says it is better. I looked up the product and found the ingredients. I am not sure what flavor it was because there are many but it is very high in sodium, and it has ingredients not included in the homemade recipe.

"Enriched Pasta (wheat flour, niacin, ferrous sulfate, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), Corn Starch, Salt, Wheat Flour. Contains 2% or less of: Modified Whey, Onion Powder, Color (caramel color, annatto extract), Maltodextrin, Potassium Chloride, Hydrolyzed Corn, Soy, and Wheat Protein, Yeast Extract, Natural And Artificial Flavor, Vegetable Oil (canola, soybean, and/or sunflower oil), Spice, Monoglycerides, Sugar, Safflower Oil, Silicon Dioxide (anticaking agent). "

Here is the recipe. It is all real food. There is no oil, citric acid, whey protein or dyes. If you want to add cheese, just use “real” cheese. I don’t like things salty so I used scant teaspoons of salt and garlic. 

Hamburger Helper

1 1/2 cups mini lasagna noodles or egg noodles 
2 t. paprika
1 t. onion powder
1 t. garlic powder 
1 t. salt
1 t. cornstarch

Save in jar. When ready to prepare just add to

1 lb. browned ground beef
1 cup water
2 cups milk 

Boil and simmer until noodles are done. Don’t overcook the noodles. Add more liquid if necessary.
About 10-12 minutes.

You can add sour cream and mushrooms to make it taste more like stroganoff.

You can add peas or any veggie you choose.

The dry ingredients are put in a jar one ingredient at a time.  I made a label with how to finish making it.

When the jars were filled and labeled, I used a mason jar sealer. It pulls the air out of the jar and seals the lid. This way the mix will last for months on a shelf just like a box of Hamburger Helper. It will probably last even longer.

The prepared product doesn’t look very appetizing, but it tastes pretty good. Adding other ingredients like peas or mushrooms modifies the flavors and adds more bulk. This is a terrible recipe for those who won’t mix their food, but for me it’s great. This recipe isn’t huge. Some recipes I have to eat for five days or freeze it. This will only last three or four. It is really hard to cook small quantities. 

I make herbed rice mix, vegetable bouillon and dry cream soup mix which I also put in sealed jars. It is so convenient when you don’t know what to make for dinner. I have blogged about how I always have browned ground beef in the freezer. I buy big packages and brown it all at one time.  I have blogged different techniques but this is my favorite and easiest. 

http://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/10/different-technique-for-browning-ground.html

When looking up the ingredients for Hamburger Helper, I noticed many different varieties. They have a taco flavor that I may try to duplicate. At least it will be more colorful. Stay tuned.

Sugared Pecans and Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups

Every Christmas season I host a cookie making day.  Usually it's just my youngest daughter, her youngest son and me.  Some years we have more people but this year it was just the three of us.  We try to make some new recipes each year. Sometimes they are great and sometimes they are not.  Mostly we stick to the old standby's.

This year we had two successful treats to add to our Christmas plate.

The first is Sugared Pecans.  I had posted a recipe for these a few years ago but these are much easier to make.

Sugared Pecans ( or any nut)

Ingredients:

⅓ cup water 

1-2 t. vanilla

1 cup sugar

2 cups whole nuts (pecan, almond, cashew)

Instructions:

Add 1/3 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar* to a heavy duty saucepan or skillet

Bring it to a boil over medium-high heat.


Once boiling, add the nuts and stir constantly until the water is boiled away. 

The sugar will begin to dry out and start to stick to the nut. Keep stirring them around, so they don’t have a chance to burn to the bottom of the pan.
 Keep stirring until the sugar is dry and sticking to the nut.

Let them cool completely.  These are so good, I will making them at other times of the year.

If they seem less crunchy than you want, put them in a 350 degree oven for 5 minutes.
*If you want a flavor like cinnamon, add to the sugar

 I have only done this with Cashews and Pecans, the process is the same.  The above picture is finished sugared pecans.  The pictures below are cashews.

The second cookie we made for the first time and really liked are Chocolate Chip Cookie and Rolo cups.

Rolo Cookie Cups

These chocolate chip cookie cups are baked in a mini muffin pan, and are topped with a Rolo. They are good with a little sprinkle of salt. 

