Límon Curd

Well.  That month went fast!  And while there is lots to fill you in on, I thought I would share one of our new favorite recipes!

Límon Curd.  Yes friends, we are approaching the apex of citrus season here and there are all sorts and colors of citrus at our fería each week.

I stole this recipe from a friend here and it was tart and wonderful and oh so easy to make!

So if you find yourself with 4 limes, or lemons, or límons or key limes, give this one a try!

Límon Curd
 4 límons (or lemons or limes), zest and juice
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
pinch salt
5 tablespoons butter

In a small saucepan whisk together lime juice and zest,sugar, eggs, and salt. Turn on the the burner to medium heat and whisk constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. Boil one minute, still stirring and remove from heat. Stir in butter and cool. Pour over graham cracker crust or eat it straight up!  Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to a week.

It's that easy!  I made it twice in one week it was so good!!

T Shirt Rag Rug

So, we live in a cement block house with tile floors. We were blessed that this house came with 4 rugs!  But I have been wanting one for our room for a while now.  Believe it or not, the floor is awfully cold in the morning and it would be nice to have a rug to stand on while we get dressed.

Well, I finally got around to making one out of old t shirts.  Yeah, you read that right! Old t shirts.  I had collected the ones from Noah that needed to be moved on and thought I had enough.  Ha!  I think there ended up being about 45 shirts in this rug (it's about 4 feet wide.)

So here's the deal.  First you have to make what the Internet calls tarn.  You know, like yarn but with a t because it's made from t shirts.  Here's the tutorial I used on how to go about this.  And honestly, this was my least favorite part.  But a couple of things I learned about making the tarn:

1. The bigger the shirt the better.  Yeah, I know that's really a no brainier, but if you end up having to go to the thrift store (like I did) for more shirts, look for XXXL!  Also, long sleeve t shirts are great, because you can use the sleeves the same way you did the body of the shirt.  Oh, and don't over look yoga pants and skirts for this project too!!
2. Some shirts didn't stretch right.  Yeah, again, sorta a no brainier, but some didn't curl the way they were "suppose" to.  No worries, it just gives a different texture.  Some of the shirts I got ended up being ribbed when I stretched them.  It added a cool texture to those rows.
3.  Think about your colors.  Or don't. Just go with it.  I tried to have some rhythm and reason to what I was doing, but towards the end, it just became about getting around the circle with colors that were similar!  Seriously, those last rows took 2 whole shirts to make it around once.  You might want to plan accordingly.

Now, how did I actually put it together?  Giant crochet hook!  Well, not super giant, but I think I used about a 9.  And it crochets up really fast.  Each row is about an inch wide.  Be prepared for your hand to hurt after a while and know too that the rug gets really heavy!  Also, depending on the shape you want for your rug, you'll need to look up the formula for that shape.  Here's a good video on how to make a flat circle.

Just this morning, Noah looked at me and said, "I am really glad you spent 48 hours to make that rug.  It's nice to stand on."  Ha!  Well, good.  Con gusto mi amor!

Crockpot Mango Butter

Ok.  We are going to get back in the groove here with this blogging thing!  I have missed it. A lot.  But, well, life has taken over and, and, and, and....

So, let's start with something easy...a recipe.

It's mango season again folks!  Remember this mango pie recipe?  Last year I tried making mango sauce (like apple sauce) and mango juice and neither went over well enough to justify all the work involved.

This year, my mom was here because I decided surgery would be a fun thing, and she suggested mango butter, as in like apple butter.

We did a trial run in the crockpot and it went over so well, I bought 18 kilos of mangos on the way back from the beach and made some more, because the Northerner in me just won't believe that there is always fresh fruit here.  Must.Can.All.The.Fruit.

So here's the drill.
Enough ripe mangos, peeled and sliced to fill your crockpot
Cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla to taste

Peel and cut mangos.  Run through the blender so you get rid of the stringiness.  Pour puree into crockpot with lid on.  Set to high until the puree starts to bubble.  Add in spices and leave the lid off.  Continue to stir.  Reduce for about 8-10 hours or until the desired consistency.  Ladle into hot jars and process in a water bath for 15 minutes.  Try to keep your family out of it.

