Kefir -- Wonder Food

 A very happy W sporting a kefir smoothie moustache!

It's true.  Kefir is a wonder food.

"I wonder what kefir is!"

"I wonder why in the heck someone would actually drink that!"

"I wonder what good it will do my body today!"

When I first heard about kefir, I was adamantly opposed to it.  My understanding was that it was along the lines of curdled milk.  Seriously? 

Who in their right mind would drink curdled milk?  Makes me throw up a little in my mouth just thinking about it.  Ugh.

This summer, however, I've done a complete 180.  I've gotten educated about it, and my family's been drinking it for nearly two months now.  And.it.rocks.

I must give credit where credit's due.  Dear Lydia N. came over one evening to bring dinner to my Daddy (How sweet!).  She didn't know that we'd moved to town and were living with him, so it was a pleasant surprise to get to visit with her.  I've known her (from a distance) since I was a pre-teen.  Lydia was one of the "older" girls (maybe 5 years...not so much now!) that every younger girl hoped would take notice.  She was so very sweet, gentle and kind.  A Jesus-loving, hippie-cool kind of girl.  The esteem I held her in then has obviously carried over to today.  :-)

Anyway, in the course of our visit, kefir came up.  I could not believe that she had her family drinking it!  She, very graciously & gently, explained how it had umpteen jillion probiotics (Yes, I exaggerate.  Just ask my Daddy about that one.) - several times that of yogurt (our homemade yogurt has 5-7 probiotics); how it can have probiotics that deal with yeast infections and also staph infections among others. 

I was impressed, to say the least, but not necessarily ready to run out to get some kefir grains to start my own culture at home.  Not, that is, until AB got a rash around her mouth that appeared to be a yeast infection gone wild.  (The girl sucks on two fingers a good portion of the time.  We're trying to break her of that, but not successfully as of yet.)  She had been eating yogurt, but that hadn't taken care of it.  It got worse.  I remembered Lydia saying that kefir would help take care of a yeast infection.

I made a late night call to see if she had any grains.  Bless her heart, she and her husband were heading out of the country the next day, but she took the time to make some calls, locate some grains, and even deliver them to my house.  What a sweet lady!

So...we tried some bottled kefir from the store while the grains were getting acclimated after being frozen.  It was yummy.  No, really.  Yummy. 

I was sold on the bottled kefir (particularly since it was on sale!), but it only had 10-12 probiotics.  It would have more if I cultured it myself.  So that's what I did.  :-)  That whole experience will be the next post in this Kefir series.  (I can't believe I just typed that -- series -- feels a little presumptuous!)

I do want to let you know, that this stuff is worth it. 

• The rash around AB's mouth is cleared up!
• My intestines are much happier with me now.
• My Daddy has a "dermatological issue" that the dermatologist said he would have to deal with for the rest of his life with medication.  It had just flared up before we started the kefir.  He hadn't put his meds on it yet, and it cleared up after the first kefir smoothie...with no medication applied!
• I shared some grains with a friend, and her husband has been a longtime Nexium user that couldn't go more than two days without taking it.  After drinking kefir for a couple of days, he stopped taking it and didn't need it for five days.

I'm looking forward to sharing how easy it is to culture kefir and enjoy it daily!

Frugal Trifle

What is more frugal than using what you have on hand to take care of what you need? 

Last Thursday I had a brunch meeting to go to...ok, I thought it was last Thursday!  (At least I wasn't the only one!  hee hee)  It was a "bring something if you'd like, but you don't have to."  That was nice not to have that pressure, but my Mama would have given me what for if I'd have shown up empty-handed.  So...Thursday morning rolled around, and I still hadn't figured out what to take.  Looking around the kitchen and the fridge I found angel food cake, strawberries I had cooked to make fruit leather, and heavy whipping cream.  Oh yes.

Trifle rocks.  I just have to say.  :-)  You really can't mess up a trifle -- it's just layers of yummy stuff, preferably in a clear glass bowl so that you can see the lovely layers!  Here's what I did for my "try the floor" (Thanks, W!)

For my trifle, I started with the whipping cream.  I eyeballed it into the mixer and added some powdered sugar and a bit of vanilla.  Then I let the mixer do its job.  I'm always paranoid about making homemade sweetened whipped cream -- if you go too long, you get sweet vanilla butter.  On this day, however, it turned out beautifully!  It was light and fluffy and just stiff enough.