Makes 24 cookies

Ingredients:

1 package 24 count chocolate chip cookie dough*
24 unwrapped Rolo candies
Sea salt 

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. and Grease a mini muffin pan generously with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Place one cookie dough piece (or about 1 tablespoon chocolate chip cookie dough) into each mini muffin cavity.

3. Bake until cookies are golden brown, about 12-14 minutes
4. Press the Rolo candy into the cookie. 
Let the cookies cool in the pan for about 15 minutes. If you try to remove the cookies too soon, they can break. Remove cookies from the pan and finish cooling. 

*Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
If using chocolate chip cookie dough, place 1 tablespoon of dough into each mini-muffin cavity.

"Whatcha Got" Soup

I have a Facebook friend I have never met in person.  She is the kindest and most upbeat person.  I became friends with her after seeing her on a local cooking show.  She was known as The Cookie Lady, and I'm always fascinated with people who can flawlessly ice cookies.  I don't have that kind of patience.  She is retired from full time cookie making but still appears on the television show now and then with delicious recipes, she loves her family and has even written a cookbook.  A few years ago I posted another one of her recipes.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2015/10/cranberry-wild-rice-bread.html  Several times over the past few years, she has mentioned making a "whatcha got" soup. Thank you Christine because I started doing that too.  I am not sure how she does it, but I make some variation of this basic soup almost every week with the intention of freezing some.  I have CorningWare 20 oz. mugs with covers that are perfect for freezing a single serving portion. It's good in theory but I usually end up eating it up before it gets to the freezer. 

This is the basic soup recipe.

 

 

Sauté any vegetables you have on hand or anything that needs to be used up…onions,  carrots,  celery,  sweet potatoes, white potatoes, peppers, garlic, any combination that works for you.  I usually have cut up peppers and onions in the freezer for omelets, and they work great in the soup.  You can buy diced sweet potatoes, mixed veggies and many others in the freezer department of your grocery store.  It's amazing what is available if you just look,  and you can have them on hand if you don't have fresh vegetables.

In this batch I diced a small onion, two large carrots, two stalks of celery, two cloves of garlic, a cup of shredded cabbage and a bag of frozen green and yellow zucchini.

After sautéing add:

1 can diced tomatoes

1/2 teaspoon dried basil, oregano or Italian seasonings, salt and pepper

1 carton of any broth (vegetable, beef or chicken) or 4 cups of homemade broth

1 cup dry macaroni or (cooked) rice

Simmer for 15 min. or less until the macaroni is done but not mushy.

There is no meat in this recipe but you could add beans or meat for protein.  If it’s too thick after adding the extras, add water or more broth.  

This is the batch with sweet potatoes, peppers and rice.  Making this soup doesn't take much more time than opening a can, and it is "real" food.

It's Easy To Make Ghee

Ghee is popular right now.  I have been making it for a year or more but I guess I haven't blogged about it.  If I have, I have forgotten but if I don't remember then no one else will either.  That is except for a couple friends of mine who remember back so far, they probably remember being born.  Ghee is nothing more than butter that has the milk solids and water removed.  It is the healthiest form of butter and is pure butterfat.  My daughter drinks Bullet Proof coffee.  Bullet proof coffee is black coffee blended together with ghee or grass fed butter and coconut oil.  I don't make it but it supposedly is very satisfying and good for a person.  I use ghee on toast and for cooking wherever you would use regular butter. 

My method for making ghee began with melting the butter in a pan and cooking it on the stove until the milk solids separated out and began to turn brown.  The brown bits would settle out.  Then I would strain it through a fine sieve.  This worked but you had to stand by the stove and watch carefully so it wouldn't burn.  Now I use my small slow cooker.  It is only a two quart cooker that I also use for overnight steel cut oats. 

I put the grass fed butter in and turn it on low.  I leave the lid ajar to let the steam escape.  In two or three hours the butter solids have separated and begin to turn brown.   The browner the bits, the nuttier the ghee tastes.  Unsalted butter is supposed to be used but often I don't have it on hand.  Salted butter works fine,  When separated the milk solids taste very salty and the ghee doesn't.  I presume a lot of the salt separates out too.  The cooked butter is strained leaving a clear yellow oil.  I put it in a dish to harden.   It has a higher smoke point if you use it in cooking.  Butter burns easily because of the milk solids it has in it.  Ghee has none left.