Overnight Crockpot Cinnamon Rolls

I tried something different Christmas Eve morning.  Crockpot cinnamon rolls.  Yeah, you read that right.

I do love a good cinnamon roll, but I have a hard time getting them soft and gooey.  I always manage to over bake them.

But the crockpot helps this out!  I made an overnight cinnamon roll recipe, put the rolls in the crock in the fridge overnight per instruction.  The next morning, we stuck the crock in the "pot" on low to until the rolls started to rise and then switched it to high for about an hour or so.

And wow!  Perfect!

So here you are, Crockpot Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

The Dough
1 ¼ cups milk
¼ cup butter
1 tsp salt
¼ cup sugar
1 egg
1 Tbsp active dry yeast
3.5 to 4 cups flour

Heat milk, butter, salt, and sugar to 120 degrees F (Microwave works well for this). Add 2 cups of the flour and the yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment. Add the warm milk mixture and egg and beat on low to medium speed for about 3 minutes. Slowly add enough of the remaining flour to make a soft and pliable dough. Continue to kneed until the dough smooth and elastic. You know, how dough should be.  Cover and let rest for at least 20 minutes.  I might have just let it rest for about 3 hours, but whatever, this ain't rocket science.

The Filling
1/2 cup butter
2 Tbsp cinnamon
3/4 cup brown sugar
Chopped nuts (I used pecans)

Blend the filling ingredients together.  Roll out the dough into a long rectangle.  Then spread the filling all over the dough. Starting from a long end, tightly roll up the dough like a jelly roll. Cut evenly into slices about2 inches thick, and place cut side down in the greased crock.  Cover with the lid and put in the fridge over night.

The Next Morning
Put the crock in the "pot" and turn it on low to allow the rolls to rise.  Once they rise (about 30 minutes or so) turn the crock pot to high and put a dish towel under the lid to absorb some of the moisture.  Cook for about an hour (check periodically).

The Icing
1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp. melted butter
2 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp vanilla

Turn the rolls out on to a plate and cover in icing and enjoy!

Peppermint Lattes with no Extract

We're a bit confused around here.  Yes, tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we still have our fall decor out.  But, everywhere you look it's Christmas here.  Lights on houses, trees on tops of cars, decorations as the grocery store, Christmas music everywhere.  Seems as if the end of October signals the time to start decorating.

So.  In the spirit of being cultural relevant and all that, let me tell you about a new coffee creation.  Well, not exactly new, but maybe overseas friendly coffee creation.

I wanted to make a special something for our last bible study group for the year.  These girls really like coffee and peppermint lattes seemed like a good idea.  And then I went to three stores looking for peppermint extract and come up with nothing.   So, I improvised.  And it worked!

4 cups strong coffee
6 cups milk
1/2 cup brown sugar (white will work just fine too)
6 peppermint tea bags in 1 cup boiling water (let steep until really strong)

Heat milk and add the sugar.  After your strong coffee and peppermint tea has brew, add them right in.  Stir and heat for a few more minutes until the milk gets nice and frothy.

Serve with whipped cream if desired.

Reusable Vacuum Cleaner Bag

When my parents came down in April, they brought my vacuum.

Why? Don't you have tile floors?

Why, yes, yes we do. But sweeping just wasn't getting up all the dog hair, and we do have some area rugs. I had let my sister in law use the vacuum not thinking it would ever be able to come because it takes up the whole weight limit by itself. So it was a luxury item for sure!!

It's a vacuum that has served us well. It was a wedding present and 10 years later it is still going strong. But here's the thing.  It's a vacuum that needs a bag.  Which is one thing in the States, although it still was a pain at Barakel, but at least I had good old Amazon I could count on.  But here, it's an entirely different matter.

So, I started thinking, I could probably make a reusable one, right?  Surely the interwebs will be full of directions on how to do this...or not.  I spent hours looking and I think I found one blog that talked about how she made a reusable bag.  Here it is.

