Homemade Yogurt... yes, yogurt.

So when I was doing research on making my own baby food with Asher I came across some recipes for how to make your own yogurt. My first thought, 'Crazy! Who has time to make their own yogurt!'

Ha! Well, me!

Why did I started to make my own yogurt? Well, I'm pretty picky about what I feed my kids. I don't do hardly any high fructose corn syrup and try to limit their sugar intake. Well, if you've noticed, buying natural yogurt can get kind of expensive pretty quick. And I'm feeding myself and 3 soon to be 4 boys. Let me tell you, they can eat. And their are lots of benefits to eating not-high-fructose-corn-syrup-filled yogurt, especially for the littles. So, now this is the type of yogurt my family eats and we love it. My husband has it plan for breakfast most mornings with some blueberries thrown in. I usually puree up some frozen berries and some natural sweetener to flavor when I feed the kids it straight and keep some plain for cooking or smoothies.

So, at least once a week this is what I do.

Crock Pot Yogurt

from A Year of Slow Cooking

1/2 gallon of whole milk (I use organic but use what you have. It's best NOT to use ultra-pasteurized if you can help it)

1/2 cup live/active plain yogurt (to be used as a "starter", like sourdough. Can be store-bought or 1/2 cup from a previously homemade yogurt. Full fat is best and what I would recommend)

Crockpot

Heavy bath towel or blanket

In a 4-quart slow cooker, turn cooker to low and pour in milk. Cover and allow to cook for two and a half hours.

After two and a half hours have elapsed, turn off cooker, unplug from wall and allow to sit, covered, for three hours.

Three hours later, whisk in starter yogurt and re-cover. Cover/Wrap the entire crockpot with a large bath towel or blanket and leave on your counter for eight hours.

After eight hours have elapsed, your yogurt is done! I normally lift the entire crock out of the base and keep it in my fridge until I have time to decant into something smaller . . .

This makes a fantastic smooth yogurt with just the right hint of tang. It tastes better than anything I've ever bought.

See, super easy!

If you want it a bit thicker, (I often prefer Greek-style yogurt) simply line a colander with cheese cloth or coffee filters, place over a bowl and pour yogurt into it. The whey will drain off into the bowl (collect it and store it in your fridge for a few months for other cooking - I use mine to soak grains or just add some to smoothies for extra nutrients) and you'll be left with a thick, creamy yogurt.

Allow to drain longer for yogurt cheese, which you can use just like cream cheese.

If you want to flavor it, now is the time! Stir or blend in fresh or frozen fruit of your choice and maybe even a little honey for sweetness. YUM!

Tip #1: Due to the time guidelines for this recipe I generally start it either first thing in the morning, by 8:00am, so that it is done by 9:30/10:00pm, or I start it in the early evening (around 5:00pm) so that I can stir in the starter yogurt before I go to bed and put it in the fridge the next morning.

Tip #2: Over time your homemade yogurt will reduce in strength as a "starter" and you might have to purchase a small cup of yogurt from the store to start your next batch. I've had good luck with using homemade yogurt as starter for several weeks worth of batches, and have increased the quantity up to 1 cup (as the starter) if I felt it needed it.

We found out gender... :)

So we had our gender ultra sound yesterday :)

If you don't want to read this entire entry just to find out the gender I'll just tell you... It's a boy!

Before our ultra sound whenever the topic of gender would arise people would ask, 'are you hoping for a girl' or just simply state, 'we're hoping for a girl for you' or something along those lines.

I was never hoping for a girl or boy really. Honestly with our miscarriage and watching other's walk through so much pain related to pregnancy I was always hoping for healthy. I know that's the cliche answer but it was really where my heart and prayers were at and focused on.

My thoughts related to gender. Honestly, I LOVE boys! I grew up hanging out with my brother and my dad, going on bike rides and shooting hoops in the driveway. I always felt like I could related better to guys or in a group of guys rather than girls. Boys in my mind are fairly simple, feed them, make sound effects and let them wrestle and they're good to go. :)

Girls on the other hand have always intimidated me. I was never girly. I would only wear a dress and let my hair be done to go to church for my mother and when I was little, as soon as we got home, would strip down to my underwear, pull out whatever was holding up my hair and run free. When I was older I wore sweat pants and played outside whenever possible. I never wanted my ears pierced or to paint my finger nails or wore pink. I've always felt a bit out of place with girls, 'they' (as if I wasn't one of them) seemed too complicated, they'd say they were your best friend and then tell others that they couldn't stand you, or they just cry over movies or books, or they would giggle at some boy pretending to trip and fall.

So, I've grown and realized that I do need girl friends in my life. Especially in the mommy season of life that I'm in, only another mommy really understands where I'm at and can fully encourage me. It also keeps me sane, just talking to another grown up of the same gender.

And all this being said, having a daughter sounds a bit scary. Not that she'll be awful, but more, I won't know how to be a mommy to a girl. I won't know how to be girly enough for her.