There are a lot of published reasons why ghee is better than butter but I don't know if all of them are true.  I do know that it is better for you than margarine.  Since the milk solids are removed it makes ghee basically lactose free and perfect for people with allergies and sensitivities to dairy.   I think it also tastes good and is just another small and easy way to a healthier life style.  Of course, moderation is the key.  You can't sit down and eat a bowl of ghee any more than you can overeat butter.  It's still a high calorie fat.

Making Caramel from Sweetened Condensed Milk

By now most of us have seen how to make caramel sauce by slow cooking sweetened condensed milk in the can.  All you do is place unopened cans of sweetened condensed milk in a slow cooker, cover the cans with water, put the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for five hours.  From what I can tell it works but cooking in the metal can always bothered me, and I never tried it.  Then I saw how you can do the same thing, but instead pour the milk into canning jars, cover with a lid and put it in the slow cooker or better yet, cook it in a pressure cooker.  I bought two cans of sweetened condensed milk at Aldi.  I poured the milk out into half pint canning jars.  Two cans of milk fit into three canning jars.  I put lids on the jars and put them on a trivet in the pressure cooker.  I added enough water so it came just under the lids.  I set the cooker on high for thirty five minutes and let the pressure release naturally.  When I opened the pressure cooker, I was amazed to see beautiful caramel dipping sauce for apples or anything you like to eat with caramel.  Just taking spoonfuls will work too.

It was very good, but I have very intense taste buds and I could taste a slight evaporated milk taste.  Maybe it was the Aldi product or maybe all sweetened condensed milk tastes that way.   My husband and my grandson's liked it, but I wasn't satisfied.

I decided to make my own sweetened condensed milk.  I used 1 cup of powdered milk (which also has that taste too), boiling water, sugar and a little melted butter.  I put it in the blender and mixed it until smooth.  Then I put that mixture in the small jars to cook in the pressure cooker.  It tasted better to me, but the texture was wrong.  Maybe I didn't blend it enough, maybe I blended it too much or it could be the butter.

Next I decided to try another brand of sweetened condensed milk.  It was between Borden and La Lechera.  I decided on La Lechera by Nestle.  Now I am very aware of the Nestle Boycott and of all of Nestle’s alleged crimes against humanity.  It has been going on for years.  Some of it has to do with baby formula but also about their business practices.  All the charges against them are most likely true, but to eliminate all products from a big company like Nestle is virtually impossible.  Nestle is also the parent company for thousands of other products we don't even associate with the Nestle company.  I have a feeling if we got down to the bottom line on most products, we would be disappointed.

The caramel I made from La Lechera was quite good.  I will be asking my family what they think, but I preferred it over the others I have made.  I will try the Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk by Borden next time, but as of now I have had my fill of caramel.  The Borden company probably has people protesting them too.  I don't really know or maybe Nestle owns Borden.  It's way too complicated for my brain.  The bottom line is that cooking any brand of sweetened condensed milk, which is basically sugar and milk, turns it into a nice caramel. 

  

Avocado Chocolate Pudding

I love chocolate.  I especially like chocolate pudding.  I could eat it everyday.  I stay away from the little pudding cups because they taste like chemicals, but I like the texture.  They say they are made with milk and are healthy but I can taste some type of preservative in them.  I know how to make pudding from scratch but it requires cooking over the stove which means planning ahead and lots of stirring.  I have been reading many different recipes for making Chocolate Pudding using avocados.  I couldn't imagine it working.  I have had some failures making "healthy" recipes, so I just never tried.  Just before I went on vacation, I had some avocados and bananas to use up.  I tried one of the pudding recipes and it was delicious.  The recipe I used had avocado, banana, cocoa powder, coconut milk and maple syrup.

After being home for a few days, I decided to make another batch.  I couldn't remember the exact recipe.  I looked online and there are hundreds of variations so I decided to wing it.

