Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Homemade Yogurt Recipe

There is one thing about me you should know: I LOVE YOGURT. I do. I really do. I eat it most mornings with homemade granola and raspberries and it hits the spot every time. I didn't always love yogurt. In fact, once upon a time ago I couldn't stand it. Then one day after trying an organic yogurt I realized that I didn't like the artificial sweeteners and fake stuff added. Since realizing that, I've been hooked to say the least. Organic yogurt is expensive though, especially when your little people realized THEY like yogurt, too. So you know my excitement when I learned about making your own yogurt in an ice chest! (yes, you read that right, in. an. ice. chest.)
Hahaha!

This recipe is so simple and taste really good. Here is all you do...

Over medium heat, heat 1 gallon of milk to 185-195 degrees stirring often and then turn the heat off and let cool down to 120 degrees.
After cooled to 120 degrees add 1 cup of yogurt and mix well.
Next pour your milk/yogurt mixture into clean mason jars and put them in an ice chest with a heating pad turned to high.
Leave it alone for around 6 hours (I forgot one time and left it for 8 and it still turned out great). After 6 hours, take them out of the ice chest and put the jars in the fridge to chill. At this point the yogurt will still look a little thin but after it chills it will firm up.
And ENJOY! Depending on the percentage of milk you use, the thicker it will get. I use 1% and it is thick but not like store bought low fat but taste great. Whole milk would be much thicker if you don't mind the extra fat.

And there is something about pulling a mason jar out of the fridge in the morning...makes me want to live on a farm even more!

Monday, August 6, 2012

Weekend Project: Craft Room Addition

I'm a little short on words today so I'll let the pictures do most of the talking. A while back I pinned this:
And LOVED the idea. I had a pile of my ropes and twines that I use to wrap up gifts and my etsy orders just piled on my desk. Not so pretty. This was the perfect solution! I love how the coffee cans contain the balls of twine, the old reclaimed looking wood and the measuring tape down the side. Just my style.
 This is my version: Pallet wood used as my reclaimed wood, coffee cans painted with a little silver spray paint (and a little beat up from my little people building towers with them before they got mounted on the wood) and a spare measuring tape hot glued down the side of the wood.
Now all of my ropes and twines have a home off the top of my desk which makes me a very happy lady! And the measuring tape down the side makes it so easy to measure what I need for a project or package and be on my way.
I have the best husband in the world for helping me turn my wishes and dreams into reality!
More Craft Room Addition posts are soon to come. I was going to do one big post about a finished room but decided to break it up and show progress bit by bit- because it takes us awhile to get things done around here and that is okay. I like to keep it "real" here on my blog. 

I hope you find inspiration in your day today!

me artsy at farmgirl paints

http://farmgirlpaints.blogspot.com/