Begin the layering!

• angel food cake cubes
• strawberries
• whipped cream
• repeat at least two more times

(One thing my husband suggested later in the day was shaving dark chocolate with a peeler and putting it in the layers on top of the whipped cream.  Not a bad idea!)

So...I had my beautiful, perfectly sized trifle (see pic; so proud!), and off I went to the church.  I met my dear friend FO as I was going in.  She had made healthy homemade muffins.  Good girl!  We checked the Parlour and the Loft and finally headed to the Main Office.  And when did Mrs. R (the lovely secretary) have it on her calendar?  Next week.  Ha!  At least I have an idea of what I can take then...or should I try something else?  Hmmm....

Caprese Salad -- Summer Favorite!

I love, love, love caprese salad -- particularly when some of the ingredients come from my backyard!  This pic shows fresh tomatoes & basil from our garden. 

Throw in some fresh mozzarella, a bit of olive oil and just a smidge of salt & balsamic vinegar and you're pretty close to tasting heaven!

Frugal Casserole

Tonight I had a bit of a dilemma.  Saturday night I had made tortillas (yeah, me!); combined ground beef with seasoned black beans, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder & chili powder; and then put them all together in quesadillas. 

We had that for dinner, and it was great!

We had it for lunch on Sunday, and it fit the bill. 

There was still some left over, though.  I really wasn't up to eating it the same way again. 

Really.

So...I decided to re-purpose my ingredients and add a few new ones to liven things up a bit.  Woohoo!

I found a small casserole dish... 
(Yes, relatively small because I didn't want to end up eating this forever either.) 
And let the layering begin!

I added a can of chili beans to my black bean & ground beef mixture.  There wasn't quite enough of the original meat/bean mixture to do the whole casserole, and I needed a bit more moisture. 

That came first in my dish.  I topped that layer with diced green chiles and fresh tomato slices. 

The next layer is my favorite, just because I love most all things cheesy, just ask Gina.  Ha!  I took about four ounces of cream cheese and nuked it for about 30 seconds to soften it up, then I added grated cheddar & mozzarella cheeses...til it looked right.  I also threw in some garlic & onion powder.  (I know, it's quite the shortcut, but it served my purposes.  Don't judge.)

That got topped off with a torn up tortilla.

Repeat and cover with a layer of shredded cheddar.

Next time I do this, I'll probably throw some corn in there somewhere. 
It would have added a nice layer of flavor...and a pop of color.  :-)

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.  Garnish each individual dish with crushed tortilla chips and sour cream. 

"'Elicious!" as my sweet W would say.

Kid-Friendly Sticky Oatmeal -- For You, Gina! :-)

My dear, sweet friend, Gina, asked me for my sticky oatmeal recipe.  I like my oatmeal nearly sliceable.  It's thick and on the sticky side, which is great when you have toddlers learning to use a spoon on their own!  Too, it's easy to make & you know exactly what goes into it.  The only sweetener?  Unsweetened, all natural applesauce.  Good stuff!

Ingredients:
1/2 c. quick cooking oats (I use rolled oats when I make it for myself.)
pinch of salt
cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves to taste
1/3 c.-ish applesauce
optional -- raisins, craisins, nuts
a few Tbsps of milk
1 tsp - 1Tbsp peanut butter

When I started off with my kids, they ate about 1/4 cup of the oats. 
Now?  They're easily eating 2/3 of a cup.  How time flies and tummies grow!

So...the amounts are going to stay in proportion...and it's a "til it looks right" kind of recipe.

Directions:
In a small kid-friendly dish stir oats, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, & cloves.  (For kid friendly dishes, I love the ones from IKEA.  They're inexpensive, dishwasher safe, and the perfect size for little ones!)  Add the applesauce and combine well.  If you want to add any optional ingredients, now would be the time.  :-)  Microwave for 45 seconds - 1 minutes.  Then just cover the surface with milk (to help cool it down) and stir in the peanut butter. 

May you enjoy, & may it help your little ones with their spoon skills!  :-)

Granola Recipe

I like granola.  I've never loved granola before because I've never had a recipe that really just made me go, "oh yeah!"  My Dad's a good granola eater and has gotten his from the Little Debbie outlet in a nearby town.  It's ok.  We ran out and didn't want to trek the 15 minutes (I know, so very far!) to get some more, so I decided that I would make granola. 