Chocolate Pudding

2 avocados (cut in half, take the pit out and scoop it out of the shell)
1 ripe banana
1/2 cup cocoa powder (use 1/4 to 1/3 cup if you want it less dark chocolate)
1 cup milk (if you're lactose intolerant, coconut or almond milk will work)
1/4 cup raw honey
1/4 cup chopped dates

I put them all in the blender and blended until smooth.

This is a very forgiving recipe.  Sweeten it with whatever you like...maple syrup, agave syrup, brown or white sugar or honey, banana and dates like I did.  Regular 1% milk worked just as well as the full fat coconut milk.  I imagine almond milk would work too.  If you don't like the taste of banana with chocolate, just use another avocado or leave it out. 

The calories aren't that low, but good fat calories from avocados don't really count.   It is fast to make and delicious. It's especially good with a dollop of whipped cream.  Don't use Cool Whip type whipped toppings.  Of the many ingredients in those toppings, only a couple are safe and one of them is water.  Whipped cream is so easy to make, why take a chance. 

Dutch Oven Crusty Bread

Recently I shared a bread recipe on Facebook.  I hadn't made it yet, but it looked good.  Here is the link.  It is from This Old Gal again.  It seems that she is my go to for air fryer and pressure cooker recipes.  https://thisoldgal.com/instant-pot-yogurt-whey-dutch-oven-crusty-bread/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=SocialWarfare

As I have mentioned many times, I make yogurt.  I have for many years.  In order to get a nice thick Greek yogurt, I strain the liquid whey out of it.  For every quart of yogurt, I get 1 1/2 cups of whey. The internet tells many ways to use this product from feeding plants to using it in other recipes.  Up until now, I never liked it in other food.  It is very sour.  Then I found this bread recipe which is really good for those who are lactose intolerant.  There is almost no lactose in the whey.  All the details on how to make this bread are in the "This Old Gal" website or click the link above.  I changed the process slightly, but I still give her credit for the recipe.

The whey is the clear liquid drained from the finished yogurt.

 This Old Gal mixed the dough by hand, but I used my bread machine set on the dough cycle.  The only ingredients are:

1 1/2 cup of whey
3 cups of flour
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
3 1/2 teaspoons yeast

That's all there is to it.  The dough is pretty soft so I was worried it would be sticky.  I dumped it out of the bread machine pan onto a floured surface.  As I folded it over and punched it down, it became very smooth and manageable.

At this point you let it rest for thirty minutes.  At the same time, you pre-heat a cast iron dutch oven.  I imagine you could just put it on a cookie sheet and bake.  However, baking the bread in the dutch oven works very well.  For the first 25 minutes of baking time, you cover it.  Then finish baking with the lid off for an additional 15 minutes, or you can bake it completely with the cover on.

I am writing this blog to share the recipe, but also to save it for myself.  I will be making it over and over again.

Here is is right out of the oven,  It is a very crusty bread with a soft center.

It has a great texture and I love it toasted.

Passing the Time during the Doldrums of Winter

It has been a busy week in an attempt to ignore the horrible weather we have been experiencing here in Wisconsin.  I think most of the country has had it's share of inclement weather.  Yesterday it rained, but the pavement was very cold so the rain froze on contact.  Our sidewalk which hadn't thawed from the week before is partly under water and partly a glaze of ice.  I got more traction walking on top of the snow that remains, but even that was treacherous.  I hope the birds and deer appreciate my effort.

One of our deer friends peeking at me through the branches.

This week I made bread with my own sour dough starter which I learned to make without buying the starter powder.  http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/sourdough-starter-recipe   I put one loaf in the freezer two days ago and this is all that is left from the second loaf.  The starter is to the point where I can keep it in the refrigerator and only feed it once a week.

Sour dough starter and bread

I made lemon water which I make every few days.  For more than a year, my husband has a warm cup of this water first thing in the morning.  I don't know if this is the reason he was able to eliminate his acid reflux medication, but he doesn't need it any longer.  He has done a few other things like not eating after 7:00 pm and cutting back on tomato products.  That was difficult, but we have adapted.

