Homemade Yogurt

I have been making our yogurt for a few months now, and it is just too easy not to share. I make because it is healthier than most yogurts, and I know what is in it. It is a lot cheaper than buying organic yogurt in the store.

The recipe does take a lot of time, about 13 hours, but the effort is very small.

I use all organic ingredients, but you could also substitute for non-organic.

Items needed:

Crockpot or Slow Cooker
8 Cups of Milk (Horizon Organic Whole Milk)
4-6 ounce container of yogurt, plain or vanilla (Stonyfield French Vanilla)
Sugar
Real vanilla

I noted the brands that we use,but you can pick your favorite. I use all organic ingredients, but you could also substitute for non-organic.

First, put 8 cups of milk in the crockpot on low, cover and let it heat for 2 1/2 hours. After 2 1/2 hours, unplug the crockpot and let it sit for 3 hours. After 3 hours, pour 1-2 cups of the milk from the crockpot in a bowl, and mix with the container of yogurt. After it is mexed well, pour in to the crockpot and mix thoroughly. Wrap your crockpot in a towel to insulate it, and put in a warm place for 8 hours. ( I like to put it in the oven, with the oven light on). After 8 hours, stir the yogurt, a few teaspoons of vanilla, and add sugar to taste. If you just want plain yogurt, you do not need to add sugar and vanilla.

I like to separate the yogurt in to small containers. I will sometimes add fruit to the containers. I also like to put a little flax seed, wheat germ, granola, and jam in it for a yogurt parfait.

For us, the best time to start the yogurt making process is on a Friday or Saturday evening about 6 hours before you will go to bed, or Saturday or Sunday first thing in the morning.

Miniature Gardening Adventure

I always had a garden growing up and have wanted to start one for my family. Being that we live in a condo, our options are limited, but we make due.


We started our herb garden last year. Sage, Oregano, Dill, Cilantro, Chives and Mescaline Lettuce Mix all came back up this spring. This year we added in more Basil, Parsley, Thyme, more Dill, and Spearmint (for Mojitos!). You can also see two of our tomato plants in the picture, on the top left container is our Tumbling Tom, no tomatoes yet but lots of blossoms. Sitting in the herb garden in a green planter is our Patio Princess tomato plant. This one already has about 7 little tomatoes starting. Planted in the herb garden right below are a few tomato plants that Jonathan started from seed.


The area above is where we planted a few vegetables. I do have some lavender near the planter on the left, but other than than we have zucchini, green beans, green peppers, red peppers, kale, and onions. If all goes well I think I will add more next year in another area.



Jonathan started this little pot of marigolds and he is so excited a few of the flowers are blossoming.

Cleaning Without Harmful Chemicals

One of the first attempts I made to rid our house of harmful chemicals, and save money while doing it, was replacing the harmful chemical cleaners in our house. I wanted something more natural, that cleaned just as well, and didn't cost more than the .50 bottles of Lysol or Windex I could pick up with coupons.

After trying a few recipes, we have found a few that we love.

Here are the ingredients and instructions on how to make our favorites.

All Purpose Cleaner
1 tsp Washing Soda
1 tsp Dish Soap (Seventh Generation - Lavender)
Fill container with hot water

Disinfectant
Fill bottle half way with hot water, and half way with white vinegar.
Add 5-10 drops Essential Oil (We use Orange as an extra disinfectant)

*we use this mostly in the kitchen. Takes a while to get used to the vinegar smell, but now we associate it with cleaning.

Glass Cleaner
Fill bottle half way with rubbing alcohol, and half way with water

*The smell of the alcohol is a little strong, make sure the room you are cleaning is well ventilated

Homemade Baby Wipes

After Lilah received a chemical burn from the Pampers Dry Max Diapers a little over a month ago, and then reading what disposable diapers are made of, we have decided to start using cloth diapers. We have a few boxes of disposables to use up, thanks to a little email I sent to Pampers, but we have already started using cloth at home. I totally wish I started this earlier. Along with cloth diapers, we have been using cloth wipes.

