Crock-Pot Yogurt

Say WHAT?!
I came across a blog the other day and found a recipe for crock-pot yogurt.
I was intrigued.  So I thought, why not?

Here is the original recipe.

Here is the recipe just in case you don't want to leave the blog.  :)

Crock Pot Yogurt
Tools:
crock pot
bath towel

Ingredients:
1/2 gallon whole milk, NOT ultra-pasteurized (pasteurized and homogenized is just fine)
1/2 plain yogurt, with live and active cultures (this is your starter)

Directions:
Pour 1/2 gallon milk into the crock pot.  Turn on low and let it sit for 2 1/2 hours.
Then unplug/turn off the crock pot for 3 hours (do not remove the lid).
Take 2 cups of the milk out and wisk in the 1/2 cup of yogurt and return the mixture to the crock pot.
Put the lid back on and cover with a thick bath towel (I used a beach towel).  Let sit, unplugged, for 8 hours or overnight. 

The consistency is thinner than regular yogurt but the flavor is terrific.  I added some peaches, granola and a touch of honey and it was amazing!  You can blend in different flavors (blueberries, peaches, strawberries, etc) but I like to add my fruit to each serving.

Reserve 1/2 a cup of your yogurt so you can do it again.  Yogurt will be good for 7-10 days.

I did this just as it said...minus my snafu of not remembering to plug in the crock pot.  So my crock pot sat with the milk in it a bit longer...lol.  At any rate, I really love how this turned out.

The Simple Things

I have been wanting to do more homemade foods for my family for a while now.  I just never did it.  I was always struggling to balance life with kids and my husband and sewing and crafting and hanging out with friends and, and, and...

Then we went back to Minnesota this summer.  I realized that I really loved the simplicity of the area.  So I decided I was going to bring that back to Ohio with me.  And I did.  We have drastically scaled back on what we do and where we go.  We are home most days now.  Since I am home, I now have time to do the things I have been wanting to do.  Like today for example; I am freezing corn, canning peaches, making homemade vegetable broth and hopefully going to make some crock pot yogurt.  I am also working on a couple of skirts for the girls. 

My kids are happier.  I am happier.  I get to enjoy my kids more.  I get to enjoy hanging out with friends more because it truly is a treat now.  My husband is thrilled because I spend less money...lol.  :) 

I had been so busy with keeping up with everyone else and their stuff that I forgot to take time for my family and myself.  Within the last six months I have gone from a doing everything outside of my home that I could possibly think of to doing almost everything at my home and ENJOYING it.  I am LOVING this new part of my life.  I am loving being all domestic!  My kids love it too.  I cannot explain to you the joy that I saw on their faces with they saw that I made dresses for them.  Butterfly was so excited when she saw I made a curtain for HER room.  I guess it really is the simple things.

Learning Wall

 I recently got the bug to do a learning wall in the kids' playroom.  I found some classroom card schedulers in the dollar spot at Target and thought that would be a PERFECT solution for my learning wall.  We now have a calendar, color of the month, shape of the month, letter of the week, theme and season.  All of which we can learn about and utilize at any moment.  Today the kids wanted to talk about the shape and the color.  So we did.  It is basically a visual reminder of things we want to talk and learn about.  

My kids love to do workbook pages and that had been the extent of our at home learning up until this point.  Butterfly has learned to write her letters and we are working on reading.  Bee is learning about shapes, colors, number and letters.  Bubby is just being Bubby.  :)  We do most of our workbook pages when Bubby is napping.  Here are a couple of pictures of our learning wall.  It is just a beginning but it works.  I am going to be adding more pictures and color as we get further into it but this is it for now.

I hope to have an area to display the things the kids are really proud of, whether it is a workbook page or a craft.  That may have to wait until we get a bigger space but it is a dream.  :)

Just call me Suzy Homemaker...lol

I am feeling very domestic as of late.  There has been lots of sewing going on.  I made 2 jumpers for Abby and am working on a skirt.  I am putting up lots of summer fruits and veggies too.  I just got done canning 8 quarts and 6 pints of peaches.  YUM!  Next week I will be doing some freezer corn.  YUM!  I love being able to enjoy all these summer fares in the middle of winter.  We have a small chest freezer so we have more storage than just the side by side fridge that we have.

What do you do to prepare for the winter months?  Anything?

Bee's Three!

This post is long over due.  But as promised here is the post on Bee's birthday.

I can hardly believe it.  My second baby is now a very vivacious three year old. 
We were in Minnesota for Bee's third birthday so we took the opportunity to catch up with family and friends.  It was so much fun.  Most of the people who were there were friends from when my hubby and I were in high school.  I don't think that anyone knew one another so the only common link was us...lol.  All in all though we had a great time. 