Lemon water which I made this time with a lime, an orange and two lemons

I made a new batch of bone broth.  I recently bought twenty-five pounds of organic bones, so I will be good for a long time.  I drink a cup of the broth first thing in the morning instead of coffee.  I call it my magic elixir.  It gives me a sense of well being even though staying upbeat during these long winter days is challenging at times.

Batch of bone broth for the freezer

I made hard boiled eggs in the pressure cooker.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2016/09/boiling-eggs-easy-way.html  Most people call the cooker an Instant Pot now, but when I bought mine it was called a digital pressure cooker.  I think the term "pressure cooker" brings back negative memories of past models.  Leave it to Madison Avenue to rename it to improve sales.  However instant pots do have more pre-programmed settings including a yogurt setting which is very popular.

 

Seeing all the hype on making yogurt makes me laugh.  I have been making my own yogurt for forty years or more.  It is the exact process I have always used but they are making it sound like a new invention.  Now they call it Greek yogurt, but it is just thick yogurt.  I typed "Yogurt" in my blog because I was sure I had blogged about it already.  It didn't come up.  I blogged about all the other things I have made this week, but not yogurt.  That is hard to believe, so here is the recipe.

Homemade Yogurt

4 cups milk (I used 2%)
1 T. plain yogurt starter
(to start just buy a container of plain yogurt with live cultures, then after you start making yogurt use 1 tablespoon of your homemade yogurt to start a new batch)

I read you can freeze yogurt in ice cube trays and then if you don't make one batch after the other, you will have starter available.  I haven't tried this.

Heat the milk to 180 degrees.  You can use a saucepan or the microwave.  Use a digital thermometer to make sure the milk is hot enough.  Then let it cool to 110 degrees.  Stir in the yogurt starter.  I usually put the yogurt starter in a small dish, add a little milk and mix it up.  Then add it into the four cups of cooled milk.  Now you just incubate it for 10-12 hours.  People with an instant pot just make it in the cooker, but I use an old yogurt maker to keep the yogurt warm.  It just needs to be kept warm somehow.  I usually do it in the evening and then it is ready in the morning.  Without stirring, put it in the refrigerator for 6 hours or so.  Mine is very thick, but if it isn't just strain it through cheese cloth or a sieve or a nut bag.  The excess whey drains out for other uses, and the really thick Greek yogurt remains.

Yogurt maker with finished yogurt.

This is perfect plain yogurt to use in smoothies which is what we usually use it for.  I also make yogurt parfaits.  To do that, I sweeten the yogurt with some honey and a little vanilla, cut up some fruit and layer it in a dish or jelly jar with either granola or oatmeal.

Parfaits in the refrigerator for a snack or a quick breakfast. 

I love having all this stuff on hand to eat and drink, but the downside is the dirty dishes.  I know how to make a mess, and my biggest challenge is to remember to clean up as I go.   Fortunately I have a non-human dishwasher.  If I didn't, it would be really easy to talk myself out of making all this.

I realize this way of living is not for most people, but living like a modern day pioneer is the life we chose.  Thank goodness I have indoor plumbing, a great backup heating system, running water and access to food without hunting, fishing and preserving just to live. 

Boiling Eggs The Easy Way

I remember forty years ago.  My mother-in-law wouldn't eat an egg.  She had high cholesterol, and her doctor told her not to eat eggs.  She would rarely have one.  That idea has changed over the years and now eggs are a very good high protein food.  We like them and have them in many different forms.

Recently the price of eggs is way down.  It is sad for the people who make a living selling eggs, but for the consumer it is great.  There are a lot of people raising their own chickens which may effect the supply and demand.  Organic eggs are even priced for the normal budget.  Our local Piggly Wiggly had them for 29 cents a dozen this week.  I realize that is a "come on in" price, but if they are able to do that it indicates how low the regular price is.

I love to boil a bunch of eggs and have them in the refrigerator for a snack or a quick egg salad sandwich.  I have an egg cooker which works well.  I have used it for years.  Sometimes the eggs are easy to peel or hard to peel, but I thought that was just the way it was.  I heard the ease of peeling depended on the age of the egg.  I even bragged about egg cookers in a blog I wrote a few years ago.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/02/the-wonderful-electric-egg-cooker.html

As with everything, we live and learn.  Everyone who reads my blog knows how much I love my pressure cooker.  It never occurred to me I could boil eggs in it.  I make everything else so it shouldn't have been a surprise.  I have blogged about the pressure cooker several times.  Today I watched a Facebook live video by the Humorous Homemaker.  https://www.facebook.com/humoroushomemaking/  She is very funny and showed how easy it was to boil eggs in a pressure cooker.  I tried it right away.