I was afraid it was going to be a longer task that it turned out to be.

I didn't have a recipe, but I remembered that I had seen The Frugal Girl had granola listed as one of her breakfast items and so I thought I would check out her recipe.  She uses Cate's recipe.  Unfortunately, I can't find the post with the link.  Stink. 

Cate adapted her recipe from another blogger, Kathryn.  If I could find the post, I would be linking you up all over the place.  Sorry 'boutcha.   

Cate was going for a "healthier granola base."  Me?  I'm going for a healthy granola base that's like I like it.  You know me.  I can't leave well enough alone.  :-)

I like my granola to have clusters...Cate called them "clumps."  I'm somewhat offended by that.

*Indignant Face* 
*Big Huff!* 
(That's so me, right?...Ha!) 

Anyway, if you don't like clusters in your granola, you'll need to cut back on the oil and honey.

Without further ado, the granola recipe that I'm lovin'!

Ingredients
3 cups Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
3 cups Quick Oats
1 2/3 cups walnuts chopped
1 1/3 cups almond slices
1 1/3 cups coconut flakes
1/3 cup sunflower seeds

1 cup oil (canola, corn, etc.  I'd avoid olive oil, though.  Please.  Avoid olive oil.)
1 cup honey
3 T to 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp almond extract

Directions
Heat the oven to 300 degrees.

In a LARGE bowl, stir together the oats, nuts, seeds & coconut.

In a small pot, over low heat, warm together the oil, honey, dark brown sugar, and extracts.  Stir together til it's well combined.

Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir to combine.  Make sure the dry ingredients are well coated.

Spread the mixture out evenly on two large cookie sheets/sheet cake pans.  (I cover my cookie sheets with aluminum foil because I'd rather not have to deal with the clean up of those when I'm finished.) 

Bake for 15 minutes.  Stir.  Bake for 5 more minutes.  If it's golden brown, pull it out of the oven and stir it.  (If it's lighter than you like it, stir it and let it bake 2 more minutes.) 

Once it's out of the oven, stir it every few minutes or so til it cools, or you will end up with one very large granola bar.  (Having three that are 3 and under, I end up with a large granola bar that has to be peeled off of the foil quite often.  Ha!  If you do end up with that, it does break up easily, so no worries.)  Try not to eat too many of the clusters off of the pan as you're stirring it up.  Not to worry, though, no one will know.  Trust me.  Not that I would know from experience, or anything.

Once it's cooled, store in a plastic cereal container and enjoy in the hand, or with milk, yogurt, kefir, your favorite dairy product, etc.

Do understand, this is a very forgiving recipe.  If you don't like almonds, use more walnuts or pecans or more sunflower seeds.  Add some dried fruit to the mix.  Be confident, and make it like you like it.  I have confidence in you!  :-)  I'd love to hear how you change it up.  Let me know!

"Aargh" Retraction! :-)

I have to do it.  I have to retract my "Aargh" of the other day.  I was so very frustrated that the Greek yogurt that I tried to make didn't set up like I wanted it to...and yet, what I thought was a horrible flop has turned into a really great thing!  My kids LOVE to drink it.  LOVE to drink it.  I would imagine that it's like the probiotic yogurt drinks, you know, the really expensive ones.  At least, on my budget they're considered really expensive!  The Lord really likes to do that to me -- take something that looks like an absolute disaster or mistake and make it into a good thing.  What a lovely blessing!

So...let me share my flop with you.  Perhaps you'll get a probiotic drink wannabe or perhaps you'll get Greek yogurt -- not a bad possibility either way.  Do share with me if you try this -- let me know which one you get!  :-)

Here's what you need:
a slow cooker (I used a 6 quart slow cooker)
candy thermometer or an instant read thermometer
whisk
1/2 gallon whole milk
1 1/2 cups milk powder
1/4 c sugar
1/2-ish container of 6 oz Chobani plain Greek yogurt
6-7 bath/beach towels

Put the milk in the slow cooker on low.  At 2 hours, start checking the temperature of the milk.  Make sure that you stir the milk before you put the thermometer in to check the temperature.  The goal?  170 degrees.  Once it reaches 170, take the bowl out of the slow cooker and place it on a folded towel.  (This will help keep the temperature more constant longer as it cools down.) 

Whisk in the milk powder and sugar.

