around our house

Easter Cookies

I found this idea on one of my Favorite Blogs and thought I would share. We will be making These Cookies Saturday night.  I just love Easter and what it means to me and my family.  I can think of no greater blessing then to be able to be with my Family Forever in the presence of our Heavenly Father. Without Christ's atonement and resurrection that would not be possible.  To know that there is someone else who has felt everything I am going through in this life is a blessing beyond measure.  I am so grateful for my knowledge of the plan of salvation and what Christ has done for each one of us. Having children at home there are so many things you can do to teach the meaning of Easter.

What is a favorite tradition in your family??

Happy Easter to you and your family!

Make It From Scratch Monday: Homemade Yogurt

{Family Favorite}


We make 2 gallons about every two weeks.  It has saved us a ton of money and is healthier then the store with all the High Fructose Corn Syrup or Sugar.  We don't add sugar, just fresh or frozen fruit when eating.  I have added the option at the end though.  My Friend Melissa adds 1 can of Sweeten and Condensed milk and said it was delicious!  


Ingredients


*1 gallon of milk

*1 cup yogurt starter(you can use a small cup of plain Dannon , or you can use a cup from your previous batch.)


1. Place four quart glass canning jars, four lids, and four screw-tops in a large pot. Fill with an inch of water; cover with lid and heat to boiling. Boil for ten minutes. Leave the lid on the pot and move it off the heat until you are ready to use the jars.

2. Pour one gallon of milk into a large, heavy bottomed stockpot. Heat the milk to 180 degrees Fahrenheit.


3. Turn off and let the milk cool to 120 degrees fahrenheit(50-55 degrees celsius)


4. Stir one cup of yogurt starter into the cooled milk, using a whisk. Stir well to ensure that the starter is thoroughly incorporated into the milk.

5. Pour the milk into jars, and put the lids and bands on. Place them into a dehydrator (or other source to keep warm) and keep at 115 degrees.


6.  Leave in a warm place for four hours. When the four hours are up, place the yogurt in the refrigerator.  


{Enjoy!}

To make a delicious vanilla version of this yogurt, add 1/2 to 1 cup of sugar to the four quarts of milk when it’s cooling. Then stir in 1-2 tablespoons of vanilla, depending on your preference, and proceed as usual with the recipe.

A Crocheting Lesson

During Spring Break my friend Melissa came and stayed a few days with her children and we had lots and lots of fun, (which I will be posting about soon)!  One thing we did was crochet.  I have known for years how to make a chain but not much else.  Well, she taught me to make flowers and go beyond a chain.  Here are some things I have been trying out in my free time.  It is really relaxing to me and I am hoping the more I practice the better I will get!

{Crochet Bracelet}

{ A Pot Holder}

Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix

Jeremy and I made the recipe from THIS blog over the weekend.  We bought and mixed all the dry ingredients together.  Last night for dinner I mixed it up for the first time and I was so HAPPY!  It is the best Ranch Dressing  I have EVER had!  Plus I know it doesn't have all the scary ingredients the bottle from the store has.  I am very picky with my ranch so I was a little nervous.  If you love ranch, but want a healthier alternative, plus save money, try it, you won't be disappointed

Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix: 
8 T. dried parsley
2 T. dried minced onion 
1 T. dried chives (optional, but gives it a good scallion/green onion flavor)
2 T. black pepper 
2 T. garlic powder 
1 t. paprika 
2 t. thyme 
2 t. oregano 
3 t. salt
2 t. seasoning salt 
2 t. dried dill 
1/2 t. cayenne pepper
Place all ingredients into a food processor or blender and blend until smooth (you will want to do this or it will be too chunky with all of the parsley). Store in a cool, dry place.

Ranch Dip: 
1/2 c. mayonnaise (good quality--not lowfat) 
1/2 c. sour cream 
1 t. lemon juice 
1 T. ranch dry mix
*If you want ranch dressing, just add buttermilk or milk to your desired consistency is achieved--you may need a pinch more salt once you thin it out.