1.   Took out the pressure cooker

2.   Put a trivet into the cooking pan

3.   Put in 1 cup of water

4.   Put in eggs from the refrigerator

5.   Put lid on pressure cooker

6.   Set timer for 7 minutes on high pressure and pushed start

7.   Quick released pressure when it beeped

8.   Cooled eggs under cold water

9.   Tapped the egg and got under the membrane for easy peeling

10.  Out popped the egg.

It was the easiest and fastest I have ever boiled an egg.  She said it didn't matter how fresh the egg is, this method works every time.  It sure did for me.  This is how I will be boiling eggs from now on.  I boiled these 6 eggs in less than 10 minutes from opening the refrigerator to having them all peeled.  How great is that?

Update:  The process I wrote about above works great, but I found another way.  Put the eggs on the trivet, add a cup of water but pressure for only two minutes. When I start the pressure cooker, I set my stove timer for 25 minutes.  When the timer goes off, the eggs are cooked and the pressure has released.  Put the hot eggs in a sink of cold water. When you're ready, peel them.  Either way is fantastic.

A Healthy Homemade Version of Chocolate Syrup

Every other Tuesday this summer, we have had two of our grandboys for the day.  It broke up the summer a little for them and gave us a chance to see them.  Yesterday our granddaughter came along.  She will be 16 in a couple months so I think her day was quite boring, but it was very nice to have her here.

The boys like chocolate milk, but I didn't have any.  I had some Trader Joe's organic chocolate syrup, but it was almost gone.  We eeked out enough for one glass, and I promised to get some before next time.

I dropped the kids off late in the afternoon and had to stop at the grocery store on the way home.  I looked at the Hershey syrup and another brand.  I was shocked to see the first ingredient was High Fructose Corn Syrup.  They still put that junk in products.  Needless to say, I didn't buy any.

This morning as I was putting the empty syrup container into the recycle bin, I remembered a recipe I had seen a few months ago.  http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/?s=chocolate+syrup

Jill from the Prairie Homestead has a lot of great information and recipes.  I had all the ingredients and in less than five minutes, I made chocolate syrup.  This isn't as tasty as the recipe we all have made with real butter and cream, but it will work fine for making chocolate milk.  I put the finished syrup in the Trader Joe's container and the boys won't know the difference.  They are very visual and if the food or the container looks a little different from what they are used to, they balk.

Here is the recipe from the Prairie Homestead:

Homemade Chocolate Milk Syrup

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cocoa powder (I would cut this amount to taste)
• 1/2 cup real maple syrup
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon real vanilla extract
•  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/01/make-your-own-vanilla.html
  

Directions:

1. On low, in a medium saucepan, mix together the maple syrup and water. Bring to a simmer.
2. Whisk in the cocoa powder. Remove from heat.
3. Add vanilla extract and let cool (syrup will thicken).
4. Simply add your desired amount to a glass of milk and enjoy. Keep in the fridge for up to three weeks.

It seemed that 1 cup of cocoa powder was a lot, so I used 3/4 cup.  It still had a very strong chocolate flavor.  This also doesn't seem as sweet as the high fructose product but it is so much better for everyone. 

I didn't want to throw my sample away so I embellished it.  I added some vanilla protein powder and some instant coffee.  Yum, there may not be any chocolate syrup left for the boys when they come next time.  I will have to make more.