The beginning of the party was rough.  We thought the theme should have been "It's My Party and I'll cry if I want to...".  But then things turned around, Grandma grilled, I made the cake, Uncle Mike held the pinata (no worries, it was a pull string pinata), and the kids had a great time.  When we played "pin the badge on Woody" Bee stuck the star badge right over where it was supposed to go!  She was blindfolded and spun around 3 times.  I still can't believe it!  But if any of our kids would do that it would be Bee.  :)

We were so thankful that everyone came and we told them not to bring gifts, but no one listened.  Brenna enjoyed opening her gifts and thanked everyone.  Here are a few pictures of that party.

When we returned to Ohio we had a combined party with one of Bee's friends.  Their birthdays are like a week or so apart so we thought it would be fun for them.  We did the same them (Toy Story) for that party and we reused what we could.  :)  Here are a few pics from that party.

We are so blessed to have such a great group of people that will help celebrate our children's birthdays.  Thank you to everyone who came!  Thank you to everyone who gave a gift!  You are all so very special to us. 

Such a sweet girl

I love my kids.  They are wonderful.  They can get on my nerves.  They can be as sweet as pie.  And tonight was one of those sweet as pie moments.  I was sitting on the couch after dinner and the kids were running around and playing.  Bee crawled up on my lap and snuggled in.  Then she said in her sweetest little girl voice (which if you know Bee, is few and far between to hear that!), "I like you Mom."  Yes, my three year old calls me Mom...not Momma, Mommy, or Mum.  Mom.  LOL!  But the fact that she thought it so important to crawl up in my lap to tell me that just melted my heart.  My kids are great.

Mei Chair Tutorial

This is the first tutorial that I have written so please bear with me and leave comments if I am not clear about something.  I would love to do more of these.  When I sew, I generally make the seam allowance about as big as the foot on my machine.  I cannot find my seam gauge to tell you how big it is though.  My best guess is that it is about a 1/2 in.  So that is how I did all of my measurements.

Step 1:  Choose your fabric.  Make sure it is washable, as this WILL get dirty.

Step 2: Wash and iron fabric.  This will reduce any shrinkage after your Mei Tai High Chair is made.
Step 3: Cut fabric.
Here is what you will need.
Chair panel: 1 - 22"x50"
Chair ties: 2 - 6"x38"
Harness: 1 - 19"x30"
Baby ties: 2 - 9"x75"

Make sure to measure your chair to make sure this will fit.  It is VERY easy to add an inch or two to make this perfect for your chair.

Step 4: Make the straps.  You will take your strap pieces and fold them in half the long way (if you are using a patterned piece of fabric make sure the pattern is folded to the inside).

You will then sew them with a 1/2" seam (approx).

Then baste the ends of ONE end of each of the straps.
Then turn the strap so the right side is facing out.

Step 5: Hem the ends of the chair panel.  This is the 22" edge.  What I have done is just folded it twice  as I sewed it.  Some may prefer to use a guide and iron it first.  Both work equally as well.  I did it both ways.  :)  You want to take it up just a bit so the edge is finished.

Step 6: Cut out the "harness" piece.  I am working on a template but for now here is how I did it.  I cut the fabric to the appropriate size.  Then I folded it in half.  From the folded edge I measured five inches in from the bottom and five inches in from the side and drew the lines with a piece of chalk.

So I had a box in each corner.  Then I took a glass and rounded out the edge (again using the chalk).  Then I cut it out.  That made the harness part of the seat.  :)

Step 7:  Sew the edges of the harness.

Then you will want to notch out a few places along the inside of the curve to allow the fabric to lay flat when the project is complete.

Step 8:  Attach straps to harness.  Make sure the right sides are still together and sandwich the straps between the top and bottom layers of the harness.  Don't forget, you basted one edge of your straps make sure that edge is NOT the one you attach to the harness. Like so...

Make sure that you place the straps at the bottom of the edge.  This will allow for a flap to cover the straps when tied to the chair, giving it more security.


Then sew straight up.

Step 9: Then fold the top edge of the harness in about a half an inch and sew it shut.  I sew the top of the harness twice...just looks nice I think.  :)

Step 10: Now it is time to attach the straps to the chair panel.  I fold the chair panel in half (so it will be about the size of the back of your chair) and then I measure about half way up and then pin my straps in between the top and back layer of the chair panel.  Don't forget, you basted one edge of your straps make sure that edge is NOT the one you attach to the chair panel.  Then going from top to bottom I sew the edges shut.

Step 11: At this point you will have two pieces, the chair panel and the harness.  It is time to attach them together.  Lay your chair panel down and find the center on the bottom.  Find the center of your harness.  Lay the centers together and pin.  MAKE SURE YOU ARE ONLY PINING ONE LAYER OF THE CHAIR PANEL.  I usually overlap the harness about half an inch.  First I sew the bottom edge down and then I do a second set of stitching along the overlapped edge for added security.

Step 12:  YOU ARE ALMOST DONE!  This is the last step.  Each of the ends of the straps needs to be finished.  All you have to do it sew across the ends of the strap and you will be done.  :)

GREAT JOB!  Don't forget to take pictures and post them for me.  I can't wait to see what you all create!  Please remember to supervise your child while in this chair.  Kids are sneaky and even when we think they are somewhere safe they can sneak their way out of something and into something else.

God bless!