And so, today I tried it.  I found some nylon synthetic weird fabric someone gave me I figured would keep dust in, an old zipper from a cannibalized backpack and the nastiest shiny green thread (why is that in my stash?!?  What on earth would I have bought that for???)

I ripped apart my old bag, because while I have 2 new ones left, I wanted to make sure I still had two new ones if this plan didn't work out so well.  I dumped all the old junk out and have been sneezing ever since!  But then I could get the dimensions for my new bag.  I measured the length, width and depth, and cut two panels that were narrower for the sides and two that were wider for the front and back.  I used a very close zigzag stitch for the seams because I didn't want stuff seeping through.  For the top, I sewed it shut, folded it over and sewed another line, again, don't want crud escaping!

For the bottom, I used a zipper and again sewed it in place using lots of little, close together stitches.

For the part that connects to the hose, I tore off the cardboard piece from the old bag and just sewed that sucker on there with a wide zigzag.  Then I sniped the hole open and woulda looky there!  A new bag!!

I did test it out and it works perfectly!!  So exciting!  Now, no more trying to find bags, or taking up valuable luggage space when we are stateside to stock up.  Plus, it's was free, and no bags in the garbage now!

Limónada

One of the things I've been working on is trying to figure out cheaper, better for us drinks.  With cirtus trees in our backyard I got to thinking...we could make juice.

When we moved here at the end of September, we were right on the cusp of an orange havarest.  And they were wonderful!!  It seems as if we are right on the cusp again, because there are lots of small green balls hanging all over the tree...just waiting for them to rippen up!

But I got to thinking about all those green limes I see at the feria every week.  They cheap, and tart and good!  Oh, and in case you are wondering, I have never seen a lemon here.  Well, maybe at the fancy import grocery store, but not locally.

But these limóns make great limónada, or lemonade or limeade or whatever it would be in English.  Let's just stick with limónada!

After messing around with the recipe a bit, here's what works for our family as far as the sweet-sour mix.

Limónada
Makes one gallon
 1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup water
 Combine and heat on the stove until  the sugar is disolved completely.

1 1/2 cups limón juice (15 limóns maybe?) (my juicer attachment does this wonderfully!)

Add sugar syrup and limón juice together in your container.
Add about a gallon of water.

I've also started to make up extra syrup limón juice concentrate.  This means I can just pull that out of the fridge and dump it in my glass half gallon milk jug my dad carried all the way from Michigan in his briefcase for me at a moments notice.  Makes that second batch of limónada that much simplier.

Crock Pot Bread

I have never really used the crock pot.  Sure, I registered for one when we got married and used it maybe 12 times before we left for language school (yea, that would have been 12 times in 8 years).  I gave it to my mom when we left.

When we moved into this house, there was a crock pot here.  And then we started going to a church that is a half hour away and the service goes to 12:30, which you do the math...yeah, we are starving when we walk in the door at 1:00pm and by gum, there better be something fast!

So, I am starting to really like the crock pot.  Granted, there are a lot of junkie recipes out there for a can of this and can of that and some prepackaged whatever, which doesn't translate real well here. But there are so great ones too.  Like the one I am about to share with you.

I stumbled across this idea of baking sweet breads in your crock pot and oh.my.word!  For us this a a win win win because 1.  I can be doing something else for 3 hours 2.  Use up all the freaking bananas around here and 3. Our electricity is included in our rent!

Ok, so here's how it works.  First make up your favorite sweet bread recipe.  I used my tried and true banana bread one (because we are working our way through a bunch of bananas).  Here it is if you are interested.  Just ignore the bottom part about the oven temperature and time.  You won't be cooking this in the oven. 

I have also given up mashing the bananas first, I have a stand mixer, might as well make it earn it's keep.  I just dump everything in the bowl and there you have it. 