I toyed with making my own wipes when Jonathan was a baby, using paper towels. But I never fell in love with them. They always seemed too wet, and didn't clean well.

These wipes, I have fallen in love with. Well, as much as you can love something that wipes your kids butt.

For the fabric, I purchased some homemade cloth wipes from a vendor at a mom to mom sale. Love these. But at $1 a piece, I decided to make my own. I cut up a flannel receiving blanket of Lilah's. After a few washes, the sides are not fraying as much, and these have been working perfect. They are so soft. What would take 5-6 disposable wipes, only dirties 2 cloth wipes.

I stack the cloth wipes in a wipes container and they fit perfect.

Next I make the wipe solution. There are many different versions that you can make, but this is one that I have tried and loved. And it is made from ingredients that we always have on hand.

1 1/2 cups of boiled water
1 tbs white vinegar (keeps bacteria from growing)
1 tbs baby body wash (we use California Baby Calming)
1 tbs Coconut Oil

Mix all the ingredients until coconut oil dissolves and let cool to room temperature.

After the wipe mixture cools, pour over the container of wipes until they are soaked through.

Now your wipes are ready to go!

* You can also put the solution in a spray or squirt bottle and wet each wipe as you use them. For us, I want them ready to go so I keep them wet. I have never had a problem with them getting moldy as the vinegar is a disinfectant and keeps it from growing, we also use them up every few days.

I keep a little bucket in the bathroom, and toss them in there along with our diaper inserts. Evert few days they get washed in HOT water. I will start keeping them in a wet bag as soon as I can get one.

Have you ever made homemade wipes? What works best for you?

Out Little Firecracker

My how this little thing fills our life with light!

Fresh Baked

Mmm. . . this picture makes me hungry.
We have been making our own bread for about 3 months now. I wanted a bread maker for a few months before that, but they are expensive, take up room, and I wasn't sure how much I would use it. To test our my craving to make bread, I picked up a breadmaker at a resale shop, for $6.99. It is one of the wide ones that can make a 1lb or 2lb loaf. Ton of different setting on it. It even had the original receipt and instruction book with it. Purchased from Target for $169.99, for $6.99, a great deal!

As I looked through the manual preparing to make my first loaf, I noticed that the previous owner had added notes, adjustments that she/he made to the recipes. I have made almost all of the recipes in the original manual, with the recommended adjustments. She even had a separate recipe in there for English Muffin bread, one of our favs!

I would be happy with this breadmaker had I been the one to pay $169.99. I LOVE it. One of the best investments we have made. Since making my first load, we have not purchased a single loaf of bread from the store. As a matter of fact, the only bread product we have purchased has baan 2 packages of hotdog buns (I have even made those, just did not have time).

I make all of our "normal loafs", loafs that we bake in the bread machine, use for sandwiches and lunches.

Mike makes all of our "special breads". At first I wasn't sure how he would feel about us making our breads, but he has really taken to the idea, and joined in the process. Mike will make french baguetts occassionally, and french baguettes with garlic (the larger loaf in the picture), and other fancy little loafs. The 3 in the picture are my fav. He made those today. the mini loaf of bread I am using to make the kids sandwiches, Jonathan is going to love it. The other small one I am using for a sandwich tomorrow, and I can't wait.

This saves us a lot of money, is more nutritious than store bought breads, and we have fun doing it.

Early Easter

We started taking Jonathan to Sunday school about a month ago, he is still a little hesitant when we leave him, but he is learning so much and has a good time if you ask him when we pick him up. Lilah goes to the nursery too, a few tears at first, but then she does pretty good. Jonathan's teacher, and the ladies in the nursery are awesome. We really love the church a lot. Mike is transfering his membership over, and I am acutally taking a class that starts in a few weeks to become a member.

Last weekend we took the kids to an Easter Egg hunt at our Church. They had a great time finding eggs, making crafts, playing games, listening to stories, and eating treats. It was really nice that we were all able to go, as Mike is working all weekend, including Easter.

Warning, all the photos below are completely uncropped and unedited, yea, that's my new thing. Snapshots. I really don't take enough.