And then I stopped my frenzied worrying and think about how I'm not capable. At all. To raise anybody. Seriously.

But God's so good and gives me grace and wisdom that can only be from Him. And patients (when I choose to receive it). And love. This whole parenting thing is scary and intimidating with out gender even playing into it.

So I do hope for a girl someday.... but someday when God so chooses. Now I am thrilled to be entrusted with my third precious boy to raise as best as I can with no regrets or disappointment what so ever.

Not why but Who

Well, I've been a bit intimidated by my first real blog post and have put it off... so silly! So here it is- what I've been processing of late. Two weeks ago the boys got sick, and when your kids are sick you're kind of stuck at home as a mom, cause you don't want to spread the germs or drag grumpy sleep deprived children any where. Then right when they were getting better at the beginning of last week I threw my back out and could barely move for the rest of that week. So I've had two weeks at home to try not and go crazy and to process things in my life.

I've been processing some big things. So we're pregnant again for those that don't know. 12 weeks now. Just had an ultra sound and baby's looking good. For those that don't know, two months before we got pregnant with this baby we miscarried our third little one at about 8 weeks along. And if you're not in my immediate circle of friends you might not know that there have been so many miscarriages and still-borns, and complications with so many wonderful women. All this combined has made it so that I've not yet felt attached to this pregnancy. In my head I'm happy but my heart has yet to feel joy over this next life or much of anything. I told myself that it was because I was unsure if the baby was alive and healthy, until the ultra-sound. That once I saw that the baby was good I'd start to feel better. Well, the ultra-sound came and went yesterday and the feelings didn't follow. I was then faced with asking myself why? I had a few of my dear sweet friends over today and by talking to them I was able to process some more.

The initial thoughts I had were, what is the difference between fear that God will see it fit to take this next child before I think it's time and holding this little one with an open hand trusting God to do His will and helping me walk through the future what ever it may be.

The questions I struggle with are a bit different than what some ask when something hard happens. I don't usually ask God "Why?". I know God is real and I know God is smarter than me. What strikes me is what I 'know' in my head but my heart often fails to grasp. When I read about the people who were drawn to Jesus I'm left to wonder why. Prostitutes and tax collectors and basically people who were a mess and couldn't hide it any more were DRAWN to Him and He welcomed them. That strikes me because when I'm a mess I tend to HIDE from Him, feeling my unworthiness and feeling like I have to get stuff together before I can proceed to start doing all the right things and then try and restore the relationship. I feel scared of His disapproval which then more times than not immobilizes me.

Honestly, growing up in church and in Christian circles my whole life, my head KNOWS all the right answers. Jesus loves you. Jesus wants to have relationship with you. Jesus doesn't condemn you. Simply reciting this mantra to myself hasn't helped the information get from my head to my heart. I have realized that the Jesus I honestly believe in isn't the one of the Bible. I'm not drawn to Him when I'm a mess I hide. I don't have freedom to trust in my pain because of my fear that He won't catch me when I fall. And then I think back to the Jesus of the Bible, the one that people with messed up lives ARE drawn to and wonder what they saw that I'm missing. I want that. Not just in my head but my heart. To really FEEL the peace that comes from looking into the eyes of the Son of God who is almighty and all knowing and all powerful and also feels compassion for me in my mess. To let His perfect love actually cast out all fear and not just say the verse and hope it makes me feel better. Finding the balance of clinging to my faith because I won't always FEEL warm and fuzzy on this life, but staying centered in His peace.

This is big stuff, and somewhat vague, but the answer to the question 'how are you feeling' about this pregnancy.

So to wrap this little rant up, I feel like I'm in an ok place. I know I need to understand Who God is, and who He really is, not just spout out the right answer or know it in my head but believe it in my heart. That I'm wanting things to shift and wanting to be ok with being a mess and needing Him and wanting to learn to allow my perspective to change and conform to His Word, but honestly I'm not there yet. But I will be, because I know He will never give up on me for some crazy reason.

Why blog?

Why am I starting a blog? Well, because I love being a mommy and all I learn from it and love to share it. (love, love, love... hmmm) Basically, I feel like I learn so much random stuff because being a mom covers SO much ground, from health care issues, to nutrition, to education, to time and financial management, and the whole being like Christ to our kids and spouse. I like getting it out on "paper" and processing my journey that way. So I figured if anyone was interested that's fine, but it's mostly for me.

But I do love to share. Things I'll be processing include; new menu ideas that are healthy and affordable and time efficient (Coconut Lentil Curry with Rice is one recently one... SO good!), and did you know that Coconut oil is a natural diaper rash cream? Works great and is natural, meaning no chemicals sitting on your little ones bum. Also, the number one most successful thing to use against depression? Exercise. Seriously, over drugs and everything else man can come up with, God gives us exercise to combat that sinking dark feeling of wanting to do nothing and be with no one and that it's hopeless.

These are the types of things are intrigue me. So I'll be working on me next full post about something that interests me and if your interested in what I might be interested in follow along. :)