Then, add two cups of water to the bottom of your crockpot.  Turn it to high. Grease a pan that will fit in your crock pot.  I use on of my pyrex bowls.  It turns out lovely.  Dump your batter into the grease bowl/pan and stick that puppy in the crock pot. 

Put a towel under the lid (to absorb some of the steam you are going to get) and leave the thing alone for 2 1/2-3 hours. 

When you come back, you'll have a lovely, moist, sweet bread to enjoy!  So yummy!  I've done this now with banana bread and pumpkin bread.  I am sure it will work with zucchini and anything else you can come up with in the sweet bread category.  I've also seen recipes floating around to use a sticky yeast dough sorta the same way. I'll let you know when I try that :)

Baby Swing

Remember when I showed you our garage and mentioned something about wanting to have a swing for Quinn?  Well a friend of mine sent me a photo of a fabric swing with the comment of "I bet you could totally make this!"  And I got to thinking, she was probably right!

And after thinking about it and scouring the internet for some sort of a pattern (I pretend to sew really.  I am not good at the whole measuring thing that has to happen with sewing.) I found this one!  It was the exact swing my friend had sent me.

All summer I would buy random fabric when I found it at a good price.  It seemed that the Holland Rescue Mission Thrift Store had fantastic fabric every time I went in there.  And at such a fantastic price!  I picked up about 2 yards of this heavy duty blue fabric for about $2 and shoved it in a duffel when it came time to move.  When I saw the swing I thought "I have the perfect fabric!!"

And so I set to work this week.  Noah was able to find a hardware store that had the dowels we needed.  We thought that if it came to it, we could use a broom handle (they sell them here separate from the broom heads), but I am so glad we didn't need to do that.

Yesterday, Noah took the four dowels to camp and had the guys in the maintenance barn drill the holes we needed.  They even sanded down the rough edges for me. 

And last night, we were able to hang the swing.  Quinn loves it!  He can check everything out while we are out playing.  And yes, it's hung a bit high, but that's because we have some friendly neighbor dogs (for about another 2 weeks) that like to sniff him.  Noah thought it would be better if he was higher.

What a fun project!  And I love how it turned out, it's so not plastic, and it just fits.  Right Quinn?

Frozen Yogurt

So, this last weekend, we took another dive into our storage trailer and came out with some of my favorite things, my glass measuring cups, glass half gallon milk bottles and the ice cream maker attachment to my kitchen aid.  Yes!  I didn't take my mixer to language school because I only wanted to move it once, but I missed it every day!  And yes, it will be coming back with us in the fall!

Well, of course I had to make something with it.   Instead of ice cream, I thought of frozen yogurt.  I am still making our yogurt, and so it is pretty cheap.  Also, I wanted to try out some recipes that would work in Costa Rica.  Most of the ice cream recipes call for things like half and half which we can't get there.  Anyway, frozen yogurt seemed like a good plan.

I found this recipe, and made it up this morning.  Oh.my.word.  This is fantastic!  And it really couldn't be simpler!  Three ingredients.  3 cups Greek style yogurt, 1/3 cup honey, and  1 teaspoon vanilla.  I told Noah I got excited about the ingredients because I made the yogurt (and yes, I strained it overnight to make it greek style), I made the vanilla, and the honey is local raw honey I got at the farmers' market.  How simple and good.

Today the boys had their yearly check ups and between the two of them, they ended up with 6 shots!  To help soften the blow, I told them they could have ice cream when we got home.  Yeah, what they didn't know is they were getting breakfast again, yogurt, honey and strawberries!  They thought it was a huge treat, I was thrilled they loved it.  This is definitely a keeper!

Laundry

So, we had sort of a large electric bill this month.  And by sorta I mean more than what we had budgeted for our entire utilities.  Come to find out, it's the dryer.  No, nothing is wrong with the dryer, it's just they are so very expensive to run here.  There is a reason most Ticos don't have one, or if they do, they only use it when it's really, really wet.

So, we set about remedying the problem.  We have an amazing laundry room that had three clothes lines to begin with.  However, the diapers filled those right up.  So we bought enough line for two more lines.  Noah installed them, we ran some laundry, put it up on the lines and realized that we still needed more.