The Benefits of Bone Broth

When I started writing this blog a few years ago, I wrote more about recipes and homemade helpful tips.  Throughout the years we have been so overwhelmed with recipes online, I haven't posted as many of them.  The same is true with homemade products.  I still make my own laundry detergent, deodorant, kefir, sauerkraut and many other things, but all of these recipes or a variation of them are posted daily on facebook, pinterest and other social media.  I started making my own healthy products and living this way because of my situation with uterine cancer.  This is a woman's cancer that doesn't get the media attention the pink ribbon campaign gets, but it is just as devastating for the women involved.  As with breast cancer, there are different types.  Some require very little treatment and others require a lot.  I had a very aggressive type that required surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.  I was lucky and it was caught early.  This week it has been nine years since my last chemo treatment.  Doctors have told me that now I am not at any greater risk of cancer than anyone else my age.  Although that is a relief, once you've had cancer it is never far from your mind.  I try to do everything I can to improve my odds of a healthy life.  My husband taught me that there are no such words as always and never.  Instead I use often and seldom, so I admit I often slip and eat junk at times, but overall I try to eat healthy.  It is hard to do, but by making real food I know what is in my meals.  I try not to get carried away and go off the deep end with trends and off the wall ideas.  It has to make sense to me.

Recently I have seen a lot of information about the benefits of bone broth.  Bone broth is the broth that results from slowly cooking meat or poultry bones in water for an extended period of time.  The time depends on the bones.  Smaller chicken bones cook for 24 hours and dense beef bones as long as 48 hours.  This makes sense to me because ever since the discovery of fire and the cooking of meat, people have been cooking bones to get all of the nutrition from an animal and stretch their food supply.  History shows broth being made by the early civilizations.  This food is very easy to digest and is soothing to the gut.  Bone broth contains the vital amino acids of glycine and proline, as well as glucosamine and chondroitin sulphates. True bone broth is a rich source of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and potassium, in easily absorbed forms. It’s also an excellent source of collagen. The gelatin in the bones supports the bones, muscles and joints.

*Update:  I wrote this blog 4 months ago and have learned a few things.  I mentioned the broth is made from slow cooking the bones for a long time which works great, but I discovered using the electric pressure cooker works even better in a lot less time.  I put about 2 pounds of bones in the cooker with organic carrots, celery, onion, a few cloves of garlic, sea salt and 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar.  I set the timer on high pressure for 99 minutes (that is as high as my cooker goes).  I do this two more times for a total of 297 minutes or almost 5 hours.  It may not take this long for chicken bones but I have very large beef bones.  The result is awesome.  All of the collagen and goodness is leached out of the bones.  Although the slow cooked broth is filled with nutrients, the look of this chilled broth is noticeably different.  It looks like thick gel.  If you don't have 48 hours to devote to cooking bones, this method is great.

Chilled bone broth from the pressure cooker.

After the chilling, the fat is very easy to remove.

I recently got an email from https://www.aubonbrothbonebroth.com/  They listed the following reasons to drink bone broth.  I sent this to my daughter and told her how good this stuff was especially for leaky gut.  She almost gagged at the words "leaky gut" and "bone broth".  I guess the names don't sound appealing even if it's good for you.  I will have to replace these two terms with better words like stomach and broth.

It Enhances Your Immune System
Bone broth supplies amino acids and minerals that really augment your immune system. The collagen content helps to repair the  lining of your entire digestive system, which not only makes your entire body vastly more efficient, but also more able to handle any bacteria or viruses that may try to sneak their way in.

Anti Inflammatory
Key amino acids like Glycine, Proline and Arginine help to regulate inflammation and how your body responds to damaged tissue. Inflammation is a natural and beneficial reaction in most instances, but if your body isn't in perfect balance, inflammatory responses in the body can get out of hand quickly and cause more harm than good. These amino acids are crucial to keeping inflammation in check and healing damaged tissue to avoid inflammation in the first place.

Antioxidant
Speaking of these amino acids, Glycine has another fascinating benefit to our bodies. Glycine can actually 'clean' antioxidants. What this means is, once an antioxidant binds with a free radical, Glycine can restore the antioxidant to a pristine state so it can continue to pull other free radicals from your body. Thankfully, bone broth has large amounts of Glycine.

Rebuilds Your Body
Collagen is the main connective tissue that keeps your body together, quite literally. Every part of your body has collagen in it, and your body is 25-35% collagen. It only makes sense that adding more of this to your body makes it much easier for your body to rebuild itself. The gelatinous aspect of bone broth, what makes it congeal and jiggle, is the rich collagen in it. Consume this connective tissue to make it easier for your body to replace connective tissues wherever they are in your body (hint: they're in every part of you!).