Let the mixture sit with the lid on for about 2 hours, then start checking the temperature again.  This time, we're going for between 105 and 110 degrees.  Once it's in that window, whisk in the Chobani.  Wrap/cover/surround the container with LOTS of towels or blankets.  You want to maintain this temperature as long as possible so your yogurt starter can do its thing.  Now you have to wait.

My Dad lets his sit for about 8 hours.  The way I've done mine, it's had to sit overnight.  Obviously, either way will "work."  At the end of 8 hours, you'll know if you've got a drink or Greek yogurt.  :-)

How brave are you?  Are you willing to give it a go?  If you do, please let me know.  I need to know if I'm the only one who gets the drink yogurt.

 Really. 

Need.  (It's a strong word, but it rings so very true.  hee hee!)

Aargh & Almond Butter

I'm falling down on the job.  I suppose being this many weeks (37.5-ish) pregnant allows me a little leeway, and yet, I hate not sticking to something I've set.  Oh well.  To quote The Princess Bride, "Get used to disappointment!" 

The "Aargh" of this week?  I have tried to make my Dad's Greek yogurt...twice.  Neither time did it set up for me!  The first time I put in vanilla extract.  Hmmm....did the alcohol kill the yogurt culture?  (While we're on seemingly unanswerable questions, who killed the electric car?)  Anyway...I tried again with no vanilla extract.  Still no set.  Thankfully, W asked for a taste, and he and AB have been sucking it through a straw like there was no tomorrow.  Whew!  I really didn't want five bucks going down the drain.  Who am I kidding?  I would have found something to do with it.  Chocolate cake comes to mind.  Like I need that right now!...maybe I do....of course, I'd need the energy to actually whip it up.  Ha!  I don't even have the energy when I actually drink coffee.  This growing a baby stuff (particularly at my age!) is exhausting work!  :-) 

To move onward -- I made Almond Butter this week!  No, I wasn't hungry for Almond Butter, didn't make a recipe that required it.  I just got a hankerin'.  Yes, a girl is allowed her hankerin's.  :-)  Here's how the crazy thing transpired -- I was looking at the Azure Standard website trying to come up with our order for this month.  It was a good thing my sisters were interested in getting produce and powdered milk because we didn't get wheat this month.  I wasn't sure how our $50 order was going to come together!  Anyway, I thought of nuts.  Nuts are so very good for you -- good fats, proteins!  And they're pretty yummy to boot!  My thought was, if I can get peanuts in bulk for a good price, then I'll just make my own peanut butter.  I found that, since I'm not die hard for getting organic, that I could get peanuts cheaper at Sam's.  Ok. 

Then I remembered that I bought a HUGE bag of raw almonds at Sam's a long time ago.  (That's not as bad as it sounds -- apparently nuts should keep alright in the freezer for up to three years.)  I have been wondering what in the world to do with the almonds -- just snacking on them has not been a great option.  They require a LOT of chewing, and that makes my jaws unhappy.  (Boo for wicky TMJ!)  Almond Butter.  Of course!  I got out my handy-dandy second hand food processor and threw in two cups of almonds.  That's it.  Here's the "funny" part -- I gave the kids a heads' up that it was going to get loud.  Naive me had no idea exactly how loud!  The initial whirring of the nuts in the food processor was DEAFENING, and scared the wits out of my poor children.  W ran to hide behind the recliner with his hands over his ears.  AB just stood there, hands clapped up on her ears with her mouth gaping open in surprise.  Yikes!  That lasted as long as it took me to turn the crazy thing off.  Whew!  I finished it later when the kiddos were in the playroom with the door closed.  (We have a closed circuit video feed from there to the kitchen, so it's not as bad as it may sound.)  It took a LONG time to get it finished.  I say "LONG time," but it's all relative.  It probably took about 10 minutes of processing to get it to the consistency I wanted.  I think that's longer than peanuts take, but I don't have personal experience to pull from.  It now sits in my fridge and waits to be used.  I've been putting it in oatmeal instead of peanut butter, and AB loves to just have a "bite?" of it whenever she sees it out.

Next time, I'll probably add a little salt...and maybe a little peanut oil.  The almonds, after all, have been in the freezer for longer than I can remember.  (Not that that is saying much at this point -- I have two toddlers and I'm about to pop out a third munchkin.  I'm happy when I remember to...wait, what was I going to remember?  Dagnabit!) 