Today, I trekked out to the Feria and to Pali (think Aldi or Savealot) and bought enough line for four more clothes lines.  But then I needed hooks.  So after running into an acquaintance at the Feria, I managed to find the hardware store close to our house, and ask in Spanish for hooks and spacers!  It's a far cry from where I was eight weeks ago.  And yes, I knew the word for hook from memory!

Noah promptly installed the four additional lines, bringing our grand total up to nine.  I think that should suffice.  Maybe.  Oh and we have one of those octopusy sort of things to hang small stuff on.

I find myself returning to the laundry room just to look at the clothes hanging up.  I wish we had some lines outside, but we really don't have any place to put them and it being the rainy season right now, it wouldn't do much good anyway.  But in Honduras I have grand plans for clothes lines semi inside and outside.

And for now, I am thankful I have a huge laundry room to house 9 lines.  Thank you God!

Breakfast Cookies

We were in need of something new for breakfast and to send as a snack with the kids to school each day.  I wanted something that was healthy, not too crunchy granola that no one would eat it, and something that wasn't messy.  Oh, and it also needed to be able to be made with ingredients we can get easily here.  You know like bananas or plantains or mangoes.  I didn't have any bananas, the mangoes are still green, and I found ripe plantains at the corner store.  So that sorta made the decision.

I've been thinking about some sort of oatmeal type cookie (I use that term loosely) for a while now, so I started looking for oatmeal banana cookies.  After some tweaking and thinking, I came up with this.

We're calling them breakfast cookies and Elliot ate about 6 today.  In fact, the first thing he asked me when I picked him up today was "more breakfast cookie?"  So that tells yah kids will eat them.

Here it is...
2 ripe plantains (or regular bananas would totally work.  I just happens to have plantains) smashed
2 cups oatmeal
1 cup raisins
2 tsps honey
1/3 cup canola oil
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
pinch of cinnamon

Mash plantains (or bananas) up.  Mix in everything else.  Let sit for about 10 minutes to let the oatmeal soak up some of the moisture from the other ingredients.  Preheat oven to somewhere around 350.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Cool, put in a container tight enough to keep the ants out or put in the refrigerator.

Yes, that is a Barakel cookie scoop!

 

I also made a batch that subbed 1/2 cup peanut butter for the oil.  You probably want to up the honey if you do that, because it does need to be a bit sweeter.  

Power Balls

When Laura and Dan came in June, they brought with them power balls.  We, like you, were "Power balls?  What the heck is a power  ball?"

Behold the wonder of power balls!

They are a yummy sweet, sorta sticky, chocolately, mostly healthy treat.  And yes, you eat them just like this.

Here's the deal,
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup honey
3 cups oats
1/2 cup flax seed meal
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup of any combination of dried soft fruit and nuts (I used dried cherries from Traverse City of course)

Mix it all together and make balls out of the mix.  I used my small cookie scoop and it worked well. Stick 'em in the fridge or freezer and enjoy!


Thanks for the recipe La!

Failure

Lest you think that I am super woman and can do anything (HA.  Right, oh dear, the mistakes I make in a day, or better yet an hour!  Boy, please don't every think that of me.  That just sets me up to fail!  And if you have a correct view of me, that I am the weakest woman in the world and pretty much stink at what I do, then when I get something right, it will be a big deal!) Alright, where was I?

Oh yeah, what I failed at (see, right there, that's awful!  Especially for an English major!).  Ok, so I had mild success with growing herbs from seeds last year.  Sure, there was that whole aphid problem, but we managed our way through that.  So I thought I would try it again this year.  And it seemed to be working.  Aren't they cute? 

Well, then one day I noticed that things weren't so happy in seed land.  I saw these little wormy larva things crawling around.  And noticed that the plants were slowly disappearing...blast those stupid meal worms!  We have had issues with them since we moved in.  Who knows where they came from, but they are a constant problem in our kitchen.  And now they seem to be eating my little seedlings!