Helps You Sleep
If you consume gelatin before bed, you will find that you sleep much more soundly and your rest is more rejuvenating. The gelatin and collagen being pulled from the bones goes right into you with each cup of bone broth, helping you to sleep better and therefore feel better each day. If you took the effort to get a good bed to sleep on, you should get a good source of gelatin, like bone broth, into your body before you sleep.

Cleanse and Detox
Bone broth helps to fortify your liver with its wonderful Glycine content. By bolstering the connective tissue and also recycling your body's antioxidants, it both strengthens your liver and also makes its job easier. The Glycine in bone broth also helps balance the amino acids in your body, which makes it far more efficient in its use of vitamins and minerals.

Specialty Minerals
We could all do to have more calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium in our bodies. These minerals work together in your body in bone and joint health, nerves and electrical impulses in the body, blood health and many more crucial functions. Bone broth can supply a healthy amount of all these minerals.

Proper Digestion
Not only is bone broth very easily digestible and hydrating, but it also gets rich collagen right to your digestive system, allowing it to repair easier than otherwise. By drinking bone broth, you help to improve and maintain digestive health. If your digestive system is fine tuned, your body absorbs nutrients easier and quarantines the rest of the body from harmful bacteria or particles that have not yet been broken down, dealt with and made safe for the rest of your body through the blood stream.

Fight Cold and Flu
From reducing inflammation to boosting your immune system, bone broth is a truly nourishing dish when trying to fight or prevent colds and flu. It eases symptoms, helps rest, thins mucous, and is a wonderfully healing food.

Don't think you can just go out and buy a box of chicken or beef broth.  Those products are not the same and don't have the same medicinal properties.  You can buy real bone broth online, but it is quite costly.

After reading all about it, I wanted to make some but I couldn't find a good source of organic bones.  I didn't want bones from an animal who was injected with all kinds of things to make it grow fast in unhealthy conditions. After all, I would be boiling these bones to leach out every speck of what was inside.  I didn't want some of that to include bad things.  That would defeat the purpose.  My grandpa Dux was way before his time.  He said that cancer means that cells reproduce themselves  and grow out of control.  He thought by adding hormones and raising an animal from a baby to the butcher shop in just a few months meant they were doing the same thing with the animal.  They were forcing the animal's cells to multiply quickly.  He did not want to eat those animals treated this way.  None of us would if we would think about it, but full disclosure about what we eat isn't always possible.

I finally settled on buying two whole organic chickens from Costco.  I roasted the two chickens and pulled off all the meat.  Then I put all the bones in the slow cooker with a couple tablespoons of apple cider vinegar.  I added filtered water, some sea salt, carrots, celery and onion.  This is like making carcass soup but you cook it on low for a full day.   After 24 or more hours, I strained the bones and vegetables out leaving only the broth.  The only problem I had was that it smelled really good cooking during the night and it disturbed my sleep.  I kept waking up smelling food cooking.

This was the best product I could find.  There is so much controversy.  I read recently that "No Antibiotics" means nothing to the consumer.  It said that all animals have to be off antibiotics for a period of time and that no antibiotics can be detected in the system before they go to market.  The article also mentioned that without antibiotics diseases would be spread.  I think the key is there should be no over use of antibiotics and there should be easy testing to find out if the laws are being followed.  Notice the label says No added Hormone...ever but it doesn't say No antibiotics..ever.  Vegetarian fed could mean a lot of things.  If the chickens are fed grains, hopefully they are GMO free to be considered organic, but I can't prove it.  At some point you just have to have blind trust.

This is my second batch of broth.  In my first batch I used unlabeled beef soup bones and it also turned out great. I have no idea where these bones came from or if they were organic but neither did the store employees. 

I have been drinking a cup of broth everyday and really look forward to it.  Even if the benefits are all hype, I like it.  If you want more information about the benefits, all you have to do is search the internet.  There is a ton of information. Here is one example:  http://traditionalcookingschool.com/2016/01/06/82-ways-to-heal-your-gut/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_campaign=fermenting-formulas&utm_medium=FBAd&utm_content=82ways2&imt=1