So...in the grand scheme of things, the Almond Butter is more on the frugal side of things.  I was looking for a healthier, hopefully cheaper way to go than store bought peanut butter and ended up using something I already had to meet that need.  That makes me smile and a little bit proud of myself.  :-)  Being frugal is a great "game" to play.  I think I get that from my Mama -- and that really makes me smile.  

That's been it for this week.  We had coupons for free pizza from Papa Murphy's, so we've correction, Hubby's been eating on that this week.  The kids and I are doing well with PBJ and oatmeal and cheese & crackers and apples and oranges and yogurt drink among other things.  I have no idea what we'll be doing for dinner tonight.  Once the evening hits, I've been pretty useless. 

I'll try again next week.  Granted, it's Spring Break and time to "Spring Forward," so that throws a curve ball into things!  AND, I'll officially be 38 weeks along.  Oy.  This, too, shall pass.  :-)

May you have a lovely rest of your week!

Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day Update -- What else can I do with it???

I've made the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day with my tweaks and decreasing the salt to a little more than 1T a couple of times now.  I am still amazed!  You would not believe the variety of things that you can make with this Master Recipe.  Let me share just a couple with you.  I am loving this!

• Cinnamon Rolls-ish
• Once the dough's been refrigerated over night, you can do most anything with it.  Pull out whatever amount of dough you want.  I still don't have pulling about a pound of dough out, so I just work with whatever "looks right."  Gotta love that!  Make sure that you have plenty of flour on your hands and your board -- this is some seriously sticky dough.  For cinnamon rolls-ish, you need to roll it into as close to a rectangle as possible...about a quarter of an inch thick.  Once again, I just eyeball it.  Slather on softened butter then sprinkle with a generous amount of cinnamon sugar and whatever else you like it yours -- nuts, raisins, brown sugar, whatever.  Roll it up from the narrow end then pinch it all together and put the seam on the bottom.  Let it sit for about an hour, hour and a half then follow the "normal" baking instructions in the Master Recipe.  Don't forget your slices in the top before you bake it!
• I do need to let you know that when I made this, I used the excess from some lovely spiced walnuts my sister made for Christmas.  There was a lot of the butter/spice/brown sugar mixture leftover from the nuts, so I just scraped out the pan, and smeared it on the rolled dough.  It tasted super duper yummy, but there was a LOT of butter...more than I realized, and it melted out all over my overturned cookie sheet!  It was a bit of a mess.  Next time I'll have more control over how much butter I use.  :-)
• Calzone
• I rolled out the dough like I did for the Cinnamon Rolls-ish, but the first time around, baby brain took over, and I totally lost my memory on what goes into a calzone.  Silly me put sauce in it!  What in the world?  Since I goofed on the first one (It wasn't bad, but wasn't great.), let me share with you how I did the second.
• For the filling, I used about a half cup of yogurt (I know, I know, my baby sister is giving me a seriously rough time for all the things I'm substituting yogurt for!) and mixed in an egg, parmesan cheese, and a cheese blend.  I spread that on the left half of the dough and then sprinkled a great mound of mozzarella cheese and spices over the top.  (My favorite spice blend to use is the Spice Islands garlic bread dipping spices.  Yummy!  For those of you in Siloam Springs, you can get this for a song at the Allen's Outlet.  I think it cost me $0.70 the last time I was there.  I got six!)  Fold the other half over and seal the edges with a fork and make three slices in the top.
• I will repeat -- the dough is STICKY.  The first time I made the calzone, I did it on a flexible cutting board and had to put the parchment paper on the calzone then the cookie sheet and flip it all over.  It was a bit of a juggling act.  I'm so very glad there was no one here with a camera!  The second time I made it, I did it on parchment paper thinking that would take care of it...it was still pretty sticky and peeling the dough that I was trying to fold over was quite a messy trick.  I don't have the answers on this.  If you have any suggestions (aside from just more flour), let me know!  :-)
• Bake it according to the Master Recipe.  Depending on how big you make it, you'll have to adjust your baking time.  My second calzone was bigger than a pound, so I baked it about 5 minutes longer. 

I haven't made the breadsticks yet, but I'm looking forward to trying those out!  Pretty much anything that you're wanting to make with bread dough, it appears you can make it with this Master Recipe.  Any suggestions for what to try next with it?  I'll take suggestions and see how I can work them in with the menu for the week.  :-) 

Happy Easy Bread Making!