For Mother's Day, we got Noah's mom some herbs plants.  And I was amazed at the instant gratification when I planted them.  And since the meal worms have eaten my darling baby herbs, I figured I might as well enjoy the instant gratification of the big herb plants.

And I must say, it's nice.  I am able to use them in cooking already!  In fact tonight's dinner is cooking with some of them right now.  Nice I tell ya.

Motivation

It's laundry day.  And I have been lacking motivation in a bad way.  Somewhere in all the travel I fell off the wagon and never got back on.  But today I have a new project.  I had been hearing some rumblings of a way to make your own laundry detergent.  I hadn't thought too much of it, until my mom started using it and said it was great and that it worked so well it even got my brother's blacksmithing clothes clean.  And all of that for just about a penny a load!  This I must try.

The recipe calls for Fels Naptha soap, washing soda and borax.  I knew where I could get the borax, but the washing soda and the Fels Naptha, hummm.  I called all over the county and beyond on Friday.  Turns out when I called the Fairview Hardware, you know, the place that has the Christmas Party/VIP Sale, they carry all of them.  In fact, when I asked about it, the lady on the phone said, "yes, we have washing soda and Fels Naptha, and the Borax too."  I didn't tell her what I needed it for.  

Apparently, the girl in charge of ordering the cleaning products makes her own detergent, so she always keeps them in stock!  Oh, and when I went to get the ingredients, they just happened to be having a grill sale and they were grilling chicken legs.  The lady insisted I take one on my way out the door.  So funny.
So here's the scoop...

1/3 bar of Fels Naptha soap, grated with your cheese grater
1/2 cup washing soda
1/2 cup Borax


Oh, and you are going to need a container that will hold 2 gallons of liquid.  I forgot to mention, this is a liquid detergent. This is what I came up with, not too bad!

Grate the soap and put it in a pot.  Now add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts.  Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved.   Pour 4 cups hot water into whatever container you are using.   Add your soap mixture and stir.  Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir.  Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel (kind of, not like you are thinking, more like egg drop soup at a Chinese restaurant).  Use 1/2 cup of detergent per load.  

You won't have any real smell to your clothes, which is perfect for us!  But you could add some essential oil to it if you wanted.  Oh, and I am not using this for our cloth diapers.  I have read you should say away from soaps for cloth diapers so they don't start repelling the liquid they are suppose to absorb.

So there you go, my motivation to get the laundry done today.  I know, weird, but you got to find something!

Honey

The boys both have awful coughs, Forrest's beating Elliot with severity.  Last night, err, this morning around 4:30, we were all up because of the coughing.  We try not to run to drugs around here and besides, they have taken all the cough and cold stuff off the market for kids under six. 

In the midst of all the coughing, in my half awake state, I prayed, "God, what do we do for this kid?"  And a few moments later, "honey" popped into my head.  I go up, drug myself to the computer and googled, "honey for a cough" and low and behold, this study came up. 

Interestingly enough, the study found that kids had more relief from honey given before bed time than from cough medicine, the nasty kind that can have all sorts of crazy side effects.  

So thankful God gives us what we need, in our time of need.  I tried to get Forrest to take some, and he fought and kicked the whole time.  Yeah, over honey.  It's been a long two weeks of trying to get medicine down him.  Anyway.  I don't know how much he got this monring, but tonight, I gave him about a teaspoon before bed.  I really hope it give the poor kid some relief tonight.  He needs to sleep the whole night through!

Thoughts on Cleaning

It being Thursday, my thoughts are on cleaning.  And since I needed some motivation, I thought I might as well introduce you to one my favorite cleaning friends.

Say hello to Vinegar Dawn.  This wonderful concoction will take the place of almost all your cleaning supplies.  The Dawn cuts the grease and grim and the Vinegar disinfects, cuts hard water stains and shines your sinks like nobody's business.

I keep one under the sink in the kitchen and in my cleaning basket for the bathrooms.  The recipe is 3 Tablespoons of regular Dawn to 3 cups white vinegar.  Easy, I tell ya!