Make It From Scratch Monday: Butter

{Making Butter} from Fresh Raw Cream

Since we don't have our own milking cow {yet}, we found a sweet family who sells fresh milk & cream near our home.  We had fun this weekend making our own butter.  The kids really enjoyed watching the process.  It is so yummy!  I found a great tutorial and thought I would share.

This milk is as fresh as you can get, we pick it up the day after it’s milked, it’s unpasteurized and unhomogenized. Since it’s not homogenized the cream rises to the top, it’s also called cream line milk. If you look closely you can see the cream line in the milk on the right.

Making butter is super easy, all you need is cream and a jar or you can make it in the mixer or the blender. You can simply shake the cream in a jar until it’s butter, or use your mixer on a low to medium speed.  It really doesn’t take long, between 10-20 minutes depending on the cream, temperature and how good of a shaker you are.  Fill your jar 25-50% full of cream, I try to keep mine around 40%. The more cream you have in the jar the longer it takes to form butter because there’s less movement of the cream. If it’s too warm the butter will be kind of a whipped butter and it will be more difficult to rinse and knead later on.

While mixing you’ll notice the cream turn from liquid to whipped cream. It will become harder and harder to shake (if using the jar method) as it gets thicker. Eventually you’ll notice that it will break, this happens when the butter separates from the buttermilk. You’ll definitely notice the difference in sound at this point. As you are shaking, notice the color of the cream as well, it will start to turn more and more yellow as the fat molecules group together.

It will now be easy to shake and you’ll notice the butter will start clumping together. I like to rinse mine when it forms marble sized pieces. Pour the buttermilk out of the jar, but keep the butter in. Make sure you keep your buttermilk, it makes great pancakes, muffins or biscuits. Add some water back into the jar and shake again, do this two or three times until the water is just about clear. Empty butter into a strainer to strain off water. Transfer the butter into a bowl and knead with a spoon until it form a ball, you’ll notice you’ll be working water out of the butter. If the butter is too soft put in the fridge to harden a bit before kneading.

You can add salt to your butter if you’d like.  Homemade butter is really tasty, it has a different taste than store bought butter. You can let the cream sour a bit before churning to make a cultured butter, this only works with raw cream though, you’ll have to add cultures to store bought cream if you want cultured butter. We were amazed at the color, the stuff I buy from the store is almost white, as you can see this is very very yellow. This is because the cows are pastured.

Have you ever made butter?? What did you think?

I must share

Today has been a very productive day.  4 loaves of PERFECT bread made.  Sliced & in bags ready to enter the freezer.  Then I decided to pull out a favorite recipe I have had for years and make it for Family Home Evening tonight.  So I thought I would share.

Glazed Cheese Croissants

Prep Time 30 minutes

Total Time 3 hours

Yield Makes 8         

Ingredients

•   1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
•   3/4 cup small-curd cottage cheese
•   1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for rolling dough
•   1/4 teaspoon salt
•   Sugar Glaze (see below)

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, combine butter, cottage cheese, flour, and salt. Shape into a disk, and wrap in plastic; refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 375  degrees. On a well-floured surface, roll dough out to a 14-inch circle. Cut circle evenly into 8 triangles. Roll each triangle up, from wide end to tip, turning ends of roll in to form a crescent shape. Place croissants 3 inches apart on a rimmed baking sheet (to catch any drips); bake 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown.Transfer to wire rack. Cool 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, make Sugar Glaze: In a glass measuring cup, add 2 teaspoons milk by 1/2 teaspoonfuls to 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, stirring until glaze is of a drizzling consistency. It should be thin enough to pour while still thick enough to coat croissants. Drizzle over croissants. Serve warm, or let cool to room temperature. Store at room temperature in an airtight container, up to 2 days.