Spray it on your tub and shower, hard water spots gone with a bit of wiping.  Spray some in your sinks, on your counters in kitchen and bath, wipe down, you are ready to go.  Simple as that!

And it doesn't smell all chemically, just sort of like a pickle.

Uncollection

Yikes, when was the last day I posted?  Friday?  Ok, well here's why.

• This weekend, friends from college were here to help at camp.  Dan and Sarah are raising support to be on staff here full time!  I really hope they will get here before we leave for Honduras!  This weekend they stayed in the apartment below us and it was just like old times!  Sarah and I lived down the hall from each other when we were at Spring Arbor.
• Yesterday, after we were done in camp, we hit the road for Traverse City.  Noah's parents watched the boys and we were able to go out to dinner with Noah's oldest brother and his wife.  We also had some shopping to do (we needed to update our summer wardrobe) and it was so fun to be able to do that without worrying about naps and little people meals and bedtimes and sippy cups and snack cups and books and binkies.
• We were shopping for summer clothes in January because we fly to Miami exactly one week from today!  It's not for vacation, in case you forgot.  It's for our interview and orientation with LAM.
• Today, my mother in law is taking me yarn shopping at some specialty shops here in Traverse.  And since this is a Subaru, Birkenstock, crunchy granola kinda town, there should be some interesting yarn, ummm, I mean fiber to look at and touch and enjoy!
  

Dairy

So I mentioned this before, but Noah's Christmas present to me this year was a cheese making kit.  This particular one was for mozzarella and ricotta.  Before you pass me off as some nut, which indeed I might be, listen to my rational. 

One of the benefits we get here at camp is some basic food staples.  We just have to pay income tax on the price of the product.  And one of the things on that list is milk.  That is why I started to make yogurt this last spring.  Free milk, a 40 cent container of plain yogurt once, a little heat, and presto!  Yogurt for free!

Ok, so back to the cheese, but more about the yogurt a bit later.  This kit is from The New England Cheesemaking Supply Company.  I was so excited when it came in the mail!  To be able to make cheese! 

And then the frustration set in.  Apparently, because most dairy companies need to be able to transport milk some distance and because it is more profitable for them for the milk to have a longer shelf life, they are pasteurizing milk at higher and higher temperatures.  For milk to be classified as Ultra Pasteurized, it has to be heated to 185 degrees.  This type of milk can last for weeks.  While the milk you get at the store probably isn't UP, (most organic milk is though, by the way) that normal gallon could be heated up into the 170s.  This destabilizes the whey proteins which keeps the calcium from bonding and making a good curd, and means you can't really make cheese with the stuff.  And that's the type of milk I found myself with.

Three batches and no fresh mozzarella later, I was thoroughly frustrated.  And then I found a dairy in Kalkaska, about an hour and a half away, that sold milk that had only been pasteurized to 145.  So, I splurged and bought a gallon (which by the way with the bottle deposit cost $10!!!).  I set about it this time, praying it would work, because if it didn't, well, there just went $10.  

New Year's Eve seemed an appropriate time to serve $10 cheese.  I settled the boys down for a nap and started.  The difference was night and day!  There were actually curds this time!  And I ended up with successful mozzarella!  It wasn't very pretty in the end, but oh it was good!  And I even made a few pieces of string cheese!  

In the process of learning more about milk than I ever thought necessary, I began to wonder if the reason my yogurt was so very, very runny was because of the high temp pasteurization.  My mom suggested I add a crusted tablet of acidophilus (a good bacteria found in yogurt and that you can buy in the vitamin section).  I added it went I pitched the starter in with the warm milk and man has it made a difference!  The yogurt is almost the thickness of the commercial kind!


So that got me thinking...maybe that would help with the cheese thing too.  And I noticed on some gallons of milk, there is the Pure Michigan slogan, so maybe that milk hasn't been heated to such a high temp because it's staying here in the state.  Hummm...maybe, just maybe I won't have to spend $10 to make cheese again.  We'll see.