Happy Family Home Evening!

Colors of Fun

Today we made these.  I think they turned out pretty neat.  My kids love to play with playdough, and for a few ingredients from my pantry we came up with these fun balls of color.  I found the recipe on a super fun blog here.  We are learning to make things from home for much cheaper and the kids are really enjoying our adventures together.

Almond Milk

Well, I checked my mail yesterday on my way up to town, I was taking the kids to the library. To my surprise my produce bags were there. I was so excited! I was meeting Jeremy at the grocery store after the library. For the past 2 weeks we gave ourselves a little challenge to not buy anything packaged and processed. Our only exceptions are tortilla chips, corn tortillas, and Dairy. I was so happy when our grocery bill was only $65.00. We price match from all the ads. I am so glad I have a husband who loves to look at ads and go grocery shopping!

Today I was reading a post from one of my favorite blogs, http://www.progressivepioneer.com/ and she posted a recipe for almond milk. Ever since I got my Vitamix I have wanted to try making my own. So I am soaking the almonds and I'll tell you tomorrow how it turned out. Below is her post in case anyone else has ever wanted to make it!

http://www.progressivepioneer.com/progressive-pioneer/2009/04/almond-milk.html

My other Happy today is we are having a Stake Relief Society Meeting tonight. It has to do with the temple. They will be having dinner too! I am happy to get away for a spiritual uplift!

A Cupboard Full of Bread

I can happily say my cupboard is full of homemade bread this week. It has been way too long since I had the time. But now that my house is cleaned out, I have a lot of time for things like bread baking without feeling overwhelmed. This has been a good week so far, with many more things on my list of To Do's!

My lovely Bread rising to the occasion

Recipe
Whole Wheat Bread
5 1/2 cups of Very Warm Water. I let my faucet get really hot.
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup Honey, Raw Sugar, Agave, or any sweetener of your choice
1 cup Gluten Flour
1 1/2 T. Salt
3 T. Dry Yeast
12-14 Cups Whole Wheat Flour

I put the water, salt, sweetener in the mixing bowl of my Bosh. I mix till dissolved. Then I add my yeast and make sure it has all gotten wet. Then I let the yeast do its things till it is foamy. About 10 minutes. Then I add my oil and Gluten Flour and start my mixer on low. Slowly add my flour till is starts to pull away from the edges. I don't use all my flour. I like light fluffy bread. Then let it knead for 10 minutes in mixer. Then I mold it into loaves( I do 4 loaf pans so it is tall and makes great sandwiches)and let rise by my oven on warm till it is as big as I am wanting. Then Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

I love this recipe and it works every time. Thanks Sandra for sharing! She is my inspiration in homemade cooking.

A Dolly

This is a dolly I made for Savanna for Christmas this year. I also made a pillow and blanket for her doll. She is a total doll girl. We bought her a little stroller for the doll. This was a super fun project. The lips are a really light pink. Kind of hard to see in the photo.

Can't wait to her sweet face on Christmas morning! I love being a mommy. Especially to girly girls!

skunk, and a super cute project

Well, we've been having a problem with skunks lately, and the other night Jeremy stepped out on the back porch to turn off the water and came face to face with a SKUNK! So he runs in the house like a school boy, get Hunter's gun (which, by the way is HUNTER's SIZE) and goes out side like a kid and shots the skunk. Well, surprise it didn't spray. He was quiet happy with himself. Well, this morning we were not as lucky. Just picture the same scene happening again, but this time spraying. Our house filled with the smell. The girls came out of their rooms wanting the Febreeze. Jeremy said it wasn't a big deal, the smell will go away. I told him the smell wont go away for a while, but be won't be here to know!

I saw this in one of my online craft magazine www.northridgemedia.net and loved the idea, so I made one. It has been so nice in the mornings when I am getting the girls ready. I can see all the hair clips. I also made flower hair clips for school this year. I've been in a really crafty mood.